Some of Seattle’s restaurants and chocolatiers have been in the news lately. Here’s an overview.

Theo Chocolates in the New York Times [Link]: The New York Times Dining section tasted more than 30 varieties of chocolate, particularly looking for good milk chocolate. No details are given as to how Theo fared in the taste test, but this article serves as the perfect vessel for me to tell you that Theo has new chocolate bar and confection flavors for the season. The new bars include a dark chocolate fig, fennel, and almond and a milk chocolate hazlenut crunch. The new confections include juniper and lavender caramels (among others).

More after the jump.
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… and just like that, my sadness over missing Girl Talk this weekend evaporated thanks to a pair of Parisian robots, a giant LED encrusted pyramid, and a pulsing message of love.

(more tomorrow when I’m less sleepy and thoughts are slightly more organized, but for now just know that Daft Punk’s show was outstanding — musically and visually impeccably crafted and overflowing with joy).

Here’s what Ryan had to say before rushing down to SeaTac to catch a plane:

“I’m really at a loss for words right now. I saw The Rolling Stones at Wembley Arena in ‘03 and even though I’m not of the Stones’ generation I thought it was the best concert I’d ever been to. To see living legends play in their hometown in front of thousands of screaming and dancing fans who never let up once, was about the coolest thing I’d ever experienced.

Tonight was better than that. Daft Punk tore the house down and then burned the rubble. There’s a half a chance I’m going to miss my flight tonight but there’s no chance I’m going to be upset about it. ”

Friday-Sunday - West Seattle Summer Fest - Lotsa West Seatlle-riffic stuff. “Awesome” will be there 7 p.m. on Friday. Lots of other typical NW festival activities abound.

Friday-Saturday - Legends In Their Own Minds @ Jewel Box Theatre - Mark Siano, creator of his “Soft Rock Spectacular” (which was highlarious!) and of the sketch comedy group “The Habit”, and some friends make you laugh.

Friday 4:30 p.m. - 31st Annual Jungle Party @ Woodland Park Zoo - Another party/fundraiser. But with this one, there are animals. The whole event is somewhat spendy, but, the auction items are smashing. And charity auctions are surprisingly fun, even if you’re just watching people out-bid each other.

Friday 6 p.m. - Youngstown Art Affair @ Youngstown Cultural Arts Center - Fundraiser for the Delridge Neigborhoods Development Association. Art auction, raffle, soul food, and a hosted martini bar.

Friday 7 p.m. - Harry and the Potters @ Seattle Public Library - Yes, an indie pop band who sings songs about Potter et al. See ‘em in honor of the new movie, and the last book. I sense a Metroblogging post on all things Harry soon…
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Get out your 3-D glasses and your rubber suits, my friends, because this weekend at the Egyptian they’re showing Creature from the Black Lagoon. (I personally always have a pair of 3-D glasses in my purse, just in case such a situation arises.) While adventuring in the Amazon a geologist uncovers a fossil that suggests a possible link between land and sea creatures. He goes back home and gets his friend the ichthyologist and a rich guy to go back into the jungle and look for the rest of the skeleton.

But they find more than they were looking for in the form of the Gillman, and amphibious fellow that has taken a shining to the ichthyologist’s girlfriend. (Ok, I just really like saying ‘ichthyologist’.) Lots of capturing and escaping and drowning and kidnapping and hitting with a lantern happen, and the creature is eventually left in a watery grave at the bottom of the Black Lagoon. (The Black Lagoon is a paradise that no one ever escapes from, which would suggest less than paradisiacal conditions, no?)

The underwater bits were filmed at Wakulla Springs in the Florida panhandle, which is still pretty proud of this and has a few halfhearted urban legends relating to the filming. The poor guy who did all of the swimming had to hold his breath for four minutes at a time.

The Egyptian is located at 805 East Pine St.

img via: espn

First of all, can I just say that I want to know what marketing genius scheduled the BCS Championship game at 5 p.m. on a freakin’ Monday? Are they trying to get me fired for sneaking out of work early? Sigh.

Since it’s almost 10 a.m. I just know that any self-respecting Buckeye alum/fan has already joined the throngs at Sport over by Seattle Center. I know this because when I went to the Michigan game 50 or so days ago, I arrived many hours early to find out that I was still in the overflow room. I think I’m okay with not being as crazy about the foosball as many are in my college town of Columbus, Ohio. It means I can think rationally about the game, but I sure will miss the “O-H” guy if I watch the game in my living room. Sooo, it’s time to start thinking sports bars.

From the Gator alum website, it seems they’ll be out on the Eastside at Sidelines in Bellevue. I was kind of hoping they’d been in their alternate location in Queen Anne so I could compare the crowds, but no such luck. And Fox Sports Grill pisses me off. So what’s left? Should I brave the RockSport or Legends over in West Seattle? Fuel in Pioneer Square? Where are you watching The Game?

The Decemberists + Alasdair Roberts // The Paramount // 17 November 2006

The show opens with three guys on a very big stage. Alasdair Roberts, whom more worldly fans of the Glasgow indie scene might remember from Appendix Out, stands in the center. Tall, in a bright orange sweater and gleaming white trainers, he’s leaning over an acoustic guitar and accompanied by his drummer and Nate Query (from the Decemberists) helping out with the string bass parts. The Decemberists are often accused of cribbing heavily from the stylings of English folksongs; so their choice of a Scottish singer whose music is steeped in traditional ballads of the British Isles is an interesting one.

Like most of the audience, I was not familiar with Alasdair Roberts before Friday’s show. And for someone with hardly a mention on the marquee, website, or tickets, he did an admirable job of setting the mood for the rest of the evening. The songs are rich and many take on mournful dirgelike tone, without straying into depressive territory. Most have the lovely quality of something very old, but ever so slightly re-invented and updated to connect with the present. His voice is clear and it fills the great space, building a rapport with the politely appreciative assembling crowd. By the end, he has won the floor over enough to convince a large number to join him in singing along with the last song.

With his exit, selections from Peter and the Wolf play quietly over the soundsystem as the stage is prepped for the main event. I’m watching this, by the way, from high above in the balcony with a last minute ticket ¹ feeling skeptical of what, exactly, the Decemberists will do with all of this vaulted and expansive gilded theater. I look at the stage and [snobbishly, I admit] think about how I’ve seen them perform in venues smaller than that space ² and was regularly blown away by their enthusiasm. And here, you can probably guess the rest. SPOILER: The general consensus after the show is that people who are seeing the band for the first time left thinking that it was a fantastic show, wishing that it had been longer; those who’d seen them previously exited feeling underwhelmed. As awful as it feels to say this, I fell into the second camp, but was really happy for my friends who loved the show.

In reality, it isn’t the cavernous venue or gigantic stage that’s working against the band. When the lights dim and an accented voice instructs us to introduce ourselves to our neighbors, enter the world of make believe, and imagine ourselves at the edge of a canyon wall looking out at a windswept desert as six figures enter into view, you get the sense that the band has enough musical and visual theatrics up their sleeves to accommodate the space. The main problem is that lead singer Colin Meloy has come down with a cold, leaving his voice a little ragged and mumbly and his usual buoyant showmanship ³ notably scaled back.
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Sure, reading the Seattle LiveJournal community often means dredging through a fair share of “favorite laundromat / tattoo parlor” type posts, but it’s worth it for the occasional entertaining topic. As a prime example, today brings a really fun discussion about Seattle-related urban legends. The comments are already filling up with interesting and horrifying tales:

The tale of the duck-eating sturgeon will forever strike fear into my heart.
Um… it’s a sturgeon, that’s really big, and eats ducks.[lj]

Just the thing to get you in the halloween spirit. I think I have my costume inspiration!