Saturday: food, beer, mathrock, and indie pop mix at the KEXP fundraiser BBQ. Show up at 6 pm with $10 in hand, not just to support heroically good local radio, but also to hear some great live music from the Ruby Doe and Aveo. [kexp]
Well it looks like the anti- camp has been just strong enough and unless something happens to stop the process, we could be voting on a new (shudder along with me, kids) initiative that would kill the monorail project. Maybe. They’re not entirely sure what with the endless cycles of suits and countersuits.
Which brings up a very important question:
Do you even know what to think about the monorail anymore?
I moved here shortly after the first vote and since then I’ve found myself absolutely overwhelmed by the spiels from both sides of the debate. Better still is having both of the weeklies and both of the newspapers pointing to every monorail-related event anywhere in the country pointing it out as evidence that they’re right.
The Las Vegas monorail? Why it’s proof that a metropolitan monorail can be opened… except that they built that one in the middle of a desert and didn’t have to contend with hills, bridges, rivers and etcetera.
The monorail that caught fire here? It’s proof that a monorail is a losing proposition… except it demonstrates that it’s become an arterial and that we can build it better next time.
I’m beginning to think that both sides are playing this so that it becomes like the ending to the 2000 election, building the momentum of opinions up to such a feverish pitch that finally everyone in the city starts shrugging and whining “OK, fine, just pick something already! I don’t care anymore!” You can see it happening, can’t you? Finally the population sags, succumbing to outrage fatigue, satisfied that even if it’s not the outcome they were rooting for, at least it’s an outcome?
So do you know what to think anymore? Beyond the vague (but serious) truth that Seattle could do with some better public transportation options out there, how the heck are you making up your mind?
Tonight marks the opening of the eighth Mae West Fest at the Capitol Hill Arts Center. The festival runs through the weekend and features more than forty shows written and produced by women.
Catch one show for $5 or overdose on the festival for $50.
the Q&A from the Seattle premiere of The Hunting of the President at the Cinerama.
This summer is turning out to be the season of the political documentary. The Hunting of the President [site] had its Seattle premiere tonight at the Cinerama. Your correspondent was there (in the cheap seats) but was too shy to take slower.net style photos of the attendees and settled for a blurry crowd shot. [photolog]
Believers in the “vast right wing conspiracy” might be more receptive to the film than others, but it is an instructive story about the forces that played a huge role in the neverending scandal of the nineteen nineties. Susan McDougal’s sections were especially compelling. Though it was an especially sympathetic audience (a Democratic fundraiser) there was a lot of audience participation — plenty of hissing, which I hadn’t encountered before this year’s string of documentaries.
It opens to the public on Friday at the Varsity.
This week The Stranger’s gossip/music columnist/institution Kathleen Wilson silences “Some Candy Talking” (the warmer, fuzzier sequel to “It’s My Party”). In her goodbye she thanks the academy, but doesn’t explain her departure. [stranger]
We’ll admit that some of the fun of K.W. spottings was diminished when they started publishing her picture along with the column and will sincerely miss her relentless coverage of whatever events happened to occur at the Cha-Cha Lounge on any particular night.
Good bye Kathleen! No one made aging hipsterdom look better.
—
[secret memo to Dan Savage: if you're looking for someone to take over, I know of a guy who's turning "the new 23" this August that just might be available (yet is completely lacking in qualifications).]
Online courses, you ask?
The cost is the about the same as in-state tuition for in-person classes (~$150 a credit) so I wouldn’t recommend it if your goal is just to learn Russian or get an overview of south asian religions, but it’s a good way to pick up credits. Having been prematurely sucked out of academia by. . er. . favorable market conditions in the tech sector, I’m trying to finish my degree while keeping up a fulltime career, and the UW’s online courses are invaluable. How else can you take a midterm on the can?
Of course, if you just want to keep your brain sharp while waiting for the UW to find some available space, you can’t do better than MIT’s OpenCourseWare. It’s like going to MIT, but you don’t get the pedigree, the credits, or get to spend the rest of your life paying off the student loans.
Incidentally, isn’t it odd that the UW is suffering so much from success? If a supermarket has people beating down its door to get in, they’d probably be pretty happy, but the U considers it some kind of unfortunate disaster. I’m pretty sure all of these transfer students come bearing tuition checks, so build some more freaking classrooms.
Today while surfing through my livejournal I came across something rather disturbing! It seems that UW in Seattle is not accepting transfer students! Soon, Tacoma and Bothell campuses are going to follow suit. It appears there aren’t enough seats for people who want to be admitted. Scary or what? I think that perhaps they should start investigating some online courses for people who just don’t want to wait.
Read more!
Think Boston has it bad with the Democratic National Convention? Imagine replacing all of the security cordons with Cat-5 cabling, swapping in obsessive gamer geeks for delegates, and moving it to Bellevue. Welcome to PAX, the first (and possibly last, if there is enough carnage) gaming exhibition designed by the two Seattlite juggernauts of gaming fandom at Penny Arcade, who have a habit of turning straightforward ideas into massive successes.
So keep August 28-29 clear on the calendar. Apparently all kinds of industry bigwigs will be there, along with musical satisfaction via the #1 nerdcore hip-hop artist on the planet, MC Frontalot as well as Seattle’s own Optimus Rhyme. And lots of video games.
Starting around a month ago a few friends have gotten together very faithfully every week to meet at Adam’s house for Art Muthafuckin Tuesday! Check out the collection 
For me it’s an excuse to hang out in the sun and then go out that night and get rip roaring drunk. For other art tuesday-ers it’s a chance to work on their furniture to potentially make money, the sell outs. The first rule for amt, there is no amt. Actually the only rule is: you have to make art, so I’m writing this piece from down the street since this isn’t considered art. I want to debate that but they won’t hear it.
