Tacoma artist/filmmaker/teacher Larry Huffines has been selected as one of 20 Americans to compete on season two of HGTV's All American Handyman show, which premieres tonight at 9 p.m. Huffines, a teacher at Annie Wright School, has proven he's worthy, and now will hammer on his fellow contestants before HGTV's celebrity judges Mike Holmes (Holmes on Homes) and Scott McGillivray (Income Property), plus a secret weekly judge. Huffines does have an edge - in addition to his awesome toolbelt and handyman skills. He's comfortable with celebrities. For years Huffines has been a player behind the scenes at the Summer Concert Series at Chateau Ste. Michelle. He hung out with Jeff Bridges during his Aug. 28 show.
Anyway, turn on the tube tonight at 9 p.m. at watch Handyman Huffines drill his competition, or something.
Cards Stacked Against Tacoma Pot Dispensary: Superior Court Judge will not allow Club 420 to snatch confiscated marijuana. (News Tribune) The Weekly Volcano wrote a detailed piece on medical marijuana in Pierce County during the time of the drug raid on Club 420.
Tacoma Week In Review: No strike for teachers (no contract either), more on medical marijuana, and saying "no" to Wal-Mart. (Weekly Volcano)
Shocking: A UK study says suicide bombers in Iraq have killed 12,000 civilians since the war began. (Guardian)
Far Out Man: The Coen brothers are working on a movie about the '60s folk scene. (Rolling Stone)
Hey Foodies!: There are some awesome apps on the iPhone. (Time)
Hey-Hey-Hey: A dude reviews the outfit choices of The Cosby Show characters. One episode at a time. (Huxtable Hotness)
For the past week and a half I've been designing the official program for the 2011 Tacoma Film Festival, which will be held at multiple Tacoma venues Oct. 6-13. I've read all the film bios, discovered all the filmmakers who will be in town, know which films are local and laughed out loud at a few of the photos.
Festival Director Emily Alm just threw the TFF film schedule out to the public. If I didn't have to completely redesign page 19 of the program I'd go into detail about the fall film festival.
1. If you came of age, musically speaking, during a similar period in time as this hack writer, you're probably moderately familiar with the Marcy Playground story - or at least the band's "hit," the radio friendly "Sex and Candy." The song came from Marcy Playground's platinum selling, self-titled, major label debut, released by Capitol Records in '97 and highlighted by a grunge stained take on folk rock and the occasional children's rhyme. "Sex and Candy" - the record's second single, following "Poppies" and achieving considerably more success - spent 15 weeks atop Billboard's, "Modern Rock" chart, and the album managed to spawn two more singles, "Saint Joe on the School Bus," and "Sherry Fraser." Next Tonight, Marcy Playground will play Jazzbones in Tacoma, where most of the preceding stats will matter very little. It'll be like the '90s all over again.
2. It's Taco Thursday at Uncle Sam's in Spanaway with the venerable Jerry Miller. Or, if that doesn't tickler your fancy, peruse the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.
3. Sure, the Fort Nisqually Candlelight Tours scheduled for Oct. 7-8 are more than a month away, but there's no reason you can't get excited for the re-enactments and melted wax now. Furthermore, there's absolutely no reason why you can't buy your tickets now, as they officially go on sale today. More information can be found at fortnisqually.org.
4. Check out the open mic and "musicians night" at Rock the Dock Pub and Grill tonight, hosted by Big D of 9 Pound Hammer. The action kicks off at 9 p.m.
5. Today is your last chance to catch the serious mindf*** movie, Another Earth, at the Grand. It's a worthy escape.
It's Go Time: The three-years contact between the Tacoma School District and its more than 2,000 teachers expires today. (News Tribune)
Buying Some Time: Tacoma City Council throws down a temporary ban on big-box stores based on public fear that the Tacoma Elks Club property could fill with shopping carts. (News Tribune)
That Takes Some Choot-spa: Rick Perry says he's thumbing through Charles Stanley's Turning the Tide. (Mother Jones)
No Floats For You!: GOP politicians banned from Wisconsin Labor Day parade. (Chicago Tribune)
Today's comment comes from Lisa in response to Christopher Wood's Movie Biz Buzz blog, which focuses in on some blazing-hot flicks to help keep you warm this winter. Apparently, though Wood's list was full of sweltering summer films, it wasn't the kind of "hot" Lisa was hoping for.
Lisa writes,
A good list but when I clicked on the link I was expecting a different type of "hot" movies, because there's other, more fun, ways to stay warm during " those looong winter nights".
No question about it: we done got screwed this summer. Never mind the fact that I write these words outdoors with a cloudless blue sky and blazing sun above me; I'm here to bitch about past grievances. It took us too many weeks to finally earn this weather, and from the look of things it won't last. That freak rainout last Monday only tells the fidgety fatalist in me that autumn isn't far away.
We do what we can to stave off the inevitable cold, and I believe movies can offer the great escapism we'll soon need. I combed my collection for a few titles that should keep you in a tropical state of mind regardless the season.
So here's my top five, ranked by temperature for your convenience (and they all hold up as pretty good films to boot). May they serve you well on those looong winter nights.
1. Dog Day Afternoon: "He's been very crazy all summer." I have yet to visit New York in the summertime, and after watching director Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon I don't really need to. Shot somewhat in documentary style, it quintessentially captures the city in vivid detail - the dirt, the teeming masses, and, yes, the heat. Robbing a bank would make any amateur sweat bullets, but Al Pacino's hapless Sonny launches his caper on a sticky mid-July day in Brooklyn. He holes up inside with his captives while outside waits red-faced Detective Moretti and globs of boys in blue. A riveting drama based on true events, the tension only rises as the sun goes down.
2. Summer Rental: "I'm Joe Public, welcome to my beach." I had to include at least one movie on this list that had "summer" in its title, but this comedy doesn't disappoint. John Candy, in one of his best roles, plays the Everyman plagued with hilarious misery as the rest of his family enjoys their Florida vacation. So much visceral pleasure comes from Jack Chester's many beach mishaps: the tomato-red sunburn against his white underarms, the squeal a sunbather makes as he accidentally dumps chilled water on her back. And don't think Summer Rental''s touching themes of family togetherness won't warm your heart.
3. Do the Right Thing: "Today's temperature's gonna rise up over 100 degrees, so there's a Jheri curl alert!" We return to Brooklyn again in Do the Right Thing, which also like Dog Day takes place over a single day. Writer-director Spike Lee uses a heat wave as the catalyst for a racism-fueled meltdown in an ethnic Harlem neighborhood.Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson recalls in the documentary Visions of Light, "The first thing Spike said to me is...‘How do we make the audience feel heat?'" They succeeded, making fire hydrants shimmer and red brick buildings explode on the screen. Combine this with an escalating tension between the characters and your TV practically melts.
4. The Arrival: "If you can't tend to your own planet, none of you deserve to live here."Back in 1996, Independence Day was the summer alien invasion movie, eclipsing all competition along with this little-seen sci-fi drama starring Charlie Sheen. In the film he sweats constantly, acts paranoid, and often rambles incoherently. Though not much has improved in fifteen years, I still enjoy his earnest portrayal of an astronomer who stumbles upon a global conspiracy involving hot-blooded ETs quietly turning up Earth's thermostat. A popcorn flick with genuine twists and an awesome finale set on a satellite dish in the desert.
5. Sunshine: "Detonation beyond all imagining..." And finally, it doesn't get any hotter than the setting for Danny Boyle's film. A team of astronauts ride a bomb with the mass of Manhattan toward our dying sun, hoping to jumpstart it and save Earth. They journey across a harsh realm of extreme climates, where no seasons exist save the absolute zero of outer space juxtaposed with our star's fathomless, near-maddening warmth. The hypnotic scene where a character freezes, then gets a solar cremation pretty much sums up this theme of humans' fragility in the cosmos. Check your face after two hours of Alwin H. Kuchler's visionary cinematography - you may have a suntan.
OK, your turn? What films do you sit close to during the winter months?
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