THURSDAY NOV 28


Thanksgiving

(HOLIDAY) We here at The Stranger would like to wish all our readers (even those who hate us) a happy Thanksgiving. Eat, drink, and, above all else, be thankful. Need help? Here are some suggestions of things to be thankful for: Friends. Family. Kittens. The fire department. Your favorite CD. Libraries. Steve Pool. The gentle slope of a woman's neck. The beach. The ability to create fire. Whiskey. Thrift stores. Kevin Costner's career being in shambles. Art. Music. Writing (even poetry--but just barely). Your crazy aunt. Cotton. And finally, the fact that Labradors are always ridiculously happy when you pet them. BRADLEY STEINBACHER


FRIDAY NOV 29


Treasure State

(MUSIC) Moody without being brooding is a great find for those of us who like music that ebbs and flows and then drenches us senseless. Treasure State is the band that has found the perfect rock balance while managing to still sound cinematic, and singer Rob Mercer (brother to Shins singer James Mercer) has an evocative voice that lends a soft note to all that crashing around. (I-Spy, 1921 Fifth Ave, 256-9667, 9 pm.) KATHLEEN WILSON


SATURDAY NOV 30


Buy Nothing Cinema

(FILM) Last week, this uptight college kid stumping for LaRouche told me that I had been brainwashed by the mainstream media. Ouch. So in an effort to broaden my horizons, I'm strapping myself down for Ultra, a two-week festival of movies that examine "the high noon of consumer culture" on both macro and micro levels. The films highlight absurdist political activism (Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping) as well as more trenchant social inquiry (Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town) of the sort that puts Michael Moore to shame. And speaking of cheap-shot demagogues, at tonight's 7 pm screening of Reverend Billy, yours truly will read Joan Didion's essay "On the Mall" to complete my political reprogramming. (Fri Nov 29-Sun Dec 1 at the Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055, $7/$4.50 members. See Movie Times for complete schedule.) SEAN NELSON


SUNDAY DEC 1


Big Book of Racism

(BOOK) The hiphop geeks behind the brilliant Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists (a partly serious, partly ridiculous collection of hiphop trivia) are back with the more ambitious but equally funny Ego Trip's Big Book of Racism. Here are a few of the book's race lists: "Family Films That Teach Kids to Mock Arabs," "Famous White People with Big Lips," "Asians That Asian Americans Are Not Necessarily Proud Of," and "Sleep Less, Mix-A-Lot More in Seattle." The book is worth every penny. (Available at Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842, and Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600.) CHARLES MUDEDE


MONDAY DEC 2


Alias Betty

(FILM) Claude Miller's intricately woven French thriller concerns kidnapping, death, lust, jealousy, parental misdeeds, and botched attempts at redemption. It also concerns the tiny connections between otherwise disengaged individuals, and the unexpected ways in which their interactions impact one another's lives. It's also funny, scary, and bracingly sad. It's not unheard of for a film to contain the multitudes, but it's unusual for a Hitchcock-inspired potboiler to contain them with such exhilarating passion for human life. (Fri Nov 29-Thurs Dec 5 at the Varsity) SEAN NELSON


TUESDAY DEC 3


John Ridley

(READING) John Ridley is living proof that a black man can be a competent Hollywood hack. He scripted U Turn (1997), which was directed by Oliver Stone, and wrote the story for Three Kings (1999), which starred George Clooney, Spike Jonze, Marky Mark, and Ice Cube. His latest noirish novel, The Drift, has a brainy black hobo, a junkie, drug smugglers, neo-Nazis, FBI agents, and Hispanic serial killers--damn! Brother, give me five on the black hand side. (Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 7:30 pm, free.) CHARLES MUDEDE


WEDNESDAY DEC 4


Fresh Candies

(COZY FUN) Owned by a new and progressive generation of East African entrepreneurs, Des Amis Lounge finally solved the problem of what to do with the space that was emptied by Pistil Books & News' sudden departure into cyberspace. Des Amis also has a throbbing house night called Fresh Candies, which is hosted by our own Speaker Freak columnist Nicolae White, along with Phillip Eno and Eric Hererra on the turntables. The result: Fresh Candies plus Des Amis equals Sex. (Des Amis, 1013 E Pike St, 322-0703, 10 pm-2 am, free.) CHARLES MUDEDE