Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, the UW Women’s Softball team defeated the top-seeded Florida Gators by a score of 3-2, sweeping their two game series to earn their first ever NCAA softball championship.

The fine performances from the women on the team made their win look easy, but they had a long road to travel to get to their trophy, leaving Seattle way back on May 13 to head out to Massachusetts to begin tournament play. They’ll be returning to campus with UW’s fifth NCAA title overall, the first since women’s volleyball won their championship in 2005.

National player of the year Danielle Lawrie, originally from Langley, BC, is now second place for all-time wins for UW and a mere one strikeout behind the Pac-10 all single season strike out record. Over the course of the series, Lawrie led all pitchers with 49 strikeouts; the whole team lead the Women’s College World Series in team batting average at .304 and team earned run average at 1.88.

UW’s win makes them the 22nd Pac 10 team in 28 years to win the WCWS.

Congratulations again, Huskies!

Details from the NCAA’s coverage.

photo by espressobuzz [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• After the festival closes, SIFF is going to take a long summer nap, suspending regular operations at SIFF Cinema for most of July and August to cut costs during the blockbuster season during These Economic Times. [seattletimes]
• This video of a dancing Canadian at Sasquatch [youtube] is setting the internet on fire. Subsonic calls it the best thing to have happened at the festival, though its possible that the couple whose public displays of affection thrilled crowds may disagree. [seattlesubsonic]
• If you missed last night’s Mount Eerie show at Neumo’s, you can catch a solo version and indulge in soup from One Pot to raise money for Vera on Thursday at Vita. [reverb]
• As we enter our first Heatwave!2009, there’s no better reason for seeking music for your iced tea parties. Telekinesis fits the bill nicely. [chromewaves]
• Two Mariners are vying for a spot in the outfield during the all star game. Only you, and your internet voting scripts, can save one of them. [seattlest]

Like the rest of the known universe, we have finally gotten around to asking a robot to tell twitter when we make new posts. Or rather, a nice robot calls our site and asks if there’s anything new and then it tells another robot to put the link and some text onto twitter and then you can see it in your twitter machine!

I am an old person who uses RSS to read ‘blogs and twitter to tell my friends about sandwiches and dancing monkeys; but if this sort of thing interest you, then take a look at twitter.com/seattlemetblogs and do what you will.

As an extra incentive for becoming our follower, we’ll also use that account from time to time to give you a head start about exciting giveaways, events, and our occasional thoughts on the weather. As for free tickets, there’s one up there right now, just waiting for you to find it. Clickety click.

In a big festival like SIFF, it can be hard to decide which movies to watch and it is all too easy to miss a really great film simply because you’re so very overwhelmed by your myriad of choices. In all honesty, I really hadn’t paid much notice to True Adolescents until I got a nice little note from writer/director Craig Johnson talking about how this locally-produced film is his love letter to Washington state. Since I’m definitely biased in favor of people who write nice notes as well as people who love Washington state, I decided I’d better give True Adolescents a try. I’m definitely very glad that I did. I love this movie and think that you will, too.

True Adolescents is both a comedy and a drama, a comic look at the dorky guy who doesn’t know that he really isn’t cool and also a thoughtful meditation on growing up and the complicated struggle to shed childhood for the sake of adulthood. True Adolescents makes us laugh at the guy stuck in the middle of a childhood gone so stale it’s practically a fossile but it’s never mean-spirited about it.

Lead character Sam seems like a happy-go-lucky sort. On some level he’s aware that he’s not exactly the brightest and the best, and yet, is his life that horrible, really? Oh, sure, he’s a go-nowhere wanna be edging towards never-been whose certainty that fame and fortune are just around the corner doesn’t even convince the unsophisticated teens who end up in his care. Sam spends his nights singing in a band (they play the Funhouse and the Comet and it’s neat to see those places on-screen) and his days scrounging off the goodwill of people who fall for his genial, undemanding charm even when its against their btter judgement, but he’s happy, isn’t he? Even Sam isn’t always sure of that. Mark Duplass plays Sam with a perfect mix of cocksure charisma and sad sack insecurity, expertly illustrating his childishness without alienating an audience that has to at least kind of like the guy in order to root for his success when an urgent situation demands he finally navigate the bridge from child to adult overnight.

The characters that surround Sam are strong and well-played as well. Melissa Leo is luminous as sympathetic aunt Sharon who takes Sam in yet again when grown-up life has gone over his head; even frazzled and frustrated, she manages to radiate such warm-hearted compassion that the screen fairly glows every time she’s on camera. Bret Loehr, as Sam’s cousin Oliver, and Carr Thompson, as Oliver’s best friend Jake shine in their roles, making their characters credible and likeable, even when they’re doing that whole smart-aleck teenaged boy thing. Their genuine adolescence makes Sam’s act of never growing up stand out all the more as a limited and limiting way of life; Oliver and Jake sometimes put on a jaded front, but the world still holds wonder and chance to grow for them and although they’re years and years younger than Sam, they seem so much closer to actual manhood than he does.

The settings in the film deserve special notice: the scenes in Seattle are stylish and cool and vibrant and real. The scenes outside the city show just how beautiful the countryside is up here and how amazing it is that we live in a big steel and glass city surrounded by so much beautiful green, blue, and brown. When Johnson said it’s a love letter to Washington, he’s not kidding.

Finally, the soundtrack deserves notice, too. Sam’s band, The Effort, is portrayed by local favorites The Blakes and the artists represented in the movie’s music also includes The Black Keys, The F**king Eagles, the Sonics and more. Checking out the music page gets you the whole list and links to more info on the bands.

True Adolescents screens at SIFF June 4 at 9:30 and and June 6 at 1:30 at the Egyptian.

I invited Johnson to share a bit about his movie and he was happy to oblige; click the jump read on.

(more…)

photo by B.K. Dewey [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Dan Savage’s life to be turned into off-broadway musical theater by the team that popularized puppet sex. [ohmygodseattle]
• Carles wonders whether he should have gone to “the great undiscovered music fest” [ew] Sasquatch, for its superior authenticity. [hipsterrunoff]
• The life of a SIFF party hopper, exposed. It involves a lot of chatting and hummus. [siffblog]
• Until its wider release schedule is announced, Sounds Like Teen Spirit may merit a bus ride to Kirkland. [tig]
• Reports of Pearl Jam’s secret video shoot are conspicuously disappearing from the internet. [seattlesubsonic]
• The confectionary powers that be are conspiring to induce a wave of skinny jean abandonment. First Molly Moon opens an ice creamery, then Rancho Bravo took over KFC, now Frozen Custard appears today, and soon there will be a Cupcake Royale in Capitol Hill. Moderation, people. There’s still a fish fry, too. [capitolhillseattle]
• OMGOWLET! [westseattleblog]

indie rocker goes into the woods … true adolescents still via SIFF

Ahoy, friends. SIFF enters its second full week today with a whole lot of features from the Northwest Connections program. For me, at least, the festival has started out better than any I can remember. Along the way I’ve been posting SMS-sized reviews [twitter]; and looking back on my list I haven’t even been tempted to tear the ballot anywhere south of 3. In fact, many have left me tearing a spot somewhere between 4 and 5 to leave it to the tireless volunteers to decide whether to round up or down.

In addition to being the halfway point, this twelfth day of the festival also marks the opening of an eastside venue at the Kirkland Performance Center. There, several previously screened films will get repeat showing to either save fans a trip across the lake or tempt others to venture eastward to catch some buzzy films that they missed, including several of our recommendations for last week. [mb]

Like Dandelion Dust [siff] : Based on a novel of the same title by Karen Kingsbury, this is a knockout gutwrenching adoption horror movie, with a happily contrived tearjerker ending. though I admit they never won me to their side,  Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper give the standout performances as the working-class biological parents who attempt to reclaim their son from his happy upper class home. Passions run high, as Sunday’s Q&A was lively, filled with lobbying, a visit from the author and her family, and nearly taken hostage by a well-meaning advocate for open adoptions. [josh] June 1, 7:00 pm (Kirkland)

The Strength of Water [siff] : Even death can’t completely sever family ties in this intense drama enriched by its immersion in Maori culture as practiced in modern small-town New Zealand. Ten-year old twins center the story, when tragedy strikes unexpectedly, everyone around them is affected. [zee] June 1, 9:30 pm (Harvard Exit); June 8, 4:30 pm (Admiral)

Welcome [siff] : Dramatizes the experience of immigrants attempting to make their way into England through the story of a Kurdish teen making his way across Europe to find his recently-emigrated girlfriend on the other side of the English Channel. But before he can make the crossing, he’ll need to strengthen his swimming skills, which is where the friendly former lifeguard comes in. [josh] June 2, 9:15 pm (Harvard Exit)

Zombies of Mass Destruction [siff] : Part of the Northwest Connections series, this film focuses on a small Washington town where progressive attitudes seem to have passed by. A son returns home with his partner, intending to come out, and a daughter returns home to help in her father’s restaurant. This would be your standard ‘don’t see eye to eye’ movie if it weren’t for the zombie virus outbreak that occurs. In order to stay alive, everyone must put aside their differences and work together. [patricia] June 2, 9:15pm (SIFF Cinema); June 4, 10:00 pm (Kirkland)

William Kuntsler: Disturbing the Universe [siff] : Depending on your perspective, you might see William Kunstler as a hero or a villian or maybe a little of both. The flamboyant civil rights figure who turned courtrooms into theater to push an agenda of equal rights for all turned into an egocentric attention hound who took any case that would keep him in the limelight. His daughters process their feelings about him in this interesting documentary that takes a complex look at a complex man. [zee] June 2, 4:30 pm (SIFF Cinema); June 4, 7:00 pm (SIFF Cinema)

Animated Enemies with James Forsher [siff] : Propaganda films have been a tool of politicans since the Spanish American war. Cartoons attacking the enemy were particularly popular during the World Wars and WWII saw a bonanza of animated appeals aimed at encouraging hatred of the enemies of the day. Local film historian Dr. James Forsher of Seattle University curates a selection of these vintage pieces. Appealing to history fans of all sorts. [zee] June 2, 7:00 pm (SIFF Cinema)

The Whole Truth [siff] : Filmed in various locations around Seattle, this “screwball comedy” starring Law & Order’s last-minute lesbian as an acting coach who makes shady defendants appealing sees its world premiere at SIFF. Hijinks ensue when she finds out that one of her clients is on the lamb with a lust for blood. [josh] June 2, 9:30 pm (Pacific Place); June 3, 4:30 pm (Pacific Place).

Art and Copy [siff] : Prior to the 1960′s, advertising was a staid industry; Madison Avenue executives designed campaigns that were all variations on the same limited themes, about as exciting as a grey flannel suit. That all changed when groups of rebellious creative types, bored with the same old thing, came along and changed the rules with exciting, unusual ad campaigns that didn’t just sell products but actually changed lives. An absorbing look at just how powerful creative work can be. [zee] June 3, 7:15 pm (Pacific Place); June 5, 1:15 pm (Pacific Place)

Sweet Crude [siff] : Seattle filmmakers risked their freedom to make this documentary about the Nigerian oil industry; they returned with this story of corporate greed and environmental devastation. June 3, 7:00 pm (Egyptian); June 7, 1:30 pm (Kirkland); June 13, 1:30 pm (Egyptian)

Prodigal Sons [siff] : Kimberly Reed goes back to her hometown in Montana for her high-school reunion and the fact that they all knew her as Paul, the captain of the football team, is actually the smallest of the surprises in this intriguing, intimate look at a family with a history more colorful and complicated than most. Every bombshell dropped is followed by an even bigger one as the film examines the tangled mass of sometimes completely contradictory feelings shared by siblings who both love and resent one another. [zee] June 3, 9:30 pm (Pacific Place); June 6, 11:00 am (Pacific Place)

True Adolescents [siff] : You can tell this movie was made by a local, because for once the local scenery is used not just as a colorful backdrop but as the integral part of the whole that it is. Amiable but shiftless Sam is the lead singer of a band (played by local favorites The Blakes) whom he believes are thisclose to a major label deal. Superstardom awaits, but in the meantime, his had-enough girlfriend has just made him homeless so Sam has take advantage of his aunt’s hospitality, not for the first time. When he gets talked into taking his teenaged cousin Oliver and Oliver’s best friend Jake for a camping trip on the Olympic Peninsula, well, that’s when all the trouble starts and thank goodness for that. [zee] June 4, 9:30 pm (Egyptian); June 6, 1:30 pm (Egyptian)

Katia’s Sister  [siff] : Young teen Lucia is quiet, plain, and very lonely living in a seedy part of Amsterdam with her mother and her beloved older sister. The Russian immigrants hoped for a better life but mom is forced to turn tricks and Katia’s greatest aspiration becomes a gig at the local strip club. Lucia retreats even further into herself, alienating the one person who is nearly a friend to her, as she watches her family fall further and further down into despair. Can she keep her optimism in a world that offers no reward for it? [zee] June 4, 4:30 pm (SIFF Cinema); June 9, 9:30 pm (Egyptian)

Sven Husby grew up in Seattle (he was graduated from Ballard High School) so he knows about the importance of fish both economically and ecologically. That’s why when he read a New Yorker article about “The Darkening Sea”, he was stunned and horrified by the idea of a world without fish, a very real possibility. Ocean acidification is a serious threat to all sea life, starting from the tiniest of creatures and heading all the way up the food chain and yet not many people have heard of it.

Being filmmakers by profession, Huseby and his wife, award-winning director Barbara Ettinger, decided to make a film to awaken and educate the public to this growing menace. A Sea Change begins with a talk with Elizabeth Kolbert, author of “The Darkening Sea”, the article that set the film in motion. A conference at NOAA at Sandpoint introduced the filmmakers to a number of scientists racing to understand and eradication ocean acidification and their work is included in A Sea Change as well.

Too much science talk can be overwhelming for the layperson but Huseby and Ettinger keep it human by illustrating Huseby’s travels around the world showing landscapes and seascapes and images of the ocean underneath its surface. Cinematographer Claudia Rashcke-Robinson’s camera follows as Huseby visits places like fishing villages in Alaska, the Copper River Delta, and the glaciers of Norway in between trips to conferences and labs. He also spends time with his five-year-old grandson, Elias, and their charming conversations add a welcome note of lightness to this dark tale. It’s for the sake of Elias and his siblings and cousins that Huseby and Ettinger are so driven to get the story of ocean acidification out there.

The experts who appear in this film are blunt: “Are we screwed?” – “Yes,” replies Dr. Edward L. Miles from UW. But there’s still some hope.

Says Huseby: “We made the film to build broader awareness of the ocean acidification issue. We want the audience leaving the theater wanting to know more. Wanting to understand better the broader effects of anthropogenic CO2. We want people to conclude that we have to act if we want a sustainable world for future generations? We want people to focus in on the world their grandchildren will inherit.

“I believe that there is still time to slow down CO2 output, to stabilize it and over time to reverse it. We have to build the political will to go there. We have the financial and technical resources to make it happen. It is all about bringing the political leadership on board.”

“[People wanting change] can talk to friends, to neighbors, to politicians, to the press about ocean acidification. Most importantly right now they can contact their Congressional leaders and demand that we play a leadership role for cutting CO2 at COP-15 in Copenhagen in December.”

A Sea Change screens tonight at 7:00 pm at the Egyptian Theater and tomorrow at Kirkland Performance Center at 4:00 pm. Ettinger and Huseby are expected to be at both screenings; tonight’s screening features a panel of experts, advocates and critics talking about the issues this film raises.

“

ra ra riot, friday afternoon on the HUB lawn. more pictures [flickr].

A scorching Friday afternoon found the HUB lawn on the University of Washington’s campus well attended and consuming fruit on sticks. Ra Ra Riot warmed the crowd beyond the soaring temperatures and by the time people with less flexible schedules arrived as the clock chimed five, a healthy contingent had risen from their grassy seats to dance in the front row. Their numbers and enthusiasm only grew as Built to Spill arrived. More pictures, in the photoset. [flickr]

Fiddleheads – The unfurled fronds of the fern plant. West Seattle Farmer’s Market.

Awesomely fresh local specialty produce. Imagine these sauteed in some garlic butter and a spritz of fresh lemon squeezed on top at the end.

Check out seattlefarmersmarkets.org for the closest one to you and check it out if you have never been. Not only can you enjoy super fresh produce, but usually at prices way better than at a grocery store. Most of them also include vendors selling breads, sweet treats, honey, cured meats, fish, flowers, and prepared foods.