You Should See 300

We saw 300 last night. We'd recommend you go see it as well. It's definitely got the feel of a comic book movie, but it's much more Sin City (also Frank Miller) than Superman Returns. It's ridiculously violent, but not repulsively so. The story works well enough, only getting mired down with pesky monologues near the end of the film (seriously, it's almost like it was adapted from a play at that point). But it's still a must-see.

A few months back we posted about Rize, the documentary by David LaChappele on the krumping dance phenomenon. While the pacing of that film left something to be desired, the actual dance footage was beatifully shot, with oversaturated colors, adjustments to camera speed and an overall sheen that drew you in. 300 uses a similar mechanic for the fight scenes, with adjustments to color (desaturated this time) and film speed working to enhance the overall effect. People often say about these movies that it feels like a comic book come to life, but those words aren't mere cliché here. Momentary freezes remind you of a comic frame, but that moment is fleeting, a cinematic homage to the source material.

We didn't have the internal hype for this movie that we could have, but having seen the film, our hype-meter is at a maximum. Go see this film. You can even one-up the Cinerama experience and catch this at IMAX (we'd recommend it - the bigger the screen the better).

Agree with us? Think we're full of it (regarding this movie, not our personal life)? Leave us a comment.

The Next Snakes on a Plane?

If this isn't a joke, you can bet we'll be there opening day.

Tidbits

- Another blogger has put together a list of the Top 10 uses of "the 'N' word." It's a great read. [Thanks Audrey!]

- We picked up some praise from Seattlest this week. It wasn't entirely surprising since we'd answered some questions about the A Revolution Stunted series, but we continue to be amazed by the overall response. We get outed in the post, but it's not like we took our blog anonymity very seriously anyway.

- Mark your calendars (in pencil) for the next sample sale. From one of the vendors:

I think we'll be back in Seattle doing something similar, but on a bigger, less basement-of-a-now-defunct-chinese-restaurant sort of feel on April 22.

- Captain America died this week. Some people are taking it far too seriously, but being comic readers, we're pretty sure this won't be permanent. He'll be back. As for as those saying this is some sort of political allegory, sure, it could be that, but if you actually take a look at some of the storyline in question, the writing is sharp as a sledgehammer and half as subtle. If you're looking for a comic that really has something to say, read Uncle Sam, which features beautiful art by Alex Ross, a wonderfully nuanced storyline, and an open-endedness that can only exist in a form not meant for kids (the Captain America storyline has to work on two levels, which weakens it a bit).

- Things we forgot to mention in Weekending: new opening at OKOK, new opening at BLVD, and 300 opens today for you comic book movie junkies.

Weekending

ByDesign - NWFF is exploring the intersection between art and technology this weekend, with a series of films and events featuring true masters of their craft in the areas of music, graphic design, and overall artistic badassery. We're most excited about 8-Bit: A Documentary About Art and Video Games, which is making its Northwest debut.

Seattle Notables Costume Party: The McLeods are at it yet again. They've got the art exhibit, now they're throwing a party to celebrate Seattle's microcelebrities. We're dedicating ourselves to joining those ranks for next year's exhibit, but we have yet to figure out how we'll make ourselves more (in)famous. In any case, costume party Friday. It's going to be insane. Expect to see nipple on the Flickr photostream.

LebowskiFest: The bowling on Saturday is already sold out, but the screening of the Big Lebowski features The Real Dude, and a whole lot of people drinking white Russians. We're sure that this is going to be a memorable time. Watch out for nihilists. Congrats to BostonSteamer for all his work coming to fruition.

Bot Battles: The Transformers movie doesn't come out until the 4th of July, but this should be a good stopgap. One 12 foot square ring. Two robots enter, one robot leaves.

We Got It For Cheap

This weekend spanning_time made our way down to 6th Avenue for a sample sale that we picked up a flyer for while out on our various Friday adventures. We didn't have a chance to give a heads up to our readership, but we're posting now to give you the heads up for future events. Sales reps from a few different companies got together to do a one-day sale of some of their excess inventory. T-shirts (and other things) were plentiful, and it was all at low, low, prices. We picked up some stuff we're pleased with, and would have picked up more had we showed up earlier. In any case, they'll be doing this sale again at some point in the future, and we highly recommend you shoot an email to the powers-that-be to get on their mailing list. It's worth your while.

Here are the clothing lines that were represented this time around (likely to change next time):

Invicid
Obey
Option-G
Paul Frank
No Star
Hecklewood
Monsieur T

The Revolution Continues...

- The "N" Word? Banned in New York.

- There's a backlash against rap? Ya don't say...

- Oprah, you know we love you, but perhaps you should do a bit more research before wielding your mighty hammer of influence.

[via Slog, ReluctantNinja, and Seattlest]

Rock Music, Rockin' Robots, and Rock Stars

We've picked up a few new readers over the last month, drawn in by the videos and commentary we were posting. It'll be interesting to see how many of them stick around now that we're going back to more activity-oriented posting, but we must stick to our original mission: filling your free time with random activities around Seattle.

We're just getting our heads back into that world (trust us, it's dark and sordid), and have to mention these things to you in case you're lacking things to do tonight (and you shouldn't be - it's First Thursday!). Also, for you new readers, be sure to either join the spanning_time group on Upcoming.org or subscribe to our calendar in your app of choice (click from the badge on the blog).


- Ellen Forney is doing another performance/reading of "I Love Led Zeppelin." We were so excited to see this we actually made the trek twice to catch it (we only caught the Q&A the first time due to traffic), and it was completely worth the effort. Ellen's work is very human, very funny, and very Seattle. At the Wild Rose, 8pm.

- This is a bit more academic, but there's a talk [.pdf link] on "The Art and Science of Social Robots" at UW. Cynthia Breazeal of the MIT Media Lab will talk about her research program, which focuses on the interaction between humans and robots. So in short, when the robots make their first moves to overthrow the world, it may be tips from this night that make all the difference for humanity. UW's Kane Hall 120, 7pm.

- McLeod Residence is having a preview of their newest exhibit, a series of photos and etc. of Seattle Notables as part of their weekly happy hour. That's cool and all, but by now you shouldn't need any prodding to go to the McLeod Residence. Just go!