FRIDAY, MARCH 21 2014 >>>

1. Jack and Diane sucked on chili dogs outside the Tastee-Freeze. Danny and Sandy, they went strollin' and drank lemonade. And you? Was it over something in a cone or on a stick, deep-fried or double-dipped? Were you roadside or seaside, at a stand or a shack, a hut, a cart, a parlor, a fountain or an emporium? How many of you became foodies not while nibbling foie gras at some haute downtown hot spot, but as a teenager hanging out at the annual Puyallup Rotary Crab and Oyster Stew Feed? Ready to revisit it? The Rotarians offer all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab, clam chowder, oyster stew, potato soup, coleslaw, potato salad and, of course, hot dogs. Expect a DJ, raffle prizes and impromptu Four Way Tests at 6 p.m. at the Washington State Fairgrounds.

2. The Grand Cinema has long been a ground zero of cinematic art in Tacoma, and that title has only grown with the addition of its fourth screen. With that new screen, The Grand Cinema is able to showcase films every Tuesday that would otherwise not be able to sustain a full week run. Here is where the Documentary Week comes in.

3. Raised in Scandinavia, independent quirky folk meets alternative rock on a day off getting lost Annie Woodward will perform at 8 p.m. in Metronome Coffee in Tacoma.

4. Armed with washboards, spoons, buckets and banjos, slide and stomp, Portland's junkbox blues duo Hillstomp bring an assault of high-energy backwoods punk. How the hell does a person yell harmonious twang without sounding like a drunken hillbilly? Maybe the duo do sound like drunken hillbillies. For this talented twosome, it's charming. Local draw Oly Mountain Boys adds their bluegrass flair to the 9 p.m. show at the new Rhythm and Rye club in downtown Olympia.

5. With big beats and playful narratives, San Francisco's Double Duchess transcends genres and genders through their live experience and high-energy delivery. Catch the duo's 9 p.m. show at Le Voyeur.

LINK: Friday, March 21 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, MARCH 20 2014 >>>

1. Duchess of Downtown Tours, the folks behind the Tacoma Art Bus, has been driving art enthusiasts around Tacoma for four years! Yes, tonight is the fourth anniversary of the Art Bus. The rumor is this tour will be extra special with games prizes, a celebrity tour guide, VIP swag bags, Puget Sound Pizza, anniversary wine and more as the bus visits 253 Collective, Mandelin's Consignment, Brick House Gallery, Spaceworks Tacoma, Throwing Mud Gallery, PJ Hummel Warehouse and Rampart. The bus leaves at 6 p.m. in front of the Tacoma Art Museum. Click tacomaartbus.com for details.

Normally, you might not consider spending the Third Thursday Art Walk in South Tacoma, but the Asia Pacific Cultural Center has cooked up a special "somtum somtum" for you: A Meet the Artist reception for Kathy Thurston followed by a screening of Somtum (a.k.a. Muay Thai Giant). The former promises a chance to get up close and personal with Thurston, a Gig Harbor artist who is a student of Gongbi, Chinese detail painting. The antithesis to this is Somtum, a martial arts-comedy from Thailand. APCC will also be serving an unnamed Thai specialty to patrons. The reception begins at 4 p.m. with the film at 7.

3. The information age has a sound. Revolutionary technology meets a revolutionary message in Papadosio. Melding progressive rock with psychedelia, folk with electronica, and dance music with jam, the quintet has amassed a dedicated following of thousands of likeminded individuals sowing the seeds of unity and spreading the sounds of exaltation. exciting, huh? Catch the band at 8 p.m. in The Olympia Ballroom.

4. Maurice The Fish Records Music Mash-Up Series continues at all-ages venue Louie G's Pizza with Strangely Alright, Mr. Von and Devil On A Leash at 8 p.m. 

5. Every third Thursday El Protrero packs them in for live hip-hop, rap and DJs. At 9 p.m., everybody and their momma will hit the stage, including Shawn Thunderchief Lloyd, Peeriodic Table, Sic Ill, Golden Brown Entertainment (Neno Brown and Sal Rivera), Cole Z and Tom Hutcha with DJ Eddie Monster on the turntables.

LINK: Thursday, March 20 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Recently, I wrote about a movie called Last Ounce of Courage. It was a Christian film about the War on Christmas (trademark), wherein the villain was a politician who wouldn't allow Jesus to be celebrated in a public square. Such is the case with Christian-produced films - the atheist is a fascistic enemy, blind to faith and morals and lacking in any kind of empathy, holiday-related or otherwise.

So is the case with God's Not Dead, the latest in the line of religious movies that seem to be permeating the theaters in 2014.

Look, I've already written about the aforementioned Last Ounce, as well as Son of God, so there's no use rehashing those discussions. What I want to make clear in this writing is that, despite how negative my feelings toward the Catholic church may be, I am not the robotic scold that these Christian films tend to make atheists out to be. I am a living, breathing human whose life has been shaped not by the teachings of Jesus Christ, but by the innate intuition one feels to do good. I may fail sometimes, in that regard, but I am never subjected to the ever-present danger of finding myself in some ring of hell. I make decisions to do good on my own, and my punishment for not doing so is my conscience, which frequently finds itself wracked with guilt.

Anyhoo, God Isn't Dead is a polemic starring Kevin Sorbo (TV's Hercules) as an atheist professor whose wicked ways are righted by a Christian student. It looks terrible. It will get money from its audience.

Let's, instead, look forward to Muppets Most Wanted, which looks entirely pleasant, despite its unfortunate release date, as its Eastern European themes only bring images of a bear-riding Vladimir Putin and a charred Ukraine.

Boy, there's just now way to not be heavy this week. Join me again, next week, when our film will be Noah. Aw, shit.

March 21-27: Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?

This is precisely the type of movie that is built to kill at an art house, but would go unseen at any other theater. Here's the elevator pitch: Restlessly inventive French Director Michel Gondry animates a conversation with linguist and logician Noam Chomsky. Fun, right?

Gondry has always been a curious director, but an inefficient writer. His adaptations of Charlie Kaufman screenplays (Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) were low and high points for the writer, respectively. While one film hinged on the burgeoning feature director's abilities (paired with a middling story), the other found writer and director enhancing one another. Meanwhile, Gondry's own excursions into writing and directing-with the ruthlessly prickly relationship drama of The Science of Sleep and the cartoonish broad comedy of Be Kind Rewind - were decidedly uneven.

What cannot be denied, even if we decry Gondry's command over ideas, is his command over deceptively simple visuals. The solution to this problem of visuals lacking meaning? Combine Noam Chomsky's fascinating and maddening philosophy with Gondry's imaginative animation to create something of a mashing together of art and ideas that amounts to more than these two men can do, individually. Seems intriguing. The Grand Cinema, Friday 2 p.m., Saturday 8:45 p.m., Monday 6:30 p.m., Tuesday 8:45 p.m., Thursday, March 27 4:15 p.m., 606 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474

Saturday, March 22: Hellboy Day

I will never get over the disappointment of Guillermo Del Toro bailing on directing The Hobbit. Here is a director that made his mark by putting way more effort than necessary into Hollywood fluff. This is a trend that started with Blade II, which had no right being as good as it was. After that, we found ourselves looking at the Hellboy (soon-to-be) trilogy, which managed to take a bunch of goofy characters and imbue them with a sort of surreal majesty. Del Toro is an absolute master of monster creation, and Peter Jackson is more or less a hack of his own creating. A Hobbit trilogy under Del Toro's rule would've been a punk rock ode to everything that fantasy could be, if it could just let go of the orcs and move on the batshit Cthulhu parade.

This is all a long way of letting all you nerds know that Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic book series is turning a cool 20 this week. What amounted to the quintessential '90s comic book - self-aware, stylized, coolly violent - has come of age in a time that has largely failed at adapting comics of the kind. Punisher, Spawn and The Crow have all been blessedly forgotten failures as adaptations. Come rejoice at the victory of the comic form as Olympic Cards & Comics celebrates with a sampler comic of new Mignola stories. Olympic Cards & Comics, 10 a.m., 4230 Pacific Ave., Lacey, 360.459.7721

TUESDAY, MARCH 18 2014 >>>

We are deeply saddened by this morning's tragic KOMO News 4 helicopter crash in downtown Seattle. Our thoughts and prayers are with those involved and their families.

1. We've all been there. You met her when she was a young teen, then you two nurtured a growing romance over the next several years despite the objections and outright bitter legal battles with her father. When you finally married, you composed a great deal of romantic lieder describing your feelings for your wife. Hear Robert Schumann's version of your story along with Richard Strauss' Zueignung and Hugo Wolf's Der Tambour when Opera tenor Thomas Harper performs a selection of musical works by German artists at the next Music @ 11 event at 11 a.m. in Kreielsheimer Hall on the Saint Martin's University campus.

2. The Grand Cinema's Tuesday Film Series hosts a more romantic variation on Clerks. The film Detroit Unleaded charts the budding relationship between Lebanese-American gas station owner Sami - compelled to take over the family's Detroit-slums business with ambitious cousin Mike after his father is killed in a robbery - and his beautiful cousin Naj. Catch it at 1:45 and 6:40 p.m.

3. Ivar's Seafood Bars and full service restaurants are once again paying tribute to beloved flounder Ivar Haglund and his would-be 109th birthday with a deep-sea deal. Today, all Ivar's fans who purchase one regularly-priced entrée and wish Ivar "Happy Birthday," will receive a second entrée of their choice for $1.09 off a special birthday menu. In addition to the birthday discounts, Ivar's will also treat the first 109 guests to a sweet slice of birthday cake.   

4. Accountants-turned-pirates, a daydreaming bureaucrat from a dystopian future, folklore-collecting con-artist brothers, a fantastically lying baron, and an ill-fated attempt to bring Don Quixote to the big screen. These could all be among the topics tonight as Saint Martin's University presents "The Films of Terry Gilliam" as part of their Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m. in Harned Hall on the Saint Martin's University campus. Jeff Birkenstein, Anna Froula and Karen Randell lead a discussion of the Monty Python alumnus' cinematic works based upon their book The Cinema of Terry Gilliam: It's a Mad World. A screening of the Gilliam classic Time Bandits follows; the trio will then present an analysis ofthe film - perhaps clearing up once-and-for-all the mystery of how Horseflesh, the supposedly-deceased seventh dwarf, ends up on the side of Evil. Or the nature of Vincent's "problem" which he needed fruit to cure.

5. Lakewood Historical Society celebrates Women's History Month by hosting a panel of local women writers - Dorothy Wilhelm, Nancy Covert, Carol Neufeld Stout, Meg Justus - at 7 p.m. in St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

LINK: Tuesday, March 18 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 3.18.14 >>>

At the White House today, 24 people, three of them living, are receiving the Medal of Honor for their valor in wars of past decades.

President Vladimir V. Putin declared today his intention to make Crimea a part of the Russian Federation, defying the United States and Europe just hours after they imposed their first financial sanctions against Moscow since the crisis in Ukraine began.

Foreign policy analysts warn U.S.-Russian relations are heading into a deep freeze.

Don't just sanction Russia, deter it.

A detailed analysis of satellite imagery published Monday provides additional evidence that a Chinese rocket launch in May 2013 billed as a research mission was actually a test of a new anti-satellite weapon based on a road-mobile ballistic missile.

The Philippine government would allow U.S. forces to use its military bases as part of a new security deal expected to expand rotational deployments to the region.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Pentagon colleagues may be trying to mount their own political pressure to begin a BRAC process that could lead to approval by 2017 of a list of installations to be closed.

How women are reshaping the defense industry.

New sensor protects Army helicopters from small arms.

The most secretive flying squadron in the whole U.S. Air Force owns a bunch of small Cessnas and medium-size transports that look pretty much exactly like civilian aircraft.

Four restaurants, including three McDonald's outlets, will close within the next three weeks on Navy installations.

Harvard team has found the first direct evidence of cosmic inflation right after the Big Bang.

Hawking: We'll colonize the Moon within 50 years and Mars by 2100.

Welcome.... to Jurassic Moss!

Fred Schneider of the B-52's has made a PETA video encouraging people to let lobsters rock on.

List: the best cult TV shows of all time.

This video illustrates Wes Anderson's centered composition.

Good news: Anchorman 2 bloopers.

The way they filmed this car chase is absolutely genius.

Finally: Lego Movie-inspired Simpsons "couch gag."

Check out the trailer for the James Brown biopic.

May the tuna be with you. ...

I think that the Need for Speed trailer's use of a Muse song is actually quite telling. Just as Muse is the broey, populist, dumbed down take on Radiohead's icy grandiosity, Need for Speed seems likewise to be the juvenile spin on Drive's existential exploration of gearhead machismo.

Still, there's a part of me that wants to root for Need for Speed's success, mostly due to its starring turn from Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul. While Paul is no stranger to film, the closest he's come to a star-making film role was a sizable presence in the remake of The Last House on the Left, as well as an affecting supporting role in the indie alcoholism drama, Smashed. Paul's role as Jesse on Breaking Bad earned him a mountain of good will, and it would be a shame to stumble on his first big movie out of the gate.

So, what is this all about? Aaron Paul stars as a man falsely imprisoned for killing someone with a car (I guess, because there are no guns in movies like this, so people like to Death Proof it up), and has now returned to society to seek revenge. He has a need. A need ... for revenge. And speed. But not speed like meth. Those days are over.

Meanwhile, it looks like national treasure Michael Keaton is to Need for Speed as Samuel L. Jackson is to Do the Right Thing (this will all be on the test later), just keeping a running commentary on the goings-on and telling hotheads to chill. No word yet on who Need for Speed's Radio Raheem will be, but my fingers are crossed for Jason Statham.

Even if this ends up being a turkey, it's unlikely that it will seriously hurt Paul's career (one would hope). The guy still has a couple more movies scheduled for release in 2014, including the Ridley Scott-directed Exodus, which will join the likes of Son of God and Noah in making this an oddly religion-focused year for movies. Still, I might end up giving Need for Speed a shot, if for no other reason than I have always had, and continue to have, a need. A need... for Michael Keaton.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 2014 >>>

1. When Chicago bands need a musician, they call Howard Levy. He can play any instrument and genre, although he prefers the piano and harmonica - and has a special affection for the music of South America, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Most know Levy as the founding harmonica player with Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. A superb harmonica soloist, Levy appeared on the first three Flecktones releases before departing for a career that has seen him appear on hundreds of CDs, win both a Grammy and Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Original Music for a Play, and also work with jazz, rock, country, Latin and classical artists, including his own jazz group Chevere de Chicago. The shape-shifter will join the University of Puget Sound Jazz Band in concert at 7:30 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall. Expect some Balkan folk flute or spiky jazz piano or quirky fusion or. ...

2. Letterpress is art, plus so much more, made tangible and accessible. There is something for everyone, from decorator dilettante to art lover, color theorist, historian, mechanical engineer, graphic designer, or lover of literature. Stylistically, finished works become something old-school modern, and can evoke the turn of the century, the 1600s, or 1950. Each year, King's Books in Tacoma hosts Wayzgoose, a celebration of the printed arts. The University Gallery at Pacific Lutheran University hosts "The Art of Wayzgoose," an exhibition that surveys work collected from past Wayzgoose events in anticipation of the April 2014 event. The opening reception is 5-7 p.m.

3. Who's got the best IPA? It's Washington vs. Oregon for all the marbles. Ninkasi Brewing, 7 Seas Brewing Co., Silver City Brewery & Taproom, Deschutes Brewery, Laurelwood Public House & Brewery and NoLi Brewhouse are bringing their best IPAs to The Swiss for a Battle of the Brands: The IPA Face Off, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Grab a passport to sample all the IPAs before casting your vote. Expect giveaways and swag. Grand prize drawing is a VIP tour of the winning brewery and the "Swiss Golden Ticket," entitling the winner to one year of free cover at The Swiss.

4. Lately our society has become lazy. Our interest in the Great Outdoors has been replaced by an extreme interest in technology. Olympia Film Society is on it. The organization presents an interesting mash-up of our favorite, and least favorite, things to do. Its Trail Running Film Festival will allow us to enjoy the Great Outdoors through the marvel of technology in the Capitol Theater. Gather with your family and friends at 7 p.m. to watch films that recreate the exhilaration of running through the woods, climbing mountains and navigating other tough obstacles. With little movement required, we can enjoy our days of laze and enjoy a nice run. For the crazed music lovers, there will be live music by The Pine Hearts that will satisfy your musical hunger after a long, relaxing run.

5. If you visit locations in Olympia's business zones or have lived in the area for any length of time, you've seen Ira Coyne's hand painted signs.  Certainly, if you have read the Weekly Volcano's Best of Olympia issues then you know him as the Best Mural Artists year after year, including this year. Coyne will be at the Olympia Timberland Library at 7:30 p.m. to talk about his art and how his career came about. Audience questions and conversation will follow.

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

TUESDAY, MARCH 11 2014 >>>

1. The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee - the title of a blog run by kitten wrangler and crafter Laurie Cinotto - is also the title of Cinotto's new book, loaded with practical kitten tips and awesome photos. At 7 p.m., King's Books throws a book release party with a special appearance by feline supermodel Miss Wylla Stout. King's will be selling The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee as well as collecting pet food donations for the emergency pet food bank at the Humane Society.

2. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the big screen adaptation of the late South African President's 1995 autobiography of the same name, is the latest from director Michael Chadwick. Chadwick and screenwriter William Nicholson had a very daunting task before them. Could they really condense some 77 years of Mandela's life into a movie with a theater-friendly running time and still do the man justice? Jared Lovrak is happy to report that they could, and they did it beautifully. Read his full review here, then check out the film at 1:45 and 7 p.m. in The Grand Cinema.

3. Rolling Stones tribute band Tumbling Dice perform at 6:30 p.m. in the Red Wind Casino.

4. CLAW - short for the Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers - is a growing arm-wrestling scene, mixing competition with bawdy exhibitionism, with leagues as far afield as New York, Austin and even São Paulo, Brazil. The documentary CLAW: The Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers retells the birth pains of the collective, shares the shattered bones, and recognizes the joyous political empowerment that comes out of grabbing hands. The Olympia Chapter of The Collective Ladies of Arm Wrestling - "OLYCLAW" - is generate interest and garner support for its fledgling league by screening CLAW at 7 p.m. inside Le Voyeur.

5. Lowmen Markos is an orchestral "post-rock" group from Seattle who will focus on noise, drone, metal and psychedelia at 9 p.m. inside Northern. Shadows and Vanguard also join the all-ages bill.

LINK: Tuesday, March 11 arts and entertainment in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

While everyone else is watching the latest big-budget, sci-fi, action-laden, poorly written, badly acted, ineptly directed, over-marketed summer blockbuster in which someone like Bill Paxton saves humanity from a swarm of giant robot locusts controlled by Christopher Walken, The Grand Cinema presents a week of documentaries. See a movie whose dialogue consists wholly of transcriptions of actual cockpit recordings, most of them from flights that ultimately crashed. Find out which pharmaceutical keep-away perpetuated the AIDS emergency in Africa and elsewhere.

The Grand's inaugural Documentary Week will run March 21-27. According to a news release, the series will showcase "seven critically acclaimed, first-run documentaries that will all be screening for the first time in the South Sound. Each film will be screened four or five times each throughout the week.The seven selections explore a wide variety of subjects including politics and philosophy, music and theater, sailing and exploration, wildlife, and culture and self-expression."

The Grand Cinema's "Documentary Week" Selections

IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

A series of interviews featuring linguist, philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky done in hand-drawn animation. Trailer and Ticket Link

Fri 3.21: 2:00  |  Sat 3.22: 8:45  |  Mon 3.24: 6:30  |  Tue 3.25: 8:45   |  Thu 3.27: 4:15

THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE

A cinematic documentary that illuminates the lives of individual animals living within and rescued from the machine of our modern world. Trailer and Ticket Link

Fri 3.21: 4:15  |  Sun 3.23: 6:30  |  Mon 3.24: 8:45  |  Wed 3.26: 6:30

MAIDENTRIP

14-year-old Laura Dekker sets out on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. Trailer and Ticket Link

Sat 3.22: 11:45am  |  Sun 3.23: 4:15  |  Tue 3.25: 2:00  |  Thu 3.27: 8:45

ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME

The uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner is showcased both on and off stage via rare archival footage and intimate cinema vérité. Trailer and Ticket Link

Fri 3.21: 8:45  |  Sat 3.22: 2:00  |  Mon 3.24: 4:15  |  Wed 3.26: 2:00  |  Thu 3.27: 6:30

CHARLIE VICTOR ROMEO

A stage documentary derived entirely from 'Black Box' transcripts of six real-life major airline emergencies. Trailer and Ticket Link

Sat 3.22: 4:15  |  Sun 3.23: 2:00  |  Tue 3.25: 6:30  |  Thu 3.27: 2:00

FIRE IN THE BLOOD

An intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice", FIRE IN THE BLOOD tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of the global south in the years after 1996 - causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths - and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back. Trailer and Ticket Link

Fri 3.21: 6:30  |  Sun 3.23: 11:45am  |  Mon 3.24: 2:00  |  Wed 3.26: 4:15

I AM DIVINE

How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters' cinematic muse and an international drag icon. Trailer and Ticket Link

Sat 3.22: 6:30  |  Sun 3.23: 8:45  |  Tue 3.25: 4:15  |  Wed 3.26: 8:45