MONDAY, JANUARY 21 This week of confessed killers, stupid stoners, and bracingly proactive Metro drivers kicks off with a rare and wonderful thing: Kimya Dawson, the one-of-a-kind singer/songwriter/Olympia resident whose near-decade as a passionately beloved and devoted underground figure ended this week in a burst of national mainstream exposure. The root of the Kimya boom: the freshly Oscar-nominated film Juno, whose soundtrack features a number of Dawson compositions, along with a classic track from Dawson's sometime-group the Moldy Peaches. The fruit of the Kimya boom: a profile of Dawson in today's New York Times, a Moldy Peaches reunion performance on today's installment of The View, and the ascension of a record dominated by Dawson to the #2 spot on the Billboard Album Chart. Thank you, God and commerce, for allowing such things to happen. In this rancid age of Britney, we need more cameras and microphones pointed at folks like Kimya Dawson. (For more Kimya, see our Interrogation on pg. 39.)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 After the good news comes the bad, and today brought the sudden and stupidly tragic death of 28-year-old film actor Heath Ledger, who was found dead of an apparent drug overdose this afternoon in Manhattan. After the loss of the man—who was nominated for and stupidly denied an Oscar for his work in the gay-cowboy classic Brokeback Mountain—came the tragic idiocy that greeted his death, which revealed the ridiculous depths of American homophobia. Apparently, simply portraying a sympathetic gay character is enough to earn an actor the eternal enmity of psycho Baptists and right-wing pundits, as the bleatings of the Westboro Baptist Church (who announced plans to picket Ledger's funeral) and Fox News commentators (one of whom mocked Ledger's death on the air) made clear. Even less-thick citizens indulged in homophobia-flavored theories, and to all who suspect the outpouring of love and admiration for Ledger is based primarily on his willingness to "play gay"—do you think such an outpouring would've met the sudden death of, say, Will & Grace's Eric McCormack? Ledger earned the type of respect that comes only from artistic achievement. Here's Slate's Dana Stevens on Ledger's best work, as Brokeback's deeply closeted cowboy, Ennis Del Mar: "Brokeback Mountain isn't just about the impossibility of two men loving each other; it's about the impossibility of anyone loving this particular man. Not only Jack Twist, but Ennis's wife (Michelle Williams, who fell in love with Ledger during the filming) and a dime-a-dance bar girl (Linda Cardellini) all hack away unsuccessfully at Ennis's shell. I remember, when Brokeback came out, two friends telling me separately that the flinty, secretly tender, intermittently rageful Ennis reminded them painfully of their own shut-down fathers. An impressive achievement for an actor who was 26 at the time." Stevens's sentiments are reiterated by Brokeback director Ang Lee: "Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life. He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined. His death is heartbreaking."

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23 The week continues with some progress in the murder investigation of Shannon Harps, the 31-year-old Sierra Club employee who was fatally stabbed outside her apartment on Seattle's Capitol Hill on New Year's Eve. First comes today's revelation that the "person of interest" being held by police in connection with the murder has been cleared, after forensic testing failed to connect the 29-year-old man with evidence gathered at the murder scene. The day after tomorrow, Seattle police will announce their apprehension of a new suspect—James Anthony Williams, a 48-year-old man with a history of paranoid schizophrenia (and zero history with Shannon Harps), who was already in police custody on a probation violation when tests determined his DNA matched samples from the crime scene. Next Tuesday, Williams will be charged with first-degree murder, with prosecutors requesting $1 million bail. Stay tuned.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 Speaking of Capitol Hill tragedies: Today brings a long- delayed Last Days item about Joseph Skillings, the Seattle man whom Last Days first learned of after the events of January 13. That's when Skillings, an award-winning teacher at Ballard's Adams Elementary School, noticed a woman being aggressively harassed by a man at a Capitol Hill bus stop and called 911. While making the call, Skillings was attacked by the harasser—described as a short, slim African-American man in his late 40s—who hit Skillings in the side of the head, knocking him backward. Skillings hit his head on the pavement and suffered a seizure, and remains in serious but improving condition at Harborview Medical Center, where doctors say he'll likely need years of physical and speech therapy. Meanwhile, police continue to search for Skillings's attacker—to view a police sketch of the man, go to Slog (slog.thestranger.com). Condolences and best wishes to Mr. Skillings, who sounds like a world-class human being. (Anyone who spends his days directing second-grade productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and nights helping harassed ladies is automatically our hero.) For updates on the Skillings saga, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/josephskillings.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 Today brings an absolutely ridiculous story from the streets of Seattle, reported in all its glory by the Seattle Times. The story in question commenced this past Tuesday evening, when a Seattle police officer noticed a car lurching toward a red light at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street. According to the police report, the officer then noted the driver's "unnecessary and erratic" braking habits and tendency to slow down for green lights. After stopping the car, the officer approached and noticed the smell of marijuana. When the four men in the car claimed they'd only been smoking cigarettes, the officer insisted he knew the difference between pot smell and cigarette smell, after which one of the passengers handed over a baggie of marijuana and two glass pipes. As the Times reports, "The men told police they had moved from Wyoming to Seattle because a friend of theirs told them it was legal to possess and smoke marijuana here." Clearly, the baked doofuses were confused about Initiative 75, the voter-approved initiative that requires Seattle law enforcement to make marijuana offenses their lowest priority, but stops far short of making pot "legal." The driver was arrested for DUI and cited for failing to stop at a red light and driving without a license in his possession, one of the passengers was cited for not wearing a seat belt, and everyone learned a valuable lesson.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 The week continues with an award-worthy Hot Tip from Hot Tipper Kat, a real-life Metro driver working her usual Saturday routes—"the 1 and 36"—when her attention was accosted by an alarming sound. "Around South Spokane Street on Beacon, I hear this loud whining noise. At first I wonder about equipment failure; are my air compressors going belly-up? Is this a safety issue? Then, to my horror, I realize the noise is originating from the middle-aged man sitting in the farthest-back face-forward seat SHAVING HIS FACE WITH AN ELECTRIC RAZOR!!! I immediately announce over the PA, 'Are you shaving on the bus? THAT IS JUST NASTY!' The offender immediately stopped and behaved like a proper schoolboy until he deboarded at Fifth and Jackson." Thank you, heroic Metro driver, for sassing back and for sharing.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 Nothing happened today.

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