JAN. 9-11: MATT BRAUNGER AT THE TACOMA COMEDY CLUB

One of the pleasures and pains of being nerdy about pop culture is that you will inevitably watch as certain people and things you love grow in popularity and visibility. Frequently, and unfortunately, the nerd will respond by then boycotting what he or she once loved ("I was there in the beginning, before they were a total sellout!" the nerd will yell, like John Lithgow telling Harry that he doesn't love him any more).

Personally, I'm always happy to see success come to things of which I'm a fan. Matt Braunger is a comedian I've been following for a while. With a boisterous and animated style reminiscent of Brian Regan, Braunger has been receiving a lot of attention for the past couple years, culminating in the release of his 2012 Comedy Central special, Shovel Fighter.

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Republicans slammed the White House yesterday over the resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq, calling on the administration to do more to help the Iraqis push back against the affiliate groups.

The top enlisted sailor aboard the USS Germantown has been temporarily relieved in the wake of allegations of sexual assault made by a crewmember.

The Defense Department announced the rotational deployment of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st U.S. Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas to Camps Hovey and Stanley, Republic of Korea, will go down Feb. 1.?This combined arms battalion, comprised of approximately 800 soldiers and its own wheeled and tracked vehicles, will deploy to conduct operations in support of U.S. Forces Korea and Eighth Army.

The fight to control Iraq's biggest province, Anbar, has intensified, with air attacks by the military killing dozens of people and the army preparing an assault on a city controlled by al-Qaeda linked fighters.

Civil war lingers in Iraq and al Qaeda's comeback in Anbar province raises new questions about whether the U.S. should have left troops there.

The images of al-Qaeda militants surging back into cities that were secured at an enormous sacrifice has chilled Americans who fought in Iraq.

Former Army Spc. Chance Darby was reunited at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl with the Advanced Combat Helmet that saved his life in Afghanistan, he said the headgear had successfully stopped an enemy rifle bullet, but left him with two big headaches.

The Army's rapid fielding of network systems to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan led to vastly improved communications capabilities on the battlefield - but also increased network complexity.

U.S. Army conducting joint study to improve bone health in military personnel.

What was learned from the five-part Beyonce documentary.

Albert Camus: Hot.

Star Wars-styles 3D hologram phone on the market in five years, it could.

Rolling Stone hosts the new Bruce Springsteen album for streaming.

See Nirvana dedicate a song to River Phoenix in this rare concert footage.

Siri dissess the movie Her.

Smellcome to Manhood ...

TUESDAY, JAN. 7 2014 >>>

1. The Broken Circle Breakdown tackles a very true-to-life story in a very true-to-life way, largely shying away from any of the cinematic tropes so common to this kind of tale, save for a few fleeting moments which serve as welcome respites from the film's uncompromising realism. This is a film that totally immerses you in its story from the very beginning and leaves you absolutely emotionally drained by the final curtain. It plays today at 2 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema. Read Jared Lovrak's review of the flick here.

2. Karen Litfin embarked on a journey to many of the world's ecovillages - intentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. From rural to urban, high tech to low tech, spiritual to secular, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up. She documented her discoveries in her book, Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community. Hear her adventures first hand at 7 p.m. in Orca Books.

3. Guitarist Randy Linder brings his Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute show to The Red Wind Casino at 6:30 p.m.

4. Quick! Tell us who played Violet Bickerstaff, Screech's love interest, on three episodes of the television show Saved by the Bell? If you said "Tori Spelling," then going to a trivia night might be for you. There are trivia competitions all around the South Sound on a Tuesday night, where you can unleash your inner Ken Jennings. And while you won't approach Jennings-like earnings, you can win some cool stuff, ranging from gift certificates, to concert or sports tickets, to a VHS copy of All of Me, the film starring Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin. Sweet! One of the newer Tuesday trivia contests is the 6:30 p.m. free on at Treos in Old Town Tacoma. Tonight's categories include man movies, chick flicks and American automobiles. 

5. OK, when you take a shower you make a bucket with your arms to catch as much water as you can and splash it all onto the shower floor, but did you ever think the Kareem Kandi Band would perform on a Tuesday night? It's true. The jazz band will perform at 8 p.m. in Uncle Thurms Finger Licken Ribs & Chicken in Tacoma's Lincoln District. Well, cool ...

LINK: Tuesday, Jan. 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

GET YOUR VOTE ON NOW! >>>

Voting for the Weekly Volcano's Best of Olympia 2014 issue is now open. Best coffee shop, best bar, best bartender, best drunk 100-mile-per-hour Ferrari police chase - it's all there for you to weigh in on now (except for the Ferrari joy ride category, which we TOTALLY should have included).

Note: The Best of Olympia will encompass all of Thurston County ... yes, Lacey, we're talking to you. And don't get your panties in a bunch, Tumwater, we didn't forget you either.

Go to bestofolympia2014.com right now to cast your vote. You could win one-night stay and breakfast for two plus $50 restaurant voucher at the Red Lion Olympia just for voting. Voting ends Jan. 31.

And look for the Volcano's Best of Olympia issue to hit streets Feb. 27.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

The Best of Olympia 2014 is sponsored by Lucky Eagle Casino.

As the eggnog begins to burn off, it's time to turn in applications for college scholarships. Army Emergency Relief has opened its scholarship application period for the 2014-15 school year. Applications from spouses and dependent children of soldiers will be accepted from now until May 1.

This year, scholarships will be awarded based solely on financial need, said Tammy LaCroix, manager for Army Emergency Relief, or AER's scholarship programs. In previous years, some scholarships were awarded based on scholastic achievement and leadership, LaCroix said. For instance, if students could demonstrate leadership - such as serving as class president, leading a Scout troop or serving in an ROTC leadership position - that in itself was worth a $500 scholarship. If their grade point average was above a 3.5 GPA, that could be worth another $500.??Those types of $500 scholarships have been eliminated however, so that larger awards to needy family members can be granted.

Read the rest of the report on the U.S. Army website.

Before you get too excited, let's just get this out of the way: no, The Legend of Hercules is not the Kevin Sorbo comeback vehicle we've all been waiting for.

Instead, this is a $70mil action-adventure picture that looks appallingly cheap. It makes old YouTube clips of Xena: Warrior Princess look like Avatar. It makes the recent, baffling 47 Ronin look like a Terrence Malick film. The special effects chosen to be put on display - in the thing that's supposed to make you want to see the movie - look about as elegant as that old flying toasters screensaver from the '90s.

Luckily, we've got one hell of a beefcake around to carry this quickly approaching flop on his broad shoulders. That beefcake? Some guy named Kellan Lutz (from the Twilight movies, evidently) who, tellingly, is never shown uttering one single line of dialogue. One assumes this is because the very idea of that meathead face forming a syllable is too much for modern audiences to take. Seeing him speak would be like those old-timey audiences ducking at the sight of that on-coming movie train.

Even in the movie mass grave that is January, this is an astonishingly shabby-looking product, including many scenes designed to rip off and gain credibility from 300. Never have I more yearned for Zack Snyder's involvement in a film. Instead, at the helm, we have Renny Harlin (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, The Long Kiss Godnight, Deep Blue Sea), that purveyor of batshit action movies that defy classification and confound critical thought.

I think it's safe to say that The Legend of Hercules is destined to be a box office bomb (much like Harlin's own Cutthroat Island, which was long classified as the biggest box office flop of all time) because, I mean, had you heard of it before just now?

But I kind of hope that it finds its audience with bad movie connoisseurs on home video. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished, for a movie that looks this terrible.

See Also

A Nerd Alert has been issued for the South Sound

Every Tuesday, "Check This Out" recommends movies available at your friendly local library. So you can satisfy your next film fix at the place with the books.

Before all the salad dressing and philanthropy, Paul Newman didn't always play the nicest of guys onscreen. Early in his long career, he seemed to favor unlikable characters, roles that contrasted sharply with his all-American good looks and screwed with audience expectations. Two of Newman's most iconic parts - as "Fast" Eddie Felson in The Hustler and Hud in Hud - I happened to find sitting almost next door to each other on a shelf in the library, and make sense as neighbors given their common skill at being glorious bastards.

The Hustler starts with Newman as just that - a pool shark who cheats amateurs out of their money by feigning inexperience. His constant boyish grin disarms his victims and us, for only about five minutes. But Eddie's grin fades quickly when up against the bemused smirk of fellow pool prodigy Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). When he (s)mooches his way into the life of Sarah (Piper Laurie), a lonely alcoholic, we eventually see Eddie in a darker light, that of the selfish con man who has a disturbing addiction to losing (in) everything, including love. If some night you find yourself in the mood for a beautifully shot black and white downer with a love-to-hate rogue as your hero, The Hustler will do it.

At least Eddie finds some salvation in the final scene; Hud, on the other hand, stays bitter until the bitter end. With a Texas accent that Newman manages to make sound both lyrical and harsh, like blowing cigarette smoke on a flower, his cowboy has no qualms with bedding as many married women in town as he can, while from his lips always is heard a discouraging word for his impressionable teenage nephew Lonnie and salt of the earth father.

You keep expecting a catharsis from Hud when he finally succeeds in pushing away for good the only family he has, but sadly it never comes. He simply closes the door in our faces in the film's last shot and retreats into an empty house. It's an astonishing lack of remorse and refusal from a protagonist to change by the end of his tale, which must make Hud a must-see.

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The U.S. Air Force says one of its Pave Hawk helicopters has crashed in eastern England, killing the four crew members.

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Abu Sufian bin Qumu is suspected to have played a role in the 2012 Benghazi attack. 

Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army general who led U.S. forces through some of the most deadly years of the Iraq war, says he opposes sending U.S. combat troops in response to the recent gains in that country by Islamic militants.

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8 2014 >>>

1. At the grocery store and in a park Regan Lane comes across as the most normal of guys - which doesn't mean he is.  After all, when you've been a key member of several popular and notorious Tacoma bands that spent the last three decades receiving rave reviews and an ever-growing following - not to mention soaking in the rock 'n' roll lifestyle - how, exactly, could anyone remain "normal"?  Which raises the question of what, exactly, is normal, anyway?  So let's just say Lane keeps things low-key ... except when he's on stage. When he's behind the mic, guitar in hand, he's a rock star. The way he carries himself, interacts with the crowd and most importantly his talent, Lane is a professional musician who brings it every time. Lane's pop band Strangely Alright joins Vividal and Charles Mack at the Maurice The Fish Records 1st Wednesday Sessions at Jazzbones, which kicks off at 8 p.m. True pop-heads won't find anything normal, or strange, about Lane and his band.

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In its first show of the new year, and fourth show since its incarnation, First Wednesday Sessions at Jazzbones in Tacoma is on its way to becoming a local favorite.

"Normally a Wednesday night at Jazzbones brings in maybe a dozen people," says Raymond Hayden of Maurice The Fish Records, who hosts Sessions, "with our first concert series we had 38 people, then 58 and our last one had 103 people. You can see that it's building."

The all-ages events showcase some of the best the Pacific Northwest talent, including established musicians as well as young up-and-comers. The performers are all in the rock vein, with tonight bringing a blues/funk lean featuring Strangely Alright, Vividal and Charles Mack.

February brings in more straight rock, including old-school Late September Dogs and Rikk Beatty Band and new-school Audentia, featuring 16-year-old Jasmine Parker, who sings with a voice far beyond her years. March brings a country/southern rock vibe with Jessica Lynn, The Tin Man Band and The Moss Brothers.

"Jazzbones and Maurice may promote the shows," says Hayden, "but it's not just for us. It's for the fans. It's for the bands. It's for everybody."

FIRST WEDNESDAY SESSIONS, w/Strangely Alright, Vividal and Charles Mack, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 8, $5, Jazzbones, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, $5, 253.396.9169