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Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: Cop Shoots and Kills a Person in Portland, Tim Eyman Has to Pony Up, What Are You Watching for SIFF?

by Jasmyne Keimig • Friday at 6:00 pm

TK
We want our money back, dipshit. Lester Black

Today on Slog: We had a lot of good things cooking. Here's a quick rundown in case you missed it:
  • Rich Smith chatted with teachers' union leader Stephanie Gallardo about her run for Congress.
  • Matt Baume offered up some Earth Day suggestions and wrote about Washington Trust for Historic Preservation's mission to catalogue sites of interest along our region's 3,000 miles of waterfront.
  • Nathalie Graham has one of the shortest Q&As I've ever seen with Councilmember Andrew Lewis about how he killed Lower Queen Anne.
  • I demand you go see The Earth Is Blue as an Orange right now immediately.
  • Charles dropped a long headline.
  • And SPLIFF kicks off tonight—have you bought your tickets? (If not, Chase Burns and I are hosting a watch party next Saturday. It's going to be cute!)

    • Tim Eyman has to pay up: The much-imperiled office chair aficionado has been ordered by a WA Superior Court to fork over $2.9 million to "reimburse taxpayers for Attorney General's costs in campaign finance case." And that's on top of his $2.6 million penalty for his "numerous and blatant violations" of campaign finance law. KIRO 7 notes that Eyman has been making his $10,000 a month payments "consistently," but something tells me this dude hasn't quite learned his lesson.

    Not to dwell on this, but Eyman's idiocy and greed is historical: Here's what Judge James Dixon wrote about the case: "In the history of the Fair Campaign Practices Act enforcement, it would be difficult for the court to conceive of a case with misconduct that is more egregious or more extensive than the misconduct committed by defendant Eyman in this matter.”

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    Film/TV • Race

    The Rise of Replacement Theory, the White Support for Kyle Rittenhouse, and the Justification for Homicide Are Explained in Raoul Peck’s New HBO Docuseries Exterminate All the Brutes

    by Charles Mudede • Friday at 5:00 pm

    Exterminate All The Brutes is coming to America, for real.
    Exterminate All The Brutes is coming to America, for real. HBO

    The world will certainly realize that one of the most interesting directors in the past 30 years is a Haitian by the name of Raoul Peck. He is now 67 years old. His first major feature, Lumumba, was completed and distributed in 2000. His 2016 documentary I Am Not Your Negro was nominated for an Oscar at 89th Academy Awards. But the commercial failure of Peck's brilliant historical drama The Young Karl Marx threatened to return him to obscurity right after the success of his James Baldwin doc. But for one reason or another, HBO brought the Haitian back into the light with what has to be one of the most devastating accounts of colonialism in mainstream media. It's called Exterminate All the Brutes. It has four parts. Each part exposes one of the levels of hell that white supremacy has imposed on much of the world over the past 400 years.

    The message of Peck's documentary, which is not at all conventional, is simple and direct. The foundation of European global dominance is nothing but death. And lots and lots of it. And it could only be this way because what was not to be found in the New World or the Dark Continent was free land and labor. The colonial project would not have succeeded if it didn't confront the natural resistance to raw human-to-human exploitation with the full force of the Absolute Master, the name the 19th-century German philosopher Hegel gave to the fear of death. We still live in a world defined by this fear.

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    Food & Drink • Things To Do • EverOut

    This Week in Seattle Food News: Queer/Bar Is Back, A New Ethiopian Restaurant Has Arrived, And Bauhaus Ballard Closes

    by EverOut Staff • Friday at 4:20 pm

    The Ethiopian and Eritrean bar and restaurant Shewa-Ber has arrived in the Central District.
    The Ethiopian and Eritrean bar and restaurant Shewa-Ber has arrived in the Central District. Shewa-Ber

    As vaccine availability increases this week, the Seattle food scene is starting to regain its optimism, and restaurants continue to reopen and announce new plans for the future. This week, Queer/Bar opens its doors again for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and RockCreek Seafood & Spirits returns. Plus, the new Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant Shewa-Ber has opened in the Central District, and the Los Angeles-based chain Silverlake Ramen is coming to Kirkland next week. Read on for all that and more culinary updates. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide

    NEW OPENINGS AND RETURNS
    Deja Moo
    The Tipsy Cow, a burger spot in Redmond and Woodinville, has opened this similarly bovine-themed (but more laidback) offshoot in Kirkland. The house "Deja Moo" burger features beef, Beecher's flagship white cheddar, Bibb lettuce, tomato, onion, and "tipsy sauce." Other options include the "Backdraft" (pepper jack, roasted jalapeños, Bibb lettuce, tomato, moo sauce, and roasted habanero) and the "Mother Clucker" (crispy chicken strips, pickles, red onion, shredded romaine, and "moo sauce").
    Kirkland
    Pickup, delivery, or limited indoor seating

    Read on EverOut »
    Film/TV • SIFF

    SIFF 2021 Review: The Earth Is Blue as an Orange Is So Damn Good

    by Jasmyne Keimig • Friday at 3:55 pm

    SO good.
    SO good. Courtesy of SIFF

    "War is emptiness," postulates Myroslava, a young woman living in Krasnohorivka, Ukraine.

    She's dressed in black and sitting in front of a black background, speaking her observations in front of a camera set up in her family's living room. Outside is her war-torn village, the site of steady shellings in a years-long face-off between Ukraine and Russia. As Myroslava reflects on residing in a place continually wrecked by war, her family quietly listens off-camera, bunched up in the corners of their small home.

    The kind-eyed and determined matriarch of the family, Anna, and her three other children are all part of Myroslava's film project, which tries to document their experience living in Krasnohorivka. Each family member has an equal hand in shooting, acting, and shaping the film, which makes up part of the documentary The Earth Is Blue as an Orange, now screening at the 2021 Seattle International Film Festival. Myroslava has big dreams of becoming a cinematographer, and telling her family's story is a crucial part of that.

    The coming together of Myroslava's film is expertly captured by director and poet Iryna Tsilyk who met the young woman at a film camp years prior. Tsilyk isn't necessarily interested in the politics of the conflict but instead in the family's wartime experience as civilians. The result is a remarkable documentary about this family's resilience and cinema's ability to be a means of escape.

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    News • Neighborhoods

    An Extremely Short Q&A with Andrew Lewis about Why He Rebranded Lower Queen Anne

    by Nathalie Graham • Friday at 1:51 pm

    RIP, Lower Queen Anne.
    RIP, Lower Queen Anne. Screenshot of Google Maps

    This week, Councilmember Andrew Lewis ignited a debate that I didn't even realize existed: Do people call the Seattle neighborhood that's home to the Seattle Center, the Key Arena Climate Pledge Arena, and that surprisingly fratty piano bar Lower Queen Anne or Uptown?

    On Monday, Lewis proposed an ordinance to officially rename Lower Queen Anne to Uptown. The Seattle City Council approved it in an 8-0 vote (Councilmember Dan Strauss was absent). Everyone I know—and considering the online reaction to the vote, seemingly everyone with an internet connection—calls the place Lower Queen Anne. Even Google Maps called it Lower Queen Anne.

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    History • The Weather

    This Weekend Go Look at a Boat or Whatever

    by Matt Baume • Friday at 1:30 pm

    The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is cataloging sites of particular cultural and historical interest along 3,000 miles of waterfront.
    The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is cataloging sites of particular cultural and historical interest along 3,000 miles of waterfront. It’s an excellent list of places to explore now that you can enjoy the out-of-doors.

    The weather this weekend is going to be so nice I want to make out with it. But rather than trying to figure out how one would go about kissing the weather, exactly, maybe let’s instead do something nice down by the water.

    You remember the water, right? After a year indoors, it may seem like a distant memory, but there was once a time when humans would gather on beaches, or boats, or piers. Dig deep into your psyche and conjure the hazy recollection of wearing a cute little swimsuit or paddling a canoe, hauling a fish up out of the water, or taking a comfy cruise around Puget Sound.

    Now at last it’s time to go back to the water, just like at the end of The Little Mermaid when Prince Eric realizes that Ariel's sacrificed enough already and arranges for King Triton to give him a fishtail so he can join her in the ocean. And as it happens, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is just about to embark on a massive, 3,000-mile-long project to enhance the entire waterfront of Washington, from Canada down to Greys Harbor. They’ve already started gathering up some recommendations for enjoying Seattle’s coast, and they’re looking for your suggestions.

    Continue reading »
    EverOut

    The Best In-Person Things to Do in Seattle This Weekend: Capitol Hill Farmers Market's Homecoming, the Sounders Home Season Opening, and More

    by EverOut Staff • Friday at 1:15 pm

    After a decade of planning, the Capitol Hill Farmers Market moves into its new home this Sunday, making room for more vendors!
    After a decade of planning, the Capitol Hill Farmers Market moves into its new home this Sunday, making room for more vendors! Capitol Hill Farmers Market via Facebook

    We're heading into a sun-drenched weekend, and there are plenty of ways to enjoy it without forsaking the CDC/your health. (Speaking of which, have you joined a vaccine waitlist yet?) See our picks for activities and events below, from Hing Hay Park's Not Your Model Minority March to National Park Free Day, and from asparagus specials at places like Ciudad to underrated Puget Sound views. For even more options, read our guides to the best online events this week, the best movies to watch this week, and our complete guide to in-person things to do in Seattle.

    OUTDOORS
    Seek out underrated Puget Sound views. In pandemic-free times, there's nothing wrong with spreading out a blanket at Gas Works, Alki, or Madison Park Beach when you're craving an eyeful of the Sound, but if last summer taught us anything, it's that those places draw crowds when it's nice out. Without comprising the vista you crave, trade your usual warm-weather picnic spot for a less frequented but equally gorgeous locale, like Ballard's Carkeek Park, where you might be lucky enough to snag access to a secluded beach via a footbridge. In that same neck of the woods, the Ballard Bridge offers a clear view of the boats floating in the Salmon Bay marina—proof that most bridges are surrounded by at least a couple hidden seascapes. Exhibit B: the Mount Rainier-bearing Ursula Judkins Viewpoint, which you'll find through a small parking lot just before the Magnolia Bridge. If you're unimpressed by the Sound's glistening waves, maybe a self-guided tour of Seattle's blossoming trees might suit your fancy.

    Read on EverOut »
    Film/TV • Weed • SPLIFF

    STARTING TONIGHT! It's SPLIFF—the Fantastically Fun Film Fest by and for Stoners!

    by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey • Friday at 1:00 pm

    Screen_Shot_2021-03-15_at_11.16.03_AM.png

    Greetings, weed lovers! If you love or support everything cannabis, then you will not want to miss the upcoming third annual SPLIFF film festival (from the makers of HUMP! and SLAY), streaming right at your gorgeous face starting Friday April 16-Saturday April 24!

    SPLIFF is where filmmakers, artists, animators, and stoners share original film shorts that examine and/or celebrate cannabis and its liberating effects on our imaginations, appetites, libidos, and creative energies. At SPLIFF, you'll see films that will make you laugh, films that will make you think, and films that will make you ask, "What the fuck was that?!" SPLIFF is a film festival by stoners, for stoners.

    Check out the new SPLIFF trailer for a sneaky-peek at the fun we have in store for ya!

    If all that looks fun... well, prepare for it to get even funner, because select screenings will include an optional live viewing party so you can enjoy this amazing lineup of stoner films with hilarious hosts as well as a live audience. Check out these great ticket options!

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    News • Election 2021

    Teachers' Union Leader Stephanie Gallardo Is Running for Congress

    by Rich Smith • Friday at 11:00 am

    Gallardo, a history teacher in Tukwila, said shes a big fan of Gen Z.
    Gallardo, a history teacher in Tukwila, said she's a big fan of Gen Z. She also has a cool tattoo of the Virgin Mary, and another of former Chilean President Salvador Allende. Courtesy of the Campaign

    This morning Washington Education Association board director and 11th grade Foster High School history teacher Stephanie Gallardo announced her bid to replace Rep. Adam Smith in Seattle's 9th Congressional District.

    Smith has proven a resilient incumbent during his 24 years in the seat. In 2018, he successfully fended off Sarah Smith's spirited challenge from the left, and he easily swats away Doug Basler's endless challenge from the right. But Gallardo's connection to one of the more powerful labor unions in Washington may shake one of the Congressman's many pillars of support, adding some institutional heft to her progressive campaign.

    Gallardo's participation in a couple candidate training sessions over the years, including the Washington State Labor Council's Path to Power program and a session with the National Women's Political Caucus, gave her some of the tools she needed to get going, but a dream, conversations with her students and her educational community, and an unproductive discussion with Rep. Smith all conspired to push her into the race.

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    Music

    Refresh Playlist: New Music for the Week—Featuring ELHAE, Jeffrey Silverstein, SZA & Doja Cat

    by Jenni Moore • Friday at 10:20 am

    Aura III, ELHAE
    Aura III, ELHAE Motown Records 2021

    Every time spring rolls around and yanks me from the jowls of my seasonal affective disorder, I feel like a whole new woman: an optimistic woman who enjoys iced caffeinated beverages, crop tops, patio happy hours, and hikes with Mother Nature. And this year, spring will also see us rise from the ashes of COVID-19, and slowly return to our regular scheduled programming of weddings, parties, and outdoor concerts—just in time for summer! There's more than enough to be hopeful about, but these four new releases provide a happy escape if you're still in need of a pick-me-up.

    Aura III, ELHAE


    The new 11-track project from exceptional singer-songwriter ELHAE dropped on April 9, and Aura III is thoroughly enjoyable alternative R&B. The third installment in his series for Motown follows Aura II, which came out back in 2017, and last year's Trouble In Paradise. Kicking off with the Rick Ross-assisted "Fun Fact," highlights include “My City (feat. Masego),” “Separated,” and “Sick of Playing (feat. Xavier Omar).” Expectedly, the R&B project tackles the rollercoaster of love and relationships. It's solid all the way through (no skips!), and is over before you know it; time flies when you're having fun, and the moody vibes here in Aura III are good.

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    Enviro

    If You Like the Earth So Much, Why Don’t You Marry It?

    by Matt Baume • Friday at 9:40 am

    Now you can open your very own fern bar.
    Now you can open your very own fern bar. ibnjaafar / Getty Images

    Everyone talks about Earth Day like they assume the Earth should be saved. But have you considered the counter-argument, that it’s time for Earth to be canceled? I’m not saying that it should; I’m just asking questions. What’s Earth done for you lately?

    Yes, sure, it’s where your mom lives. But it’s also where your high school bully lives, so it’s impossible to say for sure whether Earth is good or bad. Also, it’s too loud.

    Perhaps you are one of those Earth-apologists who just accepts the orthodox view that the planet is worth saving — a sheep, in other words, not a free thinker like me who questions the status quo. One of those campus liberals, a member of the PC online mob that’s not even willing to consider my giant ray gun that will burn the planet to a crisp, destroying all life. Sorry I’m not interested in conforming to your ideals!

    Anyway, if you are one of those “woke” “scolds” who wants a “biosphere” to “inhabit,” there will be plenty to keep you busy next Thursday, April 22, with beautiful weather and fun outdoor activities to celebrate the planet you call home. So typical!

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    News

    Slog AM: A Week Is Not Complete Without a Mass Shooting, Inslee Wants to Fight COVID with Nice Weather, Cops Caught Giving Cold Cash to Kyle Rittenhouse

    by Charles Mudede • Friday at 8:51 am

    This is how we be in our own Phase 3.
    This is how we be in our own Phase 3. blightylad-infocus/gettyimages.com


    This time: a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. This time: 8 dead people and as many wounded. The nightmare, which is believed to have lasted for about two minutes, came to an end only when the killer, armed with an automatic rifle, joined the dead. CNN reports that "the incident marks at least the 45th mass shooting in the United States since the Atlanta-area spa shootings on March 16." That's right. Forty-five mass shootings in just two months. And please, no "going postal" jokes today. We are tired of mass shootings. We are tired of cops shooting black people. "It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under."

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    Slog AM/PM

    Slog PM: Pence Gets a Pacemaker, Video Shows Chicago Cop Shooting 13-Year-Old with Hands Up, WA Senate Votes to Resume Drug War

    by Rich Smith • Thursday at 5:45 pm

    Hes got a pacemaker now.
    He had a slow heart. WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES

    High school and middle school students in Seattle will start hybrid instruction next week: As COVID-19 case counts continue to remain high, "at least 10,000" youths will shuffle back into classrooms in the afternoon, the Seattle Times reports. The teachers union and the school district finalized a deal Wednesday evening, five days before the Governor's deadline.

    A cop shot somebody in Buckley, WA: Despite a KIRO chopper in the air, details remain thin on the ground: "A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy used 'deadly force'" on someone, and that deputy walked away unscathed. No word yet on the status of the victim, nor the circumstances that caused the cop to execute the person.

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    Housekeeping

    Take The Stranger's 2021 Reader Survey!

    by The Stranger • Thursday at 4:45 pm

    ReaderSurvey.jpg
    Anthony Keo

    Hey, Sloggers!

    When was the last time we checked in with each other? It's been too long. Let's fix that.

    As you probably read already this week, we're asking our Slog readers a few essential questions, like:

  • How do you feel about comments on Slog posts?
  • Do you miss reading reviews of local bands?
  • Or do you come to Slog just for the sex talk?

    Those are some of the questions that come up in this year's reader survey—a survey we've made very easy for you to fill out. There are only ten straightforward questions, and you can browse them all right here, right beneath this paragraph. We're also offering free tickets to SPLIFF 2021 and HUMP's Greatest Hits as thanks for sending us your thoughts. (Are your thoughts too big for one survey? Then send us a letter at editor@thestranger.com.)

    And HEADS-UP: Everyone who contributes to The Stranger during April will get a first look at our 2021 Reader Survey takeaways. It doesn't matter if you contribute a few bucks or a thousand — we appreciate that you're keeping local journalism alive. Thank you so much for your support and participation.

    You've got until Monday, April 26 to take this survey. Let's get it started!

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    • Books • Science

    What's God Got to Do With Michio Kaku's New Book, The God Equation?

    by Charles Mudede • Thursday at 4:05 pm

    Physics refuses to leave God alone.
    Physics refuses to leave God alone. Yury Morozov/gettyimages.com

    The God Equation is a new and short book by the theoretical physicist and science popularizer Michio Kaku. It's not his best book, but it does raise an interesting question: Why is God in its title?

    The goal of the work is to explain to the general public where the search for a unified theory of the universe is now in the year 2021. The dream this theory dreams is the formulation of a simple mathematical equation that brings all of the known forces of the universe together. This is “the holy grail of physics;" it is believed that the all-together-moment can only be found very early in what is called the starting point of all there is. Kaku calls this final mathematical expression "the god equation."

    Now, before I explain why giving this equation the name of God is fraught with all sort of problems, most of which are metaphysical in nature, I want point out very quickly the features of this short book that make it weak.

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