The Stranger's Midterm Endorsements

News • Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: Burgerville Is the Best Washington Burger Chain, Canada Is Better Than Us, Amazon's War on Christmas

by Nathalie Graham • Thursday at 6:00 pm

Would you like antibiotics with that?
Would you like antibiotics with that? igor_kel/Getty Images

Largest civil-rights resolution in state history happening in Quincy: Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued the Horning Brothers vegetable-packing house over worker sexual harassment. Ferguson alleged that a supervisor behaved inappropriately toward female workers over a period of years by groping and propositioning them. The packing house will pay $525,000 to settle the lawsuit. That’s the largest civil-rights resolution in state history.

All hail Burgerville: Burger chains across the country are guilty of pumping their beef full of antibiotics. A new study is exposing the winners and losers. Among the few chains that don’t subscribe to that bull(cow?)shit are Shake Shack and Burgerville. Shake Shack just got a location in South Lake Union. Burgerville is a Washington staple. Though you can’t get it north of exit 82 along I-5.

Amazon ruins Christmas: Our favorite local booksellers are screaming bah humbug straight into the faces of their warehouse workers. The workers are calling Amazon’s adoption of a $15 minimum wage at the expense of their bonuses a “slap in the face.” The company is cutting variable compensation and it’s happening right around the holidays which is rubbing salt in the wound, according to MONEY—a publication, not the thing Jeff Bezos has too much of.

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Weekday Trumpdate: Trump Admits Khashoggi Is Dead, Golfs Instead of Visiting Troops, Is Still Terrible

by Lester Black • Thursday at 5:50 pm

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Chip Somodevilla / Staff

• As the world learns more gruesome details about the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (chopped fingers, torture, dismembered limbs, a plea from the Saudi consul general to "do this outside") Trump has used the world's greatest intelligence apparatus to deduce that... Kashoggi is in fact dead. What will he learn next, that it happened at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul? That the Saudi's have produced no credible evidence to refute that they executed a columnist for an American newspaper? Don't hold your breath.

• Donald Trump defended himself for never visiting U.S. troops overseas during his first two years in office because he's "very busy with everything," and that he doesn't think "it's overly necessary." What is necessary for Trump? Golfing. He's gone 68 times during his presidency according to Newsweek.

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Sponsored

Ghosts, planets and cacti come into alignment at McCaw Hall with PNB’s dark and stormy November program.

The birth of a solar system, featuring a choir of 50+? Got it. Giant platforms used as drums? Got those too. Indie guitar and piano music that – when combined with Alejandro Cerrudo's choreography – is almost guaranteed to make you cry? Got it. Potted succulents as props? You bet. ALL PREMIERE features three new-to-Seattle works from choreographers the world is watching. November 2 – 11 at McCaw Hall.

Buy Tickets!

Stranger Election Control Board • 2018

Vote YES on Initiative Measure No. 1631

by Stranger Election Control Board • Thursday at 5:20 pm

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ANGEL_NT / GETTY IMAGES

The first thing you need to know about I-1631 (henceforth referred to as "the carbon fee") is that the SECB—an ungovernable collection of maladapted hacks who hate each other as much as they hate themselves—support it unanimously. The carbon fee is the sort of history-making climate policy we sorely need. It's not perfect, true, but the world is melting and doing this particular something is better than doing nothing.

Basically, carbon polluters will be charged $15 per metric ton of carbon emissions beginning in 2020. The fee would rise by $2 annually until the state's greenhouse gas reduction goals are met. With this fee, the state hopes to raise about $1 billion per year for clean air and energy projects, clean water projects, and forest health. (Forest fires, ever heard of 'em?) Yes, gas prices will go up. But the carbon fee offsets the pain of the regressive tax by investing a portion of the money in low-income communities to help them reduce fossil-fuel use, cut pollution, and lower their energy bills.

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2018

The #MyVoteMyVoice Campaign Challenges You to Get Off Your Ass and Vote

by Rich Smith • Thursday at 4:35 pm

If the youth do not vote in this election we are fucked.
If the youths do not vote in this election we are fucked. Kayla Jones

This week a coalition of activists and non-profits kicked off a video challenge called #MyVoteMyVoice, which is designed to leverage social media's greatest utility: shame.

"It's like the ice bucket challenge but without the ice and without the bucket," says Stephan Cox, one of the organizers and the host of WA State Indivisible Podcast. The instructions are as follows. First, someone creates a 60-second video about what they think their vote will "say" on November 6. Then that person tags three other friends, thereby issuing a challenge for them to make their own videos and to tag three more people. The hope is the trend will continue until everyone that everyone else has ever known will be told to vote by a close, personal friend of theirs.

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Sponsored

88rising is coming to accesso ShoWare Center!

Asian hip hop collective 88rising is coming to accesso ShowWare Center on Saturday, October 27th! Featuring Rich Brian – an 18 year old Chinese Indonesian who taught himself English by listening to popular hip hop artists. Check out Rich Brian's music video for 'History' and Joji's 'Test Drive'

Purchase Tickets Here

Film/TV • Things To Do

28 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Oct 18–21, 2018

by Stranger Things To Do Staff • Thursday at 4:02 pm

Halloween returns to get under your skin.
Halloween returns to get under your skin.

It's a beautiful weekend for movie-going, whether you love indie dramas, seasonal favorites (like The Craft and Psycho), or major Hollywood spectacles. Feel cosmopolitan as heck by going to the German cinema showcase Kinofest or the Seattle Polish Film Festival, or catch Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell in the touching new drama Beautiful Boy or Sophia Mitri Ross and Melanie Lynskey in Sadie. Follow the links below to see complete showtimes, tickets, and trailers for all of our critics' picks, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our complete film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Stay in the know! Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app (available for iOS and Android), or delivered to your inbox.

Bad Times at the El Royale
If a computer algorithm were to generate a movie about the late 1960s and early ’70s, using information solely gleaned from the films of Quentin Tarantino, the result might look something like Bad Times at the El Royale. A femme fatale with a dark secret? A scary-sexy cult leader? Muscle cars? Writer/director Drew Goddard attempts to cram all the terror and confusion of that era—from Watergate to Vietnam to the Manson murders—into a kitschy roadside motel that straddles the California-Nevada border. Unfortunately, by the end, I was just glad Bad Times was over. It seems like Goddard’s priority was creating an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia, with five strangers who are lying about their identities stuck in this eerie alpine waypost in the middle of a storm. That said, some people will love Bad Times; it’s an odd hybrid of noir and horror, with smoky tension and violent jump scares. CIARA DOLAN
Wide release

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Theater

AFTER Is Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen Onstage

by Suzette Smith • Thursday at 3:38 pm

Andrew Schneider created this jaw-dropping piece to challenge the senses of his audience.
Andrew Schneider created this jaw-dropping piece to challenge the senses of his audience. BARANOVA

Most of AFTER takes place in near total darkness.

The darkness is intense. So if you're thinking about going to see AFTER, but you experience moderate fear of the dark—don't go. You are not going to be okay with it.

That said, the technical merits of AFTER are jaw-dropping. Obie Award–winning writer and performer Andrew Schneider created this piece to challenge the senses of his audience, and with the help of his team (including his frequent sound designer, Bobby McElver) he created a wonderful play of senses, the loss of those senses, and what comes AFTER.

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Things To Do

Your Complete Guide to the Biggest Halloween Parties, Concerts & Performances in Seattle This Year

by Stranger Things To Do Staff • Thursday at 3:24 pm

Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas is repackaged as a semi-scandalous spectacle for the masses in This Is Halloween.
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is repackaged as a semi-scandalous spectacle for the masses in This Is Halloween.

Staying home to watch horror movies is a perfectly suitable way to spend Halloween, but there are also many, many opportunities to go all out this year. Below, we've rounded up 65 major events you should get tickets for ahead of time to avoid the risk of them selling out. Whether you want to wear your costume to a party (like the Fremonster Spectacular), dance to live music (like at a show with Tacocat, Mirrorgloss, and Sleepover Club), see a performance (like This Is Halloween), or eat a fancy meal (like at the Alice B. Toklas Tour and Dinner), we've got you covered. All of the events below are between October 18–31 and cost $15 or more, and there are also more than 300 other options on our complete Halloween calendar.

OCTOBER 18–NOVEMBER 3

PERFORMANCE

The Cabiri's Ghost Game XII: Into the Dark
The Cabiri semi-circus troupe will perform their 12th annual show on the Ghost Game theme. Hear creepy stories and myths musically accompanied by Susan Du Mett of vox vespertinus, Eric Maia of celadon, and Seattle Kokon Taiko.
Arcadia, Ballard, $25-$45

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Film/TV

Addiction and Compassion in Beautiful Boy

by Ned Lannamann • Thursday at 2:51 pm

Beautiful Boy opens in theaters today.
Beautiful Boy opens in theaters today.

I’ve never been a parent or a junkie (yet!), but I found a lot that resonated in Beautiful Boy, a low-key film based on a pair of interconnected memoirs from father and son David and Nicolas Sheff.

It’s a narrative that could have easily been filled with blame and recrimination—not to mention a lot of slammed doors, teary shouting, and woozy Velvet Underground songs—but director Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown) isn’t interested in making something visceral or edgy.

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Things To Do

Buy Your Tickets to These 26 Newly Announced Events Before They Sell Out

by Stranger Things To Do Staff • Thursday at 2:06 pm

Comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director Amy Schumer will come to Seattle in November.
Comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director Amy Schumer will come to Seattle in November.

We all know that many of the biggest Seattle events often sell out well in advance. But it's not a lost cause—if you plan ahead, you can still score tickets for the most popular events. To help you with that, we've rounded up all of the major events that are going on sale in the next couple of days, like Toro Y Moi and Amy Schumer, plus things that have just gone on sale, like Seattle Met's 6th Annual Secret Supper. Can't get tickets? Check out our complete Things To Do calendar for more events.

Note: Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. unless otherwise specified

ON SALE FRIDAY

COMEDY
Amy Schumer
Sat Nov 24 at Paramount Theatre

Sebastian Maniscalco
Sat Jan 12 at Moore Theatre

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Weed

Seattle's Best Weed Happy Hours

by Leilani Polk • Thursday at 1:30 pm

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ANGELA BOGSCH

Plenty of pot shops offer rotating daily specials, day-of-the-week deals, or loyalty reward programs where, after spending a certain amount, you get a discount. This is not about that. Just like your local bars, some pot retailers offer special discounts to lure in customers during those deader-than-usual stretches. Nothing is offered for less than what the retailer paid (because that's against the law), you must be 21 to purchase, and you can't smoke what you buy in the shop (this hasn't changed since weed was legalized here, people). But you can get cheaper weed by simply showing up during certain times of the day. Some favorites happy hours are below.

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Savage Love

Reader Thoughts on Short Guys, Booze, Buttons, and Wankers

by Dan Savage • Thursday at 1:02 pm

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Recent Savage Love Letters of the Day: After 30 years... and two kids... should he stay... or should he go? Also: love connections after sudden and unexpected deaths, advice for the short and lonely, and permission to fight bigotry with Buck Angel. And, as always, last week's column and Savage Lovecast.

First, a note on someone or other's finances:

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Podcasts

Why Do Women Love Murder?

by Katie Herzog • Thursday at 12:52 pm

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CASSANDRA SWAN

"Personally, I'm drawn to Jeffrey Dahmer. I guess I'd say that's my favorite murder," says Anna. "I wouldn't go visit his house or anything like that. For me, that's a bit much. I just like reading about him online. And I look at photos sometimes."

Anna is a 28-year-old stay-at-home mom and self-described "murderino"—meaning, a fan of the hit podcast My Favorite Murder specifically and of true crime in general. Dahmer, of course, is the serial killer who raped, murdered, and dismembered at least 17 boys and men. He had four severed heads in his kitchen and two human hearts in the fridge when he was arrested, shortly after one of his intended victims escaped.

"With the Dahmer case, the psychology of it, just trying to get into the mind of someone who does things like that..." Anna says, her voice trailing off. "That's what I'm interested in."

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2018

Kim Schrier Won Her Only Debate Against Dino Rossi

by Rich Smith • Thursday at 12:20 pm

Were all still voting for Kim now.
We're all still voting for Kim now. RS

Last night I learned two things at the one and only debate between Democrat Kim Schrier and anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrant Republican Dino Rossi. 1.) Central Washington University's campus in Ellensburg is really lovely in the fall! 2.) Schrier can handle her own onstage against an arguably slick politician who has lost three elections, and who might lose his fourth in less than three weeks.

I only have a few cursory interviews with attendees and basic crowd reading skills, but it's safe to say that a majority of the live audience for the debate favored Schrier. For people who are just tuning into this race, or who genuinely don't know which candidate they want to pick, here's a rundown of Rossi's and Schrier's strengths and weaknesses in the debate.

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Music

Inbox Jukebox Track of the Day: The Ridiculously Sinister "White Dirt" by Cypress Hill Legend DJ Muggs and Roc Marciano

by Dave Segal • Thursday at 11:21 am

Heavier than Iron Butterfly.
Heavier than Iron Butterfly. Soul Assassins

DJ Muggs and Roc Marciano, "White Dirt" (Soul Assassins)

It's very rare for hiphop producers to be making some of their best work nearly three decades into their career—Shabazz Palaces/Knife Knights' Ishmael Butler is one of the few exemplars. But based on the new Cypress Hill LP, Elephants on Acid, and the few tracks from the new collaboration with MC Roc Marciano that I've heard off their new KAOS album (out October 19), that's exactly what DJ Muggs is throwing down in 2018. This is heart-warming news to a guy who bought the the first Cypress Hill full-length on CD the week it came out in 1991. (Cypress Hill still ranks as their peak.)

The production on "White Dirt" is filthily psychedelic and deeper than Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness. While I can live without Marciano's "money and hoes, bitch" refrain, his flow, clever braggadocio, and vocal grain are pitiless and caustic. But the real action occurs in the music, where Muggs constructs a vortex of doomy, mindfucking organ warpage beyond Iron Butterfly at their most sinister and bass plunges that stun your solar plexus. "White Dirt" makes me think that Muggs and Marciano should coax Gravediggaz back into action and tour with them. It's chthonic af.

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Film/TV

Sadie Is a Thoughtful Portrait of a Budding Sociopath

by Gillian Anderson • Thursday at 10:40 am

Sadie opens at Northwest Film Forum tomorrow.
Sadie opens at Northwest Film Forum tomorrow. TJ WILLIAMS JR

Sadie, the latest from local filmmaker Megan Griffiths (Lucky Them, The Off Hours, Eden), has a perfect Northwest feel. Sadie is 13 years old and lives with her mother in a dilapidated trailer park. The place is both suburban and on the outskirts of society. It seems like a place where people just end up and get stuck, but the residents have created a tight-knit community for themselves.

Sadie worships her absent father (who has spent many years away in the military) while being impossible with her harried working mother, Rae. The father occasionally writes Sadie, but he hasn't communicated with Sadie's mother in three years. Rae seems a bit unmoored, but you have to sympathize with a woman trying to work and raise a kid on her own; she just wants some kind of life for herself, too.

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