SIFF Reviews, Owl Bus, City Scapes...
This is another in a series of interim updates,
this one seven thousand words' worth with the usual "Bunch-O" pictures. I've
been hither and thither of late, at the Seattle International Film Fest venues
to catch those flicks which piqued my interest, been scouring late night Capitol
Hill as part of the SIFF traipsing (think Adams-Morgan/Dupont - 19th Street-U
Street-18th Street), was out for yet another long bike run and got my first
chance to see the locks here, and been watching and kibitzing with Rick, Todd
and the painter brothers as they've continued their
housework.
Weather here has been simply outstanding. I now
am beginning to realize why, in addition to the obvious scenic draw, people love
the coastal Northwest. The weather, although different each day and maybe even
several times in the same day, never really changes its overall mildness. The
hottest day we've had so far, and I must be acclimatized already because it felt
like 90 to me, was only 84. The coldest day since March has been only 49 and of
late it's been about 56 to 58 at night with steady winds from the southwest.
I've been out late at night with this strong wind and only wearing a T-shirt
with a pullover on top and - though slightly "chilled" - have not been
uncomfortable at all. I actually thought it would take me longer to dump my
Eastern hot humid blood, but, in fact, this weather is so natural and
accommodating of humans that I'm already at
home.
And, although I refuse to wear a backpack - which is what 99 percent of the rest of the residents out here have, including the business-suited downtown "suits," I have taken to carrying a rolled up long-sleeve T-shirt which I wrap around my waist and tie in the front. That's the "other" look one can have as a Northwesterner if one really doesn't like the backpack approach. What do these people carry in their backpacks? Why, extra clothes, hats, a slicker, and bottles of water. I just never got into the whole backpack thing. I realize that about half of the subway riders in DC also carry backpacks but then if I'd wanted to be a mule I'd be living in the Grand Canyon wouldn't I?
Rather, I've just acquired a bunch of cargo pants, long pants and short pants, and just stuff all the other things in the pockets. I've been carrying extra batteries and flash cards and my camera everywhere and a pocket-full of change to either give to the street people when that strikes my fancy or use as phone or bus money.
The Seattle International Film Festival is great fun. It runs over three weeks and the theaters are aligned basically in an "L" with the furthest distance from the two end-points being about a mile-and-a-half. Eminently walkable. Plus the two major venue streets - Pine and Broadway - are damned interesting components of the city - in the daytime, in the evening, at night, and even after hours. Back in DC, the city government started a filmfest (DC Filmfest) early last decade and has tried to get it grounded and a regular element of the city's cultural scene. But, it ain't like it is here. The DC festival, first off, is scattered across a geographic region, has dozens of competing films at the same hour, only runs 12 days, and has prices which make concert ticket gouging seem cheap. Hardly an enticement to get into the cinema seat on a night-after-night basis. Which is a real shame since the American Film Institute (AFI) has its major outreach office in DC and since there's so much international interest there to begin with. What may have worked against the DC Filmfest is the fact that there are literally only two of the original movie houses left in town and one of them is like the Cinerama out here - the premier 70mm Cinemascope theater. The other one was saved from the wrecking ball by the neighborhood it's in and is run almost as a neighborhood charity (the Avalon on Connecticut). Where DC used to have dozens of downtown movie houses and a huge number of neighborhood movie houses, it now has multiplex theaters in a few locations (Union Station, Georgetown, Tenleytown-Friendship Heights, and soon 7th Street downtown). These do not really lend much of a touch of class and most of them are on the small side.
The Seattle festival has been going on now for 30 years and has built up quite a following. Plus, the venues themselves are excellent, even the one venue in a multiplex is the largest screen at that location with a great screen and seats. And, the scheduling isn't completely contradictory - there are four concurrent runs generally, not the dozens like in DC, and many of the films show at two different times so catching all of them is possible here whereas it's not with the DC Filmfest. And, the ticket prices for SIFF are not gouging. It's nine bucks for an afternoon through night showing and six-fifty for the matinee (2:30 pm ) and midnight showings. I, of course, have tried to select the matinee or midnight showing where it was possible.
There's probably another element which helps make the Seattle film festival such a success - Seattle has a strong tradition and strong on-going independent film industry. There are sound stages, equipment of all kinds, sufficient supporting crafts, and an independent spirit which drive film-making out here - as there is in the whole metropolitan Cascade region (Portland to Vancouver). This means that there are lots of talented individuals who have volunteered or are members of the Cinema Seattle, the presenters of the film festival. The programmers (those who select the films) have a powerful interest in film and are often immeshed in the industry and bring a skilled set of eyes and ears to the process. Plus, here in Seattle, the film festival is a big deal. Back in DC, DC Filmfest was barely mentioned on any of the local broadcast media and covered by the Post and City Paper in passing. Out here, the media, particularly the non-Clear Channel independents but even the conglomerate stations, cover the films. The two regular papers and the two independent papers all have their own guides and special pullout sections for festival. There are signs placed throughout the city and the feeling is that this is something one should pay attention to - consequently a lot of folks do. I haven't sat through a single movie with less than a half-full house - that's probably better than the Hollywood flicks are doing at the same time.
I selected ten flicks figuring I'd meander my way through my first year and see if my tastes, the reviews I'd used as guides, the actual screening and my resultant impressions were aligned and then next year dive into the three weeks a little deeper. I also missed out on some of the flicks I really would have liked to have seen because I - for some reason - thought it started later in May than it actually did so essentially I missed five days' worth of flicks by just not paying attention.
Of the ten flicks, I've already seen seven, so I'll provide brief synopses and reviews of those and catch the other three up later. So far I've been fairly impressed with what I set out to do - match my desires against my ability to find the right movie and hope the flick was satisfying. There have been no bad calls yet and several of the movies went beyond my expectations. All of them have illuminated me in ways I had hoped they would - mostly having to do with being foreign or independent and therefore providing a fresh view or a view of a place and culture of interest to me (which is basically all of them). The audiences have been appreciative and I've sat through post-screening sessions with two of the directors and learned even more about both the movie, the reasons for its production and the director. From the Seattle International Film Festival and Cinema Seattle's perspective they've acquired a new follower, they've succeeded in showing me something of note and expanding my horizon and secured a potential volunteer for next and subsequent year's festivals.
On a completely related but somewhat side track, because the venues are in and around Capitol Hill and late at night, I've also expanded my own view into the city's rock, alternative, punk and metal scene and experienced the late-night debauchery in several different parts of town. And, I've become familiar with yet another bus run - the Owl Service on about seven lines which run after 2:00 am and the clientele who use that service. That's its own trip and a half.
Now a few SIFF movie reviews:
(I'll give a one-phrase description of the basic story line/plot and a few details which express what I liked/disliked about it and then the pertinent Director/Acting/Location data - if relevant). Rating scheme
* = okay, better on HBO or as rental
* * = good but should be matinee price
* * * = worth the money at a really good theater with good optics and sound, creates conversation afterwards
* * * * = memorable movie (either by itself or of the genre), worth seeing again and definitely worth discussing
* * * * * = one of the best I've ever seen, a movie worth owning in any format and a provocative experience
Dig * * *
Coping - This is a rock documentary covering 7 years of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and their alliance with the Dandy Warhols (portions of the 7 years also follow the career of Dandy Warhols). Telling psychological/sociological reality movie involving drugs, fame, disdain for big business, selling out or not, and the impact on the participating individuals and those around them - includes great selection of both group's music. Director and documentalist/cinematographer Ondi Timoner actually spent seven years doing this. Narration is by Dandy Warhol's lead and founder Courtney Taylor who early on was infatuated with protagonist/villian/hero played for real by Brian Jonestown Massacre founder and resident genius Anton Newcomb, who, among other scenes, is caught kicking an uncomplimentary patron of one of his shows twice in the head and being arrested for it.
Dandelion * * *
Finding oneself - This is Seattle director Mark Milguard's first film and captures the small-town surface normalcy of eastern Washington-western Idaho (Palouse Valley) with lyric photography filled with lush and soothing visuals complete with small streams and the crack of firearms aimed at tin cans. The protagonist, played adroitly by Vincent Kartheiser, is surrounded by badness not of his doing for which he tries and atones and plays an unrelenting redeemer, a role which gets him innocently incarcerated when he refuses to talk and unmask his politically-motivated father's accidental killing of a roadside bystander. When he returns to his town, his family is further deteriorated, his true love commits suicide essentially in front of him and he finally realizes that to escape his role of small-town redeemer he must escape the small town. End of movie. If "Thelma and Louise" had made it to the other side of the Grand Canyon at the end of that film, this is the movie that would have been. Uplifting in a way completely beyond the normal means of salvation and spiritual in a very down-to-Earth manner - no sermans, just positive actions finally rewarded by self-direction of the protagonist. Unbelievably beautiful and lyric photography from Tim Orr with equally lyric original soundtrack from Robb Williamson.
Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi * * *
Finding oneself - Directed by Shemi Zarhin, our hero, played by Oshri Cohen, spends his days and nights appeasing everyone around him with his cooking skills and his negotiating skills while all the while his mother, father, brother and sister are involved in a mess - a real mess which is eating away at both the individual's and the family's sense of unity and purpose. While Shlomi (Cohen) cooks and negotiates well, he's generally regarded at school and at home as something of a slow-wit who will be lucky someday to own his own cafe or restaurant. Unbeknownst to anyone, including Shlomi himself, he's actually a brilliant non-traditional and non-linear genius who can add, subtract, divide and multiply 12-digit numbers in his head in seconds. No one understands him and yet he understands everyone else but can't stay out of his role as peacemaker long enough to find his own way. He finally falls for the girl next door (literally) and she conspires to escape with him but only after his school principal finally catches on and has Shlomi tested at Haifa University, discovering Shlomi's genius at the same time. In the end, Shlomi finds and gets love, the rest of his world comes to realize he's not just a sweet kid who can cook and the disintegrated family actually recompiles now that Shlomi has found out who he really is. Of interest because of the drama and melodrama (well acted and played by everyone), the ordinariness of it all and yet peculiarly unique relationships within this nuclear family, and because it presents an unseen and yet quite peaceful and ordinary background of life in Israel. It should be a "coming of age" film and yet everyone had already "come of age" without actually maturing. This film presents the maturation process in such a vivid and yet ordinary manner that it's mundane and yet compelling at the same time.
The Python * * *
Existentialism - Director Laila Pakalnina has captured the absurd essence of life in Latvia (or anywhere) under authoritarian rule. The headmistress of an all-grades school is forcing everyone to take dumps in matchboxes to match feces to that found in the attic of her school - a persistent problem she's going to resolve once and for all despite the head nurse's assertion that she cannot match the feces to the perpetrator. Meanwhile a school photographer using a real python and pink-Southern-Belle-gown bedecked monkey arrives to shoot the school pictures; meanwhile the local infantry is in search of a rabid badger believed to be loose in the school grounds; meanwhile four of the school's upper-grade students are driving around playing loud music in an unlicensed vehicle while the town's sheriff chases around asking anyone if they've seen an unlicensed vehicle; meanwhile the school's two janitors bitch and moan because there's no reason for them to be lowering the radiators two feet just so this school's radiators will match those of other schools; meanwhile the middle school boys scare the middle school girls and chase them around (shot as a series of left-to-right and then right-to-left chases occurring in the background throughout the movie). Absurd as the authoritarian rule is and as dedicated as the schoolmarm is, something else happens - the photographers python gets loose. The movie is a parody of government-gone-amuck but as seen through Pakalnina's eyes and Gints Berzins' camera, the reality of all this is a droll, insidious and captivating comedy of the human condition. Throughout all this insanity the school children continue to have fun, the nurse and photographer make out with the monkey as observer, the badger slips away and the town celebrates its fire brigade who finally evacuate the school and steal the schoolmarm's black book of demerits. What makes this film work is that these scenes could occur anywhere, these insipid acts of authority can and do occur everyday everywhere, and yet life does and will go on. Just being is its own reward.
Haute Tension * * * *
Extreme thriller - Director Alexandre Aja has cast Cecile De France and Maiwenn Le Besco in an intense homo-erotic slasher movie which can only be compared with the original release of "Psycho" on the world at that time. The movie title (High Tension) does not lie. This movie is an involved, lesbian-denied love affair which turns abruptly into a slasher movie which will make even the most hardened, brutish and cynical fans of gore flinch. There are only nine persons portrayed in this 89-minute flick but each slash, each rip, each heartbeat of cut artery, each piece of torn flesh will rip through your head like lightning in a forest. It's an intricately-woven psychological thriller set both in the real world of rural France and in the deeply disturbed but prescient mind of the protagonist lesbian (Cecile). Even the very last frame digs a new wound. For the faint of heart, the squeamish, or those who prefer not to think about the inherent and potential violence of the insanely-driven, this is not a movie you should see. For those who seek new levels of sustained high-pulse-rate terror, who think "Alien" was a wonderful flick, this is a must see. Provocative only in the cinematography and story-telling (the plot is as old as the hills), it's one gasp after another with just enough time in between to catch your breath. Interestingly enough, like all truly excellent psychological thrillers, the opening scene tells the ending - you just don't know it yet.
Steam: The Turkish Bath * * *
Inner discovery - This is Turkish director Ferzan Ozpetek's first film, originally shot for under $300,000 in 1995 and languishing for two years before he was convinced to release it. It's about an Italian architect (Alessandro Gassman) and his architect wife (Francesca d'Aloja) who have been pursuing the good life in Rome when the husband's aunt dies in Turkey, leaving him the sole owner of an original Istanbul Turkish bath. He leaves his failing marriage behind and begins to reconstruct the bath, falling in love with his Aunt's life in Istanbul, and also with the son of the caretakers of the bath, and discovering a new spirit within himself after finding the unsent letters of his aunt to his mother, who had spurned her sister for reasons never explained. The architect is not only the only son of his mother and only nephew of his aunt, but he's the only thing standing in the way of that part of Istanbul becoming yet another mega-project. The architect begins to restore the bath, the neighborhood clambers onboard and everything is moving along truly swimmingly, including the budding romance between the architect and the bath's caretakers son. His wife drops in to serve him divorce papers - she's been sleeping with a friend for the past several years and finally wanted out. The spurned developer has our hero stabbed and he dies and the wife then has her own change of heart. This is a movie about inner discovery - finding out who one really is inside, deep inside. It's also about tying the past with the present and finding bridges across cultures - the Italian and Turkish backgrounds and languages are interspersed throughout this movie as is the exposition of Istanbul. And, despite our hero dying, the movie is about optimism, about changes of heart, about finding something more worthwhile to pursue than one's ladder-climbing dreams. It's about keeping the culture flames alive and it's a wonderful and optimistic movie overall. I was surprised that the message was one of overwhelming optimism and hope because the film took such a left turn into darkness near the end. That was intended, no doubt, as counterpoint and serves the purpose well. This is also a wonderful film for anyone who's ever been interested in the Bosporus or Istanbul. G-rated and homo-erotic in the same way that a middle-school romance would be hetero-erotic.
Legend of the Sacred Stone * * * *
Magic and puppetry - Taiwan director Chris Huang brings Pi-Li puppetry to life with this 96-minute tour-de-force legend. 17th Century Chinese war lords and evil are depicted with subplots of valiant warriors and unrequited love all carried out with puppets who perform triple-flip sword-wielding magic while battling evil demons and seeking and finding the Stone of Heaven. Anyone who enjoyed the Chinese magic elements of "Big Trouble in Little China" should see this and anyone who enjoyed "The Dark Crystal" should see this. It's 96-minutes of action - especially unbelievable since it's performed with puppets and very little CGI and a lot of good old-fashioned cell animation for the flying swords and lightning bolts and demonic devices protecting the stone. The music oscillates between classic Chinese lute and ballad and modern hard acid rock as would be appropriate for the inner sanctum talks of finding the stone and the action battles with the demons. There's betrayal, several double and triple crosses, and finally an ending which puts the evil to rest and restores balance with the world. The dialog (subtitled) is funny in the way it ties the ancient Chinese legend together with the modern world in a completely off-the-wall manner (non-sequiturs fly nearly as much as swords). If ever there was a movie to watch under the influence of experience-altering substances, this would be that movie. Even straight as a nail, this movie was astounding, not just for the level of action from the puppets but for the level of complexity of the plot. Makes Shogun seem like a simple boy-meets-girl story. Oh, and the colors and level of detail of the puppets is its own art form - the warriors are outfitted with the most exquisite layers of robes with hair and hair fixtures fit for the finest China Doll and the sets are to sets as Bonsai is to a forest, replete with miniature hanging paper lantern, miniature paper vessels, and miniature houses with waterfalls flowing over them. An absolute visual delight.
And now on to other things - in this case debauchery and decadence Seattle style. Walking a great length on Pine Street, as I've been wont to, the past several nights, up from First Avenue toward the Egyptian Theater at Pine and Broadway, deep into Capitol Hill, I've had occasion to check out the various nightlife venues here. The lower part of Pine, from say Fourth Avenue up to Seventh, is fancy-date turf. There are a number of really nice restaurants and upper-crust hotel bars along this stretch and on the various cross streets. The crowd here comes and goes and is often limousine-driven - as it is along First from Pike Place down to the Harbor Steps at University Street. From north of the freeway, Pine turns into 18th or 19th Street (in DC) with club after club, large crowds gathered on the sidewalk spilling onto the curb, and noise and music and smoke from cigarettes wafting in a cloud up and down the dozen blocks along this stretch. This crowd is younger, between - say - 21 and 30, and seem generally happy, lively, not necessarily bombed on booze (but frequently appearing to be dazed on dope) and includes lots of hetero and GLBT couples and tons of agglomerations of singles out for the night just wandering from club to club. This stretch of Pine, and Broadway as well, have very-late-hour coffee houses still serving mochas, lattes and drips and still filled with couples or groups actively engaged in discourse and an equal number of singles actively engaged in either a book or a computer (yes, lots of glow-in-the-dark Apple logos shining out windows).
I haven't checked out the U-District, Fremont or Ballard Avenue night scene, but expect them to be different in their own right from Pine, upper First (Pike Place) and Lower First (Pioneer Square). I've walked down First from Pike Place to Jackson (Pioneer Square) so many times I believe I know every address and store along both sides by heart and their hours. Once one hits Yesler Way, the scene invariably changes to one of crowds on the sidewalk, lining up to get into the bars with bands or live shows and the roudy factor goes up at least an order of magnitude. The Seattle Police hang out in Pioneer Square - in their squad cars parked on the cross streets to First Avenue, on foot, and walking or riding their bicycles. The Seattle Police do not hang out on Pine Street between the freeway and Broadway. I have seen only three SPD cars making cursory drive-by's in the Capitol Hill parts of Pine Street in the past few weeks. By contrast, nearly any night of the week, but especially Friday and Saturday nights. in the Pioneer Square steretch of First Avenue there is probably an entire squad of SPD foot soldiers deployed, with at least a third of them engaged in either some form of interlocution or actually writing tickets or performing "cleaning" operations (breaking up crowds, forcing cars to quit stalling around, actually giving a breath-a-lizer test to someone).
Not surprising. The Pioneer Square First Avenue night scene is one of older dudes and their ladies (or not) and groups of women out doing their own cruising. This crowd scene seems to be the 30-to-40 group and if younger is probably military from one of the many bases around Puget Sound. This crowd scene also has a high ratio of street people intermingling with the partygoers and a much higher belligerence factor with a much higher proportion of the general crowd showing signs of over-inebriation - weaving, loud-talking, random stuporness, and the like. The music coming out of the bars and clubs along lower First is more hard-driving rock with some tinges of country. Actually, just east of First on Occidental and Second are some jazz clubs, but that street scene is very uncrowded and muted with only the presence of the street people giving it a "leary" look despite the very dark and 1920's streetscape which that part of town exudes. The Capitol Hill Pine Street music scene seems much more alternative and world rock and hypno/techno than the banging, driving rock of lower First.
There are definitely lots of street people out on both Pine and First after 9:00 pm. The Capitol Hill contingent seems to be more generally clever, trying to get what they want through subtle solicitation or meek begging whereas the Pioneer Square contingent seems at home being "in your face" and obnoxious, apparently trying to intimidate that quarter out of your pocket or that cigarette out of your pack. Mind you, I've done no real survey, but having spent now about a month in the Capitol Hill Pine Street corridor, downtown, and nearly nine months crawling First Avenue, these are my reasonable and assessed observations. Neither location makes me feel uncomfortable, but then I used to bike around the Scott Circle/Logan Circle, Shaw, and east Capitol Hill areas of DC after 9:00 pm, and, those are the known heroin and crack districts in our Nation's Capitol. So, it's entirely possible that what doesn't make me uncomfortable would make nine out of ten others uncomfortable. I won't say Seattle's benign, but it's at least two orders of magnitude less threatening to the ordinary person than a lot of near downtown areas in the District are. But then again, it's the East Coast mega cities where we have the biggest problems with drug-induced and drug-dealing crime as a country. LA's probably approaching that status, but Seattle certainly is not.
So, yeah, I feel quite comfortable and at home here after dark and in a variety of locales. Which brings up another new discovery - the late-night bus service for Seattle. Except for the Capitol Hill-Rainier Valley line (#7), the after-hours bus runs for a bunch of regular lines have a special 80-series number assigned to them and they start and wind their way through downtown on streets which are different from the lines they are the late-night version of. All the late night buses keep the same schedule, they begin their first run at 2:15 am and have a second run at 3:30 am and then they are done. They are the 81 - West Queen Anne, Ballard, and northwest city replacing the 15 and 18; the 82 - East and North Queen Anne, Fremont, Greenwood, Greenlake, and Wallingford replacing the 5 and 26; the 83 - Eastlake, Montlake, U-District, and Ravenna replacing any number of 70-series buses; the 84 - Madison, Madison Park, and Madrona replacing the 2,3,4 and 11 and 12; and the 85 - SODO, West Seattle including Admiral, Alaska and Morgan Junctions, Westwood and Delridge areas replacing the 20, 21, 22, 54, 55 and 56.
All these buses begin their run at the Rainier Square bus stop along either Fourth Avenue south of Union or along Union west of Fourth Avenue. At 2:15 am there's a large crowd hanging around that corner, talking, waiting, or trying to stay awake or upright. All the buses start to arrive about 2:05 am and by 2:15 there's a string of six buses all lined up and ready to go. Both Metro King County (transit agency) and SPD have cars which drop by and park at about that time and the officers walk from bus to bus and have a chat with each driver and have them fill out some kind of form (incident reports?, known events cropping up in their general bus run? bad guys on the loose and likely to hit them?) and at about 2:18 am they all start their run. Nearly all of them include some form of end-of-line loop to cover the various other bus runs they're standing in for, and, the 3:30 am run has the bus going in the reverse direction for the end-of-the-line loop - giving everyone at least equal chance at not being the last one deposited on their way home, I guess. The lines themselves and the end-of-line loops cover pretty much all the populated areas of the city with most dense to semi-dense neighborhoods no more than a mile from any section of a given line. The only exceptions are Magnolia and Alki Beach - there's no late night service for either. But, given the price of houses in these areas and the general demographics of who live in both these trés tony sections of town, Metro KC probably correctly figured that no late night bus run for Alki or Magnolia would be a no-brainer because everyone would be driving their Beamer or Mercedes home anyway.
I've taken the 85 twice now, both trips a trip-and-a-half. The first one was filled to capacity with late-shift workers from downtown, party-goers from Capitol Hill who lived in West Seattle (probably with their parents), and the clean-up crew from Safeco Field who just about manage to clean up after a late night game by the time the bus gets to the stadium (2:30 am). That bus also smelled of day-long body odor, the sweet smell of a diabetic (drunks well into their second hour of recovery would be my guess), and a lot of bad cologne. That driver also made a loop around West Seattle in the Admiral District because one old codger fell asleep and the driver was too kind in driving a mile back to drop him off at the stop he slept through, much to the grumbling of the folks who were trying to get home to the White Center or Delridge areas (last part of the line on that trip). The driver kept saying he was being kind and considerate and hoped the passengers would understand.
The next 85 I took was a few days later and was less filled but had a driver who performed no fewer special tricks - meandering all around the downtown space to drop a few folks off closer to where they wanted to get to than the bus route official stops allowed, and, then made up the time by zooming across the bridge to West Seattle, and, then did the same thing, dropping off folks at non-regular locations because that's where they really wanted to be let off. He even picked up some folks downtown who didn't have the right change and passed them through anyway - free ride.
I'd heard that the later-night Metro drivers were like this - considerate, breaking official policy or rules, or otherwise being unduly kind and generous to their passengers. I never experienced this level of courtesy or kindness in my 23 years of taking Metrobus in the District, although to be totally honest, the bus drivers were less surly than the subway drivers and kiosk attendants. Or maybe the East just has a higher proportion of true assholes than does the west. I still think the scenery and weather out here has a way of knocking that kind of crap out of people and they actually become nicer humans living out here. The East is much harsher in so many ways - way more overcrowded, way less pleasant in its weather and general surroundings, way more of an undercurrent of crime and violence, so perhaps the transit workers back East become just like the cops and actually hate other humans just because they never know when one of them will turn out to be a really bad guy. What a shame we've got a country like this. This is such a much more pleasant area to live and work and travel about in than the East. And, it's the same species in both places, so the environment must play a huge factor in turning Easterners into the more-often-than-not surly creatures they are. We need to work on correcting this as a society - really, we do.
And, now the final recounting. On one of the most perfect days we've had yet I set out in the morning to bike across the bridge, along the waterfront downtown and up through the new bike trail along Elliott Bay and through Interbay to the general Lake Union area. By the time I got past the railroad yards in Interbay, it dawned on me that I was close enough to Fisherman's Terminal to go explore that area and did. Commodore Way follows the general shoreline on the south side of that section of Salmon Bay up to the Hiram Chittendem Locks. Commodore Way is a most fascinating street since it is the location of the outfitters and riggers and shipbuilders who support the fishing and other fleets which are based at the terminal and elsewhere along Lake Union. On the Ballard side it's Shilshoal Avenue. Drydocks where hulls are being welded are located two blocks from the waterfront, as are radar instrument repair shops and flash-freeze plants for fish caught and just a huge variety of other types of factories, support facilities and shops and stores that one doesn't find in just any town. As Spock would likely say, "fascinating." By the time I was done meandering my bike along the several streets which follow Commodore Way and which constitutes to my thinking a navigation-shipbuilding-fishing industrial area, I next realized that I was just a few more bike minutes from the locks and proceeded straightaway toward them. I spent about an hour, walking my bike since that's the law within the locks area, walking across the locks, across the spillway, watching the boats come and go and the locks fill up and empty.
The locks protect the fresh water of Lake Washington from the salt water of Puget Sound. The greatest height between the two is 25 feet at lakeside Spring and soundside low tide, and the least height distance between them is at lakeside Fall and soundside wind-pushed high tide when it's only 6 feet. The locks are gravity-driven, which is to say the water fills always from the fresh-water side and empties to the saltwater side and since the lakeside is always higher, there's no machinery other than valves to cause the water to flow into the locks and they empty naturally through a different set of valves. There are fish ladders also because salmon spawn in the fresh waters of Lake Washington and the various inlets and bays between the locks and the lake - including Lake Union in the middle. The locks are set in a splendid wooded area - wooded on the Ballard north side, and wooded on the Magnolia south side. The Burlington Northern-Sante Fe (BNSF) mainline runs along Commodore Way and crosses the Ship Canal just west of the locks on a steel truss rocker drawbridge. I thought long and hard about just walking my bike across to Ballard and taking Market Street to Leary Way and coming back home that way but was already beginning to feel the effects of the 14-mile-long trip it had been to get me here so just turned around and went back to West Seattle the same way I came.
That was a 27.5-mile bike trip (I've now got an odometer, speedometer, timer on my bike courtesy of a Christmas present from Leif). By the time I got home I was exhausted and low on blood sugar. Rick and Joe were still working on the house, actually cleaning up to get ready to head out for the day - it was nearly 4:00 pm. I must have made some uncomplimentary comment about yard waste or scraps or something because Joe remarked that I probably needed some grape juice or apple or banana and that I shouldn't talk to them until my blood sugar was restored. He then said that it was usual for them to notice a shortness of courtesy from their fellow workers or boss when their fellow workers or boss had been working long and hard and had depleted their blood sugar level. I thought about this and realized that he was absolutely correct, I had eaten nothing since breakfast and was running on impulse power in addition to being somewhat bushed from the hills - my front thigh leg muscles were not cramping but they might as well have been. I went and got a glass of grape juice and felt much better. Good lesson! Of course, I had taken my camera and got a bunch of great shots of the locks and of various places along the bike trail. It really was a gorgeous day, temps were in the low 70's with a slight breeze and the sky was humidity free and blue with white puffy clouds - perfect for a long ride, perfect for getting good photos and panoramas.
And, as a final offering, this entry's Overheard...
Standing in line at the Egyptian on the Pine Street side just half-a-block west of Broadway there were three Gen-X folks - two guys, a 5-foot-5 Asian-American, a 6-foot Anglo-Saxon-American, and one gal, a 5-foot-8 Scandinavian-American. They were chit-chatting back and forth talking about mutual friends, how each perceived the other, whether or not a particular person not there was "right" for the Anglo-Saxon. Along comes a 5-foot-9 African American with a Jamaican accent who asks the Asian-American if he has a smoke, to which the Asian-American pulls out his pack of cigarettes and offers the African-American one. The African-American then asks if the Asian-American has a light, to which the Anglo-Saxon-American says "A Cigarette AND A Light!" The Asian-American lights the African-American's cigarette and the African-American then says he has a joke to tell the Anglo-Saxon-American.
We all perk up and listen to the African-American as he recounts the following tale: "There was a great secret of life which the Gods wanted to hide from the humans. The First God said 'we'll hide it in the highest mountain, the humans will never find it there.' The Second God said 'we'll hide it in the deepest ocean, the humans will never find it there.' The Third God said 'we'll hide it in the deepest and darkest forest, the humans will never find it there.' The Fourth God said 'well, they've climbed Everest, submerged to the deepest depths of the oceans, and explored both the Congo and Amazon rain forests, so all your hiding places won't work. However, if we hide it inside man himself, he'll never find it, because humans never look within.'"
After that the African-American walked west along Pine and the Anglo-Saxon-American said "I've just been dissed by a street beggar," and spent the remaining time before the line moved obsessed with the notion that he had been taken intellectually by this "beggar." I saw him after the movie let out and asked what he thought of the flick (which was Haute Tension), and he said that he had fallen asleep and that one could "sleep through really good movies."
Posted below are some photos of the Hiram Chittenden Locks and additional shots I had taken during the Folklife Festival as I walked around town getting there and back, some shots taken on the bike ride to the Locks, and some new shots showing off the current state-of-construction of the house, and, a set of comparison photos showing the amazing difference a thin layer of paint makes in a space.
Chas
Panorama of the locks and spillway standing on the middle pier of the smaller of the two locks. On either side are the garden-like banks of
this area of the Ship Canal. On the left is the Ballard side and on the right the Magnolia side, this view is looking east towards Lake Union.
The spillway and fish ladder are the area to the right of center, the smaller lock itself is barely visible below the walkway coming off to the left.
Another panorama, this time standing in front of the walkway in the middle of the spillway. The Ship Canal and locks are right of center, with
the railroad bridge visible in the distance across the Canal. Underneath the arch in the middle is the opening to Salmon Bay and the rest of
Lake Union and Lake Washington beyond that. This view is looking East, the walkway in front of the spillway is visible on the left and right to
either side of the opening arch.
This is a panorama standing at the top of the fish ladder on the Magnolia side of the locks. The spillway waters can be seen on the left,
Ballard, side and the railroad bridge can be seen in its lifted position on the right above the Ship Canal. The wooded glen area in the
middle is the northern portion of what becomes Discovery Park at the north and eastern sections of Magnolia Hill. The Sound is just
beyond the railroad bridge, about another half-mile down the Canal.
Panorama taken from the Pier 63 public space in front of Belltown with Elliott Bay surrounding this section of the pier. Pier 63 is a city-owned
gathering spot for festivals, food and culture and music. It was formerly the location of the now defunct Seattle Book Fair, which, when held
here, was well attended and free. Subsequent fairs were located in a variety of lesser-easy-to-get-to venues throughout the city and
attendance suffered to the point where the fair began to charge for admission, at which point its attendance nose-dived, resulting in
its now defunct status. Just left of center is one of the cruise ships at dock. The city has two separate cruise ship terminals, this one
near downtown and two additional slips in the harbor area just south of the Ferry Docks.
A partial panorama taken also from Pier 63 showing the downtown skyline and adjacent restaurant and ferry piers closer up. The
Alaska Way Viaduct can be seen atop its concrete abutments just ahead - dead center. There is a continuing discussion of whether
to replace the Viaduct and if so whether to put it underground, giving the waterfront much better access to the downtown city streets.
Another panorama view from Pier 63, this one centering on the outstanding views of West Seattle (dead ahead, across the water) and
Elliott Bay. The hoists and cranes of the harbor are visible just left of center and right of most of downtown. Belltown and the cruise ship
are on the right. The interesting thing about taking VR images is that they can later be manipulated to show as a flat panorama and
any particular point of interest in the 360-degree space can be centered in the flat panorama - contrast this one with the image two
above - they are the same VR but treated as different flat panoramas.
A series of close-up shots of the lifesaver facility on Pier 63 with the Washington Mutual headquarters building looming behind.
The colors of the lifesaver and WAMU (WAshingtonMUtual) building were such that this image literally cried out for Photoshop
treatment - in this instance taken as a series of R(ed)G(reen)B(lue)-C(yan)M(agenta)Y(ellow) frames.
End-of-the-line station on the Waterfront Streetcar with the cruise ship terminal on the right, the streetcar station in the center, and the
streetcar tracks with Belltown behind on the left. Elliott Bay can be seen glistening in the distance past the parked cars on the right.
This is the location along Western Avenue where the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) will build its Olympic Sculpture Park, tying this section of
Belltown to the waterfront by creating a series of cascading garden plateaus over the street and adjacent railroad tracks. This new SAM
park is scheduled to be completed in 2007, essentially the same date as the Light Rail and Monorail are scheduled to open their first legs.
Presently, this section of Belltown and the waterfront are separated by railroad tracks, making it impossible to actually get to the
water's edge from this mile-long stretch of city street..
Intersection of Queen Anne Avenue and Mercer Street, in the heart of Lower Queen Anne (also sometimes referred to as "Uptown"). Mercer
Street is on the left with Queen Anne Avenue on the right. This view is looking directly west. This area of town is just west of the Seattle
Center and a few blocks from the waterfront.
This is the corner of Harrison Street with Elliiott Avenue, just down the hill from the previous view. This is the waterside area of Queen Anne
and Elliott Avenue is a major thoroughfare for getting from north of downtown (Ballard, Interbay) to the Queen Anne and downtown areas.
The water is just behind the buildings in the center. Running behind these buildings are Burlington Northern-Sante Fe Railroad's main
Puget Sound line as well as the commuter line for Sound Transit.
This is further south along Elliott Avenue, showing the development which is occurring in this part of town. Western Avenue begins right
past the center of this view and continues south towards Pike Place Market. Elliott Avenue turns into Aurora Avenue a little further south
of here and continues through town along the watefront. The Space Needle is visible just to the right of center. This view is looking East,
with the waterfront on the side with the sidewalk running off in the left and right areas.
This is the view from a plaza between two office buildings (one being the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's offices) along Elliott Avenue. This also
shows how the railroad tracks separate this area of town from a direct waterfront connection. On the other side of the tracks is the new
Elliott Bay Park trails established by the Port of Seattle. Across Elliott Bay is West Seattle.
This is the Bell Street Pier, home to one of the two cruise ship terminals along the Seattle waterfront. The other
terminal is further south along Elliott Bay in the harbor area. This stretch of waterfront begins the more touristy
sections with the cruise terminal and the end-of-line Waterfront Streetcar terminal here and the restaurants and
knick-knack shops, aquarium, and assorted other attractions along the street from here south.
Looking south (left) and north (right) from the overpass connecting Nordstrom's flagship store downtown to
Pacific Place. That's Sixth Avenue below, and as the glistening street attests, it was raining slightly outside. I was
here because one of the venues for the Seattle International Film Festival is in one of Pacific Place's cinemas.
A series of photos showing the Steinway piano designed and decorated by Chihuly the artist. The top is glass and
the keys are plastic (no more ivory piano keys allowed). This was in the window at the intersection of 4th Avenue
and Stewart - a downtown Steinway dealer.
A pair of grazing cherry pickers on Battery Street, parked for the weekend. I was coming back along 4th Avenue from
Seattle Center at the end of the day Sunday, second-to-last day of the Folklife Festival, and found this amusing scene.
Fourth Avenue is on the right and Fifth Avenue was further along on the left.
This is the grain terminal area of Elliott Bay and this is the fishing pier at Elliott Bay Park,
a recently developed waterside park which connects downtown with Interbay by means
of pedestrian and bike trails. The Port of Seattle has been doing a lot of park development
in the past few years and this is one of their newest and finest efforts. This view is
looking directly south toward downtown and across Elliott Bay.
This is a 180-degree panorama of the area shown above and gives a better impression of how the walkway and bike path meander
along the Elliott Bay waterfront. That's West Seattle just right of center with Alki Beach the lower, flatland, section sticking out into the bay.
Railroad car graffiti on the tracks in the Interbay railroad yards, through which the Port of
Seattle has developed a thin section as a bike trail through the yards. This is a great new
bike trail since it connects the Elliott Bay side of the city with the Salmon Bay section.
Previously, a cyclist had to go along Elliott Avenue and Leary Way - very, very busy streets,
to get between the two areas. Although the trail passes through this industrial railroad zone
at least it's a protected and set-aside bike trail with only pedestrians - no cars. The railroad
yards always offer something interesting to look at, either like this graffiti or what the
cars are carrying - on one past bike trip I saw two Boeing 737 fuselages being carted
atop two oversize flatcars.
Heading back home after my bike excursion to Salmon Bay, I passed this Alaska Airlines billboard on East
Marginal Way. The sign was advertising Alaska Airlines' new, daily, service to Chicago - the Windy City.
View of the house north side showing recent additions of siding and trim.
View from slightly further away showing off the lines of the house as seen
by neighbors.
This is a 120-degree panorama along Monroe Street showing how the house fits in with the rest of the street.
Puget Sound is in the distance, at the end of the street. That's my red Volvo parked in front of the driveway.
Joe Allper, intellect, carpenter, student of history, concert-goer, Fremont resident. He's shown here working and then hamming.
Previously-seen view of Dining Room - Kitchen area with new door and stairway in unpainted mode.
Contrast with image below after painting.
This is the same view as above (with slightly wider view) showing what a difference a coat of paint can make.
View of new living room alcove in its unfinished and unpainted state. Contrast with view below after coat of paint.
Same view as above but with the colors matched. The flooring still needs to be finished and the trim work hasn't yet
occurred. But the rooms now tie together very nicely. Great new set of windows in the alcove, too.
That's it for now...Ciao.
And, although I refuse to wear a backpack - which is what 99 percent of the rest of the residents out here have, including the business-suited downtown "suits," I have taken to carrying a rolled up long-sleeve T-shirt which I wrap around my waist and tie in the front. That's the "other" look one can have as a Northwesterner if one really doesn't like the backpack approach. What do these people carry in their backpacks? Why, extra clothes, hats, a slicker, and bottles of water. I just never got into the whole backpack thing. I realize that about half of the subway riders in DC also carry backpacks but then if I'd wanted to be a mule I'd be living in the Grand Canyon wouldn't I?
Rather, I've just acquired a bunch of cargo pants, long pants and short pants, and just stuff all the other things in the pockets. I've been carrying extra batteries and flash cards and my camera everywhere and a pocket-full of change to either give to the street people when that strikes my fancy or use as phone or bus money.
The Seattle International Film Festival is great fun. It runs over three weeks and the theaters are aligned basically in an "L" with the furthest distance from the two end-points being about a mile-and-a-half. Eminently walkable. Plus the two major venue streets - Pine and Broadway - are damned interesting components of the city - in the daytime, in the evening, at night, and even after hours. Back in DC, the city government started a filmfest (DC Filmfest) early last decade and has tried to get it grounded and a regular element of the city's cultural scene. But, it ain't like it is here. The DC festival, first off, is scattered across a geographic region, has dozens of competing films at the same hour, only runs 12 days, and has prices which make concert ticket gouging seem cheap. Hardly an enticement to get into the cinema seat on a night-after-night basis. Which is a real shame since the American Film Institute (AFI) has its major outreach office in DC and since there's so much international interest there to begin with. What may have worked against the DC Filmfest is the fact that there are literally only two of the original movie houses left in town and one of them is like the Cinerama out here - the premier 70mm Cinemascope theater. The other one was saved from the wrecking ball by the neighborhood it's in and is run almost as a neighborhood charity (the Avalon on Connecticut). Where DC used to have dozens of downtown movie houses and a huge number of neighborhood movie houses, it now has multiplex theaters in a few locations (Union Station, Georgetown, Tenleytown-Friendship Heights, and soon 7th Street downtown). These do not really lend much of a touch of class and most of them are on the small side.
The Seattle festival has been going on now for 30 years and has built up quite a following. Plus, the venues themselves are excellent, even the one venue in a multiplex is the largest screen at that location with a great screen and seats. And, the scheduling isn't completely contradictory - there are four concurrent runs generally, not the dozens like in DC, and many of the films show at two different times so catching all of them is possible here whereas it's not with the DC Filmfest. And, the ticket prices for SIFF are not gouging. It's nine bucks for an afternoon through night showing and six-fifty for the matinee (2:30 pm ) and midnight showings. I, of course, have tried to select the matinee or midnight showing where it was possible.
There's probably another element which helps make the Seattle film festival such a success - Seattle has a strong tradition and strong on-going independent film industry. There are sound stages, equipment of all kinds, sufficient supporting crafts, and an independent spirit which drive film-making out here - as there is in the whole metropolitan Cascade region (Portland to Vancouver). This means that there are lots of talented individuals who have volunteered or are members of the Cinema Seattle, the presenters of the film festival. The programmers (those who select the films) have a powerful interest in film and are often immeshed in the industry and bring a skilled set of eyes and ears to the process. Plus, here in Seattle, the film festival is a big deal. Back in DC, DC Filmfest was barely mentioned on any of the local broadcast media and covered by the Post and City Paper in passing. Out here, the media, particularly the non-Clear Channel independents but even the conglomerate stations, cover the films. The two regular papers and the two independent papers all have their own guides and special pullout sections for festival. There are signs placed throughout the city and the feeling is that this is something one should pay attention to - consequently a lot of folks do. I haven't sat through a single movie with less than a half-full house - that's probably better than the Hollywood flicks are doing at the same time.
I selected ten flicks figuring I'd meander my way through my first year and see if my tastes, the reviews I'd used as guides, the actual screening and my resultant impressions were aligned and then next year dive into the three weeks a little deeper. I also missed out on some of the flicks I really would have liked to have seen because I - for some reason - thought it started later in May than it actually did so essentially I missed five days' worth of flicks by just not paying attention.
Of the ten flicks, I've already seen seven, so I'll provide brief synopses and reviews of those and catch the other three up later. So far I've been fairly impressed with what I set out to do - match my desires against my ability to find the right movie and hope the flick was satisfying. There have been no bad calls yet and several of the movies went beyond my expectations. All of them have illuminated me in ways I had hoped they would - mostly having to do with being foreign or independent and therefore providing a fresh view or a view of a place and culture of interest to me (which is basically all of them). The audiences have been appreciative and I've sat through post-screening sessions with two of the directors and learned even more about both the movie, the reasons for its production and the director. From the Seattle International Film Festival and Cinema Seattle's perspective they've acquired a new follower, they've succeeded in showing me something of note and expanding my horizon and secured a potential volunteer for next and subsequent year's festivals.
On a completely related but somewhat side track, because the venues are in and around Capitol Hill and late at night, I've also expanded my own view into the city's rock, alternative, punk and metal scene and experienced the late-night debauchery in several different parts of town. And, I've become familiar with yet another bus run - the Owl Service on about seven lines which run after 2:00 am and the clientele who use that service. That's its own trip and a half.
Now a few SIFF movie reviews:
(I'll give a one-phrase description of the basic story line/plot and a few details which express what I liked/disliked about it and then the pertinent Director/Acting/Location data - if relevant). Rating scheme
* = okay, better on HBO or as rental
* * = good but should be matinee price
* * * = worth the money at a really good theater with good optics and sound, creates conversation afterwards
* * * * = memorable movie (either by itself or of the genre), worth seeing again and definitely worth discussing
* * * * * = one of the best I've ever seen, a movie worth owning in any format and a provocative experience
Dig * * *
Coping - This is a rock documentary covering 7 years of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and their alliance with the Dandy Warhols (portions of the 7 years also follow the career of Dandy Warhols). Telling psychological/sociological reality movie involving drugs, fame, disdain for big business, selling out or not, and the impact on the participating individuals and those around them - includes great selection of both group's music. Director and documentalist/cinematographer Ondi Timoner actually spent seven years doing this. Narration is by Dandy Warhol's lead and founder Courtney Taylor who early on was infatuated with protagonist/villian/hero played for real by Brian Jonestown Massacre founder and resident genius Anton Newcomb, who, among other scenes, is caught kicking an uncomplimentary patron of one of his shows twice in the head and being arrested for it.
Dandelion * * *
Finding oneself - This is Seattle director Mark Milguard's first film and captures the small-town surface normalcy of eastern Washington-western Idaho (Palouse Valley) with lyric photography filled with lush and soothing visuals complete with small streams and the crack of firearms aimed at tin cans. The protagonist, played adroitly by Vincent Kartheiser, is surrounded by badness not of his doing for which he tries and atones and plays an unrelenting redeemer, a role which gets him innocently incarcerated when he refuses to talk and unmask his politically-motivated father's accidental killing of a roadside bystander. When he returns to his town, his family is further deteriorated, his true love commits suicide essentially in front of him and he finally realizes that to escape his role of small-town redeemer he must escape the small town. End of movie. If "Thelma and Louise" had made it to the other side of the Grand Canyon at the end of that film, this is the movie that would have been. Uplifting in a way completely beyond the normal means of salvation and spiritual in a very down-to-Earth manner - no sermans, just positive actions finally rewarded by self-direction of the protagonist. Unbelievably beautiful and lyric photography from Tim Orr with equally lyric original soundtrack from Robb Williamson.
Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi * * *
Finding oneself - Directed by Shemi Zarhin, our hero, played by Oshri Cohen, spends his days and nights appeasing everyone around him with his cooking skills and his negotiating skills while all the while his mother, father, brother and sister are involved in a mess - a real mess which is eating away at both the individual's and the family's sense of unity and purpose. While Shlomi (Cohen) cooks and negotiates well, he's generally regarded at school and at home as something of a slow-wit who will be lucky someday to own his own cafe or restaurant. Unbeknownst to anyone, including Shlomi himself, he's actually a brilliant non-traditional and non-linear genius who can add, subtract, divide and multiply 12-digit numbers in his head in seconds. No one understands him and yet he understands everyone else but can't stay out of his role as peacemaker long enough to find his own way. He finally falls for the girl next door (literally) and she conspires to escape with him but only after his school principal finally catches on and has Shlomi tested at Haifa University, discovering Shlomi's genius at the same time. In the end, Shlomi finds and gets love, the rest of his world comes to realize he's not just a sweet kid who can cook and the disintegrated family actually recompiles now that Shlomi has found out who he really is. Of interest because of the drama and melodrama (well acted and played by everyone), the ordinariness of it all and yet peculiarly unique relationships within this nuclear family, and because it presents an unseen and yet quite peaceful and ordinary background of life in Israel. It should be a "coming of age" film and yet everyone had already "come of age" without actually maturing. This film presents the maturation process in such a vivid and yet ordinary manner that it's mundane and yet compelling at the same time.
The Python * * *
Existentialism - Director Laila Pakalnina has captured the absurd essence of life in Latvia (or anywhere) under authoritarian rule. The headmistress of an all-grades school is forcing everyone to take dumps in matchboxes to match feces to that found in the attic of her school - a persistent problem she's going to resolve once and for all despite the head nurse's assertion that she cannot match the feces to the perpetrator. Meanwhile a school photographer using a real python and pink-Southern-Belle-gown bedecked monkey arrives to shoot the school pictures; meanwhile the local infantry is in search of a rabid badger believed to be loose in the school grounds; meanwhile four of the school's upper-grade students are driving around playing loud music in an unlicensed vehicle while the town's sheriff chases around asking anyone if they've seen an unlicensed vehicle; meanwhile the school's two janitors bitch and moan because there's no reason for them to be lowering the radiators two feet just so this school's radiators will match those of other schools; meanwhile the middle school boys scare the middle school girls and chase them around (shot as a series of left-to-right and then right-to-left chases occurring in the background throughout the movie). Absurd as the authoritarian rule is and as dedicated as the schoolmarm is, something else happens - the photographers python gets loose. The movie is a parody of government-gone-amuck but as seen through Pakalnina's eyes and Gints Berzins' camera, the reality of all this is a droll, insidious and captivating comedy of the human condition. Throughout all this insanity the school children continue to have fun, the nurse and photographer make out with the monkey as observer, the badger slips away and the town celebrates its fire brigade who finally evacuate the school and steal the schoolmarm's black book of demerits. What makes this film work is that these scenes could occur anywhere, these insipid acts of authority can and do occur everyday everywhere, and yet life does and will go on. Just being is its own reward.
Haute Tension * * * *
Extreme thriller - Director Alexandre Aja has cast Cecile De France and Maiwenn Le Besco in an intense homo-erotic slasher movie which can only be compared with the original release of "Psycho" on the world at that time. The movie title (High Tension) does not lie. This movie is an involved, lesbian-denied love affair which turns abruptly into a slasher movie which will make even the most hardened, brutish and cynical fans of gore flinch. There are only nine persons portrayed in this 89-minute flick but each slash, each rip, each heartbeat of cut artery, each piece of torn flesh will rip through your head like lightning in a forest. It's an intricately-woven psychological thriller set both in the real world of rural France and in the deeply disturbed but prescient mind of the protagonist lesbian (Cecile). Even the very last frame digs a new wound. For the faint of heart, the squeamish, or those who prefer not to think about the inherent and potential violence of the insanely-driven, this is not a movie you should see. For those who seek new levels of sustained high-pulse-rate terror, who think "Alien" was a wonderful flick, this is a must see. Provocative only in the cinematography and story-telling (the plot is as old as the hills), it's one gasp after another with just enough time in between to catch your breath. Interestingly enough, like all truly excellent psychological thrillers, the opening scene tells the ending - you just don't know it yet.
Steam: The Turkish Bath * * *
Inner discovery - This is Turkish director Ferzan Ozpetek's first film, originally shot for under $300,000 in 1995 and languishing for two years before he was convinced to release it. It's about an Italian architect (Alessandro Gassman) and his architect wife (Francesca d'Aloja) who have been pursuing the good life in Rome when the husband's aunt dies in Turkey, leaving him the sole owner of an original Istanbul Turkish bath. He leaves his failing marriage behind and begins to reconstruct the bath, falling in love with his Aunt's life in Istanbul, and also with the son of the caretakers of the bath, and discovering a new spirit within himself after finding the unsent letters of his aunt to his mother, who had spurned her sister for reasons never explained. The architect is not only the only son of his mother and only nephew of his aunt, but he's the only thing standing in the way of that part of Istanbul becoming yet another mega-project. The architect begins to restore the bath, the neighborhood clambers onboard and everything is moving along truly swimmingly, including the budding romance between the architect and the bath's caretakers son. His wife drops in to serve him divorce papers - she's been sleeping with a friend for the past several years and finally wanted out. The spurned developer has our hero stabbed and he dies and the wife then has her own change of heart. This is a movie about inner discovery - finding out who one really is inside, deep inside. It's also about tying the past with the present and finding bridges across cultures - the Italian and Turkish backgrounds and languages are interspersed throughout this movie as is the exposition of Istanbul. And, despite our hero dying, the movie is about optimism, about changes of heart, about finding something more worthwhile to pursue than one's ladder-climbing dreams. It's about keeping the culture flames alive and it's a wonderful and optimistic movie overall. I was surprised that the message was one of overwhelming optimism and hope because the film took such a left turn into darkness near the end. That was intended, no doubt, as counterpoint and serves the purpose well. This is also a wonderful film for anyone who's ever been interested in the Bosporus or Istanbul. G-rated and homo-erotic in the same way that a middle-school romance would be hetero-erotic.
Legend of the Sacred Stone * * * *
Magic and puppetry - Taiwan director Chris Huang brings Pi-Li puppetry to life with this 96-minute tour-de-force legend. 17th Century Chinese war lords and evil are depicted with subplots of valiant warriors and unrequited love all carried out with puppets who perform triple-flip sword-wielding magic while battling evil demons and seeking and finding the Stone of Heaven. Anyone who enjoyed the Chinese magic elements of "Big Trouble in Little China" should see this and anyone who enjoyed "The Dark Crystal" should see this. It's 96-minutes of action - especially unbelievable since it's performed with puppets and very little CGI and a lot of good old-fashioned cell animation for the flying swords and lightning bolts and demonic devices protecting the stone. The music oscillates between classic Chinese lute and ballad and modern hard acid rock as would be appropriate for the inner sanctum talks of finding the stone and the action battles with the demons. There's betrayal, several double and triple crosses, and finally an ending which puts the evil to rest and restores balance with the world. The dialog (subtitled) is funny in the way it ties the ancient Chinese legend together with the modern world in a completely off-the-wall manner (non-sequiturs fly nearly as much as swords). If ever there was a movie to watch under the influence of experience-altering substances, this would be that movie. Even straight as a nail, this movie was astounding, not just for the level of action from the puppets but for the level of complexity of the plot. Makes Shogun seem like a simple boy-meets-girl story. Oh, and the colors and level of detail of the puppets is its own art form - the warriors are outfitted with the most exquisite layers of robes with hair and hair fixtures fit for the finest China Doll and the sets are to sets as Bonsai is to a forest, replete with miniature hanging paper lantern, miniature paper vessels, and miniature houses with waterfalls flowing over them. An absolute visual delight.
And now on to other things - in this case debauchery and decadence Seattle style. Walking a great length on Pine Street, as I've been wont to, the past several nights, up from First Avenue toward the Egyptian Theater at Pine and Broadway, deep into Capitol Hill, I've had occasion to check out the various nightlife venues here. The lower part of Pine, from say Fourth Avenue up to Seventh, is fancy-date turf. There are a number of really nice restaurants and upper-crust hotel bars along this stretch and on the various cross streets. The crowd here comes and goes and is often limousine-driven - as it is along First from Pike Place down to the Harbor Steps at University Street. From north of the freeway, Pine turns into 18th or 19th Street (in DC) with club after club, large crowds gathered on the sidewalk spilling onto the curb, and noise and music and smoke from cigarettes wafting in a cloud up and down the dozen blocks along this stretch. This crowd is younger, between - say - 21 and 30, and seem generally happy, lively, not necessarily bombed on booze (but frequently appearing to be dazed on dope) and includes lots of hetero and GLBT couples and tons of agglomerations of singles out for the night just wandering from club to club. This stretch of Pine, and Broadway as well, have very-late-hour coffee houses still serving mochas, lattes and drips and still filled with couples or groups actively engaged in discourse and an equal number of singles actively engaged in either a book or a computer (yes, lots of glow-in-the-dark Apple logos shining out windows).
I haven't checked out the U-District, Fremont or Ballard Avenue night scene, but expect them to be different in their own right from Pine, upper First (Pike Place) and Lower First (Pioneer Square). I've walked down First from Pike Place to Jackson (Pioneer Square) so many times I believe I know every address and store along both sides by heart and their hours. Once one hits Yesler Way, the scene invariably changes to one of crowds on the sidewalk, lining up to get into the bars with bands or live shows and the roudy factor goes up at least an order of magnitude. The Seattle Police hang out in Pioneer Square - in their squad cars parked on the cross streets to First Avenue, on foot, and walking or riding their bicycles. The Seattle Police do not hang out on Pine Street between the freeway and Broadway. I have seen only three SPD cars making cursory drive-by's in the Capitol Hill parts of Pine Street in the past few weeks. By contrast, nearly any night of the week, but especially Friday and Saturday nights. in the Pioneer Square steretch of First Avenue there is probably an entire squad of SPD foot soldiers deployed, with at least a third of them engaged in either some form of interlocution or actually writing tickets or performing "cleaning" operations (breaking up crowds, forcing cars to quit stalling around, actually giving a breath-a-lizer test to someone).
Not surprising. The Pioneer Square First Avenue night scene is one of older dudes and their ladies (or not) and groups of women out doing their own cruising. This crowd scene seems to be the 30-to-40 group and if younger is probably military from one of the many bases around Puget Sound. This crowd scene also has a high ratio of street people intermingling with the partygoers and a much higher belligerence factor with a much higher proportion of the general crowd showing signs of over-inebriation - weaving, loud-talking, random stuporness, and the like. The music coming out of the bars and clubs along lower First is more hard-driving rock with some tinges of country. Actually, just east of First on Occidental and Second are some jazz clubs, but that street scene is very uncrowded and muted with only the presence of the street people giving it a "leary" look despite the very dark and 1920's streetscape which that part of town exudes. The Capitol Hill Pine Street music scene seems much more alternative and world rock and hypno/techno than the banging, driving rock of lower First.
There are definitely lots of street people out on both Pine and First after 9:00 pm. The Capitol Hill contingent seems to be more generally clever, trying to get what they want through subtle solicitation or meek begging whereas the Pioneer Square contingent seems at home being "in your face" and obnoxious, apparently trying to intimidate that quarter out of your pocket or that cigarette out of your pack. Mind you, I've done no real survey, but having spent now about a month in the Capitol Hill Pine Street corridor, downtown, and nearly nine months crawling First Avenue, these are my reasonable and assessed observations. Neither location makes me feel uncomfortable, but then I used to bike around the Scott Circle/Logan Circle, Shaw, and east Capitol Hill areas of DC after 9:00 pm, and, those are the known heroin and crack districts in our Nation's Capitol. So, it's entirely possible that what doesn't make me uncomfortable would make nine out of ten others uncomfortable. I won't say Seattle's benign, but it's at least two orders of magnitude less threatening to the ordinary person than a lot of near downtown areas in the District are. But then again, it's the East Coast mega cities where we have the biggest problems with drug-induced and drug-dealing crime as a country. LA's probably approaching that status, but Seattle certainly is not.
So, yeah, I feel quite comfortable and at home here after dark and in a variety of locales. Which brings up another new discovery - the late-night bus service for Seattle. Except for the Capitol Hill-Rainier Valley line (#7), the after-hours bus runs for a bunch of regular lines have a special 80-series number assigned to them and they start and wind their way through downtown on streets which are different from the lines they are the late-night version of. All the late night buses keep the same schedule, they begin their first run at 2:15 am and have a second run at 3:30 am and then they are done. They are the 81 - West Queen Anne, Ballard, and northwest city replacing the 15 and 18; the 82 - East and North Queen Anne, Fremont, Greenwood, Greenlake, and Wallingford replacing the 5 and 26; the 83 - Eastlake, Montlake, U-District, and Ravenna replacing any number of 70-series buses; the 84 - Madison, Madison Park, and Madrona replacing the 2,3,4 and 11 and 12; and the 85 - SODO, West Seattle including Admiral, Alaska and Morgan Junctions, Westwood and Delridge areas replacing the 20, 21, 22, 54, 55 and 56.
All these buses begin their run at the Rainier Square bus stop along either Fourth Avenue south of Union or along Union west of Fourth Avenue. At 2:15 am there's a large crowd hanging around that corner, talking, waiting, or trying to stay awake or upright. All the buses start to arrive about 2:05 am and by 2:15 there's a string of six buses all lined up and ready to go. Both Metro King County (transit agency) and SPD have cars which drop by and park at about that time and the officers walk from bus to bus and have a chat with each driver and have them fill out some kind of form (incident reports?, known events cropping up in their general bus run? bad guys on the loose and likely to hit them?) and at about 2:18 am they all start their run. Nearly all of them include some form of end-of-line loop to cover the various other bus runs they're standing in for, and, the 3:30 am run has the bus going in the reverse direction for the end-of-the-line loop - giving everyone at least equal chance at not being the last one deposited on their way home, I guess. The lines themselves and the end-of-line loops cover pretty much all the populated areas of the city with most dense to semi-dense neighborhoods no more than a mile from any section of a given line. The only exceptions are Magnolia and Alki Beach - there's no late night service for either. But, given the price of houses in these areas and the general demographics of who live in both these trés tony sections of town, Metro KC probably correctly figured that no late night bus run for Alki or Magnolia would be a no-brainer because everyone would be driving their Beamer or Mercedes home anyway.
I've taken the 85 twice now, both trips a trip-and-a-half. The first one was filled to capacity with late-shift workers from downtown, party-goers from Capitol Hill who lived in West Seattle (probably with their parents), and the clean-up crew from Safeco Field who just about manage to clean up after a late night game by the time the bus gets to the stadium (2:30 am). That bus also smelled of day-long body odor, the sweet smell of a diabetic (drunks well into their second hour of recovery would be my guess), and a lot of bad cologne. That driver also made a loop around West Seattle in the Admiral District because one old codger fell asleep and the driver was too kind in driving a mile back to drop him off at the stop he slept through, much to the grumbling of the folks who were trying to get home to the White Center or Delridge areas (last part of the line on that trip). The driver kept saying he was being kind and considerate and hoped the passengers would understand.
The next 85 I took was a few days later and was less filled but had a driver who performed no fewer special tricks - meandering all around the downtown space to drop a few folks off closer to where they wanted to get to than the bus route official stops allowed, and, then made up the time by zooming across the bridge to West Seattle, and, then did the same thing, dropping off folks at non-regular locations because that's where they really wanted to be let off. He even picked up some folks downtown who didn't have the right change and passed them through anyway - free ride.
I'd heard that the later-night Metro drivers were like this - considerate, breaking official policy or rules, or otherwise being unduly kind and generous to their passengers. I never experienced this level of courtesy or kindness in my 23 years of taking Metrobus in the District, although to be totally honest, the bus drivers were less surly than the subway drivers and kiosk attendants. Or maybe the East just has a higher proportion of true assholes than does the west. I still think the scenery and weather out here has a way of knocking that kind of crap out of people and they actually become nicer humans living out here. The East is much harsher in so many ways - way more overcrowded, way less pleasant in its weather and general surroundings, way more of an undercurrent of crime and violence, so perhaps the transit workers back East become just like the cops and actually hate other humans just because they never know when one of them will turn out to be a really bad guy. What a shame we've got a country like this. This is such a much more pleasant area to live and work and travel about in than the East. And, it's the same species in both places, so the environment must play a huge factor in turning Easterners into the more-often-than-not surly creatures they are. We need to work on correcting this as a society - really, we do.
And, now the final recounting. On one of the most perfect days we've had yet I set out in the morning to bike across the bridge, along the waterfront downtown and up through the new bike trail along Elliott Bay and through Interbay to the general Lake Union area. By the time I got past the railroad yards in Interbay, it dawned on me that I was close enough to Fisherman's Terminal to go explore that area and did. Commodore Way follows the general shoreline on the south side of that section of Salmon Bay up to the Hiram Chittendem Locks. Commodore Way is a most fascinating street since it is the location of the outfitters and riggers and shipbuilders who support the fishing and other fleets which are based at the terminal and elsewhere along Lake Union. On the Ballard side it's Shilshoal Avenue. Drydocks where hulls are being welded are located two blocks from the waterfront, as are radar instrument repair shops and flash-freeze plants for fish caught and just a huge variety of other types of factories, support facilities and shops and stores that one doesn't find in just any town. As Spock would likely say, "fascinating." By the time I was done meandering my bike along the several streets which follow Commodore Way and which constitutes to my thinking a navigation-shipbuilding-fishing industrial area, I next realized that I was just a few more bike minutes from the locks and proceeded straightaway toward them. I spent about an hour, walking my bike since that's the law within the locks area, walking across the locks, across the spillway, watching the boats come and go and the locks fill up and empty.
The locks protect the fresh water of Lake Washington from the salt water of Puget Sound. The greatest height between the two is 25 feet at lakeside Spring and soundside low tide, and the least height distance between them is at lakeside Fall and soundside wind-pushed high tide when it's only 6 feet. The locks are gravity-driven, which is to say the water fills always from the fresh-water side and empties to the saltwater side and since the lakeside is always higher, there's no machinery other than valves to cause the water to flow into the locks and they empty naturally through a different set of valves. There are fish ladders also because salmon spawn in the fresh waters of Lake Washington and the various inlets and bays between the locks and the lake - including Lake Union in the middle. The locks are set in a splendid wooded area - wooded on the Ballard north side, and wooded on the Magnolia south side. The Burlington Northern-Sante Fe (BNSF) mainline runs along Commodore Way and crosses the Ship Canal just west of the locks on a steel truss rocker drawbridge. I thought long and hard about just walking my bike across to Ballard and taking Market Street to Leary Way and coming back home that way but was already beginning to feel the effects of the 14-mile-long trip it had been to get me here so just turned around and went back to West Seattle the same way I came.
That was a 27.5-mile bike trip (I've now got an odometer, speedometer, timer on my bike courtesy of a Christmas present from Leif). By the time I got home I was exhausted and low on blood sugar. Rick and Joe were still working on the house, actually cleaning up to get ready to head out for the day - it was nearly 4:00 pm. I must have made some uncomplimentary comment about yard waste or scraps or something because Joe remarked that I probably needed some grape juice or apple or banana and that I shouldn't talk to them until my blood sugar was restored. He then said that it was usual for them to notice a shortness of courtesy from their fellow workers or boss when their fellow workers or boss had been working long and hard and had depleted their blood sugar level. I thought about this and realized that he was absolutely correct, I had eaten nothing since breakfast and was running on impulse power in addition to being somewhat bushed from the hills - my front thigh leg muscles were not cramping but they might as well have been. I went and got a glass of grape juice and felt much better. Good lesson! Of course, I had taken my camera and got a bunch of great shots of the locks and of various places along the bike trail. It really was a gorgeous day, temps were in the low 70's with a slight breeze and the sky was humidity free and blue with white puffy clouds - perfect for a long ride, perfect for getting good photos and panoramas.
And, as a final offering, this entry's Overheard...
Standing in line at the Egyptian on the Pine Street side just half-a-block west of Broadway there were three Gen-X folks - two guys, a 5-foot-5 Asian-American, a 6-foot Anglo-Saxon-American, and one gal, a 5-foot-8 Scandinavian-American. They were chit-chatting back and forth talking about mutual friends, how each perceived the other, whether or not a particular person not there was "right" for the Anglo-Saxon. Along comes a 5-foot-9 African American with a Jamaican accent who asks the Asian-American if he has a smoke, to which the Asian-American pulls out his pack of cigarettes and offers the African-American one. The African-American then asks if the Asian-American has a light, to which the Anglo-Saxon-American says "A Cigarette AND A Light!" The Asian-American lights the African-American's cigarette and the African-American then says he has a joke to tell the Anglo-Saxon-American.
We all perk up and listen to the African-American as he recounts the following tale: "There was a great secret of life which the Gods wanted to hide from the humans. The First God said 'we'll hide it in the highest mountain, the humans will never find it there.' The Second God said 'we'll hide it in the deepest ocean, the humans will never find it there.' The Third God said 'we'll hide it in the deepest and darkest forest, the humans will never find it there.' The Fourth God said 'well, they've climbed Everest, submerged to the deepest depths of the oceans, and explored both the Congo and Amazon rain forests, so all your hiding places won't work. However, if we hide it inside man himself, he'll never find it, because humans never look within.'"
After that the African-American walked west along Pine and the Anglo-Saxon-American said "I've just been dissed by a street beggar," and spent the remaining time before the line moved obsessed with the notion that he had been taken intellectually by this "beggar." I saw him after the movie let out and asked what he thought of the flick (which was Haute Tension), and he said that he had fallen asleep and that one could "sleep through really good movies."
Posted below are some photos of the Hiram Chittenden Locks and additional shots I had taken during the Folklife Festival as I walked around town getting there and back, some shots taken on the bike ride to the Locks, and some new shots showing off the current state-of-construction of the house, and, a set of comparison photos showing the amazing difference a thin layer of paint makes in a space.
Chas
Panorama of the locks and spillway standing on the middle pier of the smaller of the two locks. On either side are the garden-like banks of
this area of the Ship Canal. On the left is the Ballard side and on the right the Magnolia side, this view is looking east towards Lake Union.
The spillway and fish ladder are the area to the right of center, the smaller lock itself is barely visible below the walkway coming off to the left.
Another panorama, this time standing in front of the walkway in the middle of the spillway. The Ship Canal and locks are right of center, with
the railroad bridge visible in the distance across the Canal. Underneath the arch in the middle is the opening to Salmon Bay and the rest of
Lake Union and Lake Washington beyond that. This view is looking East, the walkway in front of the spillway is visible on the left and right to
either side of the opening arch.
This is a panorama standing at the top of the fish ladder on the Magnolia side of the locks. The spillway waters can be seen on the left,
Ballard, side and the railroad bridge can be seen in its lifted position on the right above the Ship Canal. The wooded glen area in the
middle is the northern portion of what becomes Discovery Park at the north and eastern sections of Magnolia Hill. The Sound is just
beyond the railroad bridge, about another half-mile down the Canal.
Panorama taken from the Pier 63 public space in front of Belltown with Elliott Bay surrounding this section of the pier. Pier 63 is a city-owned
gathering spot for festivals, food and culture and music. It was formerly the location of the now defunct Seattle Book Fair, which, when held
here, was well attended and free. Subsequent fairs were located in a variety of lesser-easy-to-get-to venues throughout the city and
attendance suffered to the point where the fair began to charge for admission, at which point its attendance nose-dived, resulting in
its now defunct status. Just left of center is one of the cruise ships at dock. The city has two separate cruise ship terminals, this one
near downtown and two additional slips in the harbor area just south of the Ferry Docks.
A partial panorama taken also from Pier 63 showing the downtown skyline and adjacent restaurant and ferry piers closer up. The
Alaska Way Viaduct can be seen atop its concrete abutments just ahead - dead center. There is a continuing discussion of whether
to replace the Viaduct and if so whether to put it underground, giving the waterfront much better access to the downtown city streets.
Another panorama view from Pier 63, this one centering on the outstanding views of West Seattle (dead ahead, across the water) and
Elliott Bay. The hoists and cranes of the harbor are visible just left of center and right of most of downtown. Belltown and the cruise ship
are on the right. The interesting thing about taking VR images is that they can later be manipulated to show as a flat panorama and
any particular point of interest in the 360-degree space can be centered in the flat panorama - contrast this one with the image two
above - they are the same VR but treated as different flat panoramas.
A series of close-up shots of the lifesaver facility on Pier 63 with the Washington Mutual headquarters building looming behind.
The colors of the lifesaver and WAMU (WAshingtonMUtual) building were such that this image literally cried out for Photoshop
treatment - in this instance taken as a series of R(ed)G(reen)B(lue)-C(yan)M(agenta)Y(ellow) frames.
End-of-the-line station on the Waterfront Streetcar with the cruise ship terminal on the right, the streetcar station in the center, and the
streetcar tracks with Belltown behind on the left. Elliott Bay can be seen glistening in the distance past the parked cars on the right.
This is the location along Western Avenue where the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) will build its Olympic Sculpture Park, tying this section of
Belltown to the waterfront by creating a series of cascading garden plateaus over the street and adjacent railroad tracks. This new SAM
park is scheduled to be completed in 2007, essentially the same date as the Light Rail and Monorail are scheduled to open their first legs.
Presently, this section of Belltown and the waterfront are separated by railroad tracks, making it impossible to actually get to the
water's edge from this mile-long stretch of city street..
Intersection of Queen Anne Avenue and Mercer Street, in the heart of Lower Queen Anne (also sometimes referred to as "Uptown"). Mercer
Street is on the left with Queen Anne Avenue on the right. This view is looking directly west. This area of town is just west of the Seattle
Center and a few blocks from the waterfront.
This is the corner of Harrison Street with Elliiott Avenue, just down the hill from the previous view. This is the waterside area of Queen Anne
and Elliott Avenue is a major thoroughfare for getting from north of downtown (Ballard, Interbay) to the Queen Anne and downtown areas.
The water is just behind the buildings in the center. Running behind these buildings are Burlington Northern-Sante Fe Railroad's main
Puget Sound line as well as the commuter line for Sound Transit.
This is further south along Elliott Avenue, showing the development which is occurring in this part of town. Western Avenue begins right
past the center of this view and continues south towards Pike Place Market. Elliott Avenue turns into Aurora Avenue a little further south
of here and continues through town along the watefront. The Space Needle is visible just to the right of center. This view is looking East,
with the waterfront on the side with the sidewalk running off in the left and right areas.
This is the view from a plaza between two office buildings (one being the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's offices) along Elliott Avenue. This also
shows how the railroad tracks separate this area of town from a direct waterfront connection. On the other side of the tracks is the new
Elliott Bay Park trails established by the Port of Seattle. Across Elliott Bay is West Seattle.
This is the Bell Street Pier, home to one of the two cruise ship terminals along the Seattle waterfront. The other
terminal is further south along Elliott Bay in the harbor area. This stretch of waterfront begins the more touristy
sections with the cruise terminal and the end-of-line Waterfront Streetcar terminal here and the restaurants and
knick-knack shops, aquarium, and assorted other attractions along the street from here south.
Looking south (left) and north (right) from the overpass connecting Nordstrom's flagship store downtown to
Pacific Place. That's Sixth Avenue below, and as the glistening street attests, it was raining slightly outside. I was
here because one of the venues for the Seattle International Film Festival is in one of Pacific Place's cinemas.
A series of photos showing the Steinway piano designed and decorated by Chihuly the artist. The top is glass and
the keys are plastic (no more ivory piano keys allowed). This was in the window at the intersection of 4th Avenue
and Stewart - a downtown Steinway dealer.
A pair of grazing cherry pickers on Battery Street, parked for the weekend. I was coming back along 4th Avenue from
Seattle Center at the end of the day Sunday, second-to-last day of the Folklife Festival, and found this amusing scene.
Fourth Avenue is on the right and Fifth Avenue was further along on the left.
This is the grain terminal area of Elliott Bay and this is the fishing pier at Elliott Bay Park,
a recently developed waterside park which connects downtown with Interbay by means
of pedestrian and bike trails. The Port of Seattle has been doing a lot of park development
in the past few years and this is one of their newest and finest efforts. This view is
looking directly south toward downtown and across Elliott Bay.
This is a 180-degree panorama of the area shown above and gives a better impression of how the walkway and bike path meander
along the Elliott Bay waterfront. That's West Seattle just right of center with Alki Beach the lower, flatland, section sticking out into the bay.
Railroad car graffiti on the tracks in the Interbay railroad yards, through which the Port of
Seattle has developed a thin section as a bike trail through the yards. This is a great new
bike trail since it connects the Elliott Bay side of the city with the Salmon Bay section.
Previously, a cyclist had to go along Elliott Avenue and Leary Way - very, very busy streets,
to get between the two areas. Although the trail passes through this industrial railroad zone
at least it's a protected and set-aside bike trail with only pedestrians - no cars. The railroad
yards always offer something interesting to look at, either like this graffiti or what the
cars are carrying - on one past bike trip I saw two Boeing 737 fuselages being carted
atop two oversize flatcars.
Heading back home after my bike excursion to Salmon Bay, I passed this Alaska Airlines billboard on East
Marginal Way. The sign was advertising Alaska Airlines' new, daily, service to Chicago - the Windy City.
View of the house north side showing recent additions of siding and trim.
View from slightly further away showing off the lines of the house as seen
by neighbors.
This is a 120-degree panorama along Monroe Street showing how the house fits in with the rest of the street.
Puget Sound is in the distance, at the end of the street. That's my red Volvo parked in front of the driveway.
Joe Allper, intellect, carpenter, student of history, concert-goer, Fremont resident. He's shown here working and then hamming.
Previously-seen view of Dining Room - Kitchen area with new door and stairway in unpainted mode.
Contrast with image below after painting.
This is the same view as above (with slightly wider view) showing what a difference a coat of paint can make.
View of new living room alcove in its unfinished and unpainted state. Contrast with view below after coat of paint.
Same view as above but with the colors matched. The flooring still needs to be finished and the trim work hasn't yet
occurred. But the rooms now tie together very nicely. Great new set of windows in the alcove, too.
That's it for now...Ciao.
Posted: Mon - June 7, 2004 at 09:58 AM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM