The Stranger

For three years now, Hugo House has been hosting one of the best poetry readings in the city. What makes this series so great in a literary scene with so much competition? Well, the $1 glasses of wine sure as hell don't hurt. Tonight is the last Cheap Wine and Poetry until the fall, and it's a celebration featuring improv great Jennifer Jasper and some jerk named David Schmader. (Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030. 7 pm, free.) by Paul Constant

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It's easy for people who don't attend the festival to dismiss SIFF as a succession of dour Polish films about the Holocaust, but haters don't realize the festival's breadth of genre and depth of quality. Case in point: Mirageman, a Chilean superhero film about one lonely master of unarmed combat (Marko Zaror) who takes to the streets in a gaudy outfit to fight crime. The film is constructed from midnight-movie implausibilities, but Zaror's kung fu is strong, and the movie zips to greatness at 80 (occasionally very bizarre) minutes. (Egyptian Theatre, 801 E Pine St, www.thestranger.com/siff. Midnight, $8.) by Paul Constant

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Joan of Arc mastermind Tim Kinsella has been one of the most prodigious and quietly influential figures in emo/indie/post-what-have-you for two decades, since his teen years in the posthumously revered Cap'n Jazz. Since then, he's recorded more than a dozen records with Joan of Arc and other bands, subtly shifting shapes but always retaining a singular and impressive voice, his intricately winding lyrics every bit as distinctive as his cracked yet tuneful howl. (Vera Project, Seattle Center, 956-8372. 7:30 pm, $10, all ages.) by Eric Grandy

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Tarsem Singh's long-gestating follow-up to his painfully flawed—but gorgeous—serial-killer flick The Cell is a children's story about love, heartache, suicide, and the gullibility of kids. Taking major cues from The Princess Bride, it never quite jells on a narrative level—in fact, it's a borderline disaster. But visually, it's one of the most imaginative and playful movies you will ever see. As a filmmaker, Singh is half-baked; as a stylist, he's truly one of the greats. (See movie times, www.thestranger.com, for details.) by Bradley Steinbacher

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In the 1980s, William Gibson allegedly coined the term "cyberspace," which nobody besides your parents has used in conversation for at least five years. But, as Stranger critic Steven Shaviro pointed out in a March 2003 review of Pattern Recognition, Gibson is probably the first writer to use "Google" as a verb. In his newest thriller, Spook Country, he's one of the first to realistically capture the antigovernment techno-paranoia of the first decade of the new millennium. Most sci-fi authors are still trying to catch up to Gibson, and after 30 years, none of them has come close. (University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400. 7 pm, free.) by Paul Constant

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