Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 05.11.06

Hey Eugene! Whatcha doin' this weekend? Want to meet writers, producers and directors — and see some hoppin' cool flicks (Binta and the Great Idea, pictured above)? The Eugene Film Festival runs all weekend, all over town, all the time. Battlestar Galactica co-producer and writer Mark Verheiden headlines the event, but you can attend everything from a master class called "Writing Can Be Murder" to a short called "Scapegoats" whose taglines read, "Four Roommates. One Femme Fatale. One Gratuitous Hot Chick…flying cream pies, over-baked pudding, and slapping fish." Get on over to the Tango Center Friday evening for the reception, but keep on going all weekend at DIVA, the UO, the Bijou, the WOW Hall, the…you get the picture. Or rather, you can get the pictures. See Calendar.

This really was the trip from hell. In 1977, Terri Jentz and a friend took a bike trip. The Yale students, wearing sweatshirts saying "ORYGUN" they had just purchased, cruised into Cline Falls (near Redmond) and camped for the night. Jentz woke up to a truck tire on her chest and the screams of her friend, who was being slashed — as was Jentz — with a hatchet. Unbelievably, they both survived. Even though the man who attacked them was known to the community, he was never arrested for the crime. Many years later, Jentz returned to Oregon and to the scene of the crime to look for information and to find out what really happened. Jentz reads from the story of her search for justice and some sort of peace in Strange Piece of Paradise. See Thursday, May 11.

Aren't they cute? It's spring migration time, and birds of a feather and those of unlike plumage alike flock to the wetlands as they pass through Oregon. The black stilt, the phalarope and many more could be in your sights at the Fern Ridge Wings and Wine Festival this weekend. With turtle talks, bird walks, a wetlands raptor paddle, bird coloring books, bird bingo and the ever-popular owl pellet workshop, the whole family can enjoy the day at Fern Ridge and the Secret House Winery. At night, after most birds and kiddos pop off to sleep, the adults can sip the vino—that is, the Pinot—alongside the sumptuous repast and the swooping owls. See Saturday.

The boy's all right. OK, he's not a boy, and the book isn't exactly about him being all right, but still, that was then and this is now, and now he's an author. Anthony Rapp (right), who played filmmaker Mark Cohen in the original Broadway cast of Rent, will be reading from his new book, Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Hit Musical RENT, about the trials and tribulations of being a star in a stupendously successful musical while going through some big personal traumas — like losing his mom to cancer. See Tuesday.