Say what you will about Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder's politics, but the guys put together a hell of a film and soundtrack. While Penn's Into the Wild might not match its somber weight with Oscar gold, its music, care of Vedder, could score at the Grammys and Academy Awards. His song "Guaranteed" (covered below) already received a Best Song nom from the former. Vedder's sparse, loping tunes that accompany the story of Christopher McCandless'... [continue]

Last year we invoked the name of Cal Worthington as a flimsy excuse to post the amazing "Montgomery Flea Market" ad. Now, we actually have an ad from the master himself. Big ups to Cal for wearing a Mariners jacket (and also for the zebra). There is a definite lack of men on horses leading zebras around in our television advertising today. Worthington, incidentally, is still alive--he turned 87 last month. This terrific profile in... [continue]

Today John Cook mentioned a new, locally based social networking site in his Venture Blog: ListenToYourWife.com. Howard Ro, the husband in the husband-and-wife team behind the site, explains: Ro, an IT consultant, says that many married women feel as if they are not "being heard." "It's not due to abuse or neglect, but just due to the nature of male dominance in a marriage," he said. "We wanted to create a forum for wives to...... [continue]

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. It’s very possible that the Arizona style enchilada was made up by a marketing firm... [continue]

The most unfortunate victims of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--which happened 66 years ago today--were surely the 2,333 military personnel who lost their lives. FDR called it, "a date which will live in infamy." Perhaps in 1941, a surprise attack on another country's military was infamous. But considering that in 1986 the U.S. launched a surprise attack on another country's civilians, 12/7 looks a lot less infamous than the direct domestic aftermath, felt especially... [continue]

Since this week's storm didn’t claim any lives in Seattle, most of us tend to think of the damage in terms of washed out images of I-5 and that Subaru in Golden Gardens. The cost of reconstruction and flood repair will surely be depressing but not as depressing as the quotes from some of the farmers that had to watch hundreds of their own animals die. "I saved as many as I could," Osborn said.... [continue]

As an alumnus of Centralia Community College (out of boredom, we took a Latin class there one fall) and former southwest Washington resident, we've been following the flooding thataway with interest. A friend of ours just passed along two emails from K. in Centralia, and they can't be beat for a you-are-there feel that balances some of the apocalyptic news coverage -- let's face it, if nothing terrible happened to you, you aren't news. On...... [continue]

"Azalea Way" by B.K. Dewey from the Seattlest Flickr Pool. A pleasant reminder of a fun snowy day, before the rain came and ruined everything....... [continue]

The Seattle School District paid some education Ph.Ds to assess the district's gifted program, the Advanced Placement Program (APP). [Full Disclosure: We were in APP (then called "IPP") from 1st-8th grade.] The Ph.Ds produced a report containing a bunch of observations that are incomprehensible to anyone that isn't a Ph.D., such as the need for "socio-emotional counseling" and "overall curricular vision." [Full Disclosure: In IPP we had this goofy slogan that went "You pee-pee, I... [continue]

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. Seahawks vs. Cheesesteaks Preview We feel bad for the people of Philadelphia. They’ve given us... [continue]

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. This is our second go round with the city of St. Louis, which is a... [continue]

When you're seen as the number-two city and number-two university in the state you can either embrace it or try and avoid the notion. Washington State University and Spokane had a chance to host next year's Vice-Presidential debate, and passed, deciding to hold out for one of the Presidential Debates, a gamble that didn't pay off. We're not sure if their loss is such a big deal. There's little mention of the location of a... [continue]