The Garthim return! Did you miss us? Nerd Alert is the Weekly Volcano's recurring events calendar devoted to all things nerdy. I myself am a Star Wars fan, mathlete and spelling bee champion of long standing, so trust me: I grok whereof I speak.
The first few weeks of September are a quiet time of gentle reflection in the geek community, as one by one costumed heroes disappear from our multiplexes and we await the fall TV schedule. Out there, in the muggle world, jerseyed superfans are getting ready for some football; yet we remain unfazed. In fact, the closest we come to big-league sports fandom is Madden NFL 25, which hits the field this week. Also available as of Aug. 27 is the page-one rewrite Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Listen, Square Enix: that "Final" thing sounded ill-conceived after the first adventure, let alone a baker's dozen.
Friday, Aug. 30
If you're a geek of a certain age or, for that matter, anyone who loves cinematic comedy, you know exactly what happens when someone says the name "Frau Blücher." You know how to bring home the chorus of "Puttin' on the Ritz." You know who made a yummy sound, and you suspect Mel Brooks's 1974 masterpiece Young Frankenstein may be one of the greatest comedies in American cinema history. Whether you've seen it or not, we insist you follow your grentfadda's footshtops to the Washington State Capital Museum, where "Movies at the Mansion" presents an outdoor screening of the film. If it's brisk that night, some varm milk, perhaps?
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, 9 p.m., Washington State Capital Museum, 211 21st Ave. SW, Olympia, $2 suggested donation, 360.753.2580
Saturday, Aug. 31-Sept. 2
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention this is a huge day for popular music in drivable distance, not merely because Taylor Swift is playing the Tacoma Dome. (That show's at 7 p.m. if you and your BFFs feel like dressing up like hipsters and making fun of your exes.) No, we're referring to Bumbershoot, that annual Seattle celebration of British umbrellas and bands both lauded and obscure. This year's lineup includes fun., MGMT, Superchunk, Heart, Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Patton Oswalt and Tacoma's own Vicci Martinez. The Seattle Children's Museum maintains a separate daylight area for tots called ... wait for it ... Youngershoot. I mean, that's just ... awww.
BUMBERSHOOT, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St., Seattle, $56-$140, 206.701.1482
Saturday, Aug. 31-Sept. 1
It's been said the quickest way to a geek's heart is through his or her USB 3.0 port, but that's not true. We pop-cultural enthusiasts occasionally do take a break from mainlining second breakfast, Hot Pockets, and fourthmeal to eat real food-by which, of course, we mean good old (Mexican-)American barbecue. A sustainable solutions group called Americans for a Better World, or AFABWorld for short, has been pitting pitmaster against pitmaster in runoff events all summer long. Now the time has come to step into the hickory-scented culinary Octagon and see whose cuisine reigns supreme. Four tongs enter! Two tongs leave! Beginning with a chili cookoff Saturday morning, Columbus Park will host a saucy, porcine Labor Day massacre. There's plenty of live entertainment, and yes, there will be tastings. So now I say unto you, in the words of my uncle, "Save me a half-rack. Spicy!" Uncle Leon loves ribs.
THURSTON COUNTY BBQ COOFOFF GRAND CHAMPIONSHIPS, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Columbus Park, free to hang out, 5700 Black Lake Blvd., Olympia, 360.754.2868
Friday, Sept. 6
Fans of writer-director David Twohy's 2000 creature feature Pitch Black hail the return of his scotopic antihero Riddick, played for the third time by gargle-voiced thespian Vin Diesel. (In fact, it'll be the fourth time if one counts an animated short, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. There have also been two video games. This fellow gets around.) In this new installment, Riddick battles a pack of alien predators (though neither Aliens nor Predators), saves his home world of Furya, and is vaguely disappointed to learn his first name is Richard. Most SF movie fans will also beam over to Best Buy to pick up Star Trek into Darkness Sept. 10, but I found it sexist, incoherent and insufficiently lens-flare-y.
Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may Ben Affleck surprise you with the broodiness of his cleft-chinned, Bostonian Batbro.