• As of 9 a.m. this morning, Sea-Tac's cell phone waiting lot has re-opened. The new lot is twice the size, with nearly 100 spaces and can be found just north of the old lot on Air Cargo Road.
• My Ballard reported that around 3 a.m. this morning, a car collided smackdab into a utility pole at Market Street near Third Avenue, leaving the 27-year-old driver trapped inside. Rescue crews were able to cut the driver free, who was then sent to Harborview with non-life threatening injuries.

• Get ready to taste another flavor of summer, Wallyhood's farmer market report noted that raspberries--the ones worth waiting for--are finally in!
• Unfortunately there are no drive-thru liquor stores here in Washington. But that little detail failed to sink in for the driver who crashed their car into a state liquor store at 717 Meridian Ave. E.

• White Center Now reports that King County Executive Ron Sims has proposed two staggered fare increases for Metro buses on his blog. In other news--Ron Sims writes a blog?!
• Yesterday's late afternoon thunder and lightning struck a little too close to home for a West Seattle Blog reader. A cedar tree in their neighbor's back yard was split in two by a lightning strike, sending cedar chips flying everywhere.
• PhinneyWood wants to let you know that, if you've had trouble with getting a green building permit, there's a meeting scheduled just for you this Wednesday at the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

If recently released rankings of big cities in America are to believed, yes. Seattle is the #1 Big City in the U.S. for Pedestrian Safety. And to that we say--remind us never to walk anywhere else in America, ever again. more ›

While the printed media may be calling it the "Seattle streetcar" now, it will always be the S.L.U.T. to us. Yesterday afternoon one of the South Lake Union Trolleys struck a parked truck its backend was hanging over the streetcar's path. While the accident did not seriously damage either the streetcar or the parked truck, it did shut down service for 25 minutes, and the streetcar has been removed from service for minor repairs. No one was injured in the accident. more ›

And then there was Downloading Nancy. Whether you loved it or had serious issues with it (we fell into the latter camp), everyone agreed that the film is beyond "difficult" to watch. Deliberately so: loosely based on a true story, the topic is a wretched woman (Maria Bello, fearless as always), full of pain and desperate for a way out of her current situation. The film delves into Nancy's mental illness and the tenuous relationship that comes to exist between her husband (Rufus Sewell) and the new man in her life (Jason Patric). Downloading Nancy is provocative, and the violent images of cutting and other self-inflicted sadism caused quite a few audience members to walk out, some in tears. The entire film is bruised--master cinematographer Christopher Doyle provided sallow tones of yellow and blue. Sure, it's well-made, but with its dark tone and subject matter (and shades of misogyny), how exactly do you market such a downer? more ›

More photos, courtesy of Christopher Boffoli, after the break.
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As of this morning, queer couples in the state of Washington have about three new rights, which include, but are not limited to: more ›

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This month Seattlest Book Club is reading Seattle-born and -raised Pauls Toutonghi's debut novel Red Weather, just out in paperback from Random House. You'll get a discount if you buy it at Bailey-Coy or Santoro's. more ›

--Seattlest wants one of these doggie adult toys and we don't even have a dog. It's the Hotdoll. more ›

It was a one-night-only monologue, Mike Daisey's Stories from the Atlantic Night Cafe, and CHAC artistic director Matthew Kwatinetz was happily rearranging chairs for a packed house. Backstage, the program informed us, Daisey was taking an hour to scribble away on a yellow legal pad the outline for what would be a brand-new 90-minute-ish monologue, his delivery punctuated only by pauses as he sipped from a glass of water or glared at remembered insults and injuries. more ›

--We're suckers for wretched snowman. They start off dirty and withered and get melty and small before they disappear entirely in 24 hours. This one's actually got a great snow hat. more ›

Those beknighted souls with web-enabled cell phones will now get places faster than everyone else, because the Washington State DOT has created small screen versions of their wildly popular real-time traffic maps. more ›

Much like Izzy, Seattlest was curled up in a ball(gown) throughout most of the Grey's Anatomy summer break. Now, Sunday is the new thursday and it's just Grey's, OK? Saying the full name is so last season. more ›

Well, well, well friends—and by "friends" we mean people with whom we have established an imaginary, one-sided rapport—we're just about at the end of the line, season-wise, and you know what that means: Time for the writers to trot out the hottest, most cutting-edge, gripping, edge-of-your-seat plot points imaginable. Shish-ka-bob train passengers? Done it. Between-the-sheets shockers? Done it. Peeing without washing your hands? Bingo. more ›

Show of hands, Seattle—how many of us called in sick this morning with plans to just end it all? Well, postpone those urges of mass suicide for a little while longer as we answer this week's burning question: What in the name of Mike Holmgren is a Code Black? We've been teased, taunted, nigh on tortured with those incessant All Important Episode promos showcasing the two words no surgeon wants to hear. And no, they're not Pittsburgh Steelers. Sigh. more ›

Well, well, well. Will wonders never cease? We guess if you complain about the formulaic opening of a show long enough, sooner or later someone starts listening. So this week, dear viewers, feel free to send letters of congratulatory adulation (and sizable cash donations) to Seattlest for finally using its powers for good. Because, as far as we're concerned, it was our big mouths that managed to turn those trite, poorly woven medical-affliction-as-metaphor-for-life opening moments of Grey's Anatomy into a, um, trite, poorly woven optimistic-glass-of-life-is-half-full or-learn-to-say-enough-or-when-or-something-as-metaphor-for-life opening moment. So, yeah. You're welcome. more ›

My daily downtown waterfront run takes me past the ticky-tack piers and the trolley garage into lovely Myrtle Edwards Park. Who was Myrtle Edwards and how can I thank her? more ›