"…If the gatekeeper permits." by Lindsay Costello

15. YOU TOO, SHALL PASS: …If the gatekeeper permits.

The Beyond

At the risk of a hot take, here's something I've realized after many Halloweens spent watching giallo films: If you think you want to see an Argento flick, what you're actually looking for is Fulci.

No shade to Argento—he's a master of style and atmosphere. (He might've even invented bisexual lighting by accident.) But Lucio Fulci delivered giallo at its best: His films are psychological, stylish, and, most importantly, brutal. Fulci told killer stories that aren't mired in misogyny or aesthetics, and he did it all with a fraction of Argento's budget and audience. Fulci's practical effects were grotesque and imaginative. (If melting faces or eyeball-chewing spiders aren't your thing, steer clear of his 1981 film The Beyond.)

The film shrieks to life with an old-timey, sepia-tinted crucifixion scene and grows gnarlier from there. When chill New Yorker Liza inherits an old New Orleans hotel (cool), she's startled to discover that it's a gateway to hell (not cool). Don't poke the portal, by the way: The hotel's maintenance workers fall off the roof and have their eyeballs gouged out by reanimated corpses. 

Liza's neighbor Emily, a luminous and seemingly not-entirely-human blind woman, might be the only character who understands the hotel's past. With her German Shepherd service dog Dicky by her side, Emily plays a haunting piano motif that complements Fabio Frizzi's eerie, atmospheric synth soundscapes. (Word of warning: In the hell-realm of The Beyond, even the dog can't be trusted.) 

Then, in a scene so drawn-out it's almost laughable, a man is paralyzed and has his face—eyes included—devoured by a swarm of spiders. Yeah, there's a lot of "eye stuff" in this film. Fulci might've been making a statement about vision and blindness and witnessing evil, but The Beyond is so drenched in a surreal, dreamy Southern haze that its deeper meaning doesn't need to be named. It washes over you. The Beyond is a somatic experience; it's a film that chills your bones while making you sweat. 

I won’t spoil the ending entirely, but it drives my point home. Imagine spending eternity trapped in a painting of Hell—not the real thing, but close enough. A gateway to nothing. A bleak, gray wasteland that stretches endlessly in every direction. That's true terror.

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.Love. by Dan Savage I am a 28-year-old cisgender sex-repulsed asexual gay man. While some asexuals choose to have sex for the pleasure it provides their partner, sex-repulsed asexuals like me do not engage in sexual activity and do not wish to be exposed to it. As a sex-repulsed asexual gay man, I feel alienated when I enter gay spaces like bars, parties, clubs. Gay allosexuals don’t seem to be aware that hypersexualized spaces make asexual men like me feel unsafe and unwanted. We are forced to choose between being isolated or entering spaces where other gay men are kissing, grinding, or worse. Also, bartenders are often shirtless, there are go-go dancers, and even the posters on the walls feature sexually explicit imagery. When gay sex is foregrounded like this it makes gay men like me feel like we are not welcome in the gay community. And to answer the obvious question: I go…

[ Read more ]

The Mayor Rips Up the Social Safety Net but Readies the Broom to Sweep Away Anyone Who Falls Through by Hannah Krieg

In August, Mayor Bruce Harrell bragged that his #OneSeattle Homelessness Action Plan managed to decrease homelessness encampments by 61 percent over the last two years. At the same time, the 2024 Point-in-Time Count tallied more than 16,000 people experiencing homelessness in King County, the largest number ever reported in the survey and a 23 percent increase over the last two years. 

The ideology that fed those disparate results lies bare in Harrell’s 2025-2026 budget proposal, wherein he defunds stuff that houses people in order to fund stuff that temporarily pushes homeless people around town, allowing homelessness to fester out of sight. Essentially, Harrell is giving the city council a choice as they rework his budget in the coming weeks—treat homelessness as an aesthetic issue, or treat it as a humanitarian crisis. 

BTW We Are in Crisis

In case you’ve missed it: Seattle, along with most of the United States, is in a housing crisis. To dig the city out of the crisis, we need 112,000 new homes by 2044, according to a recent report from the Seattle Office of Housing (OH). That total includes more than 41,000 private market units for those making between 80 and 120 percent of the area median income (AMI), more than 42,000 subsidized units for people making between 0 and 80 percent AMI, and then about another 28,000 units of permanent supportive housing for those with high-acuity needs. 

All that means Seattle needs to fund at least 2,100 units of affordable housing every year for the next 20 years. Harrell’s budget doesn’t do that, not even when combined with the couple hundred units the Housing Levy will pay for every year. 

Instead, in his 2025-2026 budget proposal, the mayor defunds affordable housing by raiding $330 million from the JumpStart Payroll Expense tax, a tax on the city’s largest businesses that must reserve 62 percent of its revenue to affordable housing. Harrell's proposal does pump up affordable housing investments to a historic $342.2 million in 2025, representing a 2.5 percent increase from 2024. But, had he honored the legally mandated JumpStart spending plan, he would have allocated an additional $204 million to affordable housing.

Doing a little back-of-napkin math here, let’s assume a unit of affordable housing costs about $320,000, as estimated in the Housing Levy. In that case, Harrell’s "historic" budget funds about 1,068 units a year. If he hadn’t raided JumpStart, then he would have $526.2 million from all streams to fund about 1,706 affordable units in 2025. To fund the 2,100 units we need to do our part this year, he would need to allocate about $630 million total to affordable housing. If he really believed we were in a housing crisis, then he could reach that total by combining the money he budgets for housing this year, plus the affordable housing funds he stole from the JumpStart tax, plus the $100 million for new programming that he added this year to “activate” spaces and install CCTV cameras, mainly to show off to World Cup tourists in 2025. But he didn't. 

Staying Housed

Aside from short-changing affordable housing construction funding, Harrell’s budget proposal also pokes holes in our social safety net, weakening the City’s ability to protect workers from their bosses and renters from their landlords. 

Helping tenants stay in their homes, whether by protecting their wages so they can afford rent or by evening the playing field when it comes to evictions, can help prevent homelessness. On that former score, Harrell’s budget proposal cut more than $600,000 from the Office of Labor Standards (OLS), the City’s only mechanism to enforce its 19 unique labor laws, including the minimum wage ordinance, the wage theft ordinance, the Fair Chance Employment ordinance, four laws specifically protecting hotel workers, and three laws protecting gig delivery drivers. 

The cuts include three full-time positions; $216,000 from general operating expenses, $100,000 from outreach to marginalized small business owners, and in 2026 Harrell plans to cut one-third of the funding dedicated to helping spread awareness of workers’ rights in partnership with community-based organizations. All of this limits the agency’s ability to enforce labor standards. According to the budget document, the mayor’s proposal “maintains core services” of OLS at a “reduced scale” in order to preserve “critical City services” in the face of the $250 million shortfall in 2025. 

But labor leaders argue that OLS does provide “critical City services.” 

MLK Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Katie Garrow said the nation recognizes Seattle as a vanguard for workers’ rights given its early adoption of the $15 minimum wage and its protections of gig delivery drivers. But none of those rights matter if the City does not enforce them, she says. 

Garrow noted that every year employers steal a stunning $15 billion from workers in the United States. According to the Economic Opportunity Institute, the total value of property stolen through robberies, burglaries, and carjackings adds up to less than 4 percent of what bosses steal from their workers each year. Without enforcement from OLS, the City would allow companies to “continue this crime with impunity because a minimum wage worker does not have the money or time to litigate a claim against a multi-billion dollar corporation,” Garrow said.

And it's not like trimming a little fat from the already slim department will fill Harrell’s hole. In 2023, the City spent $8.4 million in total on the entire department, accounting for just 0.14 percent of the City’s operating budget. That year alone, OLS recouped more than $4.4 million in wages for workers who were wronged by their bosses. When the City gave the agency more money in 2022, about $12.1 million, it raked in even more for workers–about $7.7 million. In total, since its inception in 2014, OLS has recouped more than $42 million for workers. 

So maybe labor law enforcement is not a “critical” service in Harrell’s eyes, but for the more than 94,000 workers with more money in their pockets thanks to the OLS, enforcement could mean the difference between making your rent on time and getting evicted, which often leads to homelessness.

The mayor’s budget also limits the City’s ability to protect renters, leaving them all the more vulnerable to eviction and homelessness. In his proposal, Harrell cut tenant services funding from $2.6 million in 2024 to just $1.8 million. And instead of renewing additional one-time funding of about $1 million for rental assistance, he only designated about $527,000 of the $1.8 million to pay rent for struggling tenants. That leaves tenant services at a measly $1.2 million. 

Kate Rubin, the co-executive director of tenant advocacy group Be:Seattle, said $1.2 million is “nowhere near enough to support tenant education, organizing, counseling, and legal services,” all of which fall under the umbrella of “tenant services.”

The City contracts with organizations such as Be:Seattle to provide tenant services. Be:Seattle, with just two paid staff members, serves about 785 renters per year, according to Rubin.

“Renters typically come to us frustrated by unresolved issues,” Rubin said in an email to Council Member Tammy Morales’s staff. “We equip them with knowledge of their rights, guide them in navigating landlord-tenant relationships, and teach strategic organizing skills. This knowledge spreads through their communities, often reaching those who might not otherwise have access.”

Without funding this work, Rubin said “disputes would escalate, landlords would exploit renters unchecked, and more people would be at risk of displacement and homelessness.”

The mayor’s proposal also cuts $50,000 promised in a previous budget to establish a work group to help create an Office of Rental Housing Standards. That office would help author new renter protections and enforce existing ones. As Garrow said of labor standards, laws protecting renters mean little when they’re not strongly enforced.

Stop the Sweeps

As he blamed the budget deficit for every cut to programs that benefit working people, Harrell found ways to increase spending for sweeps, seemingly his homelessness solution of choice. 

His budget bolsters sweeps by adding $880,000 to the Unified Care Team (UCT), a cross-department team that conducts encampment removals. The new funds will pay for 11 new full-time positions and enable the UCT to conduct sweeps seven days a week rather than just five. 

And boy does the UCT already make use of those five days. According to Real Change, the City of Seattle conducted a record-breaking 2,827 sweeps in 2023, an increase of 207 percent from the 922 conducted in 2022. That means the City conducted about 11.3 sweeps per day, excluding weekends and the 12 recognized City holidays. If the UCT kept that pace on their new seven-day schedule, then the City could theoretically conduct 4,000 sweeps a year.

But more sweeps does not mean less homelessness. At most, 11 percent of the City’s shelter referrals actually lead to people taking the offer, according to a report analyzing the UCT’s performance between July and September of 2023.  Publicola reported that people often rejected the shelter referrals because the UCT offered them a stay at an overnight, congregate shelter rather than at a spot in a tiny shelter village, or, most desirably, in actual housing.

And that’s when the UCT makes the offer at all. According to Real Change, more than 99 percent of all sweeps conducted by the UCT in 2023 were considered “obstruction” sweeps, which means the City does not have to give three days notice or offer shelter upon removal. 

Alison Eisinger, the executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness (Seattle/King County), tells The Stranger that investing in the sweeps team amounts to the “least effective and most cynical response to homelessness in our community.”

“Most people understand there is no magic wand,” says Eisinger. “It takes real and sustained work to help people get the housing, shelter, health care, and other supports they need.”

Eisinger says the City would see better results if Harrell or the council took the funding from sweeps and put it toward regional approaches that have more success.

For example, the state’s slower, more methodical Encampment Resolution Program has closed 47 encampments while bringing 70 percent of their residents–or about 1,200 people–inside. The model works particularly well in King County, which managed to close 18 encampments and bring 90 percent of the people inside. According to the Seattle Times, the Encampment Resolution Program found more success because it offered better, more permanent shelter options. 

While the Mayor did not renew $2 million in one-time funding from 2023 to 2024 to CoLEAD, the group that conducts the slower, more effective sweeps, CoLEAD Director Lisa Daugaard said the State pays for the removals, and so the future of the program depends on who wins the gubernatorial race and who makes up the State Legislature. 

From the Mayor

The Mayor’s office disagrees with the framing that his budget perpetuates homelessness, and it argues that to say so is to neglect “the nuance of the homelessness crisis, the $250 million general fund deficit, and the full breadth of the mayor's work across all of these issues,” mayoral spokesperson Jamie Housen said in an email to The Stranger. 

Housen noted that Harrell delivered historic investments to affordable housing in the face of the deficit and saved 300 existing shelter beds whose funding would have otherwise lapsed. Of course, the budget deficit excuse sort of falls flat when you consider he also added $100 million in new spending throughout the budget. 

Housen also said Harrell attempted to increase housing supply outside of the budget. He streamlined the design review process, made it easier to build ADUs, supported a new redevelopment plan for affordable housing at Fort Lawton, and updated the City’s maritime and industrial lands policy to create more opportunities to build housing, he said. Those policies add capacity, but they do not fund housing. The Fort Lawton plan will allow for as many as 500 units. The maritime and industrial land update will allow for about 3,000 units over 20 years, according to the mayor’s press release. 

He also mentioned Harrell’s One Seattle Comprehensive Plan, but that plan did not exactly impress anyone, as it only plans for about half the housing we need. 

As for the UCT, Housen said the team receives a “fraction” of what the City invests into homelessness services, shelter, and permanent housing. Still, he said UCT’s approach is “making a difference.” Seattleites see fewer tent and RV encampments, less gun violence and fires related to homelessness, and more shelter referrals, he said.  

Housen also casted doubt on the Point-In-Time survey, which found an increase in homelessness under Harrell’s watch. He claimed the count “lacks consistency” in its method, which “creates difficulties in comparing year-over-year data.”

He did not address the cuts to renter services and labor law enforcement or how they could threaten housing stability for working people. 

“The mayor believes that it is inhumane for people to live outside, and our budget reflects an investment strategy to continue making progress bringing people indoors with the services to recover, using the resources we have available,” says Housen. “Ultimately, a significant budget deficit requires difficult decisions, and this proposal is now in the hands of the city council to review the budget, propose modifications, and complete the process.”

You can tell the city council how you feel about the budget at public comment Wednesday at 5 pm. Sign up opens an hour before the meeting.

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Ashley Nerbovig

Goood morning: I took a walk last night, because I'm on that steps grind, and goddamn it's a beautiful time of year. It might rain today, but if it does it'll be a sprinkle. The temperature will rise to 55 degrees. The sun will set at 6:20 pm. I hit 10,109 steps yesterday.

And now to other weather "news": A Republican Washington State House candidate appears to believe the government can control the weather. Carrie R. Kennedy, who's challenging Democratic State Representative Clyde Shavers up in the 10th Legislative District, which covers the islands, reposted a Bikers for America Facebook post about weather manipulation on October 13, which basically peddled the conspiracy theory that the US Government caused the recent East Coast hurricanes as part of an attempt to depopulate the country. None of that is true. She has posted similar conspiracies before on her Facebook and her X account. Keep in mind, this isn't some kooky challenger way behind in the polls. Shavers only won the primary with 52 percent of the vote share. She's got some juice.

After I reached out to Kennedy last night to ask about several of her weather manipulation posts, the Bikers for America post now no longer appears on her Facebook. Luckily we grabbed some screenshots.

Also missing from her feed is an October 8 repost of a post she wrote in 2020, which said, "If 'they' can create a virus, can 'they' control the weather?!!! Just sayin'". She captioned it, "From 2020..." with a scratching chin emoji and a woman crossing her arms in front of her. The repost no longer appears on her page, but the original post remains. She did not respond to my request for comment. I hate fact-checking this shit, but, just a heads up, the government cannot control hurricanes, and just because the government can do one kind of science does not mean it can do another. 

Boeing plans to cut white collar workers: Boeing machinist jobs remain safe for now as the aerospace company plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce. The cuts appear mostly focused on white collar employees, such as engineers, and other non-union staff "at all levels up to vice presidents," according to the Seattle Times. Boeing plans to notify the first wave of employees about the lay offs mid-November, with their final days planned for January 17.

The year without a Hilloween: The Broadway Business Improvement Area has cancelled the kids carnival on Broadway this Halloween, according to Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. Apparently, funding and sponsorship just failed to pan out this year. But there's still plenty of other good stuff to come for Hilloween this year, including a Haunted Soiree at the DAR Rainier Chapter House. I'm so mad I missed the pet costume parade—goddamn I love those. 

Work from the waterfront: There is lots of open office space along the waterfront, according the Seattle Times. With the opening of the Overlook Walk, which connects Pike Place with the waterfront, real estate interests in the area hope to see a resurgence in businesses moving into the open commercial spaces. I'm not much of a back-to-the-office stan, but I went to the Overlook Walk over the weekend, and honestly I'd work from the office two days a week if I could eat lunch there. 

Jill Stein comes to town tonight: The anti-war Green Party candidate plans to speak tonight alongside former Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant. The event starts at 5 pm at Washington Hall on 14th Avenue in Seattle. If you can't be there in person, it's going to be live-streamed. For any of you ready to complain about Sawant supporting someone other than Vice President Kamala Harris for President, be cool and watch Rich tell you why that's dumb. [Eds note: To be clear, he also thinks it's dumb for Sawant to support Stein.]

Trump does something silly: Two medical incidents at a Trump town hall derailed the event, and Trump played some music and "bopped and shimmied," as the Associated Press put it, to a really strange mix of songs, including Rufus Wainwright's cover of "Hallelujah" and "Ave Maria." 

Hope he's okay. https://t.co/WGhGteFpjm

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 15, 2024

We need a shorter election cycle: The polls are tight. I'm depressed all the time, and, tbh, I'm one of those people who quits when shit gets tough. Good luck to everyone else. I'm following up on that promise from the Irish government that they'll pay you to take over a sheep farm or whatever. Shit looks dark. If y'all mount a resistance movement I'll send wool. [Eds note: Other options include spending some time phone-banking for Harris in battleground states, calling friends and family in battleground states to convince them to vote for Harris or to convince them to get off their asses and knock doors. But Ireland does sound nice.]

The geopolitical equivalent of blocking someone: North Korea blew up the some of the unused road and rail routes that used to connect it to South Korea, according to the Associated Press. Tensions rose a few days ago after North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the two countries are never, ever, getting back together.

I'm on a music strike until my computer speakers get better. Listening to anything on this laptop makes my teeth hurt.

Editor's note: This story was updated to correctly reflect the results in 10th Legislative District's 2024 state house primary race.

"Made by an Indigenous filmmaker or has featured Indigenous cast members." by Megan Seling

14. HALLOWED GROUND: Made by an Indigenous filmmaker or has featured Indigenous cast members.

Slash/Back

Nyla Innuksuk’s Slash/Back has been on my to-watch list since at least last year when it was added to Hulu, but it wasn’t until I saw Scarecrow’s Day 14 prompt—watch a film “made by an Indigenous filmmaker or has featured Indigenous cast members”—that I finally sat down to watch it.

It was a blast! Thanks, Scarecrow! 

Slash/Back is set and filmed in Nunavut (where one of my all-time favorite Nashville Predators players, Jordin Tootoo, is from!), in the small community of Pangnirtung. For a group of local girls, what starts out as just another day of breaking insignificant rules, getting harassed by cops, and avoiding annoying younger siblings, quickly devolves into a literal fight for their lives when what appears to be a zombified polar bear crashes their picnic. After some investigation—and some more of the monster’s murderous rampages—they discover that a parasitic creature has invaded their land, and it shows no sign of stopping until the whole town is sucked dry. 

I won't spoil the ending, but, hell yes, there is a "prepare for battle" montage as well as a wicked scene involving an ulu knife. There are also a few sweet moments between the girls as they bond over their complicated relationships with their heritage and traditions and the relatable urge to leave home as soon as possible.

It's not reinventing the young adult sci-fi flick—comparisons to Attack the Block and Stranger Things are plentiful and unavoidable—but it’s still a fun-to-watch story about young people who have to save their town from violent, blood-sucking aliens because if they don’t do it, no one else will. It makes for a hell of a metaphor for colonialism, too… but, you know, with tentacles.

Best quote: “I cut open its throat with an ulu.” “Nasty! I love it.”

Snack suggestion: White chocolate-covered gummy polar bears

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

Healthcare professionals see firsthand the debilitating effects of dirty air and pollution-related diseases right here in Washington—from forest fire smoke, increasingly severe and prolonged heat waves, and longer, more potent allergy seasons. These impacts affect us all, but they disproportionately harm vulnerable populations like the young, the elderly, the poor, and communities of color. 1-2117 would rollback major progress to mitigate that impact. by Dr. Ken Lans

Did you hear the one about the hedge fund millionaire who moves up from California and spends millions of dollars to get a bunch of his right-wing initiatives on Washington’s November 2024 ballot? Turns out it’s not a joke.

All four initiatives on the November ballot would, if passed, be awful for the health of people here in Washington. But Initiative-2117, stands out for just how far-reaching its bad health consequences would be. The initiative would repeal Washington's Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and prohibit any policies involving carbon pricing in the future. In the service of a self-interested extremist, it dangerously and ridiculously halts and reverses important progress finally being made to combat air pollution and climate change. These dangers are fully detailed in a Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) report, ‘A Risk to our Health: An Analysis of the Threats to Health Posed by I-2117’. 

Healthcare professionals see firsthand the debilitating effects of dirty air and pollution-related diseases. We’re also beginning to see, right here in Washington, more and more direct health impacts of climate change—from forest fire smoke, increasingly severe and prolonged heat waves, and longer, more potent allergy seasons. These impacts affect us all, but they disproportionately harm vulnerable populations like the young, the elderly, the poor, and communities of color.

The CCA is a cap-and-invest program which passed in 2021 and just took effect last year. It employs a form of carbon pricing where the maximum amount of total permissible CO2 is established and decreases each year, and permits to pollute up to that limit are sold at auction. The program is already beginning to have significant and beneficial impacts on our health through meaningful reductions in air pollution.  And as more revenue is collected in future auctions, those benefits will grow. But all health gains—existing and potential—are threatened if I-2117 passes.

Addressing our Climate and our Health

Combustion of fossil fuels—gasoline, diesel, and natural gas—is the primary source of greenhouse gasses (primarily CO2) and air pollution (PM2.5 small particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide). The World Health Organization (WHO) states, “Air pollution, primarily the result of burning fossil fuels, which also drives climate change, causes 13 deaths per minute worldwide.” Around the world, exposure to polluted air is the second highest risk of death for children 5 and under.

Major health-related impacts from air pollution include increased morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) from asthma and other respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease and stroke, cancer, and diabetes. We’re also concerned about mental health impacts, as PM2.5 can enter the brain via the olfactory nerve and bloodstream.

Medical studies make it clear that there is no safe level of PM2.5, no threshold point where harm starts. The more air pollution a person is exposed to, even starting at low doses, the more harm that can result (and the lower the exposure, the less harm). So all reductions in air pollution levels are good for health. 

Supporters of I-2117 emphasize the dollars you could save, but we also need to recognize the increased costs we already pay, both in terms of actual dollars spent on healthcare and, maybe even more importantly, in terms of damage to our very health and well-being, from exposure to pollution and from the impacts climate change is already having.

These same emissions that release health-harming gasses also release climate-change causing CO2.  The resulting environmental changes brought about by these dramatically increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere include more extreme weather events, more frequent, more severe, and longer lasting heat waves, and an increase in the number and severity of wildfires and their accompanying smoke — all of which put increasing burdens on the health of people throughout the state.

Air pollution and climate-related risks are cumulative. Added to the health impacts resulting from air pollution, direct impacts we’re seeing from climate change include, heat-related illnesses and deaths; asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses; cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke; infectious diseases such as Lyme disease and encephalitis; mental health conditions, including increased depression and suicidality; violent behavior, including intimate partner violence; and lowered birth weight in infants.

Climate Change and Pollution Do Not Impact All People Equally

All these health conditions that are exacerbated by climate change and air pollution are experienced more frequently and with greater impact by vulnerable, marginalized, and disenfranchised populations. Not by chance, but due in large part to the long-term policies of “redlining” and zoning laws and other historical forms of discriminatory public policy and ongoing bias, poorer communities, tribal communities, and communities of color are far more likely to be located in close proximity to the sources of pollution, such as industrial sites, oil and gas refineries, ports, rail yards, and busy highways. They are also less likely to have adequate infrastructure and tree canopy to help mitigate the effects of extreme heat. Disadvantaged groups also include migrant workers, people with limited English proficiency, displaced persons, indigenous tribes, and those with pre-existing medical conditions, chronic illness, and disabilities.

The CCA is designed specifically to place environmental justice and equity at the center of climate policy. It implements and funds the HEAL (Healthy Environment for All) Act of 2021 that requires the State “to identify and address environmental health disparities in overburdened communities and for vulnerable populations.”

Because industries participating in the CCA will take some time to substantially reduce their pollution, especially in already overburdened communities, and will likely pass on as much of their increased costs as they can to the consumer, any equitable carbon pricing regimen must include investments in overburdened communities and energy subsidies to low income households. The CCA does just that. Of monies spent, 35-40% must benefit vulnerable populations in overburdened communities; 10% must be formally supported by Tribal resolution. Indeed, as of late spring, the Office of Financial Management estimated that, of total CCA investments made to that time, nearly $924 million, or 43%, were directed to overburdened communities and $155 million, or 7.3%, specifically to benefit Tribes.

Improving the Health and Well-being of Children

Children with developing lungs are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, and can experience lifelong effects from inhaled particulates. In the home, CCA funds programs such as an expansion of weatherization and projects that improve indoor air quality through the replacement of gas stoves and gas and oil furnaces.

Studies show that diesel-emitting school buses expose children to harmful exposures both on and outside the buses—exposures that can decrease cognitive function, increase cardiovascular risks, and worsen respiratory health. The CCA is funding electric school buses to minimize these risks. It also funds free bus, ferry, and train rides for everyone under 18 and expands sidewalks and crosswalks so that children can safely access schools, parks and the outdoor environment. 

CCA-funded expansion of our regional air quality monitoring network—a critical system for equipping parents of a child with asthma with real-time health information so they can make critical decisions around medication and exposure—would also be ended if I-2117 passes.

Finally, carbon emission reduction projects funded by the CCA, though admittedly small compared to worldwide emissions, still matter as all these reductions add up. Combined, they will help to reduce extreme weather events worldwide, including flooding — such as we’ve just seen from hurricane Helene — and heat waves. Such interventions are critical, as increased child and infant mortality have been associated with extreme heat events, as well as decreased cognitive abilities in children exposed to high heat. Even those still in the womb can experience negative health impacts from extreme heat. Climate resilience projects for schools, funded through the CCA, such as HVAC improvements and electrification, will directly help keep the children of Washington learning and growing through extreme heat.

My Prescription: Vote No on I-2117

To sum up why is it so urgent and important to defeat I-2117:

•   Because climate change and air pollution have such dire and far-reaching consequences for the health of the residents of Washington (and in fact to every living being on our planet) and we’re already paying, often dearly, with our health;
•   Because Washington is seen as a model of climate action and passage of I-2117 here would likely severely chill climate action in other states (and, adding insult to injury — which I mean literally — I-2117 would prohibit any future climate pricing in our state);
•   Because the Climate Commitment Act is already showing what a crucial role it can play in reducing pollution, addressing the impacts of climate change, and improving health for so many.

Voting ‘no’ becomes one of the most vital health decisions that you can make. So join me, my colleagues at WPSR, and concerned health professionals throughout the state (including the Washington State Medical Association, the Washington State Nursing Association, the Washington State Public Health Association, and the American Lung Association in Washington) in casting a critical vote to protect your health, your children’s health, and everyone’s health.

Dr. Ken Lans is a retired General Practice Physician and a founder and current Board President of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR).

Kehlani, Indigenous Peoples' Day Citywide Celebration, and More by EverOut Staff

It's just another manic Monday, but we're here to sort out your weekly plans with event suggestions from Kehlani's CRASH WORLD TOUR to Brittany Howard & Michael Kiwanuka and from an Indigenous Peoples’ Day Citywide Celebration to Text Me Back! An Election Preview & Live Podcast Taping, and much more.

MONDAY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY

2024 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Citywide Celebration
There are events scattered all across the city for Indigenous Peoples' Day. The day starts at 9:30 am at Pier 62 Waterfront Park, where folks are invited to bring their drums and their tribal flags and join the march along the waterfront to King Street Station, where there will be a rally and round dance for peace at 1:30 pm. Elsewhere around the city, you can see Khu.éex' (featuring A+P star and renowned glass artist Preston Singletary) perform at Westlake Park at 11 am and join the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center for dancing, dinner, and bingo at 5 pm. See all the day's details here. Unrelated: Remember that time in 2015 when Mayor Harrell, a city council member at the time, wanted to proclaim "Italian-American Heritage" Month on Indigenous Peoples' Day??? And now he's mayor! What a ride. MEGAN SELING
(Various locations)

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham

Two students dead in 24 hours at Western: Two Western Washington University students died last week in unconnected incidents. On Wednesday, an 18-year-old student died from a fall off a residence hall. The medical examiner ruled it a death by suicide. The second student, also 18, was found unresponsive in their residence hall Thursday morning from a suspected drug overdose. 

Did you drop your improvised explosive device? Maybe you last saw it in Burien? On Friday evening, a boom and blast rattled drivers at the intersection of South 116th Street and 1st Avenue South. Officers found what was left of an improvised explosive device they say was tossed onto the road. No one was injured, but authorities wonder whether the explosion is related to Saturday's I-90 bomb scare. 

That I-90 bomb threat: If you sat in snared I-90 traffic on Saturday it's because two idiots fled a police traffic stop and threw what police suspected were explosive devices out their window as they zoomed away. Authorities shut down traffic in both directions on I-90 in Mercer Island for over two hours so they could locate and detonate the explosives. 

EXPLOSIVE DEVICES SAFELY DETONATED

Bellevue PD saying the bomb squad safely disarmed 2 of the 3 devices found. The 3rd was described as an elongated firework.

Below is a picture of the explosive device. Police telling @fox13seattle the suspect attempted to light and throw it… pic.twitter.com/XWfJC9kzuO

— Dave Detling (@DetlingFOX13) October 13, 2024

Just take the bus: Parking fees are going up across the city. In central Ballard and Columbia City, expect to pay $6 per hour. It'll cost $6.50 per hour to park in Fremont or the Pike-Pine area of Capitol Hill. I can already feel the gripes from the car-clingers among you. You can find cheaper rates in places where not a lot of people are driving and parking. Or, you could pay $2.75 for a bus ride.

The weather: I hoped you spoiled brats enjoyed your balmy weekend. It'll be chilly, cloudy, and drizzly today. Let the real fall weather reign. 

Charity for homeless youth shuts down: The privately funded charity A Way Home Washington, which focuses on reducing youth homelessness, announced it will be closing its doors since philanthropic donations have run dry. In concert with similar government programs, A Way Home Washington contributed to a 40 percent reduction in youth and adult homelessness between 2016 and 2023, according to the Seattle Times. Despite success, the money has stopped flowing, so the charity must die. This is why we can't look to philanthropy to replace government programs. It's nice to get private money to fill in gaps and fund services ... until those funds turn fickle.

Israel keeps slaughtering Gazans: Over the weekend, Israel aimed strikes at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where people displaced from the war had been sheltering. The strike and the fires it lit that engulfed tents in the encampment killed four people and injured dozens more. Separate from that atrocity, Israel struck a school compound overnight where families were sheltering and where a polio vaccination site had been planned. Those attacks killed 20 people. This is genocide. 

pic.twitter.com/n5KEf1qSbT

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) October 14, 2024

Starvation as a weapon: According to the World Food Programme, no food has entered Gaza since October 1. Additionally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to seal off all humanitarian aid into Gaza, trapping hundreds of thousands of people without food, water, or other basic necessities.

And, yet the US pledged even more arms and forces to Israel. The Pentagon announced Sunday it would send "an advanced missile defense system to Israel, along with about 100 American troops to operate it." The move comes as Israel plans a retaliatory attack against Iran, which launched a volley of 200 missiles at Israel on October 1. Additionally, over the weekend, a Hezbollah drone attack at an Israeli base killed four soldiers and injured 61. Israel already responded to that strike by killing civilians in Lebanon—a strike targeting an apartment building killed 18. So, the US will become even more complicit in this killing.

Protesters shut down Wall Street: 

BREAKING: A group of Jewish-led protesters in Lower Manhattan just stormed the New York Stock Exchange.

They’re calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to war profiteering by companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin pic.twitter.com/YcjBCJNxFX

— Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) October 14, 2024

Right to bear arms and kill cats: The new chief of the National Rife Association, Douglas Hamlin, was charged with a misdemeanor for brutally torturing and murdering the cat at his fraternity house. Hamlin, who was president of Alpha Delta Phi at the University of Michigan, was charged alongside four of his frat bros in 1980 for the abuse of their cat, BK. I really don't want to recount the abuse here since it makes my stomach churn, but this is the guy helming the NRA, and his atrocities are worth knowing. When their frat's cat, BK, didn't use its litter box, Hamlin and company cut off its paws, strung it up, and then lit it on fire. Hamlin and the rest of the accused were expelled from the school, but their charges were expunged after completing community service. 

Another assassination attempt? A man with false press and VIP passes toting a loaded shotgun, handgun, and high-capacity magazine was intercepted at a checkpoint a half-mile from the entrance of Donald Trump's rally in Coachella Valley, California on Saturday. The local sheriff said he believed the man was gunning to gun down Trump, but that it was all speculation. The suspect claimed he was a Trump supporter and brought the guns for his own safety. 

Balloon fiesta fiasco: Albuquerque's annual hot air balloon festival had a few big kinks this year. One balloon caught on fire after it flew into power lines and then landed in a construction site. A different balloon knocked over a radio tower. Still another balloon hit a tree while trying to land on a golf course. A passenger in that balloon suffered a head injury and two other passengers had to be rescued since the balloon's basket remained stuck in the tree 25 feet above ground.

A song for your Monday: As a rehabilitated Southern Californian, I like to listen to this song whenever the rains start again in Seattle.

"…As long as it isn’t a Part 1." by Lindsay Costello

13. ALL THINGS BEING SEQUEL: …As long as it isn’t a Part 1.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

One thing to know about me going into this review is that I largely agree with this tweet, which, unsurprisingly, had people frothing at the mouth.

Not only for horror but maybe one of the five best American films ever made, yeah https://t.co/7QQ6t2lyno

— Brandon Streussnig (@BrndnStrssng) October 10, 2024

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the perfect New Hollywood film. It's moody, atmospheric, lo-fi, anti-establishment, and thoroughly imaginative, wrenching the slasher genre from its hiding place in the dark of night and shoving it into the bright Texas sunshine. Gas stations, chickens, pick-up trucks, and the entire state of Texas have been freaky since the day this film was released in 1974. Its detached grittiness coaxed the rise of found-footage horror decades later, and Sally Hardesty's maniacal laughter revealed the psychological toll on the final girl for the first time, a theme that's repeated with Halloween's Laurie Strode, Scream's Sidney Prescott, and countless other slasher survivors.

I would posit that only Alien has had a wider cultural impact on horror, but Ridley Scott actually cited TCM as an influence on his film. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's sequel, however, is something completely different. And by "completely different" I mean that Tobe Hooper directed a black comedy, and it's awesome.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 opens with two high schoolers prank-calling a radio station as they cruise down a rural highway, soon to be slaughtered by Leatherface. The murder is overheard (and recorded) by local disc jockey Stretch. Former Texas Ranger Lefty (Dennis Hopper!) gets involved when he catches wind of the recording. Turns out he's got skin in the game—he's the uncle of Sally and Frank Hardesty, two of Leatherface's previous targets.

When Stretch plays the recording on her radio show to drum up public response, she accidentally summons Leatherface and his psychotic, hippie-adjacent relative Chop-Top, who had a metal plate grafted onto his skull during the Vietnam War. The pair show up at the radio station to kill her, a protracted scene in which Chop-Top hollers the film's most important line: "Lick my plate, you dog dick!"

The central thrust of TCM 2 is that Leatherface is horny now. He illustrates this by positioning a chainsaw dangerously close to Stretch's (jeanshorted, thankfully) vulva. Against a soundtrack of Oingo Boingo, Concrete Blonde, and the Cramps' "Goo Goo Muck," Stretch is forced to use her sweet Texan charm to fend off Leatherface's chainsaw, which is exactly as awkward and gross as it sounds. It also only works for so long. Soon, Stretch tumbles down a slide into the Sawyer clan's subterranean hell dungeon, where she has other psycho-killers (like silent, hammer-wielding Grandpa) to contend with.

There are surprisingly few kills in this sequel, but lots to love. It had roughly 39 times the budget of the original (TCM filmed for around $120,000; TCM 2 for $4.7 million), so the sets are far out, and the gore is squelchy. Hooper also crafts something pretty unusual in the slasher horror genre: The sequel is funny and bizarre, of course, but balances that weirdness with more of his relentless, imaginative gnarliness. If you're keen to check in on Leatherface without quite the isolated brutality of the original, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a prime cut.

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

"Insert zombie joke here." by Megan Seling

12. THE LIVING IMPAIRED: Insert zombie joke here.

One Cut of the Dead

Watch One Cut of the Dead. 

That’s it. That’s all I’m going to say. I swear it’s not a cop-out! I’m not being lazy! I actually L-O-V-E to hear myself talk! (Er, uh, watch myself type?) But the less you know going into this masterpiece, the better. If you’re going to watch a zombie movie, watch this zombie movie. Thank you.

Best quote: “It’s coming out…” “What is it?” “Poop.” “That’ll be a blooper.”

Snack suggestion: Gnocchi in tomato sauce (they look like little brains!).

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

Sourdough, Waffle Sandwiches, and Krabby Patties by EverOut Staff This week is all about fig pistachio cake, Krabby Patties, fresh hop beers, and bodega snacks. Plus, visit the newly opened Salmonberry Green Grocer and look forward to savory waffle sandwiches and the triumphant return of Marjorie. For more ideas, check out our guide to fall treats and our food and drink guide. NEW OPENINGS & RETURNS

Salmonberry Green Grocer
The beloved farmers market staple Salmonberry Goods, known for sourdough, bagels, kombucha, and baked goods made with local ingredients, soft opened its new Sunset Hill store last Saturday. You'll be able to find prepared meals, pantry items, and produce alongside the bakery offerings.
Ballard

"More than make up, this one is when practical effects masters employ their crafting skills directly to making the whole damn movie." by Megan Seling

11. BREAKING THE MOLD: More than make up, this one is when practical effects masters employ their crafting skills directly to making the whole damn movie.

Freaked

Really great art slips through the cracks every single day. Music, books, and movies better than anything you’ve ever known are constantly getting swept away in the crushing firehouse of cultural output before they have a chance to land in the welcoming arms of an adoring audience. Case in point: Freaked, the 1993 special effects masterpiece written and directed by Alex Winters and Tom Stern.

Combine the visual enchantment of Pee-wee's Playhouse with the gross-out factor of The Ren & Stimpy Show, and you have Freaked, a movie about a mad scientist who uses obscene experimental technology to turn kidnapped humans into deformed acts for his roadside attraction called Freek Land.

Look at this cast: Alex Winter, Michael Stoyanov, Randy Quaid, Megan Ward, William Sadler, Bobcat Goldthwait, Mr. T, Keanu Reeves, Brooke Shields, Derek McGrath, and Morgan Fairchild.

Look at this soundtrack: Butthole Surfers, Parliament Funkadelic, and Henry Rollins and Blind Idiot God.

This, my friend, is early-’90s ✨gold.✨And 20th Century Fox knew it, too—Winters later said in an interview that the studio was so stoked they agreed to dump $12 million into the movie before the script was even done!

And yet, after a leadership shakeup at the studio resulted in much of the film’s post-production funding and promotional budget getting slashed (at least according to Wikipedia), Freaked hardly saw any advertising, and landed with a thud. It reportedly made just $6,957 on opening weekend, relegated to cult status at best. And that is a goddamn shame because Freaked is fucking delightful.

It’s funnier than you’d expect, it’s smarter than it needs to be, and the makeup effects used to turn people into talking, human-sized cows, worms, dogs, and other creatures were done by big-timers including Tony Gardner, Bill Corso, and Steve Johnson with a multi-million dollar budget. It should’ve been huge! Alas. Don’t let the fact that the studio shit all over Freaked before it had a chance to thrive fool you into thinking it’s a flop. It’s not; Freaked is fantastic.

As far as I can tell, the film isn’t available for (legal) streaming, so you’ll have to buy the DVD or head to Scarecrow to rent it, and wouldn’t you know, at the time of this writing, they have multiple copies available in both DVD and Blu-Ray format.

Best quote: “Hey, I’m okay!”

Snack recommendation: Jelly Belly Bean Boozled jelly beans. I can’t explain why, it just makes sense.

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

To the hip hip-hop and you don't stop. by Megan Seling

History will be made on Friday, October 18, when Charles Mudede and hiphop professor Daudi Abe perform their Stranger piece "Anatomy of a Song: The Sugarhill Gang’s 'Rapper’s Delight' (1979)" live! Onstage! At Clock-Out Lounge!

The world has never seen a performance like this before! 

As they wrote in our latest Art + Performance issue, "Rapper's Delight" made hiphop accessible to the world. It's the track "that made it possible for Dr. Dre and Jay-Z to be billionaires, Snoop and Martha Stewart’s world-famous friendship not only achievable but profitable, and a bad breakdancer at the Olympics go viral."

If you haven't read read it, YOU NEED TO RIGHT NOW.

At the show, Mudede and Abe will interject the tune with their annotations and expand on the song's place in history while also exploring some of the samples featured in the song and the tracks that followed in "Rapper's Delights" footsteps. Special guest DJ Vitamin D will provide the soundtrack. It will be a hiphop show, it will be a history lecture, and it will be a dance party—you don't want to miss it.

The fun starts at 9 pm, but you'll want to arrive early to grab some Stevie's Pizza, which now has a location inside Clock-Out and has been deemed "Rhodes Scholar-level pizza" by food writer Meg van Huygen. 🍕

Get your tickets now for only $10!

The Seattle Queer Film Festival is back with both in-person and virtual screenings through October 20. by Chase Hutchinson

The Seattle Queer Film Festival is back this week with both in-person and virtual screenings through October 20. Following last year’s impressive lineup, which made it one of the festival’s absolute best, this year has a shorter in-person component, running for just four days as opposed to 10. But it still boasts some solid programming from around the world, with films that are sad and sexy and silly (sometimes all at the same time!) and stories that include sensual sky-flirting and murderous dinner parties. 

Passes and a full schedule are available here. To help you jump in, I’ve rounded up five highlights you won’t want to miss:

Power Alley (Levante)

Brazil/France/Uruguay, 2023, 99 min., dir. Lillah Halla

Kicking things off is a thoughtful slice-of-life drama about the young Sofia, played with real presence by Ayomi Domenica Dias. Sofia is a talented volleyball player living in São Paulo and she dreams of using the sport to get a scholarship in Chile. But when the 17-year-old gets pregnant and attempts to get an abortion, she finds herself targeted by a cruel conservative group that will stop at nothing to control her life. The film becomes a story about the community that Sofia forms with her team—including a newfound romance with her teammate—and how they support her when few others will.

The film is directed with patience in its most intimate moments and incisive energy in the rebellious ones, mixing the triumphs of the team with the pain of the world they’re stuck in. That it’s director Lillah Halla’s first feature is quite remarkable as she confidently crafts a portrait that is as gentle as it is grounded, never glossing over the repressive realities that the young athletes face while finding moments of grace that endure through it all.  

Fri Oct 11 at 8 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 - Theatre 2

High Tide

United States, 2024, 105 min., dir. Marco Calvani

High Tide is a focused feature debut that sneaks up on you. Written and directed by Marco Calvani, with a subtle, quietly moving lead performance by Marco Pigossi, the film is all about the ways the beautiful, queer destination of Provincetown, Massachusetts is not always so simple for those who live there. Namely, the lonely Lourenço (Pigossi), a Brazilian immigrant whose life is informed by precarity as his visa is expiring. As if trying to find a way to stay in the United States wasn’t enough, Lourenço is also dealing with a sudden breakup that motivates him to figure out what he wants in his life. When he connects with Maurice (James Bland), a charming and confident man with secrets of his own, their chemistry crackles and lights up the screen. As this meet cute becomes more melancholic, the film juxtaposes beautiful landscapes with the more fraught emotions contained therein. Just as importantly, it finds an understated resonance in every small detail, from shots of a face shifting in emotion to a figure being left behind in the distance. It ensures you, too, will likely fall in love with Lourenço and Maurice, though the film’s beauty comes in knowing that it can’t last. 

Sat Oct 12 at 2 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 - Theatre 1. Not available as a virtual screening.

Gondola

Georgia/Germany, 2024, 82 min., dir. Veit Helmer

In Director Veit Helmer’s Gondola, the characters speak not a word, but it still shouts from a world above the rooftops with vibrant cinematic joy. The story follows cable car conductors Iva (Mathilde Irrmann) and Nina (Nini Soselia) as they zig and zag their way across the sky in the mountains of western Georgia. What begins with a game of chess, proving once more it's the most romantic of all board games, soon evolves into flirting, serenading, and sharing the most sensually charged exchanges to ever take place on a gondola. The strongest part of the experience is getting to see the duo’s shenanigans in the sky grow increasingly creative. The more Gondola it keeps its head high up in the clouds, the more we get swept up in the journey. 

Sat Oct 12 at 8 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 - Theatre 1. Available to screen virtually starting Oct 14.

The Astronaut Lovers

Argentina/Spain, 2024, 116 min., dir. Marco Berger

Films built around deception are common, but trust me when I say you have never seen one like Marco Berger’s ambling yet affectionate The Astronaut Lovers. This dramedy revolves around Pedro (Javier Orán) and Maxi (Lautaro Bettoni), two childhood friends who are now adults and haven’t seen each other in years. Over the course of only a few summer days at a gorgeous Argentina getaway, the two start to take part in a game where they pretend to be a couple. Pedro is openly gay, but Maxi seems to be doing it on a lark to see what his now ex-girlfriend will make of it all. At least initially. As they continue to spend time with each other, the conversations shift from gleeful sexual teasing to serious reflection as they contemplate their connection and what it is they are looking for. The story has relaxed pacing, though the chemistry of Orán and Bettoni injects it with emotional electricity. It’s a film that makes plenty of cheeky sex jokes about space while exploring a whole host of deeper ideas about attraction, performance, and societal expectations, managing to blast off just as it sticks the landing. 

Sun Oct 13 at 2 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 - Theatre 1. Not available as a virtual screening.

Mother Father Sister Brother Frank

Canada, 2024, 85 min., dir. Caden Douglas

Last but definitely not least is the most darkly absurd film of the festival. Trapping us in a chaotic family dinner to end all family dinners, the scrappy comedy Mother Father Sister Brother Frank starts out with a suburban gathering where everyone has a secret. After an unexpected guest comes knocking, the evening takes a violent turn, and this dysfunctional family will have to come together to deal with the bloody aftermath. It’s a film that, much like the disruptive character at its center, is always in danger of overstaying its welcome but is still just clever enough to get away with it. With each escalation and swerve it serves up, the commitment of the cast, as well as a clever script, ensures it remains light on its feet, even as its characters constantly stumble over what to do. It’s a silly yet substantive meal of a movie worth seeing with the whole family so you can all fight about it afterward. 

Sun Oct 13 at 4 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 - Theatre 1. Not available as a virtual screening.

Seattle's Only News Quiz by Sally Neumann & Leah Caglio

Create your own user feedback survey

Fresh Hop Fest, Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade, and More Cheap & Easy Events Under $15 by EverOut Staff

The weekend awaits, as do fun ways to spend it, from Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade to Outsider Comics' Goblin Art Market and from the Beer Junction's Fresh Hop Fest to Twilight Soundtrack Halloween. For more ideas, check out our roundup of this week's top events and get some inspo for your next movie night by reading through our recs for Scarecrow Video's 2024 Psychotronic Challenge.

FRIDAY

The Skylark Benefit Show: Rain City Rewind, Pirate Radio, and The Justin DePoala Band
In case you didn't hear, the beloved West Seattle club the Skylark is being forced to relocate due to the expansion of the Sound Transit light rail. To raise funds for the upcoming move, local bands including grunge tribute Rain City Rewind, Pirate Radio, and the Justin Depaola Band will rock the house with a donation-based concert. AUDREY VANN
(Skylark Cafe & Club, West Seattle, Suggested Donation $10)

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham

Schools still face closure: Since Seattle Public Schools' budget deficit isn't going anywhere thanks to a historic underfunding of our schools here in the Evergreen state, Superintendent Brent Jones will still need to close some elementary schools next school year. By the end of the month, he's going to announce the up to five schools that will close—which, while still bad, is a tad better than the between 17 and 21 school closures initially proposed. Jones will also release the rest of his financial plan so SPS can "regain its financial footing." More school closures could be on the horizon beyond just this year. It will be fun to go to school with the threat of closure hanging over head like a budgetary Sword of Damocles. 

Deadly downtown crash: At around 1 am Friday morning, a black SUV barreling through Westlake ran a red light and smashed into a white sedan at 4th Avenue and Pine Street before striking a street pole. The driver and passenger in the SUV were killed. The sedan's driver and passenger survived unscathed. 

Mystery bullet: A bullet went through a second-story window at Nova High School in the Central District on Thursday. It's unclear where the bullet came from or whether the second-story Nova window was its intended target. Please refrain from shooting in or at schools. 

Seahawks keep sucking: Bad news, Seattle's football team doesn't seem to be faring very well. Despite starting the season on a winning streak, the Hawks are now on a big fat losing streak with their loss last night to the dreaded San Francisco 49ers.

A bit of borealis: Did you catch the Northern Lights last night? Or were you a loser like me and didn't see shit?

We've got some low clouds approaching the office so our views might be gone soon. But this flare up of the the #aurora was easily spotted without any optical assistance around 12:45 AM PST. #wawx pic.twitter.com/bfwClFilal

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 11, 2024

Another Bruce Harrell budget victim: Harrell and the Seattle City Council could slash funding for tenant services in half based on the proposed city budget. Those services fund tenant hotlines, counseling programs, and legal aid services. In case you needed another reminder, this is not a city government that cares about renters. 

Oh, I bet he hates this: A judge has ruled that redacted evidence tied to a brief in Donald Trump's federal election interference case can be released. Trump and his team have seven days to try to block the disclosure. Trump has so far been doing an effective job of keeping his multitudinous federal indictments from progressing until after the November election. This disclosure could throw a wrench in that. 

Foggy for now: A spooky little fall fog will cling to Seattle this morning. The rest of the day should be boring and cloudy. 

We're seeing some dense fog on some of the higher hills around Puget Sound this morning. This will stick around through much of the morning. Take it easy out there and plan some extra time to get to your destination. #wawx pic.twitter.com/gm6RjPcuEX

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 11, 2024

A miner problem: An equipment malfunction at the historic Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek, Colorado killed one person and stranded 12 others 1,000 feet underground for hours. The mine, which regularly hosts tours, said the issue involved the elevator, which malfunctioned at the tour's midway point. It's unclear exactly how the elevator malfunctioned or how the one fatality occurred, though four people sustained minor injuries related to back and neck pain.   

Icebox icon: Coast guards rescued a man clinging to an icebox 30 miles off the coast of Longboat Key, Florida. Hurricane Milton stranded his boat and he clung for his life on the icebox through the night in the middle of the ocean, withstanding winds of 75-90 mph and waves up to 25 feet. “This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” coast guard official Dana Grady told The Guardian. At least 13 people have died in incidents related to Hurricane Milton. Millions of people remain without power. 

Do not go gentle into that good night: A crew with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dropped the ashes of climate scientist Peter Dodge directly into Hurricane Milton. Dodge flew into the eyes of hundreds of hurricanes through his work. 

Wildlife in decline: It's bleak out there for global wildlife populations. Recent reports say critters worldwide have declined in population by 73% on average in 50 years. Certain places in the world have much steeper wildlife declines. In Latin America and the Caribbean, for instance, there's been a 95% reduction. Humans, and our encroachment on the natural world, are to blame. The good news is that scientists are optimistic that nature can recover given the chance. 

Get their asses, Multnomah County: Oregon officials in Multnomah County have filed a $50 billion lawsuit against fossil fuel companies for contributing to climate change. The suit includes the normal villains in the space, such as Shell and Exxon, but it was recently expanded to include NW Natural, the county's utility company. The complaint against NW Natural alleges that it "knew that the burning of natural gas contributed to global warming but misled its customers about the consequences."

Girl, so embarrassing: Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is simping hardcore for Donald Trump. Aside from relentless ad campaigns on Twitter for Trump and funding a Super PAC with tens of millions of dollars, Musk attended a Pennsylvania rally with Trump last week and has now moved his base of operations to the Keystone State to help win the election in the pivotal swing state. How badly do you want those Trump tax breaks, Elon? Embarrassing! I hate both of these guys. 

Is this how you would wield power? Hackers tapped into and took control of dozens of robot vacuums in multiple US cities. They used the hacked robots to yell slurs. 

A song for your Friday: The Airborne Toxic Event is playing at the Showbox this weekend, so here's their song about storms since those are pretty topical this week. 

"A slice and dice set in the city so nice they named it New York." by Megan Seling

10. NEW YORK NEW YORK: A slice and dice set in the city so nice they named it New York

Basket Case

Basket Case, Frank Henenlotter’s1982 directorial debut, has been called a lot of things: “an ultra-cheap monster film” (Variety), “E.T. as written and directed by a psychopath” (Detroit Free Press), and a “hilariously gory cult classic” (Dread Central). But do you know what else it is? High art.

The story revolves around conjoined twins Duane and Belial, who were crudely separated against their will by a crew of devious doctors when they were 12 years old. While Duane was a “normal” boy, Belial looked “like a squashed octopus” growing out of Duane’s side—medical professionals questioned whether or not he was even human, and his father, widowed after the twins’ mother died during childbirth, refused to acknowledge that he existed. Belial defied the odds and survived the risky surgery. After growing more and more resentful over the years, Duane packs the blobbish, hamburger-loving Belial in a basket, and the two leave their home in upstate New York to seek revenge on the doctors who forced them apart. 

Their kill list brings them to an early 1980s New York, New York. It’s seedy and full of questionable characters with secrets. They fit right in… until the murders start. 

The beast in the basket attacks his prey, steals panties, and sulks in a toilet with a combination of puppetry and stop-motion that is more fun than frightening, but that—along with the amateur acting and low-budget special effects—just makes Basket Case an even more delightfully gory and goofy watch. And the art experts at the Museum of Modern Art agree! MoMA restored the film in 2017 with the blessing of Henenlotter, who wrote on Facebook at the time, “I’ve already given them all the film elements for preservation, and they’ll be doing an all-new restoration in the upcoming months. … (And, yes, I asked them if they actually watched the film and they assured me they did.)”

I’m pretty sure that makes it the ultimate high-brow/low-brow horror movie. If it’s good enough for MoMA’s permanent collection, it’s good enough for you.

Best quote: The long, exaggerated, piercing scream Dr. Judith Kutter (Diana Browne) lets out during her kill scene.

Snack recommendation: Hot dogs. Uncooked, without buns, and served in a picnic basket.

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

This show was one of the strangest ever in the Paramount's classy confines—and the best-smelling one, too. by Dave Segal

André 3000's not in the Dirty South anymore, literally or figuratively. The Grammy-winning ATLien rapper moved to LA, lost his urge to rhyme (at least with words), got heavily into flutes, and found some deep jazz cats in his area to augment his epic, enigmatic jams on the surprise 2023 album, New Blue Sun. Nearly a year later, André Lauren Benjamin's taking the spirit of that very un-hip-hop record on a North American tour, which hit the Paramount on Wednesday night.

Every track on New Blue Sun has between two and 10 million streams on $p0t1fy, which is kind of shocking for such an uncommercial record on which the average song length is nearly 11 minutes. But those stats are also a tribute to the loyalty that the 49-year-old star has earned over the last 30 years as a rapper/producer for OutKast. 

Before the show, birdsong-enhanced New Age played over the PA. When the lights dimmed, the disembodied, deep voice of André asked the audience to "stay in the zone without cell-phone distraction." So far, so refreshing.

However, seconds after the band—percussionists Carlos Niño and Deantoni Parks and keyboardist Surya Botofasina—strolled onstage, some asshole shouted "Erykah Badu" (the lauded musician with whom André had a messy breakup after a three-year relationship in the late '90s). André appeared not to be fazed by this rudeness. Instead, he proceeded to revel in his newfound freedom from hip-hop's routines. 

With Niño shaking a branch full of leaves and maracas and hitting cymbals with mallets and Parks thumping his floor tom, André played a beautifully mournful tune on a wooden flute as Botofasina channeled goose-bump-inducing, Lonnie Liston Smith-like keyboard tones. (I expected to see guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Nate Mercereau, but he was absent.) The bandleader later picked up a digital wind instrument to blurt bold, declamatory statements over rumbling toms. Even later, he achieved some fantastically rich and mellifluous timbres with a long wooden flute that may have been from South America. (Western concert flutes were AWOL.) Momentous crescendos occurred, as André kneeled to beat a rotund metallic vessel with a drumstick and tickle some chimes. All of the busy percussion didn't nullify the predominantly tranquil atmosphere. Occasionally, André blew a bird whistle and emitted guttural "HUH"s. When he warned, "no bars," he damn well meant it. 

An eerie minimalism pervaded the 24-minute opening piece, making me think of the title of Brian Eno's "Juju Space Jazz" as well as Don Cherry's contributions to the soundtrack of The Holy Mountain. Along with the incense burning on Botofasina's keyboard table and a laser light piercing diagonally across the stage in various colors representing the seven chakras, the vibe was ceremonial and chill. This show was shaping up to be perhaps the strangest ever in the Paramount's classy confines—and the best-smelling one, too. 

During the first "song" break, André thanked the crowd for bringing their energy from "your jobs, families, relationships... We are absorbing all that and composing on the spot." He then introduced the group and memorably attributed Parks with "heartbeat management." 

As the performance progressed, it became clear that André was no Yusef Lateef or Bobbi Humphrey—or even relative newcomer Shabaka Hutchings—on the flute. Mr. Benjamin's still learning; he's still more about creating interesting abstractions than catchy melodies. And that had some heads nodding, but not in time to any beats. Some eyes were closed, not in soulful appreciation of the music, but in slumber. Some folks left early, including the couple in front of me. Early on, the blinged-out dude from that couple shouted, "Three Stacks," so maybe he was expecting OutKast's greatest hits?

Whatever the case, André did finesse a variety of gripping and poignantly sublime sounds from his panoply of instruments, as well as some shrill, unpleasant ones. He's still a work in progress. He didn't seem to be plumbing the depths of his soul so much as testing his skill levels and his fan base's devotion, by privileging spontaneous creativity and the often alienating meandering that that entails. So, while André may not be ready yet for the concert hall, he is bravely venturing into uncharted (and non-charting) territory. 

Near set's end, André spoke to the crowd, his voice hilariously warped with effects, in a weird, imaginary tongue that he called "Kweeku" (I think). "You should've seen y'all's faces," he laughed. It was yet another WTF? moment, but better this than another pandering shout-out to [insert city here] and marijuana. After that bizarre interlude, the band headed into an ominous finale that carried Judgment Day undertones. Going out on a grim note, André and crew remained baffling and uncompromising to the end. 

Special mention must be given to the lighting engineer, who kept things subtly beautiful throughout the 95-minute performance. This wizard managed to keep the players in intriguing shadows, proving that André had no desire for the spotlight. He may be a superstar in many rap fans' minds, but in his own, he is merely a cog in this sonic-mental-health machine. 

The night opened with Brooklyn solo vocalist/musician serpentwithfeet (aka Josiah Wise), who wore a floor-length coat that gave him the appearance of having four arms. His 30-minute set on keyboard and laptop was dominated by vaporous, emotionally vulnerable R&B songs about Black gay love and lust, sung mostly in a melismatic falsetto. His parting words to the Paramount were "I hope that when you leave the show, you feel a little more gentle and a little more kind." 

Plus, Nikki Glaser and More Event Updates for October 10 by EverOut Staff

R&B crooner John Legend is coming to town this December to serve holiday cheer, Christmas carols, and special stories. Potty-mouthed blonde and legendary roaster Nikki Glaser will serve up something crass on her Alive And Unwell tour. Plus, don’t forget to grab tickets for Australian national treasure Kylie Minogue as she promotes her Tension album and its upcoming sequel, Tension II. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

Tickets go on sale at 10 am unless otherwise noted.

ON SALE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11

MUSIC

A R I Z O N A
Showbox SoDo (Feb 24, 2025)

Caravan Palace
Showbox SoDo (Mar 28, 2025)
On sale at 7 am

Eric Bellinger
The Showbox (Jan 31, 2025)

Pumpkin Fritters, Sweet Potato Cake, and More by EverOut Staff At last, a crisp chill has permeated the air, trees have begun to shed their leaves, and Seattle cafes and bakeries have begun to serve pumpkin everything. Pull on a cable-knit sweater and indulge your secret Christian Girl Autumn side with seasonal delicacies like pumpkin cheesecake lattes, sweet potato cake, and chai mochi doughnuts. For more ideas, check out our guide to harvest season and our food and drink guide.

Bang Bang Cafe and Bang Bang Kitchen
Sisters Yuki and Miki Sodos used to serve the most delightful mini pumpkin pies topped with torch-brûléed marshmallows at the erstwhile Cafe Pettirosso (RIP), and now they've brought the seasonal treats back to their homey Belltown spot Bang Bang Cafe and its Othello sibling Bang Bang Kitchen.
Belltown

Captain Kim Sightings: 0 by Megan Burbank

Last week, Seattle’s Captain Kim was eliminated from the competition for Joan Vassos’s heart (or at least 80% of it) on The Golden Bachelorette, and I have to say, I missed his antics this week. Men Tell All can’t come soon enough!

I’m writing this from Palm Springs, a thematically appropriate location for the Bachelor franchise, which loves to fly people from LA to the Coachella Valley on private jets (see: facing your fear of heights, covered last week). Also, among Vassos’s contestants this season is retired finance executive Gary, 65, from Palm Desert. Topical!

So grab a drink and a pool floatie! It’s time for some Eli Lilly ads and men trying to impress a woman with stories about their divorces!

It’s week four, and Joan is struggling with the central tension of this show, which is that it forces people to do polyamory who wouldn’t under any other circumstances. Falling in love with more than one person is “like a kid thing,” says Joan dismissively, and I am concerned about how she’s going to survive the rest of the season.

At the mansion, Pascal, a 69-year-old man, is finally learning to do his own laundry (now that Gregg is gone, he has to). Girl dad Keith is hoping to get a one-on-one date with Joan. So are ER doctor Guy and insurance executive Chock.

The date card arrives, and only Guy gets what he wants. He and senior sales executive Jordan are getting one-on-ones. Everybody else is going on a group date to the Avalon nightclub, where Joan greets them wearing a truly terrible short-sleeved (!) leather jacket (!!) which makes me think—not for the first time—that Bachelor franchise stylist Cary Fetman should be fired. Former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe is there, too, as are a bunch of Chippendales, because the men are going to put on a striptease performance for a cancer charity.

Looks like Gary was ready after all. COURTESY OF ABC

“Holy cow, I’m not ready for this!” says Gary when he hears this news, and honestly, neither am I. Chock wants three chardonnays to dispel his pre-show jitters. Shipping consultant Jonathan has a stripper persona named “Sergeant Sexy.” “I hope they throw money,” says Keith. “I’m keeping it!”

After learning to body-roll, the men commit to the compulsory nudity of it all, dancing gamely if inexpertly to Lady Gaga. Jonathan, who loves not wearing a shirt and is the only one with any real stage presence, is placed in the front line for the opening number. “I’m doing my little butt thing,” says Gary. Chock, who looks more and more like a game show host every time I see him (I think it’s the hair), says, “It’s all about fun” and “Ladies like the tush.”

At the after-party, Chock gets the group date rose. And then, abruptly, something is very wrong: Chock is crying because he just found out his mother has died of cancer, and he obviously has to rush home. Joan, who left her own season of The Golden Bachelor after a family emergency, is understanding and supportive, although sad that a man she actually likes is leaving. “He’s a really nice human being,” says Keith, getting teary. Keith!

Despite the life-and-death situation Chock is facing, this show can’t be serious for more than five minutes, even when it’s the right thing to do, so now Joan has to go on a date with Jordan. Jordan is nervous for his one-on-one, and I’m gonna be honest: I had forgotten who he was.

Joan and Jordan go ice skating, and Jordan falls. Joan laughs, then feels bad for laughing. She says he’s happy to see Jordan’s “silly side,” which is kind of a mean thing to say about someone who isn’t trying to be funny at all but just isn’t very good at what they’re doing.

They drink hot chocolate and champagne until they’re surprised with a private concert. I would consider this to be a kind of hell, but the Bachelor franchise loves getting some not-very-famous country act to sing a song for exactly two people, so that the lead has to keep a straight face as they say something like “Dylan Patchwork is an amazing musician. I was so happy to hear him play ‘Leave Room for Jesus.’”

RESNOW Speedwagon, amirite? COURTESY OF ABC

Anyway, somehow this private concert is a band I’ve heard of: REO Speedwagon! They play “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” as Joan and Jordan dance on the ice on what look like Yaktrax. The couple that trax together yaks together! I get paid to write these.

Jordan tells Joan he’ll have bruises from falling down for just a few weeks, “but I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” and because Joan is all about Vulnerability and Opening Up, Jordan gets the rose. Fake snow falls from the ceiling like it’s The Nutcracker, and I find myself feeling sad there’s never been a ballet date on this show.

Jordan got the rose after falling down and getting back up. Good job, Jordan. COURTESY OF ABC

At the mansion ahead of his date with Joan, Guy is having a pensive moment while Joan has her own pensive moment at Sun House Malibu, which you can rent on Airbnb. Giuliana is a SuperHost!

“I’ve become smitten with her,” he says (Joan, not Giuliana), and wow, I did not know Guy was living in a romance novel, although he is a handsome ER doctor, so I shouldn’t be.

At Sun House Malibu (6 bedrooms! 5.5 baths!), Joan and Guy make lemon baked ziti, which sounds terrible, and Guy is having a hard time zesting a lemon. Joan finds this curious, because Guy is an ER doctor, so I guess Joan has never met someone who is competent at work but not in the kitchen. Not that I know anyone like that either!

They bond over forcing their families to eat dinner without the TV on, and Guy says the ziti “is definitely not Chef Boyardee.” They also make cupcakes, or at least decorate them, and Guy licks frosting off of Joan’s mouth, which I feel like is none of my business and I shouldn’t be seeing it happen.

I hope the ziti tastes good, because it doesn’t photograph very well. Guy says he and his ex-wife didn’t have open and honest communication, and Joan is charmed by his transparency. Guy gets the rose! “My brain is secreting so many endorphins… Dopamine surge!” says Guy.

Back at Sun House Malibu (free parking on the premises!), Joan is walking slowly beside the pool against a backdrop of mist. “If Chock doesn’t return, he will always be a question,” says Joan. Don’t worry, Joan. I think an answer is coming.

At the cocktail party, Joan says she called home, and her mom, who was also sick recently, is doing better. The men are away from their families, says Joan, “and I am so, so appreciative” of this sacrifice. For what seems like the millionth time, they toast to finding love.

But you know who isn’t being all that supportive? Pascal, who, despite being adaptable enough to learn how to do his laundry after all (tres bien fait!), has been acting uninterested in Joan, because he likes to be the center of attention and struggles in group environments, which is normal but a bad quality to have if you’re on reality TV. Joan reads this as an “air of indifference which I think is a little bit French.” But I think it’s actually just a little bit rude. As usual, Joan is interpreting obnoxious behavior in the most generous way possible, and I have concerns!

But the worst is yet to come because Jonathan’s time with Joan is—and I cannot stress this enough—Cheerios product placement! He and Joan eat heart-healthy™ Cheerios out of heart-shaped bowls with a cereal box prominently displayed for the cameras, and this is maybe one of the top five dumbest things I’ve ever seen on this show, which includes the fight over whether itching is “low-level pain” that unfolded on season eight of Bachelor in Paradise.

“Tonight is SO special,” says Joan, and it is for Cheerios, but it isn’t for girl dad Keith, who is struggling to connect with Joan on a romantic level, so I guess he hasn’t figured out that most leads are only interested in a few people and just kinda fake it with everyone else. Did you know reality TV… isn’t real?

Even though his mother had just died, Chock returned to the show to claim his rose. That's dedication or something. COURTESY OF ABC

And wow, that was fast: Chock is back! He says “it’s been a crazy week,” which is a gross understatement, that he got home the night his mother died and “there was no way I was not coming back,” so I hope Joan really likes him because she definitely has to pick him now. I’m sorry I made fun of your name two weeks ago, Chock. I hope you and Joan are very happy together.

Things aren’t looking so good for the other Mansion Men, because it’s rose ceremony time! Joan says the men started out as strangers, but now she’s standing in front of “11 people who are part of my life now” even though they won’t be for long. As the tense instrumentals begin, Joan rewards Pascal’s rudeness with the first rose, followed by roses for Jonathan, Mark, and Keith.

That may be good news for Joan, who will no longer have to pretend to be romantically interested in as many men she considers Just Good Friends (except for Keith), but it’s devastating for the rest of us because it means we’re saying good-bye to one of the real stars of this season, Charles L., whose emotional journey has been—I’m sorry to say it—much more interesting than Joan’s. I was sure they’d keep Charles on for at least another week just because he’s good TV, but I can’t wait to see what he gets up to at Men Tell All. Gil is also leaving, which is probably for the best given what comes up when you google his name, and so is rosy-faced private investor Dan. “Dan, goodbye!” say the men plaintively as he leaves. “Love you, man!”

In his exit interview, Dan is sad because he lives alone and he’s really enjoyed living with the Mansion Men. Men! They need friends! Our Palm Desert pal Gary is also on his way out, taking his cool glasses, handwritten prayers, and positive attitude with him.

As for Charles L., he puts into words what I’m always saying about this show, which has a terrible success rate if you’re counting lasting marriages but produces many enduring pairs of BFFs. The real final rose is the friends we made along the way!

“The remaining friends, we bonded together,” says Charles. He considers them “all gorgeous people.” Mark gets to come outside the mansion to say goodbye to Charles, which isn’t usually allowed, but has been happening an awful lot this season, and I think it should become a regular thing. “It’s a different form of love,” says Charles. “I did find it.”

Captain Kim Sightings: 0

This week’s rating, out of 10 anchor emojis: ⚓⚓⚓⚓⚓⚓ (for the Charles L. content alone)

See someone? Say something! by Anonymous

St Anne ER in Burien

I was on crutches, not well. We made eye contact after I was done checking in and you wished me well. I’d love to know more about you.

at a ballard cafe

I was at my barista job. You liked my Ghost t-shirt and we chatted about tattoos for a bit. Wish I’d had the courage to ask you out!!

Sexy TA studying Urban Planning

You sat across me in the Teaching Assistant orientation. Your mustache and research interests got me. I was too shy to ask - find me in office hours?

Birthday Girl on the Dock 10/6

Gasworks Brewing: you, behind me, blue socks; touched my shoulder, said happy birthday, left on a boat with the guys. Come back and help me celebrate?

Whats your chipotle order?

You were in line at the chipotle on 4th Ave , then i saw you again at target... was this a sign? If so.. do you want to grab lunch at chipotle?

book fair babe

i complimented your mushroom socks, but what i really wanted to say was: you’re so pretty, want to be friends?

Long Hair, Short Legs: Hiking Pant Woes

Your bright red ponytail caught my attention at the hike-a-thon launch, and we shared a long glance about never finding pants short enough….

A Murder Of Two

You, the raven haired beauty making art - we chatted briefly, and I felt seen. Let's be crows together and live inside the city's skull.

Is it a match? Leave a comment here or on our Instagram post to connect!

Did you see someone? Say something! Submit your own I Saw U message here and maybe we'll include it in the next roundup!

The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Ashley Nerbovig

The coldest of takes: Shocker! If you offer people housing instead of just sweeping them, sometimes you might actually be able to help people escape the cycle of homelessness! The Seattle Times wrote about Washington's Encampment Resolution Program, a strategy where the state offers subsidized housing to the people they're sweeping from highways. Of the 18 encampments the state closed in King County under this program since 2022, 90 percent of the people moved inside, which amounts to about 420 people, and 74 percent have remained housed. Now, of course, the program's funding is potentially in danger. Seattle sees less success with its strategy of declaring an encampment an "obstruction" and offering people an overcrowded shelter that may not meet their needs. 

Scarecrow stays open another two years: The beloved video store, Scarecrow Video, raised more than $600,000 from community donations since announcing earlier this year that it was in danger of shutting down. The money should be enough to keep it in business for another two years, according to KING 5. More people keep turning up to rent videos as well. Scarecrow Executive Director Kate Barr said she hopes that the store manages to raise a total of $1.8 million to stay in business longer than just the two years. 

Speaking of Scarecrow: If you haven't checked out our Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge series yet, you should. Every October, Scarecrow compiles a list of some scary stuff for the Halloween season. This year, in solidarity with the video store, our staff has started watching the movies and sharing daily recommendations.

Pissing off the trash pandas: A woman in Washington had to call the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office after the family of raccoons she'd started feeding became aggressive and turned up in a horde of 50-100 hungry little beasts, according to the Associated Press. Great follow-up to If You Give a Moose a Muffin. The video is incredible. They must talk to each other. 

she knows what she did https://t.co/DsH6kwZJVs

— Brett Hamil (@BrettHamil) October 10, 2024

Ok, what's up with the Northern Lights? We're supposed to be able to see them again tonight, and now the National Weather Service has a Northern Lights forecast page. I'm not going to look up whats going on with them, and neither should you. But can we just talk about it? Is it that we've always been able to see them from here, or ... Okay, I couldn't help it, I just went and looked it up. Apparently the sun's magnetic field reaches its peak every 11 years, and that makes the Northern Lights more visible. Is that OK? Are we OK? 

Oh, speaking of the Weather Service: High of 60 today, mostly sunny, the perfect Fall day. 

Consent Decree might end: The US Department of Justice predicts an end to federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department in the next few months, according to the Seattle Times. If true, that would release the City from spending literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on monitoring fees and return more power over the police department to the people. On the other hand, it could potentially mean that the one thing semi keeping the City barely paying lip service to accountability finally ends. Federal Judge James Robart said he would not lift the decree unless the City made serious progress to implement accountability measures in the new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract. The City made some measly improvements to accountability in the new contract, but not much. The City's scheduled to appear before Robart next week to plead their case. 

Hurricane Milton makes landfall: Milton hit Florida last night, causing more than two million homes to lose power and ravaging the coastal state as a Category 3 storm, according to the Associated Press. At least four people died, and the storm caused more than 100 tornados.  

The right-wing really loses it: These kooks. Marjorie Taylor Greene is out here claiming the government controls the weather, according to the Associated Press. President Joe Biden's trying to clamp down on this, but honestly how do you stop people from believing what they want to believe? Meanwhile, Biden's administration has prepared millions of meals and liters of water as well as prepped military search and rescue teams in anticipation of the storm.

Inflation deflates: The Consumer Price Index shows inflation has dropped to its lowest level since 2021. Good for the economy! Benefits everybody! Remember that? It's at three percent now, which is close to the Federal Reserve's ideal inflation rate of two percent. Good job everybody on going so broke again that we can't all just be at home, ordering food from restaurants, and eagerly searching out suppliers of different-colored masks. 

Israel and Iran: Israel's security cabinet meets Thursday evening to figure out their response to a missile attack from Iran on October 1, according to the Washington Post. Israel has continued to pepper Iran with airstrikes. 

My computer speakers continue to be totally fucked: Someone let me know if this song is any good. 

Did you ever think for one second about anything other than you and your mid hairstyle? by Anonymous

To the girl on the link this morning: You sat next to me at Mountlake Terrace and started doing your make-up, banging your brushes around, and getting powder mostly on you. Fine, live your truth. Check your look with some selfies. But when you started shaking an aerosol can of hairspray? Dry shampoo? Whatever the fuck it was, I was too shocked. There was no way, I naively thought to myself, that you have the audacity to spray a can of hairspray on a packed train at rush hour. 

But you sure as shit did spray your melon-y garbage all over me and everyone in our car. You got off at the next stop (U District). It couldn’t have waited? Did you ever think for one second about anything other than you and your mid hairstyle? Truly, fuck you. 

Do you need to get something off your chest? Submit an I, Anonymous and we'll illustrate it! Send your unsigned rant, love letter, confession, or accusation to ianonymous@thestranger.com. Please remember to change the names of the innocent and the guilty.

One really great thing to do every day of the week. by Megan Seling WEDNESDAY 10/9  

André 3000: New Blue Sun Live In Concert

(MUSIC) In November of last year, André 3000 surprised fans with his first new music in 17 years—but it wasn't what we anticipated. The OutKast rapper released a full-length album entirely of flute music. New Blue Sun is an odyssey of spiritual jazz and electronic ambient sounds that could perfectly soundtrack an Octavia Butler novel. Featuring instruments like mycelial electronics, plants, shakuhachi, and sintir, the album is equal parts acoustic and electronic with multiple types of flutes played by André himself. Joined on stage by album collaborators Carlos Niño, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, and Deantoni Parks, the ensemble will present an immersive concert that enchants audiences with improvisational "sensory grandeur." (Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St, 8 pm, $54.50-$144.50, 8 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

THURSDAY 10/10  

Clairo

(MUSIC) On her third album, Charm, Gen Z sensation Clairo trades the synthy bedroom pop that turned her into a viral star for elegant tunes inspired by '70s soft rock. The resulting body of work is tender and dreamy, evoking the sullen nostalgia of looking through your childhood bedroom—an old diary, a drawer of charmed friendship bracelets, a portable CD player. There’s no better time than the beginning of autumn to relish in the cozy and hushed tunes of Clairo, especially with an opening set from South African singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou. (Paramount Theatre, Oct 10-11, 8 pm, $75.50, all ages) AUDREY VANN

FRIDAY 10/11  

Blown Away: Gemma Hollister, Morgan Peterson, and Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen

Who Doesn't Love a Bad Idea by Morgan Peterson, blown, carved, fused glass, silver, and mirror. COURTESY OF TRAVER GALLERY

(VISUAL ART/TV) If you're anything like me, you spent a significant portion of the pandemic lockdown watching Netflix's Blown Away, in which glassblowers competed for an illustrious residency at the Corning Museum of Glass. (As a one-time Pilchuck Glass School workshop participant, I'm rooting for these crazy kids.) Traver Gallery and Chihuly Garden and Glass have teamed up to present this exhibition, which features works by Blown Away episode winners Gemma Hollister and Karen Willenbrink-Johnson and series winner Morgan Peterson. Willenbrink-Johnson creates naturalistic forms, while Hollister’s works "offer a critique of modern capitalism," and Peterson's cameo portraits of Seattle drag legends "highlight ideals of feminine beauty." (Traver Gallery, 110 Union St #200, through Oct 27, free, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

SATURDAY 10/12  

Jubilee

See Jubilee at McCaw Hall October 12-25. COURTESY OF SEATTLE OPERA

(PERFORMANCE/MUSIC) This world premiere opera reveals the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, whose earliest members came together to alter the post-Civil War musical landscape. With over 40 African American spirituals that were "originally conceived, written, and performed by enslaved peoples," the new work by lauded director Tazewell Thompson chronicles the group's early tours, where they persevered despite violence and even performed for Queen Victoria. Expect something both triumphant and harrowing—Jubilee's 13 performers capture the Fisk Jubilee Singers' struggles and joys. (McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, multiple performances Oct 12-25, $35-$215, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

SUNDAY 10/13  

Keith Haring: A Radiant Legacy

Keith Haring: A Radiant Legacy opens at MoPOP Friday, October 11. Courtesy of Allan Tannenbaum via MoPOP

(VISUAL ART) To some, such as myself, Keith Haring is seen as a part of the hiphop culture that emerged in New York City in the early ‘80s. He worked with Dondi White, a master and founder of the kind of graffiti you find today in Berlin, Rome, Tokyo, and, yes, Seattle. Indeed, Haring and Dondi did the cover art for Malcolm McLaren’s bizarre but fundamentally hiphop album Duck Rock. For many, this cover introduced Haring, whose work was simple but not simplistic, breezy but cosmically vibrant. And then there’s the cover of McLaren’s Would Ya Like More Scratchin’. Here, we have nothing but Haring. His chalk-drawn figures popping and locking. You can hear the scratching and cutting. You can see New York City when it was the capital of the art world. Haring will always be hiphop to me. (MoPOP, 325 Fifth Ave N, Oct 12-March 23, 2025, $7 plus museum admission) CHARLES MUDEDE

MONDAY 10/14  

2024 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Citywide Celebration

(COMMUNITY) There are events scattered all across the city for Indigenous Peoples' Day. The day starts at 9:30 am at Pier 62 Waterfront Park, where folks are invited to bring their drums and their tribal flags and join the march along the waterfront to King Street Station, where there will be a rally and round dance for peace at 1:30 pm. Elsewhere around the city, you can see Khu.éex' (featuring A+P star and renowned glass artist Preston Singletary) perform at Westlake Park at 11 am and join the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center for dancing, dinner, and bingo at 5 pm. See all the day's details here. Unrelated: Remember that time in 2015 when Mayor Harrell, a city council member at the time, wanted to proclaim "Italian-American Heritage" Month on Indigenous Peoples' Day??? And now he's mayor! What a ride. (See more Indigenous Peoples' Day events here) MEGAN SELING

TUESDAY 10/15  

Text Me Back! An Election Preview & Live Podcast Taping

Friends forever: Meagan Hatcher-Mays (left) and Lindy West. MEGAN FARMER

(PODCASTS) If you don't already know (which also means you don't read every word published in The Stranger, and how dare you), Lindy West and her BFF Meagan Hatcher-Mays have a weekly podcast called Text Me Back. The two have been best friends since high school and each episode feels like you're listening in on their hilarious, relatable phone conversations. They touch on everything from current headlines and political news to adolescent inside jokes and weird pockets of pop culture from the '80s and '90s. It's smart and, at times, delightfully irreverent, and it's a lovely reminder to call your best friends sometime. Or, even better, bring them to this week's live Text Me Back taping, where West and Hatcher-Mays will take "a light-hearted look at what's at stake in November" with some special surprise guests. It will likely be the exact dose of levity we need to stay afloat in our current hellscape. (Seattle Public Library - Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 6 pm, free with RSVP, all ages) MEGAN SELING

 Prizefight! 

Win tickets to rad upcoming events!*

Kehlani
Climate Pledge Arena, October 18

ENTER NOW!

Contest ends 10/16 at 10 am

Lawrence
October 15, the Moore

ENTER NOW!

Contest ends 10/11 at 10 am

*Entering PRIZE FIGHT contests by submitting your email address signs you up to receive the Stranger Suggests newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

"Just because the party has ended, that doesn’t mean the activities have." by Julianne Bell

9. BUT AFTER THE GIG: Just because the party has ended, that doesn’t mean the activities have.

Green Room

For today’s “after the gig” prompt, we’re talking about A24’s critically acclaimed horror-thriller Green Room. Fictional punk band the Ain’t Rights, composed of bassist Pat (the tragically departed Anton Yelchin), guitarist Sam (Alia Shawkat), drummer Reece (Joe Cole), and singer Tiger (Callum Turner), are touring the Pacific Northwest when a series of misadventures leads them to grudgingly perform at a neo-Nazi bar outside Portland. After the members accidentally witness a stabbing committed by a member of the Nazi metal headliner in the venue’s green room, they find themselves locked in a grim battle for their lives, fighting a gang of “red lace” skinheads tooth and nail alongside the murder victim’s friend Amber (Imogen Poots).

The movie sprung from writer and director Jeremy Saulnier’s long-held “obsession” with the idea of creating a thriller set in a green room. One of the things that struck me most about this film was its intentionality and restraint—despite the film’s obvious violence, Saulnier employed gore judiciously, avoiding “gratuitous close-ups” of dead characters. Because it’s so understated, it all feels frighteningly realistic. The second thing that stood out was the use of sound, appropriate for a story about musicians—the unsettling score by brothers Brooke and Will Blair lends to the dark, moody atmosphere, punctuated by tense moments of silence and punk and heavy metal songs. Everyone in the main ensemble delivers powerful performances, but Patrick Stewart is particularly chilling as the aloof white supremacist bar owner Darcy. 

The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀

The City’s symbolic stand to protect the environment from the rich and powerful matters less than how they invest money toward that end in their own budget. by Hannah Krieg

The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Tuesday opposing I-2117, a Republican-backed, Let’s-Go-Washington-branded initiative that would overturn the Climate Commitment Act (CCA)’s cap-and-trade system and prevent the state from establishing another one in the future. If the initiative passes, Washington communities will lose billions in funding to improve air quality, public transit, fish habitat, and wildfire prevention, all to allow Washington’s wealthiest corporations to pump millions of metric tons of carbon emissions for free.

The City should get some flowers for their support of the CCA, but, as with any good thing self-proclaimed Democrats have ever done, it's just not enough. To meaningfully protect the CCA, the City must also oppose I-2066, Let’s Go Washington’s electrification ban. And, if the City wants the clout of choosing the environment over the profits of the wealthy few, the City must do so in their own budget, too. 

The City of Seattle finally joins Redmond, Kenmore, Burien, and a broad coalition of 500 organizations, including labor groups, environmentalists, tribal nations, and others in calling for a “no” vote on I-2117. Under the cap-and-trade scheme, Washington sets a cap on carbon emissions and auctions off carbon allowances to polluters. Gradually, the state lowers the cap, selling fewer and fewer allowances at higher and higher rates. If everything goes to plan, the system will lower carbon emissions 95 percent from 2022 levels by 2050. 

In its first couple of years, the State has raised more than $2 billion from selling carbon allowances. The money that polluters spend to spew absolute bile into our environment goes toward environmental initiatives, investing in populations particularly vulnerable to our changing climate, and projects with Tribal support. 

The State has awarded Seattle more than $26 million from the CCA to promote Mayor Bruce Harrell’s Climate Justice Agenda, according to the mayor’s office.

Harrell, who proposed the resolution, sung the CCA’s praises in a press conference last month where he announced a bonus rebate to help residents transition from oil heat to electric heat pumps. The rebate, Harrell noted, would not be possible without a recent $3.2 million award from the CCA. 

“The Climate Commitment Act is good policy, simple as that, it's good policy. It defines us as one of the greatest, greenest states in this country,” Harrell said. 

If Harrell cares about heat-pump rebates, he’s gotta care about another item on the November ballot, I-2066. Let’s Go Washington may market I-2066 as an initiative to repeal the State’s “gas ban,” but the state has no such ban. In reality, the legislation I-2066 seeks to destroy simply requires Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to create some weak-sauce plan to meet the state’s pollution reduction goals without fucking over the poor. More egregiously, I-2066 forbids the state from ever doing anything ever again to “prohibit, penalize, or discourage the use of gas for any form of heating, or for uses related to any appliance or equipment, in any building.” 

Passing I-2066 would weaken the CCA, which funds almost $40 million in incentives to residents and businesses to switch to more energy efficient appliances. Republican lawsuit spammers may see rebates from the CCA as a means to “discourage” the use of gas. Please send those last few paragraphs to the Seattle Times editorial board, which ignorantly endorsed a “yes” vote on the electrification ban but a “no” vote on the CCA that the ban would weaken. 

Mayoral spokesperson Callie Craighead said they are considering resolutions on initiatives that “directly impact” City programs. I-2066 would also affect the Building Emissions Performance Standards, which incentivizes electrification, Craighead noted. She said the Mayor’s office “should have more to share on that soon.” 

To be clear, Let’s Go Washington’s two other initiatives–I-2109 to repeal the capital gains tax and I-2124 to allow people to opt out of the Long-Term Care Act–would certainly affect people living in Seattle. I-2109 would totally gut public schools, and I-2124 would destroy our one shot at a stronger social safety net for our aging population. 

Either way, the Mayor would have to work quickly. As of Tuesday, city council spokesperson Brad Harwood said he had not heard of any other resolutions coming before the council. The next and only opportunity to vote on such a resolution before the general election would be October 22, he said. 

The council seemed happy to vote on the resolution this week. Several council members expressed their support for the CCA when Council Member Tammy Morales brought it for a vote — except for Council President Sara Nelson, who historically abstains from non-binding resolutions, especially those that tell the public how to vote. That’s convenient for her if she does not support the cap-and-trade system, but we’ll never know! Harrell’s office did not respond to my attempts to probe him for any shit-talk about Nelson on this. 

On the other hand, Council Member Cathy Moore noted that the State earmarked more than $50 million from the CCA to pay for much needed improvements to Seattle’s deadliest road, Aurora Avenue, which runs through Moore’s council district. Council Member Dan Strauss said repealing the CCA would be a “bad deal for Washington.” 

Hopefully, Strauss, as the Budget Chair, realizes the Mayor’s proposed budget represents a “bad deal” for Seattle. In his recently unveiled 2025-2026 budget proposal, Harrell raided $330 million from JumpStart revenue—a pot of money generated by taxing the city’s largest corporations and earmarked for affordable housing, environmental initiatives, and economic development for small business—to fill the huge deficit without levying new taxes on the rich or raising existing ones, aside from fees for community centers and the link. In this way, like the Let’s Go Washington initiative, Harrell sacrifices important public goods, particularly those that strengthen climate resiliency, to allow corporations to continue to hoard wealth. 

A few members of the city council have hinted in budget briefings that they want to return some of those funds to their intended priorities, but council members, with the exception of Morales, have not made clear their intention to raise taxes to save JumpStart priorities and avoid cuts to other programs funded by the General Fund. 

When asked if he planned to propose new taxes, Strauss told The Stranger in a phone call shortly after Harrell released the budget that the council will “explore all options.” Strauss, despite running in his 2023 campaign as one of the fiercest champions for progressive revenue in any of the council races, has been unforthcoming about taxes since in office. The public will understand more about Strauss’s plan in the coming weeks, particularly when he unveils his chair’s package on October 30. 

But, to be so fr, the City’s symbolic stand to protect the environment from the rich and powerful matters less than how they invest money toward that end in their own budget.