The fourth disembodied foot I.D. is in, and we still don't have a deranged serial killer on our hands. Evidence is increasing that the 11 feet found in Northwest waters since 2007 aren't at all connected; does this make the case more or less creepy? more ›

Don't worry, we won't be bowing to Lebanese overlords anytime soon. The band Beirut is actually based out of New Mexico and headed to Vancouver, BC tonight and Portland, OR tomorrow. Led by singer Zach Condon, whom also tinkers on the trumpet and ukulele, Beirut creates an off-kilter sound which on first listen seems like it shouldn't work but it just does. There's some kind of special something that pulls together the unique instrumentals, vocals and electronic sounds the band shells out into a loosely cohesive bubble. That may not sound like your idea of enjoyable music or even make sense--but once you've heard it you'll know what we mean. more ›

Somehow we haven't heard of it before, but the second annual Rifflandia Music Festival in lovely Victoria, BC this September 24-27 announced its full lineup today: "Confirmed artists include such acclaimed Canadian acts as Tegan and Sara, Final Fantasy, Buck 65, Holy Fuck, Pink Mountaintops, The Most Serene Republic, Cuff The Duke, Basia Bulat, Timber Timbre, Mother Mother, Woodpigeon, Zeus and 2009 Polaris Music Prize short list nominee, Hey Rosetta!, international acts such as Beach House (USA) and An Horse (Australia), along with DJ sets by K-OS as well as Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene." Lineup and schedule here; festival wristbands are going for $62.50, plus fees. more ›

Not content to let Canada have all the creepy foot fun, a tennis-shoe-clad, possibly human foot has washed ashore in Clallam County, Wash. A woman spotted the foot in some seaweed early Saturday monring, 14 miles south of Canadian shoreline. Clallam County police are working with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to see if there is any connection between this foot and the five that have washed ashore in British Columbia. The first of the five human feet was found last August, making this a year-long mystery--and still no end in sight. more ›

After almost a year of mystery, the first of five severed feet found in British Columbia have been identified as belonging to a missing man. While the man's family has asked that his identity not be released to the public, Royal Canadian Mounted Police say the man was depressed and disappeared over a year ago. Which of the found feet belonged to the missing man has also not been released. more ›

Royal Canadian Mounted police announced today that two of the five severed human feet found along the coast of British Columbia came from the same person. Who that person is or how they lost their feet is still unknown...but surely, this is a step in the right direction. more ›

Our lovely neighbors to the north have been having a rough go at it. Locals have been discovering all kinds of unpleasant things you'd rather not find in your back-yard. First five severed feet washed ashore on area beaches, and now a new case of mad cow disease has been confirmed at a B.C. farm. more ›

Just kidding about the sixth foot found, literally. It appears to have been a prank, rooted in that quirky Canadian sense of humor. more ›

Now that a sixth foot has washed ashore in British Columbia and the mainstream media has picked up the story (because, five severed feet washing ashore—not national news; but half a dozen—now that's a headline!), the theories on the source of the severed feet are coming in.
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As the news of a sixth human foot appearing in the waters around Vancouver, B.C. percolates through the Interweb, we're reminded of another troubling and--we can only hope--wholly unrelated story we caught on CBC the other night. Apparently, for the last year, athletically built young men have been mysteriously disappearing around Vancouver, B.C. While the police have yet to suggest any relationship--or even foul play--between the disappearances, family members increasing see links. They've created a Facebook page (here) amongst other efforts to promote the cause of tracking these men down. But with the constant influx of feet found in coastal waters, it was inevitable that people would start trying to link the two. more ›

I work for a newspaper in Campbell River, B.C. on Vancouver Island. Another foot was found here this morning at Tyee Spit (the second this week!).

Another human foot has been found floating in British Columbia. And, unlike the four before it, this one is a left foot. more ›

Another severed human foot has washed ashore on an island in British Columbia. Surprisingly, "severed human foot" isn't the most important part of that first sentence..."another" is. Another, as in this is not the first severed human foot to wash ashore in B.C. In fact, it is the fourth severed foot that has been found since September. Just as the three feet found before it, this one still had a tennis shoe on when it was found. No word yet if it was a right foot like all the others. more ›

This year if Sasquatch just ain't your thing, there's an upcoming brand-new music festival hosted by our neighbors to the north. Yes indeedy, this summer marks the first-ever Pemberton Festival, to be held July 25-27 in Pemberton, British Columbia. Considering it's their first year, this little baby music fest has rounded up some big names, including Coldplay, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z, Interpol, Death Cab, Flaming Lips, and Vampire Weekend. There'll be two stages and a dance tent to house the 50+ bands playing the fest over all three days. Here's the confirmed line-up so far: more ›

In case you missed it on Monday, British Columbia Liberals announced a $14 billion transit upgrade plan. more ›

Boom! Governor Gregoire comes right out of the gate at the new legislative session with a new bill laying "the groundwork for concrete limits on greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2012." And, in just four short (or long, depending on how you look at it) years, the bill "would give the state Department of Ecology the authority to regulate those emissions," reports the P-I. more ›

There are a lot of things we can see being seized at the border between Canada and the United States: handguns with the serial number filed off, bricks of heroin, briefcases with the radioactivity sign on the side. Hard drives we'd expect to make it through, but unfortunately we'd be wrong. The guy bringing the masters of the songs Chris Walla recorded in Vancouver back down to Seattle had the drive containing them yanked by Homeland Security. more ›

The Sightline Institute's Cascadia Scorecard was released last week and while British Columbia continues to show us how it's done on almost every environmental front (live longer, less energy use, less sprawl, more Canadian), the news ain't all bad for Washington. Gasoline consumption in our state declined again to 15.3 gallons a person a week, the lowest usage we've seen since 1967. Hybrids haven't really been in wide enough circulation to account for this, particularly since our downward trend stretches back to the late Eighties, but more fuel efficient vehicles have got to factor in there somewhere. Sightline is also reporting that we are actually driving less. more ›

Everything we know about dodging the draft by heading to Canada we learned from The Brothers K and popular mythology. So, we don't know much. Little before our time, there. Despite the fact that today's army is all volunteer (and today's Canada is more Conservative) there are still some soldiers waiting out Iraq up north. Almost everyone that this Salon article mentions seems to have already pulled a shift in the Middle East and is in Canada dodging a redeployment. The article talks about these soldiers (they estimate some 250 of them) and the great lengths that Canada has gone to to see that they are returned to the U.S. military. more ›

Seattlest is a horrible role model. If we're not pickling our livers at famous local dives then we are snorting rat droppings in our basements. Either that or we're licking rusty old rail track. That's the price we pay to bring you, dear reader, this here fine reportage. In short: Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Seattlests. Get out of this dirty dirty town and consider playing hooky on the next available gorgeous day to head on up to Skagit County for the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. more ›

CALL 911! CALL 911!: Political and economic commentator and White House strategist during the Nixon administration, Kevin Phillips talks about his book, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. Phillips traces the set of related causes that caused the downfall of historical world powers. That same combination of ills he says -- global over-reach, militant religion, resource problems, and ballooning debt -- is at work in the U.S. today. more ›

Sightline's Eric de Place celebrated his own private Kyoto on Friday by congratulating the region for their collective environmental work. British Columbia, which has been slow to catch up with even the rest of Canada, has finally been pushed in the right direction by the Prime Minister's recent green initiative talk. Oregon's governor Ted Kulongoski has recently said that he wants the state to become the "clean energy capital of the nation" and released an action plan that focuses on renewable energy sources, biofuels, conservation and tax credits for investors supporting renewable energy. All great stuff. more ›

A Canadian mining minster in British Columbia recently flamed someone who wrote in about a policy decision via email. He pretty much tore the guy up and attacked him on the grounds of the guy's questionable Canadian pedigree ("It is my understanding that you are an American, I don't give a shit what your opinion is on Canada or Canadian residents"). Big story. The guy seems to have resigned over it. Shit's in the P-I. more ›

A little over a month ago a fine was levied against Celebrity Cruises for dumping waste water into Puget Sound. Oh how we wish we could say "for illegally dumping waste water into Puget Sound," but, unfortunately, we can't. Cruise ships operate under a Memorandum of Understanding in the Sound that says what they can dump, where, and what happens to them when they completely disregard those rules. It isn't a law, though. It's just something they signed. California has a law governing cruise ship behavior in California waters. Oregon has a law. British Columbia has a law. Damn Alaska has a law. more ›

Eighteen teams competed in Seattlest trivia at the Old Pequliar last night. We'll post the final standings this afternoon. In the meantime, test yourself with the quiz: more ›

The current problem with Seattle sports teams, besides the fact that a giant douche bag let our NBA team leave town, is that we don't have any athletes from British Columbia on our rosters. more ›

10. Which is the largest of the Greek Islands? more ›

Last night at the Old Pequliar, eight teams competed for cash at Seattlest's debut quiz. With Newcastle's doubling of the prize pool, that left $80 to be divvied among the top three teams. The results: more ›

One of the ideas we take for granted is that we are but one in a sea of many, with that anonymity providing both comfort and solace. Part of the appeal of the glut of reality television (and shock radio and tabloids before that) is that there is this transparency applied to an individual's existence, the removal, however temporary, of the social protections that we hold dear. The new Pardon Me exhibit at Vancouver's Charles H. Scott Gallery explores the intersection between our public and private lives, and how even small benign disruptions cause discomfort. more ›

The Matador Records website announced a New Pornographers / Belle and Sebastian tour last week and we can't say we're ecstatic about the pairing. Sure, we went through a very brief B&S phase at one point a few years ago. We're not proud of it, but we can admit it. Finally. And we suppose that we can see what Matador is trying to do. Twin Cinema is an excellent attempt at a great album and due to our relative proximity to British Columbia we're very aware of that, as a region. Probably we're in the minority, nationally, though, and we suspect that Matador thinks it should be selling a lot better than it is. And they'd be right. So attach the Pornographers to the warhorse of their stable, the cash cow, the begging-craigslist-for-tickets, probably-playing-the-Paramount band and see what kind of exposure they can get. We're just not sure that fans of the one can necessarily be cross pollinanted into being fans of the other. more ›