Buzz Bin

by Inlander Staff & r & Theaters Take Note -- Movie exhibitors have been complaining about the recent slump. The box office has been down for umpteen weeks now.


Well, we've got a modest proposal, and no, it doesn't involve pouring soda pop over the heads of people yakking on cell phones. Needing to arrive early for a good seat at a popular showing the other day, we were treated to a parade of commercials for Nike, Starburst, Coke, NBC, Cingular, TNT (three different shows), the Regal Cinema MasterCard and the Rock doing a tribute to the Will Rogers Institute -- followed by six previews, three of them for movies so juvenile (The Man, Deuce Bigalow and The Dukes of Hazzard) that we felt embarrassed, like we'd just stepped in something really sticky.


Come to think of it ... give us this day our daily home theaters with TiVo.





RC Dogs


"Zippy, left. Zippy, jump. Zippy, weave." If you've never seen dog agility in action -- humans leading canines through complicated obstacle courses by voice command only, and really fast -- then you've missed some great animal-human interaction.


Besides, it's always fun watching toy dogs trying to clamber up A-frames that are 12 times their height.


Anyway, there's a Newman Lake resident who's really good at this. Barb Davis -- along with her collie Shimmer -- placed second in the nation in the "Agility, Small" division at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games, held recently in Orlando, Fla. To both, our canine kudos.





Musing About Museums


Barely one-quarter of the NPOs that apply competitively for a project grant from Humanities Washington actually win funding, so it's a pleasure to report that the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Wash., has just opened "A Look at Contemporary Northwest Latino Art" with help from HW. Closer to home, the MAC recently won $5,000 from those same Washington state benefactors for "The Mapmaker's Eye," a David Thompson exhibit that opens an 11-month run on Oct. 8. With lectures, panels and more, the exhibit will examine the Canadian explorer's establishing of trade relationships with Northwest Indian tribes.





Mobius Strip of Confusion


Last week's story on Mobius, the children's museum opening on Labor Day, got us all twisted up. First, the correct Web site for the new attraction is www.MobiusSpokane.org. Second, the museum's safety exhibit was sponsored by the Cooper Jones Advisory Committee of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission through a grant that was submitted by the Spokane Safe Kids Coalition and the Spokane Regional Health District, with additional sponsorship from the Northwest Burn Foundation. In the name of Augustus Ferdinand Mobius, we apologize.