GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 2.11.14 >>>

The Army recently released new standards for how long some enlisted soldiers can stay in uniform.

The House could vote as soon as Wednesday on a bill that would raise the nation's debt ceiling and reverse a cut made to some veterans' benefits as part of the recent budget deal.

Afghanistan has now announced it will release 65 of 88 Afghan detainees that the U.S. deems dangerous and played a role in killing and wounding dozens of American and coalition forces. 

A new, dramatic video shows U.S. commandos nabbing a top terror suspect in Libya.

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) suggested military spending cuts made Benghazi compound more vulnerable.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno visited with NATO Land Component Command Headquarters personnel at Izmar, Turkey, to discuss the future of the Army and its NATO relationship.

Hillary Clinton had kind words for former CIA Director David Petraeus after his resignation.

Q&A: Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of US Pacific Air Forces

Three wounded warriors who recovered at Brooke Army Medical Center, are aiming to glide to gold in Sochi, Russia, next month to compete in the Paralympic Winter Games.

Since Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness launched its ArmyFit site two weeks ago, tens of thousands have logged on.

Meet Lt. Col. Luis Solano, the Army's first officer in a fellowship with the non-profit MITRE Corporation.

Training at Tuskegee: Turning dreams into reality.

Two factories that assemble the Boeing 787 are struggling to cope with a ramp-up in production that started late last year, and a huge backlog of unfinished work threatens to slow output. 

Here's some sad news: Shirley Temple has died. She was 85.

Really? Fred Armisen will lead the Late Night band for Seth Meyers.

Spend the day watching all of the Beatles' Ed Sullivan appearances.

The former Green Power Ranger broke a world record for, er, breaking pine boards while skydiving.

The actor who played McGruff the Crime Dog has been sentenced to 16 years in jail.

Saturday Night Live's Brooks Wheelan shot video of himself every day in 2013. It was a life-changing year for him, and the montage is inspiring to watch.

Bad dad or cool dad?

TUESDAY, FEB. 11 2014 >>>

1. You can't swing a microphone cable around South Sound's spoken-word poetry scene without hitting William Kupinse. Now the poet, Tacoma's first Poet Laureate and associate professor of English at University of Puget Sound, is teaming up with composer Greg Youtz, professor of music at Pacific Lutheran University, in the performance Poetry Above the Roar: Erin Calata Sings Songs of Gregory Youtzin the Mary Baker Russell Music Building at Pacific Lutheran University. Calata, mezzo-soprano and 2008 alumna of PLU, will sing a cycle of 10 pieces of music composed by Youtz, with words from Kupinse's collection of poems Fallow (2009, Exquisite Disarray). The words should, er, sing around 8 p.m.

2. Kill Your Darlings is the feature directorial debut from John Krokidas. The film focuses on the complicated college days of famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe). Ginsberg's writing talents earn him a place at Columbia University, and he has a bright, if a bit controversial, future ahead of him. He gets to wile away his undergrad days in the company of Beat Generation wunderkinds such as Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster). Heck, his best friend is Lucien Carr (Dane Dehaan)! Ginsberg is also a homosexual in an era when it is both dangerous and illegal to be so, and he's in love with the malevolently manipulative Carr, who takes advantage of him to further his own ends. Then there's that issue of Prof. David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), being murdered in Riverside Park. Read Jared Lovrak's review of the film here, then see it at 1:45 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema. 

3. Though often unfelt, the South Sound experiences earthquakes often, raising questions of preparedness for the inevitable "big one." You can never be too prepared or too alert when dealing with earthquakes. Geologists Brian Atwater and Pat Pringle will discuss how to prepare for earthquakes, and volcanoes, at 7 p.m. in The Triad Theater in Yelm.

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. Two of our favorite Tuesday night trivia are at Fish Tale Brew Pub in Olympia and Farrelli's Wood-Fire Pizza in Tacoma, both start at 8 p.m.

5. The 1230 Room probably has you at "$4 lemon drops," but you also may be interested in the downtown Olympia club's Tuesday deep, tech and progressive house night "Deep Tuesdays." It launches at 9 p.m. with drink specials, no cover and resident DJs Alex Bosi and Evan Mould.

LINK: Tuesday, Feb. 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

An enlisted retention board will convene here in June to consider eligible senior airmen through senior master sergeants for retention. The enlisted retention program is one of several expanded force management programs that have been or will be implemented this year - such as a chief master sergeant retention board, officer force shaping board; enhanced selective early retirement boards; a reduction in force board and officer and enlisted voluntary separation pay incentives.

To ensure senior airmen selected for promotion to staff sergeant do not meet the enlisted retention board, the Air Force will move the testing window up from May 1-June 15 to April 1-May 16.

For more information about promotions, force management programs and other personnel issues, visit the myPers website at https://mypers.af.mil.

This just in from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Public Affairs Office ...

Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. - The 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) will be conducting a Valor Award ceremony Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the Carey Theater, on JBLM Lewis-Main, to recognize Soldier's heroic actions while serving the nation. 

Multiple valor awards will be presented including Silver Stars, Bronze Stars with "V" (valor) devices, and Army Commendation Medals with "V" devices.  Medals will be presented by the Commander of the U.S. Special Forces Command, Brig. Gen. Darsie Rogers and the Commander of the 1st SFG(A), Col. Robert McDowell.

About Last Night is a photocopy of a photocopy. Adapted from the '80s Rob Lowe/Demi Moore vehicle, About Last Night..., which was itself an adaptation of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, this new iteration seems to have morphed its initial premise to the point of abstraction.

About Last Night... boasted an uncommonly honest portrayal of what happens when a one-night stand is extended far beyond its shelf life. Moore and Lowe fell into a relationship that was largely based on sexual chemistry, and because both were too decent to own up to that fact, they found themselves in a fundamentally incompatible relationship that was doomed from the beginning. It didn't help that the two lovebirds were incessantly hounded by their respective best friends (Elizabeth Perkins and Jim Belushi, in what may be his last watchable performance) giving destructive advice.

In 2014's About Last Night, Lowe's bland-yet-handsome character is filled in by Michael Ealy, and the increasingly unavoidable Kevin Hart takes Belushi's boorish lout. Joy Bryant and Regina Hall have the Moore and Perkins characters. While the best friends are still exhausting busybodies, the dynamics here are a little different. While Belushi and Perkins were bitter rivals, Hart and Hall are an item - presumably because Hart couldn't be quite as believably repellant as Belushi was.

What may end up being the most intriguing element of this remake is its writer. A woman is offering a solo take on Mamet's Sexual Perversity (About Last Night... did have Denise DeClue, though she cowrote it with her husband, Tim Kazurinsky). Leslye Headland, herself a playwright turned screenwriter, may end up giving the material's admittedly somewhat dated exploration of romance the jolt that it needs to enter the 21st century. Only time will tell.

About Last Night... was a rarity: a mature romantic comedy that balanced sexiness, humor, and gender politics with mostly deft aplomb, which is far from an easy feat. This new iteration has a lot to live up to.

See Also

A Nerd Alert has been issued for the South Sound

The following Airmen and civilians were honored at the 62nd Airlift Wing/Team McChord Quarterly Awards Luncheon today - after the teriyaki beef and baked chicken were served, of course.

Civilian of the Quarter Category I: Judith Brown, 62nd AMXS

Civilian of the Quarter Category IIA: Brian Barbee, 62nd MXS

Civilian of the Quarter Category IIB: Eileen Rodriguez, 62nd OSS

Airman of the Quarter: Senior Airman Joshua Chambers

Noncommissioned Officer: Staff Sgt. Martin Harrison, WSA

Senior Noncommissioned Officer: Master Sgt. Preston Sims, 62nd MXS

Junior Company Grade Officer: 1st Lt. Joshua Jones

Company Grade Officer: Capt. Jonathan Robbins, WSA

Field Grade Officer: Maj. Ricardo Najera, 62nd OSS

Honor Guard Member of the Quarter: Airman 1st Class Jared Williams, 62nd MXS

The award winners and guests closed the ceremony by singing the "Air Force Song" in unison.

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 2.12.14 >>>

The House voted overwhelmingly to repeal the $6 billion cut to military pensions, which was paid for by extending the sequester for mandatory Medicare spending for one year.

Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Christine H. Fox warned against assuming a permissive environment for U.S. naval air and sea assets.

House voted to raise the government's borrowing limit until March 2015, without any conditions.

Republicans on House panel conclude the White House and the State Department, but not the military, are to blame for Benghazi.

A senior U.S. intelligence official warned of a "very real" risk of extremist groups gaining control of Syrian chemical or biological weapons.

Diplomacy is failing in Syria, Obama acknowledges, underscoring the fact the United states has little influences on the conflict.

Army considers trading armor for speed.

Western militaries may lose access to critical materials needed for weapons and other systems, because of the growing demand for new technologies, questionable supply lines and production in unfriendly or dangerous countries.

New iPhone app will buzz your pocket each time the U.S. kills someone with a drone.

The U.S. Army has identified hundreds of senior noncommissioned officers for involuntary separation as the service advances toward reducing 80,000 soldiers from its ranks by 2018.

Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Ray Odierno said statistics do not yet demonstrate a significant enough change in Army culture with regard to sexual assault.

Defense Department will begin fully enforcing a previously optional policy regarding the reissuance of lost or stolen common access cards.

Israeli defense executives are eyeing potentially lucrative, US-subsidized sales of advanced border security systems.

A heavy fuel version of Israel Aerospace Industry's big-selling Heron UAV literally had the wraps taken off on the opening day of the Singapore Airshow Feb.

US Special Operations Command is looking to boost its procurement investments as operational costs come down after more than a decade of war.

Humans are killing the planet.

A rocket, a meteor and the Milky way, all in one awesome photo.

Here are the comedians getting half-hour specials on Comedy Central this year.

TV Guide rounds up all the TV shows that are going off the air this year.

"15 of Cinema's Best Dance Party Endings."

Spin has a good roundup of this year's music festivals.

Finally: Billy Ray Cyrus Releases Hip-Hop Sequel to Achy Breaky Heart.

Can't get enough of figure skating!

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12 2014 >>>

1. Five percent of the population will visit an adult club, while 95 percent of the population will visit a comedy club, so we concur Harlequin Productions made the right call launching the first annual South Sound Comedy Festival - although comics are more high maintenance than strippers. The SSCF will also mark the debut of Harlequin Productions' improv troupe Something Wicked. According to pre-show hype, the night will feature "the best and brightest comedy troupes from around the sound in a comedy battle royale that will never be seen again (this year)!" Wicked, indeed. The first laugh is at 8 p.m.

2. The owners of Pour At Four wine bar in Tacoma's Proctor District visited in the Italian region of Puglia last summer. They had a wonderful time, tasting the wines made from indigenous grapes, Primitivo and Negroamaro. From 5:30-8 p.m. they invite you for complimentary tastes of their Italian discoveries.

3. Stephanie Anne Johnson to give free performance at 6:30 p.m. in The Rotunda at the Wheelock Student Center on the University of Puget Sound campus.

4. Teenagers going crazy for opera? Only if it's pop-opera from The Ten Tenors. The group from Down Under has impressed all ages, combining opera with a comedic presentation. Instead of classic Italian arias, expect Abba's "Dancing Queen" and a Bee Gees medley. The 10 Aussies on stage don't look bad, either. Catch them at 7:30 p.m. inside the Washington Center. 

5. Le Voyeur in downtown Olympia hosts a hip-hop show featuring DMT, MC Swamptiger, Akeem, DJ Pasquan and DJ Justincase at 9 p.m.

LINK: Wednesday, Feb. 12 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

"Good music was gone in '55, that was the end of that," said Slim Goodbuzz, flatly and without brooking any argument as he camped outside the Artubus Folk School waiting for the Olympia Old-Time Music Festival to kick off. "After '55 is when they brought the drums in and bang-bang-bang and I'm a teenage queen bang-bang-bang. It was all commercialized for the bucks. Elvis Presley was around with that squealing, hip-shaking shit, and those cockamany screaming girls. And then you had those lousy Beatles and those Rolling Stones and all that crap."

Hey Goodbuzz! Has it gotten worse since the '60s?

"Are you kidding?!" Goodbuzz exclaimed. "Nobody pays any attention to music anymore. Music is a word to describe something that no longer exists, quote-unquote!"

Check that Goodbuzz. As you know, the Olympia Old-Time Music Festival pays attention.

The Olympia Old Time Festival is held annually President's Day weekend. This year, events take place Thursday, Feb 13-Sunday, Feb 16 at the Urban Onion, First Christian Church and Goodbuzz's favorite Arbutus Folk School, all in downtown Olympia.

Workshops, live music and dancing - set in the spirit of the '30s - are all part of the fun.

"Our mission is to spread our love of traditional, American old time music and create a good excuse to interact with real, live, people, through music, craft and dance and pie-eating," says Shanty Slater, volunteer organizer for the event. "People come from all over to partake, teach, dance, jam and share."

One of this year's headliners is Carl Jones. Hailing from Virginia, his pre-show hype claims, "He is widely respected for his instrumental talents and original songs about the joys and tribulations, of day-to-day life in the South." The Barn Owls, The Lowest Pair, Porterbelly Stringband and Erynn Marshall are also set to play.

Workshops will include shape-note singing, clawhammer banjo, fiddle, clogging, instrument repair and more. Workshops and music geared toward kids take place Saturday.

OLYMPIA OLD-TIME MUSIC FESTIVAL, Thursday, Feb. 13-Sunday, Feb. 16, downtown Olympia, $30 weekend pass, kids 12 and young free, details at www.olyoldtime.org/index.htm

Air Force officials are seeking nominees for the 2014 Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Award.

Established in 1996 by the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the award is named in honor of Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, both of whom contributed extensively to the support and welfare of U.S. military members and their families, Air Force Personnel Center officials said.

For more information on Air Force recognition programs and other personnel issues, visit the myPers Website at https://myPers.af.mil.