As the action heats up in this, Metroblogging Seattle’s second annual Clash of the Titans Tournament of Blogs, those of you in the home audience might be wondering what exactly lies at the end of this conflict-worn road for the eventual champion. Well, aside from the glory that comes with the victory of several rounds of single-elimination combat and the sure-to-be-awesome homemade trophy that we’ll be constructing, a few very generous local institutions have kicked in some fantastic prizes.

Hotel Max took over the 20th century neon-emblazoned landmark Hotel Vance in 2005 and turned it into “the most artistic downtown Seattle hotel” by featuring local artists and painters throughout the premises. They’ve offered a night of luxe accommodations for the winners of the tournament to celebrate their well-deserved victory.

Sub Pop is among Seattle’s most venerable and celebrated record labels. They were instrumental in putting our city on the map musically, and they’ve kindly provided a huge gift box for the blog that comes out on top of the tournament featuring a stack of fresh music, stickers, buttons, and other tokens of musical credibility.

Since reclaiming the beleaguered property whose ownership cycled seasonally since the closure of (old) Moe’s a few years ago Neumo’s has consistently booked an eclectic calendar of some of the best local and national acts. In the process, they’ve strengthened Capitol Hill’s live music scene and helped to form a new center of gravity for the nightlife in the neighborhood. To congratulate the eventual best blog in the city, they’ve offered to do their best to get the winners into the show of their choice.

Northwest Film Forum, a membership-based regional non-profit center for the film arts, exhibits an eclectic collection of local, national, international, and archival selections 360 days per year, maintains an extensive film library, has onsite production facilities, and throws exceptional parties. They’ve donated a pack of tickets so that whomever wins this contest can take a break from electioneering and typing to catch a movie or two to relax.

A million thanks to these folks for their participation in our little contest to recognize some of our favorite weblogs in the city. Now, back to your campaign speeches and voting booths!

Polls are open for: Seattle Bubble vs. U.S.S. Mariner , Vintage Seattle vs. Accidental Hedonist, Lookout Landing vs. Three Imaginary Girls , Capitol Hill Seattle vs. Huskies Fan , West Seattle Blog vs. Citizen Rain , Hillku vs. Kirida , Seattle Daily Photo vs. Blogging Georgetown vs. Mid Beacon Hill , and Defective Yeti vs. Glitter Pissing

West Seattle Blog launches their Blarch Badness campaign tomorrow, facing the winner of a Friends/Enemies group contest that’s down to the wire. So I pinged them on The Facebook and they obliged an interview in the midst of their plans for global domination.
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Today, we finish off this round of the Squirrel Bracket. Three Imaginary Girls and Huskies Fan both won handily in the Music and P-I groups. Capitol Hill Seattle and Lookout Landing are waiting for them. Whose blog will reign supreme?

And starting today, yet another polling system. Hopefully, it won’t fall down.

As usual, the streets roll up on these polls 9pm on Monday.

Two sections of Round One close up shortly: both Wednesday’s and Thursday’s are down to the wire. And meanwhile, the other half of the Squirrel Bracket is also underway.

Vote early and vote often!

photo by arion potts [flickr] via our group pool [#]. we’re always looking for new contributors, so send you pretty pictures our way!

• Sean Nelson vies for title of today’s smartest Slogger, writing on the topic of electability and how being undecided doesn’t mean being braindead. [slog]
• Starbucks to reboot barista training on 26 February [sbuxgossip], rebooting wifi in a switch from pricey t-mobile to a little closer to free at&t [sbuxgossip]
• KEXP to “liberate” NYC radio. [kexp]
• Green tacos to go with green beer (biggest surprise: chipotle broke its ties with mcdonalds). [bravenewleaf]
• Scanning craigslist, finding lots of people all hotted up by caucusing. [seattlest]
• A preview of next week’s talks, including “A pseudoscience guide to geek dating”. [igniteseattle]

tournament of blogs reminders:

• Round One — closes tonight: music & P-I groups (three imaginary girls have a few more votes than sound on the sound; huskies fan ahead of ear candy)
• Round One — closes tomorrow: people & friends & “enemies” groups (kirida with a huge lead ; citizen rain fending off the big blog)
• Round One — closes Thursday: art & ‘hoods (pike/pine trails glitter pissing ; mid-beacon hill a few votes up on blogging georgetown after a polling reset)
• Round Two (started today): Seattle Bubble with an early lead over U.S.S. Mariner and Vintage Seattle ahead of Accidental Hedonist.

Last year, the two heavyweight sports blogs in town made it to the finals of Blarch Badness. Over 5,000 votes were cast and USS Mariner came out on top over Lookout Landing in what amounted to an easy victory [m-b]. Given their huge (and naturally competitive) readership, it wouldn’t be surprising to see these two blogs in the finals again (especially if SLOG continues to ignore us).

USS Mariner’s first match started this morning [m-b] and Lookout Landing’s first match will begin tomorrow. After the jump is the transcript of an email conversation I had with Dave and Jeff about last year’s experience, among other things.

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Have you all come down from the madness that was the caucuses? Good. Because it’s back to Blarch Badness.

Outside of the sudden and complete failure of the Hood Group poll (that’s the last time I hire the Washington State GOP to run the balloting system), things have moved along pretty smoothly with the first week of Blarch Badness.

Now the second week dawns, and with it the start of the actual brackets. The Squirrel Bracket goes first.

In the People group, Seattle Bubble popped everyone else out of the tournament. Now, they get last year’s champion USS Mariner. In the Food group, Accidental Hedonist held off some feisty challengers to advance. Now, they have to tackle the upstarts Vintage Seattle.

So… here we go.

Still time to vote in the remaining three sections of Round One: Tuesday’s groups and Wednesday’s and Thursday’s.

Tomorrow, it’s the bottom half of the Squirrel Bracket, featuring last year’s runner-up and a certain neighborhood blog we’re fond of.

And now, we close out Round 1 with the artists and the neighborhood bloggers.

Come up with your own humorous remark here.

Art/Fashion/Photography
Glitter Pissing
I Make Things
I See Seattle
Not Martha
Pike/Pine

‘Hood (Neighborhood Blogs)
Ballard Avenue
Blogging Georgetown
Capitol Hill Triangle
Mid Beacon Hill
Miller Park Neighborhood Association

Five neighborhood blogs, but only one north of the Ship Canal. Is Blue Ridge that unbloggable, people?

UPDATE: Yes, the Hood Blog poll crapped out on me. I’m working to resolve it. Unfortunately, I might have lost the numbers on that poll. In the meantime, here’s a replacement poll with the numbers reset. I’ll come up with some sort of solution shortly.

Polls close Wednesday at 9pm. Vote early and vote often.

And that concludes Round 1. But that’s not the end of things. You can still vote in Monday’s round or Tuesday’s or even Wednesday’s.

Oh, and it looks like some very nice and generous sponsors are stepping up with some most excellent prizes. More on that later.

Day 1 went off with minimal hitches. Let’s hope Day 2 does the same.

Today, it’s the thing that brings the bourgeois people together (according to Madonna) and the paper that brought the Seattle proletariat together. Sounds like we should be launching this in front of the Lenin statue.

Music
KEXP Blog
Line Out
Seattle Powerpop
Sound on the Sound
Three Imaginary Girls

P-I
Art to Go
Bus Chick
Digital Joystick
Ear Candy
Huskies Fan

The struggle of blog against blog is a political struggle.

A blog post is impossible without a blogging situation; furthermore, not every blogging situation leads to blogging! OK, enough Communism for the day, lest I get nasty e-mails and crates of Solzhenitsyn books.

Both these polls end at 9pm Monday night. And while you’re at it, why not check out the groups from Monday? Also, Wednesday? And and Thursday’s?

Oh, and we weren’t kidding about prizes and sponsorship. Really. We want to actually buy a trophy this year.

And we’re off with Day 1. Sorry, no opening ceremonies this year. We were going to get Up With People to do their tribute to Artis The Spoonman, but the budget wasn’t there, and Artis still has that restraining order out on us.

So, let’s just get it going and hope for the best. Cross your fingers the new voting system holds up under the strain. (Sorry, iPhone users, but it’s Flash only.)

Today, you vote on the Religion/Politics/Great Pumpkin Group, which is blogs talking about “contentious issues,” and the Food Group, which is blogs talking about “contentious issues.” Edible contentious issues.

Religion/Politics/Great Pumpkin
Brave New Leaf
Eugene Cho
Horse’s Ass
Orcinius
Seattle Bubble
Seattle Transit Blog

Food
Accidental Hedonist
Cocktail Chronicles
Gluten-Free Girl
Orangette
Seattle Bon Vivant

Remember, the voting booth is open until 9pm Sunday night. Good luck to everyone, and happy voting!

And check out Tuesday’s groups and Wednesday’s and Thursday’s.

So, the selection committee has met for the last few days trying to decide who is in and who is out of the tournament. There was the usual yelling, fighting, chair-throwing, and occasional moments of harmony. But finally, late last night, the committee emerged from their pizza-and-beer-induced stupor to put in my hands the lineup for this year’s Blarch Badness.
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