We have gathered some of the top political writers in the country and asked them to discuss the presidential race throughout the year. Today they discuss McCain’s new frontrunner status, religion in American politics, and Edwards’ departure. Seattlest: How do you handicap the Republican race following John McCain’s win in Florida? Mark (The New York Times): The GOP in Florida has given McCain true front runner status. It must suck to be a wacko Republican......

Absurdistan is an allegorically rich comedy care of witty German director Veit Helmer and filmed in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the tiny titular land, a war of the sexes break out when the local aqueduct ceases to work, and the men are too lazy to fix it. The women declare a strike--no water, no sex--and two childhood sweethearts find themselves feuding instead of consummating their long-standing love. Looks like it's......

For Drought and Rain, Vol. 2, Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola follows up her dance exploration of life during wartime with war's effects on the next generation. Sola was only twelve when she left Vietnam in 1974, so she has a foot in both worlds. There's more preview video, if you're into that kind of thing. There are thirteen dancers and, happily, six musicians (we get a little tired of canned music and dance). In the......

Seattlest ventured into Belltown last night to attend the Buck 65 show at the Crocodile, mostly because Buck 65 is a divisive name in hiphop. You either love him or you don't, and we couldn't make up our minds based on the tracks he's got online. Our plan was to skip the openers. The guy touring with Buck 65 is named Bernard Dolan -- and, in the phrasing of Flight of the Conchords, what......

As if Bart Sher weren't enough artistic ordnance, Intiman is also packing Craig Lucas in its Associate Artistic Director holster. (That's Craig Lucas, author of the book for The Light in the Piazza, author of the plays Prelude to a Kiss, The Dying Gaul, and The Singing Forest, and author of the screenplays for Longtime Companion and The Secret Lives of Dentists.) Following up on his terrific adaptation of Uncle Vanya, Intiman is staging the......

Are you there Seattle art world? It's us, Seattlest. We're trying our best to talk up your First Thursday openings, but it looks like you've crapped out on us this month. We understand: you're on vacation or something, it's kinda hot out, the BLUE ANGELS are in the sky ... We've got posts to post, however, and damned if we won't find something to recommend from your namby-pamby Art Walk offerings. Here's what we're going......

Some guy who decided Halloween was just too fun to be only one day a year got a heavy dose of ironic justice yesterday:A Puyallup man who posed as a decorated Marine Corps captain for two years will tend graves at the Tahoma Military Cemetery in Kent as part of 500 hours of community service, a federal judge has decided. Reggie L. Buddle, 59, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to unlawful wearing of U.S.......

Watching David Hare's dramatization of the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq last night at ACT, we were reminded of an email exchange we had that summer with an old college friend. Our friend, a Brit, was at the time starting her career as a history teacher, and if we recall correctly, we wrote her something to the effect of, "You know why World War I started, you know why World War II or......

Permit us to bloviate some on the death of David Halberstam today in a car crash, which is utter bullshit considering that the guy reported from fricking Vietnam and he dies in a traffic accident in San Mateo (the car that hit him driven by, in a terrible irony, a Berkeley journalism student) (actually, I'm an idiot, his driver was a Berkeley student, so there's no irony, just terribleness). Halberstam's Summer of '49, about the......

SEX ON THE BRAIN: A healthy brain increases your chances for intimacy and great sex. Daniel Amen, the bestselling author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life and Making a Good Brain Great, wants your brain to get laid. In Sex on the Brain he shares research from modern science to improve your love life. 7pm // Third Place Books // FREE BASKETBALL: Washington's NCAA tourney hopes depend on finding a way to beat #11......

Monday AUTHOR, AUTHOR: In Bich Minh Nguyen's memoir, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a young family escapes from Vietnam shortly before the fall of Saigon and relocates to Grand Rapids, Michigan. "In her recreation of a world populated by family ties, Ritz crackers, and Judy Blume books, she has captured the 1980s with perfection," says Kirkus Reviews. 7:30pm // Elliott Bay // FREE Tuesday ANNE LAMOTT RECOMMENDS: Elizabeth Gilbert talks about her book Eat, Pray, Love:......

We’ve already sung the praises of the $3.00 meal at Saigon Vietnam Deli, which has also been our favorite place for banh mi sandwiches—specifically the banh mi thit nuong, or barbecued pork. So when we heard rave reviews of said sandwiches at a heretofore overlooked alternative (or HOA, not to be confused with the Chinese Vietnamese "Hoa"), we raced to Spring Roll House Deli to check them out. First you have to find the place......

The Seattle P-I reports that Tay Yoshitani, who will succeed Mic Dinsmore, "was the Port of Seattle Commission's unanimous choice from more than 70 possible candidates generated during a 6-month-long national search." Does this mean he'll help the Port understand that it's not got a monopoly, as Bill Virgin was saying the other day? The Northwest Progressive Institute emphasizes his consultant/lobbyist credentials, without mentioning that what he's been doing for the last two years......

In explaining its name, Pho Cyclo tells us that "the cyclo drivers are the eyes and ears of the local street scene" who can "point you to where you can always get a delicious meal at a great price." Seattlest can now tell you about a pho place that will assault your eyes and ears the minute you walk in off the street. Last week, Dishin' reported on a Chinese restaurant where the waitstaff kept......

Wednesday, November 8 >>>UW Forum for Science and Ethics Policy, 5:30pm. Dr. Dennis Schatz, VP for Education at the Pacific Science Center, cheerleads for “Making Science as Pervasive as Sports in Society.” His ulterior motive? It can only be to pack the Sonics off to Oklahoma and build our very own Exploratorium right here in Seattle, to which we say “Be Aggressive, Be Be Aggressive!” Free. UW Health Sciences Building, T-478. >>>Pacific Science Center......

Cheap. Hot. Fast. When we're desperate for food, we can count on all that and more at 12th and Jackson, our favorite food corner in Seattle. In addition to some excellent restaurant choices, this area is home to some delicious delis – Vietnamese-style. Our favorite: Saigon Vietnam Deli, in a little strip mall at 1200 S. Jackson. Many people walk out with bags of banh mi – cheap, delicious sandwiches on baguettes. That's a topic......

Lo and behold, we love lotus! This mud-loving water plant found in ponds, flooded fields, lagoons and the like in Vietnam is the central figure in Lotus Root Salad. And we like it nowhere better than Green Leaf (418 Eighth Avenue South)—one of the best new restaurants to open in Seattle in the past year. Everything we've tried on Green Leaf's menu has been a winner. If you’re not sure what to order, ask the......

It seems that everyone in town is buzzing about Maya Lin's new exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery. Personally, we only really know Lin through her premiere memorial in DC, and, really, there is no denying the power and simplicity of that work. There is, however, great scope to her work. The Vietnam Memorial launched her career, but she is also responsible for another simple, powerful monument--the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Creating......

In honor of President's Day, we've included our fave prezzes along with our weekend activity list. Michael vB is going to see the NW Dance Split Bill ($18) at On the Boards either tonight or closing night Saturday, 8pm. Then Sunday morning he plans to scram on down to the Hi-Spot before the brunch crush for some delicious breakfast vittles. He likes Harry S Truman, because he was "scrappy." Audrey will spend the long weekend......

That's how the pot-smokin', CCR-lovin', league-bowlin' Dude describes the real-life Seattle Seven in the funniest movie of all-time. Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, played by Jeff Bridges, was actually based former Seattleite Jeff Dowd, former instigator in the Seattle Liberation Front. Vietnam was the cause that really tied the SLF together. A UW professor organized the student-based antiwar outfit in January 1970. The next month, on February 17, the radical group staged a demonstration outside the......

As if the Hmong didn't have it bad enough as Seattle's Leading Minority That You Know The Least About, over the weekend Terry Barlow took his own life in dramatic fashion during their New Year celebration at the Seattle Center. Barlow slashed himself with a razor despite the best efforts of security guards, vendors and the general air of celebration and he later died at Harborview. The Hmong are aboriginal Chinese who now live in......

Monkeys are funny, puppies are cute, and ligers are totally awesome, but our favorite species is people. Our need for human interest stories is unquenchable, which is why we've been enthralled by the Seattle P-I this week. They've been running a series of articles by Alicia Parlette, a San Francisco Chronicle copy editor who, soon after losing her mother to cancer, contracted a dangerous form of the disease herself, at age 23. The seven-part series......

While the city and the country were celebrating the secular holiday surrounding the Super Bowl this weekend, Seattle's Vietnamese population observed the Lunar New Year, Tet, and welcomed the Year of the Rooster. Some interesting facts about Tet: The New Year does not fall on the same date each year, although it is always in January or February. Prior to the celebrations homes are cleaned and painted. However cleaning during Tet is avoided. The Tet......