No less an authority on exercise than the weight-dropping New York Times is covering the Dutch Bike Company's expansion: "So, with 170 miles of new bike lanes in New York, it makes sense that the Dutch Bike Co. in Seattle should be opening a branch in the city this summer, its third in the United States." Actually, the Dutch bike story is in their fashion section, because apparently the real trick is to look manly while cycling. Money quote: "The only person I know who has a Dutch bike is a girl." more ›

We're by no means theatre majors, but we do loves to get out for some culture from time to time. Which is why this Thursday we're getting dolled up for the 5th Avenue Theatre's "MAME". more ›

Er, not quite. There is an actual, physical monster in Cloverfield, and unlike the no-see-em trailer, the film eventually shows it in all its gruesome glory (and no, it ain't Stay Puft). Opening Friday, J.J. Abrams' camcorder monster movie (which some describe as "Godzilla meets the Blair Witch") covers a terrible day for all of Manhattan and, in particular, for a group of New Yorkers throwing a bon voyage party for one of their friends. Ruh-roh! more ›

How about opening your big yap in person for a change? Join the panel discussion about how to keep a healthy arts community on Capitol Hill. Meet up at CHAC next Wednesday, the 16th, at 5:30pm and plot next moves over a martini. more ›

that have been backing up on our TiVo. But alas, we had agreed to check out some band from Portland called Casey Neill and the Norway Rats. We'll be honest--the main draw for us was Jennie Conlee (the Decemberists). We had been so stoked about seeing the Decemberists and Laura Veirs next week, and then a Decemberist came down with some illness bad enough to make them cancel the tour (we hope they're okay!). This was going to be about as close to the Decemberists as we were going to get this year. more ›

this ain't. more ›

The trio of authors Akashic's showcasing includes the novelists Felicia Luna Lemus and Joe Meno, neither of whom we've read and therefore can't comment on. But trust us--it's worth going for Chris Abani alone. An exiled Nigerian playwright and novelist, Abani was such a thorn in the military regime's side that they even tried to assassinate him in London (prompting his move to the US, where he currently teaches at UCLA). more ›

Few foods are more fun – or more perfect – than xiao long bao. Originating in Shanghai, xiao long bao translates to “little basket bun,” but they are more commonly known as soup dumplings. Steamed in bamboo baskets which hold six to eight dumplings, the doughy wrappers serve as pouches for a fantastic filling of meat and meaty broth. more ›

So, yeah, there's been this Russian-Turkish style "urban spa" called Banya5 on Ninth for, like, three years now. It's kind of a giant community sauna, with a central oven providing both wet and dry heat, surrounded by a bunch of fresh- and salt-water pools. The guy who built it, Seattle-born real estate developer John Goodfellow, isn't even Russian; he got hooked on the concept in New Yawk City. You have to know where it is, because it's hard to see along the northbound arterial through the no-man's land connecting Lake Union with downtown. more ›

We got our first link to WalkScore in the email a week ago and the idea of a mapping site that scored the walkability of neighborhoods sounded interesting, but when we tried to visit the site we found that it didn't work in Firefox. more ›

For those of you just tuning in, yesterday we wrote a little piece about the steam pipe that burst in New York. Apparently it pissed a bunch of people off, and we have to concur that actual true (non-sensationalist) details have been slow to trickle in over here. Everything we've read the last couple of days focuses on a "geyser of steam and debris," which seemed like an overblown fearmongering catchphrase at first, but is now starting to sound like that may be exactly what it is. more ›

Seattlest got the news from a coworker yesterday: an explosion in midtown Manhattan had resulted in a collapsed building (MSNBC); then that no, in fact, it was a transformer that exploded, leaving a nearby building "shaky" (CNN). more ›

Down on phony farms, up for the real thing. more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

resto critic Frank Bruni. more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. more ›

Urbanspoon has a couple of cool maps up that show the location of every restaurant in New York, Chicago and Seattle. We're interested in Seattle, of course. You can see the contour of the land is not as well-defined as the New York version because our restaurant density...well, it isn't exactly what Manhattan's is. Still a cool map, though. That's Capitol Hill all lit up there. more ›

After 14 years as executive chef at Ray's Boathouse, Charles Ramseyer is leaving town. Bailing out. He's been recruited by celebrity restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow (TV's ) to open a new joint in Noo Yawk City called Wild Salmon. Opening day scheduled for April 6th. Charles says he's wants to bring the Pacific Northwest to Manhattan; meanwhile, he offers this advice to those he leaves behind: more ›

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. more ›

As a part of its advertising campaign for the company's new Office Accounting Express application, Microsoft is hosting a technology startup company competition reminiscent of TV's Apprentice and World's Best Inventor (or whatever that show was called). Once a winning startup is selected and their market has been proven, Microsoft will release something very similar but uglier, cheaper and with DRM and drive the startup out of business. We kid, Microsoft! It comes from a place of love! The winning startup actually gets $100,000 in seed money and a Manhattan store-front for a year. more ›

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... more ›

Another copious serving of live tunes (not to mention opportunities to leave your smelly apartment), courtesy of Seattlest. You can thank us later. more ›

Life is funny. One night you go to a play about some guy who has 5 days to figure out a screenplay for Gone With The Wind, another night the play's about some guy who has 9 days to figure out why he has 9 days left to live. In the first case, you end up with a collection of deleted scenes from The Producers. In the second case, you start with a refresher course in the Manhattan Project, and then it's down the rabbit hole. more ›

As Slate will sometimes publish a book review or commentary by Armond White or Stanley Crouch, one gathers that toothlessness in a writer isn't always a condition of employment. How then to account for the uniform awfulness of Slate's film section since Edelstein's departure? How then to account for the myopically prejudicial "old boys' club" atmosphere that deems who will and who won't have "room" in an online publication that's updated daily? (And is losing money anyway.) more ›

We'll just come right out and say it: World Trade Center is not as bad as we expected. But then again, we thought it'd be baaaaad. Oliver Stone + Nicolas Cage + a weighty topic = a recipe for disaster. Seattlest went to a screening primarily to see just how bad it could be, but unexpectedly, we smirked a lot less in this film than in United 93. And that's even taking into account WTC's terrible youth-skewed marketing (the Coldplay-soundtracked TV ads and the movie's cringetastic profile on MySpace), as well as the conservative-baiting advertising care of the same PR group that swift-boated Kerry. more ›

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). more ›

We had been meaning to check out Liberty for a while now. After all, the sushi restaurant-cum-bar has been open for about a month already, and as it combines two of our favorite things (raw fish and girly drinks), we knew we'd end up there sooner or later. Seattlest stopped by last night, and it turns out that the bar has totally decent sushi and tasty, consistently well-mixed cocktails. Too bad then that you have to endure a long wait for both. more ›

You've heard of Gawker Stalker, right? When someone spots a celeb walking around Manhattan they notify the Gawker website of the identity and location of said star and a bunch of weirdos can track them on a map. Celebrities hate it and stalkers and people who think it's funny to piss of celebrities love it. more ›

It's not easy to get to the South Park neighborhood of Seattle. At least it wasn't for us. We had directions to a marina where we would get a guided tour and we still had problems. With a guide! Last Saturday we drove around Harbor Island a little, saw some sights, met lots of friendly Chinese and finally arrived at the Harbor Marina just in time for a Duwamish river tour and the opening weekend of the Living Barge project. more ›

Phillyist notes a fistfight between local pols that leaves one man down for the count. Jehovah's Witnesses get a Philly contributor out of bed, things get a little geeky with a film festival and geeky gets taken to a whole new galaxy when they talk with the Dragon Queen of the Dark Kingdom. more ›