THURSDAY, FEB. 6 2014 >>>

1. Green Drinks welcomes you to meet new people and discuss environmental issues over happy hour. Happy hour for environmentalists. It's a beautiful thing. Green Drinks Tacoma rides into the Tacoma Cabana at 6 p.m. That's right, brah, and the folks from the South Sound chapter of Surfrider will be under the thatched roof to give an overview of what they are up to, including their efforts to work with the Tacoma City Council to adopt a reusable bag initiative that would include a ban on single-use plastic bags.

2. Puyallup Gallery Three will host an artist reception for watercolorist and multi-media artist Renee' Healy as well as a healing arts event featuring internationally renowned reiki master, Norma Jean Young, Tara Tremlett and Charles Klennert from Ahimsa Hypnotherapy and Healing, Denise Coyle from True Heart Counseling, Kathy Leale from doTERRA, seated massage from Salon DaVinci Medi Spa, acupuncture from William Leigh, medical aesthetician for eyebrow wax and tints and others from 5-8 p.m.

Flip on any food or travel network and most likely chefs are battling mano a mano in a duel to the death - or at least through dessert. NetShed No. 9 - the Gig Harbor waterfront creative breakfast and lunch destination opened by Thad Lyman and Katie Doherty, the husband-wife team behind Brix 25 - will launch its version of a chef battle at 6:30 p.m. They call it Fight Club, and the judges are you.

The 12th annual Sister Cities International Film Festival kicks off at 6:15 p.m. in the Tahoma Room at Commencement Hall on the University of Puget Sound campus. The city of Tacoma's Sister Cities program pulls together movies from each of its sister countries and offers nights of all things cultural - for free. Tonight's film, Thermae Romae, is based on a popular Japanese manga series. Marrying a sci-fi hook to a costume-epic look, the script tracks the time travels of a lowly architect in the Rome of Emperor Hadrian. Lucius designs bathhouses, until he slips through an aquatic wormhole into present-day Tokyo, marvels at the wonders of Jacuzzi technology, then wormholes back to put his newfound knowledge to practical use. Toga-clad Romans speaking Japanese!

5. Brian James is an accomplished singer/songwriter and instrumentalist who was hired in 2008 as the head staff writer at Sure-Fire Music Publishing in Nashville where he wrote hit songs for four years, before starting his own publishing/management company, Brick Hit House Music. He wrote the theme song for the Discovery Channel's American Farmer, as well as for Taylor Hicks, Donny Anderson and Tonya Kennedy. Catch him at 8 p.m. at The Swiss.

LINK: Thursday, Feb. 6 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area