This week, we cut through the filler, featuring a couple of intriguing standouts within the rollout of Seattle theaters' spookier autumn offerings, as well as your chance to see a screen classic in glorious 70mm. more ›

The real “waste land” in Lucy Walker’s film of the same name isn’t Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill. It’s the landscape of the American imagination, where almost everything has become disposable and slight imperfections are grounds for rejection. The film traces how looking for the usable in the discarded can become a metaphor for seeking the good in oneself, and how art is an effective grounds for promoting the process of discovery. As a documentary, it’s pretty well done; as a commentary on society, it’s pretty searing. more ›

ADOPTION IRONY: What do you get when a gay married couple adopts a "child" to only find out that they are actually adopting a homophobic surly teenager? (We have a feeling that you guessed correctly.) The SIFF stand-out Patrick 1.5 details this exact situation after married couple Goran and Sven struggle to adopt the baby that Goren has always dreamed of fathering. Though this film sounds tightly wrapped up in a cutesy little package, we promise that you won't walk away feeling disappointed--the characters are absolutely lovely and even though the film is set in Sweden, you can't help but think about our own country's practices of prejudice when it comes to situations such as these. more ›

HOW TO WRITE LIKE I DO: Tickets are officially on sale for 826 Seattle's 2010 "Write Like I Do" adult writing workshops. Though the classes will not begin until late January, all of the workshops will be held on Tuesdays throughout the year, and we have no doubt that tickets will fill up quickly, so get 'em while they have 'em! Featuring classes with local literary loves such as The Stranger's Brendan Kiley, foodie Molly Wizenberg, David Lasky, Karen Finneyfrock, and Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, you can probably understand why these small workshops will fill up quickly. The workshops cover all genres imaginable, and go for only $30 a pop or $210 for a season pass--a steal for some great literary fun! more ›

Collapse is not a film for the faint of heart, and those looking for a Friday night date movie should seek elsewhere, unless they have a deeply troubled sense of fun. But for those willing to buckle up emotionally, Smith's newest feature is a masterful example of documentary film at it's most unflinching, and cinephiles looking to be moved rather than entertained couldn't ask for more. more ›

ELECTRONIC LOVE: Washington D.C.-based d.j. duo Thievery Corporation will be coming to the Paramount for one night only. Known for their "acid jazz" cocktail lounge sound and progressive worldly beats,they are definitely one of those groups you may think you've never heard, but once you've listened to, you'll recognize. One of their most popular songs, "Lebanese Blonde", became a hit after it appeared in a little but well-known movie, Garden State, and it is used frequently in intros on radio stations such as KEXP and NPR. We guarantee this to be great for a date night, and hopefully some movin' and shakin'. more ›

As war protest songs go, they don't come more pointed or authentic than Eddie Vedder's "No More," which the Pearl Jam frontman extrapolated from 26 year-old veteran Tomas Young's brief—and literally paralyzing—Army tour of Iraq. The song's video, poured into the tubes yesterday by "online political and social action community" Think MTV, is just as sincere and direct. more ›