the thing itself and not the myth

After what felt like endless weekends of nothing going on (not that I really mind that so much: it gives me time to knit & watch absurd amounts of television) I had two weekends in a row when Stuff Happened. Like so.

Last weekend, knitwear designer Stephen West did a trunk show and a shawl class up at Village Yarn and Tea. I’ve been a fan of his designs for a while, but had yet to tackle one, so I signed up for the class, which was an excellent decision. I learned a few new tips and tricks, but more importantly, I got inspired again. We can all use that from time to time.

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This weekend, as probably all of Seattle knows, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was closed for inspection. They do it twice a year, and while it’s closed, they do public walking tours. That’s how I found myself, shortly after 9 in the morning, donning an orange vest and a hard hat and walking up the Seneca St off ramp. A very odd experience. I wish that we had been able to explore more of the structure, but we did learn a lot in a brief time about safety measures on the Viaduct as well as regarding the process of taking it down and elements of the tunnel option for the waterfront (of which I am still not a fan, for those playing along at home.)

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The whole thing was worth it if only for the chance to get a photo of Seattle’s Ugliest Mural. I saw it every day the three or four months I lived in West Seattle, and I was always horrified. The closer you get, the more terrifying it is.

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Two obligatory walking-up-1st-Avenue photos:

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Later that afternoon, I met up with Puck & their gran to see the live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. It was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to listening next week to see what other Seattle material they can dig up.

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After coffee with them, I went up to the Phinney Neighborhood Center to see Ellis Paul. I feel like I could totally live in Phinney Ridge if I was the sort of person who wanted to have babies and dress them in organic clothing and be annoyed that Seattle’s draconian drinking laws prohibit children in bars. Instead I want no babies and I ride the bus and drink coffee, so I live on Capitol Hill. But going to the neighborhood makes me feel like I’m in some weird parallel universe.

Anyway. The point was Ellis, whom I have seen live a lot. He’s probably rivaling the Paperboys & Peter Mulvey at this point. I try to make a point of going to his shows, even when they’re in weird neighborhoods, because as I said on Facebook, I always feel better about the world afterwards. And no, that’s not a given for a concert. For example, a Richard Shindell show is obviously always worth seeing, but for me that’s because his shows are cathartic. I have yet to attend a Richard show that didn’t make me cry.

At an Ellis show, though, something special always happens in a way that it doesn’t happen for any other artist, or at least not with such regularity. The last time I saw him at PNC, Antje Duvekot opened, but late in the show when he wanted to perform “Conversation with a Ghost”, she was nowhere to be found, so he wound up singing with a member of the audience. One half of a couple, by the way, that drove at least 6 hours to be there. And of course she was amazing.

The next time, in West Seattle, Ellis got a deep back catalog request. He gamely attempted it, but soon it was clear that he didn’t remember the words nearly as well as a fellow in the audience, who he brought up to help out.

Tonight at the half, a family pointed out to him that it was Earth Hour, so he came down into the middle of the hall (which in itself was not uncommon) and did “Let it Be” off mic in the dark. I am not a religious person (which is perhaps the understatement of the century) but times like that are transcendental.

…and that’s all for now, folks. Though poking at my Flickr, it seems I have a backlog of knitting to show you. Perhaps later this week.

Things I still have to post about: movies seen since July, things I did at work this summer, stuff I’ve made.

What I’m going to post about instead: this weekend! Two of my aunts & one of my cousins came over to the coast, which was lovely. Pictures after the jump! (more…)

Last week, my friend Chris visited from New York. One of the awesome things about having company is that I get to do all of the Seattle things I wouldn’t do otherwise. After the jump probably way too many crappy pictures of Seattle & a few of Portland. (more…)

Yesterday evening I trekked over to Ballard for a concert. Trekking indeed. It takes an hour to get there from my office. North Seattle Community College is the halfway point, and I finally managed to take a picture of these sweet little houses across the street from the college.

If only Ballard were a little more accessible, I would be very tempted to live there. But then it wouldn’t be Ballard. Also it would be nice if they had a grocery store walkable from the heart of the neighborhood. Though, the QFC is coming back in that condo development, yes?

More after the jump. (more…)

Also this weekend was the Harry Potter vs Twilight debate at the library, which was a lot of fun. The auditorium was packed (so at least 250 people), and the audience enthusiastic. A panel of five judges from the library & the school system asked questions of the two teams, each made up of three teen girls from Team Read. On one hand, I’m sorry that there weren’t any boys on the panels, though there were many among the teen volunteers, but on the other, how awesome is it that girls were debating what’s the best fantasy series? Totally awesome, that’s what.

The judges would ask a question, and then the teams were given 30 seconds to discuss it amongst themselves before responding. After each question, the audience would spring into lively discussion too, which was very cool.

The teams were asked to discuss supporting characters (Twilight talked about Jacob, HP about Neville OF COURSE BECAUSE NEVILLE IS THE BEST. Ahem.), villains, prejudice (a missed opportunity to discuss werewolves & Native Americans in Twilight, imho), and the responsibility of having supernatural powers (where team HP made the excellent observation that Twilight is about suppressing desire and not abuse of power).

Finally came the question you KNEW team HP had been waiting for, to discuss how women were portrayed. After reeling off strong & compelling female characters in HP, both heroes and villains, they moved on to smack down Twilight. The quote I took down was that Bella is “a stereotypical weak, dependent girl, and that is not an image to be putting on teenage girls.” The entire auditorium erupted in cheering and applause. It was FABULOUS. Particularly as team Twilight, in their rebuttal, said “I have to admit, that was really good.” They argued that Bella is relatable because we all have friends we want to smack, and that girls can choose to not be like her. It was a creative perspective, to be sure.

The judges tacked on an extra question about why the books deserve such popularity, and the Twilight folks totally failed to offer any reasons to make me read past the first 2/3 of the first book. If you somehow managed to escape knowing everything I hate about it & yet amazingly remain curious, buy me a coffee sometime.

In the final statements, team HP offered the final coup de grâce in a quote from Stephanie Meyer, praising Rowling’s work, and Harry Potter ruled the day, winning judges’ decision and the audience vote.

Good times!

I haven’t been a newspaper reader in a very long time. For the past few years, I only bought a newspaper once a year, when the Seattle International Film Festival schedule came out. I never had strong opinions between the two papers aside from their editorial pages (the Times supported Rossi *twice*). I get my news from the Internet, from local blogs that now have fewer sources to link to.

I might miss the Globe more than I’ll miss the paper. It’s hard to know right now.

So it goes.

I walked home from the movies one day mostly so I could get a picture of this Obama Lincoln mural…

…and took the opportunity to get pictures of a few other signs too, including these two:

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More February after the jump. (more…)

…went up to Canada for New Year’s. (This is a bit of a tradition now, and this year was particularly great because I wound up having a five day weekend, and thus a nice long visit. It also snowed every single day I was there, which was pretty ace so far as the puppy was concerned.)

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…got a new camera and had to test it out. Much more after the jump. (more…)

This has been a really odd December. I have succeeded in not working a single Wednesday all month. The first two fell to a death cold, the next two to snow days (yes, really, more on that later), and the 31st I’ll be in Canada, as is my New Year’s tradition.

Christmas is frequently weird anyway. I don’t really celebrate it anymore since my family moved away, plus my job is very holiday-intensive. My office, eaten by the holidays (and many more photos after the jump): (more…)

Now, some randomness.

A pendant I bought from Wyrding Studios, art by Erin McCauley, with a bonus set of earrings:

I know absolutely nothing about tarot, so if anyone can suggest a reason why I was so compelled to buy the Chariot, please do.

After the jump, a whole whack of Seattle stuff. (more…)