Jackie Fender, Weekly Volcano cohort and one of the Gritty City's art scene and literary superstars, is about to step things up a notch. She and fellow Volcano scribe Joshua Swainston are releasing the first print collection of stories and poems from their online literary destination, CreativeColloquy.com. I chose this shining moment to highlight Fender's voice from a phone interview, by which I mean I bamboozled her into writing half my blog entry this week.

CHRISTIAN CAVAJAL: So what's the big news?

JACKIE FENDER: The launch party, naturally, which is November 24th. Creative Colloquy Volume One is a super-rad collection of stories crafted by South Sound authors, a really diverse collection of shorts and poems and essays.

(Full disclosure: my own horror short, Silver, is included.)

CARV: And where can I buy this amazing anthology?

FENDER: First we're gonna have it available at the launch party, and then we'll be connecting with King's Books, Nearsighted Narwhal, all the usual retail spaces. And it is available on Amazon.

CARV: Are any of your writing efforts represented?

FENDER: They are not. I've chosen to keep my own words out of it for now. I did write an intro letter to tell people a little about the book.

CARV: Did you ever submit anything and then reject yourself?

FENDER: I've written things and thought, "Yeah, maybe this is the thing!" But then I'm like, nope. I didn't want to start CC and have it be like, "Jackie just wants a platform to share her own work."

CARV: Have you ever gotten a submission that was so bizarre you felt maybe the writer needed some professional psychiatric help?

FENDER: There are a couple of those! Whatever goes on in their brains is really messed up. Joshua is actually one of those.

CARV: On the Volcano, you're known mostly for your food reviews. Which restaurant do you eat at most often?

FENDER: Maxwell's is on my favorites list.

CARV: OK, but you have kids. Which restaurant do you really eat at most often?

FENDER: I hate to admit this. Taco Bell.

CARV: And do you feel this disqualifies you from food criticism?

FENDER: I like to pretend it doesn't exist. But having small children, you have to budge a little bit. They don't appreciate really good food, even when I cook it.

CARV: What's the worst book you love?

FENDER: How Should a Person Be?: A Novel from Life by Sheila Heti. I found myself really enjoying it, even though I don't dig Heti's style, nor do I like any of the characters. If I knew them in real life, there would be a lot of internal dialogue and disingenuous smiling.

CARV: What is your kid's favorite book?

FENDER: Right now, my kid loves Green Eggs and Ham. He also likes Sammy and the Dinosaurs.

CARV: You could do a lot worse. If you and I were going to write a story together right now, what would it be about?

FENDER: I think I'd just like to jump on your wagon and pick one word I hear at an event, then see what that sparks. (Note: that's how Silver was conceived.) Maybe superheroes?

CARV: Right now I'm leaning toward otters. I think people just like otters.

FENDER: It's true, they do! But then you hear all these awful rumors about them-

CARV: What, like prostitution rings?

FENDER: They're vicious little beasts! I don't even want to discuss it. Google it.

CARV: I don't really think of otters as vicious man-eaters.

FENDER: They're just vicious to other animals.

CARV: Maybe that's what the story should be, an exposé from the point of view of a trout.

FENDER: That would be interesting.

CARV: I'd have to go dark. I'd want the otter to have a heroin problem.

FENDER: Yeah, like two illegitimate children!

CARV: Right, like an otter posted the Fappening or something.

FENDER: It could be a dark little vortex into Otter World.

CARV: I think we've found Creative Colloquy Volume Two.

FENDER: Oddly enough, someone asked me if Volume One had a theme. We didn't go for one, but there are an abnormal number of stories about animals, I daresay almost half. Our cover is just a collection of images the artist picked from stories we knew would be included. The cover has all these animals on it. The book's not even about animals, but there are a lot of animals in the short stories.

CARV: Does anyone use the phrase "fur baby?" Because that's just weird.

FENDER: Not in any of the stories, no.

CARV: Maybe it should've been called Creative Colloquy Volume One: Troubled Loners.

FENDER: That's why we have our events at a place (B Sharp Coffee House in Opera Alley) that has libations.

CARV: Ah, to draw people out of the house!

FENDER: Yeah, there's a social lubricant there for us troubled loners.

CREATIVE COLLOQUY VOLUME ONE LAUNCH PARTY, 7 p.m., Monday, Nov. 24, B Sharp Coffee House, 706 Opera Alley, Tacoma, no cover, CreativeColloquy.com

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19

1. Vince Brown is no stranger to string swing fans in the Northwest. He plays western swing style take-off guitar with Red Brown & the Tune Stranglers; strums guitar and tenor banjo with the gypsy swing band Hot Club Sandwich; he's half of Red and Ruby - a swing duo project with vocalist LaVon Hardison; performs mandolin and tenor banjoist with the old timey outfit Deaf Lester; and the guitarist with the modern jazz/lounge group The Greta Jane Quartet. Brown's nimble fingers have delighted audiences for more than 35 years. Catch his solo jazz guitarist Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Swing Wine Bar, the converted bungalow overlooking Capitol Lake in Olympia.

2. Holly J. Hughes is author of Sailing by Ravens, and editor of the award-winning anthology, Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer's Disease.  Hughes has taught writing at Edmonds Community College as well as at regional conferences and workshops. She will be the featured reader at the Olympia Poetry Network at 6:30 p.m. in Traditions Café. An open mic will follow.

3. Happy Belly serves healthy and delicious meals, smoothies and juices from its downtown location next to the YMCA. The restaurant will take its mindset to the next level by hosting monthly nutrition and positive lifestyle change class series beginning at 7:30 p.m. Discussion will include food addiction, your relationship with food, how it affects your sleep and stress and clean eating. Classes are $60, or $240 for a series of six. Space is limited. Contact Integrated Dream Fitness at 517.505.0558 or Fitness One at 253.209.2662 for details and registration.

4. The cool cat college kids from Pacific Lutheran University present "The Swingin' Sounds Of Courage" - the University Jazz Ensemble's big band repertoire from classic jazz of the 1920s to the latest cutting-edge styles - at 8 p.m. in the Phillips Center.

5. The fifth installment of the Vomity Open Mic Comedy night at Le Voyeur features Frog, who hails from the Chicago, Illinois. All donations from this show will go toward Long Haired Dave's recovery from a recent assault. The laughs begin at 9 p.m.

LINK: Wednesday, Nov. 19 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TUESDAY, NOV. 18 2014 >>>

1. The former coal mining town of Rich Hill, Mo., is one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it towns that litter the byways and highway exits of the American landscape, a reminder of past economic growth gone to seed. Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner documentary Rich Hill offers a microcosmic view of the increasing poverty afflicting the country, focusing on three boys growing up in this impoverished community. Granted unfettered access to the boys' lives, the film is more meditative and thoughtful than the usual handwringing exercises that occupy the "look at these poor people" subgenre, but ultimately, it's unable to transcend its trappings. Rich Hill screens at 2:15 at 6:55 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

2. Jazz and blues vocalist Dennis Hastings, who has played on the same bill with notable talent such as Bobby McFerrin, John Lee Hooker and The Marcels, will showcase his repertoire of tunes made popular from the 1940s to the 2000s at an 11 a.m. recital in Kreielsheimer Hall on the Saint Martin's University campus. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Hastings has been singing jazz and blues in the Northwest for more than 30 years. Performing with Hastings will be Steven Luceno on bass, Phil Lawson on guitar and Steven Bentley on drums.

3. Hosted by Tacoma Community College students, the Bill Harrington Veterans Emergency Fund fundraiser will raise money toward the Bill Harrington Fund, a man who served 20 years in the Army. In 1994 he embarked on another two decades of service working with the students of TCC. This foundation acts as an emergency fund for returning Veterans on campus in need. The fundraiser will be held at Joeseppi's Italian Ristorante from 4-8 p.m. with a portion of proceeds from food sales donated toward the fund. There will also be raffles to enter for prizes.

4. Cartoonist MariNaomi is on a tour promoting her new book, Dragon's Breath & Other True Stories, and Yumi Sakugawa, author of Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe will join her at 6:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library. They will present a slide-show talk and take audience questions.

5. You are getting sleepy, v-e-r-y sleepy. Now, go see the hypnotist show at 8 p.m. inside the Red Wind Casino. Whether a skeptic or believer, the show will be sure to entertain with its comedy, rock and roll and outrageous hypnosis, like people sneezing and having orgasms(!) when Ron Stubbs, the man behind the magic, utters the word "pepper."

LINK: Tuesday, Nov. 18 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, NOV. 17 2014 >>>

1. Minneapolis band Teenage Moods describe themselves as, interchangeably, "flower punk" and "floral rock." There's a fine difference between those two descriptors, but that little bit of distance is actually a bit of a gulf. The latter self-assigned genre may be the most accurate, as Teenage Moods take a flower-power attitude to power pop and mod stylings. Even more than garage revivalists, Teenage Moods are able to replicate the sort of carefree melodicism that was common in the mid-to-late '60s, as folk-rock and psychedelia were beginning to mix and mingle with the blues-rock aspirations of the mods. Catch the band with Dumpster Baby, Jupiter Sprites and the Loud Potions at 8 p.m. in Northern.

2. St. Patrick's Day celebrations aren't easy. You must practice to prepare yourself for the zaniness that goes down every March 17. Doyle's Public House knows this. That's why they host monthly St. Practice Day parties, of which happens again Friday. The party begins with Doyle's Guinness Club toast at 5:17 p.m. All the members gather before Grand Poobah Russ Heaton, who recognizes members who have hit milestones, such as 500 pints of Guinness, while the other members tear up. After the announcement, Heaton raises a glass of the Irish Mother's Milk and toasts the members. The party lasts through the night.

3. Imagine soulful music of yesterday being forcibly pumped out of Janis Joplin's larynx and then lathered with the silkiest velvet, and you've a pretty good idea of the kind of groove Kim Archer can make. Archer has a strong, emotional voice, a robust musical sense and a willingness to work outside the tightly proscribed boundaries of the genre. See her at 7:30 p.m. inside Smoke + Cedar.

4. Josh Hoyer and The Shadowboxers is a project formed in late 2012 in famed blues town Lincoln, Nebraska. The nine-piece soul band's sound and passion come from their deep respect, knowledge of and passion for blues, Americana, soul, funk and many other styles of music. In January 2014, they released their self-titled debut album, borrowing from Stax, Motown, New Orleans, Philly and San Francisco, the album blends the classic sounds of soul and R&B. The band performs at 8 p.m. in The Swiss.

5. Twin Vision sounds like a modest blend of The Strokes and The White Stripes. Labeled as "manic-psych," this band is a nonstop powerhouse of anthemic blues to grunge rock. See them with Nilo Bronco and Fruit Juice at 9 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

LINK: Monday, Nov. 17 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, NOV. 16 2014 >>>

1. Clay "Uncle Snap" Sharpe and Brian "Rooster" King are The Lacs (Loud Ass Crackers), a hip-hop duo from Georgia who proudly tout redneck ideals - blacking out on Wild Turkey, kicking up mud in their four-wheel drives, living in a country boy's paradise with "wild women in white T-shirts" - and infuse their sound with Southern pop rock swagger. They are joined by local country band Aces Up at 8 p.m. in Steel Creek American Whiskey Co. in downtown Tacoma.

2. Christmas is coming! You can tell because Sirius radio has turned the holiday carols switch on. Get into the Yuletide spirit early with Christmas carols by Karen Thomas and Seattle Pro Musica. Seattle Pro Musica, one of America's best choirs, brings a Gallic flair to Christmas with Christmas motets by Poulenc and Villette, medieval and Renaissance Christmas music and traditional French Christmas carols. If you're a fan of early music, come all ye faithful to St. John's Episcopal Church at 3 p.m. and listen to them ding dong merrily on high.

3. Brazilian soul/jazz collective EntreMundos Quarteto will bust out "diverse and groovy" tunes led by the silky vocal stylings of Adriana Giordano at 5 p.m. in the Marine View Church in Northeast Tacoma.  Leading with a deep passion for the Brazilian music of her homeland, Giordano sings with a mesmerizing lyricism that is infectious, enthusiastic and authentically heartfelt.

4. On the comedy spectrum, Hari Kondabolu sits far opposite from your Daniel Toshes and Dane Cooks. The former immigrants' rights organizer stays true to his progressivism with material aimed at that enlightening/entertaining sweet spot. He has staked a place in the smart-comedy revolution that refuses to attack marginalized groups for cheap laughs. Kondabolu is joined by comic Elicia Sanchez at the Olympia Film Festival's Closing Night festivities at 8 p.m. in the Capitol Theater.

5. Tacoma son Joe Rosati is back in town shooting a new film, Jack-A Short Film. In true Rosati fashion, "Jack has had a few major things not go the way that he expected them to. Now, he somehow gets away with those things you just ‘can't' do." Scenes will be shot at 10 p.m. in The Valley, the revitalized pub in the Tacoma Dome District. Rosati and the film crew invite the public to be a part of the film, with filming consuming the joint until closing. Go, be in a movie, but for heaven's sake, don't look at the camera.

LINK: Sunday, Nov. 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, NOV. 15 2014 >>>

1. It's here at last - the brand new Haub Family Collection of Western American Art in the new galleries designed by Olson Kundig Architects - open to the public at the grand opening celebration today. The new wing doubles the museum's gallery space and places the Tacoma Art Museum as the only museum in the Pacific Northwestern region with a Western American art collection of this caliber. The celebration begins with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. and will feature music by Foss High School Orchestral Band. The new galleries open at 11 a.m. From 1-2 p.m. there will be a living history presentation and storytelling by Karen Haas. At 2:30 p.m. there will be curator and author talks followed by book-signing of the new Art of the American West: Haub Family Collection at Tacoma Art Museum, followed by Native American storytelling by Roger Fernandez from 3-5 p.m. The Oly Mountain Boys will perform at 3 p.m., followed by banjo musician Forest Beutel at 4 p.m. The evening social and members' party will be from 7-11 p.m.

2. Warren Miller Entertainment's latest film, No Turning Back, was shot and produced by cinematographer Josh Haskins, working closely with ski racer Chris Anthony. It follows a cadre of elite snowboarders and skiers from Montana to Mount Olympus. (Yes, Greece has an actual Mount Olympus. It rises to 9570 feet. Opa!) The film takes stunning side trips to Norway, the Swiss Alps, Chugach Mountain peaks in Alaska and deep powder in Niseka, Japan. World-class athletes make the slopes look fairly easy, but even reaching some of these exotic locations can be daunting. Despite these difficulties, Haskins and his crew have done it again: they've immortalized feats of human daring and athleticism by freezing breakneck action into slow-motion glory. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on No Turning Back in the Music & Culture section, then see the film at 6 and 9 p.m. in Pantages Theater.

3. Olympia producer Smoke M2D6 raided the archives of legendary alternative record label K Records to put out an album of Pacific Northwest MCs rapping over K Records artists. The resulting compilation, All Your Friend's Friends, is gearing up for an album release show tonight Olympia. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on All Your Friend's Friends in the Music & Culture section, then seeWildcard, Tyler Xp Andrews, Free Whiskey, MIZ, Angel Perez and Calvin Johnson perform at 8 p.m. in The Olympia Ballroom.

4. When I heard that some of Tacoma's best musicians were getting together to form the Northwest's premier (and only?) all-Filipino Hall & Oates tribute band, my question wasn't "why?" All I wanted to know was when and where I could see this magic happen. The new tribute band, known as the Little Donuts, is made up of members of Le Lo/Fi, the Dignitaries and the recently defunct Bandolier. I spoke with Little Donuts member Reylan Fernandez about the unlikely project. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Little Donuts in the music & Culture section, then catch the band at8:30 p.m. in Bob's Java Jive.

5. Velocity will come forth onto Doyle's Public House at 9:30 p.m. and there bestowed unto their faithful fans a glorious bounty of fusion and funk, powered with Galactic grooves and Latin spice. And the people will be thankful, and there was much rejoicing, for Velocity - lead composer/pianist Peter Adams, drum maverick Brian "Hannibal" Smith, tenor saxophonist Cliff Colòn and bassist Rob Hutchinson aka Dr. Shred  - have traveled light years to rattle pints of Guinness with hard hitting grooves and hook melodies. The moon will shine mightily down upon the countenances of the faithful fans, and their shepherd's pies will be plenty, and their goats will bore many offspring and there will be peace over the Stadium District.

LINK: Saturday, Nov. 15 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, NOV. 14 2014 >>>

1. Warren Miller Entertainment's latest film, No Turning Back, was shot and produced by cinematographer Josh Haskins, working closely with ski racer Chris Anthony. It follows a cadre of elite snowboarders and skiers from Montana to Mount Olympus. (Yes, Greece has an actual Mount Olympus. It rises to 9570 feet. Opa!) The film takes stunning side trips to Norway, the Swiss Alps, Chugach Mountain peaks in Alaska and deep powder in Niseka, Japan. World-class athletes make the slopes look fairly easy, but even reaching some of these exotic locations can be daunting. Despite these difficulties, Haskins and his crew have done it again: they've immortalized feats of human daring and athleticism by freezing breakneck action into slow-motion glory. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on No Turning Back in the Music & Culture section, then catch the flick at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. in the Washington Center.

2. The grand passage of Tacoma history past and present, so well preserved in the city's buildings, will be front and center when the City of Tacoma's Community and Economic Development Department and the Planning and Development Services Department's Historic Preservation Office hosts the Adaptive Reuse Open House and Harmon Brewery Tour. Appetizers will be available as attendees explore one of Tacoma's largest and most successful adaptive reuse projects, the 1908 Harmon building, and learn more about how historic preservation creates economic opportunity. "Adaptive reuse of existing and historic buildings has been the backbone of Tacoma's redevelopment - be it in downtown or within our neighborhood mixed-use centers," said Tacoma Councilmember David Boe. "Projects have ranged from Union Station becoming a Federal Courthouse to the collection of warehouses on Pacific Avenue into the University of Washington-Tacoma campus. I'm excited to host this event and share my experience with adaptive reuse as an architect in Tacoma." The tour begins at 5 p.m. in the Harmon Brewery & Eatery. RSVP at 253.591.5254.

3. Vanya and his niece, Sonya, lead predictable lives, keeping their emotions buttoned up while maintaining a country estate and sending all the profits from their work to Vanya's brother-in-law. But, their daily routine quickly unravels with the return of the brother-in-law, a retired professor named Serebryakov, and his young, very beautiful wife, Yelena, who manages to trigger within the entire family hidden passions born of unrequited love, thwarted ambition and enduring hope. This is the plot of what many consider to be Anton Chekhov's greatest play, Uncle Vanya, which will be presented by the Saint Martin's University Theatre Arts Program at 7:30 p.m. in Kreielsheimer Hall.

4. The Paperboys were formed by Mexican born, Tom Landa in the mid-‘90s in Vancouver, B.C. In a music scene dominated by flannel and grunge, Tom had a vision of forming a band that fused folk, Celtic and bluegrass music with pop and rock. He was armed with a dozen of self-penned tunes and a lot of drive and ambition. After finding a group of musicians who shared common musical interests, they recorded their first CD and set to tour across Canada in a used van they bought for 500 bucks. At 8 p.m., The Paperboys will takeover Jazzbones.

5. Where the hell has Glass Elevator been? It's been 15 months since their last live show. Well, the band's tight-wound stony brand of rock is back for a 9 p.m. show at Metcalf Manor. Crowd the Sky will open the show with their unique blend of organic electronica. Fruit Juice will follow with booty shaking glamorous pop so catchy you'll find yourself wondering why you don't know these songs already.

LINK: Friday, Nov. 14 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 2014 >>>

1. Thursday, for the 18th year in a row, the Harmon Brewery and Eatery will host its annual "Pray for Snow" party. The festivities kick off at 5 p.m. and promise to feature a toboggan full of live music, tons of ski- and snowboard-related prizes, Crystal lift tickets and giveaways, plenty of drinking and even more praying for the white stuff to fall from the sky this season. Will it work? Does it ever work in Washington? That's not really the point.

2. Now that Heritage Distilling Co. has opened its second location on Gig Harbor's waterfront (3118 Harborview Dr.), the HDC Waterfront will host the Gig Harbor Waterfront Alliance Girls Night Out from noon to 9 p.m. There will be holiday shopping specials, giveaways and more. Let's face it; booze is the best stocking stuffer.

3. The ParkWay Tavern welcomes 10 Barrel Brewing Company from Bend, Oregon, and their Uberliner Berliner Weissbier, Power to the People American Stout, German Sparkle Party Berliner Weissbier, Apocalypse IPA, among others, beginning at 5 p.m.

4. Critics are using words such as "brutal," "unflinching," "visceral" and "moving" to describe Charlie Jack Joseph Kruger's fiction. The author will provide his own descriptions and discuss his book, In Stark Weather, at 7:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library.

5. Hip-hop show featuring Drumatic, Lega C Jones, TripleTHR33, OPUS DEI, N.O.V.A., Cyrus and DIRTAY hits Le Voyeur at 8 p.m.

LINK: Thursday, Nov. 13 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

It shouldn't be necessary for us to tell you why Fleetwood Mac is one of the greatest bands of the rock era, but we love our young readers so here goes: if the only album Fleetwood Mac ever released was 1977's Rumours, it would still have been plenty. Like Michael Jackson's Thriller or Adele's 21, Rumours in its day was an album that pretty much half the U.S. population owned. At least seven of its tunes were, and in some cases still are, radio fixtures around the English-speaking world. Even Glee dedicated an entire episode to ruining such otherwise unimpeachable singles as "Go Your Own Way" and "You Make Loving Fun." Fun fact: singer Christine McVie composed the latter song for the guy with whom she was cheating on bandmate John McVie, then told John she wrote it about their dog. As the social media put it, it's complicated.

Funny thing is, Fleetwood Mac would still be a household name even if Rumours had never existed. They'd already released 10 albums, including the megahit self-titled effort that gave us such perennials as "Landslide" and "Rhiannon." Lindsey Buckingham joined for that album, on the condition that his girlfriend be allowed to come aboard as well. Her name? Stephanie Nicks - though the world knows her better as "Stevie." After Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, the hits kept on coming; but behind the scenes, things were dicey. It's hard to sustain a band when both its key couples are going through acrimonious breakups. Even the lyrics on Rumours are essentially beautiful F-U's; yet the follow-up album, Tusk, was an idiosyncratic masterpiece. Fleetwood Mac remained a hit factory even after Buckingham went solo in 1987. It seemed at times the band could hardly stand to be in the same room, and Christine McVie went her own way in 1998, ostensibly for good, saying she'd had it with touring.

There were rumours for a while that Sheryl Crow, a Nicks disciple, would join the band in place of Christine McVie, but those never panned out. Instead the band launched a world tour with neither performer in 2009. But guess what? That damn Glee episode worked. It brought FM back into the public eye, reinstalling Rumours on the Billboard chart three years ago. From then on it was only a matter of time till Christine McVie came back into the fold, writing or co-writing over half the tracks for an upcoming, as-yet-untitled album. That gives you the chance to do something few have been able to do in over a generation: catch the reunited Fleetwood Mac, live and harmonious. We guess it's true what they say: "Don't stop thinkin' about tomorrow."

FLEETWOOD MAC: ON WITH THE SHOW, 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, Tacoma Dome, 2727 E. D St., Tacoma, $60 and up ... way up, 253.272.3663

Nerd news this week had a bit to do with the Nolan brothers, Christopher and Jonathan. Jonathan Nolan was announced to be in talks with HBO to be adapting Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi series Foundation. The Nolan stranglehold on (relatively) hard science fiction has continued, after Jonathan's writing partnership with his brother, Christopher, on the likes of Interstellar, as well as HBO's JJ Abrams version of Westworld. Of course, Asimov's brand of science fiction was dense with plotting and impenetrable logic, which has notoriously eluded the Nolan brothers, as staunch opponents of Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight will tell you. Still, critics of the Nolan brothers may well point to their frequently impersonal storytelling as quite fitting for Asimov's robotic world.

Christopher Nolan, meanwhile, has signed on to guest edit December's issue of Wired magazine. Ostensibly as a way to shore up viewership amongst intellectuals for the space exploration of Interstellar, Nolan's edit of the magazine will also take advantage of the magazine's format to present a "five-dimension"-based layout, so that as the reader gets deeper into the magazine, the concepts presented will grow further complex. For those not completely invested in getting their minds blown, photos of Matthew McConaughey may or may not be present.

FRIDAY, NOV. 14: ROSEWATER

Last year, Daily Show host Jon Stewart took a few weeks off from his show to make his directorial debut. As anyone who's been paying attention to the comedian over the years from his satirically political hosting duties could've predicted, his filmmaking debut would bear little resemblance to that of his acting roles, in fluffy things such as Death to Smoochy, Half Baked and The Faculty. Instead, Stewart decided to make a pointedly political movie about journalist and one-time Daily Show guest Maziar Bahari.

After appearing on The Daily Show, Bahari went to Iran to document the elections, and was imprisoned for more than 100 days over allegations that he was a spy. The film follows Bahari (as played by Gael Garcia Bernal) as he is tortured for information that doesn't exist, and Stewart emphasizes the dark humor inherent in being stuck in a situation without escape. Bahari survived, but more importantly, he survived with his humanity intact.

Rosewater opens at The Grand Cinema Friday, Nov. 14.

SATURDAY, NOV. 15: TODD BARRY

One of the greatest comedians working is heading to Tacoma. Todd Barry's comedy is defined by his deadpan delivery, which barely conceals an acerbic wit. As anyone who's seen his scathing appearances on Louie can attest, Barry is more than just a measured joke-teller. There is a surging undercurrent to Barry's comedy that elevates him above the level of your standard, low-key wit. Whereas other subtle comedians might come across as meek, Barry never seems other than in full control of his presence and his material, which may make him one of the most frightening stand-ups out there. 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Tacoma Comedy Club, 933 Market St, Tacoma, $20 253.282.7203