There are a lot of things we can see being seized at the border between Canada and the United States: handguns with the serial number filed off, bricks of heroin, briefcases with the radioactivity sign on the side. Hard drives we'd expect to make it through, but unfortunately we'd be wrong. The guy bringing the masters of the songs Chris Walla recorded in Vancouver back down to Seattle had the drive containing them yanked by Homeland Security. more ›

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.) more ›

Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU, spoke last night at Town Hall to publicize his new book ) the lower auditorium was full of citizens waiting to voice their displeasure with ACLU policies. Romero didn't get any criticism for defending the Ku Klu Klan, Neo-Nazis, Ollie North, Fred Phelps, and NAMBLA. No, Seattle's citizens wanted to know why the ACLU wasn't actively supporting impeachment. During the Q&A period the air nearly fogged up with liberaler-than-thou sentiment. Romero apparently has some experience quashing critics because he handled interruptions and interjections with aplomb. more ›

To recap our past few weeks spent with Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: the initial disaster set-up was working for us (collect all the characters, watch as they fail to heed dire warnings, shake heads as rain stops coming and wheat stops growing), but Seattlest Michael questioned whether people could really relate to the days of mud-houses and not eating and all that. more ›

Seattle Rep’s 2007-2008 season in the Bagley Wright Theatre begins with Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, Twelfth Night, followed by a powerful play about the Cuban revolution, The Cook by Eduardo Machado. A new play, The Breach about Hurricane Katrina comes next, then the classic Molière comedy, The Imaginary Invalid, and finally Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney brings his skills to a classic Greek adventure in The Cure at Troy. more ›

Providing yet more evidence why you should avoid documentaries with far more than a 35-millimeter pole, the producer of Iraq in Fragments today released a gag-inducing "open letter" to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences calling on them to apologize because someone made a joke he didn't like. more ›

After spending all day yesterday leading up to the Menomena show at the Croc singing the Muppets' menah-menah doo doo da doo doo song in our heads, we were stoked to have a band that sounds exactly like Radiohead buzzing in our ears. Or, as it were, buzzing all over our bodies. (We were standing dangerously close to the speakers.) more ›

Hurricane Katrina forced the NBA's Hornets to play most of this and last season in Oklahoma City, but they'll play all 41 of their 2007-08 home games in New Orleans.The New Orleans Hornets planned to let a deadline pass Wednesday on the team’s option to play a third season at its temporary home in Oklahoma City. “Obviously we’re extremely grateful for the people in this community, the way they’ve embraced us and have supported us,”... more ›

Our own Madame Hooky divines whether it's worth calling in sick Friday and heading for the slopes. She'll conjure your excuse and tell you where to go. more ›

The holiday spirit was in full-swing Friday night at The Crocodile, as Three Imaginary Girls hosted a jolly evening of karaoke, preceeded by a special performance from the U.K.'s Jim Noir and solo sets from members of Tiny Vipers and the Fruit Bats. more ›

You've been in a meeting all morning. Exactly how many coworkers have to pontificate on the benefits of the new TPS reporting system before they let you out of there? All of them, apparently, even though everyone in the room knows you're moving to the new reports. "Um, excuse me, but can we go over the submission system again?" "Which part of it?" "All of it. I just got here." It looks like a few people have weird jaw aches, but they're actually reaching for cynide teeth. Come noon you're going to bust through those revolving doors like a bat out of hell and head straight to the nearest convenience store for a frosty Pabst Ice. more ›

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. 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 ›

DCist is screwed in the event of an oil crisis. Not that we're not all screwed in the event of an oil crisis, just D.C. is more screwed. Don't sell your car yet, District resident, a cabbie can kick you to the curb if he doesn't like your address. Not even Metro can save you now. more ›

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Congressman Jim McDermott is calling for Seattle to move quickly on a plan to replace the Viaduct. This leaves us wondering if he’s spending to much time in that other Washington, because clearly he has forgotten how we do things out here. more ›

Note to programming execs: Surprises are generally more surprising when they aren't teased within an inch of their life in the week prior to said surprise. Exhibit A: The bombshell info Izzie drops on us halfway through this week's episode that we just Did. Not. See. Coming. Just when we had written off these pre-Super Bowl episodes as a month of filler, you snap back to it and rock us like a hurricane. Nicely done. more ›

The Senate was asked to support the troops this morning via a defence spending bill that included money for soldiers in Iraq, Katrina aid and, of course, drilling for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge. Attaching ANWR drilling to a defence spending bill that must get passed was the brainchild of Senator Stevens of Alaska who has been trying to dig up the refuge for twenty years, a move that Senator John McCain called, "disgraceful" and "disgusting." This is probably his most fail-safe attempt to date and it failed. Screw you, Stevens. more ›

Apple Cup week in Seattle means one thing: really crappy weather (rimshot...crickets). more ›

Q: Why was there a Washington State Cougars flag flying above the Space Needle yesterday? And a Husky flag today? more ›

A healthy slice of the Seattle house music scene got together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to determine the most effective course of action, and Friday will see the fruit of those efforts with a benefit show at Chop Suey. Proceeds from the night will be donated to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and Mercy Corps. Even without the worthy cause, the lineup of local openers and headliner Hipp-E (of Hipp-E & Halo fame) all but assures that heads will be nodding and butts will be shaking. Hipp-E hasn't been to Seattle in over 5 years, making this a very anticipated return. more ›

The Second Annual Value Village Fashion Show is pouring a 50-gallon drum of gasoline on the fires of costumery this weekend, so don't think that you're finished with dress-up for the season after you trudge home commando in your gorilla suit Sunday morning. You still have to get to the Rendezvous Sunday evening for this show. more ›

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Kanye West, we hear, is one hot rapper hiphop artist. And he samples Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" on his single "Gold Digger." Thus, in an attempt to appeal to the kids, we will sample the late great Ray on this post. more ›

Why do some people prefer pets? more ›

Our mysteriously long commute this morning (the rain? aurora borealis centralized on 99?), in concert with an even more mysterious mp3 player outage (battery power? the gods telling us we need an iPod? technical ineptitude?) forced us to catch Harvey Danger on KEXP. KEXP is broadcasting out of the Museum of Television and Radio in NYC currently, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Harvey Danger (we think it was Sean?) was on with host John Richards and saying a lot of incredibly cool things. Plus they played a few tracks from their new Little by Little CD and they were incredibly decent, particularly Wine Women and Song. more ›

Seems like everybody and their mama has been raising money for the Red Cross or other agencies helping in hurricane relief efforts. Even Seattlest's local karaoke dive bar was taking cash for the cause last Sunday night. What follows is by no means a comprehensive list, but just a smattering of upcoming events by local businesses where your money can make a difference: more ›

If you weren't mortally wounded from the bitter Oasis/Blur feud that tore our country apart in the mid-nineties, then check out Oasis tonight at the Everett Events Center. As of the last time that we checked craigslist, tickets can be had pretty cheap. Personally we like both Oasis and Blur, but we always did consider ourselves to be the Switzerland of rock fans. more ›

You've seen the before/after shots more times than you can imagine, you've heard New Orleans mayor Nagin begging for more help, and you've given money to the Red Cross or other organizations, but you still feel helpless to really do anything about the havoc wreaked on the Southeast by Katrina. Get off your kiester, and drive/bike/bus it down to the Seattle Red Cross office and volunteer to help displaced evacuees that are being sent to the Seattle area for relief from the Katrina disaster. more ›