Americans tend to ignore Canadian literature. When American poet laureate W.S. Merwin chose Robert Bringhurst as one of this year's two Witter Bynner Fellowship Award winners, it was a chance to address this topic. Since then, Bringhurst has done his part as a Witter Bynner Fellow and scheduled a local public reading after his reading at the Library of Congress. more ›

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 ›

Cloud Cult is headlining the Neptune tonight, and if you haven't really experienced one of their shows, it's worth seeing. 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 ›

We know you're all celebrating your national holiday, so you won't mind us wishing you this so late in the day. We've always been enamored of you, considering we have family in Montreal and Toronto (the nice thing about Toronto is that it's so close to Canada! har har). And since moving here, we've enjoyed the fact that you're only two hours away...even closer than that impertinent Portland. more ›

It is Vancouver, our international neighbor to the North, that has been smelling the garbage piles filling up their region's landfills. To deal with the looming garbage issue, Vancouver's Metro voted to export its overflowing garbage to the U.S. (including Washington State). With easy access to rail transportation, it's no wonder why select Washington landfills are being considered as one of Canada's newest contracted dumping sites. Now will our landfills feel the brunt of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics waste, too? Here in the U.S. we have enough trash to deal with, including the nation's reported 64.5 percent of garbage which ends up into landfills--and we recycle. more ›

Buried under the avalanche of over-writing that is Island of Misfits (Thurs-Sun through December 21, tickets $10) is a very funny parody of the stop-motion holiday classic Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. In this case, puppeteer Freddie Douglas Black (Geoffery Simmons, with a Poitier-esque suit and throaty rasp) has been called up for the Vietnam draft, so he heads for the snowy north (Canada) with his cynical, lovelorn photographer Snowflake Jones (Kaitie Warren) and stick-in-the-mud production supervisor Herbie Pickle (Patrick Allcorn)--they've got nothing better to do, since they've all been laid off. Stop-motion is cheaper to do in Japan. 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 ›

There has to be a better was to do this, guys. Border patrol agents are reporting another huge bust at the Lynden border crossing into Canada. Agents followed footprints they found on the Canadian side of the border into some bushes, where they found three individuals and two duffel bags filled with 115 pounds of marijuana. Despite the stoner stereotype of smoke-induced dimwittedness, these type of stories and the frequency which they are reported astonishes us. If you are dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of marijuana, surely you can come up with a better idea of getting it across the border than by foot, and hiding in some bushes. Or not, obviously. Since October of last year border agents in Blaine, Wash. have seized over 2100 pounds of marijuana in busts. 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 ›

A Bellingham man accused of deserting his Army unit in 2001 has been arrested by U.S. Border Officers. Nicholas Olson, now 29, was arrested in Sweetgrass, Mont., on July 3rd as he was trying to re-enter the country from Canada. He will be extradited to the Army to face charges of desertion. more ›

Guy Maddin films are not for everyone. With his love of silent film flourishes and his often bizarre sense of humor, Maddin can easily confound viewers. To wit: we have a good friend who lives and breathes cinema. He likes his films weird and dark and avant garde. But even he says of Maddin, "I just can't handle the guy." more ›

While this Friday is the US's big holiday, our fair neighbors to the north, Canada, celebrate their national holiday—aptly called Canada Day—today. (That's Fête du Canada for all you French Canadians.) Just like universal healthcare, the legal drinking age, and Thanksgiving, the Canadians just have to do it before us. So, celebrate all things Canadian today—sing a few bars of "O Canada", add 'eh to the end of your sentences, crave a cup of Tim Hortons, and call your favorite Cannuck and wish them a happy holiday. more ›

Tonight, Das Llamas celebrate their new album Class Wars: K-12 at the Comet. The local rock fourpiece stomp out a little bit of everything, from synthy no-wave punk to dirty electro rock, offering up "a platypus of sound that is a new noise in a new era." 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 ›

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!).

Walking over to Baguette Box for lunch yesterday (the all-star Salumi's cured meat sandwich, $7.50), we were startled by a U-Haul with the most alarming marketing artwork we've ever seen. more ›

Soccer Comes to Seattle: Seattlest was lucky enough, to catch the international friendly between Brazil and Canada at Qwest Field Saturday evening. Seeing an explosive game between well-matched teams, from some truly great seats, got us even more excited for the inaugural season of the Seattle Sounders FC. We hope the Sounders inspire a dedicated drum section like the Brazil team brought along. We don't know if we've ever been to a more exciting professional sports game. And they said soccer in the U.S. would never succeed... more ›

NOT REINVENTING THE WHEEL: If you're considering quitting your corporate job--you know, the one with benefits and a customer lunch expense account--to build your own business from the ground up, you're crazy. Have you read the financial pages in the newspapers of late? Sometimes, however, it takes exactly that edge of craziness to make your dreams come true. In that case, let us direct you to the Six Hour Start-Up Conference this weekend. Your bucks buy you lunch and eight hours of practical information about how to go from your Jump To Conclusions Mat Amazing Product Idea to a Viable Business. more ›

Maybe we've seen Outbreak too many times, but this does not sound good: more ›

Usually, when we hear about people dying trying to cross the border, it is the other border being discussed. However, North Cascade National Park employees recently discovered the body of a man who died trying to walk across the Canadian border this winter. The body of 37-year-old Peter Kim was found on Friday by park employees who were clearing trails near Ross Lake. The county coroner said there was no evidence that Kim died during a pleasant winter hike gone awry. Whatcom County sheriff's Chief Deputy Jeff Park said Kim also did not appear to be the victim of a crime, or engaged in any kind of illegal or smuggling activity. How and why the 37-year-old died of exposure and malnutrition crossing the border by foot in the midst of a rough Washington winter remains a mystery. Seattlest has enjoyed many a wonderful hike near Ross Lake, and we can assure you it is not terrain we would want to traverse in the depths of a Washington winter. 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 ›

Seattlest was in Vancouver this weekend, and, on a whim, made our first foray into a Tim Hortons. We'd heard good things -- "the apex of Canadian cuisine," for example -- and as lifelong doughnut fans we were happy to test that claim. more ›

Like anybody else, we appreciate the sentiment of the Presidents' Day long weekend--well, for those of us who have that day off or are able to take it. It provided us the perfect opportunity to temporarily ex-patriate ourselves and pump money into Canada's economy. That's what it's all aboot, anyway. This so-named Presidents' Day has become just a reason for the commercial sector to entice us with Fabulous Savings. Nobody thinks about Washington or Lincoln anymore, much less Millard Fillmore, say, or Grover Cleveland if we are to buy into this doubletalk about the inclusivity of the day. But--ZOMG--holy crap! Fry's has HDTVs on sale! more ›

more ›

When it comes to good beer, brews made in Belgium are usually the cream of the crop. So, no one should be surprised that American brewers often try to emulate their success by brewing their own versions of Belgian styles. And you know what? Some of them are fantastic (And some, not so much...) more ›

Last night we made up for our dumb-assedness last week and caught episode 2 of Douglas Coupland's , and damn if that weren't a strange beast. Coupland's surreal, self-referential, novelistic discourse on globalism has been transformed into an odd-ball, dry-humored, dramedy miniseries that's strangely addictive. more ›

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

Sometimes the world really is a beautiful place. Specifically when there's beer involved. Jack's meeting friends on Saturday for a session of oak-aged beer tasting at Brouwer's Big Wood Fest. He'll then spend the rest of the day rubbing his tum tum and smiling a lot. Thrilled about the possibility of the year's first snow fall, Kim will spend as much of the weekend as possible getting over the cold that's been lingering for a... more ›