Dan Webster

Three movies don't usually make a film festival, except when we're talking about the Spokane Jewish Film Festival, which will open its five-day run on Saturday at The Met. After all, the 2003 version of the same festival boasted just two films.

Heading into October, Spokane Is Reading is rapidly approaching. The regional reading project, sponsored by a coalition of book-minded groups including the Spokane Public and Spokane County library systems and Auntie's Bookstore, will hold a series of book talks on this year's choice, Orson Scott Card's novel "Ender's Game." Card will come to Spokane near the end of the month to give two public readings.

"Star Wars" (episodes 4-6, DVD only) •••1/2•••1/2••••

Next Saturday is the beginning of Banned Books Week, the American Library Association's annual drive to fight censorship. Since 1982, the ALA has worked to publicize books that have attracted one kind of complaint, or "challenge," after another. Many involved requests to have books removed from class reading lists or library shelves. I'm going to celebrate by buying copies (used, probably) of books I've loved that have attracted such "challenges."

One of the essential questions of journalism involves news reporting in war time. What is the difference between reporting the truth and aiding the enemy? How does a reporter strike the right balance between informing the public and courting treason?

It's been a while since a French film has come along that is truly worth hating. I'd love to be able to say "Intimate Strangers" is that film. No such luck. "Intimate Strangers" isn't detestable. It's just not very good.

Mitch Finley has a passion. Not his love of the five-string banjo. That borders more on obsession. No, Finley's real passion, his abiding passion, is his faith.

North America, as we've been told again and again, is a land of immigrants. Many of those immigrants came from sunny Italy, the boot-shaped country of pasta, gelato and the best cappuccino in the world. Vincenza Scarpaci, author of "Portrait of Italians in America," is in the process of updating her book, documenting the history of Italian immigrants to the U.S. and Canada through photographs.

Anyone who has been around couples headed for divorce can feel the emotions as if they were tiny but powerful tsunami. It takes a sincere sense of loyalty, if not love, to stick around and lend support.

Sometimes, the publisher knows best. Or at least the marketers who run the company think that they do. And the writers, in most cases, are forced to go along. That's the case with Spokane author Jess Walter, whose third novel, "Citizen Vince," won't be released in September as originally scheduled. The book, which is set mostly in Spokane and follows the life of a petty crook during the week preceding the 1980 presidential election, has been pulled back. The reason, according to Walter: Advance orders weren't what Regan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, wanted.

Give somebody a million-dollar budget and 100 minutes and he or she can make any kind of film imaginable. Try doing something on lunch money and three minutes of video.

It hasn't even snowed yet, and Eastern Washington University is already expecting us to look ahead to the spring. Here's why: Ticket's to EWU's seventh annual Get Lit! literary festival, which will be held April 17-23, go on sale Sept. 1. And if history is any guide, you'd be smart to get yours early. Most events are at The Met, where the 750-some seats go fast. David Sedaris' first Get Lit! appearance sold out two years ago, and the same thing happened this spring for Kurt Vonnegut. First up are festival series ticket packages, which are priced at $112.50. Containing tickets to all four main events, the series package represents a $12.50 discount off the combined price for each event.

Like most of us who suddenly find ourselves facing this affliction called maturity, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) has discovered a way to cope with his fears. Unlike most of us, though, his method is to self-medicate with a pharmacy of prescription drugs.