photo by J. Kraemer [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• Josh Feit considers [publicola] the (must read) implications of McGinn’s anti-tunnel, pro-surface advocacy. [times]
• The state, however, is moving ahead with replacing the viaduct with a tunnel. [postglobe]
• Maybe because I also spent Labor Day crowded in photo pits, the appeal of browsing Bumbershoot photosets hasn’t abated, particularly when they’re killing it as hard as this latest set from Dan Muller. [kexp]
• Follow-up to a criticism of the first article by the Stranger’s new news editor from the Stranger’s old news editor. Inside baseball! [publicola]
• Cunningham Hall is on the move; wheeling to a new home at the University of Washington. [hankblog]
• This is cute: Pearl Jam is hiding limited edition vinyl copies of their new album around town  in advance of their two Key Arena shows on Monday and Tuesday. [bigblog]

frightened rabbit, photo by Dave Gourley via frightened rabbit [myspace]

• Tonight at Neumo’s, a slate of Scottish bands with deceptively twee names. Sure, all three of the Fat Cat labelmates have their share of emotional turmoil, but they swaddle their sad bastard hearts in searing guitars and thick brogue. Of the group, the Twilight Sad are the most twisted wall of sound, Frightened Rabbit comes nearest to the hard-driving diary entries, and We Were Promised Jetpacks splits the difference. All three of their albums have found their way into heavy ipod rotation. $13 adv, 8pm [neumos]
• Sportin’ Life’s D. Black, seemingly beloved by all of the hiphop fans on my internet, releases his new record Ali’Yah tonight at the Crocodile with support from Dyme Def, They Live, Darrius Willrich, Spaceman, and DJ Vitamin D. $10, 8pm. [croc]

The Maelstrom International Film Festival is a weekend long festival of independent and international genre films, specializing in movies of the types that can be overlooked at other festivals – animation, horror, fantasy and science fiction. It’s going on this weekend at SIFF Cinema with a number of excellent offerings.

Friday night see The Revenent, winner of the Silver Vision Award for best independent film at the Toronto After Dark festival, a feature about an ancient pestilence coming back to attack modern man. It’s paired with Death in Charge, a short film in which the Grim Reaper gets mistaken for a babysitter.

Saturday gives you the chance to see three different shorts programs: Animation and Fantasy at noon, Science Fiction at 2:30 and Horror at 6:00. Saturday night’s feature is Pig Hunt, at 8:30, a film in which hillbillies, hippies and a giant pig collide in a pot field in Northern California. Plays with a short entitled The Horribly Slow Murderer With the Extremely Inefficient Weapon.

Sunday morning at 11:30 check out out a double feature of locally produced science fiction films and come back at 2:30 for a program of Fantasy shorts.

Until the Light Takes Us at 6:00 pm Sunday is afeature length documentary about the unique, often strange and sometimes violent subculture of Norwegian black metal.

The final screening of the festival comes Sunday evening with Strigoi, a Gold winner at Toronto After Dark that introduces an ancient Romanian legend: the strigoi, souls who rise from death to seek justice for having been wronged in life and now come with a thirst for human blood. The director/writer and producer will be on hand to discuss the movie.

7:30 PM – Book-It Theatre: A Confederacy of Dunces
Book-It Reperatory Theatre
Book-It does the cult classic.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Tess Gallagher & Fred Marchant: Reading
Elliott Bay Book Co.
Gallagher will read from her third fiction collection, The Man from Kinvara: Selected Stories. Marchant will read from The Looking House, his latest collection of poems.
[LINK]

7:00 PM – Tod Davies: Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking with What You’ve Got
University Bookstore U-District
“Here are my secrets for cooking without recipes. Know what you want to eat. Keep it simple. Enjoy yourself.” In my household, this technique is known as “run for your life!”
[LINK]

Pacific Place Mall is hosting a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities tomorrow from 4-7 p.m. The benefit bash will feature discounts at various stores, including a percentage of every piece bought at Tiffany & Co., as well as live jazz by the Modern Gentlemen’s Quintet, hors d’oeuvres and beverages, and door prizes.

The organization provides housing to families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital, regardless of their ability to pay. Tickets to the event can be bought through http:/www.pacificplaceseattle.com/allforfall/ or by calling (206) 405-2655.

Speaking of the EMPSFM, one of the things that’s always irked me about the place has been the extremely strict photo policy that prohibits any photography in the galleries and exhibitions which I’ve always felt was way, way too harsh, particularly since I’ve been to plenty of fine art and historical museums with materials much older and more fragile than the items on display at the EMP who have been much more liberal with their photo policies.

Finally, the EMPSFM has come to their collective senses and have restructured their photo policy. Now visitors CAN take photos in the galleries and exhibitions. Like pretty much every museum in the world they prohibit flash photography, but you don’t want to use your flash to take photos inside, anyway–it makes them turn out awful.

The new policy goes into effect on Saturday, September 26, which happens to be Smithsonian‘s annual museum day, a day when museums all across the US will be offering free admission to anyone who downloads and prints out the museum day admission card available on their site, so you could go to the EMPSFM for free and take photos all day long if you like. (Or you could visit any of other participating local museums.)

The EMPSFM certainly has a lot of interesting objects that would make great photography subjects; I’m looking forward to seeing what people come up with. Once you’ve been there and taken your shots, why not add them to our Flickr photo pool?

Attention Halo fans: if you’re really, really serious about your gaming, then you’re going to want to mark your calendars right now for September 21 when Bungie, the design studio responsible for creating the Halo universe celebrate the launch of the newest game in the popular series with a party at EMPSFM, a neat fit of venue/theme for the game set in a future Earth.

The launch party is totally free and open to the public, so long as the public is at least 17 or in the company of a parent or guardian. The party kicks off at 6 pm and runs through 11 pm, and features a “Halo 3: ODST” Firefight tourney, panels and signings featuring “Halo” creators, and free access to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. The first 200 people to show up will get a free t-shirt. Zealous fans who show up in a Halo themed costume get a chance to win prizes for their creative attire.

grand archives, photo by (me) josh [flickr]

• We have already extolled, on several occasions [mb], the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They play tonight at Neumo’s with Cymbals Eat Guitars (who impressed this summer at the KEXP mural series) and the Deprecation Guild for your enjoyment and likely swooning (careful in/of the all-ages balcony!). $13 adv, 8 pm [neumos]
• If you already have your pre-order bandana, you’ll want to show up early for a spot inside Sonic Boom to hear an acoustic rendition of Grand Archives’s new record, Keep In Mind Frankenstein. When Iron & Wine played an in-store this summer, fans lined up around the block and spilled through the door. They also play a show later this month at the Crocodile; tickets are still on sale. [croc]
• The team at Capitol Hill Seattle tips back a glass or three of wine tonight at Poco Wine Room, where the usual happy hour will be extended until 7 pm. Trade tips about life on the Hill, meet your friendly neighborhood bloggers, and ponder what sort of IRL blogwar fireworks might erupt if the CH.KOMO crew stopped in for a tipple. [chs]

It’s no secret that Grand Archives is a band well-loved by certain members of the Metblogs team (also, a band made entirely of nice, nice guys) so it’s pretty exciting that today is the official release of their second album, “Keep In Mind Frankenstein” [subpop]. (Or maybe I’m just a sucker for a novelty bandana. Hard to say.) This album is softer and darker than the last one, and it will be the perfect soundtrack for the beginning of fall. Celebrate by listening to the band live on KEXP at 3:00, or go to the Capitol Hill Sonic Boom at 7:00 and listen to them play the whole thing acoustically. I’m pretty sure that if you don’t want to fold these guys up and put them in your pocket for all of your road trips ever, it’s because you’re made of stone.

I know, I know; Bumbershoot was SO last week. But after 3 days of PAX and another day of Bumbershoot, I kind of got buried in photos there for a while. Lame excuse, but there it is.

However, I do want to share some of the photos I took for your enjoyment. These are my favorite pictures from the 3 acts I enjoyed the most. Jason Webley, Truckasauras, and Metric.
My favorites from each: (many more after the jump)

Jason getting the crowd “wasted” for his final song of the set before the parade out to the fountain.

Truckasauras playing in front of the MASSIVE digital screen at EMP’s Sky Church

The stage lighting of the Broad Street Stage where Metric played was pretty terrible, but I like how this photo came out. Metric killed it. I’m actually surprised Metric did not play the main stage.

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