“The Last of Us” is a television adaptation of the acclaimed video game series of the same name, with , the video game’s writer and creative director, operating as one of the show’s lead showrunners. While the first season followed Ellie and Joel as they embarked on a cross-country journey from Boston to Salt Lake City, the second season has a much more central location, as revealed in its latest episode, which aired Sunday.

Seattle hasn’t been explored much by the show’s central characters yet, but the video game features many prominent Seattle locations in a post-apocolyptic fashion, including the Paramount Theatre, located on 9th Avenue and Pine Street, Lumen Field in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, , the , the historic Chinatown Gate in the Chinatown-International District, Seattle’s Central Library, the , and, yes, the Space Needle.

The video game even included little Seattle details, like a series of rainbow crosswalks that adorn Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

“The Last of Us” Season 2 premiere on HBO Max drew 5.3 million viewers, according to , a 13% increase compared to the Season 1 premiere. reported that season one averaged nearly 32 million viewers per episode in total, making it the largest audience for an HBO Max debut season ever.��

The first season was nominated for 24 primetime Emmy awards, winning eight.

‘The Last of Us’ was filmed in B.C.

While “The Last of Us'” second season is set in the Emerald City, its principal filming occurred in Vancouver, British Columbia. The first season was filmed primarily in Calgary, Alberta.

British Columbia has played host to many filming sets for American television and film projects due to the province’s tax breaks and abundant production industry.

Seattle attempts to expand its film imprint

But Seattle, and the state as a whole, is trying to expand its film prowess to become a staple in the entertainment industry. In 2022, Washington passed a ��that thoroughly updated and expanded the state’s (MPCP). The bill increased the program’s funding cap by more than 400%, from $3.5 million—which ranked as one of the worst incentives in the state in the U.S.—to $15 million per year.

BREAKING📽️: The Council just passed legislation to create a Seattle Film Commission tasked with advising the City on policies that strengthen Seattle’s film and television industry. It was sponsored by Councilmember Sara Nelson ().

— Seattle City Council (@SeattleCouncil)

California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and New York provided the largest incentives in the U.S.

States offer these incentives because in-state movie productions often boost the local economy. Incentive packages vary from state to state, but many include production rebates, which reduce the costs of making movies, TV shows, and commercials, in some states, according to .

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Pickleball Kingdom will inhabit a 40,000 square foot facility, replacing a now-shuttered Bed Bath and Beyond located at 3115 196th Street SW. The facility will have 12 courts, a pro store, locker rooms, showers, an upstairs mezzanine, private rooms for events and parties, and a dink wall—a virtual screen used for practicing swings.

Coaching clinics, training, leagues and tournaments, and youth programs will all be available to members.

“The state of��Washington is renowned for its passionate pickleball community, and��Lynnwood is an excellent choice for Pickleball Kingdom,” Ace Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of Pickleball Kingdom, said. “John and Mara Hylton��bring extensive experience and are committed to providing top-tier facilities and a welcoming environment. We’re thrilled to bring our brand to this vibrant community.”

Pickleball won’t come cheap

Pickleball Kingdom comes with monthly and annual memberships. Memberships will require a $100 initiation fee before starting at $129 a month. First responders, such as law enforcement officers and firefighters, are eligible for an additional 10% discount on top of that, according to .

The pickleball center will have “open plays” where people can drop in, free of charge, to check out all the hype.

This will be the eighth Pickleball Kingdom in Washington, and the first in Snohomish County. The other locations are in Vancouver, Yakima, Tacoma, Spokane, Seattle, Bellevue, and Poulsbo.

Pickleball Kingdom opens in Lynnwood on April 25.

Beginning of pickleball traces back to WA

Pickleball’s origins can be traced back to former Washington Rep. Joel Pritchard, who was said to have come up with the sport with businessman Bill Bell while at the Congressman’s Bainbridge Island home in 1965. As the story goes, Pritchard and Bell were searching for badminton equipment, but when they couldn’t find enough rackets for a game, they used ping-pong paddles and a plastic ball instead.

“At first, they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net,” the . “As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches.”

After inviting their friend Barney McCallum to try out at the game on Pritchard’s property the next weekend, the trio drafted a set of rules, kickstarting decades of growth for the sport as it spread across the globe.

For the third year in a row, pickleball was crowned as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., according to . Pickleball has grown 51.8% from 2022 to 2023, and by 224% over the last three years. Every age demographic saw a growth in participation during this span.

In May 2023, it was announced that Seattle had the most pickleball courts per 100,000 people in the U.S., though it has since been passed up by Louisville, Kentucky, Madison, Wisconsin, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

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“Sinners” is great. It’s a Southern Gothic horror adventure about a pair of twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) navigating a vampire infestation in their hometown, set in the Jim Crow-era Deep South. It’s tightly paced, gorgeous to look at, and has tremendous sequences with unbelievable music intertwined. People are already claiming it as the best vampire movie… ever. It’s everything you want in a trip to the movies.

And that’s the point. Ryan Coogler (“Creed,” “Black Panther”) wants his audience well fed.

“I want people walking out of the theater and thinking, ‘Man, I had a full meal. They really care about the medium,’” Coogler said during his press tour. “Everybody on the project knew that this was going to theaters. They all care about seeing movies on a big screen and what it feels like when you see a good one.”

The problem is that these experiences are becoming fewer and fewer. And with enough tempting entertainment options available from the comfort of your couch at a fraction of the price, it’s no wonder these experiences are going extinct. Maybe they need to come with Michelin stars to let people know how far a journey from their couch the movie is worth. Sinners gets a full three Michelin stars.

“Sinners,” currently tracking to have the biggest opening for an original film post-COVID-19, is in theaters Friday.

Here’s what else is available to watch this weekend.

What & How to Watch

On Amazon Prime: “Eephus”

The only film to have a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than “Sinners” this calendar year, “Eephus” is a perfect pairing with the optimism that comes with April baseball.

Set in New England in the 1990s, two teams from an amateur baseball league made up of middle-aged guys decide to face off one more time before their beloved, downtrodden field gets bulldozed over.

It’s a character study wrapped in a comedy that turns into a nice bookend to “The Sandlot.” The language is coarser and the drama comes with more baggage, but “Eephus” delivers the best baseball movie since “Moneyball.”

On Netflix: “Black Mirror”

Fourteen years and six seasons later, we have arrived at this current iteration of “Black Mirror,” a science fiction anthology that explores the dangers of technology (among other things) through endless creativity and concepts.

For all the attempts to bring back “The Twilight Zone” or something similar, nothing has come close to the success of “Black Mirror,” even if it is more cynical and biting in its approach to our modern world.

It may be too abstract in its approach, and too close to home when it creates a culture burrowing itself into dystopia, but it also can be one of the most unique TV experiences available.

As a die-hard Paul Giamatti fan, I found his episode (“Eulogy’) incredibly moving.

On Amazon Prime: “Conclave”

Amazon just snagged “Conclave” for streaming, giving the 2024 conversational thriller about the transition, and traditions, of replacing the pope its biggest audience yet.

For a couple of weeks, it honestly felt like “Conclave” could steal the Oscar for Best Picture last March. Featuring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini, it’s a sharp, well-acted, beautifully rendered drama worthy of its acclaim.

Except for its ending. And this is why any holdouts should cave and check out this movie this weekend. Does the ending work for you? Is it too bizarre and unrealistic? Does it throw off the balance of the film? Does it not impact your viewing of the movie at all? Check it out and fire off your thoughts because it is quite a choice from director Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”).

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The movie follows a team of Navy Seals, all based on real soldiers, during a mission-turned-sideways in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006. “Warfare” is written by Ray Mendoza, a 16-year Navy SEAL veteran who was deployed in Iraq twice. He paired himself with Garland in order to recreate the horror he witnessed firsthand, and this movie is as much a horror film as it is a military movie and an action thriller. It’s almost a complete rejection of “1917,” a WWI film that strips the violence of organized military combat in favor of identifying the beauty that perseveres, captured through its gorgeous cinematography.

Don’t be fooled, this is not a pro-military film filled with patriotic propaganda. It’s a nasty 95-minute adventure that doesn’t attempt to shield the public from the atrocities of war through narratives and other Hollywood polish. It doesn’t ask questions. It doesn’t provide answers. It’s merely a document.

Some have described “Warfare” as the opening 30 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan,” when the Americans storm Omaha Beach, for an entire movie. Technically impressive and loud as hell, if you have the stomach for a film like this, you will be rewarded with one of the most visceral movies ever made.

“Warfare” is in theaters Friday. Here’s what else is available to watch this weekend.

What & How to Watch

On Apple TV+: Your Friends and Neighbors

Jon Hamm has been on fire in the TV world. Following significant roles in “The Morning Show,” “Fargo,” and “Landman,” Hamm gives us “Your Friends and Neighbors:” a series about a fired hedge fund manager who turns to thievery, targeting his affluent neighbors and former colleagues in order to make ends meet.

It’s a part of the modern canon of TV where we watch “rich people do awful stuff with lavish backdrops,” but it does explore some new territory. The show has lots of fun exposing more than a few skeletons in rich people’s closets as Hamm burglurizes his way to stability.

More entertaining than a critique on class, Hamm’s turn to break some bad is a great watch.

On Max: The Last of Us Season 2

Amid Max and Apple TV+’s face-off for being the most relevant streaming service of the year, the second season of “The Last of Us” is upon us, premiering this Sunday.

A post-apocalyptic zombie-infested voyage through America, the celebrated series based on the award-winning video game will completely flip the script with its second chapter, and test its audience in thought-provoking ways.

Is it sacrilegious to compare “The Last of Us Season 2” to “The Godfather Part II?” Absolutely, but the parallels are there in the ways characters change in unrecognizable turns, the structure of its story, and how the morality at the heart of the show is thrashed around amongst the chaos. It’s a wholly original sequel, and proves to be an incredible test to adapt for television. But, if done so successfully, it would be one of the best television shows of 2025.

And it takes place in Seattle, how cool! Episodes arrive weekly on Sunday, with the season debuting on April 13.

��On Max: Hacks

“Hacks” returns for a fourth season after historic success at the Emmys and other awards bodies. Seattle-native Jean Smart won three Emmys for lead comedic actress in three tries, while the show also collected three writing, one directing, and one “Best Comedy Series” Emmys.

“Hacks” is about a down-on-her-luck comedy writer swooped up and mentored by a comedic legend, for better or worse. With physical comedy just as smart, fresh, and punchy as its writing and line delivery, the dark-humor dramedy creates such a unique pair of characters and a complicated, twisted relationship between them. Season 4 picks up from the last season’s highs and hits the ground running, ready to deliver another incredible slew of episodes.

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But it’s no joke. It’s real, it’s greenlit, and it’s full steam ahead for a 2026 release.

How will Fincher’s cold, calculated style mesh with Tarantino’s most personal project, which he made with his heart all over his sleeve? Will Leonardo DiCaprio reprise his role of Rick Dalton? Will this be just more disposable streaming content, or a movie of enough quality to belong in Tarantino’s iconic filmography? Will the Manson family be involved yet again?

It ultimately doesn’t matter. What matters is it’s time to learn to stop worrying and love the sequel.

Sequels, prequels, and reboots are here to stay, and they don’t just belong to superheroes and space operas. Whether it’s a beloved 90s comedy like “Happy Gilmore,” a 70s sports classic like “Rocky” (we’re getting a making of “Rocky” film now), or an iconic series like “Naked Gun,” if there’s an ounce of room to explore, it will be explored. So start coming up with some legacy sequels to your favorites; they’re going to happen either way.

Now for some recommendations on what to watch this weekend.

What & How to Watch

In theaters: ‘Mickey 17’

“Mickey 17” is many things. It’s hilarious. It’s surreal. It’s unique. It’s gruesome. And it has a lot to say, with some poignant social commentary at its core. But that’s Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”) for you, and when he makes a movie, it deserves attention.

Robert Pattison dials up one of his best performances to date as a disposable employee sent to colonize an uninhabited world of ice. And he’s truly disposable, because if one iteration of Mickey dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.

“Mickey 17” is right up the alley for those in the mood for something singular and a little eccentric.

On Max: ‘The White Lotus’

For those who haven’t been watching the third season of “White Lotus,” what have you been doing? The finale of Mike White’s frenetic, conversation-driven, tropical vacation-themed saga has finally arrived, airing Sunday, April 6.

Filled with jaw-dropping, bizarre moments and exchanges, “The White Lotus” delivered on the high expectations its second season set. It’s an unbelievable group of characters, unleashing and dealing with their privileged debauchery and desires during their luxurious stay in such delicious fashion. And, as the season premiere teased, there is a murder to solve after all.

On Hulu: ‘Big Boys’

This British comedy returned for its third and final season earlier this year, and six episodes later, it developed into one of the most heartfelt shows in some time. With Season 3 earning a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the pair of friends’ collegiate journey comes to an end, and what a journey it was, despite it lasting less than 20 episodes.

The show follows two new students in the dorms of Brent University as they slowly lean on each other in order to navigate the college experience. It may be grounded in its approach, but the show remains consistently side-splitting funny with very little wasted space.

On Max: ‘Aftersun’

Making one of its first major streaming debuts, “Aftersun” is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story from writer/director Charlotte Wells. It’s the first movie she ever put together, and what a first impression she made with the movie-watching world. “Aftersun” currently holds a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a Best Actor nomination for burgeoning star Paul Mescal.

At its core, the movie is about a resort vacation in Turkey between an 11-year-old girl and her father, who exhibits signs of depression. Sad, emotional, heavy, Sophie’s story, told in a dream-like fashion, is captured brilliantly in one of the best movies of 2022.

On Netflix: ‘Heat’

RIP Val Kilmer, a terrific and complicated actor with an incredible filmography waxing and waning between lead and supporting roles. But there’s no better way to celebrate his career than firing up “Heat,” the magnum opus of bank robbing movies.

He steals practically every scene he’s in, despite sharing the screen with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, among others. Playing a crucial part in several of the film’s iconic scenes, like the street shootout, he mastered the physicality and fierceness director Michael Mann requires in his movies better than anyone.

And for this to all come full circle, yes, there is a “Heat 2” currently in the works.

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Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. The New York Times was the first to report his death on Tuesday.

Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.

“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he says toward the end of��. “And I am blessed.”

Kilmer, the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School at the time he attended, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most. His break came in 1984’s spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”

His movie career hit its zenith in the early 1990s as he made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

“While working with Val on ‘Heat’ I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” director Michael Mann said in a statement Tuesday night.

Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of Kilmer, was among others��.

“You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker,”��. “There’s not a lot left of those.”

Kilmer — who took part in the Method branch of Suzuki arts training — threw himself into parts. When he played Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” he filled his bed with ice for the final scene to mimic the feeling of dying from tuberculosis. To play Morrison, he wore leather pants all the time, asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as Jim Morrison and blasted The Doors for a year.

That intensity also gave Kilmer a reputation that he was difficult to work with, something he grudgingly agreed with later in life, but always defending himself by emphasizing art over commerce.

“In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honor the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.”

One of his more iconic roles — hotshot pilot Tom “Iceman” Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise — almost didn’t happen. Kilmer was courted by director Tony Scott for “Top Gun” but initially balked. “I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” he wrote in his memoir. He agreed after being promised that his role would improve from the initial script. He would reprise the role in the film’s 2022 sequel, “.”

One career nadir was playing Batman in Joel Schumacher’s goofy, garish “Batman Forever” with Nicole Kidman and opposite Chris O’Donnell‘s Robin — before George Clooney took up the mantle for 1997’s “Batman & Robin” and after Michael Keaton played the Dark Knight in 1989’s “Batman” and 1992’s “Batman Returns.”

Janet Maslin in the Times said Kilmer was “hamstrung by the straight-man aspects of the role,” while Roger Ebert deadpanned that he was a “completely acceptable” substitute for Keaton. Kilmer, who was one and done as Batman, blamed much of his performance on the suit.

“When you’re in it, you can barely move and people have to help you stand up and sit down,” Kilmer said in “Val,” in lines spoken by his son Jack, who voiced the part of his father in the film because of his inability to speak. “You also can’t hear anything and after a while people stop talking to you, it’s very isolating. It was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit, and it was frustrating until I realized that my role in the film was just to show up and stand where I was told to.”

His next projects were the film version of the 1960s TV series “The Saint” — fussily putting on wigs, accents and glasses — and “The Island of Dr. Moreau” with Marlon Brando, which became one of the decade’s most infamously cursed productions.

David Gregory’s 2014 documentary “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,” described a cursed set that included a hurricane, Kilmer bullying director Richard Stanley, the firing of Stanley via fax (who sneaked back on set as an extra with a mask on) and extensive rewrites by Kilmer and Brando. The older actor told the younger at one point: “‘It’s a job now, Val. A lark. We’ll get through it.’ I was as sad as I’ve ever been on a set,” Kilmer wrote in his memoir.

In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ran a cover story about Kilmer titled ″The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate.″ The directors Schumacher and John Frankenheimer, who finished “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” said he was difficult. Frankenheimer said there were two things he would never do: ″Climb Mount Everest and work with Val Kilmer again.″

Other artists came to his defense, like D. J. Caruso, who directed Kilmer in ″The Salton Sea″ and said the actor simply liked to talk out scenes and enjoyed having a director’s attention.

″Val needs to immerse himself in a character. I think what happened with directors like Frankenheimer and Schumacher is that Val would ask a lot of questions, and a guy like Schumacher would say, ‘You’re Batman! Just go do it,’″ Caruso told the Times in 2002.

After “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” the movies were smaller, like David Mamet human-trafficking thriller “Spartan”; ″Joe the King″ in 1999, in which he played a paunchy, abusive alcoholic; and playing the doomed ’70s porn star John Holmes in 2003’s “Wonderland.” He also threw himself into his one-man stage show “Citizen Twain,” in which he played Mark Twain.

“I enjoy the depth and soul the piece has that Twain had for his fellow man and America,” he told Variety in 2018. “And the comedy that’s always so close to the surface, and how valuable his genius is for us today.”

Kilmer spent his formative years in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Chatsworth High School alongside future Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and future Emmy winner Mare Winningham. At 17, he was the youngest drama student ever admitted at the Juilliard School in 1981.

Shortly after he left for Juilliard, his younger brother, 15-year-old Wesley, suffered an epileptic seizure in the family’s Jacuzzi and died on the way to the hospital. Wesley was an aspiring filmmaker when he died.

″I miss him and miss his things. I have his art up. I like to think about what he would have created. I’m still inspired by him,″ Kilmer told the Times.

While still at Juilliard, Kilmer co-wrote and appeared in the play “How It All Began” and later turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” for the Broadway play, “Slab Boys,” alongside Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn.

Kilmer published two books of poetry (including “My Edens After Burns”) and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for spoken word album for “The Mark of Zorro.” He was also a visual artist and a lifelong Christian Scientist.

He dated Cher, married and divorced actor Joanne Whalley. He is survived by their two children, Mercedes and Jack.

“I have no regrets,” Kilmer told the AP in 2021. “I’ve witnessed and experienced miracles.”

“This is Bob Ferguson,” Leonardo DiCaprio is heard saying in the opening seconds of the trailer. “I was a part of the French 75.”

From Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson, .

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. Only in theaters September 26.

— Warner Bros. (@warnerbros)

Clearly, this isn’t a biopic on Washington’s Attorney General-turned-Governor Bob Ferguson. But it’s a strange pivot from the film’s source material, Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” where the protagonist is named Zoyd Wheeler alongside Frenesi Gates, her daughter Prairie, and Brock Vond.

How close is ‘One Battle After’ to the source material?

“Vineland” follows climate activists and ex-hippies struggling against the backdrop of escalating Reagan-era authoritarianism in Northern California—to keep the premise vague. In the trailer for “One Battle After Another,” it appears as if DiCaprio is playing a jittery, disheveled revolutionary-in-training of sorts.

Is this revealing an alter ego for Gov. Ferguson? A secret pastime? A dream job he was never able to capitalize on, settling instead to lead one of the most liberal states in the country? It can’t simply be a coincidence, right?

“One Battle After Another” is Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth feature film that he’s directed, and the first in four years. Warner Bros. is ponying up a hefty $115-130 million budget for this project, by far the biggest budget Anderson has worked with in his career.

The film, set to be released Sept. 26, is expected to be a major awards player. Anderson (“Boogie Nights,” “There Will Be Blood”) is an 11-time Oscar nominee, including three nominations for Best Director and five nominations for writing, across six films, while Leonardo DiCaprio is a seven-time nominee and one-time winner, winning Best Actor for “The Revenant” in 2016.

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But I’m here to guarantee that you’re in for a wild and whacky upcoming year for movies.

Paul Thomas Anderson has a new feature this September featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as a jittery revolutionary in training in “One Battle After Another,” Spike Lee is back with Denzel Washington in “Highest 2 Lowest,” and The Rock is taking a dramatic turn in “The Smashing Machine” while Timothee Chalamet explores the world of table tennis in “Marty Supreme.” The director who brought you “Top Gun: Maverick” is hitting the racetrack with the Brad Pitt-led “F1” to kick off the summer.

Celine Song, Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Richard Linklater, Guillermo Del Toro, Damien Chazelle, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Guy Ritchie, Lynne Ramsay; these are just some of the auteur filmmakers bringing us original films this year. And if they’re worth our time, they’ll be featured here. Until then, let’s see what’s available for us to watch this weekend.

What & How to Watch

Streaming – Apple TV+: ‘The Studio’

Created, co-directed, co-written, and starring Seth Rogen, “The Studio” is a close examination, and critique, of the entertainment industry nestled within Tinseltown. Kinetic and hilarious, it’s simultaneously a satire, a celebration, and a study on Hollywood during its most turbulent era —present day.

Cameo-laden with cinematography mirroring the long, dramatic tracking camera style of “Birdman,” while the show’s setting isn’t anywhere particularly new (perhaps more detailed), its thesis on how art and business is becoming harder and harder to co-exist is a refreshing theme in what’s becoming one of the most talked about shows of the year.

Streaming – Paramount+: ‘September 5’

Through the eyes of the ABC sports crew covering the 1972 Munich Olympics, “September 5” is a historical drama detailing the immediate moments after the Black September terrorist group captured multiple Israeli athletes as hostages. It’s a thrilling journalistic tale with precise pacing, making it one of the most enjoyable start-to-finish watches of 2024.

Worthy of the Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, it’s a worthy re-examination of the more-than-50-year-old global news story—even if it takes a safe route or two in its choices.

Streaming – Max (formerly HBO): ‘The Pitt’

Pulse pounding; nerve racking; overwhelmingly anxious. Whatever stress-inducing physical reaction you can come up with, “The Pitt” delivers in full force. And that’s a compliment. It’s impossible not to feel alive watching Dr. Robby tackle his hellacious 15-hour shift running a hospital’s emergency branch—each episode being one hour of his shift at a time.

The debut season is coming to an end (episode/hour 13 was released Thursday), but this is the perfect time to pick up what’s easily the most exciting medical show in years. With the twist of the central hospital being dangerously underfunded, the show’s balancing act of watching its protagonist hold things together through Band-Aids and duct tape is one of the great television achievements this year.

Streaming – Hulu: ‘A Complete Unknown’

Timothee Chalamet’s latest project, ascending him into a stratosphere few actors have reached by his age, might be his greatest yet—his turn as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”

The eight-time Oscar-nominated film follows Dylan from Greenwich Village rambler to cultural phenom to complicated public figure in four short years. While Chalamet’s recreation of Dylan’s style and swagger when hollering into a mic is worth the price of admission alone, it’s a film that elevates over most in the ever-growing musician biopic sub-genre.

Seen all these? None of them catch your fancy? Check out last week’s list and all the good movies and shows within it here.

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It’s the latest movie from the Russo brothers, famous for directing “Avengers: Endgame” and other Marvel projects, and it’ll go down as one of the worst films of the decade. Good thing it only cost $320 million to make.

It’s a grim future for movies if projects like “The Electric State” receive that much funding just to be discarded as background noise for house chores, so let’s highlight some interesting projects actually worth watching this weekend.

What and how to watch

In theaters: Black Bag

Director Steven Soderbergh (“Ocean’s Eleven,” “Traffic”) has been doing it right for years—banging out mid-budget, under two-hour original films annually. Some sink, some soar, and “Black Bag” sails to the top of his filmography over the last half-decade.

A smooth, sleek, smart spy thriller featuring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender with great moments that will stick with you the whole ride home. Clocking in at just 94 minutes, this also happens to be the best movie of the young year so far.

Streaming – Hulu: ‘Anora’

Speaking of the best movie in a year, Hulu won the streaming sweepstakes for the film “Anora.” If it were up to me, everyone would be required to watch a year’s Best Picture winner, just to see what the Academy deemed as the “greatest” each year, kind of like a movie time capsule. That really should be the minimum annual movie homework.

So, watch “Anora” and judge it for yourself. It was a bold choice for the Academy to reward this film with five Oscars. While simple in premise, it’s a unique, spellbinding adventure that features one of the best lead performances in the last 10 years.

Streaming – Netflix: ‘Adolescence’

This four-episode miniseries is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about shows of the year due to its momentous debut performance of 15-year-old Owen Cooper (who was 13 when this was filmed), dynamic cinematography with continuous long takes, and its prodding themes about modern toxic masculinity.

The miniseries follows a 13-year-old boy who is arrested for murdering a schoolmate, and how the family confronts this nightmare.

“Adolescence” has clearly struck a nerve with the cultural zeitgeist, and in the world of constant period pieces and stories taking place in lavish vacations, this show attempts to tackle the modern world and its issues in a provocative way. Whether you agree with every decision that takes place, it’s worth a look.

Streaming – Apple TV+: ‘One of Them Days’

Looking for a less-intense watch filled with good vibes? “One of Them Days” is a scrappy, hilarious joyride with great style and greater music. Keke Palmer and SZA absolutely sizzle in this.

A cross of “Friday” and “Dude, Where’s My Car?” this film is a race-against-the-clock buddy comedy adventure in all the right ways. Fire it up for something more on the lighthearted side.

Follow Frank Sumrall .��Send��news tips here.

According to a press release from Washington State’s Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the posthumous honor was awarded to Hendrix as a “national and international recognition.”

Hendrix started playing guitar at 15 after finding a discarded ukulele with only one string. He taught himself how to play by ear, and one of the first songs he learned was Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog.” Twelve years later, at the age of 27, Hendrix passed away after a night of partying. In his short time performing, he rose to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in history and has accumulated a library of awards and recognitions, including a nUSPS commemorative postage stamp.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, Governor Bob Ferguson, Lt. Governor Denny Heck, and State Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos presented the awards to Hendrix and four members of the Department of Ecology.

Hendrix among four other recipients of the award

“These five worthy recipients are the best of Washington and well deserving of our highest awards,” Hobbs said. “They represent the good people of our state through their actions, their impact, and their inspiration for Washington, the nation, and the world. We are forever grateful for their contributions.”

Hendrix was posthumously awarded the Medal of Merit for his outstanding service to Washington.

Alex Hernandez, Lisa Stingley, Dave Thompson, and Jon Tollstrup received the Medal of Valor for their courageous actions on October 3, 2024. While working on a litter crew for the Department of Ecology, they rescued a woman from a burning vehicle after she crashed on the side of the highway. Despite the risk to their own safety, they extinguished the flames and forced open the driver’s door, pulling her to safety just before the fire engulfed the car.

The Medal of Merit honors those who have given a lifetime of service to the people of Washington, while the Medal of Valor recognizes individuals who have risked their lives to save another person. The Medal of Valor cannot be awarded to first responders whose actions are part of their public duties.

Contributing: Bill Kaczaraba, MyNorthwest.

For the first time, the festival will be 21+. According to organizers, the move was made as part of an effort to optimize the festival layout, providing a better customer, fan, and neighborhood experience.

Capitol Hill Block Party (CHBP) will once again take over the heart of Capitol Hill in the Pike/Pine corridor the second to last weekend of July for its 27th annual event.

“As a pillar of Seattle’s thriving creative landscape, Capitol Hill Block Party continues to highlight the lasting vibrancy of music, art and expression that defines the city’s cultural heartbeat,” said Evan Johnson, senior vice president of Daydream State, the group behind CHBP. “We’re thrilled to continue our tradition of bringing together diverse communities to celebrate talent and discovery.”

The lineup also boasts a diverse undercard, with a little something for everyone.

“CHBP will host over 45 musical performances across 7+ different stages this year, including three outdoor stages, as well as indoor venues Barboza, Cha Cha, Wild Rose, Havana, and the iconic Neumos venue,” boasted this year’s press release.

“Each year our team works tirelessly to put on a community-centric event that helps foster the Pacific Northwest’s energized and resilient entertainment economy,” said Jason Lajeunesse, CEO and founder of Daydream State. “As we take steps to evolve this important music and arts platform, our goal is to continue offering the best possible festival experience for our guests, fans, neighborhood venues and businesses.”

Two-day general admission and VIP passes for CHBP will be available for presale on the beginning Tuesday, March 18 at 10 a.m., with a public on-sale of all ticket types starting Friday, March 21 at 10 a.m.

View the full lineup below:

SATURDAY, JULY 19

Thundercat / DJ Pee.Wee (aka Anderson .Paak) / The Dare / Slayyyter / Jordan Ward / Dora Jar / Fcukers / Zulan / Lexa Gates / Dua Saleh / Sam Austins / Chanel Beads / DJ Mandy / Stella Mar / Lazā / Art Gecko / Love So Deep / Morgan Paris Lanza / Hard Maybe / Aurora Avenue / Jesse Desean / Heavy Bloom / Rylan Fischer / West of Eden / The Cosmic Neighborhood / MYXA / Hockey Teeth / Justin Harden

SUNDAY, JULY 20

Porter Robinson / 100 gecs / Yaeji (DJ Set) / Snow Strippers / Maude Latour / G Flip / Jockstrap / INJI / Hana Vu / Alemeda / Urika’s Bedroom / Caroline Kingsbury / Taylar Elizza Beth / Lemon Boy / Topoh Chica / Swavy / Dining Dead / Vanilla Abstract / n8vboy / Yellacatt / Joyla Red / Moving In Slow / CymaticZ / waltzerr / Magenta Wave

St. Patrick’s Day

Monday is St. Patrick’s Day, which means there’s lots to do this weekend. The is at the Seattle Center Saturday and Sunday. The 54th Annual will take over downtown Seattle on Saturday afternoon, starting at 4th Avenue and James Street, then traveling to Westlake Park.

Finally, on Sunday, it is the ! This 5K race features a costume contest, a post-dash bash, the leprechaun lap, and plenty more. You can find details and register at .

Swap meet in Capitol Hill

There’s a swap meet going on Capitol Hill this weekend at a former QFC on 15th Ave. E near Volunteer Park. This monthly meet-up brings 45 vendors, artists, neighborhood businesses, and more. You never know what you might find. Search CHASM at on Facebook for more details.

Hindu celebrations in Bellevue

There’s a Holi festival in downtown Bellevue on Saturday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Holi is a Hindu celebration known as the festival of colors and serves as a celebration of spring. At downtown Bellevue Park, there will be live music, colors to cover yourself, friends and family, and tasty treats! Get more details at .

Birding and bird-watching

One thing we know for sure about Washington is that we live in a state full of natural beauty, especially when it comes to birds. Birding has been rising in popularity, and if you are a fan of getting outside and studying our flying friends, you’ll want to check out , the Northwest Birding festival going on this weekend. There’s a wide variety of events planned — some that may fill up — but there’s something for bird fans, young and old, including a live raptor presentation. Details are available at .

Quilting shows at Evergreen State Fairgrounds

If quilts and quilting are more your thing, Monroe will be the place to be this weekend. There will be 400 quilts on display, as well as demonstrations for you to learn new tips and tricks at the Quilters Anonymous Annual Quilt Show. This is going down at the . There will be vendors selling all the goods you might need to make your next big project. More information at .

Seattle’s sports offerings

If you want to catch some professional sports this weekend, Seattle Reign FC is back in action with the season kicking off on Saturday against the NJ/NYC Gotham FC at Lumen Field. That’s at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, at Climate Pledge Arena, the Seattle Kraken take the ice tonight against the Utah Hockey Club and again on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets. Tickets are still available for all the action!

Plenty of ways to enjoy the weekend, how will you? Let me know at paulh@kiroradio.com

Sorry if we seem to be lacking empathy here. But however crummy you think your 9-5 routine is, it’ll never be as bad as����— nor will any job, on Earth or any planet, approach this level of misery.

��is an “Expendable,” and by this we don’t mean he’s a cast member in yet another sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s tired band of mercenaries (“Expend17ables”?). No, even worse! He’s literally expendable, in that his job description requires that he die, over and over, in the worst possible ways, only to be “reprinted” once again as the next Mickey.

And from here stems the good news, besides the excellent Pattinson, whom we hope got hazard pay, about Bong’s hotly anticipated����There’s creativity to spare, and much of it surrounds the ways he finds for his lead character to expire — again and again.

The bad news, besides, well, all the death, is that much of this film devolves into narrative chaos, bloat and excess. In so many ways, the always inventive Bong just doesn’t know where to stop. It hardly seems a surprise that the sci-fi novel, by Edward Ashton, he’s adapting here is called “Mickey7” — Bong decided to add 10 more Mickeys.

The first act, though, is crackling. We begin with Mickey lying alone at the bottom of a crevasse, having barely survived a fall. It is the year 2058, and he’s part of a colonizing expedition from Earth to a far-off planet. He’s surely about to die. In fact, the outcome is so expected that his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), staring down the crevasse, asks casually: “Haven’t you died yet?”

How did Mickey get here? We flash back to Earth, where Mickey and Timo ran afoul of a villainous loan shark. This man likes to dine while watching his goons torture delinquent borrowers. Needless to say, the two young men need to escape — and far.

So they join the expedition to planet Nilfheim. Filling out his job application, Mickey, a hapless chap with an American grifter accent apparently subconsciously inspired by Steve Buscemi in “Fargo,” fails to read the fine print. He’s distracted by the smell of a woman’s hair.

It’s rather a shock, then, when he learns what he signed up for. During the four-plus year journey, he’ll be a human guinea pig, subjected to countless fatal indignities. Sending him out to absorb cosmic radiation, they ask Mickey to track the moment his skin burns and the moment he becomes blind. When his hand falls off and floats by the ship’s windows, nobody takes notice.

That’s because a human “printer” awaits — looking a lot like an MRI machine — ready to reprint him, with memory backup. Human printing has been banned on Earth, but is legal in space, where there is also, unfortunately, no worker’s comp.

Things are bleak on the ship. Food is rationed severely. Sex takes up too many calories, so it is banned, by none other than Kenneth Marshall, the wealthy, pompous, thin-skinned leader of the expedition (Mark Ruffalo) and his unpleasantly perky wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette). This is inconvenient for Mickey, whose shipboard life is made bearable only by Nasha (Naomi Ackie), his brave and loving girlfriend, but they seem to get it on nonetheless, between Mickey’s deaths and new lives.

Marshall’s supporters wear red baseball caps, which gives you a pretty good hint as to which real-life leader Ruffalo, and Bong, are trying to evoke here. Current political references aside, Ruffalo relies mainly on an eccentric facial tic, and it must be said that both he and Collette grow more buffoonish, and hence more tiresome, as time goes on.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has said it does not suspect foul play, and tests for��.

Sheriff Adan Mendoza and state fire, health and forensics officials scheduled an afternoon news conference Friday to provide updates on the case.

Mendoza has said the couple may have����before they were discovered on Feb. 26. Hackman’s pacemaker last showed activity Feb. 17, nine days before maintenance and security workers showed up at the home and alerted police.

More from MyNorthwest: Renton police investigating after man found dead in apartment

More details in investigation of Gene Hackman’s death

��was found with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the bathroom counter, while����was found in the home’s entryway.

One of the couple’s three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs survived. Authorities initially����of the dead animal.

Authorities retrieved personal items from the home including a monthly planner and two cellphones that will be analyzed. Medical investigators have been working to establish the cause of their deaths, but toxicology reports often take weeks to complete.

When they were found, the bodies were decomposing with some mummification, a consequence of body type and climate in Santa Fe’s especially dry air at an elevation of nearly 7,200 feet (2,200 meters).

Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including “The French Connection,”����and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.

The couple’s stucco, Pueblo-revival style home sits on a hill in a gated community at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains.����is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.

Hackman dedicated much of his time in retirement to painting and writing novels far from Hollywood’s social circuit. He served for several years on the board of trustees at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and he and his wife were investors in local businesses.

More from MyNorthwest: ‘High risk’ Skagit County sex offender pleads guilty to child porn

Twenty-two years after winning best actor for “The Pianist,” Adrien Brody����for his performance as another Holocaust survivor in Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist.” He somehow kept the playoff music at bay.

On Sunday, firefighters who battled recent wildfires got applauded, Mick Jagger handed out the best original song Oscar and John Lithgow was tasked with looking “slightly disappointed” when speeches ran long. One highlight was Timothée Chalamet — literally. His yellow suit got more than one comment.

Here were some other telecast highlights:

‘Proud child of immigrant parents’

��was the favorite but that didn’t diminish her emotional win.

After accepting the Oscar for best supporting actress for her work in�����������岹ñ�� spoke emotionally about her family and her grandmother, tearing up during her speech.

“My grandmother came to this country in 1961 — I am a proud child of immigrant parents,” she said. “With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope. The fact that I’m getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish — my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted, this is for my grandmother.”

The accolade comes after �������岹ñ�� swept awards season, taking home the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, BAFTA and SAG awards for playing lawyer Rita Mora Castro.

A ‘Wicked’ opening

Host Conan O’Brien took a back seat at the Oscars’ opening number, ceding the floor to a “Wizard of Oz”-themed, 8-minute musical medley led by����and Cynthia Erivo.

Grande, in a red sparkly dress, performed a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz.” Then Erivo, in a white gown with floral embellishments, took the stage to sing a staggering rendition of “Home” from “The Wiz.” They joined up for “Wicked’s” “Defying Gravity,” with Grande kissing Erivo’s ring.

Wildfire-battered Los Angeles, on this night, stood in for Oz, with the graphic “We Love LA” showing after the pair were finished. The show began with a medley of film moments that used Los Angeles as a backdrop, including “La La Land,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Iron Man 2” and “Mulholland Drive.”

Then it was O’Brien’s turn, comically pulling himself — and a missing shoe — from within the body of Demi Moore, in a take on her film “The Substance.”

A very — maybe too — public family discussion

While accepting an Emmy Award in January 2024,����used his time onstage to plead with his wife for more kids. They have two, Kinsey Sioux and Wilder Wolf. “You said maybe if I win,” he said, cheekily.

On Sunday, he upped the demand.

Culkin from the Oscar stage repeated the story and then said that he and Jazz Charton made a deal in the parking lot at the Emmys: If he won an Oscar, she’d not only give him a third, they could plan for a fourth. They even shook on it.

“I just have to say this to you, Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith,” he said as the crowd roared. “No pressure, I love you. I’m really sorry I did this again. Now let’s get cracking on those kids, what do you say?”

The moment got an echo later in the night when “I’m Not A Robot” director Victoria Warmerdam said she wasn’t following Culkin’s lead.

“To my producer and partner in life, Trent: I’m not having your babies because of this statue,” she said after winning best live action short.

007, celebrated by women

There was no James Bond movie nominated in 2024 but there was a big James Bond section at the Oscars that ate up a lot of telecast time.

To honor transfer of the franchise to Amazon, three singers — Lisa, Doja Cat and Raye — each sang a different 007 title song. Lisa sang “Live and Let Die,” Doja Cat tackled “Diamonds Are Forever” and Raye did “Skyfall.”

��announced Thursday that the studio has taken the creative reins of the 007 franchise after decades of family control. Longtime����said they would be stepping back. On Sunday, Halle Berry thanked them for being the “heart and soul” of Bond.

The tribute began with “The Substance” nominee����in a red gown taking to the stage to dance acrobatically with a team of male dancers to the James Bond theme.

Gene Hackman honored

Morgan Freeman made an understated tribute to a friend: Gene Hackman

Freeman, who starred with Hackman in two movies, kicked off the in memoriam section with a somber note about��

“This week, our community lost a giant. And I lost a dear friend, Gene Hackman,” Freeman began in his speech. “I had the pleasure of working alongside Gene on two films, ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Under Suspicion.’ Like everyone who ever shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer and a man whose gifts elevated everyone’s work.”

“Gene always said, ‘I don’t think about legacy. I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work,’” Freeman continued. “I think I speak for us all when I say, ‘Gene, you will be remembered for that, and so much more.’ Rest in peace, my friend.”

The in memoriam section would honor such luminaries as Terri Garr, Donald Sutherland, Louis Gossett Jr, Shelley Duvall, David Lynch, Bob Newhart, Gena Rowlands, Maggie Smith and James Earl Jones. A separate section in the telecast��

How to stop the wrap-up music

It has been an endless torment to winners everywhere whenever they hear the music swelling. It means one thing: Stop talking.

Brody had a novel response to the playoff music Sunday. He looked sternly into the camera and said: “I’m wrapping up, please turn the music off. I’ve done this before. Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo, but I will will be brief.”

It’s true. He won the Oscar in 2003 for “The Pianist,” memorably kissing Halle Berry at the podium. But that time he was pleading, not demanding, more time from producers.

When the music started rolling during his emotional speech back then, Brody said: “One second, please. One second. Cut it out. I got one shot at this.” He added, “I didn’t say more than five names, I don’t think.” He went on for more than a minute more.

In a stubbornly fluctuating Oscar season, “Anora,” the Palme d’Or-winner at the Cannes Film Festival, emerged as the unlikely frontrunner. Baker’s tale of an erotic dancer who elopes with the son of a Russian oligarch — unusually explicit for a best-picture winner — was made for just $6 million but went home with five big awards,��

But Oscar voters, eschewing blockbuster contenders like “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two,” instead added “Anora” — which has one of the lowest box-office totals ever for a best picture winner with $16 million in ticket sales — to a string of recent indie best picture winners, including “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “CODA” and “Nomadland.”

For a film industry that’s been transformed by streaming and humbled by economic turmoil, Baker and “Anora” epitomized a kind of cinematic purity. On the campaign trail, Baker called for the return to the 90-day exclusive theatrical release.

“Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theater,” Baker said Sunday, accepting the award for best director. “Filmmakers, keep making films for the big screen.”

In personally winning four Oscars (picture, directing, editing, screenplay), Baker tied the mark held by Walt Disney, who won for four different films in 1954. That Baker and Disney share the record is ironic; his “The Florida Project” took place in a low-budget motel in the shadow of Disney World.

“Long live independent film!” shouted Baker from the Dolby Theatre stage.

Other awards spread around

Eight of the 10 movies nominated for best picture came away with at least one award in a ceremony buoyantly hosted by Conan O’Brien that favored song and dance over strong political statements. Acting awards went to����and��

Twenty-two years after winning best actor for “The Pianist,” Brody won the same Oscar again for his performance as another Holocaust survivor in Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist. His win came over Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), who had the chance of becoming the youngest best actor ever, a record owned by Brody.

“I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and othering,” said Brody. “I pray for a healthier and happier and more inclusive world. If the past can teach us anything it’s to not let hate go unchecked.”

Madison won best actress for her breakthrough performance in “Anora,” a victory that came over the category favorite, Demi Moore (“The Substance”). Both she and Baker spoke, as they did at the Cannes Film Festival where “Anora” won the Palme d’Or, about honoring the lives of sex workers.

Netflix’s beleaguered contender, “Emilia Pérez,” the lead nominee going into the show, went home with two awards — best song and best supporting actress, for����— after a scandal caused by offensive tweets by star Karla Sofía �Ҳ�����ó�� torpedoed its chances.

“I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands,” said �������岹ñ��. “I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.”

An expected win and an upset

The night’s first award went to����Culkin has cruised through the season, picking up award after award, for his performance alongside Jesse Eisenberg in “A Real Pain.”

“I have no idea how I got here,” said Culkin, “I’ve just been acting my whole life.”

The biggest upset early on came in the best animated feature category. “Flow,” the����upset DreamWorks Animations’ “The Wild Robot.” The win for “Flow,” an ecological parable about a cat in a flooded world, was the first Oscar ever for a Latvian film.

“Thank you to my cats and dogs,” director Gints Zilbalodis accepting the award.

‘Wicked’ and ‘The Brutalist’ each wins two

“Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo����with a tribute to Los Angeles following the wildfires that devastated the Southern California metropolis earlier this year. Grande sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Erivo performed Diana Ross’ “Home” before the “Wicked” stars joined together for “Defying Gravity” from their blockbuster big-screen musical.

Later,����among the best-picture nominees, won awards for production design and costume design.

“I’m the first Black man to receive the costume design award,” said costume designer����who couldn’t finish that sentence before the crowd began to rise in a standing ovation. “I’m so proud of this.”

Best makeup and hairstyling went to “The Substance” for its gory creations of beauty and body horror. “Dune: Part Two” won for both visual effects and sound, and its sandworm — arguably the star of the night — figured into multiple gags throughout the evening.

Brady Corbet’s sprawling postwar epic “The Brutalist,” shot in VistaVision, won for its cinematography, by Lol Crawley, and its score, by Daniel Blumberg. The papal thriller “Conclave,” which some had picked to upset “Anora,” went home with just one award, for best adapted screenplay.

Politics go unmentioned, at first

Though the Oscars featured the first time an actor was nominated for portraying a sitting U.S. president (Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice”), politics went largely unmentioned through most of the ceremony.

The president’s name was never uttered during the nearly four-hour ceremony. While the show featured several striking political moments, much of this year’s Oscars was more dedicated to considering the fluctuating place of movies in today’s culture, and in Los Angeles’ resilience following the devastating wildfires of January.

O’Brien avoided politics completely in his opening monologue. The first exception was nearly two hours in, when presenter Daryl Hannah announced simply: “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to Ukraine!”)

��a documentary about Israeli occupation of the West Bank made by a collation of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers,����After failing to find a U.S. distributor, the filmmakers opted to self-distribute “No Other Land.” It grossed more than any other documentary nominee.

“There is a different path, a political solution, without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both our people,” said Yuval Abraham, an Israeli, speaking beside co-director Basel Adra, a Palestinian. “And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined, that my people can’t be truly safe if Basel’s people aren’t truly free?

Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” a portrait of resistance under the Brazilian military dictatorship,����At one point, that award seemed a lock for “Emilia Pérez.” But while “Emilia Pérez” collapsed, “I’m Still Here” rode a wave of passionate support in Brazil and political timeliness elsewhere.

O’Brien scores in opening

O’Brien, introduced as “four-time Oscar viewer,” opened the ceremony with genial ribbing of the nominees and the former talk-show host’s trademark self-deprecation.

“‘A Complete Unknown.’ ‘A Real Pain.’ ‘Nosferatu.’ These are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet,” said O’Brien.

Hosting for the first time, O’Brien was a smash success. In his opening monologue, the former talk show host leaned on the disappointed face of John Lithgow, a full-throated “Chalamet!” from Adam Sandler and a gag of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos being delivered to the red carpet in a cardboard box.

O’Brien’s most sincere comments were reserved for Los Angeles, itself, in speaking about the enduring “magic and grandeur” of film in wake of the wildfires. O’Brien,�� by the fires, then segued into a musical routine, singing: “I won’t waste time.”

An unpredictable Oscar year

This year’s Oscars, among the most unpredictable in years, unspooled after a turbulent year for the film industry. Ticket sales were down 3% from the previous year and more significantly from pre-pandemic times. The strikes of 2023 played havoc with release schedules in 2024. Many studios pulled back on production, leaving many out of work. The fires, in January, only added to the pain.

Last year’s telecast, propelled by����led the Oscars to a four-year viewership high, with 19.5 million viewers. With smaller indies dominating this year, the academy was sure to be tested in finding as large an audience.

The ceremony took place days following��. Morgan Freeman, his co-star in “Unforgiven” and “Under Suspicion,” honored him.

“This week, our community lost a giant,” said Freeman, “and I lost a dear friend.”

Take one of the big winners of the��,����a film that’s been dominating conversations since it premiered at the����in September. You might be eager to see what all the fuss is about with����215-minute postwar saga, which was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture. It’s finally in wide release in North America. Leading nominee “Emilia Pérez” requires less of a trip. It’s streaming on Netflix.

The Associated Press has pulled together a guide for what you need to know about this season’s big contenders, and where to watch them.

“Emilia Pérez” (13 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Netflix

��audacious����about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender-affirming surgery was steamrolling awards season, with a leading 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture, SAG noms for����and Zoe �������岹ñ��, who also��, until it was derailed by controversy over some not-too-old comments from��. But after a few BAFTA wins it still has a shot, especially for �������岹ñ��.

“The Brutalist” (10 Oscar nominations): In theaters and available to rent or buy on video-on-demand

A major player, despite the lack of a SAG ensemble nomination, this film stars����as a noted architect and Holocaust survivor who attempts to start life anew in America and gets a life-changing commission from Guy Pearce’s wealthy industrialist. It won the Golden Globe for best director, best drama and best actor, and Brody����Felicity Jones was also among its Oscar nominations.

“Wicked” (10 Oscar nominations): VOD, streaming on Peacock March 21

Jon M. Chu’s vibrant adaptation of the popular movie musical (well, the first half) was widely recognized by the academy, with nods for Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and best picture. It also snagged a coveted��, as well as individual nods for Erivo, Grande and Jonathan Bailey.

“A Complete Unknown” (8 Oscar nominations): In theaters and on VOD

��did well Oscar morning with best picture, best director, best actor for Timothée Chalamet, supporting actress for Monica Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez, and supporting actor for Edward Norton as Pete Seeger.

“Conclave” (8 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Peacock

This����about the selection of a new pope got a DGA nom for director Edward Berger and a SAG nod for Ralph Fiennes’ lead performance. It also won the best screenplay Golden Globe. Berger was not nominated for a best director Oscar, but Isabella Rossellini got in for supporting actress.

“Anora” (6 Oscar nominations): VOD

��about a New York stripper’s rollercoaster romance with a Russian oligarch’s son emerged as the Oscar frontrunner after big wins at the Directors and Producers Guild, and Mikey Madison got the BAFTA over Demi Moore.

“Dune: Part Two” (5 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Max

The first “Dune” got a best picture nomination but����was snubbed for a directing nod — and the same thing happened with����He was also left off the Directors Guild of America list.

“The Substance” (5 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Mubi

Demi Moore’s turn as an aging actor who goes to extremes to preserve her looks in����already won her a Golden Globe, got her a SAG nomination and an Oscar nod. It was also nominated for best picture and best director.

“Nosferatu” (4 Oscar nominations): VOD

Robert Eggers’ remake of the 1922 silent vampire classic starring Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård was recognized for crafts and cinematography.

“I’m Still Here” (3 Oscar nominations): In limited theaters

��stars Fernanda Torres (who won the Golden Globe) as Eunice Paiva, the wife of Rubens Paiva, a former leftist Brazilian congressman who was taken and not returned��. It made best picture, best actress and best international feature.

“Sing Sing” (3 Oscar nominations): VOD, streaming on Max on March 21

��has received a lot of recognition for his performance as an incarcerated man who helps lead a theater program for others at Sing Sing, including from the actors guild. Domingo, the screenplay and the music were recognized by the academy.

“The Wild Robot” (3 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Peacock

��of Peter Brown’s book about a smart robot who gets stranded in the wilderness and becomes caretaker to a young gosling is in the animated feature discussion.

“The Apprentice” (2 Oscar nominations): VOD

��got Oscar nominations for portraying Donald Trump and his lawyer Roy Cohn in this film about the future U.S. president.

“Flow” (2 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Max

This����about a cat escaping a great flood has become a favorite in the animation category. It won the animation Golden Globe and was nominated for an animation and international feature Oscar.

“Nickel Boys” (2 Oscar nominations): In very limited theaters and streaming on MGM+

��used first-person POV to adapt Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an abusive reform school in the Jim Crow South and for it got a best first feature nomination from the DGA.

“A Real Pain” (2 Oscar nominations): Streaming on Hulu

After a Globes win, an Oscar and SAG nom,����is the supporting actor favorite in the awards race for playing the chaotic, charismatic Benji in Jesse Eisenberg’s tragicomic film about odd couple cousins on a Holocaust tour in Poland. Eisenberg was nominated for original screenplay.

“Black Box Diaries” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Paramount+

Shiori Itō made this documentary investigating her own sexual assault case in Japan.

“A Different Man” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Max

��won a Golden Globe for his performance as an aspiring actor who drastically changes his face in this psychological thriller. It was only recognized for makeup and hairstyling.

“The Girl with the Needle” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Mubi

A young factory worker struggles to survive in post-World War I Copenhagen in this black-and-white psychological horror, which is up for best international film.

“Gladiator II” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Paramount+

��did not get the one nomination. That went to the costume design team.

“Inside Out 2” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Disney+

This����about the emotions of a young girl is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time, not accounting for inflation.

“Memoir of a Snail” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on AMC+

This animated feature nominee is not for young kids. Rated R,����is about a young misfit named Grace (Sarah Snook) who must find her way after being separated from her twin brother.

“No Other Land” (1 Oscar nomination): In limited theaters

A Palestinian-Israeli collective is behind this����about the systemic demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. Shot between 2019 and 2023, producers opted for self-distribution after the film could not find a home with a major theatrical distributor or U.S. streamer.

“Porcelain War” (1 Oscar nomination): In limited theaters

This documentary film about life during wartime focuses on Slava Leontyev, a Ukrainian ceramicist, his wife Anya Stasenko, and their friend painter/filmmaker Andrey Stefanov.

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (1 Oscar nomination): VOD

Widely considered one of the best films of the year,����(and Germany’s Oscar submission) is a political thriller and domestic drama about Iran’s authoritarian regime.

“September 5” (1 Oscar nomination): VOD

This film����of how the sports reporters at ABC covered the Munich Olympics hostage crisis live in 1972. It got an original screenplay nod.

“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Kanopy

This documentary nominee looks at the situation around the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.

“Sugarcane” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Hulu and Disney+

��directed this documentary investigation into an Indian residential school, and reports of historic abuses, missing and dead children, has a profound impact on a community reckoning with the trauma.

“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (1 Oscar nomination): Streaming on Netflix

An animated contender, this is only the����film, and brings back favorite Feathers McGraw.

“The Last Showgirl” (0 Oscar nominations): VOD

��got a SAG nomination for her portrayal of an aging Vegas performer in Gia Coppola’s film, but no such luck at the Oscars.

“The Piano Lesson” (O Oscar nominations): Streaming on Netflix

��got a supporting actress nod from SAG for her performance in Malcolm Washington’s August Wilson adaptation. The movie was shut out at the Oscars.

“Queer” (0 Oscar nominations): On VOD

��picked up a SAG nomination for his performance as a junkie expat infatuated with a young man in postwar Mexico in Luca Guadagnino’s William S. Burroughs adaptation.

Best performance by an actress in a leading role

Jason Rantz, KTTH: Demi Moore, The Substance

Mickey Madison was perfect in Anora and should win. However, Demi Moore has all the momentum and this is an award for her career as much as it is for a single film. She will win.

Charlie Harger, ����Xվ: Demi Moore, The Substance

Great, challenging role. The movie is a social commentary. Demi Moore is going to win this. Bet the trailer on it.��

Jake Skorheim, ����Xվ: Demi Moore, The Substance

I haven’t seen any of these movies, but as a teenager, I was a big fan of Demi Moore when she (ahem) played a professional dancer. I’ll give her my vote here.

Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Mikey Madison, Anora

Effortlessly sliding between the sole focus on screen to a background player, Mikey Madison steals the audience’s heart portraying a character so ferocious, yet so vulnerable. So conniving and charming, yet so painfully naive simultaneously.

It would be a stunning win for a 25-year-old going against some “career win” narratives, but Madison’s turn as Ani will quickly become one of the defining performances of the decade.

Related from “The Jason Rantz Show:” The top 10 best films of 2024 feature a Brooklyn stripper, scared cat, snail hoarder and conflicted juror

Best performance by an actor in a leading role

Jason Rantz, KTTH: Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

Who should win and who will win are sometimes in conflict. Sebastian Stan should win, but voters have mostly strayed away from him for fear of Trump’s wrath. Adrien Brody was outstanding in an otherwise average film, but he’s already won. Timothée Chalamet has momentum, is well-liked, is in a very popular (and decent) movie and is the future of Hollywood. I think he’ll take home the Oscar and make history as the youngest actor to do so.

Charlie Harger, ����Xվ: Ralph Fiennes, Conclave

While I won’t rule out Timothée Chalamet from winning for his performance as Bob Dylan, I think Hollywood may be growing tired of the Best Actor Oscar going to people playing famous singers (Jamie Foxx and Rami Malek most recently). Maybe the Academy wants to stick it to Donald Trump with Sebastian Stan’s performance in The Apprentice, but I think that movie has entered the race too late to get the win. My vote is for Ralph Fiennes. He does a solid job in Conclave, and I bet he’s the safe choice.��

Jake Skorheim, ����Xվ: Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

He’s a one-of-one and a total boss, clearing the competition.

Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

An actor matched perfectly with a role, the toll of life’s struggles for László Tóth is dramatically etched in Brody’s weathered face. He lifts every slight and subtle emotion from the page and breathes them into life effortlessly.

Whatever faults or flaws the film may suffer from never fall on Brody’s shoulders, as he delivers a career-best performance across the film’s 214-minute runtime.

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role

Jason Rantz, KTTH: Zoe �������岹ñ��, Emilia Pérez

Zoe �������岹ñ�� sings, dances and delivers a memorable performance. Despite the contrived controversy about the film from both sides of the aisle, it’s a standout and unique film with an equally standout and unique actress (arguably she’s the lead, but couldn’t win as a lead, so she’s slotted in the supporting category).

Charlie Harger, ����Xվ: Zoe �������岹ñ��, Emilia Pérez

The Academy will want to give Emilia Pérez��a little recognition (it’s a wildly creative movie!) and this is Zoe �������岹ñ��’s Oscar night. I think she’s a shoo-in.

Jake Skorheim, ����Xվ: Zoe �������岹ñ��, Emilia Pérez

I haven’t seen Emilia Pérez and I don’t usually go in for musicals, so I won’t ever see the film, but hands down, Zoe �������岹ñ�� deserves this and gets my vote.

Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Zoe �������岹ñ��, Emilia Pérez

If I’m thinking Oscar politics, this is a great spot for the Academy to reward a 13-time nominated film that is drowning in controversy with each passing week.

As for the performance, it’s �������岹ñ�� showing off the most range of her career, and she’s excellent in it. For the record, I was entertained by Emilia Pérez —��warts and all — and that’s primarily due to the work of the two lead actresses (even though �������岹ñ�� is listed under supporting).

Related on MyNorthwest: Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were dead for some time, warrant shows

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role

Jason Rantz, KTTH: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

This category has a lot of quality contenders. Kieran Culkin plays a wonderfully neurotic and complex character. He goes all in and it’ll earn him the win.

Charlie Harger, ����Xվ: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Kieran Culkin is the only one I really remember here. The role plays to his strengths.

Jake Skorheim, ����Xվ: Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

I haven’t seen The Apprentice yet, but I greatly enjoyed Jeremy Strong’s work in Succession. He also has a very interesting acting style from what I’ve seen and heard, so he gets my pick on this one.

Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Guy Pearce, The Brutalist

Kieran Culkin is a lock to win this award as a way for the Academy to get in on celebrating the achievement that is Succession (because that show just didn’t win enough Emmys, did it?).��

However, Guy Pearce is phenomenal in The Brutalist, and it’s the dynamic between Brody and Pearce that contains the film’s greatest moments. While Brody internalizes all of his anguish and challenges himself to emote naturally, Pearce is bursting at the seams with emotions on his sleeve. The Sonny to Brody’s Michael Corleone. In most other actor’s hands, the performance is too cartoonish, too simple, too obvious. But Pearce is able to grapple the intense, difficult part like a matador at the peak of their powers.

Best achievement in directing

Jason Rantz, KTTH: Anora, Sean Baker

What Sean Baker was able to do with Anora, particularly on a small budget, was astonishing. He knows how to frame a scene, draw out conflict and humor and, most importantly, emotion.

Charlie Harger, ����Xվ: James Mangold, A Complete Unknown

I think this is James Mangold’s year. He’s consistently directed high-quality films with broad��appeal (even if there is the occasional misfire like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). A Complete Unknown is getting good buzz; this will be his first Oscar win.

Jake Skorheim, ����Xվ: James Mangold, A Complete Unknown

James Mangold is the winner here and, again, it’s because Chamalet is a boss.

Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

The making of the triumphant American immigrant tale has been well documented, and it will play a key part in deciding this award. The three-and-a-half-hour epic took seven years to make on a budget of less than $10 million. Wicked cost $145 million, for reference. The daunting work to complete this project has been at the core of Corbet’s Oscar campaign; you could even see it on his daughter’s face when he won at The Golden Globes.

It’s the most directed of the films nominated here, and sometimes that trumps “best” at the Academy Awards. If voters can forgive some of the creative choices, risks and gambles Corbet makes in the second half of the film, he will walk away with the Oscar.

Related on MyNorthwest: Beyoncé the big winner at the Grammy awards

Best picture

Jason Rantz, KTTH: Anora

While I fear the entirely mediocre Conclave may pull out the win because of its unbearably woke ending (though admittedly terrifically acted), the best film of the year was easily Anora. In a way, it’s an R-rated and highly evolved rom-com that does something different with the genre in its brashness, tone and style.

It’s an independent movie that feels so much bigger because it brilliantly connects emotionally with the viewer. It’s hilarious and heartfelt, thanks to really intuitive directing from Sean Baker and acting from Mikey Madison.

Anora and Flow are the best films of the year.

Charlie Harger, ����Xվ: Conclave

I had a lot of fun with the nominated films I saw this year, but this is one of those years where no particular movie screams, “That was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.” If you had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have told you Emilia Pérez is a shoo-in. But with the recent controversy surrounding that movie’s star, its prospects look dim.

What I didn’t know until recently is that the Oscars use “ranked choice” voting. My guess is a LOT of different titles will get voters’ No. 1 vote with no clear consensus. Conclave is a fine movie, has good acting, is beautifully shot and I think I will be a solid No. 2 vote from a lot of Academy voters. So that’s my guess.��So many people will give��Conclave their second-place vote, and it will become the default winner for Best Picture.

Jake Skorheim, ����Xվ: Dune: Part Two

My pick for this year’s Best Picture speaks to an overall problem I have with the Oscars for many years now. Nobody sees these movies. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, but it’s hard to get excited about them when it takes so much effort to see them. BUT my pick for Best Picture is Dune: Part Two. It’s a beautiful movie and wonderfully directed. I truly felt transported to another world watching it.

Also, did I mention that Chamalet is a total boss?

Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest: Anora

No film controlled its audience the way Anora did in 2024. For just over two hours, you are simply a marionette to director Sean Baker’s puppetry. When the film wants to be funny, it becomes one of the best comedies in some time. When the film turns grave, it completely breaks your heart in devastating fashion. When it wants to create tension or anxiety, you’ll think a sequence directly pulled from Uncut Gems made it into Anora.

It’s a rollercoaster ride that unfolds masterfully and purposefully, and it’s the best the art form has to offer in 2024.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the��podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on , , ��and.

Charlie Harger is the host of��“Seattle’s Morning News”on ����Xվ Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries��here. Follow Charlie����and email him��here.��

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show”��weekdays from noon-3 p.m. on ����Xվ��Newsradio, 97.3 FM.��Subscribe to the podcast here.

Related on MyNorthwest: Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were dead for some time, warrant shows

“How big of a deal was Gene Hackman in the movies, especially in the 70s?” Seattle’s Morning News host Charlie Harger asked.

“If we look at that period between through the 70s, the 80s into the 90s, Gene Hackman was right up there with Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman (and) Al Pacino in both the output and the variety of films that he made and the seriousness of a lot of them as well,” Syracuse University Professor of Pop Culture Robert Thompson answered. “He was involved and headed up some real masterpieces through that period.”

He had prominent roles in six films that were nominated for Best Picture. Hackman’s two Academy Awards wins came from the two films that also took home the top prize for best film, The French Connection (1971) and Unforgiven (1992). He was nominated for an Oscar three other times.

“Between ’71 and ’75, I think he was in 14 movies, which included important films like The French Connection and The Conversation,” Thompson said. “He threw in a little comic work in Young Frankenstein just for good measure. He did five films in ’88. Five films in 2001. If nothing else, his presence was perpetual, but then 2004 comes along, and he pretty much walks away.”

How will the Academy honor him on Oscar night?

Director Francis Ford Coppola, actor Viola Davis, director Paul Feig, and actor-director Clint Eastwood were among many who paid tribute to Hackman’s death, which is expected to be prominently featured when the Academy Awards ceremony is held March 2. The importance and value of the Academy Awards has fluctuated over the last two decades, but Thompson argues the ceremony is more important than ever.

“I think the Oscars are even more important than they were before, in that there are so many entertainment choices we have now, not only all the movies that come out, but all of this stuff, which is almost infinity, that comes out for streaming,” Thompson said. “When the Oscars come out, a lot of the movies that get nominated are really fine movies, and many of them are movies that most people have never seen or even heard of before. So the Oscars is always a big, long infomercial for all of the nominated films. We’ve seen some clips or some trailers, but I think the Oscars is more significant now in that it does bring people to films they might otherwise not have heard of, and many of those films are worth being brought to.”

Related on MyNorthwest: ‘Emilia Pérez’ leads Oscar nominations with 13, setting record for a non-English language film

To listen to the entire conversation on Hackman’s legacy and the Academy Awards at large, listen here:

Charlie Harger is the host of��“Seattle’s Morning News”on ����Xվ Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries��here. Follow Charlie����and email him��here.��

Collectibles for all sorts of collectors

If you are a collector looking to add some vintage goodies to your collection, there are two perfect events for you this weekend. Hosted by the DoubleTree Suites in Southcenter, the Seattle Miniature Show brings more than 40 dealers to show off a wide variety of miniatures and doll houses. Admission is $8, but according to the event’s website, they are not set up for debit or credit cards, so make sure to bring some cash. The event is on Saturday and Sunday. More details can be found on the Seattle Miniature Show’s��.

If pop culture is more your thing, vintage toys, collectibles and comics are going to be on display and for sale at the . The event is on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Edward D. Hansen Conference Center in Everett. This is the first toy show of the year, and an early bird option is available for those who want a first look at what’s available. Check out the event’s for more details.

More on MyNorthwest: Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home

An expo for sewing phenoms

If you are someone who loves crafts and sewing, the Sewing and Stitchery Expo is underway at the in Puyallup. There are more than 400 booths alongside hundreds of daily classes for you to learn a new skill or find inspiration for your next project. You can get details and tickets at the fair’s .

Mardi Gras is coming up next week, and to celebrate, the Fremont Arts Council is putting on the Sunday at 12 p.m. Create your own float by customizing a toy truck to be part of the fun! There will be live music, costumes, dancing and plenty of creative creations. This event is family-friendly, beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Evanston Plaza. Get more details at .

Seattle Cocktail Week (and other beverage-themed events) is back

If you are a fan of adult beverages, you might have a reason to try something new. begins, and according to the event’s website, the best bars in the city are partnering up with the world’s greatest liquor brands to come together to create tasty concoctions. There will be special events, classes and more than 200 spirits to try. Details are available at .

In Tacoma, the focus is on the cold ones as begins Friday. This week-long event will be serving up pints and special events throughout the city, including a kickoff party at Tacoma’s oldest Brewery, . In addition to the fun, there will be a beach clean-up this weekend, a food drive and classes on the science of beer! Get more details at Tacoma Beer Week’s .

Earn your sweet treat this weekend at the . There are three different distances to race and, once you hit the finish line, you’ll enjoy tasty hot chocolate and other treats as well as live music and lots of vendors. You also don’t have to race to check out the Hot Chocolate Expo, which is going down at the Seattle Center on Saturday. Get more details at the run’s .

More from MyNorthwest: Nirvana reunites with Post Malone for SNL 50 concert at Radio City Music Hall

Film Awards Party

Celebrate the biggest night in film at the Grand Cinema for the . There will be local celebrities hosting the event alongside raffles and costumes. Your ticket will also get you a complimentary beverage or snack. Get details and more on .

So many things to do this weekend and such little time, what do you have going on? Let me know at paulh@kiroradio.com