TAKING STUDENTS THROUGH SPACE & TIME >>>

Talk about a globetrotter. Hirsh Diamant began life as a Ukrainian in the capital city of Kiev, eventually left as a dissident, at one point studied in Israel, and has acted in New York. Westward he continued from Big Apple to the Evergreen State, in part a desire to escape, in his words, "the crack capital of the world." For the next fifteen years he toiled as a farmer before ultimately going broke.

Fate has drawn Diamant to yet another capital - Olympia, back in academia as a teacher at Evergreen State College. The school's well-known reputation for an educational structure looser than its contemporaries lets this world traveller engage students across multiple disciplines.

"The world is so interesting and so complex," Diamant says. "Teaching so many things allows me to be interested in a lot of different areas."

With a focus on arts and cultural studies, Diamant designs his various courses in unique ways. Visual Literacy (which just wrapped for the summer) looks at the evolution of visual art and technology, commencing with drawing, then progressing to photography and the modern digital revolution. These, for Diamant, explore the three dimensions of space.  When still pictures are linked together in a sequence, the fourth dimension comes into play.

This is the realm of cinema, for "film is a medium of time," Diamant states.

The man has seen his own progression as a filmmaker, from performing in his older brothers' home movies as a child to creating works like the stunningly beautiful NuWa Dreams (still a memorable entry from 2008's Olympia Film Festival). Diamant will keep alive his love for "the most captivating, the most enjoyable medium of the 21^st century" by volunteering again at OFF this autumn.            

MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011 >>>

1. The national traveling exhibit In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak explores the imaginative worlds of award-winning author/illustrator Maurice Sendak from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the South Hill Library. Learn how his cultural heritage, childhood in Brooklyn, family history and Jewish identity have inspired him as an artist.

2. Tacoma Community College's Gig Harbor Campus art exhibition features local human form photographer Alice Di Certo and backcountry photographer Chris Berryman. The exhibition opens with a reception from 5:30-8 p.m. It runs through Aug. 10.

3. Early in If a Tree Falls, we see footage of a protester sitting high in a tree the City of Eugene intends to cut down. In response to this peaceful protest, police approach via a cherry picker, cut open the man's pants and spray his thighs and genitals with pepper spray. Moments like these that make it easier to understand how a group like the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) came to be. This documentary - screening at 6:30 p.m. at the Capitol Theater in Olympia - follows ELF's Daniel McGowan as he sits under house arrest, awaiting a verdict on eco-terrorism charges.

4. The Graphic Novel Book Club will gather at the 1022 South lounge to discuss The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar over crafted cocktails beginning at 7 p.m.

5. Maia Santell will sing jazz and blues from 8-10 p.m. at the Harmon Brewery and Eatery.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hours!

SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2011 >>>

1. The annual Art on the Ave festival takes over Tacoma's Sixth Avenue today - offering arts of all kinds to people of kinds. EXTRA SPECIAL: Vicci Martinez will take to the Jazzbones stage at around 3 p.m. And catch City Hall on the O'Malley's stage.

2. In Puyallup, drop in on Sexy Sundays with DJ El Guapo at O'Henry's Sports Bar.

3. Sunday means Movie Night at the Brotherhood in Olympia. It's an institution.

4. "Cats" opened this week at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse. See it now and compare your take with Volcano theater critic Joann Varnell, who's writing her review as you read this.

5.The Orcapod Book Club meets on the second Sunday of every month at Orca Books in Olympia. It's literally literary aweseomness.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

FILM REVIEWS LIVE FROM TACOMA  >>>

I was going to start this review of Horrible Bosses by stating that the movie's main problem is that the titular bosses are too cartoonishly awful.

Then, I thought about whether the notion of the film's heroes becoming so exasperated that murdering these bosses is their only option would be even the slightest bit believable if they weren't so over-the-top awful.

Then I realized: the real problem with Horrible Bosses is that the heroes are too dumb for us to sympathize with them. In a dark comedy like this, where we're supposed to side with our everyman protagonists in the face of a staggering goal, this becomes a more and more difficult task with each dumb action or statement made by the inept main characters.

To read Rev. Adam's full review click here.

SEE LOCAL FILMS AT ART ON THE AVE >>>

Want to sample some of the best in Tacoma film, and for free? Art On The Ave hits Sixth this weekend, and a chilled summertime mix of local cinema will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 10.

Though now making its thirteenth annual appearance, Art on the Ave has finally decided to add a movie dimension to its art panorama. Festival Director Angela Jossy called on a former collaborator, Randy Sparks, to assemble a lineup. With all his connections inside the neighborhood indie scene, it didn't take long for Sparks and partner Dave Graham to wrangle 29 shorts by 17 filmmakers (as of this writing).

Music vids, documentaries, dramas and comedies. Stop by the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church for at least an hour on Sunday and you'll get a decent dose of unique film, Tacoma style. This offer comes with the Sparks Guarantee: "You're not going to see one bad film. They're all fantastic."

Speaking of "bad" film, check out the never-before-released Bad Idea by News Tribune scribe Craig Sailor, a jolly woods-romp featuring that equally elusive Sasquatch. Viewing and reviewing films for years is one thing, but Sailor describes "a huge learning curve" with his maiden voyage as writer-director-star of his own work. Bad's great visuals come from the hand of Hollywood cinematographer Patrick Neary - an "invaluable" contributor, Sailor states, both on set and throughout the editing process.

If you've frequented the Grand Cinema's 72-Hour film viewing parties these last years, you should recognize a few favorites this Sunday, like works from Isaac Olsen and Ryan Loiselle. The latter's first entry was 2007's Vinny Vegas. The clever premise brings to the screen a real persona, star Brandon Boote, a performer at weddings and events. Loiselle teaches computer graphics and digital photography at Lincoln High School, and besides Vegas will show three other shorts.

So does this mean film in our area earned status as serious "art"? Sparks definitely believes so: "When I look at this list of films, I believe Tacoma has taken a giant step forward. And it's only going to get better, because these guys aren't quitting. And I'm not quitting."

We viewers can join the effort and endorse this burgeoning art.

So this Sunday, let's go to church.

[Sixth Avenue, Art on the Ave., Sunday, July 10, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sixth Avenue between Cedar Street and Trafton Street, Tacoma, onsixthave.com]

[Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, Local Filmmakers Showcase, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., 2520 Sixth Ave., Tacoma]

ORGANIZED IN PART BY TURN OUT THAT LIGHT TACOMA >>>

Tacoma's populace has proven to embrace beer, hot dogs and movies over the years. What it hasn't proven to be supportive of is digital billboards getting shoved down its throat.

What do these two facts have in common?

The answer: Tonight's Movie Night at the Red Hot, where Turn Out That Light Tacoma (a grassroots organization raising in opposition to Clear Channel's push for digital billboards in the 253) has helped organize a showing of John Carpenter's They Live. The action starts at 8 p.m.

The ubiquitous Tacoma Urbanist, Erik Bjornson, reached out with some reasons to support this event.

From Bjornson's email ...

There are a lot of reasons to see the movie including: 

1) It is being shown at the hyper local Red Hot, which is reason enough.

2) The movie is relevant to the threat of digital billboards being forced into Tacoma

3) The movie stars "Rowdy" Roddy Piper movie has been rated as having the 7th best fight scene of ANY MOVIE in the history of the world.

Sure enough, we've fact checked the Urbanist's statements, and they all hold true.

Here's a clip from the movie...

[The Red Hot, Movie Night showing of They Live, 8 p.m., 2914 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.779.0229]

FILM PIONEER AT UWT >>>

By now scores of students have jettisoned all thoughts of homework and rushed headlong into the wild blue of summer. Instead I've gone back to school.

Already five years have elapsed since graduating from the University of Washington's Tacoma campus, and some of my best memories from that time involve sitting in on Dr. Claudia Gorbman's film lectures.

UW also left its mark on her. "It was either ‘77 or '78," Gorbman laughs. In one of those years she received her doctorate in Romance Languages and Literature, thus setting her on a career path that would ultimately lead her back home. "I was in Indiana [in the late 1980s]," she recalls. "I heard the University of Washington was going to open two new campuses, and it was a very exciting prospect for me."

Dr. Gorbman fearlessly embraced the challenge to "invent a new university with eleven other adventurous souls [fellow faculty]," and took up her new position in 1990. She likens those breathless early days to the Wild West, with she and her small staff as "pioneers."

One can imagine the film professor's struggles with securing suitable film projection equipment for a classroom in the early ‘90s, particularly if that classroom belonged to a school in its infancy. Dr. Gorbman had to pull films from her own collection to screen for students. 

Two decades later, and UWT keeps morphing and gobbling up Pacific Avenue block by block. Yet this teacher's infectious passion for her subject remains one of the few constants on campus. It certainly wore off on me: I still remember Gorbman pausing a movie mid-scene to revel in its "delicious" lighting design.

"After all these years, the main mission is to always communicate enthusiasm about learning. And the minute you lose that, you shouldn't be teaching anymore," she says.

Besides "hanging out in the woods" with her dogs and partner this summer, she is co-editing a heavy-duty anthology entitled - get ready - The Oxford Handbook of New Audio-Visual Aesthetics.

It should make for one delicious read.

VOTE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER VOTED BEFORE >>>

It's been surprisingly exciting over the last few weeks to watch Tacoma's Vicci Martinez rise through the ranks of NBC's singing competition, The Voice. It's been must-see TV, from those first electrifying moments in her audition when she nailed Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," to her precedent-setting duet on Pink's "Perfect" in the battle rounds, and on through her rendition of "Jolene" which took her to the top eight. Last week, Martinez destroyed Florence + the Machine's absurdly catchy "The Dog Days Are Over," securing a space in the final four.

Tonight's episode - which will air at 9 p.m. Pacific Time - marks the first of a two-part season finale. After the final four perform tonight, we'll all vote, and the results will be revealed on Wednesday's show (8 p.m. Pacific Time).

Look, I know that I've badgered all you guys to vote, and it seems like you've done so in spades. Let's take that as read.

In preparation for the final two episodes of this season of The Voice, I'd like to sum up the complicated feelings I have for the show.

1. Christina Aguilera does not enjoy seeing other people succeed. But, if they do, she would prefer they sing and act exactly like her. I'm not saying she's a sociopath, but, well, maybe I am.

2. I'd like to see any of the judges on American Idol take the time to write and read a poem for the contestants, as we saw Cee-Lo Green do last week. Even a poem as clumsy-although endearingly sincere-as Cee-Lo's will never come anywhere close to passing the lips of Randy Jackson or Steven Tyler. Granted, Jennifer Lopez seems like the kind that might send a conscientious fruit basket, or something, but it's not quite the same.

3. Contestants who perform as duos on The (singular) Voice are cheaters, and were thankfully treated as such. Go back to your creepy, farmers-market-performing family, Thompson sisters. And don't get me started on the husband/wife team of Elenowen. That husband totally dodged a bullet when they didn't advance to the next round. His wife was miles out of his league and was visibly counting the seconds until she could shake the dust of her husband's parent's basement from her feet and run off with, I don't know, Carson Daly.

4. Was it the rest of the judges' plan the whole time to force Adam Levine into looking like an asshole? It seems to me that Levine was the only one who approached the singing competition like a competition. What, with the rest of the judges splitting their points 50-50 among their proteges and Levine splitting them 65-35 (for reasons too complicated to even approach), they chicken-shitted their way to looking like sweethearts, while leaving Levine out in the cold. I'd expect something like this from noted sociopath Christina Aguilera-but you, Blake Shelton?

5. From the very beginning, Vicci Martinez was ahead of the pack. As the weeks dwindled down, this only became more apparent. Regardless of who takes the prize, the producers of the show seem to recognize the talent they have in Martinez from the start, and it feels like she'll be well taken care of in one way or another in the aftermath of this show. Even so! Let's make her number one, people! After tonight's performance, you will have four ways to vote, and ten votes per method. That's forty votes apiece. I think we can make this happen

And if-however unlikely it is-Ms. Aguilera's representatives are reading this, please don't destroy me. I have a strong back and low self-esteem, should you need me to join her army.

LINKS

APRIL 27: Vicci Martinez shows America her voice -- an interview

MAY 11: Vicci Martinez advances to next round NBC's The Voice

JUNE 7: Tonight: NBC's The Voice opens things up to viewers

JUNE 14: Vicci Martinez needs your vote on tonight's The Voice

JUNE 21: The fate of Vicci Martinez on The Voice

THE SOUTH SOUND'S ONLY LOCAL FILM CRITIC >>>

A funny thing happens toward the end of Incendies. In a film that truly centers on the nature of revenge and the vicious cycle that can arise from calling for an eye for an eye-after we see how cruel and senseless this inevitably becomes-we end up complicit in this thirst for blood. We want revenge against someone who committed vile atrocities. When the film ends with a message of forgiveness, it's a marvel how this suddenly seems like a novel and commendable approach.

To read Rev. Adam McKinney's full review of Incendies click here.

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011 >>>

1. The Urban Arts Festival continues today along the Thea Foss Waterway. The weather looks amazing. Come out and play.

2. Today is your last chance at Taste of Tacoma this year. You've been warned.

3. Sleeping in Gethsemane will perform today at Metronome Coffee. Or, if that's not your musical cup of tea, find the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4. It's Movie Night at the Brotherhood in Olympia. It's a tradition - and it's awesome. Wind your weekend down in style.

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

LINK: South Sound Live Local Music Listings

LINK: Viva South Sound Arts & Entertainment Calendar