The second-longest-serving member of the Washington Legislature has confirmed she will not run for re-election. “This is my last session. I’m not going to run again.” Asked why, she laughed and said: “Because I’m 75 years old and I’ll be 76 in a couple weeks. That’s why.”

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. more ›

Last night, Young Frankenstein, playing at the Paramount through September 1st, came to life, sang, and did some wicked dance moves. The official world premiere of the new Mel Brooks musical, based on his horror-comedy film of the same name, had the full house's rapt attention from the initial flash of lightning over Transylvania Heights. The script preserves many of the film’s great lines ("Put...the candle...back!"), while adding nearly two dozen original songs with music and lyrics by old nectarine-pushing Mel. While this run serves as a chance for the company to work the kinks out before heading off to Broadway this fall, as of last night, the kinks are primarily sex-related. more ›

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a job that brought him back to Seattle's Fairview Club this week to rustle up an importer and local distributor. The Sautejeau family domaines produce 17,000 cases of Muscadet; the company also does export marketing for half a dozen other Loire Valley wineries. more ›

Last Friday we were lunching outside Von's, and a stream of conventioneers was passing by. Some of them stopped at Von's and we couldn't help but notice that a number of them tripped on the single step on the way in. They'd alert the ones behind them, and they'd take a ridiculously large step through the door. When Von's filled up and they started filtering back out, they tripped on the way out. We didn't remember ever tripping on that step, so we asked this one guy what the convention was, and he told us it was the National Association of Elementary School Principals. We don't normally laugh at people tripping over things in real life, but when elementary school principals do it, it's very, very funny. (The conference's theme was "Soaring to New Heights.") more ›

What a great way to close out the summer: Beer, fried food on stick, irritatingly large crowds, great music, and a slight chance of rain (remember last year?). Seattlest loves us some Bumbershoot though, and we wouldn't let some pesky weather ruin our fun. This year looks to be a good one. A couple things we are digging right off the bat are the addition of good bands on the outdoor stages and ditching the Friday festivities before the weekend (we never went on that day anyway). more ›

Love Bumbershoot, but wish it were more elitist? You're in luck. more ›

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: more ›

Seattlest's bus ride to work lasts about twelve minutes. That's just long enough for us to find a seat, sit in it, open our bag, take out our laptop and boot it up, Start, Shutdown, Yes we would like the computer to shut down, put it away and get off the bus. Ah, another productive commute! You didn't notice it, but during the minute our computer was on it attempted and failed to find any available wireless networks. Our email rants to the editor were unable to fly out into the either. more ›

When the film industry complains about the box office slump, they aren't talking about the growing public interest in indie films or documentaries; what they're really saying is, "Why didn't you all rush out to see Herbie: Fully Loaded last weekend?" The answer to that question is obvious, basically boiling down to "Because we don't pay $9 to watch crap---especially crap that has been digitally altered to downsize the protagonist's erstwhile monstrous mammaries." more ›

Twenty-five days and 348 films later, the 31st Annual Seattle International Film Festival came to a close yesterday. This was a big SIFF---over 150 actors/filmmakers were brought to town for the fest (we do so love the Q&A), and organizers are reporting an approximate 5% increase in ticket sales from 2004's record year. Additionally, Sunday's live movie poster auction raised nearly $7000 for the SIFF Group. more ›