Everyone always complains how much space trucks and SUVs take up in parking lots, but this is a new low:

Actually, it appears this afternoon’s incident was the result of an under-the-influence driver, who fled on foot after an ill-fated attempt to negotiate the ramp down from 25th Ave. Police, fire trucks, and UV’s own Security are out in force to deal with the results.

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Is it just me or does it seem like summer is flying by this year? Get out there and enjoy it while you can. There’s a lot going on this weekend for kids and grownups too. Here’s a few that caught my eye:

Bubble Fest at the Pacific Science Center

We went to this last year and had a great time. It’s bubble madness with bubble shows, bubble pits, stations for blowing your own bubbles, and you can even kayak through the bubbles in the science center “ponds.”

August 6-10 at the Pacific Science Center

Bicycle Saturday

Just about every other weekend, the city closes off the 4-mile stretch of Lake Washington Boulevard that leads up to Seward Park to motorized vehicles, making way for cyclists big and small. It’s a beautiful ride along the lake, with plenty of choice spots to stop for a picnic, if you’re so inclined.

August 9, 9am - 6pm

Schoolhouse Rock!

If you have fond memories of spending Saturday mornings watching a cartoon bill sing the blues about the long road to becoming a law, then this Bellevue Youth Theatre production of Schoolhouse Rock! is for you (but you can pretend it’s for the kids).

Friday, August 8, and Saturday, August 9, at 7pm. Sunday, August 10, at 2pm.

Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival

The Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival brings you not one, but two free plays at Volunteer Park this weekend. Alice in Wonderland at 2pm and The Wind in the Willows at 5pm. Bring a blanket and suncreen.

Both plays run Saturday and Sunday.

Dances of Mexico

Learn about the history of Mexican folk dance when Ballet Folklorico Ollin, comes to the Queen Anne branch of the Seattle public library.

August 9, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Know of any other fun family activities this weekend? Share ‘em in the comments!

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Whether you’ve seen all of his films or none of them, if you are a fan of modern cinema, your movie viewing has almost certainly been influenced in one way or another by the work of French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, one of the key figures of the Nouvelle Vague school of filmmaking, known also as the French New Wave. This movement led to the development of the “auteur theory” of filmmaking, the school of thought that says that the director of the film is the chief architect of its story. Remarkable at the time, the auteur theory has become the leading school of thought in filmmaking and the reason why even the most casual moviegoer refers to “Spielberg’s new film” or “the works of Lucas”.

Godard’s films used innovative techniques such as filming in “natural” locations (a friend’s apartment, the street) under natural light and frequent jump cuts, techniques that allowed the director the chance to both express his philosophical outlook about film and stick to the extremely low budgets of his early career. Other significant components of his style including downgrading the importance of the script in favor of improvisation by the director and the actors to create the story as it was being filmed and engaging audiences to view his films with the awareness of their fictions instead of suspending disbelief to see the movie as a true story.

SIFF pays tribute to Godard with their Godard’s 60s series, screening nine of the director’s best films of the 1960s, including Breathless, a film that is often labelled as one of the most inluential films ever made. The series starts August 8 with Contempt, his first big budget film, in which Brigitte Bardot stars as the extremely dissatisfied wife of a screenwriter creating an adaptation of The Odyssey for a film-within-the-film directed by legendary Fritz Lang, who plays himself. Contempt runs through August 14th and is followed by Two or Three Things I Know About Her on August 15, Weekend on August 16, A Woman is a Woman on August 17, Band of Outsiders on August 18, Masculine Feminine on August 19, Pierrot le Fou on August 20, Breathless on August 21, and the exquisite Vivre Sa Vie August 22 through August 28.

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This just in from Metblogger Ryan: 3 pedestrians were trapped under a van in Belltown on Western (location changed from original post). Not sure of the cross street. Ryan says “this is a terrifying scene. I’m sick to my stomach.” I hope the pedestrians are OK. We’ll update later. For now, steer clear of the scene.

Update: Black minivan…3 people hit…one person on the way to hospital unconscious. Two trapped.

Update: Northwest Cable News and Seattle LJ (originally but has since edited) that the incident was a car hitting 3 cyclists. Ryan on the scene: “can neither confirm nor deny. I didn’t see any bikes but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. Although, they pulled big boots off of the guy I took a picture of…he definitely wasn’t dressed for cycling.”

Update: Seattle PI Blog states:

A 60-year-old man died early Wednesday evening after an accident involving a Ford van and a pedicab near Western Avenue and Cedar Street.
Details were few after the crash, which happened about 7 p.m. A woman in her 60s – the wife of the dead man, according to a Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman – was rushed to Harborview Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
The 23-year-old pedicab driver was also taken to Harborview with non-life-threatening injuries.

Ryan: “Heard cop rush past me on cell phone say, ‘Yeah, I’m here and this is a *terrible* motherf**king accident.‘” and “Also heard fireman yell over to a medic ‘You better hurry up! This isn’t good!‘”

Last update via Komo4:

Witnesses said the pedicab, with the name Cascadia Cabs, was heading west on Cedar towards Western with its two passengers when it ran a red light. The driver was screaming, as if he had lost control of the vehicle.

Seattle police later confirmed that there was an equipment failure on the pedicab that contributed to the accident

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Photo behind cut
Read more

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.612 OPS.

All you non-stat-minded, non-baseball people just went, “Huh?” But here’s the deal. OPS is the sum of a player’s on-base percentage (their ability to get on base, whether by hit or walk) and slugging percentage (the total number of bases a player accumulates where a homer equals 4 bases, a triple equals 3, etc. divided by the total plate appearances — at bats and walks). It’s a quick-and-dirty way to determine whether a hitter is doing the two things they should be doing — getting on base, and getting a lot of extra base hits.

And Vidro was a hitter — the Mariners’ DESIGNATED HITTER, in fact. His job was to hit, not field, not pitch, just hit.

.612 is a bad OPS. The average OPS in the AL right now is .750. It’s abysmal for a DH. Not only is he last among all regular DHs in OPS, he’s almost 100 points behind the next worst hitter — 39 year old Gary Sheffield, who is wrapping up his Hall of Fame career as the Tigers’ grumpy old man.

If you look at all players in baseball with at least 300 plate appearances (which takes into account most part-time players), you find Vidro near the bottom of the list, with a guy who can only steal bases and a now injured shortstop in a mega-slump.

And again, Jose Vidro is a DESIGNATED HITTER. His job is to HIT. Not steal bases. Not field. Hit. And he couldn’t.

He might be the worst designated hitter to ever get 300 plate appearances ever.

And the Mariners traded for him in 2006, sending away two prospects to the Washington Nationals. Why?

So he could be their designated hitter. No, I’m not kidding.

And that pretty much sums up everything that’s been wrong with the Mariners in the last few years. They’re like that guy you know who always seems to offer stock picks for companies that tank. You find yourself wishing you could make money off betting against his idiocy.

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We all knew that the Fleet Foxes were doing something special, but the speed with which they are blowing up right now is amazing, and on Monday night they were on Letterman. (The location for this appearance on their myspace was Sell-outsburg, NY.)

I watched it at the Redwood, which was as always full of musicians, all of whom seemed pretty pleased to see one of their own up there on the giant tv. If you missed it, you can watch below.

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I know, I know. You are probably all just sick to death of Blue Angels pictures by now. Not to mention the events have been over for 3 days. I just had to share this shot I got from the small park just north of Boeing Field on Sunday. I had no idea they took off together and in formation. The first 4 came streaking over us like this, with the other two a few seconds behind them. They were so close, it felt like the sound alone could knock you down.

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As part of the Samsung AT&T Summer Krush concert series, Gavin Rossdale will be playing a free show Thurday night at the Showbox SoDo. Doors will open at 7:30, and the show is scheduled to start at 9:30 (rock star procrastination notwithstanding.)

The show will be open to the public, but it’s advised that those attending get there early to ensure admission.

The Summer Krush concert series began July 31 with a performance by Mariah Carey in Los Angeles, and will conclude Sept. 16 with a performance by Good Charlotte in San Francisco. All shows are free, and are also being used as a promotion tool for the new Samsung BlackJack II, a “music-centric” mobile phone.

For more information, visit www.samsungsummerkrush.com.

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Now this sounds like a good time to me! Free cake, music, and spending time with those who serve our country. It’s win-win all around.

The Army Reserve’s citizen-soldiers are celebrating a century of service this year, and the regional headquarters in Seattle invites the public to help celebrate with festivities at the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Ballard this Saturday.

The 70th Army Band and the 104th Division Band will team up for an afternoon of music from noon to 5 p.m., weaving historical music from the last century of the Reserve’s existence with jazz, dance, concert and rock and roll.

Via Seattle Times

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find myself fantasizing about moving to a farm with goats and chickens and fruit trees and a big, sprawling vegetable garden. Then I think about how much work that would entail, and I get sleepy.

It’s times like these when I head out to South 47 Farm in Redmond - a great place to get your farm fix. It’s close enough to Seattle to go for a quick berry-picking run (U-pick raspberries were $5/lb this past weekend - can’t beat that) or take the family and make a day of it.

All of the vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs are organic, and most are available for both U-pick and  farmstand purchase. They keep their web site updated with a list of available crops, so you can see what’s ready to harvest before you visit.

We went last weekend and picked four pints of raspberries, which are plentiful right now and a good choice for little ones to pick since they grow low, are easy to spot and pull, and have no thorns. We also picked a basket-full of rainbow chard (pictured) - they provide a basket and scissors for clipping; a bouquet of sunflowers, and a pint of blueberries, which are just starting to come into season there. We paid a visit to the resident goats, chickens, and alpacas, and were back in Seattle in time for lunch.

South 47 also has a farm tots/farm kids program, events throughout the year, and they were even setting up for a birthday party when we were there.

How about you? Where do you go for your farm fix?

South 47 Farm

Open Wed-Sun, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

15410 NE 124th St., Redmond, WA 98052

directions here (scroll to end of page)

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Say what you will about Jason Fortuny (go ahead, say it, he loves the attention) he doesn’t let you to sit on the fence. Fortuny, as nearly everybody knows by now, perpetrated one of the most infamous and despicable Internet pranks of all time [wiki, encyclopedia dramatica]. He loves to couch what he did as a “social experiment” but ask any social scientist if what he did qualifies as an experiment and listen to the laughter.

Today, we finally receive the news his comeuppance may be close at hand. According to 10ZenMonkeys the plaintiff in the $75,000 lawsuit filed against Fortuny in April was finally able to find a valid address for him and a summons has been issued. This means at least one victim of Fortuny’s will get his day in court.

According to the suit Fortuny “acted with actual malice to harm and deceive the individuals responding to the Craigslist ad.” The suit demands a jury trial and seeks a full slate of damages — compensatory, statutory, and punitive, plus attorney’s fees and costs.

“Plaintiff has suffered, and continues to suffer, harm arising from the foregoing wrongful conduct by Mr. Fortuny,” the lawsuit complains, identifying the victim as John Doe and arguing that the incident affected his private life “and the manner in which he is viewed among family, friends, and colleagues.”

I don’t know if this suit has legs but I do know which side of the fence I’m sitting on. Did I mention Fortuny will be representing himself?

[via waxy]

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I like a little steamed milk with my coffee, but patrons at the Espresso Gone Wild coffee stand are apparently getting a little more steam than the business is zoned for and county officials have stepped in to cool things off. The Seattle Times reports that Mason County officials have deemed the baristas “erotic entertainers” due to their less than matronly outfits and sent the owners a letter saying that the outfits would have to go (presumably they also stated that they would have to be replaced with more conservative dress).

As recently as two weeks ago, Espresso Gone Wild was advertising on Craigslist. In case the text gets pulled later today, it reads:

WE HAVE A GREAT “CATCHY” THEME THAT KEEPS OUR CUSTOMERS COMING BACK OVER AND OVER AGAIN (AS SEEN @ www.cowgirlsespresso.com)
WE ARE LOOKING FOR MOTIVATED PEOPLE THAT ARE READY TO WORK IN A VERY FAST PACE ENVIORNMENT AND THINK THEY MAY HAVE THE FOLLOWING TRAITS:
RELIABLE, ENERGETIC, UPBEAT, POSITIVE, HONEST, OUTGOING, DEDICATED, AND WILLING TO GO THE EXTRA MILE FOR THE CUSTOMER.

Cowgirls Espresso lists a number of locations in and around Seattle. I wonder if they will also soon be getting official letters too?

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Neighborhoods across Seattle will be celebrating National Night Out tonight. It’s a national crime and drug prevention initiative, but in Seattle, at least, it seems to have turned into a good excuse to have block parties, thanks to the city waiving the usual fees to close streets (#) .

The Central District will host at least three block parties, including one in the area in front of Central Cinema, one near 25th and Spring, and a large event at Tougo Coffee Co (#). (Source).

In addition, more than 200 people registered to close off their streets in West Seattle, according to West Seattle Blog. There are also parties going on in Ballard- locations might be garnered from the comments on this MyBallard post. There is at least one block party (and probably more) going on around 50th and Stoneway in Greenlake.

If this is the first you’re hearing about the block parties across Seattle, don’t worry about not being able to get home- the block parties can’t be on arterial roads, and are not allowed to block intersections. If there is one going on in your neighborhood, hopefully you received an invite from your organizer. If anyone would like to share additional block party locations, please leave us a comment!

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We’ve all been tempted before…it’s late on a Friday night and you need somewhere to park. There’s a space that isn’t quite big enough and if you just moved the scooter over 6 inches, you could fit. Have you done it?

Photo by lastrandy

Apparently enough people have. City Council just voted in favor of a new $38 fine for moving a scooter.

“We cannot tolerate this behavior in Seattle at a time when we want to make it easier for people to use alternative transportation,” said Councilmember Jan Drago, whose Transportation Committee recommended the measure.

I will be a scooter owner later this year and this very issue has concerned me enough that I will be renting a parking space in my apartment building in order to avoid incidents. Not only do people move scooters, but they also bump them with their cars, causing superficial and mechanical damage.

Source

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oh what the hell. one last blue angels pic. this one’s by paul swortz [flickr] via our airplane-filled group pool [#]

• Get ticketed for talking on the phone while driving, get a free bluetooth headset. evil genius. [bargainist via seattle.lj]
• Siberian, an all around great but underappreciated local band, call it quits and aim for new projects. Buy their record now, it’s good and getting collectible. Best wishes to all. [myspace via lineout]
• Putting the inevitable cart before the horse, Gregoire and Rossi start making plans to debate across the state. [postman]

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