Arts & Entertainment
- Newspaper Box Artist Reception
- The party is at Court House Square (1102 A St) on Thursday Aug 21 at 7:00pm. See the boxes and award ceremony. No cover.
- All American Tattoo Convention Coming to Tacoma
- Tacoma is set to host its first-ever All American Tattoo Convention September 12-14 at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center. The three-day event blends high-caliber artistry with community spirit – featuring more than 200 tattoo artists, Ink Master TV alumni, live tattoo battles, and a unique fake skin competition. VIPs will receive early access and special perks, while the event continues its proud tradition of supporting veterans, with over $100,000 raised to date and a new Tacoma chapter in giving back. For more information visit All American Tattoo Convention.
- Shakespeare in the Park
- Join Tacoma’s tradition of outdoor theater with free performances by South Sound actors in scenic local parks. Bring your own chair or blanket and enjoy this beloved classic (A Midsummer Nights Dream) under the evening sky. The performances will take place on August 16 at Titlow Park and August 17 at Norpoint Park, both at 6:00pm. For more details, visit Shakespeare in the Park.
- Southeast Asian Comedy Summer Social – August 16
- Enjoy a night filled with amazing food, 90s R&B/Hip Hop music, and a showcase of the funniest comedians from all over the country. Produced by the AMOCAT award-winning team, SEA COMEDY presents: SEA Comedy’s Summer Social. As the night unfolds, comedians will take the stage, including a Summer Roast of Tacoma’s own Silong Chhun as he completes his campaign for Tacoma City Council District 4. It promises to be an unforgettable (ages 21+) evening at the Tacoma Armory. Learn more and get tickets at Tacoma Arts Live.
- Paint and Sip at Tacoma’s First U-Pour Bar: The Redd Dog
- It’s Paint and Sip Sunday at The Redd Dog! Grab your friends or significant other and come for a fun night out. Your artist will guide you through the painting process, so all skill levels are welcome. This session, you’ll be painting he Hops Heart on a canvas. You’ll get to be creative and go home with your original art piece. Guests can purchase a pour card and choose from a variety of beverages including wine, beer or cider, and change with every ounce. You can also purchase pizza, snacks, sandwiches, salads and more. Relax, paint and discover how creativity (and wine) can help you unwind and reduce stress. This event is all-ages, and seating is limited. Pre-registration is required at Eventbrite.
Neighborhood News
- Did You Know: Mental Health Hotline for Youth in Pierce County
- Youth and young adults in Washington State have access to a free, 24/7 helpline offering simple and accessible support. HearMeWA was created for individuals up to age 25, providing assistance for a variety of concerns, including bullying, anxiety, depression and more. For help, call 888-537-1634, text HearMeWA to 738477, or visit hearmewa.org.
- August Neighborhood Connections Coffee Chat – New Date
- City Council member Olgy Diaz has moved the August Neighborhood Connections Coffee Chat to Friday August 22 from 10:30 to 11:30am. It will take place in the Moore Library (215 S 56th Street). Bring your thoughts and ideas on all things Tacoma!
- Free Public Port of Tacoma Boat Tours
- The Port of Tacoma is excited to announce that the Free Public Port of Tacoma Boat Tours will take place on Sunday September 7th! Free tickets will be available starting Wednesday August 13th on a first-come first-served basis. If you subscribe to their monthly e-newsletter, you’ll be the first to know when the ticket link goes live. For more information and to subscribe to their newsletter, visit bit.ly/PortBoatTours.
- How to Calm Traffic on Your Street
- Neighborhood Traffic Calming can help promote safer transportation conditions on Tacoma’s neighborhood streets. The Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program (NTCP) has been established to receive and respond to residents’ questions and concerns regarding vehicle speeds and/or cut-through traffic volumes on non-arterial neighborhood streets. To submit a request for new traffic calming features, such as speed humps, on your street, please call 3-1-1 or submit your request online at SeeClickFix.
- Humane Society Rescues 80 Cats
- On August 5, 84 cats and kittens arrived at the Humane Society of Tacoma Pierce County from a hoarding situation. Many are missing teeth, suffering from gum disease, affected by tapeworms and requiring medical care. Your support is needed, and donations up to $45,000 made before August 22 will be matched to provide these animals with the medical attention, nourishing food and comfort they need to find new homes. Donate Here!
- Tacoma Art Museum Partners with Bloodworks NW to Host a Blood Drive
- Tacoma Art Museum and Bloodworks NW have come together to support the community’s health and well-being. Both organizations, rooted in service – TAM by connecting people through art, education and outreach and Bloodworks NW by ensuring a safe and steady blood supply – reflect a shared commitment to caring for the community. They will host a blood drive on August 28 from 11:30 am to 5:30pm at TAM. To register, visit Bloodworks NW.
Business & Opportunities
- Put Down the Book and Learn About Careers with Pierce Transit
- On August 21, from 10:00am to Noon, take a break from reading and learn about the amazing careers offered by Pierce Transit. A representative will be available at the Mottet Branch of the Tacoma Public Library (3523 East G Street) to answer all your recruitment questions. For more information visit Pierce Transit Careers.
- How to Join Pierce County Transportation Advisory Commission
- The Transportation Advisory Commission (TAC) provides guidance on transportation issues to the Pierce County Council, Pierce County Executive and the Transportation Benefit District. One member must be a business representative and the other must be from a community organization in unincorporated Pierce County. Apply at Pierce County TAC.
- Auditions for Matilda the Musical August 24-26
- Tacoma Little Theater is holding auditions for its holiday production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical. Directed by Jennifer York, musically directed by Lindsay Delmarter, and choregraphed by Cassie Jo Fastabend, the auditions will require a one-minute comedic monologue and 16 bars of a musical theater song. An accompanist will be provided. The roles of Mr. Wormwood and Mrs. Wormwood have already been cast. To reserve an audition time, visit Casting Manager.
- Artist Call: Providence St. Peter Hospital – Art for Healing Spaces
- Artist Penny FireHorse of Cosmic Spark Designs, in partnership with Providence St. Peter Hospital, invites local and regional artists to submit artwork for a new rotating exhibition program designed to enhance the healing environment for patients, staff and visitors. The first installation will take place in the hospital commissary, with new exhibits scheduled quarterly. For guidelines, eligibility, compensation and to apply, visit Art for Healing Spaces.
- WorkSource Tacoma Center Reopens
- The Tacoma location of WorkSource Pierce has reopened for in-person services after a temporary closure due to significant water damage. In partnership with the building’s property management, the center has resumed full functionality. During the closure, services were provided at alternate locations and virtually. The One-Stop Center, located at 2121 S State St is now open Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Customers can access career services, including resume support, job search assistance, workshops, training programs, and in-person appointments. For more information, visit WorkSource Pierce.
Recreation & Wellness
- Foothills Trail Spiketon Ditch Bridge Project Update
- The bridge has officially been placed across the ditch, and the next milestone is rotating it into its final position on the abutment bearings. The project is still on track for a Fall 2025 opening. Learn more at Pierce County – Spiketon Ditch Bridge.
- Harvest Home, Traditional Harvest Festival Celebrating Autumn
- Join the Fort Nisqually Living History Museum for cider pressing with apples harvested from the museum’s own orchard, crafts for the family, and samples from the kitchen. Guests can help decorate the hock cart for the harvest and witness the crowning of the Harvest King and Queen from among the museum’s teen volunteers. Enter the Jam and Jelly competition. The event is free for Fort Nisqually Living History Museum members.
Film & TV Reviews
- Film Review: Weapons, by Elizabeth Mulloy
- Ever since the first eerie marketing for Zach Cregger’s sophomore feature, Weapons, started going viral online, it instantly shot to the top of my most-anticipated list for the year. I wasn’t quite as high on Barbarian as everyone else, but I could see Cregger’s potential. Fast forward three years and a $30+ million bidding war that ended with Jordan Peele firing his entire managerial team, Weapons has finally arrived. All I can say is: no wonder Peele was furious about losing the rights. This thing is a modern horror masterpiece.
- One night at 2:17 A.M. in Maybrook, Pennsylvania, every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class, woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark and they never came back. Thus launching a police investigation that traumatizes the entire town, turning neighbor against neighbor. With the town struggling to cope, several individuals launch their own investigation to find where their children ran off to.
- The brilliance of Weapons lies in its non-linear narrative structure. It plays out like assembling a puzzle, where each piece is a character, and each character’s perspective offers only fleeting glimpses of the bigger picture. In this case, that picture is the disappearance of seventeen children. We follow Justine Gandy (Julia Garner, a pitch-perfect scream queen), a teacher of the missing students who’s harassed by the town, convinced she’s somehow involved. Then there’s Archer Graff (Josh Brolin, equal parts tragic and intimidating), the father of one of the missing kids, certain the police aren’t doing their jobs. Their storylines unravel like a slow-burn detective thriller, each step pulling us deeper into the mystery. The pacing is tight, the tone charged with tension, and there’s always something dark and dangerous lurking just beneath the surface.
- Then we follow Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich), a local police officer having an exceptionally bad day, and James (Austin Abrams, hysterical), a homeless drug addict and burglar on the hunt for a good steal. Their storyline unfolds like a dark comedy, playful, twisted, and just a little mean-spirited. Finally, there’s Andrew Marcus (Benedict Wong), the school’s principal, trying to move on, and Alex (Cary Christopher, delivering a fantastic child performance), the one student from Mrs. Gandy’s class who didn’t vanish, though there’s far more to him than meets the eye. These narratives begin as a hazy suburban daydream before curdling into a full-blown nightmare about the rot beneath America’s picket fences.
- Not only does each narrative offer a unique lens through which to view this puzzle, but each comes with its own distinct tone and cinematic style, as if Cregger is determined to push himself to the very edge of his filmmaking abilities. One moment he’s orchestrating quiet, dread-filled suspense; the next, he’s leaning into razor-sharp comedy or gut-punch tragedy. Yet it all feels part of the same feverish vision. No matter the genre, tone, or setup, my audience was locked in for every single second. There’s one scene in particular that perfectly captures Cregger’s control over his craft: it starts with nervous, almost embarrassed laughter rippling through the crowd, then, without warning, the air is sucked out of the room, dead silence, a collective gasp of horror, and finally, a chorus of genuine, panicked screams. All of it in under thirty seconds.
- That’s not just good filmmaking; that’s mastery. With Weapons, Cregger has built a full-blown cinematic rollercoaster, tight, terrifying, hysterical, and completely batshit insane. And beneath all the chaos, he’s tackling the horror of school shootings through a chilling, modern reimagining of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. It’s bold, it’s unsettling, and undeniably entertaining.
- Overall, Weapons cements itself as a modern horror masterpiece. It is not just one of the best horror films of the year, but one of the best films of the year, period. Zach Cregger has sharpened his directorial vision and expanded it into something bolder, stranger, and more ambitious than ever before. Weapons is a full-throttle cinematic rollercoaster, a haunting and hypnotic blend of horror epic and Paul Thomas Anderson–level character drama, and it confirms Cregger as one of the most exciting filmmakers working today.
- My Rating: A
- Series Review: Wednesday, by Elizabeth Mulloy
- After nearly three years, Wednesday has finally returned, well, at least half of it has. The rest won’t drop until early September because Netflix still refuses to embrace a weekly release. Instead, their version of “compromise” is splitting a season in two and staggering the drop by a month to keep engagement up. Going into this season, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I liked the first season of Wednesday, flaws and all, but a three-year hiatus is an absurdly long gap between seasons, and it made me a little uneasy. Now that the first half of season two has premiered… I’m not entirely sure how I feel.
- We follow Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) as she returns to Nevermore Academy after saving the school from Joseph Crackstone and the Hyde who set out to kill all outcasts. Over the summer, Wednesday has been learning to channel and control her psychic abilities, but nothing could have prepared her for the nightmare of being popular. Not a fan of her newfound status, she throws herself into honing her abilities, no matter the cost. But when she has a vision of Enid’s (Emma Myers) tombstone, Wednesday becomes determined to uncover the truth, even if it costs her life. The one word that kept coming to mind while watching these four episodes was “overstuffed. ”
- What made the first season of Wednesday work so well was its tight focus on Wednesday Addams, brought to life perfectly by Jenna Ortega. Watching her navigate adolescence and murder mysteries was a joy because the character is just that magnetic. But in this new season, Wednesday is no longer the sole star as she now has to share the spotlight with her castmates and make room for their storylines.
- This season, Wednesday’s younger brother, Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), joins the academy, and we follow him as he tries to fit in with his newly resurrected zombie pet. Bianca (Joy Sunday), meanwhile, is juggling two problems: protecting her mother after rescuing her from a cult, and appeasing the new headmaster, Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), by raising funds for the school with her Siren voice. Wednesday’s parents, Gomez (Luis Guzman) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), are now stationed on school grounds, keeping a close (and unwanted) watch on her, stirring up some family drama. And Enid finds herself tangled in a love triangle, as finally being able to wolf-out has completely shifted her dating expectations.
- With all these storylines, and several more competing for attention, the season never quite finds its footing. Instead, it feels scattered in every direction, darting from subplot to subplot in a rush to reach its climax. In that haste, the narrative never gets the chance to properly breathe or let any of its arcs develop in a satisfying way. The result is a first half that’s messy, frustrating, and, frankly, boring in stretches. It’s not that the potential isn’t there because when the show does find its footing, particularly in the final episode, it’s sharp, engaging, and genuinely fun. But for most of these episodes, it stumbles around with the chaotic, soap-operatic energy of Riverdale, and not in a self-aware way.
- I won’t be giving Part 1 a rating, since it’s only half a season and Netflix is only splitting it into two parts so they can milk the engagement of weekly releases without actually committing to that model. What I’ve seen so far, though, isn’t exactly promising. Rather than moving away from the cheesy adolescent tropes such as love triangles, obsessive fan-stalkers, petty teenage drama and leaning into the dark dramedy of Wednesday Addams navigating school life, the writers have doubled down on the very same tired beats that bogged down season one. I’m still curious to see where the rest of the season goes, but this is hardly a strong start.
Screenshots
