Audrey Hendrickson

Here we are in the dog days of summer, and there is basically nothing new out on DVD. That being said, let's still run down the current releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video.

Yes, there's Brooklyn's Finest, Antoine Fuqua's unofficial follow-up to Training Day. Pajiba says it's not as bad as you might think, but I'm not convinced. There's also The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first film adaptation from Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy (the second, The Girl Who Played with Fire, is in theaters now, locally at the Harvard Exit). You should definitely see the Swedish films before the sure-to-be-horrid Hollywood versions, starring...oh, let's say Brad Pitt and Kristen Stewart. And there's also A Single Man, fashion designer Tom Ford's luminous directorial debut, featuring nuanced Oscar-nominated performances by Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. While it is shot strikingly well (of course), the validity of the ending is up for debate.

But besides that? Nothing. And when I say, "nothing," I mean NOTHING.

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Like Season 13 of ER, the latest season of Project Runway, or Squidbillies Volume 3. Blu-ray double features of Last Man Standing and The Last Boy Scout, Practical Magic and The Witches of Eastwick, Funny Farm and Spies Like Us. A collection of sixteen Buster Keaton comedy shorts, along with a double-disk version of his feature Steamboat Bill Jr. The best of The Wiggles. Rodney Dangerfield and Jonathan Brandis in Ladybugs, at long last on Blu-ray. A Brittany Murphy rom-com finally seeing the light of DVD release four years after the fact. The complete series of the original UK version of Life on Mars. Vampire flick Bitten and the killer surveillance robots of Eyeborgs. I could go on, but I won't. You see what I'm working with here. The rest is silence.

The internets--at least the portion of it populated by aging hipsters--have been all atwitter ever since seminal indie label Matador announced their 21st-birthday bash in Las Vegas.

Taking place the first weekend in October at the Palms, the mini-fest features some of the biggest indie acts of the '90s, along with much of the label's current lineup. Even bands no longer on the roster, like Spoon and Superchunk (both now on Merge), are on board for the party. Not all the acts are announced yet, but it's safe to assume that any band that has ever had a Matador release is fair game. (Rumors are that Liz Phair will be there, if that means anything to anyone anymore.)

Even though Matador could have thrown a big bloated festival and charged thousands of dollars, they aren't. They're keeping it small in a 2,100-person theater. Tickets are $199-225 for all three days, and along with the ticket purchase, you reserve a room at the Palms for $99/night. (The ins and outs of that aspect are actually kinda confusing, so I direct you to the FAQ for further details.) Even upgrading to VIP is only an additional $200 and gets you prime seats in the venue and an invite to fest-related parties, which can only mean rooftop shots of whiskey with Robert Pollard.

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The only problem: Well, the aforementioned logistical issues regarding rooms and tickets, and the fact that these tickets, on sale tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. PDT are gonna go FAST. Like, the friends and family presale that started yesterday is already sold out, meaning that everybody, including friends, family, press, and all the hipster hoi polloi is gonna be at Ticketfly tomorrow morning trying for a very, very small number of tickets. I wish you luck, but not at my own expense.

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And for the record, it looks as if the newly reunited Guided by Voices plans on more dates besides this show, so if you can't make Vegas, you can catch Uncle Bob elsewhere on tour. And after that, he swears, this time GBV is done, forever, for reals. 

It's summer and that means one thing: time for big fuzzy slippers! Alright, not quite, but even in the midst of a heatwave, your feet can still use some serious pampering, especially after a long day of wearing cute heels. 

Enter Aroma Home with their line of (non-scented) Fuzzy Friends slippers.  They come in seven super-plush animal styles, but it's the funny little faces on the ladybugs that make me smile. (In England, "ladybugs" are called "ladybirds" and "slippers" are called "lorries.") Added bonus: The Real Housewives of New Jersey's Dina Manzo was seen wearing a pair of the 'bugs on an episode, no doubt the only way to kick back and relax during some time away from the life-size monsters she calls her family and friends. 

The SunBreak has one pair of Fuzzy Friends ladybug slippers to give away.  One size fits most (up to women's size 10).  We'll be drawing a winner's name Friday at noon. Enter below for your chance to win.

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Finally! The five Humboldt penguins born in April have joined the colony and are now on view in the Woodland Park Zoo's penguin exhibit.  The chicks have lost their fuzzy baby down, in favor of the sleek look, which is much more swim-friendly (see video above).  But you can still tell the babies from the adults by their light gray feathers. 

For the past few weeks, the chicks have prepared for their public debut with a lot of one-on-one time with the zookeepers to get used to interacting with zoo staff and to learn how to enter and exit the exhibit.  They've also been learning how to swim in a shallow pool. Of course, Flip camera footage ensues.

And because we just celebrated Independence Day, the zoo is offering everyone the chance to exercise their inalienable rights to name zoo babies:

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Photo credit: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo

Penguin fans can connect with the zoo online to help name Diego and Radar's chick, a male, which hatched on April 25.

Fans can submit name suggestions for the chick to the wall of the zoo's Facebook page beginning July 7 through July 8, noon PST. To honor the Humboldt penguin's Chilean and Peruvian native range, fans are encouraged to submit Spanish-language names.

Penguin keepers will select their three favorite names from the submissions, and fans will then vote on July 9 on the zoo's Facebook page for their top pick.

Yay on submitting baby penguin names; boo on preference being given to those that are geographically appropriate.  Just once, I'd like the top vote-getter to get naming rights, even if it's not culturally correct.  Then we'd end up with a baby penguin named Stephen Colbert, Justin Bieber, Team Jacob, or Kitty.

It's the long holiday weekend, so it's good that there's lots of new movies out on DVD.  Let's run down the list of new films, care of our friends at Scarecrow Video (now with video games!).

The biggest release this week is definitely Hot Tub Time Machine, which I saw in a theater of people laughing so loudly that I will need to see it again, just to catch all the jokes I missed the first time.  There's also Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the popular children's book series, and the remake of The Crazies, in which virus-infected water makes Timothy Olyphant something-something.

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In terms of foreign films, there's the Oscar-nominated black-and-white looming dread of pre-WWI small-town Germany in The White Ribbon, which director Michael Haneke accurately described as "a horror film without the horror." There's also The Eclipse--no not that one.  This is an almost-perfect Irish ghost story set at a writers' conference.  Spooky scary!  Let's hope that there's never an American remake.  Same goes for Everlasting Moments, a delicate look at a female photographer challenging societal norms in early 1900s Sweden.  And for something completely different, Warlords features Jet Li and lots of epic Chinese battles.

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Documentaries this week are on the musical tip, with When You're Strange: A Film About the Doors and Rush: Behind the Lighted Stage.  Cue drum solo.

Straight from SIFF and out this week is Linas Phillips' latest road movie Bass Ackwards.  And straight-to-video (or close to that) is a whole mess of films: Israeli queer romance Antarctica, Charles Darwin biopic Creation, Pauly Shore mockumentary Adopted, Hugh Dancy and Mamie Gummer in Coach, small-town thriller Don McKay, karaoke rom-com Once More with Feeling, Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, and a jet pack in Pretty Bird, and Jon Hamm in Stolen.

In general, I am loath to travel to the Eastside.  But I'm willing to make the trip over the bridge for a new spot from the good people at Heavy Restaurant Group.  If Purple is their wine bar and Barrio is their Northwest-minded taqueria, then LOT No. 3 is their speakeasy-ish pub, with a long list of brown liquors and beers, as well as some simple, gourmet takes on pub grub. 

Just looking at the menu [pdf], it is mostly booze (care of gifted bar manager Casey Robison, often found at the Capitol Hill Barrio), but LOT No. 3 still puts the food front and center, with plenty of small bites, entrees, cheese and Salumi meat plates, salads, and sandwiches, including hot dogs and a peanut butter and bacon sandwich.

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Food is served till 1 a.m., and there's a happy hour daily 4-6 p.m. that features bacon by the slice (supposedly the candied variety is near-addictive).  The sliders made the happy hour menu too [pdf].  One quibble: there is no need for the use of single quotes with any menu items, as in egg and bacon 'salad'--we get it, that is egg salad that happens to have bacon in it. (Same goes for you, 'BLT' slider and polenta 'fries.')

Considering it's a pub, the space is rather sparse and luxe, with tables and a small bar downstairs and some booths, a large communal table, and a lounge area upstairs.  It's located adjacent to the Bellevue Purple and Barrio, such that when you head to the restroom, you can stop and peruse Purple's vast cache of wine.  And thankfully, validated parking is available in the Bellevue Towers parking garage.  If you know Heavy, bet on the fact that if this Eastside debut is auspicious, you'll see a LOT No. 3 on this side of the bridge sometime soon.

Coldstream Hills, Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. Photo by Matt Turner ©Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation

You might not associate pinot noir with Australia, but that won't be for long, if Aussie winemakers have anything to say about it. During the month of June, they're pushing wine drinkers in Los Angeles and Seattle to give up Oregon pinots and try some from Victoria, a state in Southeastern Australia with a cooler climate, good for the persnickety grape. And yes, even though this is white- and rosé-drinking season, a light and supple pinot noir also goes well with most summer meals. I spoke with Mark Davidson, a longtime sommelier and market development manager with Wine Australia about drinking Australian wine and this month's pinot event.  Details on restaurants and retailers serving Victorian pinots after the interview.

What are the common perceptions (or misperceptions) of Australian pinots?

Most Americans, if they are aware of Australian pinot noir, they aren't that familiar with it. Without a doubt, New Zealand pinots are better known in the marketplace. (I can't speak about New Zealand, because we hate them—that's just a joke, actually.) When people think of Australia, they think of other things with wine—most likely shiraz is the first thing that comes to mind. I think the idea of Australian pinot noir is a great way to shift people's perception, which is kinda what we're trying to do right now, just to get people to think and understand that there's more to Australian wine than the cheap "sunshine in a bottle" or the steroidal shiraz that they've been accustomed to in the last couple years.

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It's almost as if Australia's name was kinda ruined for a while, in terms of wine, because of Yellowtail and the subsequent race to the bottom for the cheapest possible wine.

Yeah, no question, everything goes through ebbs and flows, but in fairness, the kind of wines that got Australia to the dance, if you like, on the North American stage are those fun, varietally correct and clean, affordable wine--that's what got people excited. Then there was a little state where there were some importers bringing in the types of wine that were big and bold and high in alcohol. Those wines certainly exist, but they're not really that traditional in Australia. That got people excited for a short period of time, and then they got bored with those wines.

So then Australia was slotted as a two-trick pony: simple and fruity wines that were affordable, or these monstrous wines that were really big and over-the-top, and that's really not the full picture. While pinot noir is a relatively new thing to Australia, there's all kinds of styles and cool climate grapes that are not new at all and have been made for decades in Australia, but nobody knows about them. People like to compare [Australian pinots] to Oregon pinots. Obviously, the movie Sideways did a fantastic job in many ways of getting people in North America excited about wines other than cabernet.

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So what should people know about a Victoria pinot?

Saying "Victoria pinot noir" is a sweeping statement--a lot like saying "California pinot noir," as there's a lot of different styles in California--but in general, Australian pinot noirs tend to be a little more restrained compared to what's coming out of California (again, a sweeping statement). The cooler climate areas tend to promote a slightly higher acid and a leaner fruit profile, so these wines are a little more restrained in their youth than you might imagine, if you have in your mind what "Australian wine" might represent, as in big full-bodied wines. So that's one thing across the board, "restraint" is a good word--as is "food-friendly"--to describe Victoria pinot noirs in general.

Any picks for people starting off trying Victoria pinot?

I'd go regional. Like for cabernet, California for sure, but Napa's the deal. It's always good to connect the region with the varietal they do well, and there are a few in Australia that do pinot really well. Put your money right now on Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula. They're the two areas starting to become really famous for pinot noir.... They're relatively well-represented in the marketplace. There’s certainly more to it than that, but that's a good place to start experimenting.

Another nice thing about these wines is that they're at a good price point, compared to, say, an Oregon pinot, which tend to start around $40.

For sure, and with this pinot noir promotion, what we did was go out with about 15 wines, ranging from $10 wholesale up to $50-$60. As is always the case with top-end pinots, they're never cheap. But three or four of the wines were between $10 and $12 wholesale, which is a fantastic buy--any pinot under $15 is something to get excited about. Because pinot isn't easy to produce, and it's never cheap.

And the event runs through the end of this month?

Yeah, what we wanted to do was garner a bit of enthusiasm for these Australian wines, so we approached two cities where people had been exposed to pinot noir, and we talked to a few of the restaurants and retailers and said, "Look, it's a great opportunity to get people excited about a different style of Australian wine, and pinot's a great way to do it." So they’re featuring these wines in June in Los Angeles and Seattle. We wanted cities that already had some exposure to pinots and other styles of Australian wines, instead of completely going in blind to cities that we hadn't done any work in. We had good established contacts, so we knew we'd be able to get people excited on the restaurant and retail level.

June event details:

·Portalis Wines (Ballard) will have Stonier available by the glass and Cooralook 2009, Yabby Lake 2007, Yering Station, and Bindi Composition available by the bottle.

·The Local Vine (Belltown) will have Cooralook 2009 available by the glass and Yabby Lake 2007, Yering Reserve 2006, Mac Forbes 2008, Giant Steps 2008, and Bindi Composition 2007 by the bottle.

·Canlis (Queen Anne) will have the Kooyong Massale 2007 by the glass and the Bindi Composition Pinot, Bindi Original, and Bindi Composition by the bottle.

·Purple Café and Wine Bar (Bellevue only) will have the Stonier 2005 by the glass and the Yabby Lake 2007, Kooyong Haven 2005, Bindi Composition 2007, and Little Yering by the bottle.

·Metropolitan Grill (Downtown) will have the Bindi Composition, Bindi Original Vineyard, and Kooyong Massale by the bottle.

This weekend the Safdie Brothers, Josh and Benny, were in town for their new film Daddy Longlegs, currently showing at the Northwest Film Forum.  During their time here, they also taught a class entitled "Emotionally Sloppy: A Crash-Course in Cinema of the Gut," which gives you a window into what the film is like--mumblecore meets Cassavetes in its loose, shaggy style and an emphasis on exploration of character over plot.  Taking place in a quasi-timeless New York City, the Safdies' second feature is a semi-autobiographical look at a dad, played by Ronald Bronstein, who is wildly incompetent but brings a lot of chaotic fun to his two grade school-aged sons' lives during the two weeks of the year when he has custody. 

The SunBreak has three pairs of tickets to Daddy Longlegs to give away during the rest of its Northwest Film Forum run.  We'll be drawing three winners on Tuesday at noon. Enter below for your chance to win.

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The weather is getting summery, but if you still want to spend some time indoors, there's plenty of movies for your rental pleasure.  Let's check out this week's new releases on DVD, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video. 

If you can't wait till Wednesday for your Robert Pattinson fix, there's the romantic drama Remember Me, in which R-Patz falls for Lost's Emilie de Ravin before tragedy strikes in the form of a spoiler you can easily look up all over the internets. A slightly less realistic romance occurs in She's Out of My League, with dweeb of the moment Jay Baruchel. If you're looking for the inner workings of a real relationship, please see The Last Station starring Christopher Plummer and Dame Helen Mirren as Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya.

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This week also brings Green Zone, in which Matt Damon is a soldier in Iraq. It's directed by Paul Greengrass, which means there's lots of handheld camerawork, translating into action sequences where you can't tell what's occurring or who is chasing whom. We get it already--war is confusing!  Too bad this film culminates in the shocking reveal two-thirds of the way through:  there are no WMD in Iraq.  Do yourself a favor and avoid this Snore Identity.

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It's a good week for foreign releases and classics coming to DVD.  Controversial Catherine Breillat retells a fairy tale of two sisters in Bluebeard, while the live-in help gets jealous of the new employee in Argentina's The Maid.  A Star is Born is finally on Blu-Ray, along with Criterion editions of Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up and Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert. If you love French New Wave, don't miss Jean-Louis Trintignant and the lovely Romy Schneider in Alain Cavalier's fascist romance Le Combat Dans L'ile. And Shout Factory just released another Roger Corman flick, Death Race 2000.

A few odds and ends: Fuel documents the dire need for a revamped comprehensive energy policy (now more than ever), while in The Good Guy Alexis Bledel can't choose between two Wall Street hotshots. Sigh. Meanwhile, Timer looks to be more than just your run-of-the-mill indie sci-fi rom-com.

Harmony-loving British pop trio Peggy Sue has been recording live performances in uncommon places all along their North American tour.  If you go to their YouTube page, you can see them all: on top of a bus in Montreal; at a skatepark in Portland; on the sidewalks of Boston, at least until the performance was interrupted by the police.

So when the Brighton band was making their way to Seattle to play at the Sunset last weekend, The SunBreak offered a few ideas of places for them to record:

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• on the ferry (which has been done, but is still interesting)
• at the Sculpture Park (though you might have a cop run-in there too)
• in the water tower at Volunteer Park (sure to have a nice echo-y effect)

But sometimes the best performances aren't planned, and that's exactly what happened on Saturday night.  Check the video above for Peggy Sue's Seattle performance.

Here's the story—there was a woman watching the show from outside through the window. Apparently she had forgotten her ID.  So for the last song, the band brought the show outside for her.