Pity poor Pluto. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified the celestial body as a dwarf planet. Along with being totally emasculating, the IAU's declaration meant that Pluto was stripped of its rights as a full-fledged planet, including health insurance (medical, vision, and dental), a sweet parking space, and a Platinum American Express card. Well, now Pluto is fighting back, or at least it's found a group to take up the cause: more ›

It's been a while since we've heard from The Forms. The Brooklyn four-piece put out their debut album Icarus in 2003 to widespread acclaim, with the Steve Albini-produced work earning an 8.5 from Pitchfork for its "wiry, punchy, indie pop with refreshingly un-hackneyed time-signature games and judiciously placed dissonant chords." more ›

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Is there anyone in this city that doesn't love El Chupacabra? There may be, but that's probably because they haven't been there yet. more ›

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So, yeah, there's been this Russian-Turkish style "urban spa" called Banya5 on Ninth for, like, three years now. It's kind of a giant community sauna, with a central oven providing both wet and dry heat, surrounded by a bunch of fresh- and salt-water pools. The guy who built it, Seattle-born real estate developer John Goodfellow, isn't even Russian; he got hooked on the concept in New Yawk City. You have to know where it is, because it's hard to see along the northbound arterial through the no-man's land connecting Lake Union with downtown. more ›

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We were sitting at Uber Tavern this weekend drinking a few beers, and the bartender brings in these awesome looking sandwiches that he and his buddies start chowing down on. He notices us staring (And possibly drooling just a little bit) and he throws us their menu and says, "It's only 3 blocks up the street and the sandwiches are great. Just order now. They close in 20 minutes." more ›

This weekend is the return of the Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA) Summer Beer Taste, or Beerstille Day! more ›

Last night we were standing on our back porch-like thing (which is actually more related, in terms of dimensions, to a hallway except instead of a bathroom at the end of it there's a Weber) in Wallingford. It was raining and we were drinking a can of beer and wondering where all the T-storms and hail were. Never showed, Double Doppler. And we thought back on some of the heavy weather that did show up as promised in the past few months. In fact some of the shingles that were blown off of the house up the street during the wind storm are still down there in the back yard, nearly completely covered by the spring grass. That violently diagonal stump a few houses up the hill? Still there. Still more unearthed than not. And this is relatively lightly winded Wallingford. They're probably still running on battery power in Duval. more ›

ART: Fremont celebrates First Friday with their monthly art walk, while the McLeod Residence hosts the opening of their new photography/painting exhibit on Seattle "celebrities." more ›

MUSIC: In a case of perfect billing, Math and Physics Club are taking a break from puppy petting and hand-holding to sing some songs for the kids as part of Town Hall's Saturday morning concert series. more ›

DEMOCRACY: There's a Seattle school levy election today. If you don't know where you are supposed to vote, but know your name and the day you were born, you can look it up online. If you can't get to that place, you can cast a provisional ballot anywhere--just march up to the nice poll-worker ladies at your local school or church and say "I'd like to cast a provisional ballot, please." We did it last election and it worked like a dream. more ›

KARAOKE: Wednesday night is always karaoke night at the Little Red Hen, an outpost of country music that's inexplicably smack dab in the middle of Volvo-driving, NPR-listening, holiday-tree-owning Green Lake. The crowd veers toward the early-20s spectrum, so if you need a break from parties where people discuss mortgages, the new Whole Foods, and their fucking jobs, this is the place to go. Tip: Bring cash so you can buy beer from the guy with the cooler instead of standing in a long line at the bar. more ›

On the sixth of October we were walking down 40th Ave N in Wallingford from the bus to our house. We remember the evening clearly because... Because the way our camera stores photographs on our laptop tells us that we took this picture on the 6th. more ›

MUSIC: Criminally underrated British singer-songwriter Jim Noir delivers his psych-pop twice tonight: first an acoustic set at Sonic Boom in Ballard, and then rocking out at the Croc as part of the Sub Pop/Barsuk Winter Celebration and Holiday Party Extravaganza. more ›

SPORTS: Garfield vs. Franklin basketball is the best sports rivalry in the city. Only happens twice a year. There's bands, guys trying desperately to impress their friends in the stands, and usually a cheerleader battle or two. This is as close to Duke-UNC as we have in this state. NOTE: Bring a sweater, the gym will be COLD. more ›

Friday night's performance by Dorky Park at On the Boards was surreal on many fronts. Seattlest was running late for the show, and as we screamed past Queen Anne Ave N. on Roy street with zero idea where we'd be able to park, someone pulled out of a street parking spot one block from OtB. We slid into the spot and then into the theater, where we promptly scored a seat dead-center in the fifth row (the primary benefit of attending anything solo, there' s usually an orphaned seat like that). The lights dimmed, and came back up on a stunning dark-haired woman, center stage wearing a bombshell red dress with matching red heels. It all went to hell from there. more ›

About a year ago Seattlest drove down to San Francisco and saw some of the touristy sights -the most mainstream among them being the bridge they've got down there: Golden something-or-other. It was cool. It's a great bridge and there are some pretty neat views available from it if you walk out there, and walking out there is generally encouraged by the wide walking path. One of the things that struck us as being particularly photo-worthy, though, was the emergency telephone we passed by. "If you're about to jump pick up the phone," or something like that it said. The Golden Gate is San Francisco's suicide hotspot. more ›

Brown Bear Car Wash is so happy that media and public attention has helped them retrieve 25 of more than 40 bear statues stolen from its Fife location that it's washing cars for free today at these 19 drive-thru locations: more ›

On the off-chance you're interested in doing something besides hanging out at art galleries all weekend long, head down to the S.S. Marie Antoinette for the two-night all-ages party thrown by locally-based music collective Beep Repaired. They're celebrating the new release of a compilation featuring 18 of their artists, entitled Beep Repaired Family Tree. more ›

For approximately the nine millionth time, Seattlest implores you to experience the musical majesty that is "Awesome." Simply put, we love this band---they are a hilarious group of guys and truly talented musicians to boot. They're playing an early show tomorrow night at the Mirabeau Room, an event that serves as a preview of their upcoming epic art/music/comedy extraordinaire noSIGNAL, debuting a month from now at On the Boards. Tomorrow night's set will feature some of the new noSIGNAL material and, assuredly, many of their classic hits. Also in attendance: everybody's favorite afroed luvaman Reggie Watts. Like most people in town, Seattlest has a giggly schoolgirl crush on Reggie, as he is one charming big-haired man. more ›

Did your ski jacket act more like a sieve than a shell this season? Or perhaps you'd like to finally replace that old roll-it-up sleeping bag that you've had since you were a kid--you know the one, it is aqua blue and you tie it with those old shoelace looking strings. Yeah, that one. more ›

We are officially in the holiday slump as far as shows go. That's hardly the worst thing in the world, since it's good to finally get a chance to rest after all of the madness of the Red Bull Music Academy. A month of consistently great music is enough wear down even the biggest of diehards. So it's time to take it a little bit easier, and to deal with all of the Christmahanukwanzadan festivities and year-end contemplation. more ›

It looks like it's going to rain all weekend (T-Storms even!) and frankly there's not a lot going on barring Citizen Cope, which is sold out. Yeah, you should try to get in to the Robert WIlliams thing, but as Seattlest Silvie suggested in the comments, you may have to go early and spend some time waiting in line. In the rain. Tonight's also Bright Eyes, but since he sucks there's no way you'll be going to that. more ›

Werner Herzog and David Cronenberg---the names alone are enough to make a crowd of film fanatics gasp. That's exactly why local den of cinema-geekery Seattle International Film Festival Group is spotlighting each filmmaker's work with screenings next week at the Seattle Art Museum; first Herzog and then Cronenberg. more ›

Seattlest has been completely remiss in not mentioning (till now) the astronomy edutainment extraordinaire known as Starball. We were in attendance at the Smith Planetarium a few weeks ago for the show's return engagement here in Seattle, where it was originally developed before heading to such exotic locales as Valencia, Spain and Philadelphia, PA. Going into the event, we weren't exactly sure what to expect, given what we had already read: more ›

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Poor little kittens who've lost their mittens, as well as pubgoers who've drunkenly or boneheadedly left sweaters, scarves, who knows what behind: now's your chance to buy it back. more ›