Results tagged “thestranger”

Stranger writer Dominic Holden does not suggest, but demands today that the local media do their jobs--you know, like, actual journalism--by reporting not only on Referendum 71 by way of deconstructing its meaning, but also by reporting on its creators, pushers, and the true interests behind its hateful and hypocritical beginnings. It's a fascinating and cringe-inducing reminder of how this all got started and we agree completely with Holden that it is an important and relevant part of the story. more ›

Seattle Weekly's Mike Seely has a book on dive bars out. The Weekly's Erika Hobart went to see "Walking with the Dinosaurs" stewed. And now the Stranger has a new Happy Hour iPhone app: Cocktail Compass. Interesting features: searches for "patio" if you want, offers one-touch cab dialing. Competition for GoTime's Happy Hour app. This recession could turn out to be toughest on the liver. more ›

Seattlest's father now knows who Dan Savage is, thanks to the Stranger editorial director's short-lived publicity stunt of a mayoral campaign. We suspect that was kind of the point. Savage isn't running anymore, thanks to the burdensome piles of paperwork associated with a real campaign, and we're grateful that whole shenanigan is done with. Piles of paperwork, we salute you. more ›

Things over at the Slog are currently retarded--and we mean that in the clinical sense of the word. We suggest you avoid the site entirely until further notice. more ›

We've been following the news releases--cleverly disguised as Slog posts--issued by Peter Steinbrueck's stealth campaign manager, ECB, and she's gotten us fired up. Now if they just work on Steinbrueck himself, we'll be all set. Yesterday ECB was publicizing green golden boy Steinbrueck via a "RUN FOR MAYOR" Facebook group that has sprung up--it had 41 members then and this morning we became 99, just like in Get Smart. Today ECB has hit the e-bricks early, quoting an unnamed "recent poll" in which "Steinbrueck wallops Nickels 46.6 percent to 24.1 percent, with 29.4 percent undecided" in a head-to-head match-up. (ECB doesn't mention our equally scientific 5-way poll in which Nickels just edged out Steinbrueck 38 percent to 36.) So all we've really learned so far is that ECB would vote for Peter in a heartbeat--but maybe...just maybe...that's enough? more ›

It's probably too late at night to be writing this sort of piece, but sitting around a lonely house, sipping a glass of Scotch and trying to forget about our more quotidian problems, we found ourselves reading today's (or yesterday's, we suppose) article about the ongoing Amanda Knox trial. In the piece, AP reporter Alessandra Rizzo goes on at length about how Knox didn't seem to show any remorse in the police station following her roommate Meredith Kercher's murder. She quotes three prosecution witnesses (all friends of the victim, apparently), who testified that, "Everybody was upset and she didn't seem to show any emotions," or that she "'made faces,' such as crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out. She was 'giggling' and kissing [then-boyfriend and co-defendant Raffaele] Sollecito," and finally that, "She didn't show any sadness. She wasn't crying. She seemed quite angry and a bit frustrated and sometimes happy." more ›

Crosscut's Bill Richards has the story on Hearst's signal of disinterest: "Hearst Corp. said today that it won’t make a final $1 million payment to the Times’ majority owners, the Blethen family, for the right to bid first for the Blethens’ 50.5 percent stake in the company." Hearst also said that if they turn P-I into a pixel-only publication, they would do so outside the warm bosom of the JOA. But they haven't decided yet. "What's the big rush? Stop pestering us!" Meanwhile, the Seattle Times is in "survival mode," reports the Stranger--they're asking the unions for 12 percent payroll cuts. This is grim news indeed for Stranger staffers who were hoping to sell out and snag a cushy MSM job one day. more ›

Today is the deadline to mail in your ballot for the King County special election this month. Unless you live in Fall City or Enumclaw, all you'll be voting on is the new county director of elections. Seattlest will be sending ours today, since we didn't bother to look up the candidates until this morning. We're voting for Sherril Huff, the incumbent, who is endorsed by such illustrious organizations as the 43rd District Democrats and the Stranger (she is "competent, sane, and qualified" compared to our other options, says the Stranger Election Control Board). Huff was also one of two candidates recommended as "outstanding" by the Municipal League. It may be ridiculous that we have yet another expensive election to vote on just one position--doesn't it take millions of dollars to send out ballots?--but vote anyway. Just do it. more ›

Oh, Portland! This Seattlest contributor's hometown is currently in the midst of its biggest and juiciest political scandal in years. Turns out, Mayor Sam Adams, the city's first openly gay mayor, had a relationship with a legislative aid intern who , Tim Keck's Portland alt-weekly, has been drawn into the entire mess with accusations she helped cover up the affair. more ›

The Seattle Times says Sound Transit Proposition 1 "retards our economy" and "hurts the poor" by boosting Washington's sales tax to 9.5%, an unconscionable hike when "most people don't want to get out of their cars." The Stranger says Prop. 1 is a great idea, and "If you think $69 is a lot to spend on transit in tough economic times, think about what you've been paying for gas lately." King County Exec Ron Sims is opposed and would prefer that we wait until 2010. But what do you think? Yea or nay to Sound Transit Proposition 1? (More info about Prop. 1 here.) This poll closes at noon tomorrow, and as always, comments are more than welcome. more ›

Tonight, 's theatre critic Brendan Kiley is hosting a forum/shouting match at Seattle Rep at 7:30 (155 Mercer Street at Seattle Center; we confirmed it's for free; there'll be someone at the door to direct you) in response to the debate generated by his Oct. 7 article, "Ten Things Theaters Need to Do Right Now to Save Themselves." Read it here; some of his points are good, some predictable, some are already being done, and still others seem silly. The point is, Kiley touched a nerve: the theatre, particularly here in Seattle, is struggling with its identity, afraid for the future, and confused in its business-model. We work in books in our day job, and the same uncertainty about the future we hear from book publishers we hear from the theatre artists. So we've decided to throw in our own two-cents worth for your consideration before tonight's talk. We'll be there in the audience. Hopefully we'll hear something interesting. more ›

SEE SEE ME RIVER: If you can get yourself to walk beneath the frightening-toothed clown, nothing should stop you from checking out See Me River at The Funhouse tonight. Led by former Das Llamas front man Kerry Zettel, See Me River offers an audial version of American Gothic, crafting haunting acoustic songs that at once drone and soar. more ›

There are plenty of reasons not to hire an escort you spot in a photo in the back pages of The Seattle Weekly or The Stranger. For one, prostitution (yeah, we know, it's for the "company") is still illegal. For two, STDs STDs STDs! And lastly, as an unlucky 80-something-year-old man learned, they might just steal your money without performing for you. Seattle 911 says a man in his early 80s showed up at the West Seattle Police Precinct to report a theft. The man had found a young lady in the back of the Weekly and paid $250 upfront. Before the duo engaged in the paid-for act, the escort ran to her car to grab a condom. Rather than face the prospect of getting boned by an 80-something-year-old, the escort did not return. Thus the self-incriminating, would-be Casanova reported the theft to the SPD, which we think is just classic. more ›

• Rainier Valley Post warns: beware the Microsofties on I-90 today! The Microsoft annual meeting will be 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Safeco Field today, and I-90 is sure to be a clusterfuck.
• Flu season is just around the corner and the B-Town Blog has a comprehensive list of south Sound sites for flu shots.
• Lights & Sirens reports on the oldest homicide suspect they've ever reported on.

Seattlest Abbey is still recovering from a waterlogged Radiohead show, so we apologize for your morning news delay. We're going to let her sleep in, even if we're still jealous we didn't get to go. Happy morning news! ~Your Editor more ›

Yes, all good things must come to an end, but that doesn't mean we have to be happy when they do. So while we're glad to see she's in good spirits about it, we were crushed to hear that The Stranger decided to cut Ellen Forney's Lustlab Ad of the Week cartoon. Obviously, we were big fans. (And does this mean that the July 31 cartoon was her last? There's a trivia question in the making.) Ah, well, at least we'll always have Lust, the collection published by Fantagraphics in February. more ›

The Slog decided to do their version of "Are You Smarter Than the Standardized Test You Support?" with State School Superintendent Terry Bergeson, and she failed. Bergeson was given three sample questions from Port Angeles WASL tests. One from each WASL group tests 3rd, 7th, and 10th graders. The Superintendent only answered two of the three questions, and she answered them both wrong. Realizing she was busted, Bergeson signed the test with a frowny-face...how very 7th grade of her indeed. more ›

Seattlest and The Stranger have had disagreements of opinion concerning the quality or fucking lack of quality at certain Seattle taco trucks. In this week's print Stranger, though, there is a statement of fact regarding the highly-hyped tamales at the Rancho Bravo truck in Wallingford that cannot be disputed, and should be highlighted: They never have tamales at Rancho Bravo. Seattlest has taken to ordering them defensively, hopefully, and as an add-on but never the focal point of a meal. "Oh, and, excuse me, Ms., but have you any...tamales?" In the ordering window the woman's eyes soften and she seems to say, "It's very flattering that you would ask. You obviously hold them in high regard, and they are delicious. How disappointing for you, though. We do not have any tamales." What she actually says is, "Sorry, no." We're this close to calling in and pre-ordering a dozen of them like the sign on the truck invites us to do, eating one of them, and then selling the other eleven for a few bucks each to people waiting in line to order from the truck. more ›

The Stranger's indefatigable Jonah Spangenthal-Lee gets a wonderful quote from the driver of the Subaru who ran into some (and over one) bicyclists in last Friday night's Critical Mass confrontation on Aloha on Capitol Hill: “I sympathize with [cyclists'] cause. I ride bikes too. I’m a liberal hippie democrat” [...] “I’m gay, the person with me was a lesbian and we were a attacked by eco-terrorists. It’s the most Seattle thing that could have happened." The driver apologizes for overreacting and says he hopes no charges are pressed either way. On the one hand, we're glad he has a sense of humor about it. On the other, he ran over someone and a cyclist hit him in the head with a U-lock, and charges for both are well-deserved. more ›

Last night, as we were making some Niman Ranch sausage, some Critical Mass bicyclists were almost turned into sausage in the street outside. (We mention the kind of sausage because had it been cut-rate, we might have poked our heads out to take a look, but it wasn't and we were hungry.) more ›

In his Morning News post, The Stranger's managing editor Bradley Steinbacher lets slip near the end that after fourteen years, his end his near. No future plans, no reasons why. This continues a trend (two makes a trend!) of gnomic departures that began with news editor Josh Feit's abrupt "departure" (made somewhat less abrupt by his continued posting on Slog) earlier this summer. So we provide you instead with the fond memories elicited by Steinbacher's bio: "Some 13 years ago Bradley Steinbacher, was hired to be The Stranger’s first receptionist. After that debacle, he was bounced around to various departments—classifieds, distribution, marketing, etc.—until he was finally named both Managing Editor and Film Editor in 2003. Just how he reached such high posts at the paper remains a mystery." Perhaps more importantly, does this spell the end of The Stranger's anagrammatical public editor A. Birch Steen? more ›

Dear Universe, more ›

As mentioned on Slog yesterday, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has recommended that the City of Seattle remove the self-cleaning public toilets located in and around downtown Seattle. more ›

You haven't heard much from us about Capitol Hill's new "gastropub" Quinn's (owned by Scott and Heather Staples, who also own Restaurant Zoe). more ›

We weren't expecting to be named as one of the Young Ones. It's a very good look and we're looking forward to performing alongside a lot of great artists! more ›

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Saigon descended upon Neumos Wednesday night in true East Coast style, backed by three hype-men, two photographers, one DJ, and for awhile two dancing "homegirls". (Yes, his shirt did come off for a brief moment, and we did get to see those famous bulging arm muscles.) A sparse but expectant crowd watched as the New York rapper and his posse blew through an aggressive set that included the extra-tight club favorite "C'mon Baby" dropped at the stroke of midnight, and "My Favorite Things," a funny exercise in calculated OG optimism. more ›

Jeremy: You know, I find it kind of funny: for a show about how theater screwed up, there was very little discussion of how theater is relevant. Mike Daisey seemed to concentrate exclusively on one aspect of the U.S. theater industry--the big regional theaters, like Seattle Rep or the Oregon Shakespeare Festival--and blamed them for their strange business choices. Not that he doesn't have a point, but it seems to dodge (or presuppose) the question: what does theater do that's so important? I have my own thoughts on the matter, but really, Daisey seemed to take it as a given. more ›

Today SIFF hosts the Seattle opening of the documentary The Rape of Europa, about the efforts to save art stolen and/or desecrated by the Nazis in the runup to and during WWII. The Stranger loves it. The Seattle Times loves it. By all accounts, Seattlest shouldn't be as excited by this movie as we are, but we find something poetic about the preservation of culture in the face of war. For now we'll leave you with the trailer, which should convince you that learning about this little-known part of our collective history is worth both your time and money. more ›

We've been Ellen Forney fans since we read "I Was Seven in '75" -- back when it ran in The Rocket. Her latest project is Lust, a collection of the "Lustlab Ad of the Week" cartoons she does for The Stranger, published this month by Fantagraphics. We interviewed Forney about the cartoon at Georgetown's All City Coffee, just down the block from the Fantagraphics store where there will be a book launch party tomorrow night. more ›