Fuck the Republicans
(FILM) It's the willful outrage against common sense, the naked spite and greed of its deceitful quest for power and revenge that has made the Republican Party far and away the most aesthetically compelling political force in modern American life, marching on with the marvelous brutality and unapologetic sense of entitlement of bloodstained Medeas or Macbeths. Salute its unearned triumph by watching this collection of short political films stumping for the far right, including a 10-minute ad for Wendell Willkie, the debate between Kennedy and Nixon (our own Richard Crookback), and an hysterical admonition from the 1980 campaign that Jimmy Carter had sold us out to Castro. Things wrap up with the classic 1932 cartoon Betty Boop for President. Sing along with Betty: "What this country is in need of/Is a lot of hi-de-ho/Boop-a-doop and chocolate ice cream/(Republican elephants:) We say yes!/(Democrat donkeys:) We say no!" BRUCE REID
Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. See Movie Times for details.
Composer/Choreographer 5
(MUSIC/DANCE) Composer/Choreographer 5 has a pretty stunning lineup of talent: Stuart Dempster, Amy Denio, John Dixon, Janice Giteck, Wade Madsen, K. T. Niehoff, Jarrad Powell, Mary Sheldon Scott, and more, all diving into this unique forum to explore the relationship between sound and movement. The goal of this annual program is that the paired composer and choreographer try to work equally--that neither end of the collaboration dictates to the other. Of course, in practice this process has endless permutations, but the struggle to find balance can have great results. BRET FETZER
Velocity Theatre, 915 E Pine St, Second Floor, 545-8848, Fri-Sun at 8, $10. One weekend only.
The Wisdom of Crocodiles
(FILM) If Jude Law is surprisingly less than stunning playing a vampire in The Wisdom of Crocodiles, it's presumably because he has enacted the part to perfection so often before. His voracious, sanguine Dickie in The Talented Mr. Ripley is the very picture of parasitic seduction; Gattaca's crippled golden boy Jerome resembles nothing so much as a hunger-weakened Dracula, incapable of reconciling his former strength with his current incapacity. Still, Law brings more than enough gloomy charisma to his role as a remorseful, artistic suitor who has the bad fate to fall in love with prey Elina Lowensohn. Po Chih Leong's stylish direction moves things along, and although the pretensions of the film keep it from living up to its obvious inspiration--the superb, tragic romance between TV's Buffy and her doomed beau Angel--Law's sensitive gaze and easy confidence make the silliest parts go down easy. BRUCE REID
Egyptian, 805 E Pine, 323-4978, Fri-Sat at midnight.
David Schmader
(SOLO PERFORMANCE) So as not to seem prejudiced in favor of a Stranger co-worker, I'm going to quote the Seattle Weekly on the subject of David Schmader's solo show, Straight: "Brilliant, biting, and fall-off-your-seat funny." Schmader's exploration of conversion therapy--which purports to "cure" homosexuality--is scathing, but he's no less incisive about the equal narrow-mindedness that often afflicts the "gay community." He's been gathering rave reviews in New York, L.A., Chicago, and San Diego, revising and developing the piece along the way--he claims it even has an ending now. Everyone who saw his previous performances at Re-bar went away damn satisfied without one, so this remount should knock you on your ass. BRET FETZER
Northwest Asian American Theatre, 409 Seventh Ave S, 340-1049, Fri-Sun at 8 (additional performance on Thurs Feb 1, 8 pm), $12. Through Feb 4.
No. 13 Baby
(MUSIC) I am embarrassed about how much I love this band. Punk, if anything, should be new, right? The past is exhausted; the codependent recycling of our familiars proves us old and dull. Still, the pathways are worn so deeply into some of our brains. Watching No. 13 Baby play Pixies covers at the Croc, the muscles in my thighs trembled. It's like the sockeye coming home to spawn, and spawn they will. There is not a more ideal setting than an old, hipsterfied fisherman's tavern in the sleepy west of Ballard for this valley full of pioneers to hold their sacred blood rites in. "Cease to resist, giving my goodbye/Drive my car into the ocean." GRANT COGSWELL
Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave NW, 784-4880, 9 pm, $6.
Crescent
(RAVE) No kid worth his phat pants will miss this one; from Florida breaks champ DJ Icey to comely blond junglists DJ Rap and Dieselboy (whether the carpet matches the drapes on either one, nobody knows for sure) and cartoonish L.A. raver prince Keoki, this one should light up the cavernous Stadium Exhibition Center like a glowstick Christmas tree. Second-billed acts like Soulslinger and Simply Jeff could very well headline their own party under different circumstances, if that gives you any clue to the breadth and depth of this lineup. LEAH GREENBLATT
Stadium Exhibition Center, 1000 Occidental Ave S, 748-1724 or 366-2273, 9 pm-6 am, $25/$30.
Emergency Vets
(TV) There was Zorro, the potbellied pig who got plastic stuck in his teeth, which led to an abscess. Then there was Kelly, the Lab mix who got impaled. We can't forget Missy, the pregnant black Lab who ate rat poison; or the sharpei who was shot in the face.... All part of a typical week on Emergency Vets, where camera crews unflinchingly follow veterinarians around a 24-hour animal emergency room and record their every move--even if that means forcing viewers to watch a litter of newborn kittens die. You want "reality" TV? How about watching vets treat a ferret who fell on the underside of a hot iron? Attractive doctors, intense moments, chaos and anxiety, life and death, blood and guts: Emergency Vets has it all. If you're not a sobbing emotional wreck after just one episode, then you are most certainly made of fiberglass and breadsticks. MIN LIAO
Animal Planet (Channel 43), weeknights at 10.
Screenwriters Salon
(SCRIPT READING) Fans of music or theater are used to dealing with works in progress; why not film? This reading of Buffalo Bill's Defunct, the first feature script from local filmmaker Matt Wilkins--who expanded it improvisationally, Mike-Leigh style, from his moving short Interior Latex--provides the audience a tantalizing peek at the next project of this talented voice and allows Wilkins to hear from the audience what could be strengthened, what pruned. All right, it's a given that few activities are less cinematic than having a bunch of actors sit around and read from a script. But if Nick Ray was right that it's never all about the screenplay ("If it was, why film it?"), it's equally true that every good movie starts with good writing. Complete with a screening of Interior Latex, so you can see how it all began. BRUCE REID
Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 464-5830 or screenwriters@seattlefilm.com, 7 pm, $5.
Marc Olsen, Colin Spring, Serpe
(MUSIC) The Paradox turns the volume down a little for the first appearance of Serpe, the new band fronted by the artist formerly known as Michael John, long ago also known as Kind, Confused Man. Serpe's early arty awkwardness has matured into an atmospheric and unique blend of acoustic metal, a perfect soundtrack to the January blues. Seattle has no musical genius so unfairly neglected as Colin Spring. If the Seattle Opera's Billy Budd were performed by the cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch for one night at a country and western dive on Aurora, it might sound like Spring's sea-shanty power trio. His album Meet the Sea... Or Be Washed Up, on Serpe's upstart Homerecorded Culture label, was one of the best records of last year. Better suited to rowdier venues, Spring can also astonish the most intimate of audiences. This will be a highly emotional, aggressively engaging show. GRANT COGSWELL
Paradox, 5510 University Way NE, 524-7677, 8 pm, $6.
(WEBSITE) Elfwood promises that "In this enchanted forest you will find more fantasy and science fiction art than you could ever dream of." And they aren't kidding: This website features well over 100,000 pictures by around 7,500 different amateur artists, as well as thousands of stories. The talent and level of skill varies widely, the medium ranges from crayons to computers, and the influences include everything from H. R. Giger to Japanese anime--but there's something fascinating (and sometimes alarming) about people depicting their personal fantasies in this way. The subjects aren't usually surprising--lots of large-breasted warrior women and succubi, dragons, angels, etc.--but in the details you'll discover the pure, unfiltered inner life of the artists. BRET FETZER
www.elfwood.com
Fantagraphics' 25th Anniversary
(ART) We're a long way from Mickey Mouse in the dark worlds Fantagraphics has been bringing us for a quarter century. From Tony Millionaire's alcoholic swashbuckling crow to Peter Bagge's leering rubbery beings to the Hernandez brothers' sublime Love and Rockets, a new language of subversion and noir has emerged through the most everyday of art forms. This short-run show at Roq La Rue includes panels, covers, spot illustrations, and quote-unquote fine art by a whole spate of now-household names (such as Jim Woodring, Kaz, Ellen Forney, and Mary Fleener). There are also a couple of sticker paintings by Jim Blanchard that will absolutely knock your socks off. It being winter, I recommend that you wear two pair. EMILY HALL
Roq La Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Feb 2.
