This was a big deal. We usually go out for so-called "exotic" food like bugs, tripe, and chicken liver mousse popsicles (dipped in dark chocolate), but for a belated birthday dinner, we wanted to check out the fuss about Cascina Spinasse. 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 ›

We've always gotten a strong High Fidelity vibe from Pitchfork. Duh, right? The music geek relationship is hardly subtle. But now that Blue Moon booker Jason Josephes is spreading these recordings he made in Minneapolis with Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber back in '97 we can't even think of the music moguls at P'fork and not imagine a dank basement with matresses crammed against the walls, a mic hanging from an exposed two by four and John Cusack tapping away at a Casio singing about a naked transexual with nothing but margerine for eyes. You can hear the fat in her thighs... more ›

Rock stars are dark and mysterious, calculating and philanthropic, and almost always stylish and physically attractive. And then there are Jack Black and Kyle Gass. more ›

So the last two days we heard seven bands. And that was a Sunday and Monday night! Our ears are tired. Not that you care. Where the hell were you, anyway? About 20 people showed up for the El Corazon show. It was all-ages, but only four under-21ers skipped Sunday-night homework to come. A bunch of Euro-sausage arrived late to catch Starsailor at the Crocodile. You know, with their Euro-pop t-shirts and orange sneakers. It was like a tale of two night clubs: one gritty (i.e., an actual leaking ceiling) and over-amplified, with a fiercely indie audience, and the other gritty (the ceiling has various kinds of sound baffles nailed to it) and over-amplified, with a used-to-know-someone-who-was-fiercely-indie crowd. more ›

Because Friday night had been a late one, it was nearly noon before Seattlest awoke on Saturday. Dazed we were and wondering, Had we really been rocked by pirates last night? more ›

Seattlest likes Nick Hornby, we really do. We like his witty, casual style of writing, we like that he's big enough of a music geek to write essays on specific songs, and we certainly like his McSweeney's connection. Most of all, though, we enjoy the movies made from his books. High Fidelity ranks among our favorites, due to its eminently quotable dialogue, great soundtrack, smart use of lists, and John Cusack's lovesick moping coupled with Jack Black's voracious scene-stealing. In fact, this is one of the rare cases where the film is better than the book, with a seamless setting shift from London to Chicago (especially endearing to Seattlest). About a Boy is another good one, in which the Weitzes first displayed a light touch and emotional maturity, and frankly, it's the only Hugh Grant performance we can stomach. As to Fever Pitch...well, we purposely avoided the recent Farrelly Brothers/Jimmy Fallon/Drew Barrymore crime against humanity---which ended up being a box office disappointment anyways---but we hear that the original version of the film, about football and starring Colin Firth, was more than decent. more ›