Who Goes To High School With The Watchmen?

I'm stoked to see Watchmen tomorrow on IMAX - it's weird to be on the verge of seeing something realized that most, including myself, assumed would never make it to the screen. The reviews have lowered my expectations just a tad, but that's probably a good thing, since statospheric expectations almost always lead to disappointment on some level.

By happenstance, I discovered that actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, aka The Comedian, was a classmate of mine at LWHS, circa 1984. I dug up his yearbook photo and senior quotes, but it didn't ring any bells. No surprise, since he was a hunky senior and I was a spindly, pipe-cleaner-limbed sophomore, so weren't likely to ever cross paths.

Dudley Manlove and Brad Pitt's washboard abs

Friday night was to be a highly anticipated adventure - a Boxing Day celebration at The Tractor Tavern, hosted by The Dudley Manlove Quartet. I had the pleasure of catching DMQ a year ago as part of "Night of 1,000 Benatars", when they one-upped the divine Miss B's own rendition of "Love Is A Battlefield". I've been itching to catch their astro-lounge 80s coverband act since, but cruel fate postponed our reunion until now. I was to be disappointed.

Despite all the makings for a great show - A decent warmup set by instrumental surf-rock/game-show-theme-loving band, Johnny Astro, a crowd buzzed on Kokanee beer and a DMQ set that ranged from Loverboy to Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind", one critical and unexpected piece was missing: unbeknownst to me, DMQ parted ways with their founder and lead singer, Paul Jensen. The new singer completely lacked Jensen's oily charm and snappy lounge act vibe, reducing DMQ to a karaoke-level status act. Pity. I overheard someone in the crowd say Jensen was with a new band, so I'll have to seek that out and hope for better.

The weekend ended with a showing of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" - a movie I scoffed at when I originally saw the trailer months ago, but warmed up to when I learned the inconsistent-but-rarely-boring David Fincher directed. I wanted to see Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire", but that would have required spending 2 hours killing time at Alderwood Mall - something I wasn't keen on doing after a month of excruciating Christmas shopping. My second choice would have been "Valkyrie", but Adrienne said "If I have to choose between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, I'm going with Brad Pitt".

It's a somewhat saccharine and predictable story that borrows too much from the structure of "Forrest Gump" (no surprise, since it's written by the same screenwriter), but it has great signature Fincher boilerplate-and-sepia cinematography and setpieces. Not having seen any additional spoiler-laden trailers helped keep the story fresh, especially the short but impressive WWII sequence. The creepy, shrunken, geriatic Brad Pitt was better than I expected. They also impressively reverse-aged Cate Blanchett - making me wish she'd looked so unearthly smooth-featured in her portrayal as the elven queen Galadriel in Jackson's Lord of the Rings.

"..To know what grownups do behind locked doors when children are asleep."

Seattle has been graced with an unusually spectacular fall this year, with sunny, crisp weather and phenomenal autumn colors. We celebrated the season this weekend with pumpkin carving (via store-bought templates, natch. Though it's deceptively more work than you might think. I applauded Adrienne's exquisite carving skills in executing her pumpkin that sweetly portrays my housemates, Tiny Elvis the tarantula and the cats) and roasting delicious pumpkin seeds, with my perennial Autumn favorite movie Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" playing in the background.

The Seattle Arboretum was fantastic to visit on Saturday, and I finally scratched off Kingfish Cafe on my "must do" list of local restaurants. Their buttermilk fried chicken, mashed taters and collard greens, with a dessert of coffee and double-chocolate cake with scooped real whipped cream and a hint of butterscotch was a meal to die for. I hope to visit again soon to try either the pork chops or catfish.

Bumbershoot '08

The weather cooperated and spared us a drenching Saturday, so we enjoyed a belated summer day at Bumbershoot. Food on a stick, mimes on stilts, skateboarders in the halfpipe, and more great music than could be properly covered in an afternoon.

Neko Case delivered the goods, including some great covers and much-anticipated songs off her new album due out next year. We also caught fantastic performances by The Asylum Street Spankers, Nick Vigarino, and Joe Bonamassa - whom I'd never heard of but who blew me away with his Stevie Ray Vaughn-meets-Robin Trower sonic wall of blues guitar.

Summertime, summertime

Last weekend was a hootenanny, what with an epic show at the Gorge with Steve Winwood and Tom Petty, and long-overdue summer weather. It was a blistering 102 at the Gorge, which for Seattlites felt a bit like being a strip of bacon on the grill, but it was a welcome sizzle. I was in a constant loop to the over-priced snack bar for frozen treats and cold drinks (not much rivals an slushie for cold snacks in scorching weather), and thankfully the sunscreen held out, keeping my vampiric complexion from harm.

Steve Winwood was amazing, so much that he upstaged Petty and the Heartbreakers a bit, particularly with an epic rendition of "Mr. Fantasy". At the close of his set, I lamented that he hadn't done "Gimme Some Lovin", but I'd get my wish when he joined the Heartbreakers and played both that and Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home". My ears were so overjoyed I was wishing he'd play the entire rest of the set with Petty and Co.

An equally gorgeous Sunday found us at Woodland Park Zoo, where, despite the absence of Ad's favorite penguins (getting a new habitat, to open next year), we enjoyed sharing the sun with furry and feathered pals.

Tale of Two Cities' Art Festivals

We ventured first to Bellevue's Festival of the Arts this weekend (I prefer the festival's original title, "Arts and Crafts Fair", but Bellevue probably decided it was too much a throwback to the hippie 70s and might encourage an infestation of macramé and tie-dye exhibitors). I'd only reintroduced myself to the fair 3 years ago after a 20+ year hiatus, and I was blown away by some of the artists' work.

My former college professor and mentor, Arunas Ošlapas, showed incredible new concepts in his "remade": fully recycled artwork. In addition to his amazing scrap-metal sculpture, he has introduced "quilts" - metal-and-scavenged-object framed artwork that I found so compelling that I just had to take a piece home with me.

There were many other pieces that affected me which I might have to revisit at a later date, among them the Mercer Mayer-meets-Tim Burton flavored work of Justin Hillgrove http://www.impsandmonsters.com. We also enjoyed the sounds and dancing of the above barefoot violinist and the timeless, never-disappointing indulgence of Fisher Fair Scones.

The following day we visited Renton's "River Days", of which the less said the better. Despite my growing affection for Renton, their so-called arts festival was akin to being the retarded cousin of the Bellevue show.

The After Hours

Going to see "Dark Knight" at Southcenter's swanky new movie theater Saturday, we passed by this Lucky Jeans storefront and I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the gang of nekkid mannequins. It conjured up childhood memories of that creepy "Twilight Zone" episode "The After Hours", with Anne Francis' mannequin identity crisis freaking my 10-year old mind out but good. The window scene also had a Ridleyesque Bladerunner quality to it, as if Deckard would come running by, chasing poor, doomed Zhora.

Speaking of bladerunner chases, we had a surreal moment in Ballard yesterday, when we bore witness to a cop chasing a suspect of some sort near the Safeway at Market and 15th. Heavy afternoon traffic was slowly creeping along, when suddenly we see a cop car driving on the sidewalk next to the Safeway, chasing a disheveled-looking man, frantically looking for an escape route. The guy gave a panicked look across the street, as if salvation lay on the other side, and ran right out in front of my truck and the rest of traffic (which had by this time stopped to watch the bizarre scene unfold), followed by the cop car, lights blazing in hot pursuit. Adrienne and I looked at each other and shrugged. "I hate tourist season", she dryly quipped.