Say what you will about Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder's politics, but the guys put together a hell of a film and soundtrack. While Penn's Into the Wild might not match its somber weight with Oscar gold, its music, care of Vedder, could score at the Grammys and Academy Awards. His song "Guaranteed" (covered below) already received a Best Song nom from the former. Vedder's sparse, loping tunes that accompany the story of Christopher McCandless'......

Seventeen teams showed up at the Old Pequliar last night to see if our voice would give out. We managed to get through the evening without having a Peter Brady moment, but we're grateful to those of you who were willing to step up to the mic at a moment's notice. We thought we'd produced a slightly more difficult quiz than usual, but we were proven wrong -- every team got 40 or more......

Marya Sea Kaminski as Rachel in My Name is Rachel Corrie on the Leo K. Stage at Seattle Repertory Theatre March 15 through April 22, 2007. Photo copyright Chris Bennion 2007. Writing on The New Republic Online in November, 2006, James Kirchick snarkily commented, "Of all the subjects for a 90-minute, one-woman show, Rachel Corrie ought to have been at the bottom of the list." Rachel Corrie was an Olympia native and Evergreen State......

--Bus wraps are dead! No longer will we have to stare out at a dim world through other people's smiling faces. We can handle the fare increase if that's what it takes. --Seattle startup Exbiblio is blogging their own layoffs restructuring retrenchment. Now that's an open blogging policy. --Best "Hello, My Name Is" sticker ever. --Best umbrella ever. Seriously, we're getting Make Magazine after these guys. --Your giant dog, your tiny condo, and you.......

But of course, Amy Sedaris was wonderful at Neumo's last night: charming and funny and crafty and crude. Everything we look for in a lady. She sat onstage in a big comfy chair for a little chat with local film czar Warren Etheredge, mostly about her new book and related tales of party-hosting, but also about her run-in with Martha Stewart (a very masculine woman), her appearance on My Name Is Earl (could be......

Amy Goodman, host of independent news program Democracy Now!, spoke at a benefit for KAOS and Thurston Community Television last night in Olympia. Seattlest got stuck on the I-5 but got there five minutes before the scheduled event time; Goodman, coming from SeaTac, was not so lucky, and arrived about half an hour late. In the meantime, the sold-out crowd heard Chaplain James Yee describe conditions & treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.......