Monthly Archives: July 2011

Health, News, Science

Grass is Everywhere Right Now

Thanks to Cliff Mass and his post on fireworks-induced air pollution, I’ve fallen down the air quality rabbit hole on the internet. I was curious anyway because yesterday in the park I started coughing so hard I had to stumble home, watery-eyed.

Bremerton, Puyallup, and Everett all made leaps into “Unhealthy” air quality the night of July 4, from the amount of particulate in the air. Those of you who are anti-boom-boom will be pleased to know that Cliff Mass is on your side:

There was a lot of concern about the Fukushima radiation a few months ago, but quite frankly the health and other ill-effects of the fireworks are far, far greater. Not only was the air quality highly degraded last night but several kids lost fingers, one teenager was killed, a number of homes were torched, and how many dogs/cats were left shaking in a corner?

But now that the explosives are packed away, we still have to contend with an insidious foe: grass. AirNOW shows ozone and particulate levels are fine, but the Northwest Asthma and Allergy Center shows grass pollen registering at High (“Most individuals with any sensitivity to these pollens will experience symptoms”). Trees and weeds, not so much. The National Allergy Bureau Pollen and Mold Report backs these findings up.

If your nose is running, expect it to keep up for another week, as the grass season lasts until mid-July.

 

Food, Restaurant

Born to Eat Bone Soup

It’s not on the menu, but for four bucks, you gotta give this a try.

I was on assignment last visit to Phnom Penh Noodle House, so I didn’t get to try the legendary bone soup. The server smiled when I placed my order, as if welcoming me to the club of insiders.

My soup appeared in mere moments. In front of me was a small bowl of broth with giant pork neck bone pieces protruding from it. The meat simply slides off the bone, and is tender and flavorful. And don’t overlook the broth. Spiked with a little green onion and cilantro, it’s a clear soup that is refreshingly meaty and oh-so-comforting.

A second server suggested a bowl of rice to go with it, as that’s an order she gets from customers who find it enough for a meal. Not a bad idea, though not a very good bowl of rice. But if you ask nice, you just might be able to get another bowl of broth.

bone soupPhnom Penh Noodle Housevietnamese food
Health, News

Bill Gates Reviews Polio: An American Story

“We sometimes take for granted the speed of scientific breakthroughs today,” writes Bill Gates in his review of Polio: An American Story. “Yet, Oshinky’s book reminded me of the painstaking efforts scientists often must undertake. Forty years after the polio virus was discovered, scientists still didn’t know what caused it.”

It was in 1921 that Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio, as it was diagnosed at the time, the disease being epidemic. (A more recent study suggests Roosevelt’s case may have been Guillain-Barré syndrome.) Within two days, he was paralyzed in both legs. He would spend the rest of his life disabled–as President, FDR was the co-founder of the March of Dimes–and die in 1945 with polio about to break new records: 1952 saw 57,000 cases in the U.S.

When I write about vaccines today, I often hear first from vaccine denialists, people who are under the impression that vaccination is more dangerous than the disease (either because the disease isn’t that bad, treated homeopathically, or because, they argue, vaccines are much more dangerous than we’re told). A subset also argue against vaccines that aren’t 100 percent effective.

The history of polio in the U.S. in particularly instructive then. In his review, Gates spends little time on the psychological impact, focusing on polio’s brutal, life-long after-effects: “For decades, no one knew why thousands of children would suddenly be stricken–usually in midsummer–with many dying or left permanently paralyzed.” For more on the emotional scarring, you’ll need to turn to Oshinsky’s book, which Gates says, “captures the mood of a country terrorized by an invisible and little-understood disease.”

In memory, it’s easy to imagine a bright line dividing no-cure from immunization. But as Gates emphasizes, unlocking the key to a vaccine took over half a century. And even then, the Salk vaccine was not 100 percent effective, its work was significant, but also gradual: “In 1956, the number of polio cases in the U.S. dropped by 50 percent compared to the year before, and by another 50 percent the following year.”

What a difference perspective makes in the choice of immunization. Today, polio has been restricted to “1,500 cases in just four countries—India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan,” writes Gates. It’s not an accidental grouping–these four represent the places where polio, for a variety of reasons, is hardest to eradicate.

But neither can it be left alone, points out Gates: “If not completely eliminated, polio will spread back into countries where it has previously been eradicated, killing and paralyzing perhaps hundreds of thousands of children.”

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

Coming Soon: Outdoor Bollywood Film Fest at SAAM

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It’s an idea whose time has come, which makes sense, as the Bollywood Panorama Outdoor Film Series is sponsored by Seattle Asian Art Museum’s Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas. (The four Friday screenings are set to happen at the Volunteer Park amphitheatre unless it rains, in which case they’ll take place inside the museum.)

Excitingly, the outdoor film festival comes with food trucks on July 22 and July 29: I Want Curry Now will pull up on both dates,with a side of Sweet Treats on July 22.

Here’s where it gets really hot: Bollywood actress Tabu is kicking things off on Wednesday, July 6, at the Seattle Asian Art Museum’s Stimson Auditorium. That event comes with a special screening of Meenaxi, “a film featuring a writer enduring a creative dry spell who meets Meenaxi, a unique and mysterious muse.” Tabu plays the lead (she’s also starring in Ang Lee’s The Life of Pi, based on that book you saw everyone reading a few years ago).

It’s 5:30 p.m. social hour, 6:30 p.m. Tabu-time, and 7:45 p.m. Meenaxi screening; tickets are $10 for SAM members, $15 non-members. Order by phone at 206-654-3121 or by email at boxoffice@seattleartmuseum.org. The fest itself is free.

Outdoor Films at Volunteer Park Amphitheatre

July 15: 9:30 p.m. Black (director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2005, 123 mins) Black portrays a blind and deaf girl (Rani Mukherji),and her relationship with her teacher(Amitabh Bachchan). Winner of the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Free.

July 22: 9:30 p.m. Taal (“Music,” director Subhash Ghai, 1991, 181 mins) This story of love made complicated by the couple’s families revolves around a young singer and dancer (Aishwarya Rai). With an outstanding popular soundtrack, Taal was the first Indian film to reach Variety’s Top 20 in the U.S. Free. Plus: Brandon McIntosh on sarod with Chaz Hastings on table prior to the start of the movie.

July 29: 9:30 p.m. Chandni Bar (director Madhur Bhandarkar, 2001, 150 mins) Tabu stars as a displaced village woman forced to become a dancer in a Bombay bar. Free.

Aug. 5: 9:30 p.m. The Namesake (director Mira Nair, 2007, 122 mins) The son of Indian immigrants (Kal Penn) struggles with his parents (Tabu and Irffan Khan) and his own identity. Free.

Arts & Entertainment, Music, Theatre

Fremont’s Genius Loci Brings You “West of Lenin”

It’s West of Lenin‘s A.J. Epstein who puts his finger on it. We’re standing in a hallway as the acts rehearse for West of Lenin’s grand opening, and Epstein’s concentration keeps wavering back to the black box theater; he delightedly catches himself wearing both the hats of both producer and fan.

Why Fremont, I ask, and Epstein says at first that Fremont happened to be where he had the building. (You’ll find it at 203 N. 36th Street, directly across the street from the George & Dragon Pub.)

But then he rattles off the appearances of Circus Contraption at Theo Chocolate, around the corner; the Moisture Festival at Hale Palladium down the street, and one more intersection of art and commerce seems almost predestined by Fremont’s promiscuous genius loci.

The way West of Lenin is supposed to work, after all, is as a tag-along in a larger building devoted to commercial office rental. If Epstein has calculated correctly, with his building full of tenants, the black box theater rides free. (So far, his tenants are himself and Ecco architectural design, who reworked the space for him. )

That takes the pressure off West of Lenin to somehow be money-maker enough to pay rent, with maximum audiences of around 100. (A size that, crucially, allows smaller shows to sell out and create buzz.) It’s a slightly bigger step, true, creating a resident space, but it also says something about the spirit of place.

Having artists on commercial premises is all well and good until one of them says (or performs) something a customer doesn’t agree with. Fremont businesses have been willing to take that chance, and audiences have been happy to show up and reward them. That’s not as true elsewhere in Seattle. Business owners are either a little less inclined to share their real estate, or audiences have other arts-specific venues to attend.

It’s true that West of Lenin exists because Epstein wants it to. He had the chance to reconfigure the space in his building, and, at least for the short-term, curate for the “friends and family” he’s acquired through Ethereal Mutt, Limited, productions. After that, the 88-seat black box theater will rent in “multiple configurations”–Epstein says he’s got several layouts drawn up, using his risers and chairs.

Emily Reitman (206-352-1777 or emily@emutt.com) handles the bookings. Epstein is happy simply to rent the space, or, in the case where he’s interested, co-produce. The main thing, he says, especially early on, is to book shows that have existing audiences.

So far, the lineup at West of Lenin has raised eyebrows appreciatively:

  • Seattle comedian and cabaret crooner Mark Siano will workshop a new piece in the Fall 2011.
  • Brooklyn-based rock band Sky White Tiger (www.skywhitetiger.com) premieres a new immersive live show October 5, 2011.
  • Sandbox Radio LIVE, produced by Sandbox Artists Collective (www.thesandboxac.org) and the first production ever at West of Lenin, returns Oct 10, 2011.
  • Matt Richter/XOM (www.xomonline.com) will inaugurate a new, semiannual, late night cabaret beginning Winter 2011.
  • Playwright/actor/director Paul Budraitis will workshop a new physical theatre piece Fall 2011
  • Emerald Reels Super 8 Lounge, a series of film/DJ amalgamations that last played the Re-Bar in 2004, will present at West of Lenin Fall 2011.
  • Kevin Joyce, co-founder of UMO Ensemble, former host of Big Night Out on Seattle TV, and former principal performer and Director at Teatro Zinzanni revisits his award-winning solo show, A Pale and Lovely Place, in December 2011.
News, Sports

Tyler Farrar’s Tips for City Biking

Tyler Farrar is in the news for winning Stage 3 of a French bicycle race known as the Tour de France. This is of local interest because back in 1984, Farrar was born in the sleepy hamlet of Wenatchee, and he has not stopped bicycling since. Also, it’s his first Tour stage win. It’s kind of a big deal.

There are 21 stages to the Tour, so Farrar can’t relax yet. Actually, as a sprinter, his objectives change dramatically throughout the Tour–on the flats, he’s the man of the hour, but during the mountain climbing expeditions, his team will present a different strategic face. (Here’s a great shot of Farrar leading his team, Garmin-Cervelo.) Let’s let AP catch you up on the action:

All this reminds me that back in 2008 I got to interview Farrar via email, and decided to pick his brain about cycling in the city. (He lives now in Belgium, so grain of salt. He didn’t know what a “sharrow” was.) This is all great advice, from the current Tour stage winner.

MvB: Tips for the urban biker! Say a friend of yours came up to you and wanted to know 5 things they should know/do as a city biker. What would you tell them?

Tyler Farrar: 1. Keep your head up! Too often I see people riding through traffic without even looking where they are going. How are you going to avoid the car that just cut you off if you are staring at your feet?

2. Ride like you drive your car. Sometimes people seem to think that the basic rules of the road don’t apply to them when they get on a bike. Don’t run red lights, don’t cut people off, look before you change lanes, just like you do when you drive.

3. Don’t ride at night without a light and reflectors. I can’t believe it when I see some guy riding down the street in the dark wearing black clothes.

4. Always be on the lookout for new rides. If you do the same three rides over and over you will eventually get tired of them no matter how good they are. Check out a map and try some new roads, you might find some cool places.

5. Have fun!