Kushi are Japanese skewers, bamboo or metal. Threaded with a sardine, a prawn, peppers, pork belly or chicken hearts, they're grilled over makeshift charcoal braziers and served up to passersby in Tokyo. In Belltown, you get to sit. In fact, you'll be served on the new open-air deck along Second, a 40-seat expanse at sidewalk level, while executive chef Billy Beach grills your mushrooms or gizzards (over imported coals) inside. This is Kushibar, from......

Photo courtesy of the Paramount/STG By the time we made it to the Paramount for Avenue Q's opening night last night, just about everyone we know had told us how much we were going to love it. That's a high bar our friends and family set for this show. Now we know it's because they knew it could deliver. We found ourself wondering early on how casting goes down for a show about puppets.......

Before last night's screening of SIFF's opening film Battle in Seattle, amidst all the self-congratulatory speeches, Mayor Nickels remarked that the 1999 WTO riots are "strongly rooted in the fabric of our city" and that every Seattleite would be well-served to have their feelings of the events "validated by an outside perspective." We'd be apt to agree---if only the outside perspective that followed wasn't such ham-handed dreck. Battle in Seattle isn't as bad as......

Once again, SIFF is upon us. Even though there are still three weeks until opening night, with today's press launch, things are gearing up for the 34th Seattle International Film Festival. Running a full 25 days, SIFF will present 191 narrative features, 57 documentary features, and 170 short films from 69 countries, including 43 World Premieres (16 features, 27 shorts), 38 North American Premieres (19 features, 19 shorts) and 19 US Premieres (10 features,......

Just announced: The 34th Seattle International Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, May 22 with the premiere of Battle in Seattle, a gripping dramatization of events that rocked the world when Seattle was host to the World Trade Organization. The evening unfolds at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall with a red carpet welcome for expected guests Charlize Theron and Martin Henderson, stars of the film, and director Stuart Townsend. A gala party will......

Alright, first things first: The 31st annual Seattle International Film Festival is nearly upon us. Opening night is May 19th, and SIFF runs for nearly a month after that. During that time, more than 230 feature-length films will screen, including a whole bunch of goodies which have already won awards at Sundance and other film fests. The box office opens today for SIFF members, but the general public (i.e., the commoners) will have to wait......