STIFF's evening show at Grand Illusion Cinema last Sunday brought a mixed bag of films to a nearly packed house. A Man, Buried (which I previewed in an earlier Movie Biz Buzz) started things off on the right note, with viewers enjoying this magical, darkly comic fable. While Tacoma's Rick Walters, who produced the short, didn't attend the screening, writer-director Jesse Watson, cinematographer Chris Taylor, and lead actor Tony Doupe all shared their experience during a brief Q&A.

Doupe in particular had the challenging task of playing two versions of the same character who, after a little editing abracadabra, appear and interact on screen simultaneously. When asked which "Kyle" he preferred exploring, he responded, "I usually get cast as cops and creeps, so to play a non-creep (the "good" Kyle), a straight-up kind of guy - I never get to play guys like that...So that was fun to play."

As a first-year STIFF volunteer, Tacoma's Ashley Cozine has got to witness first-hand not only her community's growing presence within festivals like this with works like A Man, Buried, but in the larger Seattle film scene.

"I'm excited about it," she says. "There's a big group of Tacoma filmmakers that I think are going to have a lot of potential to exceed everyone's expectations." She appears later this week in STIFF selections Till Death Do Us Part (May 9) and Dessert and Suicide (May 10).

After Buried came Knot., a cine-quickie which involved roughly 3 spoken words, 2 guys, one necktie, and zero story. The end. Bye. The audience lets out a collective "did we just get punk'd?" uncomfortable laugh during the credits. I still can't figure out how STIFF gave this anti-film the green light.

The feature QWERTY suffers from the opposite problem: plot overload. One story line follows QWIRKY heroine Zoe Rezillo's predictable path to the National Scrabble Championship in Chicago (gonna need a montage!), and her triumphant win. (Sorry to spoil the ending, but the film's first scene pretty much spells this out.)

QWERTY's other unconnected subplot, her QWERKY romance with suicidal Marty Huckhound, asks viewers to suspend everything they know about human relationships. Maybe these things just work differently in Chi-Town, because over there, ambitious, attractive, sock-puppet-knitting gals like Zoe (did I mention her QWURKINESS??) apparently fall head over heels for unemployed manic-depressives like Marty, who barely has time to wash his hair since he can only think of plunging into the nearest freezing river and drinking sweet, sweet oblivion.

Zoe's devotion to him spits at believability and plain reason. Within days after meeting she finds Marty a job and invites him to move in. What's that? The crazy vagrant from the train station wants to live here too? Pick him up! I'll make him a sandwich! To borrow one character's phrasing, "Oh my Three's Company."

QWORKEEE Zoe even made up her own ador-ugh-ble nickname for her charity case, I mean new disheveled boyfriend: Mucky! I think A.V. Club's "head writer-person" Nathan Rabin would label this type of movie character "Manic Pixie Dream Girl," a girl utterly convinced her dimpled smile and charm will chase all her boy's blues away.

Do I sound a teensy bit annoyed with QWERTY? Did the girl at the bar after the screening invite me to dinner this week when I made a total heinie of myself? But the film told me she would!

Another drink, barkeep. And make it a STIFF one.

Don't let my ranting stop you from catching a few festival flicks before the Closing Night Party on Saturday, May 12. For tickets and information visit http://trueindependent.org/. 

In partnership with Immanuel Presbyterian Church, the Grand Cinema hosts three films for the City of Destiny Faith & Film Series. Tuesday (May 8) it is Higher Ground.

Where

The Grand Cinema
606 South Fawcett Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98402-2321
(253) 593-4474

Contact

www.grandcinema.com

Event Hours

2 pm 6 pm Please Check website to verify show times.

Event Price

$5-$7 with membership, $6.50-$8.50 general

Can you believe already three years have passed since producer/co-writer Randy Sparks finished his short comedy It Don't Rain on Sunny Days? Even more unbelievable is that I and the Volcano still can't shut up about it. Actually, I get into such a forward-thinking mindset, always seeking out the newest local film or up-and-comer, that I find it a rare treat returning to a classic, like checking in on an old friend.

Since its premiere at the 2009 Tacoma Film Festival and a showing at Gig Harbor's festival the following year, Sunny appeared to have disappeared, perhaps away to that big DVD bin in the sky. But it has plummeted back to earth and landed in, of all places, glorious Utah!

Provo, you ask? You wish - the short will screen not once but twice at the Park City Film Music Festival (May 25 - June 3) for its first-ever out-of-state cameo. And no, I didn't forget to put the word "and" between Film Music. Not only has the comedy scored recognition for its tale of a lovable loser who bumbles into a lottery windfall (or has he???), but some folks think its eclectic soundtrack (with music by Sparks and Tacoma artists Dave McKibbin, Leanne Trevalyan and others) rocks too.

"(Sunny)'s still got legs...It really surprised me," says Sparks.

Now living in Park City, the film's star, Joe Rosati, has history with this particular festival. He also starred in and composed part of the score for 100%-Tacoma feature A Perfect Life, which in 2011 took away PCFMF's Gold Medal for Excellence in Original Music for a Feature Film.

Sparks's drive to Utah in a few weeks probably won't take as long as reciting that title, and in any case he sees winning awards for his work as icing on the cake. "Even if we don't win a medal, just the fact that it's playing at a festival of this caliber...It's just a great way to honor those musicians that have contributed to the film."

(Photo courtesy Gerry Collen)

WEAK AND WEARY >>>

Great news, guys! It turns out that 2012 is the year of historical fan fiction! Later on in the year, we'll get to experience the origin story of Scientology in The Master, as well as the re-imagination of Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter (in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, natch), but first, let's see what it would have been like if Edgar Allen Poe had been a detective hot on the heels of a serial killer who culls inspiration for his dastardly deeds from the works of Poe. Awesome, I guess! I think it would have looked a little something like this. ...

In The Raven, the famously homely, potato-browed alcoholic is rather forgivingly portrayed by American Sweetheart John Cusack (Lloyd Dobler, lovably loquacious kickboxer). Poe's attention is called to a string of grisly (GRISLY!) murders, which draw inspiration from Poe's macabre stories. Detective Fields solemnly declares, "I believe the killer is taunting us." Don't you just hate it when that happens?

All of your favorite Poe stories are represented, here: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Cask of Amontillado" (probably), "The Case of I Know You Stole My Bottle of Absinthe, Poe, So Why Don't You Just Fess Up and Quit Ruining This Dinner Party" - all the classics.

I suppose the take-away from the bewildering existence of The Raven is that someone out there is looking out for what I can only presume is a very dedicated - though almost certainly troubled - collective of fans of From Hell ("A psychic Johnny Depp battling with Jack the Ripper? From Hell, where have you been all our lives?!" cries a desperate nation).

My idea for the next great historical fan fiction? Jack Ruby. Not only Lee Harvey Oswald's murderer, but a suave international jewel thief. It's called Jack's Rubies. Patent pending.

Late in 2011, a French director, hardly known to American audiences, came to this country with his film The Artist and won the admiration of critics and five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Now we head back east, as select American moviemakers invade the shores of France for next month's swanky Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27).

Not impressed yet? Maybe this will do it for you: two such moviemakers happen to live right here in Pierce County. Yes indeedy, writer-directors Ronald Lagman and Kristi L. Simkins will soon have their respective works joining one of the most respected festivals in the world.

Like The Artist, Lagman's short Tapat Sa Pangako (Committed) carries viewers along using only imagery and music. A supposedly romantic evening for one married couple (played by local actors Rick Walters and Melinda Raebyne) reveals a dark truth about their relationship that words can't describe.

Besides an early 2012 solo screening at The Space in Tacoma, Committed has only played at Seattle's Post Alley Film Festival. Now it belongs to an international showcase at Cannes called Short Film Corner, where attendees can access Lagman's work on a digital library at any point during the festival.

The Filipino filmmaker received an acceptance email on March 10th, and couldn't believe what he saw. Actually, he first had to understand the message since it was partly in French. Luckily his wife Juliette helped translate. After the initial congratulations, a question arose: Could the couple afford to make the transatlantic voyage together?

"We need to go. We want to go," Lagman tells me. "It's an opportunity that we couldn't pass."

Read more...

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Sorry Eatonville Roughians: Your police force is still active. (News Tribune)

Tacoma Scores $7.2 million For Point Ruston: Gov. Chris Gregoire signed more than $1 billion in public works spending. (News Tribune)

Tacoma Drinks: More than 165 state liquor stores were auctioned off, with the highest single bid for a store on Tacoma's Pacific Avenue. (News Tribune)

Reality TV Taking Its Toll?: The number of immigrants coming from Mexico to the U.S. has steeply declined while the number of Mexicans leaving has increased sharply. (CNN)

Fashion Rules: 29 trends you need to try before you die. (Refinery 29)

Surprised There Wasn't More: FOX's 25 worst shows of the past 25 years. (Zap 2 It)

Ride The Snake: 5 memorable TV drug trips. (Hollywood Reporter)

TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012 >>>

1. The Diversity Film Festival continues at The Grand Cinema with each film a meditation on the theme of cultural diversity. The concept began a few miles (and years) away from The Grand, at Tacoma Community College. Dr. Scott Earle, a TCC English and Humanities instructor since 1999, along with fellow teachers and staff, has hosted on-campus film screenings of this sort for some time. A suggestion was made to Earle and his colleagues in late 2010 to graduate their young program - let it leave the classroom and test its wings in the community. Today at 2 and 6:30 p.m., the Grand will screen Scheherazade, Tell Me A Story, which playfully yet bitingly evokes the titular Arabian Nights fabulist in contemporary Egypt.

2. Tacoma Restaurant Week continues through Thursday offering diners a $25 three-course dinner menu and optional $15 three-course lunch at 25 participating area restaurants. For a list of participating restaurants, and their phone numbers for reservations, click here.

3. Taking cues from early hardcore, as well as perennial punk from the '80s, Portland's Autistic Youth make driving, anthemic stuff that'll clear up your sinuses. Songs rush by in delirious two-minute bursts of group cheering and insistent drumming. The band will be joined at 6 p.m. inside Tahoma Tea & Co. by a stupid good assembly of punk acts from all over: the frantic Youth Avoiders from France, Oakland's chunky and melodic Acid Fast, rising punk locals Snak Pak, and fellow Tacoman punks Criminal Code, who will be leaving on tour following the show. 

4. The Choir of the West returns from its tour to Oregon with 10 more ways to order coffee and a bunch of varied choral work, which it will present at 8 p.m. inside Lagerquist Concert Hall.

5. The guttural growl and the howling vox of Author & Punisher's post industrial robotic doom metal will fill The New Frontier Lounge at 9 p.m. Taurus and Helms alee will also join the fun.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: South Sound happy hours

THE WEEK IN GEEK IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

And we're back! Nerd Alert is the Spew blog's recurring events calendar devoted to all things nerdy. I myself am a Star Wars fan, mathlete, and spelling bee champion of long standing, so trust me: I grok whereof I speak. As a matter of fact, this column took me hours to write because I kept getting distracted by the Scale of the Universe website.

Monday, April 23

Ken Jennings, you'll remember, was the Mormon mentat who won 74 straight games of Jeopardy! back in 2004. All in all, Jennings earned more than $3 million on the show, only to have his carbon-based heinie handed to him by Watson the IBM supercomputer. He then went on to win half a million bucks on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, author three books, and top the rookie division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in his first time competing. This personable, telegenic specimen from the next phase of human evolution will be at Powell's City of Books tonight, signing his national bestseller Maphead and generally reminding you what a moron you are by comparison.

[Powell's City of Books, Ken Jennings book signing, free, 7:00 p.m., 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Portland, 503.228.4651]

Wednesday, April 25

Olympia Satanists hold their monthly meeting in the Olympia Center. Personally, I have no interest in standing with the cloven-hooved Lord of Ordure - that South Park movie effectively declawed Old Scratch - but I advertise his conclave chiefly to counter the actions of a club of Evergreen fundamentalists who keep removing Satanists' flyers. (Not cool, Christians. A simple "get behind me" will do.) I was surprised to learn Olympia Satanists have a blog and a Facebook page; topics covered there include a hidden egg project, prayers of gratitude for fornication, and how to grow a silly "Satanic" Penn Jillette beard. Even more diabolical, they promise to lure you into their evil embrace through the strategic application of cookies. Not the Internet kind-just...cookies. Those fork-tailed bastards.

[The Olympia Center, Olympia Satanists gathering, free (unless you value your mortal soul), 7:30 p.m., 222 Columbus St. NW, Olympia, olympia.worshipsatan.org]

Friday, April 27

Furries unite - it's Procession of the Species weekend in Olympia! Yes, it's Oly's beloved 18th annual tribute to natural selection, human creativity, and the flora and fauna of planet Earth. Friday sundown brings the Luminary Procession, culminating in the release of glowing gossamer balloons over Sylvester Park Capital Lake. It's effing magical. Then, on Saturday afternoon, about 30,000 members of species H. sapiens will gather to watch a few more thousand hominids dress as gregarious wildlife. Ironically, the parade enforces a strict "no pets" policy, which seems more than a little anthropocentric for the occasion. Procession policy does, however, allow human spectators to join in the parade at any point along its route.

[The Procession of the Species, Friday, April 27 9:30 p.m., Saturday, April 28, 4:30 p.m., free, Cherry St. and Legion Way, Olympia, 360.705.1087]

Friday also marks the release date of The Pirates! Band of Misfits, a whimsical kiddie flick about, as you may well predict, a band of hapless buccaneers. We mention this movie only because it's the latest release from Aardman Animation, the quirky English outfit that gave us Chicken Run and the classic Wallace and Gromit shorts. It's been out for several weeks in the U.K., where it earned an impressive 92 percent score on the (Rotten) Tomatometer. In other words, you could do a lot worse ... like, say, The Raven, which enjoys a "freshness rating" of 23 percent as this column goes to press.

Until next week, may the odds be ever in your favor, the Force be with you, and your Darwin fish car magnet unmolested.

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012 >>>

1. Every Monday at 8:30 p.m. inside Magoo's Annex DJ Melodica hosts the Monday Showcase - a night of guests DJs and live bands. Tonight, guest DJ Darren Selector will spin his garage tunes in between sets by Umber Sleeping.

2. We often hear the cliché about "taking things to the next level." But what does that mean exactly? Would we recognize the next level if we saw it? Maybe so. Beginning today, the City of Tacoma would like you to take your homestead to the next level, and by that we mean off the Sanford & Son Junkyard Spitting Image Tour before someone at City Safety has "The big one." The City won't send over colorful fellas from the Bravo network, but it has developed a yard load of awesome free workshops and events to help you improve your home and yard during its Tacoma Neighborhood Makeover Week April 23-28. 

3. The Tacoma School District needs to know your thoughts on budget, services and programs. It asks you to attend a 6 p.m. meeting at First Creek Middle School and participate in an interactive polling session where you will use an individual handheld electronic device - like a TV remote control - to vote on and prioritize more than 60 district programs and services.

4. Tacoma Food Co-op invites the public to its screening of Food Matters at 7 p.m. in Rausch Auditorium on the campus of the University of Puget Sound. The focus of the documentary is in helping society rethink the belief systems fed to people by America's modern medical and health care establishments. The interviewees point out that not every problem requires costly, major medical attention and reveal many alternative ways that can be more effective, more economical, less harmful and less invasive than conventional medical treatments.

5. In Jon Wells' new book Shipwrecked: A People's History of the Seattle Mariners he asserts that the reasons the Mariners haven't reached the World Series are poor management and short-sighted ownership, despite the fact that they have three first-ballot Hall of Fame players. Hear his thoughts live at 7 p.m. inside the Olympic Room at the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: South Sound happy hours

THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Showers, hi 53, lo 44

Saturday: Mostly cloudy, hi 65, lo 47

Sunday: Partial sunshine, hi 72, lo 51

>>> FRIDAY, APRIL 20-Sunday, April 22: Environmental Film Festival

Nature nurtures both our physical and artistic instincts. A filmmaker, for instance, looks about and sees Earth as one vast mise-en-scène, its raw materials photographed in endless combinations to suit infinite stories. The Olympia Film Society's third annual Environmental Film Festival, April 20-22, celebrates a few of those stories that carry a unifying message: lean, clean and green, baby. See the Olympia Film Society's website for a list of films.

• Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave., Olympia, 360.754.6670
  

>>> SATURDAY, APRIL 21: Sweet Freedom's Jubilee

Born Aramintha Ross, a slave in Maryland in the early 1800s, Harriet Tubman became the courageous rescuer of hundreds of slaves via the Underground Railroad. Tubman's remarkable life of more than 90 years was packed with amazing adventures, bravery against all odds, and unwavering commitment to the freedom and dignity of African Americans. Sometimes called "Moses" or simply "The Conductor," Tubman could neither read nor write but spoke eloquently at numerous anti-slavery and women's rights rallies in the North. Saturday at B2 Gallery in downtown Tacoma, Karol Brown plays an elder Tubman in Sweet Freedom's Jubilee, a performance of Negro spirituals and stories to celebrate the 99th anniversary of this famous abolitionist's death.

• B2 Gallery, 7 p.m., $15, 711 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.238.5056

>>> SATURDAY, APRIL 21: Record Store Day

Who ever said vinyl is dead? This Saturday is Record Store Day, a day to celebrate music with some of the most anticipated vinyl releases of the year. Record Store Day began in 2008 as a way to attract music fans to dying record stores. Since then it has become a marker day for artists from all over the world to release special edition vinyls, new albums, and rare singles. This year is no exception with new music from live the Black Keys and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, 7" vinyl from Foster the People and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, a limited-run, 180g vinyl from Death Cab and hundreds of other items. Participating stores in the South Sound include Phantom City and Rainy Day in Oly, plus Disc Connection and Rocket Records in Tacoma. For the full roster of swag for sale, visit RecordStoreDay.com. Then show your local disk pushers some love. They deserve it.

>>> SUNDAY, APRIL 22: Wayzgoose

There aren't enough places in the world where you can watch Tacoma stalwart sweet pea Flaherty drive a steamroller over stuff while simultaneously creating the art of letterpress. The annual Wayzgoose event at King's Books just happens to be one of them. Already in its eighth year (holy crap!), there's a reason Wayzgoose is on the lips of every artful Tacoman this time of year ... and, frankly, it has a lot to do with sweet pea driving a steamroller. Of course, the collection of letterpressers and book artists Wayzgoose brings together doesn't hurt. Check out Kristin Kendle's feature story on Wayzgoose in the Arts section at weeklyvolcano.com. 

• King's Books, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., no cover, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801

WHAT SOME OF OUR STAFF MEMBERS ARE UP TO

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL Theater Critic
Starting this weekend, my life becomes one big La Traviata rehearsal. My wife has also accepted a solo role, with only 10 days to learn it. If I have any spare time whatsoever, I'd love to just sit down and catch up with my Netflix and DVR queues.

MOLLY GILMORE Features writer
I'm going to see Distracted at Olympia Little Theatre and going to the Washington Press Association awards luncheon (because, yes, we Volcano writers are award-winning!).

ALEC CLAYTON Arts Critic
I'm taking this weekend off from awesomeness.

NIKKI TALOTTA Music Writer
Friday, I'm bartending happy hour, where I will be mixing up the goods and keeping an eye out for another awesome story to add to my Behind Bars collection. Saturday is a toddler birthday party. Sunday is reading, writing and relaxing.

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
Friday night the little toddler and I will be hanging out while the husband is busy getting ready for Artrageous. Saturday morning, the toddler will be hanging out with one of his favorite people and I'll head to a friend's house to spend about four hours writing. Saturday evening the whole family will be heading to Artrageous for the toddler's first fundraiser. We'll head to church on Sunday and hopefully get to go play outside, or nap.

NIC LEONARD Music writer
I am out in Illinois playing shows here this weekend.  Also I will be getting drunk and sleeping

JOSH RIZEBERG Music Columnist
Friday I'll be teaching my spoken word poetry class starting at 6 p.m. inside The D.A.S.H. Center for the Arts. Call (253) 507-9466 to register or just drop-in! Saturday I'll check-out hip-hop is Alive Part 2 put on by A-Hyp featuring Leezy Soprano, The Sandlot, Chief Noo, hosted by Blak Mic with D.J. Semaj spinning. The Show is at the Harmon Taproom Underground and starts at 9 p.m. and is $5. Sunday I'll probably venture up north to Seattle at The Crocodile to see Katie Kate. It's $10, 8 p.m., all-ages. 

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Photographer
Fitting pig town at the Spring Fair and then Footloose at Tacoma Little Theatre and then rounding out the weekend with a trip to The New Frontier to see the Squirt reunion show.

JENNI BORAN Features Writer
Friday will be spent watching my 5-year-old delight in digging a space in our yard to make room for a garden. Saturday and Sunday: heading to a friend's house on Whidbey Island to "meet the baby!"

LINK: Even more local events that we recommend

LINK: Comprehensive South Sound Arts & Entertainment Calendar