WE SCENE IT >>>

Easter Sunday, the venerable Tacoma Cult Film Club marked its third anniversary with hallmarks of American film.

Not.

In keeping with tradition, the films screened were bad, bad, bad, bad. Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard wept from the back of the house.

The Rev. Colin quipped, "These films are not inept. There is nothing ept about them."

The third anniversary program featured "overlooked films" from the past' year's bi-monthly TCFC gathering at its permanent home, The Acme Grub Cage. Rev. Colin smiled as she screened Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, an environmental tome shot in 2011 set in the Everglades starring '80s pop stars Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Spoiler alert: Gibson is a very tone string bean; Tiffany is ... well, not.

Another film selection was Birdemic: Shock and Terror, which is basically a modern version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, but without the cool special effects, solid acting, artistic camera angles or quality production.

Toss in a potluck of pork products and it was a great Zombie Jesus day at the movies.

LINK: Rev. Colin's other job

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment of the day comes from Zhsa who doesn't not beleive, not for one second, the sleepy young Lakewood man can't remember how a bullet got lodged in his arm.

Zhsa writes,

Maybe I've watched too much television, but I think he's a big, fat liar. He was involved with a crime where he cannot identify his assailants because perhaps he was either a) afraid of revenge or more likely, b) committed a gun crime himself. Nobody forgets a gunshot wound or at least some of the things leading up to it. Although, the original blog entry was unclear as to whether any of his belongings were stolen. If they were not, I suspect that the victim knows a lot more than he is saying.

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012 >>>

1. It's Tuesday  - you should go support your local budding artists. The students of Hilltop Artists have created glass object based on the archaeological relics of a lost tribe of their own creation. We're curious if the Tempest Haggarty tribe will be represented. Wait. According to hype, "Each tribe has chosen its unique spirit animal and has created work reflecting the tribe's connection to nature, the cultural significance of food, the sacredness of water, and the values shared by all. The individual tribes have also created a petro glyph illustrating the mythos of their origin." Very cool. And creative. Lost Tribes of Hilltop opens today at 10 a.m. at the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory. Check out the world of the Raven, Wolf, Cheetah, Snake, and Iguana tribes. There's no better way to support the fine arts and the fine artists - you know, those 12- to 20-year-olds who keep getting their funding cut? Plus, who knows, you may see someone's art, who could be world famous tomorrow. Then you can say you saw them when, and annoy absolutely every one you know in the process.

2. Joy Eckwood - Diversity Program manager at the Washington State Bar Association and the founder of Emergnz, an effort dedicated to helping individuals along the continuum of self-actualization - will discuss "Empowered to Emerge: Moving beyond America's Power in defining the norms of Race, Gender and Sexuality through Religion" at 12:30 p.m. in the West Coast Grocery Building, Room 104, on the University of Washington Tacoma campus.

3. The Grand Cinema will screen The Times of Harvey Milk at 2 and 6:30 p.m. as part of its Tuesday Film Series. The documentary, obviously, centers on San Francisco's first openly gay politician, city supervisor Harvey Milk. Shown in coordination with the Tacoma Art Museum and its Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit, UWT Prof. Claudia Gorbman and Executive Director for The Rainbow Center Michelle Douglas will co-facilitate a discussion following the film's 6:30 p.m. showing.

4. Tacoma has a large segment of the population that is obsessively passionate and loves to read about and intelligently discuss food and restaurant-related topics. Feeding those hungry Tacomans are a group of food bloggers, who not only write on their own blogs, but also post and chat on each other's blogs and social media outlets. Tonight from 6-8 p.m. at Bluebeard Coffee, the Social Media Club gathers the local food bloggers for a panel discussion on the local food scene, social media and, yes, tasting the bloggers' favorite homemade treats. The panel of local food blogging aficionados includes Weekly Volcano scribe Adrienne Kuehl (A Big Mouthful), Marisa Mez (Clearance Cuisine) and Roxanne Cooke (RoxanneCooke.com) and will be hosted by SMC Tacoma board member Dawn Quinn (Vegan Moxie). RSVP: http://smctacomafood.eventbrite.com

5. Fireside Bookstore hosts a book launch party for Jim Lynch's new book, Truth Like the Sun, at 7 p.m in the Olympia Ballroom.  The book is an entertaining political novel about the cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle both in 1962, when Seattle hosted the World's Fair, and in 2001, after its transformation in the Microsoft gold rush. 

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: South Sound happy hours

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Washington State Lawmakers: Gov. Chris Gregoire and top lawmakers do not have a deal to close a roughly half-billion-dollar shortfall for the two-year budget cycle ending June 2013. Senate Republicans will not take up the budget until lawmakers approve a series of policy changes in state government. (News Tribune)

Gig Harbor Principal vs. Pesky Car: Ted Strong pleads not guilty to DUI, stating his car was acting aggressively, which caused him to rear-end another car. (News Tribune)

Behind The Fred Meyer Door: A woman is suing Fred Meyer claiming she was the victim of a videotaped sexual assault, racial discrimination, and "extremely vulgar and sexual comments" while employed at a warehouse in Fife. (Daily Weekly)

Tulsa Shooting Suspects Are No Longer Suspects: They confessed. (CNN)

Buffet Rule: President Obama will push his proposal to ensure the wealthiest Americans pay at least 30 percent of their income in federal taxes. (The New York Times)

Fish From Hell: It's terrorizing Maryland. (Time)

IKEA To Build Entire Neighborhood: Wouldn't want to put that together. (Neatorama)

Hell Yes We Found This: Greatest breakup songs of the 1980s. (Nerve)

The Hipster Games: Hunger Games video spoof goes viral. (Yahoo)

Hot Dog Stuffed Pizza Crust: f you're anything like us, you're equal parts appalled and intrigued. (grist)

Beatniks!

TACOMA'S NEW SPORTS BAR >>>

No longer will Tacoma residents drive by the corner of Alder and Sixth Avenue wondering what's going on with the building once labeled "ABC Café", though it was long defunct. Overtime - Tacoma's Bar and Grill opened March 30 at this location, bringing new life to the space.

Owner Chuck Bayha managed to create a sports bar environment that also remains family friendly, with hand-painted local team mascots and a cozy but comfortable atmosphere perfect for grabbing a beer and a bite to eat. Have kids? The 21 and older area is sectioned off, and minors are allowed in a majority of the restaurant.

Appetizers such as hot soft pretzels, bourbon beef skewers, chicken wings and sliders with your choice of pulled pork, beef, cod or chicken salad are easy on your wallet, ranging from $4 to $7, and are half price during happy hour from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m.

The menu is made up of standard pub fare, with an emphasis on steaks. All of the meat is sourced locally from Stewart's Meats in Roy. Ruben, French dip and club sandwiches range from $7-$14.  Grilled meats and fish make up the bulk of the dinner entrees, featuring grilled Alaskan salmon ($20), grilled chicken breast ($14) and a 12-ounce New York steak with a mushroom sauce ($18). Prime rib is featured on Friday and Saturday ($16 for 12-ounce, $22 for 16-ounce). All dinner entrees come with your choice of sides.

The star of the show is the Overtime burger, a massive 10-ounce of ground sirloin, with bacon and a fried egg on top ($11). The meat was juicy and packed with flavor, but the bun wasn't quite substantial enough to handle it. The dinner order of cod fish and chips ($12) was decent, with moist, flaky fish and a crisp batter, but was a bit under-seasoned.

Ultimate Fighting fans rejoice: Overtime will be showing all of the UFC fights free of charge, starting April 21.

[Overtime - Tacoma's Bar and Grill, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, 3118 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.6346]

WRITER-ACTOR TONYA YORKE'S FILM LISTEN ACCEPTED AT STIFF 2012 >>>

With already two films to its credit this year, Tonya Yorke's In the Room Productions quickly moves into the spotlight. While the Tacoma actor-producer's effort in The Shootout, a western about gunslinger Jesse James, nears completion for the festival circuit, last week Yorke received good news about another project: The Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF) has accepted her short, Listen, into its upcoming May lineup.

The honor hasn't entirely sunk in for this first-time screenwriter. "I'm just kind of not grasping ... that these things are happening," she laughs.

Motivated by an unshaken faith that her life's path lies in filmmaking, Yorke knows how to turn dreams into the real thing - literally. She based her script for Listen on what she calls "a very haunting dream" of a long-lost coworker from her youth. Yorke never had a chance to share her vision with that boy, and so it always stayed with her.

"(Originally) I wrote the story as a monologue that I used in auditions for years," she says.

In Listen Yorke revisits her past once more by playing Allison, a grocery store clerk unsure whether to tell a stocker she barely knows about her strange dream. Actor Ernie Joseph, who shares the screen with Yorke in The Shootout, does so again as the depressed character Paul. The result is a beautifully shot, sincere film about trusting one's intuition and listening for the unspoken pain in others.

As Yorke says, "You never know what's going on in someone's life."

Visit STIFF's website soon to find Listen's screening date, or check for updates on Listen's Facebook page.

LINK: A behind-the-scenes featurette on Listen 

Listen to Listen's Tonya Yorke discuss her personal film with me in the video below.

Tonya Y. Talks LISTEN on Movie Buzz from Chris W on Vimeo.

TOO MANY TO REVIEW >>>

There's too much art. I can't possibly review everything. Following are a few blurbs on shows I may or may not get to see, starting with Tacoma's newest gallery. It's called Iota. Nice name for a gallery specializing in small art. It means a jot, a whit, something tiny. Their first show opened in March and will run through April. The featured artist is Susan Cowan, a Portland artist who also has a studio in Tacoma. Her paintings, all around 10-by-10 inches, are scenes from a recent trip to France, which is fitting because Iota specializes in "the unusual and decidedly French feeling items," according to gallery owner Sharika Roland.

"Susan has an exquisite style that is from years of teaching and traveling and working constantly. Her jewel-like paintings are so detailed that you have to stare at them a long time to fully see all she has painted. Even the smallest detail is flawless," Roland says.

In addition to small-format art, Iota sells accoutrements such as handmade designer pillows and curtains and tuffets "and a unique mixture of jewelry and honey products and sock monkeys and hand felted soaps."

The gallery at 1901 Jefferson Ave. Suite 101 is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.

Down in Olympia, the fourth annual Native American Heritage Exhibit just opened at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts Gallery at South Puget Sound Community College. The show runs through April 26 and features a wide variety of works by local and regional native artists including paintings, basketry, carved wood pieces and mixed media. The gallery is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, contact the gallery via e-mail artgallery@spscc.ctc.edu or call 360.596.5527.

Nola Tresslar (last seen in a show at Flow Gallery) has a new show with photographer Madison Vanchu, at the Greenspot Tea House & Gallery,3318 Bridgeport Way W., Suite B, University Place. The show is called "Starting Earth." It will run through May 30.

For something different, there seems to be a surge in ceramics shows around here. Tacoma Community College just had one and Fulcrum is having one, and there's another one at Childhood's End in Olympia. The show at Fulcrum Gallery is called "Creatures of Habit" and it features animal-themed ceramics by Heather Cornelius and Spencer Ebbinga. The gallery calls is contemporary ceramics on the edge. We shall see. I'll be reviewing it for my Visual Edge column. The Childhood's End show is called "The Art of Storage," and it features about a dozen ceramics artists.

Finally, Museum of Glass has a new show called "Scapes," a new collaborative exhibition by siblings Laura and Alessandro Diaz de Santillana.The exhibition comprises four installations, or rooms, based on the Hindu belief that the world is a series of disks made up of wind, water and earth upon which float four continents in a vast circular ocean. The Santillanas created all of the works for this installation while working as guest artists in the MOG Hot Shop. This show sounds fascinating. I plan to see it, but don't wait for my review. Check it out on your own.

LINK: Alec's Visual Edge column

JUST POKE ME IN THE EYE NOW >>>

To watch the original Three Stooges shorts these days can be a little disheartening. Somehow, it's not as funny to me anymore to watch aging vaudevillians hit each other with hammers. I distinctly remember being a kid and getting kinda disturbed by a Three Stooges gag where their sergeant (because, of course, they were in the Army) made them stick their heads in a trough of water, and then fired his gun underwater, deafening them.

Yikes. Er, nyuk nyuk?

It's clear to me that the only way to improve upon those original shorts is modernize them. Yeah, that's the ticket! Really freshen them up!

Well, I - and, by extension, you - are in luck, because those darn Farrelly Brothers have done just that, opening Friday nationwide. Have you ever wanted to see Moe interact with Snooki, from Jersey Shore? Of course you haven't! Because no one watches that show anymore, making the idea of including a Snooki cameo as dated and oddly sad as the notion of three bumbling morons who specialize in carpentry, gourmet cake decorations, bottled milk delivery, opera, and eye-poking.

I wonder if there will be some winking commentary on how Moe, Larry and Curly manage to thrive in this economic climate with them having as many jobs as they do. Spoiler alert: there will be.

Snarky fish-in-barrel-shooting aside, it must be noted that the three actors chosen to portray the Stooges (Will Sasso, Sean Hayes, and Chris Diamantopoulos) have seemingly mastered their impressions. Good, I guess. But these roles were originally supposedly going to filled with Jim Carrey (Curly), Benicio Del Toro (Moe) and Sean Penn (Larry).

Can you imagine how fucked up and amazing that movie would have been?

That is the only Three Stooges movie that I will ever see. Let me know when they announce that Harmony Korine has been attached to direct.

LINK: Three Stooges 2012

LINK: Movie times and descriptions screening in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2012 >>>

1. The Magic Lantern Society are not intergalactic peacekeepers led by a six-pack sportin' pretty boy with a lisp, but rather a group of Victorian-era lantern enthusiasts who will converge on Tacoma in June to project imagines on walls through hand-painted glass slides powered by candle or oil lamp powered lanterns. The magic lantern was the entertainment juggernaut of the 19th century, a familiar presence in theaters, schools, churches, even homes. Essentially, the magic lantern was a forerunner to the movie projector. Anyhoo, Lynette Miller, the Washington State Historical Society's head of collections, will cut the ribbon on a new exhibit, The Magic of Lantern Slides, full of these magical lantern slides, projectors and advertising materials at 10 a.m. inside the Washington State History Museum. Still, if you see the yellow energy of fear, do run.

2. The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium will be offering free admission to anyone who shows up with picture ID or other proof of residency. That's awesome.

3. A penny saved is worth two in the bush. And your burning bridges have been gathering moss lately, anyway. The time has come to rework your literary life (or maybe, to create a literary life). Too long have you lingered in the annals of John Grisham; the Classic Book Club may be just what you need. You will save your pennies (because the book club's novels are long; therefore you will take longer to read them, and therefore, go book shopping less - such logic, eh?) and keep moss from burning, ahem, your brain. And you'll become hopelessly intellectual and never make lame, extended jokes involving metaphors, ever. At 7 p.m. inside King's Books, the Classic Book Club turns the pages of H. Rider Haggard's She.

4. Set on a street corner in Manhattan's Washington Heights - Upper West Side Story, if you will - the Tony-winning 2008 musical In The Heights introduces one-dimensional black and Latino characters, each striving to buy the winning ticket to the American dream, through a series of loosely connected vignettes depicting turning points in the characters' lives. In The Heights hits the Washington Center stage at 7:30 p.m.

5. Play bingo with those not just killing time before the Grim Reaper calls their number. Every Wednesday at 10 p.m. inside The New Frontier Lounge, bingo players are treated to a rather boisterous evening of number-calling by the lovely Brooke. The music rocks, the prizes are craptastic and sessions are free with $2 margaritas and $4 Cuervo Gold shots during bingo.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: South Sound happy hours

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Washington State Legislature Wins In Double Overtime: The Legislature adjourned late last night after the Senate passed the budget measure on a 44-2 bipartisan vote and sent the bill to the governor for her signature. (News Tribune)

Stolen Tacoma City Hall Laptop Computers: The computers were taken from Tacoma City Council-member cubicles on the 12th floor of City Hall. (News Tribune)

It's Official: City of Biot, France, is Tacoma's new sister city. (Exit133)

Indonesian Island Of Sumatra: It was hit by a magnitude-8.6 earthquake. (CNN)

Jerks: The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit charging that Apple and others colluded to raise the price of e-books. (The New York Times)

When Unicorns Attack: The horror. (Huffington Post)

Color Analysis: 50 shades of grey. (The Hairpin)

Documentary: Kid's self-built cardboard arcade hits the big time. (Time)

Freaky: Elsa Schiaparelli's Skeleton Dress. (Who Killed Bambi)

True Geek: Battlestar Galactica wedding cake. (walyou)

Bob Ross Would Be Proud