SCARY DAY, OCT. 31 2013 >>>

1. The frights are upon us once again, and there are, as always, plenty of ways to spend the Devil's holiday. The Weekly Volcano has gathered a list of parties, theater performances, haunted houses, kids fare and live music - it's up to you to decide where you'll go, and, of course, what you'll wear. Boo, South Sound.

2. The Tacoma Runners will summon their inner ghoul for tonight's Halloween running Spook-tacular. That's right, the Runners will don costumes for their weekly run, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Puget Sound Pizza in downtown Tacoma. We're talking running zombies people.

3. Comedians Daniel Clarkson and Jeff Turner send up all seven Harry Potter novels and stage a live match of Quidditch in only 70 hysterical minutes in Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry experience in the Rialto Theater. We're talking 300 characters, many female, with a variety of accents from Beauxbatons in France to the highlands of Scotland. Oh, and what the hell, let's throw in a fire-breathing dragon - live on stage. The zaniness begins at 7:30 p.m.

4. No one expresses that raw blend of punk and country like Joe Buck Yourself, the Kentucky-blooded boozehound who has collaborated with the likes of Hank III. Buck will bring his one-man show - with kick drum, aggressive guitar playing and honey-toned voice - to the Acme Grub Cage at 8 p.m. with Viva Le Vox and C.F.A. opening.

5. DJ Freshwell will spin beats while Bacardi hands out swag beginning at 9 p.m. at The Swiss.

LINK: Thursday, Oct. 31 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

I'd like to start out by just going ahead an awarding Last Vegas with the 2013 title of "Most Likable Cast in a Movie I Will Never See." The film - predicated on the idea that Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline and Robert De Niro would EVER, in any universe, be longtime best friends - is the latest in a series of hee-larious examinations of old people trying to have fun.

"Who do they think they are? Young people?" scoff the makers of Last Vegas.

The trailer opens with Douglas having a conference call with his very best buddies to let them know that he's finally tying the knot. Off to Vegas they go for a weekend of sin and debauchery in honor of Douglas's upcoming nuptials. It isn't long before these four legendary actors are forced to say things about how they have hemorrhoids older than the 20-somethings at these swank nightclubs.

Kevin Kline actually utters the line, "We're gonna party like it's 1959," shortly after confusing Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson for someone from the Jackson 5.

None of this seems terrible, to be sure. That said, none of it really looks all that good, either. Personally, I'd be perfectly happy just watching Kline and Freeman be classy motherfuckers together for 90 minutes. Sign me up. What I'm not so interested in seeing is this geriatric Hangover riff that robs these great actors of all of their many years of hard-earned dignity and grace.

A fairly common way to write off lousy movies is to declare that the actors "sure look like they had fun making the movie." I don't doubt that it was a blast for these guys to get together and fart around in Vegas for a little while and collect an easy paycheck and a nice desert tan, but to call it anything else would be disingenuous.

That said, your mother will probably LOVE Last Vegas. So there's that.

Also See

The Summit opens Nov. 1 at The Grand Cinema

For the past 10 months you have been chasing Tacoma City Ballet nuts around Tacoma. The ballet company has been hiding Golden Krakatuk Nuts as a promotion for its highly anticipated December performances of The Nutcracker and The Tale of the Hard Nut, a prequel to the original Nutcracker, which explains why a prince is trapped inside a nutcracker doll. The contest in a nutshell: TCB hides the nuts inside jewel boxes around Tacoma; inside the boxes is a scroll with prize details, such as gift certificates, merchandise or tickets to the performance.  

Anyway, the November Golden Krakatuk Nut clue dropped this morning. This clue will guide you to a restaurant, shop or other business at which the nuts may be in plain sight or may be behind the counter.

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