Head on over to the Daily Weekly. We're consolidating our blogs and the DW is the new home for Onstot's TV obsessions, Brian's film tidbits, and Seely's mime reviews.

Longenbaugh writes in about the snowfall fallout for local theaters:

Snowpocalypse '08, when our city leaders' innovative policy of dealing with winter storms was to keep snowplows well away from dangerous snow-filled streets, made a dismal Christmas for retailers even worse. While storefronts suffered, it had an even larger impact on area theaters, many of who were in the middle of running their Christmas cash cows. "If there's one show that you really can't extend an extra week, it's a Christmas show," says Taproot Theatre's artistic director Scott Nolte. "People are pretty much done with the whole topic by January." More >>

Twilight Artist Collective reports that on Monday, three paintings were stolen from its West Seattle gallery. (Nationwide, given the recession and all, shoplifting is reported to be way, way up.)

So be on the lookout for two works by Cyn Moore, including the one pictured above, and a picture of a crane (as in the bird) by Jessie Link. Value for the three canvases is said to be $500; this at a time when gallery sales are down. If you have tips or information, please contact:

Twilight Artist Collective
933-2444
4306 S.W. Alaska St.

Shop here for men's and ladies' tees featuring the stylish image of the Uptight and one of his inspirational passive-aggressive slogans.


Image by Rod Filbrandt

But we kid our esteemed former colleague Katie Millbauer, who wrote up plenty of dining and drinking establishments during her tenure at Seattle Weekly, and we never once saw her drunk or less than charming. So it's appropriate for the now Portland-based writer, who now goes by her slightly amended married name, Kate Simon, that her debut book is about drinking graciously and in style. Hence Tiny Bubbles: Fizzy Cocktails for Every Occasion, Using Champagne, Prosecco, and Other Sparkling Wines (Chronicle, $14.95).

Congratulations, Katie! Er..I mean Kate. She's now editor-at-large for Imbibe magazine, too. And we hope there's an author tour that brings her back to Seattle. (In fact, those readings should be held in bars!) And let's hope this now successful author is the one buying us the fizzy cocktails when she visits.

The list grows to three. Shot in Seattle this summer by comic-turned-director Bobcat Goldthwait, World's Greatest Dad stars none other than Robin Williams, whose recent show at the Paramount drew raves from our Erika Hobart. As we wrote earlier, when the film crew was in the alley behind our building, WGD concerns a middling writer (Williams) whose son's suicide (boo-hoo) allows him to pen a best-selling fake memoir in his dead son's name. It's a black comedy, of course, being screened out of competition at Sundance--which is often a polite way of saying it's in the market for a cheap DVD pickup deal, and may bypass theaters en route to Blockbuster and Netflix. Still, if for no other reason than its Seattle locations, we're hoping for a big-screen engagement.

Dorothea Lange's "Destitute peapickers in California; a 32 year old mother of seven children. February 1936."
Image source: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html

In a town that seems to be shedding writers, perhaps it's time to return to Depression-era works projects.

See a recent article in The New Republic. (Thanks to Arts Journal for the link.)

To read (and hear) the work produced by this project, look here.

Even as the Grand Illusion prepares for its 38th-annual screening of It's a Wonderful Life, the non-profit cinema has announced its George Bailey award. (That's the character played by Jimmy Stewart in the film.) This year, appropriately, it goes to Michael Seiwerath, who ran the GI when it was still part of Northwest Film Forum. (The two split in 2004.) This year, after successfully consolidating NWFF operations at its new Cap Hill location, Seiwerath departed to pursue a career in affordable housing development.

That worthy pursuit also seems a good fit with George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (which runs Fri. Dec. 12 to Christmas Day), since he, the responsible banker, tries to protect his clients and keep people from being evicted. So congrats to Seiwerath, and let's hope both the GI and NWFF can weather what looks like a tough economic climate in 2009 and the years ahead.

You would think that grants and funding would completely dry up for local arts organizations given the present wintry economy. And maybe more bad budgetary news will come in 2009, when WaMu job cuts, Boeing jet orders, and other indicators hit home. For now, however, there are some bright spots.

First, SIFF just landed $30,000 from the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (that's part of the AMPAS, aka the people who put on the Oscars). According to the non-profit, the money "was granted to SIFF for the purpose of community outreach that specifically targets and provides free ticketing for under-served communities. Through this program, SIFF intends to distribute more than 10,000 free tickets during the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival to populations throughout the Pacific Northwest."

And, related, the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival runs Thurs., May 21-Sun., June 14. And you can bet there are already deals on ticket packages (even without titles announced), since any sensible arts organization would like to get your money in the bank sooner as opposed to later. And in about a year, SIFF will move its headquarters to Seattle Center, just around the corner from SIFF Cinema.

SIFF also received $750,000, the largest grant in its history, from the Wallace Foundation, the philanthropy funded from the estate of the founders of Reader’s Digest. SIFF wasn't the only local recipient, since the Wallace Foundation announced this week some $7.7 million in Seattle giving. Other winners after the jump...

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(Jennifer Lee Taylor as Daisy in "The Adding Machine" Photo by Chris Bennion)

New Century Theatre is making a huge splash with its revival of The Adding Machine. (Here's the rave from our Kevin Phinney.)

After the jump, Longenbaugh weighs in about the debut of this group of veterans and what their future may hold.

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