WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Garage On Broadway: The city-owned garage next to the McMenamins Elks Temple is not looking good. (News Tribune)

The Show Must Go On: despite budget shortfalls the Tacoma City Council will continue to fund local events and neighborhood markets. (News Tribune)

Fourth Of July In The Boonies: Pierce County Council says residents in unincorporated Pierce County can continue to blow shit up for eight days. (News Tribune)

GOP Presidential Race: Rick Santorum's hat-trick reshaping the contest that will decide who runs against President Obama in November. (CNN)

Watch Out For The Thing: Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice. (BBC)

Metallica: It has its own summer music festival. (USA Today)

Jay And Silent Bob: The cartoon. (Paste)

Today's Lesson: The history of the middle finger. (BBC)

Times Are Tough. Even for Batman. (Comicbeat)

BE A PART OF THE HOOPLA >>>

Contemplate if you will - and as you most likely have - your past Oscar experiences. Lonely. Nachos with not enough cheese. Asleep on the couch before the Best Original Screenplay winners are named.

Wake up, little starlet! You can endure the four-hour show by exchanging snarky comments with your fellow film enthusiasts in a movie theater environment. The Grand Cinema hosts an Academy Awards Party Sunday, Feb. 26 at the Theatre on the Square in downtown Tacoma.  The doors open at 4 p.m. for the 5 p.m. preshow telecast of nominees walking down the red carpet, in which otherwise talented people such as Hillary Swank and Leonardo DiCaprio engage in inane chatter with an inane interviewer.

Bobble Tiki is here to tell you it's going to be on helluva party. For $25 ($20 for Grand members), attendees receive dinner by Maxwell's Restaurant, dessert by Corina Bakery, and several chances to win raffle prizes throughout the evening. By correctly guessing the most Oscar winners, you can win the coveted Golden Ticket, which allows you free movies at the Grand for an entire year.

Finally, there's something positive about the Academy Awards. Bobble Tiki watches the ceremony now to amuse himself with how wonderfully predictable the Academy is - and also to see what ridiculous thing Helena Bonham Carter will wear this year, or what stupid thing Steven Seagal will do. (Bobble Tiki always thought an Exit Wound was that numb feeling in his butt after he leaves a Seagal movie.)

For those who treat Oscar night as another excuse to dress up, the Weekly Volcano promises more than $100 worth of gift certificates for best costume. Yup, the Weekly Volcano is sponsoring the costume contest.

Bobble Tiki hopes Steven Seagal attends this year's Academy Awards. Bobble Tiki wants one cutaway shot of Seagal, brooding in the back corner of the upper mezzanine, eating a box of JuJuBees and trying to see over Carrot Top's hair. It'd be the crowning touch on the world's most anticipated show. 

[Theatre on the Square, Sunday, Feb. 26, doors at 4 p.m., $20-$25 includes dinner, dessert, cash bar, 915 Broadway, downtown Tacoma, buy tickets here]

SEE SOMETHING NEW EACH WEEK >>>

Hey, me again. With the first month of the year already gone, just thought I'd check in and see how those New Year's resolutions were coming. Maybe your list looks a lot like everyone else's - exercise more, drink less, actually start reading the Buzz and send its tireless author some fan mail.

But how about bulking up your IQ? No, the other one - your Indie Quota. Do you get enough alternative cinema in your weekly diet? If Mom said eating your carrots sharpened those eyeballs, consuming enough indie film will indeed change how you see the world.

Thanks to its Tuesday Film Series, The Grand Cinema has spent the last six months ramping up the number of titles marching through its doors. The program kicked off on July 26, 2011, with the American documentary Lords of Nature. The theater has since used each subsequent Tuesday to bring in a different film beyond its regular weekly run, amounting to a unique experience for viewers every time.

Executive director Philip Cowan handpicks the growing list, noting that the series "gives me a chance to play 52 more films a year ... that (The Grand) otherwise wouldn't have had a chance to play."

Since a movie shows only twice before moving on (typically afternoons and evenings), it pays to plan ahead. Reviewing options for the next several weeks on the Grand's website, grandcinema.com, I'd say the locally-shot doc Grounds for Resistance (Feb 7), followed by rom-com Medianeras for Valentine's Day, may start making Tuesday the new day for film.

Watch the Grounds for Resistance trailer below.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Welcome to 2012: Pierce and Thurston County home prices suck. (News Tribune)

Shirtless in East Pierce County: Oh, the man was carrying a hatchet and stole a Pierce County sheriff's patrol car. (News Tribune)

W.T.F.: Sound Transit may soon spend an additional $24 million to study and design a longer southern extension of light rail, reviving hope that trains will someday reach Federal Way. (News Tribune)

Prop 8 Decision Coming This Morning: California measure banned gay marriage. (NPR)

PAC Man: Obama's re-election campaign will begin using administration and campaign aides to raise funds for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing the president. (CNN)

Messing With Sidewalk Cappuccinos: Atmospheric patterns that normally keep Arctic cold over the poles abruptly changed in January, pushing frigid air over Europe. Shrinking polar ice caps may be to blame. (CNN)

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner: Fucking nuts. (BBC)

Zombie Report: The actor who played George A. Romero's first zombie has died ... we think. (USA Today)

Falling Mad Men Guy: The 32 best Mad Men subway poster hacks. (Best Week Ever)

Didn't See This Coming: Madonna embarks on a world tour in May. (omg!)

South Park's Cartman: He's real. (Dangerous Minds)

Beardski: Board like Chewie. (The Awesomer)

Today's Tingly Moment: They Have a Hulk

IT'S NOT THAT DICAPRIO FLICK >>>

One of your New Year's resolutions was to up your culture intake, thus impressing all the pretentious pricks for whose admiration you yearn.

Ha. Well, foreign films are perfect pretense fodder.

For extra intellectual bedazzlement, skip the snotty, food-laced French flicks, over sexed Italian romps, and whacked-out Indian song-and-dance jobs, and move right into the Japanese. You can't go wrong with the simple moral plots and brilliant aesthetics of a comedic film from the land of the rising sun.

Thursday, as part of the awesome Tacoma Sister Cities International Film Festival, the Blue Mouse Theatre screens Cast Me If You Can. Directed by Atsushi Ogata, Cast Me If You Can centers on an actor, hampered with supporting roles and the shadow of his famous playwright father, who falls in love with an energetic aspiring actress and rediscovers himself.

Arrive early to enjoy a cultural program in conjunction with Tacoma's sister city, Kitakyushu, Japan.

[Blue Mouse Theatre, Cast Me If You Can, Thursday, Feb. 9, 6:15 p.m. cultural program, 7 p.m. film, $10, 2611 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253.752.9500]

IT'S ON TONIGHT >>>

Tonight at midnight, Warren Etheredge's thought-provoking interview series, The High Bar, will debut on Tacoma's KBTC public television.

Back in December, Weekly Volcano scribe Jenni Prange Boran reported on The High Bar, which is produced by Tacoma's Jason Ganwich. The Seattle-based interview program features cultural conversationalist and film analyst Etheredge interviewing film stars and directors, cultural big shots and authors. Tonight's guest is actor and comedian Larry Miller.

As Boran reported in the Weekly Volcano, "Fitting as, since Ganwich's involvement, The High Bar has twice shot on location in Tacoma and utilized Tacoma-based professionals like make-up artists Athena Hitson and Kari Baumann, gaffer Austen Hoogen and, under the guidance of instructor Brian Parker, an array of eager and talented interns from Tacoma's Bates Technical College's Digital Media Department. While the majority of the episodes shoot in Seattle, Tacoma is quickly charming the production."

Below is a clip highlighting Etheredge's mad interviewing skills.

GET YOUR GAME FACE ON >>>

It's Super Bowl Sunday, possums, and the Weekly Volcano has to confess to feeling a tad bipolar about the whole thing: glad to see the Pats in it again and ready to don our ''Mrs. Brady" T-shirt, but also bored to distraction at the thought of subjecting ourselves to a four-hour advertising blitz interrupted by a few minutes of pro football.

Weekly Volcano editor Matt Driscoll offers 11 tips for certain Super Bowl XLVI success here.

At The Mix's Super Bowl Party, the Weekly Volcano can at least whoop it up with some of the craziest, gayest fans in Tacoma ... and maybe win a trip to Vegas. For every drink you purchase during The Mix's Super Bowl Party, you'll receive a raffle ticket in the Vegas drawing, as well as an opportunity to win four of five other big prizes. The Triangle District watering hole will serve $5 Jack shots, $5 Bloody Marys and free food during the game. Folks are encouraged to bring food, too.

Seeing as the Weekly Volcano won't be eligible for the Vegas trip or other prizes if we stay at home, we will just have to defy all expectations that our couch or dog might maintain.

[The Mix, 2 p.m., 635 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.4327]

Post your party below!

LINK: Super Bowl Sunday eating in Tacoma

LINK: Super Bowl at the Liberty Theater

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Puyallup City Council: A moment of silence before discussing daffodils? (News Tribune)

We're Number 15!: Tacoma is overpriced, according to Forbes magazine. (Tacoma KOMO)

Olympia Coffee Roasting: They know what they're doing. (The Olympian)

Hacked While Discussing Hacking: Anonymous releases what it says is a recording of a phone call between the FBI and UK police discussing their efforts against hacking. (BBC)

National Jobless Rate: Employers added 243,000 jobs in January, higher than anticipated. Hiring numbers for 2011 were also revised, with 180,000 more jobs added than originally thought. (CNN)

Football Anger: Egyptian protesters clash with security forces for a second day in Cairo, as anger over the deaths of dozens of football fans threatens political unrest. (BBC)

Sasquatch! 2012: The lineup has been announced. (KEXP)

Rock Star TV: Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and comedian Dana Gould are working on a TV show that would revolve around a rock band on the verge of stardom and breaking up. (The Hollywood Reporter)

It is its Density: Will Back To The Future become the latest film to get a Broadway stage production? (Deadline)

Unluckiest Person Ever?: Entire town wins lottery, except for one man. (Time)

Screw The X Games: Until you've strapped an ironing board to your back and climbed a 14er to iron the fuck out of a dress shirt, you haven't lived. (BuzzFeed)

To Cap Off A Slow News Morning

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Gay Marriage: State Senate votes 28-21 to legalize it. (Weekly Volcano)

Occupy Tacoma Camp: The welcome is wearing thin. (News Tribune)

LeMay Car Museum: Paul Miller is the man. (News Tribune)

You Suck Punxsutawney Phil: Rodent predicts six more weeks of winter. (Chicago Tribune)

South Sound Is In A Lesbian Sandwich: The 21 most lesbianish cities in America. (Jezebel)

TV: Showtime has renewed freshman comedy House of Lies and returning series Shameless and Californication for additional seasons. (Hollywood Reporter)

Helpful: How to pronounce things hilariously. (Kottke)

Yo Pudding Head: Cosby hoodie. (Dangerous Minds)

Just In Time For Valentine's Day

THURSDAY, FEB. 2, 2012 >>>

1. Tacoma figurative painter and editorial cartoonist Jeremy Gregory has taken his dark sense of humor to the world of puppetry. We don't need to tell you that since you recognized his talent on the Halloween and Christmas covers of the Weekly Volcano. Gregory will showcase his original puppets made from repurposed materials from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the artist reception of his Tiny Circles show at Brooks Dental Studio at 732 Broadway in downtown Tacoma.

2. Bluegrass music was born in the '40s from the fast fingers of mandolin player Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, and from there quickly took its place as a cornerstone of American music. As an offshoot of country, it's often associated with the South, but Tacomans who love the twang of the banjo or tight climb of the mandolin need look no further than the next three days at the Mandolin Cafe. The neighborhood gathering spot will host the Rhythm and Roots Weekend kicking off with a good ol' fashion bluegrass jam tonight from 6-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights are loaded with local talent; click here for details.

3. The 10th anniversary of the Sister Cities International Film Festival opens at 6:15 p.m. at Tacoma's Blue Mouse Theater with 200 Pound Beauty from Gunsan, South Korea - a sister city of Tacoma since 1978. According to promotion for 200 Pound Beauty, Hanna is a famous Korean pop singer who also suffers from poor self-esteem. In the film, Hanna "makes the decision of a lifetime to have full-body plastic surgery." More information on the Sister Cities International Film Fest can be found at sistercityfilmfest.org.

4. Ah, Ricky J's in Puyallup. It's a nice family restaurant. They have a bunch of karaoke nights. And they serve coconut shrimp. But on Thursday nights Alan Smith brings in national-touring comics for big shows at 8 p.m. We're talking $15 at the door big shows. Tonight, Gabriel Rutledge and friends will be in the house.

5. Oh, the plight of the fashionable Tacoma basshead. All dolled up with a $125 Soma record bag and no place to go. No record shop counter to trade esoteric labels by, no listening booths to thoughtfully nod bleached heads at. Boo hoo - nowhere to share your chic catalogue number trivia. Well, at least you have tonight at the new Deltan Club. DJs Omarvelous, Bada$$ Paul Wheeler, Jess E Bomb, Electro and guests will spin at "Beat Fetish!" beginning at 10 p.m. Ah, just a techstep away.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

LINK: Local happy hours