Hello, dearest readers. Guess who's back from sabbatical to steer the ship for a day? Here are your pressing, important, oh-so-critical headlines. more ›

Low -- very, very low -- levels of radiation found in milk in Spokane [NWCN] more ›

The State Department of Health has detected some low-levels of radiation in Washington State from Japan's damaged nuclear reactors, but the level of radioactive iodine that has reached us is "millions of times lower than levels that would be a health concern." Because Japan is a whole Pacific Ocean away, the radiation is so diluted that the Department of Health actually advises against taking protective action, so those of you clamoring to buy potassium iodide (KI) might want to hold off: the Health Department advises that "only people who work in or around nuclear power plants during an emergency, or who live near such a plant and can't get away" should take KI. more ›

After the horrifying footage of last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan overtook TVs and computer screens around the world, local media outlets are turning their sights to theoretical natural disasters in our backyards — literally. NBC affiliate King5 produced a segment, which aired last night, that hypothesized the effects of an earthquake and resulting tsunami on the Port of Tacoma and Fife. That’s right: In addition to keeping an eye on Mount Rainier in case it erupts, Tacomans and their neighbors should also be wary of Commencement Bay water flooding the area in as little as 17 minutes. Take a look at the video below, which also emphasizes education and preparedness planning. more ›

Responders are still dealing with the aftermath of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that battered northeast Japan yesterday. The death toll, already approaching 700, could rise to as many as 1,300 people. However the NY Times says Japan's stringent building codes prevented many more deaths. more ›

The Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) boats an impressive collection of Asian art in a gorgeous Art Deco building in the middle of Volunteer Park. These facts alone make a trip to SAAM worth a visit, but Seattlest recently had the opportunity to check out SAAM’s newest exhibition, Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints. more ›

IS THAT FUNK I SMELL?: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, objectively speaking the best funk band in the world, play the Showbox SoDo tonight. We can’t think of anything to say about this that hasn’t been said, except that you owe it to yourself to see Clinton perform--after 50 years in the industry, he still brings it. more ›

MY LIFE IS A MUSICAL: Regular karaoke not enough of a challenge for you? Head to the Rendezvous tonight for Cineoke, in which you sing along to your favorite scenes from musicals. Warm up with some Chicago, belt out The Sound of Music, and soon you'll be Singing in the Rain. Don't forget the jazz hands. 7-9:30 p.m. // Rendezvous Jewel Box Theater // 2322 2nd Ave // $5, 21+ more ›

Fortunately, Japan has just liberalized its regs and will now import cherries from Washington orchards with pheromone-scented moth traps. The moths have a more interesting (if much shorter) sex life, the cherries have a longer shelf life...and get to travel to the Japanese market on a slow, inexpensive freighter. more ›

Over three weeks, SIFF Cinema is showing a really gorgeous black-and-white CinemaScope print of Masaki Kobayashi’s 10-hour 1959 epic The Human Condition, starting with the 208-minute Part 1: "No Greater Love." That closes this Thursday night, so if you want to catch it, get thee to McCaw Hall. more ›

When we used to work at the Starbucks in the Bank of America building (nee: Columbia Center), one of our duties was to bring up boxes of cups, napkins and other sundries from the storeroom located in the garage on level E, five stories below ground. more ›

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On the topic of kaiten sushi, we go, well, round and round. Instant gratification in grabbing dishes upon seating, but hard to know how long they’ve sat on the conveyor belt. A festive feeling, but no natural interaction with the sushi chef. Unlimited gari (pickled ginger), but no self-serve green tea like in Japan. Cheap, but sometimes questionable quality. more ›

When the Crocodile Cafe abruptly closed down a month ago, we turned to a friend of ours looking for the inside scoop. Kultur Shock guitarist Val Kiossovski was bar manager down for quite a while (he's now running his own place in Lower Queen Anne, Solo, one of our favorite hangouts), so we figured if anyone knew, he would. Unfortunately, he was busy with problems of his own: rescheduling his band's show. more ›

The most unfortunate victims of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--which happened 66 years ago today--were surely the 2,333 military personnel who lost their lives. more ›

You begin to see why a girlfriend might leave him. "And how in the world did you come / to be such a lazy love?" he sings with Cat Stevens' flair for passing judgment, or pleads for time with a barbed hook on the line: " Maybe if you slowed down for me / I could see you're only telling / lies, lies, lies." more ›

Ichiro got a bunch of fantastic goodies along with his $90 million Mariner contract, according to the AP, including: more ›

Yes, we know we've been plugging this band a lot lately, but it's only because they live up to the hype. Besides, after Battles' show tonight at the Croc, we probably won't have anything to say about them for at least a week or so. But no promises. Seattlest chatted with John Stanier, the man behind the kit, as the sonically solid foursome headed up the West Coast. more ›

Microsoft, Amazon, Disney, Nintendo, The Robot Co-Op; the list of big name tech companies in the Puget Sound region includes some of the biggest, which is why we were surprised by the recent bandwidth report that ranked Washington 18th among U.S. states in high-speed internet access. Illinois is 17th, Michigan is 19th. Two fine states but what tech shops do they have? Rhode Island is number one, Kansas 2 and Jersey 3. Apparently the presence of large technology companies has shit to do with the speed of the general interweb in a region. California is 38th (phbbbbttt!) and South Dakota is dead 50th, which should be a warning to us all. Don't be like SD. We take it on faith that a slow internet leads directly to things like full-on abortion bans, although when we tried making a Red State vs Blue State map with these speed rankings it didn't pan out. more ›

Some of you may be interested in checking out the newly opened Tap House Grill in downtown Seattle. Although we have had issues with service, beer quality and availability of beers on their list at the Tap House in Bellevue, we are still hoping the Seattle location works out. With 160 beers on tap, it should not be hard to find something you want. The new Seattle location is in the old Planet Hollywood building on 6th Ave., between Pike and Pine. The location is prime, which means it will likely be constantly packed. more ›

Better believe it, the 25-year reign of the Copper River salmon is over. The new king comes from the mighty Yukon River, and the architect of its ascendancy is (no real surprise) the same power-behind-the-throne, Jon Rowley. more ›

Vitals: 27 yo LHP. Born in Oarai, Japan. 6-1, 212. 86-60, 3.14 in Japan. 2-1, 6.08 here. $4 million salary. more ›

Vitals: 26 yo RHP. Born in Tokyo, Japan. 6-0, 187. 94-45, 2.99 in Japan. 3-2, 4.36 here. $6.3 million salary. more ›

We'll suspend our usual format today because of the existence of this remarkable video. 18-year-old Matsuzaka baffling Ichiro in his prime is pretty much all you need to see.
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--It may be just a Wednesday night for you, but Japan's already buzzing with anticipation about Dice-K vs. Ichiro. Via Deadspin more ›

Ah, the storied cherry blossoms of UW! more ›

At least until the Chinese government cleans up translation woes, Internet sites devoted to Engrish (or Japlish, Spanglish, etc.) will remain popular. And there will be lots of intrigue inevitable in certain supermarket aisles here in Seattle. It’s hard enough to identify many products by sight, let alone decipher what’s said on the packages. more ›

The first time we saw Kultur Shock, they were opening for Gogol Bordello at Neumo's, and we have to admit, we'd never heard of them. It was an all-ages show, so we were drinking our fill in the Bad Juju lounge next door, until the insane sounds of the band dragged us away from our beers. Quickly we came to regret missing the first half of their set. more ›

BOOKS: Suze Orman, Seattlest's unofficial accountant from television is at the Central Library tonight. Mrs. Seattlest refuses to acknowledge that her name is pronounced "Susy." more ›

Various Times // Various Places // Various Prices more ›