I knew a guy in college who claimed that Fight Club was the most important movie ever made, and he’d try and hit on girls with the line, “This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”

It’s playing this weekend at the Egyptian, a movie about a nameless thirtyish yuppie who escapes from his boring life with the help of a soap salesman named Tyler. The two set up fight clubs which eventually escalate into a group that performs acts of anti-corporate vandalism. It’s based off the book by Chuck Palahniuk, who, rumor has it, liked the ending of the movie better than the one he wrote. It stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter.

A lot of people got in fights and became glossy nihilists after this movie came out, and everyone seemed to fall into either the camp where they thought it was the greatest movie ever or the camp where they wondered why people want to see grown men beat the hell out of each other. I’m still in that latter camp, myself, although I highly enjoy Carter’s character. Just don’t be inspired to start up fights outside the Egyptian, please–Capitol Hill is seeing enough of that sort of thing these days.

Fight Club plays Friday and Saturday nights at midnight. The Egyptian is at 805 East Pine St.

I don’t know how I missed this, but Nicole Brodeur went ahead and figured out the reason that the already weird pedestrian island surrounded by Denny, Stewart, and Yale had recently gotten a whole lot weirder. A few weeks ago, I wondered why the powers that be had decided that the seemingly perfectly nice deciduous tree in the middle of the concrete island needed to be replaced with a tiny palm tree. With the tropical invader came playroom-inspired sidewalk tiles and transparent plastic flourishes tacked on top of abandoned street signs.

Discussing it with other mystified friends, our most charitable interpretation was that it might be a student art project. It turns out that we were right, sort of. Brodeur took out her reporter’s notebook, waded through several levels of city bureaucracy, and found the real explanation for the $50,000 installation designed by Cornish art students:

The palm tree is the “new, official entryway” into the Denny Triangle neighborhood, [Downtown Seattle Association neighborhood project coordinator Emily] Tsoi said. … Folks waiting for the bus will stand on recycled glass pavers and under lights made of Plexiglas solar panels. The benches will be concrete embossed with smooth pieces of recycled glass, and the walls of the bus shelter will be steel panels engraved with the story of the neighborhood. The whole thing is intended to be a symbol of “the rebirth and growth” of the neighborhood. [times]

Even though I’m not quite sure that I am yet ready to agree with her conclusion — “Anything that rouses you out of your routine, that gives the wind a soothing sound, is welcome downtown. … That palm tree is no longer a puzzle. It’s perfect.” — I am glad to know that the the tree formerly occupying art school island wasn’t removed out of spite, it was just ruining the sidewalk.

(after the jump, google’s satellite view of the intersection prior to the art invasion)

(more…)

Queen Anne’s Hilltop Children’s Center [#] recently fell victim to a horrific tragedy: someone destroyed Legotown. And what is a childcare center to do when Legotown is destroyed? Why, of course–assess the capitalist dynamics of ownership and competition and then ban Legotown until children can understand the importance of collectivism!

We met as a teaching staff later that day. We saw the decimation of Lego-town as an opportunity to launch a critical evaluation of Legotown and the inequities of private ownership and hierarchical authority on which it was founded. Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation. We knew that the examination would have the most impact if it was based in engaged exploration and reflection rather than in lots of talking. We didn’t want simply to step in as teachers with a new set of rules about how the children could use Legos, exchanging one set of authoritarian rules with another. Ann suggested removing the Legos from the classroom. This bold decision would demonstrate our discomfort with the issues we saw at play in Legotown. And it posed a challenge to the children: How might we create a “community of fairness” about Legos? [rethinking schools online, via the volokh conspiracy]

Never before have Legos enjoyed such lofty regard. How far have they come from their Lego porn days! [nsfw, kind of] Personally I would love to see a follow-up article in Rethinking Schools on the Derridean implications of the destruction of Legotown. I mean, really, I think whoever destroyed it was clearly just expressing his or her frustration with the boundaries of constructivism as represented by plastic block construction. Wouldn’t this have been a great opportunity to teach kids about deconstruction?
But in all seriousness, the really disturbing part for me is that when I read the VC article, I thought, “Wow, this is totally something that would happen in Seattle.” Surprise! Because really, nothing screams “Seattle” like being so damn self-congratulatory over just thinking about inequality while not actually doing anything about it.

From an e-mail I just received:

BumberFans, we’ve got a sweet Insider’s Deal for you. You listening? We’re giving you a head start on your summer planning, AND passing on some incredible savings to you. Bumbershoot 3-day passes are available now ONLY for BumberFans, at the insanely low price of $60.

Just visit the Bumbershoot Store, log in and enter the promotional code “INSIDER” to get your hook-up.

The lineup won’t be announced until this summer.

photo by aaron morris [flickr] via our group pool. [#] submit your own!

• farmer’s market moves, bringing the quandry of walking a few extra blocks for produce or support your struggling local grocery? [capitolhillseattle]
• from a million weblogs to real live newspapers in under 24 hours, Mike Davidson’s immaculate hack of McCain’s myspace page [p-i]
• fresh new maps of the dwindling caribou roaming ranges [sightline]
• block party seeks talent, small monetary fees [seattle-powerpop]
• just how powerful is Grey’s Anatomy in raising the fortunes of indie bands? a Kate Havnevik case study. [popwatch]
• Coming soon, Seattle’s newest online journalism venture, which sounds a whole lot like a blog by David Brewster and pals. Coming later, a yet-unnamed project with an easy to achieve mission statement: “Think of us as the Seattle Times- except with energy, integrity, and edge.” [dailyweekly]

The P-I reports that..well, just read it:

KEYPORT, Wash. — Neither supporters nor opponents of a Navy plan to enlist dolphins and sea lions for security work at a major submarine base appeared swayed by arguments at an open house. [...] The Navy has proposed using as many as 30 dolphins and California sea lions to protect the sub base at Bangor, which is believed to contain a large nuclear weapons stockpile, from suspicious swimmers and scuba divers. [#]

Okay, so let’s review: the Navy has a whole pile of nuclear weapons on the Hood Canal, and their security solution is focused on a platoon of dolphins and sea lions?
Unsuprisingly, there were protestors, who “brought inflated dolphins and sea lions clad in camouflaged shirts, while some knitted clothes for the animals.” Civil disobedience ahoy! But it totally makes sense once you understand how it works:

Working at night, the animals are trained to alert a handler in a small boat when they detect a swimmer. The handler then places a strobe light on the nose of the animal, which speeds back and bumps the swimmer, causing the light to fall into the water, where it floats to mark the spot for human security personnel to intercept the intruder. Navy officials said the dolphins would work for a couple hours before being returned to an enclosure with water conditions similar to those of San Diego.

…wait. No, it really doesn’t. Coming soon: giraffes to defend the Space Needle!

O.K., Kristin and I just cross-posted, but let’s just make use of the lighting graphic as another excuse to compare and contrast to decide which is cuter, shall we?

(tiger photo via woodland park zoo [#]; orca photo by NANCY BLACK/ MONTEREY BAY WHALE WATCH via the post-intelligencer [#])

The Woodland Zoo’s adorablest baby tiger in the whole world isn’t the only baby in the Puget Sound these days. The locally-based L pod of orcas was spotted last weekend in California with a baby in tow! Likely a month or two old, “the baby and her pod were playful, breaching and zipping around a whale believed to be her mother.” [seattle times] And oh, what a cute baby it is:

photo by Nancy Black / Monterey Bay Whale Watchers, via the Seattle Times

Look at the teeny fin! And the spots! Adorable! But those mean old whale watchers refuse to name the little orcette, instead waiting until it survives its first year. So for now, the whalie is just known as L109. Which would be a great name if it grows up to be an avant-garde electronica DJ.

Unfortunately, not all babies can be adorable endangered animals–oddly enough, actual human babies are still being born. And today, one of those babies was born on I-5, on the shoulder near the Spokane Street exit. [seattle times] The mother was stuck in traffic and called 911. Luckily for her (and traffic), paramedics were able to move her from her convertible to an ambulance before the baby came. The Seattle Times quotes Jeff Merrill, State Patrol spokesman, as saying that “troopers are trained to deliver babies but don’t have to use the training very often.” Are you sure about that, Jeff?

Regular readers of the Seattle Metblog know we are all about economical and environmentally-friendly alternatives to single-car driving here, which is why hot tipper Jeff alerted us to the existence of an organization called Shared Route [site], a biodiesel passenger bus service that links Seattle, Portland and Olympia.

Buses run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday on a limited schedule – there aren’t as many trip options with Shared Route as there are with Amtrak or Greyhound, but, hey, Amtrak and Greyhound don’t let you take your pet along with you, either. The Shared Route bus also has bike racks so you can continue to be environmentally-sensitive even after you get off the bus. Fares are reasonable: from Seattle it’s only $10 to Olympia and $30 to Portland. I

Julia from Seattle.net [site] wants you all to know about the Seattle.net March photography contest: the “Delicious Dish” contest.

Take a picture of your favorite food item/dish from a local Seattle restaurant or coffee shop (not a chain), explain why it’s the best, and send the picture to us by March 28th. .

Since it’s currently the evening of the 27th, this isn’t much advance warning but those who are able to enter have the chance of winning cash and/or gift certificates to Bai Pai restaurant in Ravenna. See the [rules] page for rules and submit your entry to: seattleweb@seanet.com.