WEDNESDAY 11/9
Nihil productions
Philomene Bilodeau acts opposite her father in Curling.
Charles Peterson
Cobain figures heavily in Yarm's account.
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Stage: Sure Shooter
The many joys of Annie Get Your Gun, the 1946 musical that proved to be Irving Berlin's most successful show, do not—in case anyone was ever worried or wondering—include a thoughtful reflection on its true-life heroine. Annie Oakley was indeed an uncommon markswoman who became a sensation in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She could shoot a dime in midair at 90 feet, but she was no coarse hillbilly. And she certainly never threw a shooting match to placate a man. (Quite the opposite: Sharpshooter Frank Butler, the appeased husband-to-be in the show, knew in real life that the ladylike Annie had unbeatable skills with a rifle, so he wisely became her personal manager instead.) So head out to Issaquah hoping not for biography or even a palatable book—revivals usually go into contortions trying to get around the authors' dated handling of Native Americans—but for the sheer pleasure of a score bursting with the incomparable thrill of unapologetic, grade-A Broadway boastfulness: "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "Anything You Can Do," and of course the industry's anthem, "There's No Business Like Show Business." Berlin is no more or less than one of our greatest composers—many say the greatest—putting in song the self-congratulatory spirit of the country and commerce he loved. (Through Dec. 31, then moves to Everett Performing Arts Center through Jan. 29.) Village Theatre, 303 Front St. N. (Issaquah), 425-392-2202, villagetheatre.org. $22–$62. 8 p.m. STEVE WIECKING
THURSDAY 11/10
Books: F-Words
"The eagles who soar through the sky are at rest/And the creatures who crawl, run, and creep/I know you're not thirsty. That's bullshit. Stop lying/Lie the fuck down, my darling, and sleep." This is a representative stanza from Adam Mansbach's smash-hit, Facebook-incubated children's book for parents, Go the Fuck to Sleep (Akashic, $14.95). Mansbach's profane nursery-rhyme spoof is hilarious and greatly enhanced by Ricardo Cortés' cherubic, deadpan illustrations. But underlying is the startlingly honest notion that parents hate to read children's books to their children. Which raises the question: Why not read more mature literature in order to induce sleep from your child? Wouldn't an exhaustive John McPhee dispatch on applied aeronautics coax the eyelids down a whole lot quicker—and leave your kid a whole lot smarter—than some idiotic trifle about purple elephants and shit? Try it; it could be the next parental frontier. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., 624-6600, elliottbaybook.com. Free. 7 p.m. MIKE SEELY
Film: Half-Empty or Half-Full?
Concluding a short tribute to Alexander Payne (whose Clooney-starring The Descendants opens Nov. 23), the wine-country road-trip dramedy Sideways has, appropriately, improved with age. I didn't like it so much in 2004, but it's grown on me. As middle-aged schlubs Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church go golfing and drinking in Santa Barbara wine country, discontent gradually seeps through. One a failing actor, the other a failed novelist, they both feel how "we're not getting any younger," in the words of Haden Church's TV pitchman Jack, determined to get laid before his wedding (hello, Sandra Oh). Giamatti's depressed, divorced would-be novelist Miles just wants to get drunk, but in the movie's long centerpiece, a discussion about pinot noir turns profoundly metaphoric. Miles naturally identifies with the "fragile, thin-skinned grape" (as opposed to the robust, insensitive cabernet). But, says a lovely local waitress (Virginia Madsen) in reply, you never know when wine—time in a bottle, really, a microcosm for life—has hit its peak or begun its "steady, inevitable decline." In other words, she tells Miles in her unsuccessful seduction, the glass may yet be half-full for him; there may yet be hope in his miserable life. On second viewing, after a long interval, the movie is more acutely felt if—like Miles and Jack—you've accrued more hardship and disappointment during those years. Payne and Northwest native Jim Taylor shared an Oscar for their script for Sideways, which, after the screening, may send you around the corner to Ten Mercer for a bottle of the 2002 Calera. Tell them Miles sent you. SIFF Cinema at the Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net. $5–$10. 7:30 p.m. BRIAN MILLER
Food/Books: Hole in the Stomach
Since local donu-preneurs Mark and Michael Klebeck have authored Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts: Secrets and Recipes for the Home Baker (Chronicle, $16.95), we decided to sample their wares at an SW critics' roundtable. Here are some reviews:
Glazed Ring: "A bagel-sized halo of fluffy fried dough with an opaque coat of glaze—it's simple, straightforward, classic, and so sweet it makes me feel like I just mainlined confectioner's sugar." —Keegan Hamilton
Maple Icing Old-Fashioned: "It's like eating a tree, if that tree was made of dough and had a hole in it." —Mike Seely
Filled Bismark: "The fun of bismarks, aside from the fact that they're named after a state capital, is that you don't know what's in them if the little leaky belly-button part is obscured by powdered sugar. Ooh, lemon!" —Gavin Borchert
Apple Fritter: "So much variety, nuance, and girth, that it's a balanced breakfast of one." —Chris Kornelis
