Results tagged “vietnam”

The P-I's big, splashy story today is on the crucial problem of "honey laundering," a horrific pun which made us snicker and then cry a little bit. The issue is that certain nefarious companies are shipping sub-par and potentially contaminated honey out of China on its way to the U.S. markets, stopping at intermediary shipping points (Vietnam, for instance) to alter the documents to make it look like said honey didn't actually come from China. The sweet goods are then slipped across our borders, where the P-I's investigation showed that officials can be less than hyper-vigilant about inspections. People might get sick. The other point of interest is that apparently the FDA has no legal definition for honey. (Seriously? Form a committee at once.)

Buried under the avalanche of over-writing that is Island of Misfits (Thurs-Sun through December 21, tickets $10) is a very funny parody of the stop-motion holiday classic Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. In this case, puppeteer Freddie Douglas Black (Geoffery Simmons, with a Poitier-esque suit and throaty rasp) has been called up for the Vietnam draft, so he heads for the snowy north (Canada) with his cynical, lovelorn photographer Snowflake Jones (Kaitie Warren) and stick-in-the-mud production supervisor Herbie Pickle (Patrick Allcorn)--they've got nothing better to do, since they've all been laid off. Stop-motion is cheaper to do in Japan.

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.

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 up to the kids to fix the water pipe and get everybody laid. Helmer directs this charming, mostly dialogue-free little film with childlike wonder, with shades of Jeunet in his use of fanciful contraptions, like a gondola on pulleys flying over the town.

8 pm tonight (& Saturday) // UW's Meany Theater // Tickets $20-$40

The local act opening for Dolan and Buck 65 was Rudy & the Rhetoric, now out on CD-R. They sound clean, rehearsed, and synthy; the MC (Rudy, we presume) looks freshly scrubbed and straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, one of the outdoorsy pages, where the guys are fully clothed. We had no idea Ken dolls could rap, but he was pretty good, and the DJ (the Rhetoric?) did some cool scratching. Overall, they were surprisingly polished but we had a hard time taking them seriously, especially since the MC kept wincing at the crowd's lukewarm reception.

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.)

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.

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.

Continue reading "Ironic Justice For Puyallup Man"

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 Vietnam or Korea or the Falklands started...but in ten years, when your students ask you, 'Why did we invade Iraq?', what are you going to say? What's the explanation going to be?" Her despairing response: "They already are asking. And I don't know what to tell them."

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).

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.

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.

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.

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?

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."

>>>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.

Cheap. Hot. Fast.

Lo and behold, we love lotus!

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 works which inspire reflection and hope without trivializing the events they commemorate is a difficult line to walk. With the amount of criticism she endured from her first project, her own resilience has also become a subtext of her work. In fact, the 1995 Academy Award winner for best documentary, A Strong Clear Vision, revealed that resilience and exposed the sensitive soul that accompanies it.

In honor of President's Day, we've included our fave prezzes along with our weekend activity list.

That's how the pot-smokin', CCR-lovin', league-bowlin' Dude describes the real-life Seattle Seven in the funniest movie of all-time.

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.

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.

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.