In political news of the opposite coast and future elections, a onetime Seattle child star is making a splash. Unlike an overwhelming majority of New York City citizens thrilled at the prospect of a third Bloomberg term, Rachel Trachtenberg has found herself at the front of a small protest movement. Last month, testifying against term limits, the fourteen-year-old complained about how the “evil mayor” made her family move all the way from the East Village to awful Brooklyn and caused the Iraq War and wastes money on fountains [youtube]. Then, facing the mayor directly this week, she said:

“I may not be able to vote yet but I know for a fact that what you are doing is wrong.” She added, “Quite frankly, Mayor Bloomberg, you are cheating, which does not make a good example for the youth of New York City and the whole world.” [nyt]

Seattleites may remember her as the six-year-old drummer for the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, a band that gained local fame and won talent shows by making songs out of the slides of dead people. She and her parents left Seattle to return to the bright lights of New York City a few years ago, and are apparently surviving their exile from Manhattan.

(thanks to Carole R., another SEA->NY transplant for the tip.)

On this Election Eve, it’s time to finally get around to talking politics here on Metblogs, something we don’t do that often. Waiting until election day in a city where 1/3 of you have already turned in your absentee ballot probably isn’t smart, but hey.

I talked to the other authors about whether they wanted to endorse, and most all of us said they were going to go straight ticket with the Stranger endorsements.

(Aside on the Stranger: Isn’t is a little odd that a paper that would continue to keep images of those Danish cartoons of Muhammed online — and proudly, staunchly, and rightfully defended their publishing of those cartoons — now turns tail and pulls down their “Hell Houses” article the moment Michelle “I’m a shrill disingenuous harpie and you can too!” Malkin and Matt “Wait, I’m still relevant?” Drudge come sniffing around?)

But we were all in the tank for Obama, anyway. And I think we all prefer four more middling years of Gregoire over four hell years from Dino “Greased Weasel” Rossi. But most of all, there were buckets and buckets of scorn heaped on Tim “I Don’t Have A Real Job Anymore, I’m Just The Political Equivalent Of A Panhandler” Eyman’s I-985, which would, among other things, make it impossible to get 520 rebuilt without raising taxes. Wait, I thought this was about road improvements without raising taxes. Oh, right, it’s Tim Eyman logic!

Downticket, we’re pretty much with the Strange, pro-transit, anti-silly-King-County-amendments. The one issue more than one of us differed on was I-1000, the Assisted Suicide initiative. The issue here is we don’t see safeguards within the initiative to prevent insurance companies from covering death cocktails while denying costly treatments. There’s been anecdotal evidence of this happening in Oregon, and while it is anecdotal and mostly from those opposing the Oregon law, a couple of minor changes in the language would plug that hole. So, split decision on that.

Anyway, if you haven’t voted, that’s our advice, and by the way, go look yourself up in the King County election database and go vote tomorrow. If you have voted, well, good for you.

Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union wants to know “What If…?”

Specifically, they want to do know what you would do if they gave you $10.

Even more specifically, they want to know what you would do for someone else if they gave you $10.

A little bit of money can do a whole lot of good, something the credit union seeks to prove as part of its Seven Principles program, the guiding principles by which the credit union does business, including “giving back to the community is an obligation”.

On Monday, October 6, from 10 am to 2 pm, SMCU will hand out $10 each to the first 200 people who stop by their downtown Seattle branch at 801 Third Avenue and tell the credit union what they would be willing to do to help someone else. The credit union will film all the ideas and post them to their site. The public is invited to view the videos and vote for their favorites. The top vote getter will get $1,000 on Monday, October 20, in order to make someone’s dream come true.

The credit union believes: “A small investment can be a powerful thing when combined with principles and good will.” Having seen this in action in my own life, I agree. I think this is a great idea and am totally looking forward to seeing the ideas people generate for their $10.

Thanks Wesa and P-I for details.

• Northwest Film Forum’s run of Momma’s Man, Azazel Jacob’s film about a man who retreats to an approximation of childhood when being a grown up proves overwhelming continues this weekend, ending on Monday the 22nd. Opening this weekend is The Universe of Keith Haring, a documentary about the life and art of the noted artist whose brightly colored and accessible artwork is recognizable even to people who don’t keep up much on modern art.
• Central Cinema screens Outsourced, a comedy in which a Seattle man is forced to travel to India to train the outsourced replacement taking his job and learns a heartwarming lesson about himself, India and America.
• At the Grand Illusion this weekend: Viva is a bored housewife who gets drawn into the myriad “scenes” of the so-called sexual revolution back in 1972 in this tribute to sexploitation films, and, Ten Nights of Dreams, an omnibus film in which ten directors tell ten different stories of adventure from the noted Meiji-era novelist Soseki Natsume.
• The Human Condition trilogy concludes at SIFF with A Soldier’s Prayer. In the final piece of Masaki Kobayashi’s epic saga of the life and times of Kaji, the socialist turned reluctant soldier during the second world war, the protagonist’s brigade is captured by Russians and Kaji must fight against the idealogical battle of his Soviet “liberators”. [Don't forget to go down to SIFF on Sunday, too, for Red Heroine.].
• Seeing as how The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies of all time and how I devoted a portion of my childhood to reading all of Baum’s Oz books, I’m not quite sure how I managed to miss knowing that someone made an Oz movie that I don’t remember ever hearing about. Released in 1985 and starring Fairuza Balk as Dorothy, Return to Oz is this weekend’s midnight movie at the Egyptian, hands-down the best place to see an Oz-movie, ever.

Word on the street (or the online news anyway) is that Seattle city council’s proposed plastic bag “tax” has been held off by the collection of signatures by grocers (et al) to let the public vote on the issue. [Ed: P-I] Your thoughts?

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On a personal note: I’m currently close to the end of a 6-week stint in Southeast Asia (specifically Vietnam for the next few days, then back to Thailand). People use plastic bags here for everything but in a slightly different manner. They don’t individually bag produce but place everything in one bag. They bag even minuscule purchases. Instead of plastic bags going to the dump (is there an official dump here?), they burn them with other bits of trash each night on the sidewalk. Those bags that aren’t burned end up in the rivers and oceans, washing up on the beaches full of other bits of trash or aquatic life. I walked along the shore yesterday in Nha Trang, Vietnam only to count over 3 dozen plastic bags in the span of a few short meters. Perhaps there is something to be said for the reduction of plastic bags or plain plastic in general.

English Breakfast at Voxx by culinaryfool [flickr] via our group pool [#]

The Seattle P-I, along with City Club, hosted a panel tonight on neighborhood blogging. Panelists included Tracy Record of West Seattle Blog, Cory Bergman of MyBallard, Amber Campbell of Rainier Valley Post, Scott Schaefer of B-Town Blog, and Heather McLeland-Wieser with the Seattle Public Library’s Shelftalk.

Moderator Monica Guzman of the The Big Blog asked the panelists a number of questions involving how they generated readership, moderated comments, used advertising, worked with the local media, and how local blogs have been able to cover local neighborhood issues in ways that traditional media is unable to cover.

Many of the panelists shared different stories about how their blogs are engaging their community. Campbell mentioned that Rainier Valley Post was recently able to contribute to a fund for the funeral of a local child that was killed in their neighborhood through PayPal donations, and Record shared her passion for the pets section of West Seattle Blog. The amount of information available through these local (and sometimes hyperlocal) blogs is amazing, and many of the bloggers, like Record, Bergman and Campbell have devoted a lot of hours and lost sleep to their neighborhoods.

As Record mentioned, neighborhood or place-blogging has become a kind of ‘calling’ for some Seattleites. If you’re out and about on the Internet, be sure to check out your local blogs- a lot of them are doing some really amazing things in their communities, and if there’s not one in your neighborhood, there probably will be soon (or hey, you could start one yourself- many panelists stayed afterwards to lead a workshop on creating your own blog). Happy reading- and be sure to mention any neighborhood blogs you think are worth reading in our comments- the more, the merrier!

photo by our own slightlynorth [flickr]

I’ve heard of bars that were careful about underage drinking, but this is ridiculous. Down in Olympia, Gov. Chris Gregoire tried to head into a bar called Hannahs with her staff, but got turned away. Turns out she didn’t have her ID with her to prove her age.

Somebody tried to point out to the bouncer that Gregoire was the governor of Washington, but that didn’t get her in.

Which got me to thinking: How old do you have to be to be governor? Could we legally have an eighteen year old governor of the state, old enough to vote but not old enough to drink?

I took a look at the state constitution, and as far as I can tell, there’s no age rule in place. So, maybe the bouncer had a legitimate complaint. Sort of. If you closed your eyes and squinted real hard. Maybe having a beer would help.

“Block Party” is more than a slight misnomer for the thing that’s starting on Capitol Hill in just about four hours. Don’t expect to find your neighbors grilling hot dogs in the street. Instead, inside the walled-off two block section of Pike Street between 12th and Broadway you’ll find a rare commodity in this era of overwhelming summer music events: a relatively inexpensive small scale music festival with outstanding talent on multiple stages. From mainstage headliners to opening acts in satellite venues to afterparties, there’s far too much to keep you occupied during the one and a half days. It’s more like a month of shows you’d like to see crammed into a single weekend.

Honestly, even if you used a random number table to plot your course it would be hard to go wrong. As far as I’m concerned, the only critical mistakes would be (1) not going and (2) not seeing Girl Talk while you’re there. In a infinitesimal section of Feed the Animals running from Cheap Trick into Jimi Hendrix over Yael Naim and through Eminem, Gillis has given us one of the best and most entertaining minutes of knowing cultural commentary we’re likely to hear all year. And that is just one among dozens and dozens. Set loose among and outdoor crowd, it has the potential to be the smartest sweating you’ll experience all summer.

Here’s the whole schedule [stranger]. But because we can’t resist telling you how to spend your time, a few recommendations from your pals at Metblogs. Start ginning up excuses to get out of the office early because there are highlights from start-to-finish. See you there!

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• SIFF screens Love and Honor, the final film of director Yoji Yamada’s samurai trilogy. Lower level samurai Shinnojo dreams of opening his own kendo dojo but his dreams are crushed when he goes blind after being poisoned while testing his shogun’s food. Complicating matters, his devoted wife begins an affair with a higher-ranking samurai in an attempt to secure her husband’s financial future, an affair which inspires the blind samurai to challenge his rival for a duel.
• Saturday at 10 am check out SIFF’s first selection in their Films4Families series, one of the best-known and best-loved films ever, The Wizard of Oz, a movie which is excellent on its own but even better when seen with an auidence.
• Speaking of SIFF selections, Garden Party, a 2008 festival selection, opens at the Varsity. A businesswoman bent on success by any means necessary and three young people trying to find themselves and their own paths are bound together by interwoven stories of the quest for success in up- and down-scale LA. Also at the Varsity are two other 2008 SIFF films: Encounters at the End of the World and Up the Yangtze.
• Midnight at the Egyptian: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the film adaptation of the legendary Hunter S. Thompson’s legendary book. Enhance your experience of the film by going to see it after you’ve seen the documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson at the Harvard Exit first.
• Northwest Film Forum continues their run of The Gits, a powerful documentary on the influential titular NW punk band.
  While most everyone knows the story of lead singer Mia Zapata’s brutal murder, the fim does an excellent job of showing that Zapata and her surviving band mates deserve to be remembered at least as much for their great music as for their tragic history.
• Also at NWFF is a new 35mm print of Charlie Chaplin’s film Monsieur Verdoux, possibly his most underrated movie and definitely one of his most brilliant, a dark comedy in which Chaplin plays the title character as an unemployed bank worker who turns to marriage and murder for profit.
• Enjoy your films outdoors: Friday at South Lake Union Cinema on the Lawn is the brilliant black comedy, Heathers, still easily one of Winona Ryder’s best performances in a film. Saturday night is “Outer Space Night” at Fremont Outdoor Cinema where they are screening Project Moonbase.

This morning, Crosscut posted an excerpt from a speech former Seattle mayor Charles Royer gave to a group of visitors several years ago. In it he discusses some of the challenges Seattle faces getting stuff done. Namely, the process to form a task force to research the viability of creating a committee has stalled and this is cause for concern among the various citizen oversight panels. Says Royer:

Cheers, John.