Sunday at SIFF is A Single Man, based on a Christopher Isherwood novel about a closeted gay college professor in the 1960s whose grief from the loss of his love and frustration at having to stay “invisible” leads him to consider suicide until his best girlfriend and a charming young man make him think twice.

Cory McAbee is the writer, director and lead actor of The American Astronaut and he’s followed that well received film with another for which he’s the writer, director and lead actor. Stingray Sam makes its Seattle debut at NW Film Forum with McAbee in person for the Friday night screenings of his six episode musical western mini-series that takes place in outer space.

Also screening Friday night at NWFF and playing through the week: Ingmar Bergman’s The Passion of Anna, the tale of two men and two women struggling with their own troubled selves and their complicated relationships with each other on the small Swedish island of Fårö.

Saturday night at NWFF: Silence is Golden. NWFF has a quarterly film challenge for local filmmakers; this fall’s was to come up with a five-minute short devoid of dialogue. Participants are allowed to use music to drive a story, but not one single spoken word. Sunday night at NWFF: Money Driven Medicine: “a behind-the-scenes look at how our 2.6 trillion dollar a year healthcare system went so terribly wrong and what it will take to fix it.”

Love 80s movies? Head to Central Cinema Friday night for the 80s movies anthem singalong with the themes from such “classic” flicks as “The Goonies” and “Ghostbuster”, featuring songs by Madonna, Prince, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Phil Collins, The Ramones, Kenny Loggins, Peter Gabriel, the Go-Gos, Huey Lewis & the News, and many more. Starting Saturday, Central Cinema screens Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game through November 25. Coincidentally, I just happened to rent this movie myself so I can attest to the merits of this 1939 satire of upper-class French society just before the start of WWII. Condemned by the Parisian crowd who saw its original debut–probably because it hit just a little too close to home–and later banned by the French government, this film has since rightly become known as one of the best films made.

The Grand Illusion hosts the Burning Fuse Film Festival. Six provocative documentaries examine topics including environment deregulation under President Bush, a stripper’s conversion to evangelical Christianity, conscientious objector soldiers, surfers in war-torn Liberia, vooting booth conspiracies tied to the 2004 national elections, and the story of Fauborg Treme, the section of New Orleans that is probably the oldest black neighborhood in America and is the birthplace of the civil rights movement as well as the home of jazz.

Somewhat–no, very much less serious is Grand Illusion’s late night weekend feature Gums, a 1976 Jaws parody featuring a fellatio-mad mermaid intent on terrorizing the seaside.

Besides turning out a very long list of chart-topping albums and singles and inspiring musicians for generations even now still to come, The Beatles managed to make a few good films. The Fab Four were never more charming than in Richard Lester’s adorable A Hard Day’s Night, a comedy that takes a clever look at the madness surrounding what was then the world’s biggest band. A fun movie filled with some of The Beatles’ best songs and definitely worth a watch.

As the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake duke it out for supremacy, fans can snack on the Galaxy Dog which features two strips of applewood smoked bacon, nacho cheese sauce, red onion and diced tomatoes and is available, naturally, at Seattle Dogs. Ciao Down will offer the Galaxy Pizza, topped with ground buffalo, caramelized red onions, thick cut bacon, and pepper-jack cheese. Real Salt Lake is represented by Grill 12’s Salt Lake Burger topped with caramelized red onion jam, apple wood smoked bacon, blue cheese, and black cherry barbeque sauce.

The FSN Lounge will be honoring the world’s love for the beautiful game with an assortment of internationally-inspired dishes like Dungeness crab macaroni and Cheese (England), Pissaladiere baked puff pastry with olives, grape tomatoes, caramelized onions and triple cream brie (Spain), Mama’s meatballs (Italy), Bossa Nova chicken sandwich (Brazil) and more.

Everybody loves pretzels, or nearly everyone enough to ensure that pretzels have long been a staple item at sporting events. Since the MLS Cup is a big event, it makes sense that this game has available a big pretzel–the Victory Knot is a two-pound pretzel topped with sea salt and served with three dipping sauces (spicy mustard, beer cheese and sweet vanilla cream). This pretzel is so big that it is served in a full-size pizza box.

Finally, no matter who wins the game, everyone can celebrate the day with MLS cupcakes – cupcakes decorated with the MLS and team logos.

Kick off for the MLS cup is at 5:30 pm on Sunday, November 22, but there are plenty of events to occupy you until game time. On Friday, November 20, MLS players will go toss a fish at the Pike Place Market at 3pm. Fado Irish Pub hosts a Meet and Greet and Silent Auction from 6 – 8 pm with happy hour drink specials all night long, appearances by Sounders FC players Sébastien Le Toux and Taylor Graham, and a silent auction to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The 2009 Supporters Summit happens at Qwest Field on Saturday, November 21, featuring a State of the League speech by MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Supporters Shield history and presentation by Sam Perron, Kansas City Wizards, a raffle and an officiating and technical discussion panel with Joe Machnick and Alfonso Mondelo.

Saturday night features the Sounders End of Season party at The Baltic Room and a Pioneer Square Supporters Social at Elysian Fields.

On Sunday, get psyched for the game in the morning at the FIFA 2010 Tournament at Fado, sponsored by Gorilla FC, in which teams of players compete to find out who is the best FIFA10 XBOX player, winning great Sounders prizes and raising money for the victims of Black October in Bolivia.

Sunday afternoon there’s a Pre-Game Spaghetti Feed at Fuel and then at 3:45 soccer fans meet up at Occidental Square for the traditional March to the Match, accompanied by Sounders FC owners, players, coaches and MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

Created by head barman James Mac Williams who says “This drink is not for the faint of heart,” The Temptation of Edward Cullen pays tribute to both the vampires of the movie and the Olympic coast where they live with Plymouth gin, an Austrian Arolla stone pine liqueur called Zirbenz, Le Tourment Vert Absinthe, Champagne and Green Walnut Wine, a sweet, homemade wine with a spicy, nutty flavor. MacWilliams makes the drink by pouring the gin, Zirbenz, and absinthe into a long glass, adding crushed iced to the top, and stirring. After topping off the glass with champagne, he pours the green walnut wine slowly over the top so that it sinks through the crushed ice then garnishes with lemon fangs and a straw.

Photo by Brian Canlis.

dent may, with ukulele.

Tonight, if the chatting, laughing, drinking, eating, and other assorted revelry of Blogsgiving hasn’t worn you to shreds, you might want to drop by Chop Suey on your way home. There, Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele(s) can show you that contrary to conventional wisdom, if you try hard enough, you can force a dance party. They open for sibling songwriting the Fiery Furnaces, an odd couple of boundary-stretching rockers who have taken inspiration from sources ranging as far and wide as Devo to their grandmother’s choir. $15, 8pm. With Cryptacize. [chopsuey]

Even if you choose another drink instead (although I don’t see how you can pass this one up), the Hunt Club is an excellent place for refreshment. It’s got an old-fashioned sort of luxury, all cushions and brick and good, casual food. Happy hour is great at the Hunt Club with shrimp and oysters and nuts, crab mac’n'cheese, olives, hummus, garlic fries and other tasty and low-priced food options.

The Tbirds continue their drive for an improved record this weekend at home in Kent’s ShoWare Center this weekend, facing two teams from last week’s victories: Kamloops Blazers Friday and Everett Silvertips Saturday.

I’m sure most of you out there are already know this, but you can make it from Seattle out to wine country in the same amount of time it takes a bottle of red to properly breathe.

However, I’m not here to talk to you about wine.  Which I can assure you is to our mutual benefit, as all I have to offer on the subject involves the painfully embarrassing consequences that befall me those times I muster the bravery to take another shot at drinking it.  What I’d like to touch on today is an oft-misunderstood spirit favored by my curly-headed 70’s hero, Ron Burgundy:

I love Scotch. Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly…

And down into my belly it has gone on many a fair occasion.  Sadly, my lack of respect for the true potential of this Scottish delight has led it to make almost as many return trips from my belly as well.  Cutty Sark, J & B, Chivas Regal — these are the names I had associated with Scotch throughout the years.  It’s not that I particularly enjoy slumming it on the bottom shelf, I had simply been under the impression that it was all going to go down like battery acid anyway.  It’s almost comical that it took a certified “master of whisky” to set me straight on the subject.

Recently I was offered the chance to stay at Willows Lodge in Woodinville, a five-acre spread bordering the Sammamish River in the heart of Western Washington’s wine country.  Under normal circumstances I might be apprehensive about such a vinocentric destination, but I made the trip in order to attend something far beyond your everyday swish and spit wine tasting.  Hosted by renowned master of whisky Ari Shapiro (pictured left), and with a four course menu prepared by Barking Frog Executive Chef Bobby Moore, the celebration comically dubbed “Scotch-tober” was nothing short of an amazing amalgamation of whisky knowledge and culinary craftsmanship.

It’s not likely anyone would argue whether or not Shapiro knows his Scotch.  Even those not immediately enamored with his PowerPoint skills (fun fact: this is the first alcohol-related PowerPoint presentation I’ve experienced) would find his expertise on both the spirits and the land they originate from to be truly impressive.  Over the course of the evening he regaled the crowd with old world toasts, and spared no detail in explaining the production methods and regional flavors leveraged to produce each distillery’s unique flavor.  As a wannabe connoisseur, I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that the 15-yer-old single malt Dalwhinnie was my favorite Scotch of the evening, due largely to its floral nose, sweet taste, and clean, subtle finish.  This stems from its origins in the highland region of Scotland, where it is crafted out of fragrantly sweet mountain water.  After that I’m pretty certain I’ll never be able to even look at a bottle Cutty Sark seriously again.

Well before the event ever took place, Shapiro and Chef Moore had been putting their heads together to come up with a menu that balanced the signature flavors of each Scotch with that of the evening’s cuisine.  The result featured such mouth-watering dishes as breast of squab with a celeriac, endive, and Walla Walla onion salad, chilled Virginica oysters, and my personal favorite, the smoked ribs with fennel and yukon gold potato gratin.  There was just something about how the smokiness of the ribs played off of the dry, equally smoky 16-year-old Lagavulin that made me want to paint my face blue and white and start quoting William Wallace.

As if I didn’t have it good enough already, after my hunger and thirst had been quelled around the Barking Frog’s open fireplace, I made my way back to the room waiting for me at Willows Lodge.  Just your standard accommodation, complete with 40″ flat screen TV, stone fireplace, private patio, and a soaking tub deep enough to drown your sorrows and/or Manuel Uribe if you really felt like it.  Seriously though, the one thing I couldn’t get enough of was the bed.  So soft, so comfortable.  The sensation that I would later describe as “sleeping on a cloud of smiling puppies” was in fact courtesy of the Australian lambs wool mattress pad that can be found adorning the beds in any of the lodge’s 84 rooms.  Probably the highest compliment I could pay to the lodge, its staff, and their attention to detail is that in all my years traveling I’ve yet to stay anywhere so comfortable and relaxed, yet so serious about the care of their guests.

Another great thing is that there’s always something going on at Willows, so you never have to be without an excuse to treat yourself to a mini-vacation or romantic getaway in Seattle’s back 40.  For example, in December Willows Lodge is featuring a weekly series of complimentary classes called “Holiday Boot Camp”.  The classes are free and take place the first three Wednesdays of the month, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. during Fireside Cellar’s Happier Hour. The program is aimed to help novices navigate the challenges of holiday entertaining:

• Wednesday, December 2: Brian Matthews of Barking Frog will share drink recipes and tips for creating the perfect holiday cocktails.  Guests will learn techniques for creating a hot apple pie, oatmeal cookie and a white chocolate mint-tini.
• Wednesday, December 9: Executive Chef of Barking Frog Bobby Moore and award-winning Wine Director of Willows Lodge Jeffrey Dorgan will share tips and recipes for holiday appetizers and discuss how to pair the perfect wine with traditional holiday meals.
• Wednesday, December 16: Trena Costello, pastry chef of Barking Frog, will share pastry recipes and tips for creating the perfect homemade holiday desserts.

No matter how long you’ve lived in the area, I implore you to consider adding a night at Willows Lodge and a meal at Barking Frog to your Seattle bucket list.  Both are comfortably far enough away from the city — but not too far — perfect for those who wish to spend less of their time traveling and more of it relaxing in the arms of the one they love; or as it was in my case, a foursome of strategically-placed goose down pillows.

There have been a number of excellent events this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition but the concert sponsored by the Burke Museum this Friday, November 20, may be the best of them. Tribute to the Spirit: Little Big Band is an evening of Native American music, story telling and dance at Meany Hall that blends contemporary rock, rap, and jazz with traditional Native culture. This is going to be an exciting show that neatly illustrates how cultural traditions are continued and progressed by contemporary artists whose work will go on to influence future generations.

Representatives from seven different First Nations hit the stage for this unique event that features a number of dynamic performers including Grammy Award winning singer Star Nayea, Tlingit storyteller, actor and musician Gene Tagaban, Preston Singletary, Tlingit glass artist and electric bassist, and Swil Kanim, Native American violinist and comic.

Tickets are available at the door and in advance at Brown Paper Tickets. The concert is tied to the Burke’s excellent exhibit Indigenous Voice Reply, an exhibit that takes a look back at the representation of indigenous people at the original A-Y-P fair, how the fair shaped the history of the Burke, and gives a chance for modern people to respond to the past.

The concert is followed Saturday by a free one-day symposium at UW’s Kane Hall featuring World’s Fair historian Dr. Robert Rydall as the keynote speaker that examines the portrayal of indigenous peoples at the A-Y-P and other world’s fairs of the time.

Should be a good show, so I hope to see you there!