It has come to my attention that not all of you are as filled with the holiday spirit as I am. One of you recently told me that Christmas music is for masochists. You’d rather not haul out the holly, and all you want for Christmas is for Santa Claus not to come to town.

Well, jingle my bells.

You might think that what you want is a silent night, but I happen to believe you need a little Christmas. Right this very minute. So, come all ye faithful because it is beginning to look a…

Karla Matzke’s 28th annual small works show at Matzke Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park, “Honey, I Shrunk the Art,” arrives just in time for Christmas giving.

In the 10-acre sculpture garden visitors will find new pieces by Tracy Powell, Kevin Pettelle, and Aaron Haba. Also here is the rigorous geometry of Richard Nash and the realism of Sabah Al-Dhaher, whose “lifelong fascination with the human form in figurative art” has been so beautifully productive.

In the gallery…

Leif Enger’s first book in a decade (So Brave, Young, and Handsome was published in 2008) is a gentle, charming antidote to all that ails us as a society these days. 

The title character, Virgil Wander, is the unassuming sole proprietor of a rundown independent movie theater in a struggling Minnesota town. Virgil’s on autopilot, lonely and at an impasse in his life, when a slick road in a sudden snowstorm lands him 40 feet below the surface of Lake Superior. 

Rescued by a local…

When we first caught up with Frisky Fandoms last summer, the burgeoning burlesque troupe had already focused their talents on iconic movies and television shows such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones—and were about to debut the racy things they’d done to Harry Potter.

Since then, founder Charlie Fun-Facts says, audiences have responded to the ensemble’s tagline of “nerds, sex and mayhem” by helping Frisky Fandoms sell out shows at the Firefly Lounge on a regular basis. The troupe has…

Like any film critic I have done my fair share of obnoxious ranting against a Hollywood culture that finds its most popular expression in the exploits of comic-book superheroes. And believe me, it gives my cold, contrarian heart no joy to acknowledge that the Spider-Man movies actually appear to be on the upswing.

This might come as a bit of a surprise, given the steady, enervating pileup of Spidey cinema in recent years, some of it prompted by Sony’s eagerness to hold onto the…

Holiday-induced fatigue had set in, and my boyfriend and I were finding it difficult to remove ourselves from the comfort and joy to be found in our own living room.

But at about 3pm on Sunday afternoon, I suggested we get dressed and explore what was happening at the Holiday Port Festival taking place at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal. Since it was the tail end of the three-day event, I figured we’d be able to peruse the long line of gingerbread houses on display without having to…

As the daylight hours continue to shrink to the point where confused humans are wondering why they feel the urge to begin cocktail hour by early afternoon and head to bed by 8pm, it’s important to remember that winter solstice is just around the corner, and we’ll soon be on the other side of the equatorial equation. In the meantime, it’s still possible to find additional light sources even when the nights are (so, so) long.

For example, the fourth annual Bowman Bay Holiday taking…

Water resource planners continue to meet to update the county’s Coordinated Water System Plan, a complex and often cumbersome attempt to inventory and manage Whatcom County’s diverse water systems.

Whatcom County has serious, long-term water quantity problems. Fortunately, solutions to these problems are at hand. Unfortunately, we largely ignore these problems and, therefore, are not adopting needed solutions.

PROBLEMS

The Nooksack River basin is home to several salmon species.…