We have no idea why there isn't an exclamation mark after new restaurant Olivar's name. It just seems natural. But there isn't, even though they must be excited to be open. We didn't go to the grand opening last night, but we could smell the kitchen and it made us very hungry. They're in Capitol Hill's Loveless building, at 806 East Roy Street, just across the street from the Harvard Exit theater. We just walked......

JUG BAND IDOL: Starting today, Greg Vandy of KEXP's The Roadhouse will hold live auditions for a new jug band. Without a harsh Brit, we're not sure what to expect, but we know it's unmissable. 6 p.m. // 90.3 FM // Free, not including cost of radio CELEBRITY SIGHTING: Danny Glover is expected to attend the showing of Trouble the Water, a SIFF documentary about one couple's stuggle to overcome the devastation wrought by......

The end is near! You're running out of chances to stand in line for a SIFF film, so if you haven't yet, get on it. Things wrap up this weekend. In the meantime, here's the rundown on our picks for today through Thursday. It's quite a week. For all SIFF screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which cost more. It's your last chance......

REALLY GOOD DOCUMENTARY: Here's yet another reason that SIFF has won the loyalty of Seattle's filmgoers, They Killed Sister Dorothy, a terse, refreshingly un-preachy documentary that attempts to unravel the mystery behind the murder of an American nun in the Brazilian rainforest. 4:30 p.m. // Harvard Exit // $9-11 SUPPORTING LOCAL GROWERS: Sometimes you want fresh basil in the middle of the week. Unlike most of the farmers markets in Seattle, the Colombia City farmers......

This is the end, the end of free movies, care of Scion. Single tear. Via their Route film series, the youth-oriented car company has already tackled the true-to-life topics of blood diamonds in hip hop and nightclubbing in the late '80s NYC queer community. Now for something completely different: Daft Punk's Electroma is an odyssey of two robots who journey across a mythic American landscape of haunting, surreal beauty on a quest to become......

Well, it's been a month, and that can only mean one thing: time for the next free edgy youth culture documentary, care of Scion. Last time around, the topic was blood diamonds in hip hop; this time it's all about nightclubbing in the late '80s NYC queer community. Paris is Burning is all about New York fashion houses, but not the ones you may think you know. African American and Latino gay men and......

Scion's back in town bringing music, art, and culture to the kids. Sure it's subversive corporate lifestyle marketing to the coveted youth demographic, but we do like that it's free. Their art installation is at BLVD Gallery for a few more nights, while their film series is running once a month at the Harvard Exit. Somehow we missed the September film (Mayor of Sunset Strip), but we'll definitely be there tomorrow night for Bling:......

About three lives ago, when we were living in a scientific research station in Ecuador, we watched The Postman (Il Postino) with a group of Westerners. After the movie, which is one of our favorites, we were sitting there, wondering why the room had suddenly gotten all dusty, when a privileged teenage British hipster/tourist named Aelys (pronounced like Alice, but her parents preferred the Welsh spelling) announced that she hadn't liked the movie because it......

Rachel Hynes is a former barista and yet still enjoys spending time in espresso places. She will review them. This is her first such review. We've got a morning to kill and Broadway is hot and dirty. We spurn the main drag and stroll up shady, tree-lined Harvard to Joe Bar, right across the street from the Harvard Exit. The shop's unusual layout--there are two separate balconies that overlook the rest of the store--charms us,......

It's SIFF's last bleary-eyed, numb-assed, popcorn-butter-fingered weekend, so if you haven't stopped in for some film-festy fun, you gotta act fast. We held Audrey upside-down and shook her until she gave us some selections -- no, no, you deserve the best. There's no telling how far we'd go to make you happy. Before we get to that, here's some film-related goings-on that you might like: Friday night there's Kinski performs Berlin: Symphony of a......

Sniff sniff, single tear. It's the last full week of SIFF, so you're well approaching your last chance till next year to take in some of that sweet filmy goodness. SIFF's not just movies; this week offers both the Opticlash 2 VJ battle at the CHAC and the Face the Music party at Neumo's, the latter of which includes performances by Viva Voce, Jesse Sykes, and Siberian. Tickets for both are going fast! Seattlest......

We are, in fact, over half-way there, and yet we continue to live on a prayer--a prayer that the latter half of SIFF contains nearly as many fine films as what's been shown thus far. Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend: · Children of the War We've heard good things about this powerful documentary on the......

This week the weather's cooperating a bit more. Nothing like escaping rainy days with a film festival (except if you get stuck in a downpour while waiting in line, so pack that umbrella). Once inside you'll be golden thanks to your perusal of Seattlest picks. Trust us. Golden! But first, we want to highlight some special events: · A Conversation with Julien Temple, with musician/critic Sean Nelson, will no doubt cover Temple's three music......

This weekend the National Weather service is calling for mid-70s to 80 degrees. You may want to recover from heatstroke by rehydrating in an air-conditioned theater with other bepinkenned Seattleites, and their melanin-endowed friends savoring their little moment of schadenfreude. (Here's the Seattle Times cheat sheet on the various venues.) · We caught the press screening for the not entirely laugh-free Death at a Funeral with a friend who said, summing up Frank Oz's......

Memorial Day weekend is finally behind us, so it's time to settle into SIFF. Yes, it's absolutely lovely outside, but Seattleites can only handle so much sun. Get away from all that UVA/UVB exposure and spend your time in the theaters' comfortable darkness. This week brings the opening of SIFF on the Eastside, starting Thursday at the Lincoln Square Cinemas in Bellevue. And tomorrow night, Anthony Hopkins is in town to pick up his......

Now that the opening gala has kicked off SIFF all proper-like, it's time to join the orgy of cinema for the next 25 days. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $10/$8 (and matinees $7/$5), except for gala screenings, which are $25/$23, and the closing night film event, which is $40/$35. If you really want to be prepared for this year's fest, check out Microsoft's Live Search Maps SIFF collection. Unlike most......

BENEFIT: The Clif Bar Save Our Snow Tour, featuring DJ Sabzi from the Blue Scholars, stops by Fremont to help start global cooling. First they came for the snow, but we said nothing, because we follow the sun. 7-10:30pm // Evo Gear in Fremont 122 NW 36th St. // $5 BOOK:Journalist and activist Ann Jones talks about her book Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan, her account of volunteering to teach English to......

MUSIC: Carrie Clark & The Lonesome Lovers. Memphis Radio Kings headline this show, but we're here for Carrie Clark all the way. Clark's been wooing Seattle crowds with her superb voice -- both playful and brooding for over ten years now. Backed by her band, The Lonesome Lovers, things seem to be coming together beautifully for Miss Clark; her new album, Seems So Civilized, produced by Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, Kinnie Starr, The Sadies, The......

THEATER: You have only five more chances to catch WET’s latest offering, In Disdress Now: Redux. Marya Sea Kaminski’s one-woman show was originally developed as as part of On the Boards' Northwest New Works Festival in June 2006. Now the “story of a girl wrestling meaning out of love, porn, and the folds of an enormous red hoop dress” has been expanded into a full-fledged tour de force. 8pm // Washington Ensemble Theatre // 608......

The Scion film series comes to an end Tuesday night at the Harvard Exit with Pablo Aravena's graffiti documentary Next: A Primer on Urban Painting, featuring interviews with the likes of Futura, Lee Quiñones and Doze Green, as well as younger art collectives like the Inkheads, the Barnstormers and Heavyweight. Apparently Aravena scoured the globe, talked to like-minded artists from North and South America, Europe, and Japan, and collected an oral history that traces......

Last week we caught a free showing of the Brazilian documentary Favela Rising, courtesy of Scion's marketing machine. With the promise of free cocktails beforehand, we trundled down to the Harvard Exit about a half hour in advance of the show. Upon making our way upstairs to the top floor, we felt a bit like we'd crashed someone's party where we quickly realized we knew no one there. The atmosphere was more "Yo check out......

Another month, another free Scion-sponsored documentary at the Harvard Exit. This time around (tomorrow night), it's Favela Rising. Favela Rising documents a man and a cultural movement, a city divided, and a Brazilian ghetto (or favela) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and friends, Anderson Sa leaves his drug-dealing days behind him, and instead chooses to lead a social revolution in Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous slum. Through his unique Afro Reggae......

First there was the Honda Fit concert series, and then the Yaris Works. And now, the next chapter in Cheap Japanese Car-Sponsored Hipster Activity/Youth-Focused Advertising Campaign is the Scion Route Independent Film Series. It's taking place in only six cities, so Seattle's in good company with Atlanta, Austin, L.A., Minneapolis, and New York. Looks like the guys in marketing think we're cool. This time, the targeted advertising is in the form of one Scion-sponsored......

As previously stated, Seattlest advocates opening night Snakes on a Plane festivities (attention, slowpokes: the 10pm Cinerama show is already sold out, though some tix are still available for the 12:45am show, and we suppose you could just go see it tomorrow). But we are also capable of appreciating the high-brow. With that in mind, we strongly suggest you see 1969 French classic Army of Shadows in a theater while it's still around. It's......

The final full week of SIFF is upon us. It's time to get some last few films before the sun sets on this year's fest. This week's got a couple great music events as well: Friday night, Portastatic will be on hand to perform a specially-commissioned live score accompanying circus freakshow-themed silent film The Unknown (more about that in a few days). Meanwhile, Thursday night's the Face the Music Rock Party at Neumo's, featuring......

One week of SIFF down, only three more to go. Starting yesterday, the fest moved on up, to the Eastside. Now through next Wednesday, films will be shown in Bellevue at the Lincoln Square Cinemas. From the looks of it, they've got a strong Friday lined up, with the final screenings of The Giant Buddhas, Prairie Home Companion, and Conversations with Other Women. As a SIFF-related resource, it's worth your time to head over......

Now that Memorial Day weekend is past us, and Folklife and Sasquatch have played their last rain-soaked notes, it's time to focus on the things that really matter: SIFF films. Just for fun, go check out the SIFF 2006 profile on Flickr. It's got a lot of great pics, including a bunch of Jessica Biel looking vacuous and a dozen photos of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. Dudes, we understand that you really like......

The Harvard Exit hosted one of those first come/first serve free screenings of the new Dan Clowes/Terry Zwigoff film Art School Confidential Monday night. The theater had a special row of seats reserved for the beleaguered hard-working employees of the local funny book factory that published both the screenplay and the original comic book series from which the film derives its material... or so the poor schlubs were led to believe. PSYCHE! Turns out all......

This has been a busy week, at least in terms of announcements as to who's involved in things taking place sometime in the future. Seattlest breaks it down: Rock Lottery: This KEXP benefit/rock talent free-for-all involves a whole buncha local musicians divided into randomly-determined groups of five, who are then given twelve hours to write new material together before performing it that night (last year at Con Works, this year at Neumo's April 29th).......

Continuing on our quest to catch up on the Oscar-nominated films, Seattlest went last night to see Capote, playing at the Harvard Exit (and now, thanks to Oscar-inspired wider release, also in Kirkland). We stopped along the way at Bailey/Coy to buy the book the movie's more or less about, which we haven't read, and scowled at the ratfink Now, a Major Motion Picture! sticker, announcing that we never got around to reading until the......