SEE SOMETHING NEW EACH WEEK >>>

Hey, me again. With the first month of the year already gone, just thought I'd check in and see how those New Year's resolutions were coming. Maybe your list looks a lot like everyone else's - exercise more, drink less, actually start reading the Buzz and send its tireless author some fan mail.

But how about bulking up your IQ? No, the other one - your Indie Quota. Do you get enough alternative cinema in your weekly diet? If Mom said eating your carrots sharpened those eyeballs, consuming enough indie film will indeed change how you see the world.

Thanks to its Tuesday Film Series, The Grand Cinema has spent the last six months ramping up the number of titles marching through its doors. The program kicked off on July 26, 2011, with the American documentary Lords of Nature. The theater has since used each subsequent Tuesday to bring in a different film beyond its regular weekly run, amounting to a unique experience for viewers every time.

Executive director Philip Cowan handpicks the growing list, noting that the series "gives me a chance to play 52 more films a year ... that (The Grand) otherwise wouldn't have had a chance to play."

Since a movie shows only twice before moving on (typically afternoons and evenings), it pays to plan ahead. Reviewing options for the next several weeks on the Grand's website, grandcinema.com, I'd say the locally-shot doc Grounds for Resistance (Feb 7), followed by rom-com Medianeras for Valentine's Day, may start making Tuesday the new day for film.

Watch the Grounds for Resistance trailer below.

FUTURE THINGS ARE COMING >>>

Urban development is a hot-button issue in Tacoma. If you look around you start to understand why. Thursday at the University Washington Tacoma, this year's Urban Studies Forum will focus on "Urban Industrial Futures." According to the UWT press release, the forum is a "one-day event designed to spur community conversation about how to balance industrial and post-industrial urban development strategies."

Speakers for the forum include Joan Fitzgerald, professor and director of the graduate Law and Public Policy program and senior research fellow at the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, Brian Coleman, CEO of Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center - a nonprofit industrial developer in New York, and Dean Amhaus, executive director of the Milwaukee Water Council.

The Urban Studies Forum is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

[UW Tacoma - William Philip Hall, registration begins at 7:30 a.m., free, register at tacoma.uw.edu/events/urban, 1900 Commerce St., Tacoma]

BE A PART OF THE HOOPLA >>>

Contemplate if you will - and as you most likely have - your past Oscar experiences. Lonely. Nachos with not enough cheese. Asleep on the couch before the Best Original Screenplay winners are named.

Wake up, little starlet! You can endure the four-hour show by exchanging snarky comments with your fellow film enthusiasts in a movie theater environment. The Grand Cinema hosts an Academy Awards Party Sunday, Feb. 26 at the Theatre on the Square in downtown Tacoma.  The doors open at 4 p.m. for the 5 p.m. preshow telecast of nominees walking down the red carpet, in which otherwise talented people such as Hillary Swank and Leonardo DiCaprio engage in inane chatter with an inane interviewer.

Bobble Tiki is here to tell you it's going to be on helluva party. For $25 ($20 for Grand members), attendees receive dinner by Maxwell's Restaurant, dessert by Corina Bakery, and several chances to win raffle prizes throughout the evening. By correctly guessing the most Oscar winners, you can win the coveted Golden Ticket, which allows you free movies at the Grand for an entire year.

Finally, there's something positive about the Academy Awards. Bobble Tiki watches the ceremony now to amuse himself with how wonderfully predictable the Academy is - and also to see what ridiculous thing Helena Bonham Carter will wear this year, or what stupid thing Steven Seagal will do. (Bobble Tiki always thought an Exit Wound was that numb feeling in his butt after he leaves a Seagal movie.)

For those who treat Oscar night as another excuse to dress up, the Weekly Volcano promises more than $100 worth of gift certificates for best costume. Yup, the Weekly Volcano is sponsoring the costume contest.

Bobble Tiki hopes Steven Seagal attends this year's Academy Awards. Bobble Tiki wants one cutaway shot of Seagal, brooding in the back corner of the upper mezzanine, eating a box of JuJuBees and trying to see over Carrot Top's hair. It'd be the crowning touch on the world's most anticipated show. 

[Theatre on the Square, Sunday, Feb. 26, doors at 4 p.m., $20-$25 includes dinner, dessert, cash bar, 915 Broadway, downtown Tacoma, buy tickets here]

BREAKING >>>

Usually on a Tuesday afternoon, with the Volcano's print deadline looming, I wouldn't be making time for a Spew blog post.

But gold like this only arrives in your inbox every so often. When it does, it's best to pounce.

Straight from MultiCare Media Relations Coordinator Cole Cosgrove:

World's Youngest Person Born

TACOMA, Wash. -- The youngest person on Earth was born Sunday morning at MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital.

Immediately upon entering this world, Grayson Dale Burlingame held the prestigious title of "World's Youngest Person" for approximately 4.2 seconds - until an even younger person was born somewhere else on this planet. On average, a baby is born every 4.2 seconds, according to world population statistics.

In 2011 at Tacoma General Hospital, 3,048 newborns claimed the title of "World's Youngest Person," at least for a few seconds. 

Grayson, who weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, was born to Tacoma residents Lisa Patterson Burlingame and her husband Jeff Burlingame, who beamed with pride over their son's accomplishment at such a young age. The parents attribute their son's remarkable youthfulness to diet, avoiding cigarettes, and the fact that he just now emerged from the womb.

Grayson himself didn't have the words to describe what it feels like to be so young. During the nearly 5 seconds that he reigned as the "World's Youngest Person," Grayson spent most of that time adjusting to the light while staring lovingly at his parents

The world's oldest person, Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia, couldn't be reached for comment. She was born Aug. 26, 1896 - a date when she briefly held the title of "World's Youngest Person."

###

Cosgrove says he's always wanted to do such a press release, calling it a "light-hearted counterbalance to the recurring ‘news' story ‘World's Oldest Person Dies.'"

I just call it pure brilliance.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Garage On Broadway: The city-owned garage next to the McMenamins Elks Temple is not looking good. (News Tribune)

The Show Must Go On: despite budget shortfalls the Tacoma City Council will continue to fund local events and neighborhood markets. (News Tribune)

Fourth Of July In The Boonies: Pierce County Council says residents in unincorporated Pierce County can continue to blow shit up for eight days. (News Tribune)

GOP Presidential Race: Rick Santorum's hat-trick reshaping the contest that will decide who runs against President Obama in November. (CNN)

Watch Out For The Thing: Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice. (BBC)

Metallica: It has its own summer music festival. (USA Today)

Jay And Silent Bob: The cartoon. (Paste)

Today's Lesson: The history of the middle finger. (BBC)

Times Are Tough. Even for Batman. (Comicbeat)

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8, 2012 >>>

1. Pacific Lutheran University and the school's School of Arts and Communication kick off the fledgling SOAC Focus Series today with an exhibition of printmaking from around the country. Designed as an annual event, this year's first-ever SOAC Focus Series will center on a theme of compassion. According to hype, the series will have a goal of bringing together "talented students and faculty each year," with "a common theme will be selected and discussed through a multi-disciplinary approach. ...  Each year, the theme selected will be relevant, timely and appropriate to the mission of SOAC and PLU." Today sees the opening of the National Print Exhibition: The Human Experience, a collection of juried printmaking entries from around the country that are apparently, "as varied as the human experience," and feature, "many touchstones that speak to us in different ways and tie one individual to another through the love of art and a broader understanding of each other."

2. Do you enjoy comedy? Do you like bliss? Then you'll want to catch the musical Newsday called "blissfully funny," Mel Brooks's adaptation of Young Frankenstein, in its final day today  at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia. The production, developed in Seattle in 2007 and hit Broadway two years late, is a mostly faithful translation of the 1974 movie. It includes all your favorite moments: "Abby Normal," "Puttin' on the Ritz," Frau Blücher's way with horses and one enormous schwanzstucker. (Voof!)

3. There was a time when the Big Friction Jam at Jazzbones was THE place to be for Sunday night maxin', relaxin' and jammin'. Powered by the groove-heavy leanings of saxophonist Brett "Big Friction" Cummings, the Big Friction house band took the stage, laid down the funk and groove, and magic ensued, with a cast of talented locals streaming through to take the stage and get down. TonightJazzbones will welcome back the Big Friction Jam for an evening that's sure to blow your usual Hump Day plans out of the proverbial water. If you're down to jam on it (or enjoy when others jam on it) this one's for you.

4. In all-ages musical action, tonight at the Mandolin Café Really Old Airplanes will play from 6 -7 p.m., and singer/songwriter Gina Belliveau will lay it down from 7-8 p.m.

5. The Northern Pacific Coffee Co. in Parkland holds its renowned open mic tonight from 8 - 11 p.m. There's no cover, and sign-ups star at 7:30 p.m. Bring the kids, because the NPCC open mic is totally all-ages.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

THING: Mom's Buttery Soft Toffee

AKA: Heaven's toffee

I just: Named it that

Because: This toffee

Proves: There is a God

Toffee made by: Momi Bowles

Since: 2009

Only: Seasonally

Beginning: September

Ending: February

You're going to hate me. I just know it. That is, if you don't already hate me for the many various reasons one might develop a disliking for my abrasive and often tacky charm.

I've known of Momi Bowles and her UH-MAZE-ING handmade toffee - which goes by the name Mom's Buttery Soft Toffee - since 2010. I'm sorry to just now be telling you about it.

I'm also sorry to tell you that Bowles' toffee-making season ends at the end of February.

I swear, I haven't been trying to keep this toffee secret all to myself. It's more of a keen example of my extreme laziness. Read my full feature on the toffee here.

WORTHY TRADITION >>>

Now in its 21st year, the annual Arts Olympia Show and Sale this weekend at the Capital Museum Coach House promises, according to hype for the event, to be the best ever. And we're inclined to believe said hype. Why? Well, this year's event hype includes mention of Olympia's new mayor, Stephen Buxbaum, kicking off the festivities during a Friday-night opening reception (a definite plus), and - more importantly - Volcano arts writer and critic Alec Clayton delivering a lecture Saturday afternoon.

And did we mention Sunday promises a poetry event featuring members of the Olympia Poetry Network? 

The three-day show comes under the header Perspectives 2012 and will include the work of nearly 40 local artists. This one's a no-brainer - which is probably why, year after year, the Arts Olympia Show and Sale keeps coming back for more.

[Capital Museum Coach House, Friday, Feb. 10 5-7 p.m. opening reception with Olympia Mayor Stephen Buxbaum, Saturday, Feb. 11 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Alec Clayton speaks at 1 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 12 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. poetry event at 1 p.m., 211 W. 21^st Ave., Olympia, artsolympia.org]

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT >>>

What's our favorite thing about the "Boobie Bash" scheduled for Valentine's Day at Hell's Kitchen? Well, you'll be happy to know the fact it inspired the Tacoma Weekly to run with the headline "Show your love for boobies this Valentine's Day" is only second on our list.

Yes, it's hard to top the cause behind this event, even for schmucks like us.

Raising money for the "Team Lisa' Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure account - who's namesake, Lisa Gauthun, is diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer according to Clare Jensen's story in the Tacoma Weekly - the "Boobie Bash" promises live music from Moron Broz, Blood Hunger, Deathbed Confessions and Czar, as well as burlesque performances and raffle prizes galore.

[Hell's Kitchen, with Moron Broz, Blood Hunger, Deathbed Confessions, Czar, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

VIDEO HOT SPOT >>>

There's a lot of stress that comes with adulthood: marriage, career, kids, buying a home, crushing debt, arguments over who gets the dog in the divorce. AKA: real life.

You need to chill ... maybe with memories of your adolescence. This video may help.