You've got an extra day off. Lucky you! We've got some suggestions about how best to spend it. more ›

Music and theatre events to keep you cultured and help you put together your calendar. more ›

Scrabble, civic meetings and Shakespeare - all on tap for your Monday enjoyment. more ›

UNREAL: David Shields' Reality Hunger:A Manifesto is a very weird, very original book which doesn't actually have as much to do with reality television as you might think. Shields reads from his genre-bending work tonight at Third Place Books. more ›

Jacque-Henri Lartigue's images of urban life are sweetly quirky and full of whimsy in a way that could only have been possible prior to two world wars. If you're a fan of the movie Rushmore, you owe it to yourself to see his work, as director Wes Anderson has drawn on Lartigue’s photographs for inspiration. Lartigue’s photographs are accompanied by the photography of Marion Post Wolcott, who worked with the Farm Security Administration during the 1930s and 40s. more ›

LADY KONNYAKU Damn, we've had Gwen Stefani's song, Harajuku Girls, stuck in our heads for like, three years. Perfect timing for Seattle's own Japanese street fashion designer, Lady Konnyaku's Underground Fashion Show and party this Saturday night. Cheap tickets, booze, fashion and fun. more ›

ARE YOU JUST? Michael J. Sandel, professor of philosophy at Harvard, talks about political and moral philosophy at Town Hall. Sandel’s all-encompassingly titled “Justice” courses are among the most highly attended in the university’s history. Sandel is the author of Just: What’s the Right Thing to Do, which examines our obligations to others. more ›

Bumbershoot: Cement (and lament?) the fact that summer is over with the last day of Bumbershoot 09. Drown your sorrows in music, art, and funnel cake. Make it a Metric Monday. more ›

HOW-TO BOOK: You may have run into Reza Aslan, author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, while watching the Daily Show. Now you can see the professor of creative writing (at the University of California, Riverside) in person, talking about his newest book, How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror. Sounding a bit like John Gottman, Aslan says the best cosmic war is one that isn't fought; he says need to strip conflicts of their religious connotations and address the more earth-bound grievances that generate the cosmic mindset. more ›

MORE HORNS: If there's one motto consistent through the years of this Seattlest's life, it's "More horns!" It's similar to "More Cowbell," but inclusive of such excellent instruments as the trumpet, the french horn, the tuba, and--our favorite--the trombone. That's why we're recommending you attend HonkFest West this weekend, a three-day event in Ballard and Georgetown dedicated to horns and drums. See the schedule here. more ›

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DOWN ON THE CORNER: The Corner, our favorite one monthly live hiphop night down at the Rendezvous, has its one-year anniversary tonight. (Already?!) As usual, Oldominioner Candidt has put together a stellar line-up: JFK of Grayskul, Silent Lambs Project with Lisa Loud, and UW reps Rudy & The Rhetoric; he'll also throw in a set of his own. So solid. We've been looking forward to this for months now! more ›

OINK OINK, AUUGHHHH!: The NWFF is screening Pig Hunt (an apparently awesome horror movie) today as part of the launch for a new online culture magazine called The Rumpus. That sounds like a good time all around the block, literally, because you can go drink and eat at Vermillion before and after the movie and magazine launch. more ›

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MY AVATAR: We're very fond of the internet and of books, and knowing you, you're fond of those things too. The Richard Hugo House's Literary Series comes to a close with an event tonight called My Avatar, featuring writers who explore identity, technology, and this beautiful wired world in which we live. The Maldives are playing, too, in case you missed them last weekend. more ›

FOR THE WEALTHY BOOKWORMS: Chilean exiled author Isabel Allende is the keynote speaker at a benefit lunch over on the Eastside today, at the Maydenbauer Center. She wrote "The House of The Spirits," an epic generations-spanning magic realism novel about Estaban and Alba and (maybe) Pablo Neruda, among other dozens of acclaimed literary manifestations of genius. If you have the minimum $150 donation to get you a seat at the benefit, this is where you need to be at lunch-time. more ›

HIPHOP EXTRAVAGANZA: My, oh my, Seattle hiphop fans are in luck this weekend: the Blue Scholars are doing a stripped-down version of last year's The Program, with three nights at Neumos. This time, Common Market will join them every night; Truckasaurus and very special guests are playing on Saturday, Macklemore and Dyme Def will play on Monday night. Saturday's already sold out, but the second two nights are equally as awesome. Don't miss it. Really. more ›

IF RAP GETS JEALOUS: Somalian-American hiphop artist K'naan brings his passionate, political flavor of hiphop to the city tonight, and you should be there to experience it if that sounds up your alley. He's phenomenal, you should know, if that helps to sway you towards heading to Neumos tonight. Opening for him is Ethiopian-American local emcee Gabriel Teodros, who never ever fails to convincingly call us towards a better life with his sincere and listenable rhyme, and the gorgeous and talented YZE. Get there. more ›

LIKE CHILD SOLDIERS: Everyone knows about the genocidal atrocities committed in Rwanda and Darfur, but folks seem to have forgotten about the ongoing (twenty-plus years now) war in northern Uganda. Peter Eichstaedt, Africa editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, comes to Elliott Bay tonight to talk about the conflict, child soldiers, and the repeated efforts by the Ugandan people to stop the violence or at least survive it. It's all there in his new book, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army. Spoiler alert: There will not be a happy ending. more ›

INTERNATIONAL TIPPLE TASTING: As a Pacific Rim port, Seattle should really be more broadly acquainted with saké than it is. Enter tonight's premium sake tasting at Umi Saké House in Belltown, a Saké Nomi event designed to familiarize attendees with thirty of the world's finest (and in some cases, rarest) brands. You and your fellow fermented rice enthusiasts will be able to sample a saké whose brand hails straight from 1505 as well as an igloo-brewed variety called "Divine Droplets." Kampai! more ›

THE KING IS DEAD: King Cobra, we hardly knew ye (though Katelyn had nothing but good things to say about your friendly confines).The Capitol Hill club in Sugar's former space never really found its music niche, and considering it's right next door to the Comet and across the street from Neumo's, we're not that surprised it's closing. Tonight the venue goes out with a bang, hosting one last show with an all-local lineup: Neon Nights, All Bets On Death, The Altar Boys, Flexx Bronco, The Pranks, The Valkyries, The Greatest Hits, Hypatia Lake, Blue Ribbon Boys, The Wrecked Chords, and Pain Cocktail. It's your last chance to check out the club, and it's free, so go give 'em some love. more ›

CACOPHONY: British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, Norwegian black metal group Satyricon, and Greek death metal band Septic Flesh will converge upon the Showbox at the Market tonight for a riotous, maybe-possibly Satanic, soul-chillingly shockerrific celebration of the dark side this evening. Wear your cutest black leather/nose chain combo and hit up that mess; don't forget your ear plugs. more ›

STRONG, WILY OL'D MAN: My! Oldominion, a legendary and superdope Northwest hiphop collective boasting members who happen to be some of our area's strongest and most creative artists, certainly has aged well. The group turns ten years old this year, and to celebrate, they're throwing a family reunion/party/show combo at Neumos this weekend. On the bill: The Saturday Knights, Grayskul, and assorted extremely important members of the crew. We're just saying, Oldominion knows how to party. more ›

OLD-TIMEY MONEY-SAVING TECHNIQUES: Channel your great-grandmother and learn how to use old-timey techniques to get more for your buck at the Redmond Whole Foods class on breaking down whole chickens. It's really not that hard, and home-made chicken stock tastes lip-smackingly bright and delicious. Knowing how to handle a whole bird will boost your sex appeal by 300 percent, we can attest. But don't take our word for it: go to Redmond tonight and see for yourselves. Call (425) 881-2600, ext 3, to reserve your spot. more ›

">Skullcrusher Mountain," is about an evil genius who analyzes the problems of his would-be relationship with his beautiful victim. Coulton is goofy and clever, and his show should be wonderful. more ›

EIGHT TRACKS 'N EIGHT TRACKS: Oh wait, that was the predecessor to Tapes 'N Tapes, the band playing at Neumos tonight. Everybody loves a little celebratory Midwestern indie rock on Inauguration Day, right? To prepare, or if you can't make it to the show but still don't want to Miss It, check out this Lollapalooza feature from a year or two ago where you can download the tracks from their set-list. more ›

WHO IS INVERSE'S INVERSE? California hiphop duo Inverse are named thus because, to a potentially undiscerning eye, the two rappers' backgrounds don't have very much in common with each other. Sometimes opposites make the best hiphop, though, each side bringing its own wealth of experience and musical influences. According to their Myspace, Inverse raps about "happiness, pain and everything in between." With locals Cancer Rising, Akrish, Notion, and Know Choice opening up for them, this is going to be an easy-going, sunny hiphop show that will do right by you this weekend. more ›

ANTIOXIDANTS WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL: Cherie Calbum might not, upon further examination, go that far. But she's really, really, really excited about the possibilities of making and drinking one's own juice--and about sleeping away your pounds, and about coconut as the secret ingredient to everything good in life (we agree with her on that last part). Head over to Town Hall to see what all the fuss is about; who knows, maybe you'll have a fruit combination epiphany that will improve your weekend smoothies exponentially. more ›

CAN'T CATCH A BREAK: Nami Mun's novel Miles From Nowhere is about a Korean-American woman in the 1980s who lives out our worst nightmare (underage sex worker, junkie, homeless, it goes on). Seattlest MvB says that the main character is "an affectless screen on which bruises from beatings and ulcerated needle tracks appear without histrionic wailings and gnashings of teeth," and praises Mun's "contemplative eye." Mun will be reading from her book at Elliott Bay Book Company tonight. more ›

BEST OF BASS: Did you miss the Decibel Festival? Despite urgings from Seattlest Donte, DJ Riz and others, we did in fact miss said musical electro-fest last time around. Micro Decibel Festival is our chance and yours to make good. Jesse Rose, KiloWatts outta Philly and Deru are performing tonight, and you should be there. more ›