On Tuesday, Sept 28, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame and the University Bookstore (who will be selling books there) will be presenting the second of “six Tuesday evenings with some of the Northwest’s very best science fiction and fantasy writers as they read from their work, answer your questions, and sign books.” This Tuesday, Kay Kenyon and Louise Marley will be reading. All readings begin at 7PM.
In future weeks you can look forward to hearing from: Marc Laidlaw and Richard Paul Russo, Eileen Gunn and Lucius Shepard, Greg Bear and David Brin, and Octavia Butler.
On Wednesday, Sept 29, I’m so pleased to announce that the Bellevue Regional Library will be presenting Susanna Clarke (Cambridge, UK), author of “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”. Clarke appears to be the hot new voice in fantasy. Jonathan Strange is her first novel (although not her first time being published), and is fourth on the New York Times bestseller list (hardcover) at this moment. She’ll be doing a book signing, and let me tell you it’s not too early to be thinking about a personally signed christmas gift for your fantasy-book-loving spouse. Or me, for that matter.
Now, their website says the program will be in room #5, but the sign outside the library says Meeting Room 1, which I’m more inclined to believe since it’s the very large, very findable meeting room.

So today I ventured out to White River Ampitheathre to brave the pit crowd for Endfest 13. I left a bit battered and bruised and have a bit of a headache but overall it was a fairly well attended show and I didn’t get angry at too many moshers. Unfortunately I was so busy at the mainstage that I didn’t make it to the Seattle stage, but I heard the Lashes were incredible. So here’s a rundown of what I did see.
It started off with Metric and their Uma Thurman lookalike lead singer throwing down some crazy tunes. They were fantastic and the crowd was really into it when they played Combat Baby. However, I was sad that they didn’t play longer since they are actually -really- good. Second up was Muse! This show was amazing and if you paid the 37 dollars to stand in the pit like I did, it was well worth it just for this portion of the show. The band was really on tonight and the music sounded great. They opened with Hysteria (which all the radio listeners of course knew) and the moshing grew from there. When they played ‘Time is Running Out’, the crowd was in a frenzy! It was pretty nice to feel united with your peers. After this incredible show, we were brought down a notch by the Psychedelic Furs. This was an interesting choice I think because well…its rather dated. The lead singer kept doing this weird thing in front of the drummer as if we were supposed to focus our attention on his ever wiggling ass. It was very comical but fun when they played ‘Pretty in Pink’. The 80s are making a comeback ya know. The fun didn’t stop there. Next up was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was a little too artsy for me. Karen kept doing these wierd gyrations with her body and the microphone and it was apparent that she enjoyed showing her panties to the audience. Then she proceeded to insult the bands after theirs and tell us we were so ‘L-U-C-K-Y’..and there were a few choice f words thrown in for flavor. It was a little shocking really. Next up was X…and I have no idea where these guys came from other than LA. They were a mix of old punk and a little rockabilly…and alot of fun. The set was incredibly long though, but everyone loved when they covered the Ramones ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’. That was the only time I recognized a song they were playing. Well, after this, on came the Violent Femmes! I took a break and decided to endulge in some festival food (5 dollar nachos and a 4 dollar Coke) so all I could do was hear the band and it sounded okay. I had forgotten how old these guys were! I ventured back in for the highlight of the night for some. Franz Ferdinand! I was up in the front like before but eventually made my way to the back as the moshers took over the place. This show was stellar. So much fun and I recommend seeing them just because they were great. Next, the highlight of MY evening. Echo and the Bunnymen. They opened with ‘Lips Like Sugar’ and I was sold from there. I love this band and always will. (*grins*) Its fun cause he chain smokes and has a horrible accent from Liverpool and its such ‘bloody good fun’ that I can’t hardly stand myself. After that was the Presidents which sadly, I must say that I didn’t stay to see because we had to get out of there because traffic was bad enough already! To sum it up, Endfest 13 was a good thing. A little wierd but a good time overall. However, Seattle has plenty of cool venues to not have to go to White River again…it smelt of manure.

I think it’s cool that you can usually tell what neighborhood you’re in just by looking at the sidewalks. From the glitter-vision of downtown to the celebrated dance instructions on Capitol Hill to the microbiology primers on Eastlake, there’s quite an effort to make the sidewalks interesting in Seattle. This insert, found along North Yale between Thomas and John was unexpected. It’s across the street from R.E.I. and in front of a lot that’s being prepared for new construction.
Does anyone know the history? Did this building once reside on site?

I walked over to R.E.I. for lunch — even though it’s World Wrapps, the balcony is a great way to pick up surprise afternoon sun — and took a picture of their mini-nature preserve. Even though it’s completely constructed, there’s something kind of cool about having a little nature zone so close to the highway and across from a construction zone.
Of course, the motivation for building it was probably more along the lines of reminding customers that nature actually exists and wise travelers stock up on gear before leaving the city.

Dearest metblog readers,
Been wishing that you had a general purpose place to talk about our city and weblog? Consider your wish granted! Metroblogging has set-up a message board system [#]. Among other genereal purpose topics, you’ll find a whole forum dedicated to our town: seattle forum.
Check it out, give us some feedback, or post some ideas for articles. Enjoy!

WSDOT today introduced their new “Seattle Area Traffic Website” in a soft launch. Quoting from the news article on wsdot’s website,

The new beta test site can be found at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle It will replace the currently active site. The current site can be found at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/pugetsoundtraffic/ for comparison purposes.

Note the little news box thingy that reminds you that

WSDOT maintenance crews will close the Alaskan Way Viaduct for its semiannual inspection September 25 and 26.
The viaduct will close Saturday, September 25 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and again Sunday, September 26 from 6 a.m. to noon.
The closure will extend from Spokane Street through the Battery Street Tunnel.

While the article does state that “WSDOT workers will reopen the viaduct at noon on Sunday, September 26 to accommodate 65,000 extra travelers headed to the 1 p.m. Seahawks game” I’d be curious to know if that’ll do any good at that late time. I mean, I’m no football fan or anything but don’t people like to get to these things early so they can cook out of the backs of their cars? Just a thought.
Another thought: looking at their new beta test site, and comparing it to their old “current site” I have to say, I find their old site very very unfamiliar-looking. Seems to me the current map is missing a bunch (like, ALL) of those little camera icons. The very same ones that are on the new beta site, as a matter of fact. Did someone over there get the two websites mixed up or something? Oh well. I’ll just wait to see which site they take down.

I can’t believe September is almost gone and its already fairly cold in the mornings when I wake up. However, you have to admit Seattle is still beautiful this time of year! There are so many cool things coming up in October and I can’t wait to get into them! This Saturday is Endfest! It will be very cool to see Echo and the Bunnymen and the Violent Femmes at the White River Ampitheatre in Auburn. It should be fun. Other concerts you should know about…
Oct. 4th @ the Crocodile — Mooney Suzuki
Oct. 18th @ the Moore — Bright Eyes
Oct. 20th @ the Premier — The Matches (I love this band!)
Oct. 26 @ Neumo’s — Q and Not U
Oct. 26 @ a location I cannot currently recall — Holly Golightly (she’s fantastic)
Its so exciting to live in a fantastic city surrounded by so much good music. The local scene isn’t bad either. October 1st (the first Saturday of every month) I’m going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. My friend Jenn’s friend is in the cast so it should be a good time. I’m new to the whole thing so perhaps you ‘not so virgin’ goers can give me tips!
Other dates to note::
Sept. 27th @ the Crocodile — Joseph Arthur
Sept. 28th @ Bauhaus, 8:00…LiveJournal Meetup
Sept. 29th @ the Showbox — Snow Patrol (I couldn’t get tickets and I’m fairly bummed about this!)

The fog this morning could have come straight out of a Berkeley wall, obscuring anything farther away than a block or so. It was lovely and soft, muting the traffic down to a low hush of wheels on barely damp pavement. By the time I’d got to campus, it had retreated leaving a hint of wispyness off to the horizon and wet brickwork. When I went out for coffee, it went back to the standard, Pacific Northwest “mist with a mission”. Panicky people drag out their umbrellas at the first sign of this type of precipitation, everyone else keeps walking.
It’s weather like this that I can close my eyes and almost feel myself get a little unstuck from time, walking in a forest of old-growth trees and animals unaware that I am or could ever possibly be a threat. Between the smell of the rain and the emptiness of the campus, I get lost.
Except for the votive mocha in my hand. Except for the backhoe digging to unearth a labyrinth of piping for one maintenance project or another.
I turn the music on my discman up, turning my attention away from the weather and back into the Brazilian electronica swinging deep rhythms from another season. My steps lock to the beat as I take the stairs to the building. Nothing in there but work, nothing but the music keeping me going.
Same as it ever was.

The Stranger is staging an “all ages orientation” on Saturday (25th September) that’s totally free and has the potential to net you a pretty good prize package (including your very own picture on the cover and lots of VIP passes) for the team that follows the clues to victory. If you win, the Stranger will be delivered to your home for a year, which seems kind of pointless, but I guess there must be people who find it a chore to pick up a free copy.
Show up on the Ave at 10 am to find a gorilla who will give you the first clue.

I was just at the Evergreen Village (Bellevue) Safeway this morning, doing my little shopping thing. I was late — I usually do it on the weekend. While wandering around getting my goods, I noticed that the shelves in the produce aisle were looking a bit empty. I didn’t think much of it. I never come in on Mondays. Maybe this is what things look like after a weekend rush. Maybe they’re expecting a delivery soon. Maybe they had taken all the little fruits and vegetables on a field trip (AHAHAHA).
Well, just heard on the news, the reason the shelves were empty was because they found (and I quote) “a pile of fecal matter was discovered on top of some produce” (from NWCN channel) on Sunday night between 7:30 and 10:30PM. Safeway immediately shut down the produce section, turfed out the produce, disinfected the shelves, and brought new produce in. They’re also offering refunds on produce purchased last night.
I’m totally speechless. I can’t even begin to picture how this little act went down. Did someone walk in (or smuggle a dog in) and take a dump? Did someone carry in a baggie of poo and empty it out on the produce aisle? Isn’t the rest of the store contaminated by association?
Also, the police were called. Did they send in CSI? Is everyone getting DNA tested? OK, I watch a little too much TV. I’ll just go back to being speechless.
Oh! I almost forgot the best part. In the background of the news report there was a farting noise — I think it was actually sounds of a motorcycle revving past the reporter, but of course that wasn’t the first thing on my mind.