Seattle news

• Obama Administration Gives Green Light for Shell to Drill Two Wells in the Chukchi Sea

  22-07-2015 23:40 via thestranger.com
  
  A shot of the Polar Pioneer sneaking out of Elliott Bay. Now Shell's Arctic drilling operation is waiting on... Portland.Kelly O
  From FuelFix:The Obama administration on Wednesday gave Shell permission to bore two new exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean, but imposed major restrictions that could keep the company’s drill bits from reaching potential oil-bearing rock thousands of feet below the surface.The catch is that Shell has to wait until its broken icebreaker returns to Alaska from P
  
  Read more

• Jeff Bezos's Space Company Is Now Taking Sign-Ups for Rocket Ship Rides

  22-07-2015 23:16 via thestranger.com
  Would seeing this from a Blue Origin spacecraft change who you are? Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock
  Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos's spaceflight company, Blue Origin, launched its first rocket ship (a vehicle that both the Huffington Post and Mashable compared to a penis) to a height 307,000 feet above the earth. Now, Blue Origin has started taking sign-ups for rides into space.
  On Tuesday, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported that Kent-based Blue Origin had added a sign-up section to its websit
  
  Read more

• OG Maco Blasts Future for Glorifying Drugs, Tef Poe Channels 2Pac on Revolution-Minded War Machine 3

  22-07-2015 23:01 via thestranger.com
  
  You don’t have to like codeine, molly, or benzos to agree that this Future shit is nasty.
  "It's time, man. Damn, it's time."
  —The Education of Sonny Carson
  Rapper OG Maco recently sparked the internets by tweeting that his ATL neighbor Future has "ruined countless lives" with the drug advocacy in his music. I think it's absolutely super crucial that we have somebody in rap right now (and I don't mean you, dude—I mean somebody who people actually listen to) who is questioning th
  
  Read more

• Sandra Bland Is Dead Because She Believed in Her Rights as an American

  22-07-2015 22:36 via thestranger.com
  
  Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia forces Sandra Bland out of her car with a weapon. YOUTUBE/TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
  The video of the July 10 arrest of the black American woman, Sandra Bland, who died on July 13 in a Texas jail cell, shows a testy cop confronting a driver who absolutely cannot understand why she has been pulled over for not signaling while changing lanes. She explains that he was approaching quickly from behind so she was just getting out of his way.
  When Bland refuses
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• In Food News: Seattle Loses a Beloved Chef, Sizzle Pie Coming to Capitol Hill, and Shingletown Opens in Ballard

  22-07-2015 22:28 via thestranger.com
  
  Chef Tyler Moritz (right), with Aleks Dimitrijevich, at their restaurant La Bête in 2010.Kelly O
  First, some news that I hate to report: Yesterday, local chef Tyler Moritz died after his fight with stage 4 bladder cancer. Moritz was best known as the chef and co-owner of Capitol Hill's La Bête (which he opened with Aleks Dimitrijevich), but he was well known (and well loved) in the restaurant community, having worked in the kitchens at Union, Lark, Stoneburner, and the Zig Zag Cafe. I
  
  Read more

• Decibel Festival Announces Lineup, and Some of It Is Amazing

  22-07-2015 22:01 via thestranger.com
  
  This morning Decibel Festival director Sean Horton and his team announced the full lineup for its 12th annual edition of electronic music and digital arts, which happens September 23-27. The 95 stylistically diverse acts will be playing 30 showcases in 10 venues located in Capitol Hill and downtown. This is a slightly scaled back agenda, and a welcome retreat from the overwhelming abundance of recent years' offerings. (It's still a helluva lot to take in, and godspeed to anyone who goes full-ti
  
  Read more

• Free Pride Glasgow: "We made a mistake, and we apologise."

  22-07-2015 21:34 via thestranger.com
  
  Good news, Jinkx! Kelly O
  After first announcing that they were banning all drag acts from performing at their event and then announcing that trans and non-binary drag acts would be allowed but not cis drag acts, today Free Pride announced that they made a mistake and all drag acts are welcome to apply to perform:
  We made a mistake, and we apologise.
  Drag is an art form, a form of expression and performance, a community with a rich history. The most useful comments and advice that we have been s
  
  Read more

• Mike O'Brien and the Mayor Have a New Piece of Oil Train Safety Resolution. But Will It Actually Protect Us?

  22-07-2015 20:39 via thestranger.com
  
  The oil train safety resolution isn't bad. But it isn't comforting, either. Seattle City Council
  The US Department of Transportation predicts an average of 10 crude oil or ethanol derailments a year over the next 20 years. Two trains carrying highly flammable crude oil pass through Seattle every day—that's two trains passing beneath downtown Seattle in the Great Northern Tunnel, two trains running right alongside Safeco Field, and two trains chugging along the waterfront."It's a matter of
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Mike O'Brien and the Mayor Have a New Oil Train Safety Resolution. But Will It Actually Protect Us?

  22-07-2015 20:39 via thestranger.com
  
  The oil train safety resolution isn't bad. But it isn't comforting, either. Seattle City Council
  The US Department of Transportation predicts an average of 10 crude oil or ethanol train derailments a year over the next 20 years. Two trains carrying highly flammable crude oil pass through Seattle every day—that's two trains passing beneath downtown Seattle in the Great Northern Tunnel, two trains running right alongside Safeco Field, and two trains chugging along the waterfront."It's a matt
  
  Read more

• Why We're Endorsing Kshama Sawant for City Council District No. 3

  22-07-2015 20:01 via thestranger.com
  
  Council Member Kshama Sawant Kelly OComrades! Let us take another step forward in the righteous, people-powered, scent-free struggle to overthrow the greedy capitalists and create a Socialist utopia on Puget Sound, a place where a giant state apparatus will ensure that you have no concerns. Ha-ha-ha. No. That's not going to happen. That's never going to happen. And even if it does happen, sometime after we're all dead and wrong, we promise our desiccated corpses will keep having concerns to comp
  
  Read more

• Boring Report: The Red Wall Around the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station Comes Down

  22-07-2015 19:01 via thestranger.com
  
  Yesterday afternoon, most of the wall was gone. Christopher Frizzelle
  That same corner this morning. Christopher Frizzelle
  Closer up. Christopher Frizzelle[ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
  Read more

• Teenagers Having Less Sex, Popping More Morning-After Pills

  22-07-2015 18:31 via thestranger.com
  
  Jezebel:
  Teens are simple creatures. Teens love a few things. Teens love: social media platforms so new they’re invisible to the naked eye of an adult; experimenting with mood-altering substances; cheap hair dye; trolling; and also the morning-after pill. The AP reports on new numbers from the CDC. Over the last ten years, as the morning-after pill has been made more widely available to prescription-less teens, their use has jumped from one in twelve to one in five. Bill Albert of the Nati
  
  Read more

• The Morning News: Rich White People Dominate Election Contributions in Seattle, Questions Raised About Edits to Sandra Bland Dashcam Video

  22-07-2015 17:55 via thestranger.com
  
  People who have homes with views like this one dominate election contributions in the city, according to a new study. Edmund Lowe Photography/Shutterstock
  The Biggest Funders of Seattle Politicians Are... ...rich, white people with homes that have views of the water, according to a new report from Sightline. "The city’s most-giving neighborhoods (dubbed “Big Money Zones” in this report) hold just 4 percent of the population," according to the think tank, "but they gave as much
  
  Read more

• The Morning News: Rich White People Are Biggest Campaign Donors, Questions Raised About Sandra Bland Dashcam Video

  22-07-2015 17:55 via thestranger.com
  
  People who have homes with views like this one dominate election contributions in the city, according to a new study. Edmund Lowe Photography/Shutterstock
  The Biggest Funders of Seattle Politicians Are... ...rich, white people with homes that have views of the water, according to a new report from Sightline. "The city’s most-giving neighborhoods (dubbed “Big Money Zones” in this report) hold just 4 percent of the population," according to the think tank, "but they gave as much
  
  Read more

• Well-Armed Lunatics, Suspect Suicide, and Presidential Denunciations of Bill Cosby

  22-07-2015 14:32 via thestranger.com
  
  Easy Pickings.
  MONDAY, JULY 13 This week of well-armed lunatics, suspect suicide, and presidential denunciations of Bill Cosby kicked off in the great Northwest, where this morning three men entered a busy Fred Meyer store in Marysville, Washington, and stole a fully loaded ATM. Details on the swiped-in-broad-daylight cash machine and the men who did the swiping comes from Marysville police: "They had a dolly and put [the ATM] up on the dolly, wheeled it out of the store, loaded it into a pickup
  
  Read more

• Two Unplanned Pregnancies in Unexpected

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  Two Unplanned Pregnancies in Unexpectedby Kathy FennessyChicago director Kris Swanberg’s third film, her highest-profile effort to date, centers on two women confronting unplanned pregnancies. From the onset, she neatly distinguishes herself from her husband, Joe Swanberg, through less reliance on dialogue and more interest in race.Cobie Smulders plays Sam, a science teacher at an inner-city school targeted for closure. It isn’t the best time to become pregnant, especially since she and her
  
  Read more

• The Vibrant, Nuclear-Hued Glow of Tangerine

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  The Vibrant, Nuclear-Hued Glow of Tangerine by Andrew WrightGood movies can sometimes give off a hum—a feeling that the energy and chemistry on-screen can't be constrained by the edges of the frame. Tangerine, the latest from cowriter/director Sean Baker (Starlet), fits this description and then some, creating a kinetic rush with enough spillover juice to light up Los Angeles for a year. While chock-full of innovations both welcome (a story about transgender characters, played by transgend
  
  Read more

• The Full Capitol Hill Block Party Schedule is on our Things To Do Calendar

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  Prepare Yourself for This Weekend's Madness[ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
  Read more

• The Full Capitol Hill Block Party Schedule

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  Everything You Need to Know to Prepare Yourself for This Weekend's Madness[ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
  Read more

• The Energy of Tangerine Can’t Be Constrained

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  The Energy of Tangerine Can’t Be Constrainedby Andrew WrightGood movies can sometimes give off a hum—a feeling that the energy and chemistry on-screen can’t be constrained by the edges of the frame. Tangerine, the latest from cowriter/director Sean Baker (Starlet), fits this description and then some, creating a kinetic rush with enough spillover juice to light up LA for a year.While chock–full of innovations both welcome (a story about transgender characters, played by actual transgende
  
  Read more

• Pixels Wants Your Money, Dweebs

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  Pixels Wants Your Money, Dweebsby Alison HallettThere's nothing to admire about Hollywood's current, relentless flogging of "nerd culture"; it's a straightforward lunch-money shakedown. Nerds are the original brand ambassadors, quick to define themselves by the stuff they buy, dutifully on board for the remake, the sequel, the TV adaptation.Maybe this is why we keep getting stuck with movies and books (hello, Ernest Cline) that insist on the marginalization of the nerd while simultaneously valor
  
  Read more

• Does Writing About Do I Sound Gay? Make Me Sound Gay?

  22-07-2015 13:00 via thestranger.com
  
  Does Writing About Do I Sound Gay? Make Me Sound Gay?by Christopher FrizzelleI wanted to like this movie because Dan Savage and David Sedaris are (briefly) in it and because it's an interesting premise. Why do some gay guys sound so gay when they talk? Is it a biological issue? A class issue? A "raised by women" issue? A self-control issue? Self-hatred? Subtle advertising?At one point, Sedaris admits, "I'm embarrassed to say this, but sometimes someone will say, 'I didn't know you were gay...' W
  
  Read more

• The Newly Released Sandra Bland Dashcam Video Is Chilling

  22-07-2015 03:49 via thestranger.com
  
  From the New York Times:
  A dashboard camera video taken by law officers released Tuesday showed in excruciating detail how a routine traffic stop led to a woman being dragged from her car and arrested, three days before she was found hanging in her jail cell.
  State legislators who saw the video just before it was released publicly sharply condemned the officer’s behavior, which the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, said was a violation of department arrest p
  
  Read more

• Savage Love Letter of the Day: Why Couldn't He Follow the Rule?

  22-07-2015 02:38 via thestranger.com
  
  My last relationship was monogamish, at points. I always told my ex-boyfriend how far things would go with a third BEFORE I had a date. When I said "nothing will happen," nothing but flirting happened—no kissing, no groping, nada. I wanted my boyfriend to do the same when he went on a date with a third, i.e. just tell me how far things would go: kissing, making out, intercourse. They were his limits to set, and telling me ahead of time allowed me to prepare emotionally for what was coming.
  
  Read more

• Police: Man groped girls, 11 and 15, in Wild Waves wave pool

  22-07-2015 02:27
  
  Police: Man groped girls, 11 and 15, in Wild Waves wave pool
  
  Read more

• To Kill a Mockingbird Will Never Be the Same

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  To Kill a Mockingbird Will Never Be the Sameby Rich SmithAt a party recently, a woman told me that she was afraid to read Harper Lee's new book because she—like Jennifer Love Hewitt and many other people—had named one of her children Atticus. I was not surprised to hear this. Americans treat Lee's first book, To Kill a Mockingbird, as their secular bible and Atticus Finch as their secular Jesus (or at least high-school English departments do). But this woman had read the news reports
  
  Read more

• The Self-Perpetuating Self-Destruction of Young Americans' Theater Company

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  The Self-Perpetuating Self-Destruction of Young Americans' Theater Companyby Brendan KileyIt was, I admit, a little difficult to watch Past Curfew, a weekend of one-act plays produced entirely by teenagers, and not think about the failed promise of adulthood.The weekend transpired in a small, sweaty theater on Capitol Hill where the teens of Young Americans' Theatre Company performed three plays for an audience of their peers and parents: Long Ago and Far Away (a magical-realist short by David I
  
  Read more

• Revisiting the Town of the Most Famous Horse Sex Death in Recorded History

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Revisiting the Town of the Most Famous Horse Sex Death in Recorded Historyby Charles MudedeEarly in the morning of July 2, 2005, an unknown person abandoned a man in the emergency room of the Enumclaw Community Hospital. The man who'd been dropped off did not have a pulse. Attempts to revive him failed. The police were called to investigate the mystery. Video footage revealed the license-plate number of the vehicle that brought the dead man to the hospital. The number led authorities to a farm o
  
  Read more

• Not Going to Capitol Hill Block Party?

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Not Going to Capitol Hill Block Party? Here's What Else Is Going On This Weekendby Emily NokesIt's tiiiime! Seattle's summer months are a nonstop music explosion with festivals and shows of all sizes happening left and right, from Central District Punk House Basement™ to the Tacoma Dome. This year's Capitol Hill Block Party boasts a nice dose of local bands, plus great second-tier support from outta-towners like Shannon and the Clams, Girlpool, and Protomartyr. But if your bank account can
  
  Read more

• Michelle Handelman's Irma Vep, The Last Breath Adds Gender Subversion and Class Critique to a 100-Year-Old Anagram

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Michelle Handelman's Irma Vep, The Last Breath Adds Gender Subversion and Class Critique to a 100-Year-Old Anagramby Jen GravesIrma Vep was born fully formed in 1915, a woman who was never a girl, a gangster whose name was an anagram for "vampire," and a popular enigma whose mouth had two meanings: Lips closed, she had a secret; mouth wide, she was ready to suck the life out of everything. She terrorized the upper class.Wearing a black bodysuit, Irma Vep was shifty and slippery, infiltrating ups
  
  Read more

• Is John Okamoto Trying to Kill a Seattle Rent Control Resolution?

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Is John Okamoto Trying to Kill a Seattle Rent Control Resolution?by Heidi GrooverIt's been six weeks since Seattle City Council members Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant introduced a resolution that would call on the state legislature to lift its ban on rent control. The council has yet to take a vote on the idea.That's because the Licata-Sawant resolution is stuck in the hands of one guy: temporary council member John Okamoto.Okamoto chairs the council's housing affordability committee, meaning he'
  
  Read more

• Finally, Momentum for Greater Density and More Affordable Housing in Seattle

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Finally, Momentum for Greater Density and More Affordable Housing in Seattleby Ansel HerzThe long-awaited July 13 report from a committee tasked with solving Seattle's housing-affordability crisis ended up being another big win for Mayor Ed Murray. Like it or not, his trap-people-who-hate-each-other-in-a-secret-room-and-make-them-work-things-out approach to governing gets results, and keeps Seattle moving along at a steady liberal clip.The question, as always, is whether moving along at a steady
  
  Read more

• Does Writing About This Movie Make Me Sound Gay?

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Does Writing About This Movie Make Me Sound Gay?by Christopher FrizzelleI wanted to like this movie because Dan Savage and David Sedaris are (briefly) in it and because it's an interesting premise. Why do some gay guys sound so gay when they talk? Is it a biological issue? A class issue? A "raised by women" issue? A self-control issue? Self-hatred? Subtle advertising?At one point, Sedaris admits, "I'm embarrassed to say this, but sometimes someone will say, 'I didn't know you were gay...' Why do
  
  Read more

• Decoding the Queen Gene in Ratatat's DNA

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Decoding the Queen Gene in Ratatat's DNA. Evan Mast on Brian May, Bjork, and Magnifique, their First LP in Five Yearsby Trent MoormanToward the climax of the 1980 film adaption of Flash Gordon, heroine Dale Arden screams, "Flash! Flash! I love you, but we only have 14 minutes to save the Earth." The soundtrack, by Queen, is blazing and triumphant. Ming the Merciless is defeated (spoiler alert) to the most royal, eloquent guitar and keyboard rock possible.Brooklyn duo Ratatat pull essential stran
  
  Read more

• Can a Documentary Save Black Lives?

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  Can a Documentary Save Black Lives? Murder Victim Jordan Davis's Father Hopes 3½ Minutes, 10 Bullets Can and Willby Ijeoma OluoOn November 23, 2012, while sitting in a parked car with three friends, 17-year-old Jordan Davis was shot and killed by 45-year-old Michael Dunn following a verbal dispute over loud music. The story of a white man who became so angry at the impertinence of four black teens that he fired 10 bullets into their SUV came to horrify the nation. Black parents clutched t
  
  Read more

• A Field Guide to the Vietnamese Deli

  22-07-2015 02:06 via thestranger.com
  
  A Field Guide to Seattle's Vietnamese Delisby Angela GarbesI often lament the fact that Seattle lacks a truly great New York delicatessen, a place where you can get pastrami sandwiches and knishes. But every time my friend Ben visits from Brooklyn, I'm reminded how the grass in Seattle really is greener.My friend is obsessed with the city's Vietnamese delis. On each trip, he works his way through not only various banh mi fillings, but also the many (often unlabeled) offerings that line the stain
  
  Read more

• Have You Seen the Video of the Sousaphone Player Trolling the Racists?

  22-07-2015 02:01 via thestranger.com
  
  This is why we need to fund music in the schools. Without band, no one is going to have the talent or the inclination to pick up a sousaphone and gracefully make a mockery of a bunch of marching racists by playing a goofy rendition of "Flight of the Valkyries."I see you did there, expert troller. The Nazis were famous for co-opting Wagner, and so your use of the song associates these doofuses with the Third Reich. But I do have one gripe.On the issue of Wagner's relationship with the Nazis, I s
  
  Read more

• The Stranger Election Control Board Cheat Sheet

  22-07-2015 01:47 via thestranger.com
  
  Primary Election Cheat Sheetby The Stranger Election Control Board[ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
  Read more

• TRAFFIC ALERT: SR 522 closed in both directions

  22-07-2015 01:42
  
  TRAFFIC ALERT: SR 522 closed in both directions
  
  Read more

• SR 522 reopens after crews remove downed tree

  22-07-2015 01:42
  
  TRAFFIC ALERT: SR 522 closed in both directions
  
  Read more

• Disappointed by the Rent Control Debate? Here's What a Six-Year-Old, 400 Page Study on Rent Stabilization Says

  22-07-2015 01:32 via thestranger.com
  
  A capacity crowd filled Town Hall for last night's rent control debate. Too bad the debate itself wasn't chock full of, you know, facts. Ansel Herz
  I don't know about you, but I came away from last night's debate on rent control at Town Hall feeling rather disappointed. Neither side destroyed the other. There was a lot more repetition of talking points ("Rent control impedes the construction of new housing!" vs. "Rent control is the only thing standing between you and an eviction!" over and over
  
  Read more

• Electronic Music Innovator Dieter Moebius Died Yesterday. You Probably Never Heard of Him, But You Should Mourn the Loss

  22-07-2015 01:30 via thestranger.com
  
  The late Dieter Moebius: His impact on underground music was profound.
  German electronic-music producer Dieter Moebius, who played on many crucial, innovative records, but was largely unknown by the general public, died July 20 at age 71. He is best known for his contributions in Cluster (with Hans-Joachim Rodelius), Harmonia (with Roedelius and Michael Rother), and for his and Roedelius's collaborations with Brian Eno, but Moebius linked up with many more musicians and always found new methods
  
  Read more

• Headline of the Day: "My Wedding Was Perfect—and I Was Fat as Hell the Whole Time"

  22-07-2015 01:16 via thestranger.com
  
  Lindy West looking gorgeous on her wedding day. Christopher Frizzelle
  Lindy has a piece in The Guardian today about what her wedding was like—specifically, what it's like to get married in a world that is constantly telling you your body is wrong.As a fat woman, if you ask for help or guidance on almost any topic, what you inevitably hear is some version of “Take up less space.” Diminish yourself. Feeling sick? Make your body smaller. Can’t find love? Make your body small
  
  Read more

• Look At This Street Art: What Does It Mean?

  22-07-2015 01:01 via thestranger.com
  
  What do you suppose they were really trying to say?Kelly O[ Comment on this story ][ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
  
  Read more

• Benaroya Hall Is Obeying Morrissey's "Meat Is Murder" Edict

  22-07-2015 00:54 via thestranger.com
  
  Viva Ate: Davids & Co's special Morrissey menu. Dave Segal
  Former Smiths frontman Morrissey is playing Benaroya Hall tonight, and it will ease your mind to know that no meat products will be served on the premises, per one of the world's most notorious vegan's request. Davids & Co, the restaurant within Benaroya, is "complying with [the venue's] wish that we not serve any meat products during [Morrissey's] show," says employee Danny Hanson. When asked if this were an unusual situation, H
  
  Read more

• A Few Weird, Wonderful, and Grotesque Memories from the Old Spaghetti Factory

  22-07-2015 00:17 via thestranger.com
  
  Arrivederci, Old Spaghetti Factory.Kelly O
  Last week, the Seattle Times' Sanjay Bhatt reported that the Old Spaghetti Factory building was sold to developers for $9 million. The restaurant will likely close soon, though it "will remain open as the developers noodle with ideas for redevelopment.”While few will mourn the loss from a culinary standpoint (if you are worried about the loss of their spaghetti with mitzithra cheese, go to Olympia Pizza on Capitol Hill and order the Greek spaghett
  
  Read more

Follow @Seattle_news_ on Twitter!