WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Go Tacoma!: A consortium of three shipping lines is leaving Seattle for the Port of Tacoma. (Seattle Times)

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Toll: You'll need to break your piggy bank. (News Tribune)

Tacoma School Of The Arts: Here comes the first-ever freshman class. (News Tribune)

Lights, Camera, More Action: Washington's Legislature brings back tax credits to lure movie production to the state. (News Tribune)

The Economy: U.S. employers continued the stronger pace of hiring last month, but the overall job market is not out of the woods yet. (CNN)

Health Care Law: The Obama administration has begun an aggressive campaign. (The New York Times)

Maya Rudolph: The Fresh Air interview. (NPR)

Ralph Baer: 90-year-old video game pioneer. (Boing Boing)

Mantyhose: Nylons for guys aren't for Robin Hood anymore. (Time)

Nerd Alert: The 15 nerdiest Saturday Night Live sketches. (Topless Robot)

Today In Craptastic!

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Marriage Equality Act: Not everyone will be happy today. (News Tribune)

GOP Presidential Race Vs. South Sound: Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum will check out the Washington History Museum tonight. (News Tribune)

Skeeter Update: Apparently he didn't know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. (News Tribune)

Sea-Tac Airport: Say goodbye to the 1950s. (Seattle PI)

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Blames Iran after bombers apparently targeted diplomats in India and Georgia, injuring four. (BBC)

Whitney Houston's Death Update: Coroners on Sunday completed an autopsy on Houston, who was found dead Saturday in her suite in the upscale Beverly Hilton hours before she was to attend a pre-Grammy Awards bash at the hotel. (CNN)

Grammy Awards: Whitney remembered, Adele wins big. (CNN)

Saturday Night Live With Zooey Deschanel: The best and worst. (Flavorwire)

Celebrities: Photo gallery showing their real names. (Huffington Post)

No-Holds-Barred Laptop: Origin EON17-X. (Gizmodo)

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Dale Washam: His legal frays costs the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer a grand total - including investigation costs, legal fees and settlements - $691,990. (News Tribune)

Federal Way: The city is unhappy with Sound Transit delays and hints of de-annexing. (News Tribune)

Washington State Gun Safety Laws: A new bills asks for more gun lock testing. (News Tribune)

Brutal Crackdown Against Syria's Anti-Government Protesters: The U.N. Security Council will discuss a draft resolution this week that calls on President Bashar al-Assad to step down. (CNN)

What In The World Is Going On?: Japan has recorded a trade deficit. (CNN)

EU Summit: The eurozone crisis is set to dominate chats. (BBC)

Sundance 2012: Angry moviegoers storm out of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. (EW)

SAG Awards 2012: The winners list. (Hollywood Reporter)

Awesome: Saved by the Bell: The Complete Collection is coming to DVD. (TV Shows ON DVD)

How to Improve A Classical Painting?: Add a big furry cat. (Flavorwire)

Mr. Pitt from Seinfeld: Dead. (Huffington Post)

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Weather Chat: It's going to get interesting. (News Tribune)

HOT Lanes: It's the ol' overhead costs distribution story. (News Tribune)

Depressing Shopping Experience: Sears Holding Corp. to close 100 to 120 Kmart, Sears stores. (USA Today)

Protests In Syria: Arab League monitors arrived in the battered Syrian city of Homs today amid reports of security force gunfire and massive anti-regime demonstrations. (CNN)

Russia Election: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dismisses calls for a review of disputed parliamentary election results, despite mass demonstrations. (BBC)

Too Much Free Time: Coffee poster. (Column Five Media)

Too Much Free Time II: Eighties film alphabet. (Flavorpill)

Could We See This At The Tempest Lounge?: DJ Robotarm. (Crackajack)

Too Much Holiday Spirits?: Swimmers take icy plunge around the world. (MSNBC)

End Of The Year Lists: Bands we lost this year. (Stereogum)

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

T.C. Broadnax Is Tacoma's Next City Manager: The stars at night are big and bright (clap, clap, clap, clap), deep in the heart of Texas. (News Tribune)

Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau CEO Tammy Blount Is Outta Here: All the leaves a brown and the sky is grey. I've been for a walk on a winter's day. (News Tribune)

Floatplane Dock Coming To The Foss Waterway?: You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven. (News Tribune)

Yippee!: Food scraps soon will be accepted in the yard waste bin. (News Tribune)

Analysis: Playing payroll tax roulette. (CNN)

Roger Ebert: Best films of the year. (Sun Times)

Trent Reznor: Comes clean on Fresh Air. (NPR)

Hall & Oates Hotline: Are you having a tough day? Do you love Hall & Oates? Call: 719-26-OATES. (The Atlantic Wire)

Christmas Movies: The worst. (Time)

Best SNL Skits Of The Year? (Pajiba)

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Going For The Record: We're looking at 1978's record of December dryness right in the face. (News Tribune)

Don't Run Out Of Gas: Drivers will be able to travel on widened shoulders along Interstate 5 during heavy traffic as part of the state's effort to ease congestion near Joint Base Lewis-McChord. (News Tribune)

Year-Round Mission: The Tacoma Rescue Mission comes to the rescue to many 365 days a year. (Weekly Volcano)

Kim Jong Il Is Dead: Region tense after leader's death. (CNN)

The Most Memorable Words Of 2011: "Pragmatic" ... (Flavorwire)

The Worst Band Names Of The Year: With the rise of simply monikered bands like Yuck, The Weeknd, Real Estate, Blouse ... (AVClub)

This Will Cheer You Up: A speculative list of Jay-Z's 99 problems. (Thought Catalog)

TUESDAY, DEC. 6, 2011 >>>

1. The theme of Robert Zemeckis's The Polar Express, like that of this year's NBA season, is "Believe," though you might not believe the groundbreaking animation that hits you like childhood wonderment on Xmas morning. Zemeckis engaged a team of 500 special effect specialists to blend live-action renderings and snowy, CGI backdrops that look like something out of the Pixar factory. Based on Chris Van Allsburg's best-selling book, what unfolds is an adventure that follows a doubting young boy, who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole; during this ride, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe. Today as part of its Tuesday Film Series, The Grand Cinema will screen the awesome film at 2:05 and 6:30 p.m.

2. A group of Tacoma City Council members, ecologists, the public, business leaders, asphalt pourers, UW Tacoma officials, parking stall line painters, bloggers and other folks who have made parking their life blood will gather at 2:30 p.m. inside the William Philip Hall on the UW Tacoma campus to talk about parking issues in downtown Tacoma. At this drop-in public session participants will work with large interactive maps to identify parking challenges and opportunities in the areas around the UWT campus and in the Dome District. Several participants will return to parking tickets on their vehicles.

3. Adventure. For some, it is an irrepressible welling in the chest that will never go away no matter how many lakes canoed, rock faces climbed, horizons paddled after, peaks scaled, or miles of trail hiked. For others, adventure is something to marvel at - a celebration of man's achievements. Most folks tend to admire the adventurers of the world, whether they are adventurers of the mind, the spirit or of the physical world. The touring Banff Mountain Film Festival lands in Tacoma at the Rialto Theater at 7 p.m. Climbing, biking, skiing, snowboarding - it's all up on the big screen, looming high and making you feel bad for sitting on your duff almost all year long.

4. Between 8 and 9 p.m. the community will Skansie Brothers Park in Gig Harbor and sing to the more fortunate. That's right holiday lovers, the Argosy Christmas Ship - full of folks jingling their jewelry and tossing back fancy cocktails - will drift by the park while you shiver in the cold, singing carols with the St. Martins University Chorale to the partiers. It's a beautiful thing.\

5, Hey kids! Do you like the rock and roll? Mikal Cronin, The Bermudas and Si Si Si will rock The New Frontier Lounge beginning at 9 p.m. Rev. Adam McKinney has the details here.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: This week's freebies

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Better Remove Your "WSDOT Sucks" Bumpersticker: The Washington State Department of Transportation announced it will begin photo tolling on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Saturday. (News Tribune)

Happy Friday News: Nearly a third of all Tacoma-area homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their property is worth. (News Tribune)

Unemployment Rate: It fell to 8.6 percent after employers added 120,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reports. The jobless rate in October had been 9 percent. (CNN)

Lacey City Council: Not huge with pot smokers. (News Tribune)

For Those Who Don't Drink Beer: Forza now the official coffee of the Tacoma Rainiers. (News Tribune)

Not So Christmasy: Don't wear a Frosty mask. (WCTI12)

Freaky: Daniel Day Lewis IS Abraham Lincoln. (The Superficial)

Just In Time For Christmas: There's an Angry Bids cookbook. (walyou)

Cookie Cottages Have Come A Long Way: Lights, camera, gingerbread (Flavorwire)

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Well This Is Lovely: The City of Tacoma faces at least a $10 million general fund budget shortfall. (News Tribune)

Rocky Situation: Gravel mining could begin soon on a Thurston County tract once owned by the Port of Tacoma. (News Tribune)

Sen. White Dead: State Sen. Scott White (D-Seattle) was found dead in his hotel room Friday at the Suncadia Resort in Kittitas County. (Seattle Times)

It's On Like Donkey Kong!: Alaskan Way Viaduct demise begins. (Seattle Times)

Tacoma Shunned Again: "Best Restroom" title has been awarded. (Time)

Back To The Future: New DeLorean and hoverboards are on the way. (Hollywood Reporter)

Flour Is Flammable: Norwegian numbskull learned the hard way. (TruTV)

Being Rich Looks Awesome

GO DAWGS! >>>

Zipcar is a green-ish concept that actually makes sense for a lot of people - you can rent a eco-friendly car for a couple of hours, relatively cheaply.

It's a concept that now has come to Tacoma. If you're a University of Washington-Tacoma student.

UW-T has signed on with Zipcar, and as of today students, faculty and staff can pay the $25 annual fee and then fork over seven bucks an hour or $66 a day to drive either Honda Insight hybrid or a Ford Focus.

"We look forward to partnering with Zipcar in helping our students, staff and faculty reduce their cost of living and help relieve parking congestion on campus," said Jennifer Burley, employee transportation coordinator at UW Tacoma in a press release. "Zipcar's car-sharing service also promotes the use of alternative forms of transportation to and from campus, an additional environmental benefit." 

Gas, insurance, reserved parking spots, up to 180 miles of driving per day and roadside assistance are included in the hourly and daily Zipcar rates. Cars can be reserved for as little as an hour or for multiple days.

To read up on this deal, zip here.