GAFFIGAN EXPLAINS
You probably heard about notoriously clean, middle-of-the-road (and truly funny!) comedian Jim Gaffigan going off on Twitter about the Trump administration during the Republican National Convention. It actually was Big Headline News due to Gaffigan's apolitical, easygoing reputation. Gaffigan later sat in with fellow comedian and long-time tourmate Ted Alexandro for a long conversation about what inspired him to spout off ("watching loon after loon, night after night") and being a "moderate" scared of the "sociopath" president. It's an interesting discussion of how the guy Alexandro calls "America's comedian" reached his breaking point. Find it on YouTube by searching for "The Ted Alexandro Show with Ted Alexandro." (DAN NAILEN)
GOING MOBILE
I never quite jumped on the "mobile game" bandwagon like some people. Candy Crush? Nah. Angry Birds? Please. But a new mobile game has grabbed my attention. Eve Echoes is a space exploration role-playing game that allows you to interact with other online players and it. Is. STUNNING. It's a little confusing with the massive range of ship customizations and combat functions, and honestly playing on my phone isn't as immersive as I want it to be. But it is the most impressive game I've ever seen played on a mobile device. (QUINN WELSCH)
STORYTIME IN THE PARK
Take your family's next story time outdoors with a walk in the park via the Spokane Public Library's new Read and Walk activity, starting with its first installation in Comstock Park. The new kids' program features pages from the picture book Duck on a Bike on signs placed throughout the park. Each stop along the story's path also includes activities tied to the book. The program was made possible through CARES Act funding and is set to rotate across the city at other parks; next up is Corbin and then Chief Garry. (CHEY SCOTT)
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
With renewed interest in Michelle McNamara's armchair detective saga I'll Be Gone in the Dark, let me point you in the direction of a recent release that similarly fuses memoir with true crime. Emma Copley Eisenberg's The Third Rainbow Girl begins with the 1980 murder of two young women who were hitchhiking to a hippie festival in rural West Virginia, and follows the twists and turns that resulted in a conviction, an appeal, an unexpected confession and even more questions. The author's remembrances of her own adolescence in the same woods where the crimes took place may at first seem inconsequential, but it successfully illustrates the ways people relate to true crime. (NATHAN WEINBENDER)
THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
Some noteworthy new music hits online and in stores Sept. 11. To wit:
FLAMING LIPS, American Head. A heaping new slab of psychedelic weirdness.
ELIZABETH COOK, Aftermath. The singer/songwriter veers closer to jangly guitar rock than the rootsy country she's known for, and it is good.
STRAY CATS, Rocked This Town: From LA to London. I saw the rockabilly revivalists last year, and will gladly take 23 hot live recordings to remember it. (DAN NAILEN)
