A Time of Events

I don't think I mentioned, but it seems this is the time of year where everything happens in Seattle. Since I am a nobo, I am going to skip a lot this year, but next year I will probably hit them all.

Last weekend was Hempfest, which is the the annual gathering for muggle law reform. I missed it though, due to inconvenient timing. This weekend, as all kinds of gamers across the nation know, is PAX, which I will definately attend next year, once I got a crew. It's the biggest gaming convention, hosted by a popular game-themed web comic and news site. They may be rude at times, but this adds to the fact that they are probably the best representatives for the gaming community.

There's also tons of music stuff going on, the biggest of course is Bumbershoot, the annual gigantic concert/other things extravaganza. This year it is featuring The Shins, Panic! at the Disco, Wu-Tang Clan, Gogol Bordello, Janeane Garofalo, Stella (ZOMG), and countless others, mostly all playing at the same time. I might actually go to this one, for the sake of Stella, who is a hilarious comedy group. They used to have a TV show on Comedy Central, but it was short-lived. Check out a new movie that they're all in and one of them is directing called The Ten. Other concerts coming up include Modest Mouse, Tegan and Sara, Kimya Dawson, Rilo Kiley, Lily Allen, the Arcade Fire, the Flaming Lips, White Stripes, Richard Cheese, Incubus, Presidents of the US, They Might Be Giants, etc.

You might wonder where I get all my new Seattle news. One place is The Stranger, which is a free local newspaper my friend told me about before I left. It is full of cultural happenings and slightly opinioned articles of the humor variety, along with classifieds offering jobs in the Seattle Symphony, teaching English in Japan (You don't even have to know Japanese!), or extras in movies. The funnies section consists of just Perry Bible Fellowship and Maakies, which is neat!

I've also heard things from a great radio station here called The End (it's 107.7). It's an alternative station, not a rock alternative which is the only option in Springfield, so they play many favorites from the 90s, along with new stuff like the Shins. Rawk.