photo by photo coyote [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• If you’re not still in a Bumbershoot hangover [soundonthesound], you might be superhuman. And/or ready to head down to Portland for another multi-day music fest. If I ever recover: car/trainpool anyone? [mfnw]
• Microblog Tycoons Geeky Sweedes turn off their cloaking devices. [myballard], spin-off yet another neighborhood ‘blog [fremontuniverse], and are scheduled to appear on a panel tomorrow at the Central Library [cityclub] hosted by Monica Guzman. [bigblog]
• the Stranger is having a contest to pick your favorite Bumbershoot photo. Not that I’m telling you how to vote or anything, but if I must lose, let’s make it to Kyle’s picture of Saul Williams, which is stunning even before you consider how challenging the lighting was on that stage. [lineout]

_{Booth Babe, courtesy of ECityBlues}

I won’t lie- my Sunday morning at PAX was a religious experience (and no, not because of the booth babes).

I got to meet Metblogs Employee #3 (*cough* Wil Wheaton), and discovered an enduring love for Battlefield: Heroes, a new game from the folks who created Battlefield 1942.

Since the vast majority of my day was spent in front of a computer trying to learn how to drive tanks and shoot bazookas, I neglected to attend the Omegathon Final Round, which was VS Excitebike for the Famicon. Having seen the Jenga-fueled intensity that was the previous round of the Omegathon, I wasn’t sure I could handle the excitement of ExciteBike. But I can tell you that Joey Geko won an epic competition on a game that was only released in Japan.

Before getting sucked in to PC Freeplay, I slid into the Wil Wheaton panel by the skin of my teeth (lesson learned: take early bus, and don’t leave your program at home). I was just in time to hear him recite a lyrical bit of spoken word poetry. He followed up by reading an excerpt from his book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, and answer the burning question: How can a panel consist of a single man?

Wil’s answer: “Like this, baby.”

I intended to ask all the geek superstars the same question, but, as I mentioned before, Battlefield: Heroes ate up my day, and so I was only able to ask Wheaton what his weirdest moment at PAX 2008 was. His answer?

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_{Gaming Squad, courtesy of Sparky}

Lessons Learned at PAX 2008:

1. The lines are long. Really long. (Unless you’re trying to use the women’s restroom). Know what you want to do ahead of time, and don’t try to get into Gabe and Tycho’s Make-A-Strip Panel 10 minutes before it’s scheduled to start.
2. The Console Freeplay rooms aren’t nearly as cool as the PC Freeplay rooms (pictured above) and take about twice as long to get into.
3. Don’t skip the Omeganaut competition, because you might get to see Gabe, Tycho, Khoo and Kara from Penny Arcade playing Journey songs on Rock Band.
4. Make sure to get bacon salt, among all the other swag.
5. I really suck at video games, unlike certain other bloggers.
6. If you’re riding the bus home, get on at 3rd and Virginia, before all the Bumbershoot people flood in!
7. The sumo beanbag mats are the best idea anyone’s ever come up with for PAX.

_{Jonathan Coulton, courtesy of Takomabibelot}

My first night at PAX was full of surprises, not the least of which was getting to meet the brilliant Jonathan Coulton while having dinner at Six Arms. I made an idiot of myself, of course, but that didn’t negate the fact that I actually got to shake hands with the man responsible for the Portal theme song that never fails to get stuck in my head. Of course, his brilliant “Code Monkey” song is great, too (#).

Beyond that, and the shock at finding a 30,000 person convention where there was no line at the women’s restroom, I was also surprised by Ken Levine’s keynote speech. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Levine started by describing his descent into comics (a “geeky gateway drug”) during his childhood, and subsequent involvement in D&D.

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_{Wil Wheaton was at PAX, courtesy of Jake of 8bitjoystick.com}

So, PAX 2008 is already upon us. I’m getting texts from friends in line, who are writing haikus and getting early concert wristbands down at the Convention Center.

I’ve never been to PAX before, but I like Penny Arcade and enjoy a good video game, and scads of my friends are going, so I thought I’d join them this year, particularly after finding out Wil Wheaton was coming again. I loved Stand By Me, what can I say?

Anyway, because I’ve never been before, and I’m a little freaked out by the thought of doing PAX for the whole geekend, I was hoping you Metblogs readers could help a girl out with some tips and tricks of your own for enjoying myself. I’ll be sure to report back on how things go!

photo by Race Bannon [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• OMGoats clearing brush along the highway between Pine and Boren!! [flickr]
• I’m not sure what most of this means, but I just hope that no one reads it and decides to cultivate a crop of microcelebrities in our own second-tier city. [gawker]
• Final Fantasy is the band I might be most excited about seeing at Bumbershoot. Maybe even to the degree that I’d say that he is the main reason not to skip Sunday. Three mp3s from his upcoming EPs appeared online today. Get ‘em while they’re hot. [yanp, s'gum]
• I don’t necessarily recommend leaving Bumbershoot early on Saturday, but if you were so inclined, the main reason would be because you wanted to see Bon Iver , whose For Emma, Forever Ago was among my most favorite of last year’s releases. Thanks to re-release, it could be your favorite of this year. [neumos]
• If you’d been dying to check out what the Clover’s all about but wanted to avoid one of those indie places that used to brew drip coffee with them, now you can enjoy it at one of 10 Starbucks stores making use of their new acquisition. [bigblog]
• Richard McIver paid a fine for an ethics violation with city funds. Some are not amused. [citizenrain]

photo by sea kay [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• This is the Radiohead review to read. [cherrycanoe]
• The City’s solution to meeting the need for public restrooms now that they’ve ditched the spacetoilets is to hope that they can find nearby places that don’t mind letting anyone off the street use their existing bathrooms by sometime in 2009. [bigblog]
• The road has occasionally been rocky, but it’s already time for Skillet to celebrate its first anniversary. [citizenrain]
• Mural marathoner checks Phinney off his list. [phinneywood]
• (1) Classmates.com is still in business. (2) They’re doing well enough to move from Renton to the Seattle Waterfront. (3) Why do people use classmates.com? [wsj]

photo by thomas brown [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• With all of the issues facing the city, it’s nice to know that the council is cracking down and setting strict rules for councilmembers’ blogs. [slog]
• Surprise! Sometimes the “best of” decals placed in restaurant windows stretch the truth. There goes my entire dining selection algorithm. [seattleweekly via citizenrain]
• The “sexpresso” story will never die because sometimes the baristas pour scalding liquid on pervert customers. [nerve]
• There is already a “new shoes with hearts” which were themselves the new knittaplease. [hillku]
• The UW has put a year and a half into designing the perfect compostable spoon, demonstrating that polluting foodware can be replaced. [times]
• And now you know how much it takes to get Jerry Seinfeld to love Microsoft. [gawker]

photo by suzie [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Wonder why Value Village (currently for lease!) has that weird smell? Maybe it’s because most of Pike/Pine used to be an auto row. [capitolhillseattle]
• Ladies, your new Bachelor is a Bachelorette reject and Kirklander. [seattlest]
• Now you know what Kim Thayll and Jeff Ament think about grunge. [subpop]
• One word Radiohead preview. [soundonthesound] Yet, even though I saw them twice this tour I still feel a twinge of soggy clogged traffic jealousy.
• Those of you who buy the local daily will be spending an extra quarter for the privilege of newsprint. [p-i]
• The harrowing adventures of a scrappy band of alt-weekly employees struggling to bring you a newspaper in the face of electrical crisis. [slog]

photo by viv | seattle bon vivant [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Hempfest caused Christopher Frizzelle to have an out of body experience. [slog]
• Drink with Seattlests tonight at MOE. Remember: no EdWe IRL. [seattlest]
• Teens swimmers circumnavigate Mercer Island for charity, high school graduation. [times]
• A downside of being the daughter of the Seahawks coach is that you get ousted from your fantasy football league. [wbaltv]
• Kapow! wants a statue of Allen to tower over SLU. This is just another excuse to sell t-shirts to go with their coffee, right? [bigblog]