Can't Miss It: Tuesday

Don't miss Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives at NWFF.

FREE FOR ALL: Is Shabazz Palaces highly anticipated full-length follow up to 2009’s critically acclaimed mini-albums (Of Light & Shabazz Palaces). It’s also their first release on their new label, Sub Pop. The album drops today and already critics are calling it the “album of the year,” best hip-hop album of the decade, and a “masterpiece”. Hopefully all that hype won’t scare you off, because this is some genuinely good music from a genuinely talented hip-hop duo. NPR has it streaming here and they say, it’s “a sonic world made up of discordant beats, swirling synths, bouncing 808s, and [Ishmael] Butler's nimble, impressionistic poetry... It's a dissonant listening experience, but it's richly rewarding, revealing something new with each spin.” Shabazz Palaces put on a damn good show too, so tonight’s free in-store at Easy Street is not to be missed.

7 pm // Easy Street in Queen Anne // FREE

IT’S HALF-FULL: Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain is a new book by leading neuroscience researcher Tali Sharot on our brain’s apparent slant towards the positive. Psychologists have long been aware that most people tend to entertain an irrationally positive outlook on their lives. In fact, they even believe that optimism may be so crucial to our existence that it is hard-wired into our brains. Sharot will tell us why and what that means tonight when she discusses her book.

6:30 pm // Town Hall Seattle // $5

SPOOKY-ISH: NWFF special two-week engagement of 2010 Winner of the Palme d'Or Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is almost coming to an end. Which means tonight is one of the last nights that you can catch this dreamy tale by acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The film focuses on the final days of Boonmee, an aging farmer suffering from kidney disease, as he reflects upon his life and contemplates reincarnation. It has ghosts and monsters, but apparently isn’t scary. It deals heavily with death, but somehow isn’t melancholy. These are some surprising contradictions. In fact, reviews have called it hopeful, magical, and sublime.

7 & 9:15 pm // Northwest Film Forum // $6 -$9