SEATTLE

the pictures in that link are something else! so weird to see seattle that way... maybe the b/w makes it seem more gritty and grim, but it's so difficult for me to imagine it looking like that. except, i guess, for some of the "industry" pictures.

also, really interesting to see the u.district looking much like i first saw it.

thanks for linking here. it's tops.

btw, the SAM expansion opens this weekend. have you been reading the press?

sinkhole madness at the university bridge! (thx to lx for the tip)

http://www.kirotv.com/2007/0502/13242395.jpg

The sinkhole swallowed two unoccupied cars.

it's alive!

kinda the same pic but...grittier.

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/M_IMAGE.11220589918.93.88.fa.d0.2d00b207.jpg

sinkhole = broken water main = low water pressure = coffee shortage in the u.district = TROUBLE!

i'm sure i would feel differently if it had affected me, but i have to lol a little bit at all the people trying to go south out of the u.district at 5 o'clock and the bridge still closed. because, come on, people. don't take montlake. take a different way. go to the 99. go to fremont. go to ballard if you have to. but montlake? of course that's going to take for fucking ever.

people in seattle are dumber than people in sf, i think. when that bridge burned in sf the other day they were expecting horrific backups and they never materialized. duh, take an alternate route! i think even with the orange DETOUR signs people would still try to take that bridge.

from what i observed this morning, yes: cars in the left lane on campus pkwy racing along towards the bridge, (past the ROAD CLOSED AHEAD signs) only to have to change lanes at the last second and then... what're you gonna do now, sucka? dumb-dumbs.

71, 72 and 73 buses are taking the freeway (olive to 45th). the 49 (formerly the 7) aren't coming to the u.d. at all. poor eastlakers are kinda screwed.

water cuts through our city both as a heartbeat and a heartstopper

nice. and true.

bridge reopened this afternoon.

Where has this thread been all my life? What is this 8090 business? WHERE AM I???

haha! welcome to our board, jaq!!

What is this shiny new land?? It's very cozy and peaceful here. May I apply for citizenship? I have skillz!

no application necessary. you are welcome!

This morning, I had the hi ho work song of the 7 dwarves from snow white stuck in my head. Mostly just Doc (or was it Grumpy) doing the hi ho call and the other dwarves doing the response. Maybe because of Hammmering Man: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/SAM.jpg

everybody report back on free museum weekend plz

lol museum is hueg

the centerpiece (frontpiece? The main exhibit, the gigantic one that takes up the majority of the first floor) exhibit was a pretty underwhelming dud, I thought. I feel like 7 automobiles hanging from the ceiling should have been more exciting somehow. Maybe something other than the tubes of lights would have been better? Also, the one fireworks-strapped car....couldn't they have done something less hokey with the footage of all the fireworks going off?

Lots of great stuff otherwise, though. My favorite was probably the aboriginal stuff (don't remember which countries). Loved the paintings, the giant mask in the corner, and the statue below it.

The only outdoors festivities I saw were the buskers at various locations and the super bouncy, permasmile jump-roping people who were making things fun for the people in line to the tune of kool & the gang - celebration.

I would liked to have gone in the evening hours, but i have to get up at 4 am-ish

Here I am, up before 2 am. We went to bed at 7 (it was a long day). Time for tea. Will report on the wee hours crowd later.

between all of your crazy hours and my time zone this is a 24 hour board

lol museum is hueg

lingbert otm x 8080. It's doubled at least, and the two lower floors are free (cafe, shop, auditorium, hands-on studio, music stage under tumbling cars. Cars are very meh. The 3:30 - 4 am crowd was smallish, but there were still lots of people there. mellow amped guitar dood played non-stop to keep people happy, Caffe Lladro and Starbucks were open. We got there at 3:30, got tix for 4 am, didn't think to try to get in early until stepson and friend showed up at 3:50 - they let us all right in, no waiting. Techno playing and dancing in the main gallery. Escalators now up to the 3rd and 4th floor spaces, as well as elevators. Most disturbing new acquisition: Untitled (Cheap to Feed) - a taxidermied dog (jack russell or wirehaired fox terrier) curled up as if asleep in a dark tan plastic chair. gold plated Brancusi bird. Most memorable room after a nap: 5 Asian restorations, with the fabulous crow screen that used to be at SAAM, a 13th century chinese richly colored scroll, the section of 72 foot long japanese deer poem scroll. 2 original woodblocks from Views of Mt. Fuji. The PNW artists gallery - lots of Mark Tobey's market scenes and Morris Graves. Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight have their own gallery. The Tiepolo ceiling has been moved into this overwhelmingly shiny new porcelain room. My happiest moment - realizing there weren't any huge blatant Chihuly's hanging around. Favoritest piece - an atypical John Singer Sargent portrait titled something like In the Olive Grove.

We didn't see everything, didn't get to the tea house, didn't find the Maori longhouse or jade, collapsed in the cafe around 5:30 am and had tea and frites w/ remoulade and some cheese/crackers, then gawked in the new shop. Home by 6:30 am, asleep by 7:30.

jaq, you were getting home just as i was leaving home. and LOL there were times on the tickets? i just blithely walked right in. no line at all when i got there, though... uncrowded till after 8:30 or so. no techno either; that sounds fun.

guys, i liked the cars! at least i did after i saw the video that accompanies the piece. i mean i'm not in love with it, but i think it works. i love that it's pedestrian (whatever, ford tauruses) and yet monumental (that thing takes up a lot of space, and there are cars inside the museum! a bunch of them! and they're hanging from the ceiling!). i think it's a good installation.

i love that j. lawrence and g. knight have a gallery.

that dog is FUCKED UP.

i spent most of my time in the modern rooms. i especially enjoyed the minimal room and the, what was it called? the room with the joseph bueys and the dog-tag chainmail? god my memory sucks. anyway, the northernmost part -- the new part -- of the third floor is my deal.

i was pretty done by the time i got to the aboriginal rooms, and basically raced through the rest of it. the william eggelston in the special exibition room was a treat (though not one of his more compelling pieces, to be sure), but that museum needs a lot more photography -- non-portrait photography, that is.

otm to the lack of monster chihuly bullshit.

there's a lot i didn't see BUT i took the opportunity to finally get my museum membership (birthday 2006 now officially concluded). so i can go back any time. and so can you, jergins. or anyone who wants to pose as jergins.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/486966309_b038cc48cb.jpg?v=0

kudos to the lusty lady for being a good neighbor, and kudos to the neighborhood for letting the lusty lady be. luv u, seattle.

here are a couple of different renderings of the four seasons, posted at the construction site:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/486966341_cb1eff37f1.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/178/486966365_dc3b95f9fe.jpg?v=0

yay membership! we got one too; good to share :) I also really liked the giant seascape by the german guy - and the one of the isolated house by the same guy. And the etruscan influenced greyhounds. I was trying to imagine dancing with some of those masks on my head. Would severely curtail my party endurance even further I think.

jaq, speaking of: i just left a voicemail for you, re. sunday night cocktails. it's going to be a SAM de-brief. call me!

lxy, how long were you at the museum?

ling bert, mmm... 2 or 2 1/2 hours, i guess. how long were you there?

jaq, re. your question last night about what most excited or enthused or affected me: i named the contemporary japanese artists (nara, murakami) that i was happy to see but neglected to mention in my "review" above, however what i forgot to talk about both here and in our conversation is this:

joseph cornell! i love him, and i was so happy to see his work in person for the first time!

our quarter was released last week! i just saw it for the first time today.

http://www.usmint.gov/images/mint_programs/50sq_program/states/WA_winner.gif

I didn't see the Joseph Cornell and so now I have to go back.

What is that business down by the fish's tail? A fly-fisher on the shore?

herschel?

GIS I love you (searching for the other proposed WA quarters and i found this)

http://www.magicalrabbit.com/ebay/Gin_and_Tonic.jpg

the tunnel boring machine breaks through, completing the first of two link light rail tunnels under beacon hill:

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=142029&shu=1

Tunnel boring pron! White spurting drilling stuff!

They are planting plants along the tracks down by us. I don't want it to sit idle until 2009; there should be short route mule-drawn trams! Take me 3 blocks, up to Othello, to the Safeway and the bank.

boys and their construction toys.

word is it'll open 3-6 months early, so that's something.

http://www.slate.com/id/2166300/

not necessarily a recommendation:

University District Street Fair this weekend

you love it

Hm. No market this morning due to street fair :( But we can go to the Columbia City one on Wednesday night.

The Seattle Cheese Festival is today and tomorrow, down at Pike Place Market. I don't know that we'll go. I had got tix for the cheese nun doco at the art museum for Fri afternoon, but Mr. Jaq had a late running phone interview so we didn't go. (He got the job though, yay!)

congratulations to mr. jaq!

look and this monster. damn. 44 stories at 8th and Pine.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/MetroGuy03/AVA.jpg

kinda fun:

http://www.urbancondominiums.com/

click on CITYSCAPE 2010 at the top. it'll popup for a flyover video thingee.

ghost buildings

ghost boxes

they managed to save first united methodist and are planning to put a skinny tower next to it. it may look something like this:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070530/450Church31_Proposed_Massing_with.1.jpg

Escala webcam (I can never seem to get these to work in Firefox):

http://75.160.106.198/user/cgi-bin/view_S_t_uF.thtml

i'd always wondered why the routing of the future LRT line through the u-district didn't go under campus:

Sound Transit moved its tunnel east from Portage Bay to the Montlake Cut, where the soil is more stable; and it agreed to a winding tunnel around the east edge of campus in a future phase, instead of a direct line that could pose vibration risks to UW science labs.

That Escala webcam is cool... live action!

neato pix of the space needle being built
http://www.vintageseattle.org/2010/07/06/world%E2%80%99s-fair-sliding-pt-3/

that IS flushing awesome.

I LOVE IT

baltimore does not care enough for me to even know that was an issue. hair? no flushing hair?

new york thinks it's talking about a place where they play tennis

I love our neighborhood :-)

We had a yard sale yesterday (today too), and sold so much stuff and it felt like everyone from our end of Georgetown stopped by to just say hi and pass on some good will. People bought SO MANY BOOKS! And we had lots of good chats about reading. Hoping for similar today. Also lots of dogs came by, one that looked so much like Basil!

Aww, I wish we could have stopped by!

i'm sorry i missed this, we would have for sure come

FAP for WmC at the 9 Lb Hammer tonight, starting around 6:30. I can't be there b/c I overcommitted for tonight, but Robert and WmC will be hanging out for a bit.

aww

out of 8, the number of ilxors to have visited with us in seattle in the last ~3 years who want to move to seattle: 5

of 3 who don't want to move to seattle, number who want to move to portland: 2

of 1 who doesn't want to move to seattle, number who really do but can't/won't: 1

(important to note: "visited with us" is not presumed to be the driving factor, just distinguising that group from the other ilxors who have probably visited seattle but haven't visited with us. i have no idea whether or not they want to move here.)

jordan has been talking A LOT about wanting to move to seattle. it's probs only gonna happen if something goes terribly wrong with the company he works for, tho.

<3 jordan. not wishing ill for his current work but

I want us all to live in Seattle

Me too, sort of. (Portland!)

i liked seattle but i preferred portland. i think i just really like the sort of small-town vibe and it reminded me of wellington quite a bit.

wellington reminded me of portland!

FOUR years ago? wtf?

i heard traffic was gonna be bad

it might be! we're both working remotely as much as possible over the next 3 weeks.

stay as cool as possible this weekend my beloved boxlers

thank you, dear mookie. we're hatching a plan to gtfo. it'll be miiiiild on the coast.