Monthly Archives: July 2011

Announcements, News

Look Out! Look Out! Pink Lions on Parade!

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, Lions Club International is presenting a Parade of Nations in downtown Seattle, as part of their annual international convention. Given the high of 80 degrees expected today, that should be more than enough time to roast the fairer-skinned to a healthy pink. And of course some Lions clubs wear pink proudly, like the Castro Lions Club and Queens Pride Lions Club.

(There are ten clubs filed under “Seattle,” but none seem to advertise gay-friendliness. Well, the Capitol Hill club does meet at Charlie’s.)

A volunteer service organization, the Lions do whatever is needed, but one focus is vision–literally: vision screenings, eye banks and eyeglass recycling.

Not all of the Lions will be in Seattle–there are 135 million in 45,000 clubs in 206 countries–but the 12,000 expected should do the trick when it comes to traffic congestion. SDOT tells you what to expect:

The parade, which will get underway at 10:00 a.m. and is expected to last until 3:00 p.m., starts on Denny Way at Fifth Avenue and travels south on Fifth to Pine Street where it terminates. Participants will disperse and then move east on Pine to the Convention Center on Seventh Avenue.

The following closures should be expected:

  • 7:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
    Southbound Fifth Avenue from Mercer to Denny Way for staging
  • 9:45 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.:
    Parade route on Fifth Avenue from Denny Way to Pike Street
    Cross streets to Fifth Avenue (except for Metro/Sound Transit during parade)
    Pike Street from Fourth to Eighth avenues
    Sixth and Seventh avenues from Olive Way to Union Street

Metro and Sound Transit will have to reroute about 20 bus routes in the downtown core until 3 p.m. today, as well. You can check on rerouted buses here. If it seems like a hassle having all these Lions in town, the convention from July 4 to 8 is supposed to add $30 million to the local economy. Plus, as is the Lions way, the organization is donating hundreds of seedlings to our parks, and performing other community services.

The SunBreak says if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Crime, News

No False Alarm: Paying Penance to the SPD

Panicked by late-night realization of a missing valuable, we bolted out of our home a few months ago, returning to find messages on our home line and cell phones. I knew without checking voicemail that we forgot to disarm the security system before leaving, and that ADT had been trying to reach us. Looking out the window, Seattle Police Department officers were making their way up the steps.

The good news: Proof that the security alarm worked exactly as designed.

The bad news: We owed $115 for the false alarm.

But more good news: You can get a one-time waiver of the fee by taking a “False Alarm Reduction Workshop.”

The class is held monthly (call 206-684-7713 for information) at SPD headquarters in downtown Seattle. It’s basically a 75-minute Powerpoint presentation plus time for questions, and it’s actually fairly interesting. I learned that in 2010, there were over 14,000 alarm calls. Of these, only 223 were valid alarms, resulting in 19 arrests.

With 98% of alarm dispatches being false, the cost to the city is over $1 million per year. Okay, now I see why we get charged for false alarms.

The 25 of us in the class also learned about block watches, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)—dealing with lighting and landscaping, and physical security issues (door lock and window consideration. I left the class knowing I should trim some hedges, improve my motion sensor lighting, and be more careful about not triggering another false alarm. That $115 refund will be going toward some home improvements in the near future.

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

Choose Your Own Adventure: Spend the Holiday Weekend with Tom Hanks or Terrence Malick

It seems unnecessary to name Larry Crowne after the movie’s main character, our hero in this Recession Era fairy tale who loses his Walmart-ish job only to find himself. Just call it Starring Tom Hanks as Tom Hanks as Directed by Tom Hanks and be done with it.

Because that’s exactly why people will see this movie. Who doesn’t like Tom Hanks, for managing to become an Elderstatesman of Hollywood while still staying a Nice Guy? And apparently, who doesn’t want to work with Tom Hanks? Big-time Hanks gal pal Julia Roberts plays Mercedes Tainot, a jaded community college professor-cum-love interest who teaches the speech class Crowne enrolls in as he makes over his life. (Roberts actually does a good job of playing against type and is admirably, aggressively unlikeable for most of the film.) Pam Grier and George Takei play other professors; Bryan Cranston is a caricature of a bad husband (the next season of Breaking Bad debuts July 17); Cedric the Entertainer, Rob Riggle, and Taraji P. Henson all have small parts; and hey look, someone gave Wilmer Valderrama a job.

There are a few oddly provincial touches, as when characters rail against Facebook, Twitter, and smartphones, and the one scene in which post-makeover Tom Hanks donned a wallet chain made me CRINGE. Still, the film stays summer-light and fancy-free, and is definitely recommended for Your Mom.

Meanwhile, what else can be said about The Tree of Life that hasn’t been said already? Malick’s fifth feature in thirty-eight years, his first since 2005’s The New World, debuted at this year’s Cannes to a fiercely divided audience and still ran away with the fest’s Palme D’Or. Having actually seen the film, I can confirm: yes, it’s very Malicky. Which is to say it’s ruminative and slow, lovely to look at and heavy in timbre, portentous and pretentious, the kind of film that easily garners a description as a “tone poem.”

Ostensibly, it’s about a family in Texas in the ’50s with Mother (Jessica Chastain), Father (Brad Pitt), and three sons (one of whom grows up to be a scowly Sean Penn), but it ends up being about nothing less than life, death, the creation of the universe, and God as the ultimate Stern Daddy. Yes, there is a scene with CGI dinosaurs; yes, everyone you have ever known and loved will die, and then you will too. If you like Malick’s tenor and style, you will appreciate The Tree of Life for what it is, but if you just want to see that new Brad Pitt and Sean Penn movie, you may ask for your money back.

Tree of Life is still playing at the Egyptian. Larry Crowne opens today at the Meridian, the Metro, Majestic Bay, Thornton Place, and Lincoln Square.

Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV

Inside the SIFF Film Center at Seattle Center [Slideshow]

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The front desk at the new SIFF Film Center

SIFF Film Center

SIFF Film Center

Upstairs in the SIFF Film Center

The jewelbox cinema space at the new SIFF Film Center

New SIFF Film Center layout

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SIFF has officially moved their offices into the new SIFF Film Center at Seattle Center. They’re taking up residence in what was formerly known as the Alki Room in the Northwest rooms. There they will offer exhibits, presentations, and film programming, as well as educational programs.

The heart of the new Film Center is a jewelbox cinema seating about 100–they’ll continue showing film at SIFF Cinema in McCaw Hall, but this smaller space will be a better fit for niche interest screenings. If you like the Northwest Film Forum, you’ll be right at home in this space,

SIFF phone, fax, and emails all stay the same, but the new mailing address is: SIFF / 305 Harrison Street / Seattle, WA 98109. Phone: (206) 464-5830 / Fax: (206) 264-7919).

Environment, News

Crows Know Where You Live, Never Forget a Face

Crows. It’s not your imagination. They are out to get you. Or at least, scare you off.

It’s that time of year when territorial crows are looking out for their young, and feeling ill-tempered enough to take a dive at just about anyone who comes to close to the nest or their crow babies. Joggers. Ballard residents. Even cops. Like bullies on a corner, these birds do not care about your health, Scandinavian family tree, or badge–unless it’s very shiny.

Part of the human-crow elbow-room issue could be due to population pressures (I speculate). Seattle’s crow population seems to have grown “exponentially” between 1970 and 2000, according to one survey. Thereafter, it seems to have reached a plateau, and if that’s true, it could indicate maximum-crows-per-square-inch, meaning territory is at a premium, and crows may be forced to nest in areas that are more public than they’d prefer.

No matter how you look at it, there’s a lot of crows out there. The Seattle Audubon Society counted “18,180 American crows in the greater Seattle area” in 2009.

And if you’ve ever upset one of them, you’ve upset a lot of them. Seattle’s crow whisperer, the University of Washington’s John Marzluff, has studied how crows specifically remember a threatening face, and transmit that information to other crows.

When a crow loudly scolds you, it’s also calling to others to note the threat. Any crows in the area will join in harassing you out of the vicinity. Marzluff says the do-not-disturb zone is some 330 feet. But even afterwards, through the power of social networks, any of those crows will recognize you as a threat, and pass along that information to crows nearby:

“Our study shows the memory lasts at least five years and counting,” Marzluff said. “Individual crows that are adults can live 15-40 years in the wild (most die when young, but those that make it to adulthood can live a long time) and they probably remember important associations they have formed for much of their lives.”

They are the eye in the sky, looking at you. They can probably read your mind. For a good example of what scolding crows sound like, here’s “When Crows Attack.”

Business, News

Seattle Values Start with Books and Condoms

Some Seattleites killing time at the library before the 5th Ave show

Books, condoms, musicals, and retraining the homeless. There are a lot of ways to explore the psyche of a city, but surely one of the most credible is simply noting where its money goes. There, the Seattle Foundation’s recent GiveBIG campaign offers plenty of insight. 3.6-million-dollars’ worth.

They’ve produced two lists, one with top non-profit organizations by number of donors, and one with top organizations by total given. At the top of both lists are the Seattle Public Library Foundation and Planned Parenthood. The 5th Avenue Theatre is right up there, too, and so is FareStart.

At mid-list is the sustainability-focused Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

So there you have it: Seattle believes in sharing information, having protected sex, weeping to Sondheim, studying sustainability, and unleashing the Tom Douglas inside people on the street. These are our core values. That’s what got us to #5 on Richard Florida’s Creative Cities list.

If it’s also clear evidence why the rest of Washington State has trouble “getting” what Seattle is about, I think we can be proud of a such a distinct personality. It’s why people from New York tumble head over heels for Seattle. Who knew, way out here on the frontier?