When Semisonic's Feeling Strangely Fine came out in 1998, Seattlest was 18 years old and leaving the crushing open spaces of Wyoming for good. We liked the album then, but it wasn't until a year later -- this time leaving Phoenix, Arizona for good -- that we really fell in love with it. We were by ourselves, pulling a U-Haul trailer behind our '76 El Camino, and we were on our way to Washington state......

(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.) Seahawks vs. General Tso's Chicken preview. As we wandered the aisles of Safeway shoplifting the......

2003: Never Forget This week's Stranger news section contains an article about a Nintendo contractor who was fired for her blog. "Not work appropriate" said Nintendo, although, what the hell does that have to do with anything? The blogger Jessica Zenner blogged anonymously and without naming her employer or her coworkers. It sounds like her blog was known among her coworkers, though, and according to the article she used "hormonal, facial-hair-growing, frumpy" to describe......

Jim Riches, Deputy Chief of the FDNY, is one of the producers of the Urban Legends video that questions the supposedly heroic actions of Mayor Giuliani on 9/11. Jen Carlson recently interviewed him for our sister site in New York. How long have you been in the FDNY? 30 years experience in some of the busiest firehouses in NYC. Which firehouse are you working at now? Assigned to Bureau of Operations as Deputy Chief FDNY.......

--Because we never forget, Seattlest christens tomorrow--the one day a year Wallingford neighborhood groups have to share their precious park with the rest of the city--"Fuck Wallingford Day." --It's a cold, shrouded city where no one wants to talk to you or know your name, but they'll happily watch your YouTube videos. (via Metblogs) --Safeco is selling GPS transponders for your kid's car. "How many times have I told you I don't want you......

The only things hotter than Oakland’s NBA team are its freeways [rimshot…crickets]. But seriously folks, the eighth seed Warriors are up three games to one on the number one seed Mavericks in the opening round of the playoffs. Only two eight seeds have ever upset a number one, and if you’re currently driving a pencil into your eye then you probably know the first one. In 1994 the lowly Nuggets beat the 63-19 Sonics in......

Kurt Vonnegut, up there with Twain and Melville and Kesey as the most original American novelists ever in the history of writing stuff, died tonight. He was 84. He'd been in the hospital since a fall a couple of weeks ago. Attention kids: this is what happens if you chain-smoke for 73 years. Based on our cursory search of local newspaper archives, Vonnegut's last local appearance would seem to be at Eastern Washington University's GET......

We weren't able to take advantage of last week's free coffee giveaway at Liberty, so we stopped by the cafe/bar/sushi restaurant to purchase a cup today. We'd been there last October for a latte and were less than impressed, and we still haven't gone back for drinks ever since the bad service fiasco we endured nearly a year ago (never forget the events of 5/11). Even now, when we pass by the crowded bar......

Yelpers give it 4 out of 5 stars. The Accidental Hedonist says: "If you're a sandwich fiend, you can do no better than here." The Stranger suggests you get drunk and go (but what else is new). We'll never forget the first time we visited Baguette Box on Capitol Hill -- it was either cloudy or sunny or rainy and it was around lunchtime a year or two ago, we recall every detail. We'd......

Update: KIRO wants to know if you like metronatural, don't like it, or don't have an opinion. Since "stupidest slogan we've heard since 'Say WA'" wasn't an option, we chose "don't like it," as did 78% of the people who bothered to weigh in. Also, Adrants a) joins the mockery pile-on, and b) credits the $200,000 campaign to local agency Exclaim. Congratulations, we guess. Original post: Gridskipper is the first blog--though we're sure will......

After years of insisting that “good citizens” were the key to winning ballclubs, the Mariners have hired one of baseball’s notorious bad guys, Carl Everett. The move improves the Mariners offense (whether the degree of improvement is worth Everett’s reported $3.4 million salary is in question). It’s also exposed an ugly vein of local intellectual elitism. The move was a poorly-kept secret so already the local Internets are buzzing with commentary—and laughter. Because, besides getting......

Seattlest saw John Hodgman give one of his unusual, deadpan readings from his first book, The Areas of My Expertise. Given our solely platonic love of ferrets and hobos, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to speak briefly with Mr. Hodgman. During your reading at the Elliot Bay Book Company, you mentioned that the cohabitation of cats and skunks is a clear harbinger of Armageddon. Apparently you have photographic proof, and can see into the......

Ten years ago, this very day, was what Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus once described as "one terrible moment in Mariners history." There have been a lot of terrible moments in Mariner history, but none quite as spectacular as the leaping catch Ken Griffey Jr. made at the Kingdome's right-centerfield wall on May 26th, 1995. A young, bad-complexioned Seattlest attended the game, and it was the best catch we have ever seen. Our acne has......