"Time makes you bolder," a sage once observed. "Even children get older." That philosopher, one Stephanie Nicks, is now 66 years old. According to the USDA's Administration on Aging, about one in eight Americans are Ms. Nicks's age or over. We're all gettin' older, too: the organization projects that by 2030, 72.1 million of us will be over 65, representing about a fifth of the country. I'll be 62 that year. And although we've been afraid of changin', the aging of Gen X-ers like me will drive this country in certain directions. It may be that emerging technologies will widen the gap between rich and poor by allowing some Americans to upload and preserve their conscious natures. Some experts warn against threats to Social Security brought on by increasing lifespans of folks past retirement age. Already the ratio of those receiving to those paying into Social Security benefits is 35:100, and that'll rise to 46:100 by 2030. With Ensure-drinking Boomers thriving into their 80s and even 90s, many face the devastating trauma of outliving their spouses or partners.

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the children within our hearts rise above? Even those who've built their lives around someone who's unfortunately no longer with us can climb a mountain and turn around. A new documentary, The Age of Love, addresses this struggle by focusing on a speed-dating event for daters aged 70 to 90. (Love Connection host Chuck Woolery, by the way, now qualifies at age 73.) It's already earned raves at film festivals and the AARP National Expo in Boston. Now it's coming to Yelm, at Senior Living Rosemont, and better yet? It's free, just in time for Valentine's Day. Awww!

The truth is we all face changing ocean tides, but there's no need to let the landslide bring us down with it. The Age of Love demonstrates a pressing need to give attention to the love lives of seniors, and it seeks to open a dialogue about how to make the last decades of our lives as sweet as the second or third. "No one, not even my children, ask me what's in my heart anymore," one documentary subject observes. It's time for that to change. As one speed dater says, "Let's go on the assumption that the Lord gives you 75 years. You gonna waste it?"

THE AGE OF LOVE, 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, Senior Living Rosemont, 215 Killion Rd. NW, Yelm, free admission, 360.458.1800

MONDAY, FEB. 9 2015 >>>

1. The Tacoma Mountaineers, the Sierra Club, University of Puget Sound and Tahoma Audubon present a night of film, reflection and a celebration of veterans who have bravely shared their stories, and documented the struggles of returning home and demonstrated the role wild places have in helping our troops heal from the profound trauma of war. Warriors in Film in the North Cascades and Beyond will feature speakers involved in the Sierra Club's Military Outdoors program who will present the spectacular footage and touching stories of veterans who adventure into the outdoors to heal, experience camaraderie, and to muster the strength to continue their fight to make America a better place. The free event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Tacoma Mountaineers.

2. Walk through the basics of sauerkraut fermentation with Lisa Oldoski at 6:30 p.m. in the Gig Harbor Pierce County Library. You will be inspired to make your own delicious, healthy probiotic sauerkraut at home.

3. Nashville's 10 String Symphony blends aggressive, almost discordant, Celtic and punky string-chording experimentations. Vocally, Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer lock in seamlessly, and their vocal duets often take center stage despite the fact that they are self-described fiddle players. Check the duo out with Forest Beutel at 7 p.m. in Tacoma's Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

4. As a scarf-wearing Muslim teenager in Chicago, Tahera Ahmad played a mean game of basketball. As a young woman, she wrestled with interpretations of her own faith and went on to study Islamic law at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Today, as a respected scholar, speaker, and youth leader, Ahmad has drawn national attention for social justice views that combine her devout Islamic faith with a feminist worldview. Sister Tahera Ahmad, associate university chaplain and faculty fellow at Northwestern University in Illinois, will share some of those viewpoints in a University of Puget Sound lecture that addresses questions that Muslims and non-Muslims alike may ask as they encounter conflicting pictures of the Islamic religion and culture at 7:30 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall.

5. Guitarist, harpist and singer Brian Lee has led popular Northwest bands Brian Lee Trio, Streamliner, and Brian Lee & the Orbiters for many years. These musician's musicians have mantle full of awards, playing originals and cover. The Brian Lee Trio pops in at 8 p.m. for Blues Night at The Swiss Restaurant and Pub.

Oscar Nominated Shorts

For anyone with an Oscar pool, this weekend is as important to him or her as the Super Bowl was to gambling junkies. Yes, the time has come, once again, to learn just what exactly the Oscar nominees for Best Live Action and Animated Shorts are. These will be your edge in beating out your office mates when it comes to predicting the big winners come the Academy Awards. Because, let's be honest, we all know that Boyhood is winning Best Picture and JK Simmons is winning Best Supporting Actor (those predictions are yours for free), but the left-field awards are always relegated to the short films.

The Grand Cinema is here for you. Starting Friday, the live action and animated shorts will be compiled and shown at Tacoma's favorites theater. Short films of the past have included projects that have gone on to create great full-length films like this year's nominee, Whiplash. What's better than a three-hour nominee like Boyhood? How about a little over an hour of five nominees? The math speaks for itself.

Jupiter Ascending

The Wachowskis (now, someone regrettably, known as the Wachowski Starship) have quickly become the directing duo to most represent M. Night Shyamalan's career trajectory, with a noticeably downward trend. Bound is their best work, with The Matrix coming in second (and I will accept no arguments on this matter!). Ever since then - especially given the Matrix trilogy's unfortunate second and third acts - the Wachowskis have languished on the edges of the Hollywood blockbuster machine.

Their latest film, following their involvement in the divisive Cloud Atlas, is their much-anticipated Jupiter Ascending. For such an eye-popping blockbuster, the film's release in February should set off a million alarm bells. Its premier in 2015's movie graveyard does not portend the best for the Wachowskis' latest. Preliminary reports from the suspiciously secretive non-premier at Sundance do no bode well for this ambitious sci-fi adventure. What I can say, from my position of having seen nothing but the trailer, is that Jupiter Ascending may be a fascinating folly, which is more or less what we've come to expect from the Wachowskis.

For mainstream directors, the Wachowskis have never lacked for taking risks, including helping to adapt the un-adaptable Cloud Atlas and bringing a neon frenzy to Speed Racer. They're hit or miss, to be sure, but I'll take their gleeful pranking of the studio system over any Michael Bay franchise any day of the week.

TUESDAY, FEB. 3 2015 >>>

1.  With all the discussion about food these days, there has been is very little interest in the hands that pick it. The documentary Food Chains draws much needed attention to the oppressive conditions faced by many farm workers in the nation's tomato industry. Food Chains exposes the human cost in our food supply and the complicity of the supermarket industry. Catch the film at 1:45 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema.

2. Missionaries to the inland Northwest created the earliest and most substantial archives of Plateau Indian culture. Trevor J. Bond, head of Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections at Washington State University, will examine how collectors with varied motivations amassed American Indian cultural materials at 4 p.m. on the second floor of Collins Library on the University of Puget Sound campus.

3. Pierce County residents can learn how to grow their own food during the 2015 Edible Gardens Workshop series, which runs from February through November. The free series of monthly workshops, which are sponsored by Pierce County and the Pierce Conservation District, teach beginning gardeners how to plan a garden, prepare the soil, plant seeds, and harvest the food they've grown. Each workshop is designed to help students throughout the growing season by addressing what needs to be done in the garden that month. The classes combine presentations with hands-on activities. At 6 p.m., it's all about fruit trees in the Washington State University Extension Puyallup building.

4. If hearing the sound of your own cackling voice echoing off the walls of your shower stall has you craving the sound of something a bit more harmonious, check out the local songbirds at Victory Music Open Mic in the Antique Sandwich Co. from 7-10 p.m. It's guaranteed to be jam-packed with gorgeous sounds and humbling verses, as the South Sound's greatest up-and-coming acoustic musicians bare their souls impromptu-style.

5. Moby Grape was one of the most versatile San Francisco rock bands to emerge out of the summer of love. Sadly, through a combination of inner turmoil and bad management decisions, the mighty Moby Grape broke up in 1969. However, their debut album is still considered one of the best of all time by many critics, in part because of the nimble fingers of guitarist Jerry Miller. Miller was named one of the top 100 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone above Eddie Van Halen, Johnny Winter and Randy Rhoads. The Tacoma native has enjoyed a rich career sharing the stage with countless musicians including members of the Doobie Brothers and Carlos Santana. Miller hosts an open jam at 7 p.m. in Dave's of Milton.

MONDAY, FEB. 2 2015 >>>

1. The Tacoma Sister Cities International Film Festival kicks off tonight with Crossed Destinities, a Moroccan film in honor of sister city El Jajida, Morocco, which screens at 7 p.m. in the University of Puget Sound Rotunda. The French film set in Morocco follows Abdelkhalek and Rachida as they play host to their college friends, invited to spend the weekend at their beautiful beach house but don't know who sent the invitations bringing them all together. The group of 40-somethings begin to recall stories of their past and reveal to each other, and themselves, veiled truths and long hidden secrets with a central thread of mystery weaving through the story. A Moroccan cultural program will kicks off the night at 6:15 p.m.

2. In 2013, filmmaker Isaac Olsen (Quiet Shoes, Ich Hunger) and his friends started Strapping Young Productions, a company to promote Olsen's projects and local bands Red Hex, Trees and Timber, and the Dick Rossetti (former disc jockey at 107.7 The End) fronted Jilly Rizzo. Today, Rossetti and Olsen find themselves under a new umbrella, the online weekly radio show, "Underwhelmed." Kicking off at 6 p.m. on nwczradio.com, and every Monday from 6-7 p.m., the two will present "unshitty/shitty music played, revelry and neat segments like ‘Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes" and "Ten 30 Second Commercial Free Music Sweeps.'" Tonight's episode will feature an interview with The Clash, local calls bullshit on the Seahawks, NFL and all 12s in general, top tunes from Toto, The Germs, Tit Nuns, Chaka Khan and many more. ...

3. Get out your dancing shoes and join in the whimsy of a country western shuffle dance, hosted by the Evergreen Country Dancers from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Olympia Elks Lodge.

4. Don't stay home and watch TV - come listen to TV. Trumpeter Mike Lewis and friends are going to blow up your favorite TV theme songs in the Jazz Lab at 8 p.m. at Rhythm & Rye.

5. The Shelly Ely Band will fill The Swiss with blues at 8 p.m.

LINK: Monday, Feb. 2 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, FEB. 1 2015 >>>

1. We could have loaded today's 5 Things To Do with double entendres based on the concept of Super Bowl snacks and deflated balls. Instead, click here for several Super Bowl parties in the South Sound.

2. Pearl Django performs at 11 a.m. in the Museum of Glass. Pulling inspiration from the legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, Pearl Django has a signature Hot Club style marked by the band's expert string work, steady pulse of rhythm guitar and unmistakable swing that reaches out to audiences of all musical sensibilities.

3. These days, South Sound pubs offer more activities than a cruise ship. Tides Tavern wants to make it crystal clear its 12th Annual Tapmaster program isn't about chugging yards of beer then taking a flying leap off the dock into the harbor. Instead, the popular watering hole in Gig Harbor wants you to enjoy its 16 taps through the month of February. Get to know each beer. Ask the beers questions. Ask the bartenders questions. If by happenstance you drink all 16 beers in the 28 days, the Tides will give you a nifty T-shirt and add your name to the wall of fame.

4. We all know what it feels like to be stuck in a job we hate, where managers lead by harassment and double down on strategies that didn't work the first hundred times. Imagine you're trapped in a low-rent Chicago sales office with five alpha males, each struggling to sell Florida swampland before apathetic corporate overlords drop the axe. If you're looking to feel better about your working life, David Mamet's 1983 drama Glengarry Glen Ross is a great place to start. The Lakewood Playhouse stages the play at noon due to some big game on the tube. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Glengarry Glen Ross in the Music & Culture section.

5. Tacoma's humorous zombie art show returns but at a new location - Destiny City Comics. "Tacomapocalype 4: Back to the Future" focuses on "Zombies Vs. 80's Time Travel Movies." Check out the local zombie art from noon to 6 p.m.

LINK: Sunday, Feb. 1 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

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

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - JBLM's Directorate of Family Morale, Welfare and Recreation along with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service is providing three free opportunities for football fans to watch the biggest game of the year.

- Warrior Zone, on JBLM Lewis North, will be open at 10 a.m. and hold a Madden NFL ‘15 tournament beginning at noon. Former Seahawks player and pro football hall of famer, Walter Jones, will be there signing autographs and watching the game with Service members. There are more than 50 high-definition TV's to catch all of the action. (Admittance to the Warrior Zone is restricted to those 18 years and older.)

- Nelson Recreation Center, on JBLM Lewis Main, will also host a Madden NFL '15 tournament and provides a 20-foot projection screen. Doors open at noon.

- Carey Theater, on JBLM Lewis Main, is the family friendly viewing location for those football fans with family members younger than 18 years old. The audio system combined with the digital 15- by 24-foot digital screen will provide a live in-the-stadium atmosphere for the family football fans. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, JAN. 29 2015 >>>

1. Since his stage debut way back during World War II, Willie Nelson has laid claim to being one of our greatest singer-songwriters. He's beloved across genres and by people of all political stripes. Simply put, he's an icon, a living legend, and deservedly so. What you may not know about him is he recorded his first song, "No Place for Me," in Vancouver, Washington, where he worked as a disc jockey for KVAN. This was only a few years before he wrote "Crazy," arguably one of our greatest country songs. It's been said, in fact, that Patsy Cline's cover of "Crazy" is the biggest jukebox hit of all time, but that was no beginner's luck. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on Willie Nelson in the Music & Culture section, then catch Nelson's 8 p.m. show at the Emerald Queen Casino.

2. A public memorial service honoring the life of Babe Lehrer - Tacoma businesswoman, philanthropist and arts advocate - will be held at 4 p.m. in the Pantages Theater. Honor Babe's energy, spirit and tireless involvement to her community.

3. Seattle's Cody Beebe & The Crooks make rock music that is inspired by the frontier attitude of the American Heartland. When you hear their music, you hear the West's Americana and blues roots. However, rather than eclectic, the music comes off with a directness and unpretentious nature characteristic of their hometown's rock and roll. Having recently performed at The Gorge's Watershed Music Festival and having shared stages with acts as diverse and accomplished as Buddy Guy, Stevie Nicks, Austin Jenckes, and Allen Stone, CBC rolls into Jazzbones for a 6:30 p.m. show with Ayron Jones & The Way, Tango Alpha Tango and Jared James Nichols.

4. Audrey Marrs played a significant role in Olympia's music scene in the '90s rocking in bands Mocket and Bratmobile, before graduating from The Evergreen State College in 1999. She became a filmmaker, and with Charles Ferguson, documented the Iraq War and decisions made by the Bush Administration in No End In Sight. The duo won a fair share of awards. Marrs and Ferguson teamed up again, this time for the 2010 film Inside Job, an expose of the 2008 global financial meltdown. The duo won the 2011 Best Documentary Film Oscar. Marrs returns to Evergreen as part of the Willi Unsoeld Seminar Series and will give a free, public presentation - and show a 3-minute clip of her current film on climate change - at 7 p.m. in the Evergreen Longhouse.

5. Barleywine Revue is just awesome. The band writes and performs contemporary, relevant bluegrass and Americana music while paying homage to the traditions that have come in generations before ... think Bill Monroe meets Bill Withers. Oh man, that's fresh! Catch the band at 8 p.m. in The Swiss Restaurant & Pub.

LINK: Thursday, Jan. 29 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TUESDAY, JAN. 27 2015 >>>

1. She's Beautiful When She's Angry tells the story of the brilliant, often outrageous women who founded the feminist movement from 1966 to 1971. They said, "the personal is political" and made a revolution: in the bedroom, in the workplace, in all spheres of life. Called "threatening" by the FBI, yet ignored in many histories, these women changed the world. Since the '60s, when a generation of activists and critics dared to argue that women should be allowed to make decisions and hold jobs of note and be paid worth a damn and not get raped, feminism has fundamentally changed most aspects of our lives today. The Grand Cinema will screen Mary Dore's documentary as part of its Tuesday Film Series at 1:45 and 6:30 p.m.

2. Bates Technical College's Culinary Arts crew threw their hat into the ring during November's 2014 World Food Championships in Las Vegas and came out on top with their Snooty Chef Burger. This behemoth earned them fourth out of 50 of those competing, advancing them to the final round where they placed in the top 10. From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the citizens of the South Sound may dig into this championship burger at Bates Technical College's café for a cool $9.95 (price includes tax and fries).

3. Join King's Books as they celebrate the release of Fairest, the latest inThe Lunar Chronicles, by Tacoma's own Marissa Meyer. Fairest is a prequel to the other books in the series and tells the backstory of the dreaded Queen Levana. At the event you can hear Marissa read an excerpt, ask her questions, participate in fun activities, and, of course, buy books. Expect a large crowd. At 4 p.m., book signing tickets will be available and at 5 the doors will open. 

4. Some 20 years ago, Manny Chao was the first employee at Mac and Jack's Brewery. With Chao's help, Mac and Jack's amber ale became the third best selling craft brew in the state. Five years later, Chao left Mac and Jack's and by 2002, he and his housemate, Roger Bialous, homebrewed their first beer - Manny's Pale Ale. In 2003, Chao was the number one employee at his Georgetown Brewing Company located in Seattle's Georgetown district. In 2013, Chao and Bialous produced 52,300 barrels of beer - the second highest in the state behind Red Hook. Meet Chao at the Georgetown Brewing Brewer's Night from 5-7 p.m. at Pint Defiance, drink his Manny's Pale, Lovely Rieda Imperial IPA, Lucille IPA and Barrel-aged Chopper's Red Ale, learn the stories behind the beer names and maybe win a raffle prize. Over at Puget Sound Pizza, Hop Valley Brewing will unleash their Operation Vacation Extra Pale Ale and IPAs from 6-9 p.m.

4. The University of Puget Sound welcomes travel guru Rick Steves to its Schneebeck Concert Hall for a "Israelis and Palenstinians Today" chat at 7 p.m. Steves - book author, travel expert, pot smoker, global wanderer, TV host - has spent four months each year overseas for the last 30 years — including Israel and Palestine. According to pre-event hype, "Steves will share his impressions of the beauty of the Holy Land and explore legacies of the region's long history of conflicts, including the disputed settlements in the West Bank, the security wall built by the Israelis, and the long-lingering Palestinian refugee camps."

LINK: Tuesday, Jan. 27 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Oscar Nominations

It's been an unusually strong year for movies, with outliers like Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Whiplash and Boyhood even snagging spots on the list of nominees for this year's Oscars. Missing are the mega-blockbusters from years past that would fog up the nominations, like the overwhelmingly mediocre Avatar. Marion Cotillard even got a nomination for Best Actress in a foreign-language film (Two Days, One Night), which is incredibly rare.

Still, it wouldn't be the Academy Awards if we weren't bitching about some notable snubs. Most obvious, at first glance, is The Lego Movie missing from Best Animated Feature. Another quibble is Whiplash being nominated for Adapted Screenplay, as opposed to original, thanks to byzantine Academy rules that say that Whiplash having earlier been made in a short film means that it technically has been adapted from its earlier form. Worst of all, though, is the general lack of love given to Selma, which was easily the best biopic of the entire year, giving a fair and powerful portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr. While Selma did get nods for both Best Picture and Best Song, that's the entirety of it: nothing for stars David Oyelowo or Carmen Ejogo, or any other aspect of the film.

Still, it's overall a very thoughtful group of films chosen by an underground order or ancient white men. Way to almost be progressive and then fail at the last second, Hollywood!

Liberace Hologram

If anyone has spent any amount of time talking to me, you know my undying love for the HBO Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra. Others, who have talked to me when I'm drunk, may know of my idea for Behind the Candelabra's unofficial, direct-to-DVD sequel, Beyond the Candelabra, wherein Liberace is a ghost: Beau Bridges as Liberace, Macaulay Culkin as his young lover and Harry Dean Stanton as a Ghostbuster. There will be a love triangle, and it will be directed by David Cronenberg.

Still, I'm clearly not the only person interested in bringing Liberace back from the grave. It has been announced that Liberace will be joining the likes of Michael Jackson and Tupac Shakur in hologram form. No word yet on whether these holographic celebrities will join forces as interdimensional crime-fighters, but what we do know is that Liberace will once again tread the boards of Las Vegas and other venues, bringing his campy wit, indelible piano skills and general old-lady-wooing back from the nth dimension.

Justin Bieber

We can probably track the downward trajectory of the televised Comedy Central Roasts to that disastrous Roast of Chevy Chase, which featured a cavalcade of strangers making fun of a visibly upset Chase, with everyone's feeling getting hurt in the end. Continuing the tradition of shooting fish in a barrel, Comedy Central has announced that everyone's least favorite person, Justin Bieber, will be on the business end of their next roast. Odds are solid that the event will either end in Justin Bieber crying or trying to fight off those mean, mean comedians.

Whoever wins, we lose.