bait shop poster, barsuk [#]

To remind you to set your TiVos for this week’s Death Cab For Cutie Goes to Newport edition of the o.c. [#], your pals at Barsuk have posted a fake poster from the fake club on the real internet. Get it while it’s hot. Your bedroom needs some updated decoration.

For more oc/dcfc fusion, a recent mailer from Barsuk included a candid photo [#] of Ben Gibbard and Adam Brody taken on set by Chris Walla, providing hours of bliss for geek chic fanatics. Here’s hoping they recover from collective swoons by the time the actual episode airs.

I’m not a fan of pie. I think savory pies are good, but if I am faced with a fruit pie (no pun intended) and a bowl of fruit, give me the plain fruit every time.

So when SBW dropped in and demanded that we “go out for pie” there were really only a few places in Bellevue that sprung to mind: any grocery store, a Denny’s, or a Coco’s. We started driving towards Coco’s and when we got there, there was a large, black plastic bag over their signage. The place looked dark and undesserted.

We drove in a fog of bafflement towards the other Coco’s, on the other side of town, only to find the same thing when we got there.

Apparently four of the Coco’s in this state have been closed for the past three or four months (goes to show you how much I value Coco’s). They were franchises, owned by the same person, and there’s no telling whether the person decided to go bankrupt, or just decided he was fed up with selling pie. In the meantime, Coco’s (the company) have re-opened a Federal Way Coco’s (the restaurant). At this point though, my time would be best spent by telling SBW to pick up a pie at one of the Marie Callender’s restaurants in Seattle, and stay on her side of the lake to eat it.

Seattle magazine’s Best Doctors issue. [#]. Maybe this year, Seattle Grace!

The joy of nitpicking Grey’s Anatomy has diminshed substantially since the first couple episodes. With the “establishing” storylines out of the way and the cast and crew out of town, there are just fewer opportunities for silly details. Sure, we get a few early morning flyovers and the space needle from afar, but for now the fun has slowed.

This week’s episode did revolve around a rather big conceit. Namely, the wide readership of Seattle Magazine. Amazingly, everyone in the hospital seemed to be reading it, which felt like a pretty amazing overestimation of its popularity. Perhaps it was the annual roundup of the best doctors?

The “point” of everyone reading Seattle is that the issue includes an ad starring our favorite alien, Isabel, posing in something much less than scrubs. This introduces the bizarre plot point of the week: that guys don’t like attractive doctors. Dopey George doesn’t feel like the occasional tampon run is worth having Dr. Model walking around the house in revealing undergarments. Brash Intern Guy makes fun of her for being hot. Mr. Prostate Cancer Patient isn’t at all happy about having a lingerie model in the O.R. with him. Has the world gone mad?

(after the jump, a rundown of what happened in “Seattle’s” favorite fictional hospital)
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Not Seattle-specific, but Ben and Jerry’s will be holding their “free cone day” on Tuesday from 12PM to 8PM. I’m such a sucker for free ice cream and I know you guys are too. So join me in hogging all the good parking spots this Tuesday. It’s our reward to us for handing our taxes in on time.

While on the subject of commercial signage, observant travellers of Aurora Avenue might have noticed that a certain flower shop is now pushing up the daisys itself:

There’s something unintentionally revealing about the marketing slogan affixed to the papier-m

Round One of the World Barrista Championship started at 10:00 this morning right here in Seattle. One of the 32 finalists competing in the WBC is Phuong Tran, a Seattleite who works at Zoka and is the reigning US champion.

There’s a nice article about Tran in today’s New York Times, but not the Seattle Times or PI. (The NYT article requires a login.)

The WBC is being held downtown, in the former location of the temporary library (8th & Pike). Attendance is free. Go and cheer our home girl on to victory!

(image, the-op.com)

Some brave souls wait outside the theater for several months in anticipation of the final chapter in the Star Wars series. They get evicted [p-i] and wait outside a different theater. You know better. Why sit in the cold waiting for what’s sure to be a disappointing nail in the coffin of a beloved childhood franchise when you have the internet and indoor heating?

Revenge of the Sith opens on 19 May (midnight show). Starting today, tickets are on sale on the web [movietickets] or at the Cinerama box office (for those who don’t mind occasionally leaving the comfort of their sofa) Even Jeff Twieten, Seattle’s resident marathon Star Wars Waiting Guy ran from his IMAX encampment to Cinerama to get his tickets in person [#].

see also:

Despite all the controversy over South Lake Union development, it’s hard to argue that the restaurant & café scene hasn’t improved. For residents of North East Seattle who want to take a quick (and free!) jaunt to this Brave New BioTechWorld, nothing beats the following magic carpet ride:

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It looks like another neighborhood is getting in on after (typical gallery) hours art scene — the University District kicks off a new Third Friday art walking event tomorrow from 6 to 8 pm [metrokc]. While the U-District isn’t home to the high-end galleries that draw crowds to Pioneer Square on first Thrusdays, there will be at least thirty places to check out art as well as “live music, painting, tarot readings, hors d