When we got to the Crocodile last night, the Norwegian invasion was in full swing, with singer/songwriter Thomas Dybdahl [deebdoll] holding the audience in the palm of his hand. He's low-key and instantly likable, and a crooner of bittersweet verses about girls who have baggage ("Adelaide" and "Cecilia") and middle-aged men who need to break out of their routine ("Henry"). He closed with "From Grace," which he claims he wrote in his basement and......

MUSIC: In a case of perfect billing, Math and Physics Club are taking a break from puppy petting and hand-holding to sing some songs for the kids as part of Town Hall's Saturday morning concert series. 11am & 1:30pm // Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca Street) // Free for kids 12 and under, $5 for adults - adults must be accompanied by a child COMICS: Gabrielle Bell, Kevin Huizenga, and Anders Nilsen......

Wednesday, February 14 >>> Sparklehorse at Showbox. Sparklehorse is touring in support of their first effort in five years, with more of the same delicate, pretty songs that made them indie darlings. Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter open. * sample: Song Streams available on MySpace 8:00 pm // $17 // 21+. >>> Miss Mamie Lavona the Exotic Mulatta at Conor Byrne. The last time we saw Miss Mamie she charmed us in entirely......

Here at Seattlest HQ, also known as "Library Dorks R Us," we've laid bare our woes of overburdened library hold queues (and overdue quotas) in the past. When 5 books, many over 300 pages, come due at the same time, what is an SPL whore to do? Well, it looks like we're in for another beating; here's what is in our queue, in order of likelihood to arrive: HOLLOW EARTH, by David Standish This non-fiction......

Wednesday, September 27 >>>Town Hall, 7:30pm. Science and medical writer Thomas Hager tells you all about the drug that you won't hear about on House, M.D.: "The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered disease, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics." But does it make you feel like hugging strangers? $5 at the door. >>>Bella Cosa Foods, 4:00-6:00pm: Federico Bibi lets you taste two organic olive......

Occasionally we drop in to see something we've recommended in advance to check if it's worthy of the Seattlest Seal of Approval. Sunday night we took in Chris Jeffries' Kaleidoscope Eyes: Songs for Busby Berkeley. We weren't quite sure what to expect when we walked in. What it turns out to be is a pianist and six vocalists performing "alternate" soundtracks to actual Berkeley-choreographed movie clips -- so it really is a celebration of......

The World Cup is so over that even the most pretentious Europhiles have finally shut up, but Seattlest has some unfinished business. Before the tournament started we set up something called the Seattlest World Cup Challenge over at ESPN and a bunch of you joined, despite our lack of creative naming skills. Some of you joined and forgot about it, only to get the points a monkey flipping coins would have. We doubt we'll......

LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. Where do ist editors go when they hang up the 'editorial we'? They take on MySpace, apparently. At least Ben Brown does. Austinist reminds of the just rewards of less savory careers this week and then they witness the Arctic Monkeys and We Are......

As a wise man once said: "Ohhhh, we're half-way there / Ohhh-oh, living on a prayer." On Wednesday, SIFF officially reached the half-way mark. But it's by no means all downhill from here. There's still tons more great films to see before the fest is through. Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend: · Maxed Out Got......

More baristas in Seattle! Get me out of here fast. Seattle is already lousy with baristas but the four-day U.S. Barista Championship began here on Thursday bringing more than 40 baristas from around the U.S. Competitors have had to prepare 12 coffee beverages—one espresso, one cappucino, and one specialty drink for four judges, all within 15 minutes. A specialty drink is a fancy Frankenstein of the coffee world—like the curry macchiato, a blend of tumeric,......