Those in search of a spark to break their writer’s block need look no further: The 2010 Flash Fiction Challenge is here! No, really—the deadline to register is today, Aug. 11. The international short-story fiction competition (formerly called the Creative Writing Championships) is in its third year and is sponsored by NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness, an organization focused on discovering new talent in storytelling, be it on film or in writing. Writers must stick to 1,000 words or fewer for each story, the first of which has to be written this weekend starting on Friday. Judges then apply a points system to their favorite pieces, and the top contenders move on to the next round (there are four rounds; entrants are guaranteed to participate in at least two of them). Organizers assign each participant a genre (such as crime caper, historical fiction, fairy tale), a location (a baseball stadium, hallway, locker room, whathaveyou), and an object (a toothbrush, a TV, a banana) to be featured in each piece, so writers can expect to be forced out of their creative comfort zone. Which is how most works of genius come about, right? Right. Now get caffeinated and get writing. more ›

Beautiful weather and big crowds came down to the market to see some of the area's best dish up BBQ in a cook-off competition! more ›

After a bit of a lull, it appears that Rock Paper Scissors is back, this time courtesy of the Seattle Gaels, the local organization celebrating the Irish sporting heritage. Unlike the officially sanctioned tournaments we attended years ago, this new tournament doesn't appear to have official backing, but the Gaels have updated the structure in a way that should make the event more fun for all. more ›

With all the great films finally starting to hit the mainstream theaters, it's certainly the most wonderful time of the film year™. But don't forget your local indie moviehouse, as the NWFF kicks off their 10th annual Northwest film fest, Local Sightings: more ›

Man, if the EU court that stuck it to Microsoft this weekend and Mr. and Mrs. Slowsky were in a race it would probably go off the board for betters. It's. Taking. For. Ever. The crime is Microsoft shutting out competitors by bundling Windows Media Player with Windows, which, to us at least, seems like an ancient issue. What are they going to go after Microsoft for next? Attaching round wheels to an axle? We were all about this issue when it was browsers that were being shut out of Microsoft operating systems, but for some reason we can't get all that excited about media players. Real Player? QuickTime? Fuck 'em. More troubling to us are the protocols that Microsoft has refused to open. Standards; there is a point to it, after all. more ›

As a public service, let us alert you first that traveling by Amtrak in the summer is different than other times. The trains get full up days in advance, as do the bike racks in the baggage car. (You can take your bike on the train for just $5 each way.) Then, because Amtrak is understaffed, all sorts of things begin to break down -- if you're us, the wrong part of your ticket gets ripped checking in and then the ticket-taker stops the whole boarding line to berate "that clown" who did it wrong and people stare at you with ill-disguised hatred. more ›

Since we liked Part I, we've locked like a laser onto Part II of Beethoven & Friends. This time it's personal. more ›

LOCAL AUTHOR, LOCAL AUTHOR: Clear Cut Press presents two of its novelists: Matt Briggs' Shoot The Buffalo is about a boy growing up in Snoqualmie during the '70s. Stacey Levine's Frances Johnson, set in a small town in Florida, details the random choices made by the eponymous Ms. Johnson. more ›

No, the Other Theater: The new movies out this weekend are shite, so this is your chance to catch up on the wealth of quality films already in theaters. Babel, Borat, Casino Royale, For Your Consideration, The Fountain, Little Children, Marie Antoinette, The Queen, Stranger Than Fiction, and Volver are all continuing their Seattle runs. Go now before you get back-logged further with the scads of Oscar contenders released later this month. more ›

Tuesday 7th more ›

We're pleased as punch to report that noted local filmmaker (and friend of ours) Brian McDonald was just down at the Austin Film Festival becoming an "award-winning screenwriter." Saturday, October 21, he won the Science Fiction category of the AFF 2006 Screenplay Competition with his screenplay "Graverobbers." more ›

Seattlest doesn't find this picture funny at all. We know firsthand how hard those awkward years of high school can be. The pimples, the pants that didn't fit right, the God-awful hours spent wishing Heather Cannon would think of us as more than that creepy guy staring at her. If you think this picture is funny, well, you're a bad person. more ›

A lot of Wagner makes you wonder: what's the with an invocation for apocalypse, ordering the very planets to stand still. By Jupiter, had we been Jupiter, Rutherford's commanding baritone would have stopped us cold and, yes, brought the universe to a halt. more ›

Torontoist immediately wins our heart by using the word "Jackass" in a headline. In fact, we love their use of it so much that we're going to use it as much as possible throughout this post. For example, it looks like there are Toronto-area jackasses besides those who misuse the sidewalk: look at the crap on sale on Toronto's craigslist. But it looks like Toronto doesn't contain the kind of jackasses who pee in public pools, as the issue never came up when they interviewed the creators of art installations in their public wading pools. more ›

Okay so West Seattle isn't exactly the most convenient place for going out on a weeknight, unless, of course, you live in West Seattle. But for those of us acoustic music enthusiasts here in the cool part of town (ouch!), it'll have to do for now. more ›

. We loved their shtick, from the cool uniforms to the way they pantsed their opponents. We mistakenly assumed they were simply too good to be allowed in the NBA. more ›

There are plenty of us for whom both the successful season of the Seahawks and the less-than-stellar season of the Supersonics mean absolutely nothing, other than potential for increased traffic. While we may watch highlights on ESPN, most professional sports just don't have any appeal. Watching the less than heralded sports is where the real action is. Who doesn't marvel at the technique of Kobayashi, the overexcited commentators of the dart championships, or the sublime grace of curling? For sheer entertainment, it's the offbeat competitions that can't be beat, and they're well worth the strange looks you get when you tell people what you're doing with your time. We've already touched on Seattle's propensity for finding new ways to declare winners and losers, part of the reason we love this town. Tonight features two very different takes on the "battle" concept, one for head nodding, the other for more corporeal reactions. more ›

So what do you do after you check out tonight's Screenwriters Salon, arriving early enough to win that screenplay software? Why, you work on your long-dormant ideas for movie scripts, of course. You know, there's that one that's been rattling around in your brain, where a teenage boy is in love with his cousin, but meanwhile, a giant mole destroys a humble village. Believe us: That's gold, baby! Now all you have to do is get your ideas down, edit compulsively, find an agent, and sell your scripts to a major Hollywood studio...who will repay you for your hard work by watering down your ideas (in order to make them more palatable to the public) until you find them completely unrecognizable. And then, ashamed of what has happened to your art, you kill yourself. more ›

As if you don't know, this weekend was the Northwest Regional Barista Competition, presented by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and hosted by Hines Public Market Coffee and Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Seattlest was there, live, reporting away like a real reporter, just without the expense account. (Actually we had to leave to go find a hotspot. But we typed part of this post live and it was thrilling. We were standing *that* close to 2004 U.S. Barista Champion Bronwen Serna, who was helping judge this year.) more ›

Let’s face it. You are not Lance Armstrong. You're probably OK with that fact, and Seattlest is proud of you nonetheless. But, maybe you still got a little inspired during the Tour de France and ran out and bought yourself a road bike. A few spins out and back on the Burke Gilman trail and you’re ready for something more interesting? Try the Tour de Peaks this weekend. more ›