So, we’re a couple weeks into 2005 and are only now getting around to wringing the last drops of content out of 2004. But everyone loves lists, and everyone loves “best of” lists even more. Or at least this is what we like to pretend as we type this thing out. I’m not usually a huge fan of the genre, but somehow this list materialized. Go figure.

That said, we hope you’ll accept our apologies for tardiness (after all, we’re doing this for free) and frequent use of the editorial “we” as you enjoy this list. We make no claims on “best,” but below are a few of our favorites from last year.

Festival

During the summer, you can’t throw a stone without hitting some sort of neighborhood festival, but as far as recurring citywide events go, it’s hard to beat Bumbershoot. Sure, we know that every year’s lineup is somehow deficient compared to the golden memories of past festivals and that the prices keep going up.
Complain all you want — but it’s hard to argue about value when you
got a double billing of the Pixies and Built to Spill for under $20 (add in the Killers and Bebel Gilberto on the same day and it’s like they’re paying you). Despite all of mandatory crankiness, it’s a great value and an
exceptionally balanced festival with something for everyone. Even on days
with underwhelming agendas, it’s hard not to find your visit to Seattle
Center tightly booked with competing options. Just be sure to buy in advance to take the sting off ticket prices.

Event

Choosing a “best event” for a city for a year is impossible; so let’s
just celebrate the sham wedding of Dan Savage and Amy Jenniges that
took place this spring. While various municipalities were creatively
interpreting laws to grant marriage licenses to same-sex unions, the
City of Seattle forced the issue into the courts. To put the focus on the
absurdity of city policy Dan and Amy held a mostly tasteful wedding
ceremony at the Timberline. Both mention the event in their entries to
The Stranger’s “Regrets” issue, but it was a lot of fun while it
lasted.

Favourite Gross Scandal of 2004

This year’s poopiest scandal would have to be the alleged smearing of
feces, all over the produce section of the Evergreen Village Safeway
by a homeless man. Safeway did The Right Thing by us, and
immediately threw out about $35,000 worth of produce and scrubbed
down the shelves. The mental image continues to make me shiver,
and at our house, we do not say “I’m going to Safeway,” we say “I’m
going to the poopy Safeway.” [skye]

Free Periodical that isn’t the Stranger

We just wanted to mention that we’re really glad that Tablet
survived apparent death, finding new life in a glossy monthly two city
magazine format.

Books

We’d like to say something about missing the Northwest Bookfest, which
was cancelled this year, but we never made it when they actually held the
event. Instead, we’ll just say that we’re extremely lucky to have
bookstores like Elliott Bay and the University Bookstore, which regularly
attract high caliber authors (and crowds of fans). Great free
entertainment, and flashback to the joys of story hour.

Movie

Seattle is a great city for watching movies, made even better by the
Seattle International Film Festival. We like it so much that we forgive
the insanely long lines, need to pre-purchase, and the decision to show
the incredibly bad The Notebook at the opening night gala.

My Best Seattle Movie Experience of 2004

As a movie-viewer, I found myself living in a peculiar time warp this year.
On the one hand, I attended SIFF for the first time and saw a number of
movies that had not yet been released in theaters, acquiring a sort of
glimpse into the future. On the other hand, Netflix delivered an endless
stream of DVDs to my door, giving me a long view into the film past but not
delivering the most current films until long after they had played in
theaters (and had managed to claw their way to the top of my queue). As
2004 comes to an end, I’m still working my way through the Village Voice’s Film
Critics’ Poll of 2003 and have what can only be described as a skewed
and idiosyncratic take on the past year in film.

That said, I did see many wonderful films this year, thanks to both SIFF and
Netflix. Looking back, one movie stands out as particularly good: Yoji
Yamada’s Twilight Samurai (originally released in Japan in 2002).
This was the very first film I saw at SIFF and I showed up for the screening
at the Harvard Exit with a certain amount of trepidation - I knew next to
nothing about it and had merely chosen it because I needed an eighth film to
round out my Asian slate. Unbeknownst to me, the film had already generated
quite a lot of buzz and was completely sold out. I experienced for the
first time the thrill of having chosen one of the must-see films of the
festival. (Later, seeing Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Bright Future in a very
thinly populated Pacific Place screening room, I would learn the equal if
more refined joy of having chosen a good film too obscure and peculiar to
draw a crowd.)

Set in late nineteenth century Japan, Twilight Samurai tells the
story of Iguchi “Twilight” Seibei, a widowed samurai struggling to support
his two young daughters and senile mother on his salary as a lowly
functionary. While this premise may not sound all that promising, the film
is deeply engaging and quickly captured my heart and mind with its moving
depiction of the conflict between the protagonist’s personal struggle to
take care of his family and his allegiance to a fading samurai culture. The
acting - especially by versatile young actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who stars as
the lead - is flawless, while the visual reconstruction of the period is
impressive in its detail and beauty. The film is at turns funny and sad,
and although the story moves along at a leisurely pace the dramatic tension
builds to a fight scene at the end of the film that is both intellectually
and viscerally exciting. In the end, Seibei is a compelling and heroic
character not because he can wield a sword with skill, but because he is so
deeply committed to doing the right thing, whatever the cost. [cat]

New Bar

Was Viceroy new this year? We just love it. Maybe for the feeling
that we’ve accidentally stumbled into The Ice Storm.

Starbucks

We thought about having a category about best Seattle Café, but
that was way too hard. Victrola is like a second office, except
with better art and tastier sandwiches; Solstice has a special
place in my heart, crappy furniture is countered by
great (and loud) music, endearingly great (powder-based) mochas, and now
with food and alcohol; the best physical space (interior + stellar light
and views) has to go to Bauhaus; the list could go on forever.
So instead, we decided to skip it and crown the Greenlake
Starbucks the city’s best. We have no idea if their coffee is better
than any of the other hundred, but it’s one of the easiest landmarks for
meeting up with friends at the park and the staff really seems good about
giving water to Green Lake exercisers during the summer.

Music Venue

Special mention goes to Neumo’s, which has made stumbling home from shows
a heck of a lot easier for the Capitol Hill set. Not to mention the
consistently great booking, the flexible layout, the proximity of Belgian fries, and the (late)
addition of fans to keep summer showgoers from early overheating.

Band Performance

Though it’s way too hard to choose, we’ll just say that seeing The
Postal Service playing their only American show at the Gorge was
pretty neat. So was being at the Wrens KEXP Morning Show at
Night, with John in the Morning rocking the fuck out in the front row.

Sports Franchise

Even though we’re not exactly sports fans, it was hard not to notice that
the Seattle Storm took home first national championship in
decades. Did they ever get that tickertape parade? We hope so.

Favourite Non-free Tourist Attraction

How else can you see so much in so little time? Two or three hours
and about $22 buys you a trip around the lake with
Argosy Cruises. On the
Lake Cruise (Seattle), see both Lake Union and Lake Washington,
including the homes of the rich and famous and that place where
they shot the outside of “Sleepless in Seattle”. An Argosy cruise
is perfect when you have entire families visiting — equally
palatable to your grandparents as it is to your ten-year-olds. It
doesn’t matter where you sit, you’ll all get there at the same time. [skye]