Yay, free stuff! 6/29 - The Best Films You've Never Seen @ Roy Street Coffee

I like free stuff and I like independent film. Roy Street Coffee & SIFF's Best of Fest has done the courtesy of putting those two things together with "The Best Films You've Never Seen", showing next Tuesday, June 29th at 8pm. Roy Street hosts the BFYNS every last Tuesday of the month in addition to their Wednesday and Sunday night 8pm Indie Flick.

6/25 - 1st Annual Prom Dress (Quake) Rugby Exhibition Match & Brocklinds Summer Garage Sale

In the fine tradition of gender-bending summer sporting events in Cal Anderson Park, Quake Rugby will host their first ever rugby exhibition match played in prom dresses. This means if you're looking for any larger or plus-sized formal dresses at Value Village right now, you're screwed.

However, if you really do need that large-sized prom dress in time for Pride (or just some bargain-priced formal wear), you might have some luck at Brocklinds Summer Garage Sale. The sale is this Friday (9a-6p) and Saturday (9a-5p).

Capitol Hill Crossing, Watch Out for Hauls

Life gets even more interesting for Capitol Hill pedestrians on July 1st when big dirt-haulers will start trucking from I-5 to the Broadway Light Rail Station site and back again using Olive and Denny. Recent pedestrian improvements at Boylston, a curb bulb on Denny and a crossing refuge on Olive, will make things a little less precarious for the pedestrian, and giant safety signs like the one above should keep everyone on their guard. Just be careful out there, and like they told you in kindergarten, don't forget to look both ways when you cross the street.

Karaoke is the new cupcake?

With all the new karaoke nights and venues that have been popping up in the neighborhood this year, I'm starting to feel like karaoke is going to be the new cupcake: nice, but far more popular than it is enjoyable. This April brought us the advent of Frances Farmer Organ Karaoke, upbeat & underprivileged songs accompanied by an actual organ ever 1st and 3rd Thursday at Vermillion. If you hang around CHS Blog or Cal Anderson Park, you already know that Rock Box will be bringing Japanese-style booth karaoke to the neighborhood sometime this fall. And now that Highline is settled in on Broadway, they've brought back Cake-arokee from the purgatory it languished in after the close of its previous location, Squid and Ink. This particular karaoke event tonight (June 15th), and will occur every Tuesday night from 10am til closing time in perpetuity.

So, ok, FFOK sounds amazing. We'll see how the rest of them turn out.

Holy Christ, it's been awhile

Sorry about that guys. Between writing for CHS Blog, Metrix:Create Space, All Things Cupcake (see sidebar for links) and getting ready for grad school I haven't had a lot of time for Life on the Hill. Which is wrong. How could I abandon my sweet little blog baby that way?! In the next few somewhat less hectic weeks, I will endeavor to rectify this grievous error.

2010 Bend-It Extravaganza Call for Queer Artists

Bend-It is calling for all Queer Artists to be a part of the 2010 Bend-It Extravaganza

We are currently planning our 3 day art festival which will be June 25th-27th in Cal Anderson Park and Hugo House on Capitol Hill. Get the word out there!
We are hoping to showcase some new talents as well as some beloved favorites.

That means all you Acrobats, Singers, Breakers, Jugglers, Storytellers, Burlesquers, Poets, Pop Divas, DJs, Painters, Photographers, Hip Hop Artists, Drag Queens, Dancers, Film Directors, Clowns, Actors, Body Painters, Fashion Designers, Drag Kings, Boylesquers, Zinesters, Ukulele Strummers, Belly Dancers and Rock Bands AND artists! We are especially excited about young, local, and people of color artists.

Check out our website and use the Get Involved section to submit information if you have interest in performing, organizing, or just learning more.

Or, you can contact one of these organizers directly:

Sam - Sam.J.Irish@gmail.com
LT - ltmkt2@gmail.com
Quinn - quinnwyatt@gmail.com
Eden - Ourrainyparade@gmail.com

This year as part of the Bend-It Extravaganza , we will have a table where queer zinesters can leave, or pass out their zines for free. Everyone who contributes is guaranteed free photo copies for work sent in by June 11, so tell all your friends. If you've never written a zine before, but have always wanted to, now is your chance. We are accepting all kinds: lit zines, comics, poetry, adventure stories, cooking, mental health, DIY, etc., but would ask that they be in agreement with our mission statement and values.

Mail your submissions to:

Bend-It
PO Box 20252
Seattle, WA 98102

All submissions must be postmarked by June 11

For more information contact Quinn at
quinnwyatt@gmail.com
and go to benditbandits.org

Bend It is a queer artist activist collective that makes the world a more fabulous place by building welcoming, liberated spaces, strengthening community, and creating meaningful alternatives for queer young people and their friends.

Since 2003, Bend-It has been organizing a three-day arts festival during the weekend of the Seattle Pride Parade in June. We designed our festival as a meaningful, non-corporate, proactively inclusive alternative to Pride, hosting community artists-led workshops, concerts, photography exhibits, film festivals, fashion/drag/burlesque shows, and spoken poetry open mic nights. We have encouraged DIY (do-it-yourself) and DIT (do-it-together) mentalities by offering reciprocal skill-building workshops—as opposed to top-down, one-way interactions.

The Radio8Ball Show, or The Pop Oracle

Michael Upchurch of Seattle Times says "You'll have fun at this show." I wholeheartedly agree, though I might be just a wee bit biased since I've been live-tweeting for them all season. Then again, if I didn't like the show, I wouldn't still be running Radio8Ball's Twitter for them, now would I?

Check Upchurch's article for a good explanation of the show, but the one I nicked off the Radio8Ball Blog works too: it's the show "where questions are answered by picking songs at random and interpreting them like musical tarot cards". It's also group therapy, intentional/unintentional comedy, really New-Agey meaning-making and a really intimate acoustic basement show all rolled into one. It's not for everyone (especially if you're allergic to words like "synchronicity" or "feelings"), but if you're into it after one show, you're hooked.

I certainly am, anyway. And now so is my S.O. after I towed him along to celebrate my upcoming birthday and got my question picked(!) - "Question #5 (me!) How can I help my S.O. realize his dreams? Song answer: Say you love me [by Jenny Jenkins]". It was really the cutest damn thing ever. If you really feel like reading how that particular musical question & answer went, backwards, see below. I gotta warn you, it's pretty mushy.

(happy birthday to me!)

John sez: I love you too - you are my dream.

I say: I love you John Sepulveda!

Andras sez that sometimes all you need is to realize your dreams and get thru life is someone who believes in you and loves you

trying to understand her S.O.'s language of love

Jenny sez that this song is about

I dont' know much about being stable/ but thanks for cleaning up after me /sorry I'm not making any money

When you're gone I go neurotic/ now you're back it feels exotic about

Question #5 (me!) How can I help my SO realize his dreams? Answer: Say you love me

Call to Artists: Capitol Hill Station Wall Project - Roster of Artists

This particular call to artists is of very personal interest to me. I live not too far away from the station site and wish to be treated to challenging, boundaries-pushing, world-class art on a daily basis. I'll also be on the selection committee (I got to help pick DK Pan as lead artist! So cool!), so I really want a great group to choose from. And, yes, I also happen to like Broadway and wish the best of financial success on its businesses, and I do believe that great art on the construction wall can do a lot to keep foot traffic from abandoned the street in droves.

So, tell all your awesome artist friends who do large scale, edgy work to send in an application. The future of Broadway and my viewing pleasure depend on it.

R.I.P. Mold, or, Seattle Household Tips

I hate mold. A lot. I come from Southern California, so when I was growing up mold was something you had to take of the bathroom from time to time. Now that I live in a janky apartment in Seattle, it's something I have to address on a weekly basis during the winter in the bathroom, in every windowsill, and occasionally on things that lean against outside walls. So I really fucking hate mold.

I finally got around to looking up how to kill this stuff right the other day. The CDC says that a 1:16 solution of bleach and water, sprayed onto and left on the affected surface, should do the trick. I wiped down everything first and then sprayed it with the milquetoast bleach solution just for good measure. I really hope it works.

Beard & Stache Fest comes to the Hill

Beard & Stache Fest is a month-long homage to facial hair and an extended fundraiser for Treehouse, a non-profit committed to improving the lives of foster kids in Washington state. It's had some events around Seattle previously, but today is the first day it came to Capitol Hill with the Wifflebowl in Cal Anderson Park. I only walked by, but I must admit, it looked like a lot of fun.

If nothing else crazy gets planned for Valentine's Day, I fully plan to attend the next Beard & Stache/Cal Anderson event, the Lover's Quarrel Cardboard Tube Fight. You bring the cardboard armor, the enthusiasm and lots of friends; the Beard & Stache folks will provide the cardboard tubes. It's free (though donations are appreciated) at Cal Anderson Park on 2/14 from 1-4pm, w/a pre-quarrel brunch at Bluebird and an afterparty at Po-Dog.

This Week's Events of Note

• It's Hunger Action Week for King County from Jan. 25th through the 29th - can you feed yourself on only $7 a day for a whole week? Many, many people do that every day since that's the maximum food benefit for an individual in the state of Washington. This week in particular however, a bunch of people are going to try it even they don't have to, including the mayor and a hell of a lot of bloggers. What about you?
  
  
• PubliCola is having it's first birthday this Wednesday, January 27th down at The Crocodile from 7pm till they kick everyone the hell out. Come schmooze, drink and celebrate a year of local news and political coverage for FREE.
  
  
• If you're not feeling like a wonk schmoozefest, there's also a Haiti Benefit (Jazz) Show at Faire Gallery and Cafe the same night from 9pm on.
  
  
• The first Seattle Startup Drinks of the year is this Friday, January 29th from 7-10pm down at Two Bells Tavern. Come on down to Belltown and talk about what you're up to.
  

Rent's Due

I recently discovered that a favorite (delicious and affordable!) restaurant of mine that did not wish to be named is moving out of the center city in favor of more affordable pastures to the north. Even though they're on a main thoroughfare, that thoroughfare's been hitting hard times as of late. Despite the decline in foot traffic, rents are still at the same levels as several years ago. This bums me out. In a time when we're all still broke and in need of comfort food, a decently priced restaurant gets pushed out beyond reasonable bussing distance by an unyielding landlord and an unequally unyielding rent. Rats.

Recently, on CHS Blog: Pies in Mason Jars, Carbon Coaching & an Urban CSA

These last two weeks I've posted on CHS Blog about Mini-Empire Bakery, David Lyman's upcoming free Carbon Coaching class, and Alleycat Acres. (I can't really count the John and Summit naming stuff cuz I didn't post about it, even if I did help write the letter.) I feel accomplished :)

Kiki the Robot: Origins

Upon learning that Metrix: Create Space had a soldering room, my friend MJ decided it was high time to finish building her robot Kiki. While Kiki is presently a mere pile of parts, she will soon become an adorable (I presume) little bot that can navigate mazes with the help of her wee little light sensors. Once she's up and running I'm sure I'll write a post in the Metrix blog, but for now, I just wanted to document her very earliest beginnings. Think of it as the digital version of bronzed baby shoes.

This Week in Kickoffs: The Uprising Art Opening, Office Nomads Resolutions Party, & B-Way Light Rail Stations Construction Begins

The Uprising, this Tuesday night's (8-11pm) Zombie Art Show Reception & Zombie Potluck at Zero Zero, begins my week in Capitol Hill kickoffs. This is a must-attend: you can meet Zero Zero's Jason of the amazing double handlebar mustache, and of course, there will be zombie art.

Thursday is going to be an event double-header with Office Nomads Resolutions Party/Winter Open House and then the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station Construction Kickoff over at Seattle Central. The party at Office Nomads goes from 6-9pm and the Construction Kickoff presentation will go from about 6:30 to 8pm...yeah, so maybe it isn't actually physically possible to make it to both. But I can try.

Cal Anderson Park Alliance Looking for New Board Members

Kay Rood, Hill-famous CAPA President, has requested that I spread the word about CAPA's search for members to fill their newly-expanded board. The Cal Anderson Park Alliance is the continuation of the badass community group that convinced the city to turn Lincoln Reservoir into a spectacular park rather than a big cement lid. They're still active and making Cal Anderson Park activated and amazing, so if you've got the time and that's what you're into, I recommend applying to become a CAPA board member.

The Cal Anderson Park Alliance is accepting applications and will start reviewing them at the end of January. You can find the application form at the CAPA website.

Grand Openings: Inauguration Day Seattle, Kraftwerks Night, Salvage Marsupials, Radio8Ball Show

This Monday's pretty momentous if you're a massive local politics nerd like I am: at 2pm, Mayor-elect McGinn, City Attorney-elect Pete Holmes and the Councilmembers-elect Sally Bagshaw, Mike O'Brien, Richard Conlin and Nick Licata will be sworn in down at City Council Chambers. I'll be there, shaking hands and taking pictures. Slideshow coming soon :)

This coming Tuesday night is going to be much more interesting than the average Tuesday night because it will be the grand opening of the weekly craft night at Metrix: Create Space and of my wee Etsy store, Salvage Marsupials. Kraftwerks Night (hee hee) will go from 6pm till midnight, and the grand opening of Salvage Marsupials will occur once I show up to Metrix with celebratory cookies.

This coming Sunday evening will be extra exciting too because it's the first Radio8Ball Show of the season and my first time twittering for said show. It should be interesting posting tweets about a "show where questions are answered by picking songs at random and interpreting the randomly chosen songs as the answer to the questions, like shaking a musical 8ball." Wish me luck!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So, here's the belated cheesy Christmas cracker joke I owe my faithful readers:

What is a minimum?
A very small mother

And as a New Year's Bonus, here's Steve McQueen the Cat, to the tune of the opening theme of McGyver.

We wish you a Merry Christmas (2)

A Christmas card for my faithful readers, courtesy of St. Matthew-in-the-City of Auckland, New Zealand and AP News.

Outside:



Inside:

The true meaning of Christmas...

Happy Hols everyone,
Jen

We wish you a Merry Christmas

In the fine and upstanding Life on the Hill Christmas tradition, it is customary to post bad jokes that hail from the British Christmas Crackers that my mom buys every year. Since she told me one a few days early, I will now deliver it fresh to you:

What do you call a video game system in a Nativity Scene?
A Wii In a Manger

Don't worry, there's more where that came from.


P.S. Courtesy of XKCD, here's a much better Christmas joke.