Seattlest’s Olympic correspondent Mark Siano has been hard at work in Beijing getting the stories that you won’t hear about anywhere else. Protesting: Having the protest sign on the back of a map was the perfect distraction to get it past the Chinese sensors. I just folded it up with the "USA out of Iraq" part hidden and slid right on in. Layer after layer of security let me and my giant map go......

That feeling of oppression, smog, and soy sauce in the air can only mean one thing; the Beijing Olympics are underway. The Times and PI both have reporters blogging from China, and preview the Games on the intertubes. The NBC family of networks always makes it confusing with their mix of tape delay, and live only-on-the-East Coast coverage, however, Seth at Sports Northwest Magazine shares his TV picks. CBC (Channel 99 for most cable subscribers)......

"Old Wives' Tale" by Seattle Flickr Pool contributor Seattle rainscreen. Stunning. The bountiful ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest is worth between $243 billion and $1.22.1 trillion, economic and environmentalist researchers announced late last night. Phew! Numbers are far easier to work with than poetic sentiments about our "introverted, feral, buddhistically cool" raindrops (Tom Robbins), "unruly mobs of young clouds" and "green stand of mountains" (Ken Kesey), or Chief Sealth's sacred, inter-connected vision of "every......

It is the kind of event for which cliche sayings like "it's the end of an era" were made. Today is Bill Gates' last day as the chairman of Microsoft, the software company he created and made into an all-encompassing empire. While Gates will remain the non-executive chairman of Microsoft, his full-time job will be with the Gates Foundation, he and wife Melinda's international health non-profit. One of his first stops after bowing out of......

TODAY IS WORLD REFUGEE DAY! The International Rescue Committee is hosting a benefit night of poetry, music, dance and crafts from our local refugee community at the Seattle Center, and John Hilde's Made In China (a documentary about his father's childhood in pre-WWII China) is screening at the NWFF with proceeds going to Mercy Corps' work in the devastated Sichuan province of China. Be a good neighbor and enjoy these artsy celebrations of diversity and......

FULL PUPPET NUDITY: You might have noticed that big banner on the side of the Paramount advertising puppet cleavage Avenue Q. Well, tonight is opening night, so if you haven't gotten your tickets for this ever-so-brief run of the Tony Award-winning show, now's your time. Seattlest will be there tonight for the kick-off, but then it's up to you to get out and see those puppets sing and swear all over the place. June 10-22......

Photo by SFist's James Passey SFist reported on this week's California State Supreme Court's ruling that overturned the ban on same-sex marriage.Londonist noted that Boris Johnson – the city's brand-new mayor – continues to polarize opinion, even when announcing obviously good news. Is he a genuine change for the better, or is he just taking credit for his predecessor's ground-work?Philllyist did some celebrity stalking on the set of Owen Wilson's latest, Marley and Me.LAist......

"yellow dragon on pole" by Seattlest Flickr Pool Contributor Seattle rainscreen. Thanks! It's not every day that the local news headlines look so....well....international. This morning, we've got Seattle money going to China to help out after the horrific earthquake; more information about the death of a museum director in town from Thailand who was in federal custody; Seattle-based federal prosecutors in Baghdad conducting a criminal investigation on a Seattlite paratrooper; and an incinerated tavern......

Chinese Official: The world’s media is here, and they are going to be looking around. I need you to make sure that these Tibetan monks are locked up and don’t disrupt anything. Guard: Make sure that these locked-up Tibetan monks disrupt everything. Official: No, don’t disrupt anything. Guard: Okay, don’t disrupt anything. Official: The monks. Guard: The monks. Official: Correct. [starts to leave] Guard: Sorry, just to recap, lock everyone up with no disruption...or wait,......

Seattlest first heard about the Raveonettes from a troubled, neurotic friend. He recommended their '03 release Chain Gang of Love, which struck us as analogous to that friendship: addictive and harping on the same two or three themes. The dark, early '60s-nostalgic Danish pop group played at Neumos this weekend, and the show too was like that odd, long-ended relationship. The first three songs gave us goosebumps, and the rest of the set (with......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

The old cliché is that if you eat Chinese food, you’ll be hungry again one hour later. We’re not sure of that, but in reviewing restaurants, we surely want to know what’s enduring one hour, one day, even one week later. Delicious when dining, perhaps, but ultimately fantastic… or forgettable? We’ve been bemoaning the lack of quality Chinese food in Seattle. Aside from a few Szechuan spots, very little is enduring. Dim sum is dull,......

The latest session of the state legislature is now in full swing and most people are watching the big-ticket items under discussion. The supplemental budget and what to do with our $1.5 billion surplus are at the top of the list. Also high on the agenda are transportation issues like a new vote on light rail and a toll on 520. But there are always niche issues under consideration. They probably won't get the......

787 Dreamliner, courtesy of Boeing Boeing's announced yet another delay in production of its Dreamliner jet. It's the third such delay, almost sure to push back completion and require late delivery penalty payments to customers. The problem, of course, is that building something like a jet requires hundreds of thousands of parts from dozens of different suppliers--some factory tech in China flips the wrong switch and you end up with 13,000,000 wire casings that are......

In previous posts, we’ve name-dropped the mighty Meyer Lemon at the slightest provocation, but it is our fear that mere passing mention may have failed to entice you to leap from your seat and immediately buy one; which is of course the only sane reaction to the arrival of these splendid fruits. So here goes, our most desperate and heartfelt plea. Of all the "fancy" produce around these days, the Meyer Lemon is hands-down our......

That sure didn't last long, did it? Barely nine months. Wild Salmon, an eatery in Noo Yawk City that supposedly showcased Pacific Northwest cuisine, is calling it quits. Charles Ramseyer, who left Ray's Boathouse to open the joint for his friend Jeffrey Chodorow, will stay in the Big Apple (for the time being) and labor for other properties in the China Grill group. Chodorow went off the deep end after Frank Bruni dumped on......

As an alumnus of Centralia Community College (out of boredom, we took a Latin class there one fall) and former southwest Washington resident, we've been following the flooding thataway with interest. A friend of ours just passed along two emails from K. in Centralia, and they can't be beat for a you-are-there feel that balances some of the apocalyptic news coverage -- let's face it, if nothing terrible happened to you, you aren't news. On......

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.) Sunday's NFC West showdown in San Francisco leads to many culinary possibilities. The best burritos......

Chicken broth-based soups are some of the ultimate comfort foods, and are especially good when sick. We love them all, from matzo ball soup (a.k.a. “Jewish penicillin”) to tortilla soup to good ol’ Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup (or, better yet, Chicken & Stars – our childhood favorite, though we shudder to think about the sodium content). Last week, Dishin’ lamented the lack of good xiao long bao in Seattle. This week, we decided to go......

Dogfish Head (DFH) has been a rock for the craft brewing industry for years. Never afraid to go out on a limb and try something different, DFH offers a variety of adventurous beers. Sam Calagione, founder and president, is the master and brains behind many of their beers. Although located in Delaware, we can get most of their beers at bars and bottle shops around the NW. Below is a sampling of DFH beers available......

Are you there Seattle art world? It's us, Seattlest. We're trying our best to talk up your First Thursday openings, but it looks like you've crapped out on us this month. We understand: you're on vacation or something, it's kinda hot out, the BLUE ANGELS are in the sky ... We've got posts to post, however, and damned if we won't find something to recommend from your namby-pamby Art Walk offerings. Here's what we're going......

Lisa See is the author of the megabestselling novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a book that received so many good reviews that we decided not to read it out of pique. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a historical novel based on the true story of women in rural China who created and used a secret writing system to communicate with each other. Her new novel, Peony in Love, is about a......

N.P. Thompson went to SIFF, and we all benefit now that he's written about the best and worst films of the festival -- and launched a few broadsides at SIFF and select members of its audience: The 33rd Seattle International Film Festival ended two weeks ago; it’s taken me this long to gain enough distance to sort and sift through all I might conceivably have to say on the subject. Even so, the movies under......

"I hate 'guessing' trivia," a friend of ours said yesterday. "I don't care if we don't know the answer. But there has to be at least a nonzero chance that some applied consideration will get the team within spitting distance of it." He was speaking about another quiz he'd been to, but by the end of the quiz at Fremont's George & Dragon pub we were chuckling wryly at his foresight. Applied consideration left......

Sniff sniff, single tear. It's the last full week of SIFF, so you're well approaching your last chance till next year to take in some of that sweet filmy goodness. SIFF's not just movies; this week offers both the Opticlash 2 VJ battle at the CHAC and the Face the Music party at Neumo's, the latter of which includes performances by Viva Voce, Jesse Sykes, and Siberian. Tickets for both are going fast! Seattlest......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

At the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit yesterday morning Bill Gates dropped some future knowledge on the assembled ad men and tech types. A few of those nuggets we found particularly interesting and insightful: Prediction #4: There Will Be No Street Cars in Our Large Cities. All hurry traffic will be below or high above ground when brought within city limits. In most cities it will be confined to broad subways or tunnels, well lighted and......

--Avoid the University Bridge from this day forward. Check yer bus route before heading home, at least. --Free Metro bus when you buy a house! --Free monorail pass when you buy a used car! --In 2007 a "civic square" includes 32 stories of condos. --Goldy and Ichmo have been all over the story of China poisoning our food supply. --A former sheriff's deputy from Washington accused of circulating video of himself raping his daughter......

The overnight blogs are abuzz: Tenet (slamdunking Iraq) and Goldy (recycling poisoned pet food). Both merit close attention, but Goldy (David Goldstein) is right here in Seattle, and he's making international news. Let's not forget that his blog, HorsesAss.org, was the first to reveal Michael Brown's bogus credentials to run FEMA. This time, it's another fuckup, but with truly ominous potential: China's melamine-laced pet food was recycled as feed for domestic pork, and our......

--Are we dense yet? The Sightline Institute's Eric de Place has realized that more than half of the people that live in Seattle don't live in traditional house-and-yard setups. --ESPN's Jim Caple has a message for Ichiro, unfortunately, he wrote it in English. --Bill Nye, the Science Guy on Dice-K and the gyroball ...who knew he was such a big baseball fan? Via Baseball Musings --Here's Huan Hsu of the Weekly's Real Change piece. It......