Seattle Represent!

FishTacoBlog.com is a new website with plans to review the best fish tacos in the nation. The starting cities will be New York and Seattle with plans to expand to other cities across the nation. Each restaurant (or hole-in-the-wall) is reviewed with appropriate meta information and pictures of the fish taco goods. Eat away!

From Bainbridge Island’s decades’ old annual Paint Night to countless pictures chalked on sidewalks during local festivals, the Seattle area is no stranger to so-called guerrilla-art. In January 2001, for example, someone even placed a 350-pound steel slab nicknamed the “monolith” in Seattle’s Magnuson Park only for it to be stolen and relocated to Duck Island in the middle of Green Lake.

Seattle’s most recent guerrilla-art is a papier-mâché collection left at Gas Works Park. Unofficially dubbed “The Spirit of Awakening” for words inscribed on upon it, the Seattle Parks Department has announced it will allow the art pieces to remain until Labor Day unless proper permits are obtained.

According to The Seattle Times, a plaque attached to the sculpture reads “Anew is gifted to the citizens of Seattle in the spirit of awakening. Each of us has shells to break through, parameters to look past and wills to exercise. Arise and stand and then start moving.”

Originally displayed at the Critical Massive annual arts event in July, the Awakening’s artist wishes to remain anonymous according to the event’s organization Ignition Northwest.

Photo Credit - Mónica Guzmán at seattlepi.com

You can help name one of two twin baby snow leopards born to Woodland Park Zoo on Memorial Day. Voting is open through Zoo.org or at thezoo in person. Vote now, as voting is open open till Aug 12th!

The West Seattle Summer Fest starts this Friday at 10am and ends Sunday at 7pm. The annual event is a hodgepodge of music, food, and arts and crafts vendors. One of the main highlights of the festival is the 8:10-9:10pm performance by the classic Seattle Grunge band Mudhoney on Friday night. There are also two prominent beer gardens, and judging by the sponsor list, beer will be provided by Elliott Bay Brewery & Pub, Pyramid, Miller, and Georgetown Brewing (makers of Manny’s Pale Ale). Official festival site.

What interesting eBay auctions are there having to do with Seattle this month? Let’s have a look…

1. World Forestry Congress, Seattle, Washington 1960 Postal Cover. This neat envelope is what’s referred to as a First Day Cover. Issued in conjunction with the United States Postal Service’s release of a new stamp, a postal cover usually has an illustration that matches the stamp and an official postmark stating “First Day of Issue”. Asking price is only $3.99.

Continue Reading…

Throngs of “zombies” slowly made their approach towards Fremont last Friday in an effort to break the Guinness World Record for the largest zombie walk. The event, hosted by Fremont Outdoor Cinemas, attracted an official total of 3,848 zombies, although it was believed as many as 6,000 were unofficially lurking in the Fremont area that night. This total shattered the official Guinness record for 894 zombies set back in 2006 as well as the unofficial record of 1,550 set in 2008. Continue Reading…

Hot on the heels of bikini-clad baristas comes bikini-clad firework stand retailers. Yes, that’s right – those bottle rockets have a little extra oomph. Unfortunately at least 17 people have complained to the city of Puyallup. More from KATU.com.

It’s no secret that Seattleites have an affinity for cupcakes. The expansion of popular cupcake chains across Seattle neighborhoods demonstrates that even in an economic downturn, we are still shelling out our hard-earned cash for these sweet treats. Continue Reading…

The first time I met Morgan Hepfer, I had just walked into my gym for a normal afternoon workout. He was there for the first time with his wife, Lisa and their baby daughter, Finley. Morgan is of average height, well-built, head shaven and heavily tattooed on the arms. His build is beguiled by a warm smile and very agreeable disposition. He and Lisa had just recently moved back to the Tacoma area after teaching English in Bangkok, Thailand. They went through our workout and I found that I was quickly dominated by Morgan’s work ability: Finley lay on a blanket for the duration, every now and then being checked on by her mother. It may sound strange to befriend someone so randomly at a gym, but I should explain that this gym is anything but typical. We were training (a word used here in place of “working out”) at Crossfit Pierce County, a gym owned by Eugene Allen, a local sheriff and former special forces member. At the time the gym was run out of Gene’s oversized three car garage. There were about 15 regular clients coming in at the normal workout time of 4:30 PM, any day you wanted to train. Continue Reading…

I effing hate hipsters.  The mere mention of the word “hipster” will bring me to convulsions at 20 paces. When I see a fixed-gear track bike, some sort of primal urge overcomes me and uncharacteristically forces my usually peaceful mind into a place of vengeance and division. Why do I feel this way? Why does a lifelong, anything goes type liberal foster so much hatred towards a seemingly innocuous group? I just simply can’t stand their supposed indifference and woeful smugness that everybody knows is bullshit. Continue Reading…

A coworker brought to my attention that the widely available Benjamin Moore paint company is selling a color named after Seattle. What color you may ask? A deep green? Or, maybe an ocean blue? Nope, Seattle Gray. Benjamin Moore must have missed the message that we’re The Emerald City, named after our abundance of evergreen trees.

Benjamin Moore originated as a New York based company until it was acquired recently by Berkshire Hathaway, a Nebraska based company, which makes me think there are other motives at work. Could they want to decrease Seattle’s popularity relative to Nebraska and/or New York? Sure enough, there is a New York State of Mind color which is a pleasing blue.

The actual swatch from Benjamin Moore's Seattle Gray