Saturday is the Seattle GameCon, which actually happens every quarter (though this’ll be my first). Non-geeks are probably unaware that Seattle is a hub of the tabletop gaming scene. Local game companies include the bigtime Wizards of the Coast and WizKids along with a horde of smaller companies, like Uberplay, Cranium Inc, Cheapass Games, online retailer Cardhaus, and many others I’m rudely forgetting. So if you’re into staying up really late moving little plastic pieces around on cardboard, there’ll be something for you.

On Sunday, Key Arena will be hosting Game 2 of the WNBA finals, wherein the greatest female basketball player on the planet, Lauren Jackson, will team up with the 2nd greatest female basketball player on the planet, Sue Bird, to lead the upstart Seattle Storm against those other upstarts from Connecticut. And who can say no to pro basketball finals tickets for under $20?

The number of people interested in both of these events could be comfortably counted on one hand, but for we happy few, it’s a hot weekend.

Perhaps you’d enjoy the traditional Salish music of Chenoa Egawa at the SAM.
Or Samantha Scherer’s minimalist pop-culture inspired Fame exhibit at the SOIL gallery.

As a special bonus, you might get covered by highly collectible St Helens ash!

But if you were considering opening a formal wear shop on Cap Hill, now might be a good time.

I’m just sayin.

Done and done.

The cost is the about the same as in-state tuition for in-person classes (~$150 a credit) so I wouldn’t recommend it if your goal is just to learn Russian or get an overview of south asian religions, but it’s a good way to pick up credits. Having been prematurely sucked out of academia by. . er. . favorable market conditions in the tech sector, I’m trying to finish my degree while keeping up a fulltime career, and the UW’s online courses are invaluable. How else can you take a midterm on the can?

Of course, if you just want to keep your brain sharp while waiting for the UW to find some available space, you can’t do better than MIT’s OpenCourseWare. It’s like going to MIT, but you don’t get the pedigree, the credits, or get to spend the rest of your life paying off the student loans.

Incidentally, isn’t it odd that the UW is suffering so much from success? If a supermarket has people beating down its door to get in, they’d probably be pretty happy, but the U considers it some kind of unfortunate disaster. I’m pretty sure all of these transfer students come bearing tuition checks, so build some more freaking classrooms.

So keep August 28-29 clear on the calendar. Apparently all kinds of industry bigwigs will be there, along with musical satisfaction via the #1 nerdcore hip-hop artist on the planet, MC Frontalot as well as Seattle’s own Optimus Rhyme. And lots of video games.

If you’re feeling more investigative than I am you can get to the bottom of this whole mystery, starting at the Seafair site, which features the words ‘fun and entertainment’ next to a picture of 5 people about to drown in a homemade raft. Enjoy!

And since we never rest on our laurels here, the Tashiro Kaplan building in Pioneer Square will be opening up for even more art space and business in August, including the new space for SOIL.

Go!

 One of the benefits of working in the Smith Tower is the daily elevator wait just outside the 4culture art gallery, which has new exhibits monthly. It can be hit or miss — the recent showing of model ships throughout the ages wasn’t quite breathtaking — but this month there’s an outstanding exhibit of Perla Sitcov’s photography, featuring super-saturated magnifications that turn fronds and petals into landscapes.

Go!