A while back I wrote about the Dead Gentlemen, Tacoma filmmakers whose comedy "The Gamers" has won several major geek awards since its release in 2002. The team will attend the Penny Arcade Expo for a screening of the sequel, "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising," this Friday night in Seattle. And they'll sign autographs and chat up the crowd at 2 p.m. Sunday at Comic Book Ink in Tacoma.

Also, be sure to read EJ's Sunday Soundlife story in which we catch up with the Gentlemen.

On a side note, one of my most regrettable Epic Fails was, eh, failing to accept a most gracious invitation from the Gentlemen to join a new weekly D&D game. I was simply too busy, what with working full time and cracking the proverbial whip in the direction of my teenager. I'm not sure if the game ever got up and running, but I'm sorry I had to miss out.

Just how unknown was Heath Ledger at the time he danced on the steps at Stadium Bowl in his breakout role in "10 Things I Hate About You"?

On this photo in our archive, he's cited as "Patrick Ledget." (To be fair, his character is named Patrick, and, well, Ledger kind of looks like Ledget if you have bad handwriting.)

Most of the films shot in Tacoma, like "10 Things" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," seem to pass off Tacoma as Seattle. And "Prefontaine" casts Tacoma as Eugene.

Is "I Love You to Death" the only movie that's been filmed in Tacoma that actually calls us Tacoma? I haven't seen it yet, but it seems worth watching since it was filmed here.

My all-time favorite image of Tacoma on the big screen comes in the closing credits of "10 Things I Hate About You." Forward to about 1:30 for the start of the music.

Of course "10 Things I Hate About You" was filmed here, and so was "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle."

But now Tacoma gets another mention in a film ...

Skip ahead to about 1:15 for the good part.

(A version of this clip showed up on "The Daily Show" last night, including the Tacoma reference.)

Sooo, why is that bug headed to Tacoma?

Best quote of the film: "I'm tired of hearing about how gritty Tacoma is. We must steal the grit from Tacoma and destroy it."

*World blog premiere*
– Click on the photo to watch the film at YouTube. –

And speaking of the Tacoma Film Festival, I'm proud to say that GritCity must have an eye for good movies: Back in March, we highlighted Best Local Film award winner GPS: The Movie.

If you're bedridden or under house arrest, it's quite an ordeal to go out to a movie. So the Grand Cinema and Click Cable TV have announced an exclusive playback arrangement for eight Tacoma Film Festival features, just for people like you.

Click customers can watch the films anytime they want from Oct. 15 through the end of the year on local video-on-demand, for free.

Or there's always YouTube.

=> Read more!

I have two tickets that I can't use today. And I hate to waste things when children in far away places are starving for film festivals.

I'll give them to the first person who e-mails me and asks for them: cole.cosgrove@thenewstribune.com.

Clarification: These tickets are good for entry into one of today's films, not tonight's awards ceremony. Sorry!

I used to say the unofficial slogan of Tacoma was "Tacoma, where there's always somewhere to park." I kid because I love. (And really, our slogan might not last much longer in the face of development).

But the point is, this is the kind of city where you can meet some cool kids at the coffee shop, get invited to a bonfire in an old bathtub in somebody's backyard, be politely told by a jolly fireman to put out said fire, then retire to the living room to watch reruns of "Northern Exposure."

We've got heart.

So I was excited and proud to see a new DIY venture advertised on fliers around town. I am now MySpace friends with PitchPipe Infoshop, a radical library and Internet hub that also is hosting movie nights and other good things.

A bit more info, courtesy of their profile page:

We are a nonprofit, collectively run radical lending library and community space.

The infoshop includes a community lending library focused on gender studies, people of color issues, and anarchism, computer(s) with internet access, coffee and tea, organizing and meeting space, skill sharing, movie nights, conversation and ideas, and hopefully much more.

Our location and contact information: 617 South 17th St (corner of S 17th & S G St)
Tacoma, WA
pitchpipeinfo@riseup.net

Regular hours are Fridays 12-4pm and Saturdays 4-7pm. We hope to expand our hours soon.

We can always use donations of radical nonfiction books and zines, good fiction, bookshelves, and money. You can check out some of our inventory at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/PitchpipeInfoshop

They note, "you don't have to be 'radical' to come to the infoshop." But I would like to think we're all pretty radical – in the Jeff Spicoli sense.

So has anybody been yet?

Could the e-mail, forwarded by a co-worker, be true? Had Michael Moore hand-picked Tacoma as one of the cities where "Sicko," his newest movie, would be previewed?

P.S. Catch the sneak preview of "Sicko" in these cities this Saturday night, June 23rd:
Washington, D.C.
Miami, FL
Atlanta, GA
blah, blah, blah
Houston, TX
Seattle, WA
Tacoma, WA
Milwaukee, WI

I went to the web site and, after taking 2 minutes to watch the trailer (which opens with an awesome clip of George W.), found a list that looks something like this:

blah, blah, blah
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
Milwaukee, WI

Folks, Seattle-Tacoma is not the proper name for the Kingdom of Seattle.
KTHXBYE.

It's fun when businesses do things a little out of the ordinary, especially when it involves pie and ice cream. This comes to us from The Grand:

What: The Grand's First-Ever Pie and Ice Cream Social
Where: The Grand Cinema Lower Lobby
When: Sunday, June 3 from 1:30 to 7:00 pm
Cost: Free! (donations of $3 a slice gladly accepted)

Ever since "Waitress" came to the Grand, we can't seem to get enough pie! Join us this Sunday for a down-home, old fashioned pie and ice cream social in the Grand's Lower Lobby. Several varieties of pie will be served up from 1:30 until 7:00 pm. Come a little early for your movie or stay a little late. You are also welcome to join us simply for some pie and conversation. Hope to see you there!

Sunday's Showtimes
Away From Her: 11:45, 2:00, 4:15, 6:30, 8:40
Waitress: 12:00, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 8:50
Miss Potter: 12:20, 2:10, 4:00, 6:00
After the Wedding: 8:00

It's time for the Tournees Film Festival at The Grand Cinema.

I stole this from the Pierce College site and I want to put it on a T-shirt!

The Grand will show a different French film every Thursday between today and May 3. Showtimes are 2:15, 4:30, 7 and 9 p.m.

In addition to seeing some amazing movies (Les Choristes, showing April 12, is adorable, this much I know), if you go to the 7 p.m. show, you'll have the opportunity to stick around afterwards to discuss the film (with other moviegoers and local French professors) and eat treats (from Corina and Metropolitan Market, among others).

"The Fountainhead" gave me an excuse for my selfish teenage behavior -- but that's not the only reason it's awesome. Some of you anti-collaboration artists might like Ayn Rand's book because Howard Roark, the "master architect" and lead character, blows up a building he designed because it wasn't built exactly to his specs. No open-source b.s. here!

In a turn of life imitating art, Ayn Rand threw a huge fit when the director of the film adaptation tried to tighten up a few lines in Roark's final speech. She won, which is why -- if you go to the Blue Mouse Theatre on Thursday, April 19 to see the film, starring Gary Cooper -- you can see one of the longest continuous speeches in movie history (6 minutes).

(That last part is according to the biggest open-source resource of them all, Wikipedia.)

Curiously, the film is being shown for the American Institute of Architect's 150th anniversary celebration. I take it as a warning.