Yo, our weekly baggie of Blue Sky is back, bitch! 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.
I have to admit I'm rather jealous of Rev. Adam McKinney, who alternates weeks with me preparing this column. Next week he gets the release of Stephen King's novel Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, and the debut of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on network TV. I, on the other hand, get the mid-September doldrums. It's enough to make me curl up with my new pile of Star Wars comics, including the long-overdue The Star Wars miniseries from J. W. Rinzler, based on George Lucas's first (and intriguingly different!) draft of the screenplay. The Force of Others is strong with this one!
THURSDAY, SEPT. 12
I wasn't a fan of Paul Verhoeven's 1997 cinematic reinterpretation of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers; while its stars Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards were easy on the eyes, they couldn't act their way out of a heap of styling gel. Then my mom, of all people, pointed out that the movie is a scathing satire in which humans are the bad guys, the bugs are desperate insurgents defending their turf, and Neil Patrick Harris shows up in a Nazi greatcoat. Whether you love or loathe the flick, we can all enjoy a barrage of comedy at its expense. RiffTrax Live, the artists formerly known as Mystery Science Theatre 3000, aim hysterical acid blasts at the sci-fi splatterfest from their venomous hindquarters. Would you like to know more?
RIFFTRAX LIVE: STARSHIP TROOPERS,7:30 p.m., Century Olympia Theaters, 625 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia, $10.50-$12.50, 360.753.2580
If you're a dedicated Volcano reader or fan of local literature, you've devoured the Southern-fried fiction of our own Mr. Alec Clayton. His fall 2012 release Return to Freedom, a sequel to 2010's The Backside of Nowhere, finds its Mississippian characters reeling from the aftermath of a deadly hurricane. Also, and I hope I'm not being too glib or immature about this, but it features hot MILFs making out. Unwilling to settle for a mere, mundane book signing, Alec prefers to cast local actors in readers' theater adaptations of his scenes. He calls his cadre of thespians the Freedom Players, and I'm proud to be one of his newest recruits. Come check out his novels, let us know you dig Nerd Alert, and buy a thick stack of his books. You'll even get a sneak preview of Alec's next book, and he's a pretty cool cat all around.
READERS THEATER: THE FREEDOM TRILOGY, 7:30 p.m., Olympia Timberland Library, 313 8th Ave. SE, Olympia, free to hang out, 360.352.0595
FRIDAY, SEPT. 13
Continuing this weekend, it's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), back by popular demand at Tacoma Little Theatre. Fellow Volcano theater critic Joann Varnell and I were taken with the original run; this time around, Blake York grabs one of three collections of challenging and thoroughly sidesplitting roles. The show is a whirlwind revue of the Bard's entire run of comedies, tragedies, histories and even sonnets in less than two hours. Imagine Monty Python on speed - except don't, because neither you nor aged British comedians should ever take speed. Stay in school, kids. I mean it.
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED), 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 22, Tacoma Little Theatre, 201 N. I St., Tacoma, $10, 253.272.2281
SATURDAY, SEPT. 14
I've often heard it said, "I'd run only if something were chasing me," most often while listening to myself at the gym. I submit that a killer app for the Kinect would be a game in which if a player doesn't run in place fast enough, he or she is overrun by the Walking Dead. But why wait? Wright Park is proud to present its Zombie Tag Takeover! (Exclamation point theirs but understandable.) Ward off the biters and shield your personal flags by lobbing sock bombs and skipping past infested blood splatters. Then celebrate the zombie apocalypse by knocking back steins in a comforting Hilliard's Beer garden. You'll earn a survivor T-shirt and donate all ordnance to the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Hey, Deputy Rick, you want to quit ogling your dead wife and help out here? Hello?
ZOMBIE TAG TAKEOVER, 5:30 p.m., Wright Park Central Green, 501 S. I St., Tacoma, $15 plus three new pairs of socks, 253.305.1022
Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may you jack the fastest ride in all of Los Santos.