The Wall Street Journal just released a job-trend list of the cities that are expected to attract the most young, educated people after the recession. Seattle made number 1, edging out New York, Chicago, and Portland handily. No surprise there. WSJ listed “Seattle's combination of a diverse high-tech sector, cultural life, access to rugged natural terrain and a strong university presence” as big draws. They also pointed out the tech angle: more ›

We've been mourning the loss of Seattle Semi-Pro wrestling for a few weeks now, and the Wall Street Journal has finally joined us. In their online article, "Fake Wrestlers Pinned Down By State's Department of Licensing," the WSJ focuses on the theater-versus-real-sport debate and features a humorless quote from a McDonald's rep about SSP wrestler Ronald McFondle. WaMu and SSP: month by month Seattle will get our day in the national news media sun. Seattlest has been alerted to an SSP benefit show taking place at Club Motor on April 1st, so supporters should plan on attending what would be a recommendable event even if it weren't for such a good cause. more ›

Pandora is batting a perfect 1.000 for Seattlest HQ this morning with Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" as the seeder (does it get better than Outkast, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, the GZA, and Missy Elliott on a Tuesday?). But what really put this morning over the top in terms of all-around greatness was finding this Wall Street Journal article about the writer's life, Obama, and the White House by local author Jonathan Raban, via Slog. An excerpt from Raban's essay:

In politics, "realism" is usually just another term for pragmatism, or Realpolitik. But "Dreams From My Father" suggests that for Obama the word is rooted less in a political than in a literary tradition, where it has a far richer meaning. It signifies the watchful eye and patiently attentive ear; a proper humility in the face of the multiplex character of human society; and, most of all, a belief in the power of the writer's imagination to comprehend and ultimately reconcile the manifold contradictions in his teeming world.

No one's saying anything, but the clouds look pretty dark for the mall's current owners. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chicago's General Growth Properties have hired very specific legal help, bringing on "the law firm Sidley Austin as bankruptcy counsel while it negotiates with lenders for more time to restructure its $27 billion debt load." If Westlake isn't the market already, the auction block is becoming a distinct possibility. more ›

Pacific Northwest Ballet has been putting on a terrific series of educational events the last few weeks: there was the Twyla Tharp-narrated rehearsal of her two new works, and then Doug Fullington gave us firsthand foreign policy experience by showing us real Russian choreography. more ›

The Seattle Weekly just brought this Fleet Foxes tidbit to our attention--we didn't realize this, but the Wall Street Journal has a popular music critic, one Mr. Jim Fusilli. In an effort to cross generational gaps, he wrote a story about the Brian-Wilson-flavored harmonies in vogue with the kids today (Starling Electric, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver), and even rang up the Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold for an interview. Pecknold is always interview gold. The money quote follows: "We weren't coming at it from a jazz point of view," said Mr. Pecknold, who is 22 years old. "We wanted something simple, like old folk music." Strict, structured harmonies "can sound too lush, too '70s, too 'Hall & Oatesy,'" he added. "It's better when you experiment and find different notes to sing." more ›

At long last, struggling Washington Mutual acceded to the inevitable and showed CEO Kerry Killinger the door. Thanks to our local newspapers' canny investments in business coverage, we're hearing about immensely important local news the day after the Wall Street Journal reported on Killinger's exit. The Seattle Times is running an AP story, and the P-I made its whole business staff (i.e., Bill Virgin) come in over the weekend and write something up. The Times did get a special from Jon Talton that recaps the WaMu/Killinger situation, and it's worth reading. If incoming head Alan Fishman's job is to work on WaMu's curb appeal, Seattle may be about to take a hard hit. more ›

What was that about getting back to making the perfect latte? Starbucks announced today that they are debuting two new, non-coffee beverages. The company unveiled their plans in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. more ›

Howard Schultz is shaking things up. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks is testing a $1 cup of drip coffee in some Seattle-area stores.

The eight-ounce short size isn't on Starbucks's menu but has long been ordered by in-the-know patrons. Typically, a short, brewed coffee would sell for around $1.50, although that can vary by several cents depending on the store. Starbucks is also testing the offer of free refills for traditional-brewed coffee in the Seattle area. more ›

Man, if the EU court that stuck it to Microsoft this weekend and Mr. and Mrs. Slowsky were in a race it would probably go off the board for betters. It's. Taking. For. Ever. The crime is Microsoft shutting out competitors by bundling Windows Media Player with Windows, which, to us at least, seems like an ancient issue. What are they going to go after Microsoft for next? Attaching round wheels to an axle? We were all about this issue when it was browsers that were being shut out of Microsoft operating systems, but for some reason we can't get all that excited about media players. Real Player? QuickTime? Fuck 'em. More troubling to us are the protocols that Microsoft has refused to open. Standards; there is a point to it, after all. more ›

No question about it: there's too much Bordeaux on the market. The answer: find new ways to sell it. Howard Goldberg, who once wrote for the NewYork Times, thinks the answer is for Bordeaux estates to sell shrink-wrapped, powdered wine, which could be reconstituted (with designer water, to be sure) into vino. Great idea, Howard; we'll get back to you. more ›

Down on phony farms, up for the real thing. more ›

The legislation would not require the track to be built near Bremerton, though [state senator] Hatfield said he believes track promoters are serious when they say they have no other site selected. The location would allow NASCAR to connect with latte drinking Seattle urbanites, he said. more ›

Back after a week in northern Italy, hamming it up in Parma and so on. We turn our back for a couple of days and all hell breaks loose. more ›

Oh Al Gore you're so darn funny. You're just ridiculous. You and your "global warming" and the idea that there's someone responsible for it...How do you come up with this stuff? Everybody, look at Al Gore and his little army of penguins and pay no attention to the fact that our laughter is just a little too forceful to not have originated from a place of fear. more ›

Truly, Seattlest walked into the opening of 9 Parts of Desire at the Rep with trepidation, well-founded in experience, about tremendously topical one-person shows. And when it began with a woman at a river telling us about dumping shoes with "worn out soles" in the water (say it to yourself, "worn out soles," savor the homonymity), we slouched a bit in our seat. more ›

We posted yesterday on the push to unionize Starbucks cafes in Manhattan and a few emails and a few suspicious late night phone calls to Seattlest’s home phone from “private number” and we’re ready to give you the other side of the story. Actually we looked for this stuff before we posted yesterday, but couldn’t find any response from Starbucks on the issue of unions or critiques of their health care packages. Don’t acknowledge nuthin, won’t be nuthin. more ›

The workers of a third New York Starbucks unionized recently, continuing what has to be an uncomfortable trend for our caffienated giant. The employees of the Union Square Starbucks store are joining two other Manhattan locations in The Starbucks Workers Union (aka IWW, aka IU-660) chiefly because of concerns regarding the low number of hours available to part-time employees. more ›