FRIDAY, MAY 31 2013 >>>

1. Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 expedition across the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft never quite settled the point he set out to make - that South American voyagers settled the Polynesian islands - but it did motivate a generation of young dreamers to embark on improbable adventures. Having already told the story of WWII resistance fighter Max Manus, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg turn their attention to this most famous of Norwegian heroes via an old-fashioned seafaring yarn. Kon-Tiki is an absolute feast for the eyes with vast, beautiful shots of the Blue Pacific that completely immerse and isolate the viewer in the film's seemingly infinite expanse of ocean; something that the viewer may come to regret when the ocean's less-friendly denizens decide to investigate Heyerdahl's increasingly fragile raft. It plays at 2:40, 5:30 and 8:15 p.m. in The Grand Cinema.

2. The Evergreen Science Carnival promises breathtaking sideshows and unbelievable phenomena. Don't go to the carnival expecting bearded ladies, strongmen or magic shows. Think more along the lines of a chance to view solar flares or learn how to extract catnip - or see a student set his hand on fire. The experiments run 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the LAB I, LAB II and Lectures Halls on The Evergreen State College campus.

3. Mel George, one of Australia's leading glass artists and part of the current Museum of Glass show "Links," exploring connections between Northwest and Australian glass, will be working in the Hot Shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

4. UK playwright Pericles Snowdon's Bluebeard is a story about isolation, family, betrayal, apocalypse and parenthood. Under the direction of David Domkoski, Assemblage Theater brings to life the dark story of Blue, a woman who has been so hurt and disillusioned by her experiences in the outside world that she steals three little girls and locks them away in an abandoned church - our beloved Urban Grace Church in downtown Tacoma - for their whole lives in order to protect them, while a kind of apocalypse happens outside. Blue creates strict rules by which the girls must live and re-writes history, making the girls "perform" a different chapter of it each day. Creepy. Then, the mysterious Magnon steps into their melancholy blue world and turns it upside down. Watch it all go down at 8 p.m. inside the Urban Grace.

5. Local band Ranchero is an aural melding pot of '90s grunge, '80s guitar rock and the most exciting elements throughout the rock genre. The thunderous rhythm section, made up of Andy Coffey on drums and DaRatt Lucas on bass, provides the driving foundations to propel the dual guitar assault from Barry Meier and Tim "Vegas" Silvers. Their "pull-no-punches" attitude with their approachability and personality will make the Music and Art in Wright Park benefit show at 9 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge effing rockin'. C.F.A. and The Dignitaries join the fun.

LINK: Friday, May 31 arts and entertainment events in the greater TAcoma and Olympia area