FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2010 >>>

1. 72 hours is not a long time. The teams competing in this year's Grand Cinema 72 Hour Film Festival - a yearly Tacoma institution - know this all too well. Last weekend, frenzied packs of Tacoma filmmakers dashed around T-town, hurriedly capturing on film all the entries that will make up this year's manic, competitive filmmaking celebration - set to go down tonight at the Rialto Theater at 7 p.m. Who will win? How will all the "mandatory elements" - including finding something important in a bag within the first minute, incorporating a map, and the line of dialogue, "Should I know what that means?" - be worked into all of the entries? Only time will tell.

2. Seattle artist Ben Hirschkoff will be at the tiny Telephone Room Gallery from 6-9 p.m. for the opening of his brass chandelier show. Titled Eternal Flickr Flame, Hirschkoff's sculpture celebrates the artificial and symbolizes renewal, creation and destruction.

3. Roller derby has come full-tilt. It's on like Donkey Kong, as they say; but this wasn't always the case. Way back when (2001), in Austin, a group of tough-ass women with a passion resurrected the past, with added badass attitude, and created the roller-skating beast we know today. Tonight at 9 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater, the national champion Oly Rollers will host director Bob Ray for a screening of Hell on Wheels, his award-winning documentary about how it all began. Ray will answer questions after the screening.

4. Local country star Jonathan Harris holds a release party for his Thanks To You I'm Free CD beginning at 6 p.m. inside the Tacoma Sportsmen's Club.

5. To the joy of underage girls everywhere, Paris Spleen announces they are still a band. Despite a dramatic onstage breakup last fall, they will continue to deliver the goods. The goods being bass-driven disco punk, bad attitudes, and a multi-racial mélange of shirtless guys who can dance, which you can see at 9 p.m. with the Hotels and Oh Dear! inside The New Frontier Lounge.

LINK: New movies open today