Catch

March 26, 2012

This is not the official XFL football.
This is the replica model that I bought to throw around outside.
The official XFL ball is safe on a bookshelf.
Yes, I have TWO XFL style footballs.
I was also in an XFL fantasy league.

Tenacious D returns with "Rize Of The Fenix"

Downton Arby's

It makes more sense if you've seen the show.

SterlingCooperDraperPriceSambrano?

March 25, 2012

Mad Men is back!

How Don Has Changed on Grantland


Mad Men Character Guide on Grantland
In case you forgot what everyone is up to.

8oz Burger Bar
No sooner had I read about this place in the Seattle Times that somebody on Bookface checked in there.

Nook Breakfast in U District
Speaking of sounding delicious...

Preachin' The Blues from 9am-Noon Sundays on KEXP
Perfect music for a lazy Sunday morning.


Hunger Games

An Alternate Breakdown of Katniss Everdeen's Lethality
on Grantland

Lost In The Shuffle

Lately, I've switched the way I keep track of the links I want to share on the blog.  I had been saving things to a Google Doc, then uploading the files with each post.  But in an effort to stay more up-to-date I abandoned that for a simpler policy of writing things down and...


You don't care, but the point is, there is a whole bunch of stuff from when I made the switch that never got posted.  This stuff would have been really new on February 12th.  

Schmidt’s Online Dating Profile

He's the best part of "New Girl"

The FP Trailer

Battle DDR in the Future

I hope it's a joke, but I'm afraid it's real.

The Interupters Streaming Online at PBS.org

Steve James' film about mediators in Chicago trying to prevent shootings.

Tom Brady in Postgame Daze

Say what you want about him, but read this account of his post Super Bowl activities, and you can't say he doesn't care.

The Dark Room

A youtube "choose your own adventure" type game where you find yourself in a dark room.  It's like Beyond Zork but funny.

Best. Simpsons. Moments. Ever.

The staff of Grantland reviews their favorite Simpsons memories. 

Looking back, the show hit more than it missed.

Homer At The Bat

From Deadspin, an account of how this episode impacted the show, the network, and the world.

Sandman in Development Hell

I'm reading the comics now and they are great, but I'm not sure how it would look as a movie anyway.

Josh Ritter -

“Love Is Making It’s Way Back Home”
12.000 pieces of construction paper were used in this video.

Shins -“Simple Song”
The dead Dad hides the deed for the house as a scavenger hunt as a final insult to his children who hate him.  
It makes way more sense when you watch it.

Devouring Time

March 24, 2012

Devouring Time at Western Bridge

Review from The Stranger

Time is running out at Western Bridge, the great contemporary art space. It will close sometime late this year, date still TBA, after an eight-year run. The new group show, Devouring Time, has a hushed deathiness to it—drawings related to embalming, a daily delivery of irises left out to dry and rot even as new ones arrive. A puddle scooped out of Puget Sound and poured onto the concrete gallery floor every day is just enough water to fill a pair of human lungs; it’s a piece called Drown by Emilie Halpern. Mungo Thomson imprinted a pair of giant mirrors with the Timemagazine logo, each font dictated by the years the owners of Western Bridge were born. Hung on facing walls, the mirrors disappear into each other. (Western Bridge, 3412 Fourth Ave S,www.westernbridge.org, noon–6 pm, free)by JEN GRAVES

Umm... I don't get it.

Don't Give Up. Don't Ever Give Up.

March 23, 2012

Our closing keynote at WACA was by Jeff Yaldin

"Anger is like peeing your pants.  

Everyone can see it.  

But only you can feel it."

He talked about what he called the 

"Greatest Motivational Speech of All Time".

Just remember three things:

Your Family.

Your Religion.

And Green Bay Packer Football.

Jeff also gave us all a bracelet with the four T's

"Take Time To Think"

So, on the way home, that's what I did.

Sounders vs. Houston
The Dynamo are one of the few MLS teams to NOT have a Foursquare Badge.
If they had one, it didn't pop correctly.

I'm glad we kicked their butts.

Mad Men Game on YouTube

8-bit version of the hi-jinx at Sterling Cooper Draper Price.

WACA Flocka Flame

March 22, 2012

More conferring all day long.

The presentation here are a mixed bag.

I saw a few duds but I also saw some super cool stuff.

One presenter encapsulated the spirit of this conference.  He said "Everything I'm about to share with you, I stole from somebody else at this conference.  And the people I stole from are happy I did."

The only original idea in his presentation was awesome.  He used "Post Secret" as a model for students to share their issues in a safe, anonymous way.

After watching the perspecticles video, he mentioned that the difficulty was getting people's stories out there if they didn't feel they had anyone to talk to.  By using Post Secret, students had a better idea of what some of their classmates were going through.

Perspecticles

The conference was crawling with "partners" or "people who want you to rent their party supplies".  There were tons of demos of party supplies.  Like this giant hamster ball:

They even brought in a dance floor!

What's Up from WACA!



On a side note, I've been pretty unplugged the last few days.  
By which I mean I've only had my phone.  
But I still feel kind of cut off from the world.

WACA, WACA, WACA!!

March 21, 2012

WACA Conference at Semiahmoo

Semiahmoo is phenomenal.

Above is the room key.  

Below is the view from my room.

It was a really busy day, so I didn't get to explore much.
But the conference is great and we have some free time coming up.

Scott Backovich

This guy was our keynote tonight.
He was interesting.  


Hunger Games Soundtrack
Pop Candy explains how to stream the album from Rdio, but you can also find playlists on Spotify.  I don't think any of the songs appear in the movie.  This is offically "Songs From District 12 and Beyond" and it's inspired by the movie.  Arcade Fire, Neko Case, Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars, The Decembrists, Glen Hansard, Maroon 5 and Miranda Lambert.  The whole thing is produced by T-Bone Burnett, which is probably how they got all that star power in the first place.

Sludge Celebration!!

March 19, 2012 

(Oops!  I posted this out of order!)

Candy Sludge

Our leadership teacher planned this event to celebrate our kids finishing the sludge project.  
She bought tons of candy and let the kids make their own "sludges" in little dixie cups.
Just a way to remind the kids that we do care about them.


Infamous 2

Walking Dead - Season 2

I almost gave up on this show after scathing reviews early this year.  

But a midseason retooling made this show awesome. 

If you're going to watch, stick with it, because it's totally worth your time. 

We Have An Arts Center?

March 20, 2012

Kirkland Arts Center

The current exhibition is Contained.

Above: Neural Electricity 
Below: Signals Within a Prevertebral Design
Both by Michelle Anderst

Amphorae c. 2010
by Karen Hackenberg

Replicas
by Alicia Basinger

SIFF Big Lebowski Quote-along
You can see the movie with the inspiration for "The Dude".
Plus there's a special pre-event with bowling, food, drinks, and hang out time with "The Dude"
All the proceeds support SIFF.

Chocolate Cake For Breakfast

March 18, 2012

Belle Epicurean

Seattle's best Parisian Bakery

It's nice to know I could have had chocolate cake for breakfast.

But as an adult, I ordered a Croque Monsieur.
I can always do chocolate cake next week.
I'm an adult.


Peacemaker at Five Fish Bistro
This looks so good too.


21 Jump Street

Killin It on YouTube

It's fake.  
But still strangely profound.

Sounders Ready

March 17, 2012

Are You Sounders Ready?

March to the Match with Gorilla FC

Two badges in one check-in!!

The Night Before Amateur Night

March 16, 2012

Flair Taco Truck has a special meal you can only order if you bring your passport. 

 I don't understand the point of this promotion.

But I really want to try it.

Brouwer's served super cheap drinks at the end of their 
"Barleywine Festival".

At the Gate.
Karaoke is always high quality.
I saw my favorite podcast host here getting "tired and emotional".
Luke totally crushed "Faith".

Is Super Mario Brothers The Greatest Piece Of Surrealist Art?

Avalanches - Since I Left You

Mos Def and Talib Kweli - Know That

If You've Got Time To Lean, You've Got Time To Clean

March 15, 2012

Massive quantities of lab equipment and chemicals were cleaned up by children.  Rather than take pictures of that chaos, watch this video.

When all of the crazy colored liquids mix together, that's what it looked like.

Young The Giant - Cough Syrup

fun. - We Are Young

Actually, this is probably what it looked like.

Super Mario Bros Crossover 2.0

All the best Nintendo games in one game.

Two Lowlights From An Otherwise Great Game

March 14, 2012

The sign looks so great.
Except for the spelling.

There is no scoreboard at recreation dodgeball in a junior high gym, so it's easy to lose track of how the overall match is going.  
Tonight, we had some games where everything went wrong.
It felt like there were 18 balls all coming our way at the same time.
It turns out we got up so big early on, we had the match in the bag.
So none of those games were as bad as they seemed.
There's probably a lesson there.