Monkey Business

(FILM) Maybe director Howard Hawks was right that the notion of a lab chimp creating the formula for a youth potion is too absurd to swallow. Maybe the film is just too wise and sad for its own good. Whatever the reason, Monkey Business has been perennially underrated even by fellow devotees of Hawks, who generally view it as a humorous but far from stellar effort. But how anyone can savor all the riches the film has to offer--two of Cary Grant's best performances, both as befuddled stuffed-shirt and rambunctious child at play; Ginger Rogers' winning charm; Charles Coburn's hilarious flirtations with Marilyn Monroe--and not consider it one of the greatest comedies ever made is beyond me. BRUCE REID

Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St, 654-3121, 7:30 pm, $7.

Northwest Edge: Deviant Fictions

(READING) L. N. Pearson and Lidia Yuknavitch's Oregon press, twogirls, is almost preposterously devoted to experimental fiction. Their newest anthology, Northwest Edge: Deviant Fictions, eschews the cliché of regionalism or place-affected writing, instead cracking open the heads of writers like Doug Nufer, Stacey Levine, Paula Coomer, Shamina Senaratne, Steven Shaviro, and David Shields, and letting the contents form blots that are up to you to interpret. The result is a live wire of a book, stuffed with ideas, antagonistic to form, and as loving as a ticket out of logging camp. TRACI VOGEL

Elliott Bay Books, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets available.

Anthony Bourdain

(READING) After eight years in the restaurant business, I've had countless infuriating love/hate relationships with guys like Anthony Bourdain--cocky, abrasive, undeniably talented assholes who swagger and holler their way through dinner shifts and into my apartment after work. Bourdain, the executive chef of New York City's esteemed Brasserie Les Halles, has written Kitchen Confidential (Bloomsbury, $24.95), an unflinchingly blunt, fast-paced, funny-yet-horrifying exposé about the antics and lives of hardworking crews sweating in the back of the house. There is more raw testosterone and foul language in a restaurant kitchen than there is in the NFL, and Bourdain's macho memoir nails this atmosphere better than any food writer or critic: Think your sublime haute cuisine is prepared by fussy culinary-school grads in tall hats? Your restaurant experiences will surely change after sampling Bourdain's bullshit-free fare. MIN LIAO

University Bookstore, 4326 University Way, 634-3400, 7 pm, reading and signing, FREE.

Meghan Trainor

(ART) Another round of dispatches from Pugetopolis, the dark conceptual setting for much of Trainor's work. This time, in a series of paintings called Labor and Rest, she's looking at the Human Genome Project, specifically the collision of the unknown with the known: science and sales, biology and propaganda. In her paintings and mixed-media assemblage, Trainor creates symbols for this strange, advancing new world (Ms. Human Genome, chromosomes, autosomes) and makes them seem as familiar as brand-name goods. In the end, we need Pugetopolis because so much of what passes for reality couldn't possibly happen anywhere we know. EMILY HALL

Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through Sept 1.

The Woman Chaser

(FILM) Seinfeld's last season was largely redeemed by the inimitable Puddy, played by Patrick Warburton. His piggish eyes; his goofy, misogynistic voice; the eternal smirk splashed across his cocked head--Warburton's entry turned any room into a lounge. The Woman Chaser is less a movie than a projection of Warburton's character directly onto celluloid. A delirious send-up of old B-grade film noir (the b&w cinematography is jaw-dropping), The Woman Chaser stars Warburton as a used-car salesman in 1950s L.A., fixed pathologically on realizing an abstract artistic potential--in short, a hack indie director. And though littered with tail-finned convertibles, L.A. Art Deco architecture, and mellotronic lounge tones, the film is most evocative of Warburton's spiritual Russian father, Gogol. JAMIE HOOK

Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 632-3131; see Movie Times for details.

Faith Hill Look-a-Like Contest

(DREAMS OF STARDOM) Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Country superstar Faith Hill, perhaps? Well, thanks to Cover Girl, you can get your chance. If you think you bear a strong resemblance to the Pepsi-pitching, blond country crooner, shake your acid-washed jeans down to the Puyallup Fred Meyer to partake in the Faith Hill Look-a-Like Contest. You could win tickets to her Tacoma Dome performance, and possibly become one of five finalists competing for a visit with the singer backstage at a September concert in New York. Oh, and Cover Girl makeup artists will be on hand to help "make you beautiful." BRADLEY STEINBACHER

Fred Meyer, 1100 N Meridian, Puyallup, noon.

LARC Weekend Music Festival

(NUDE MUSIC) The Lake Associates Recreation Club (LARC), a "family-friendly, clothing-optional nudist club" located near Lake McMurray in Skagit County, hosts a two-day clothing-optional music festival this weekend. Saturday's lineup includes the Emerald City Jazz Ensemble, Swamp Mama Johnson, Tiny Giants, and Trish Hatley. Sunday offers Paco and the Hookers, followed by Miles from Chicago. Also, enjoy the nature trails, outdoor hot tub, and games of horseshoes and volleyball (careful with that spike!). And for all you cowards, remember that visitors "are not required to disrobe." Whew! MELODY MOSS

Lake McMurray Recreational Resort, Skagit County, 6.5 miles east of I-5, one hour north of Seattle; 360-445-6833, larc@sos.net, www.lmrr.com. Sat 11 am-11 pm, $25; Sun 10 am-4:30 pm, $15. Overnight camping available.

Running Mates

(FILM) He's already been a gigolo detective (Magnum P.I.), a single father (Three Men and a Baby), and the "straight-acting" gay guy (In & Out). With TNT's Running Mates, Tom Selleck gets into politics as Michigan Governor James Reynolds Pryce, a nice-guy Democrat who's about to be nominated as his party's presidential candidate. Ideological and personal conflicts ensue, of course, as Pryce struggles with pressure from the "power elite" and tries to decide between two running mates. With this tele-film, Selleck joins the likes of Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, and Martin Sheen in completing the Older-Man Actor Rite of Passage: wearing an expensive suit, arching a wrinkled brow, and acting presidential. Like young, beautiful actresses who must complete the Hollywood requirement of portraying a hooker, Selleck has now proven to the industry that he's "serious" about his "craft." Just don't think about those white short-shorts Magnum used to wear. MIN LIAO

TNT, 8 pm.

CD Shuffle

(ICEBREAKER) Okay, so you managed to get your date back to your apartment, and you're trying to figure out what CDs to play. Sorry, but D'Angelo's Voodoo alongside some quiet jazz is totally tacky. Here's a way to turn the harrowing "musical taste-test" moment into Big Fun. Simply choose CDs dated from milestone years in your respective life stories: You graduated from high school in 1984 and she graduated in 1992 (yikes!)--no problem. Slap on Depeche Mode's Some Great Reward mixed with Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of.... Indeed, the potential for great CD shuffles based on things like the years you were born or the years you finally got your own places is endless. For example, try mixing up the years you both got your first kiss! The Psychedelic Furs never sounded so good. JOSH FEIT

Your place, 2:15 am.

Those Two Statues in Pioneer Square

(PUBLIC SCULPTURE) Nestled on the brick concourse between Main and Washington (near my beloved Soup Daddy Soups) stand two curious statues. Carved by an unidentified artist in a Pacific Northwest Native American style (presumably by a Pacific Northwest Native American), they depict a man and woman facing each other. The woman has her arms spread wide in an embrace and her lips puckered for a kiss; the man has a wide grimace on his face and his hands held tightly in front of him, as if to say "Back off!"--only, on the palms of his hands are these smiling faces, and his hands are positioned such that they could be about to grab the woman's pendulous breasts. Maybe he isn't grimacing, maybe it's a manic grin. What exactly is going on here? Go take a look for yourself and tell me what you think. BRET FETZER

Bret Fetzer's e-mail is bret@thestranger.com.

Chippendales!

(ACCEPTABLE EXPLOITATION) Sweet Jesus! Tonight, the Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, WA (wherever the hell that is) will pack the stage with oily, muscular, tan men from the Chippendales National Tour. Screaming housewives and bachelorettes will most surely be in giddy attendance. BRADLEY STEINBACHER

Lucky Eagle Casino, 12888 188th Ave SW, Rochester, 800-729-1788, 8 pm, $20.