Happy 233rd, America!

The United States hits the big two-three-three today.

Which is simply an excuse to share this kickass poster.

Happy 62nd, Larry!

Curb Your Enthusiasm's comic genius Larry David hits the big six-two today.

Here he is with J.B. Smoove, the guy who played Trucky in Pootie Tang.

Kenny Fucking Powers!

Instant classic: Eastbound & Down. I watched the first season last night and laughed my ass off.

Kenny's baseball career ended after pitching for the generic "Seattle" team, presumably because the Mariners wouldn't authorize their brand to be associated with a foul-mouthed, steroid-shooting, coke-addled, dog-fighting, alcoholic, racist, homophobic, sexist egomaniac. At least not a fictional one.

Of local interest: In one scene, Kenny reminisces, "You should see my fuckin' cookouts, man. When I was back in Seattle, I had the goddamn Spoonman from the Soundgarden videos comin' to my shit. Oh yeah, I’m talkin' six grills burnin' at all times, tiki torches, three whole pigs, fuckin' shitloads of macaroni and cheeses, baked potatoes, collard greens, a horse, fuckin' Puerto Rican chicks showin' their pussies and tits off everywhere. They were amazing!"

In real life, another guy named Kenny Powers attempted a mile-long jump across the St. Lawrence Seaway, from Canada into the United States, in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental. I wrote about his doomed 1979 jump in my review of the documentary The Devil at Your Heels, here. Also, you can watch the jump in this video, starting at the 1:15 mark.

Kenny fucking Powers!

We Hardly Knew Ye: M/V Klickitat

My favorite ferry boat has been sold for scrap.

My dad took this picture at the Anacortes ferry dock in the early '70s.

Bigfoot Birthday Cake II!

I turned 40 yesterday so Eliza made me this incredibly cool Quatchi birthday cake -- it tastes as good as it looks!

Here's the one she made me last year.

Thanks Eliza!

Metal Baseball Quilt

I've walked past Ross Palmer Beecher's art at Safeco Field a million times but never really stopped to check it out 'til today. It's super cool.

She made a giant quilt, with each piece representing one of baseball's 30 major league teams with their circa '99 logos, by stitching together aluminum cans and license plates from the teams' respective states.

Also, there's another dozen or so pieces based on various Washington state team logos from over the years, including the Seattle Pilots, Seattle Rainiers, Tacoma Rainiers, Everett AquaSox, and the Spokane Chiefs. Each mini-quilt has a square wooden frame with a unique baseball-themed painting, bordered by a bunch of bottlecaps.

My favorite is the Mariner Moose, rendered in A&W root beer cans.

On display since the park's 1999 opening, you can find 'em in main concourse along the right-field line.

Happy 25th, Tim!

The former Washington Husky and current San Francisco Giant Tim Lincecum hits the big two-five today.

He's my favorite pitcher.

Happy 40th, Ice!

Mr. Cube hits the big four-oh today.

When he's in your neighborhood, you better duck,'cause Ice Cube is crazy as fuck.

I Read a Book: Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend

Joshua Blu Buhs's near-definitive Bigfoot tracks the elusive beast from his primordial genesis as the mythological "wildman" of disparate cultures throughout history to the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, to the Sasquatch of British Columbia, to the critter captured in the indelible Patterson film, to the commercial pitchmonster of today.

Like me, Buhs is a skeptic who still asserts that Bigfoot is real, if only in the forests of the collective mind. He covers the faithful, the naysayers, the cryptozoologists, the hoaxers, the scientists, the pseudoscientists, and particularly the "white, working-class men" who've given life to Bigfoot over the decades, making him a postwar media sensation. While it's a tad too academic for my tastes (and not pop-culture-y enough -- where's Quatchi?), it's still the best Bigfoot book I've read. It also made me slightly jealous.

Two snaps up!

On Deck: Me

Hot Stuff

We've been getting our first look at our wedding photos, thanks to our fantastic photographer, Sean Flanigan. These are two of my favorites.

See more here.

Happy 30th, NBA Champion Seattle SuperSonics!

It was 30 years ago today that the late Sonics won the NBA Finals, becoming the only professional Seattle team to win any major sports championship (unless you count the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans).

The 1978-'79 Supes had a 52-30 regular-season record and drew a whopping 747,000 fans to their home games, many of which were held at the Kingdome. After knocking off the Lakers and Suns in the playoffs, they avenged their '78 finals loss to Washington, beating the Bullets in five games. I vividly remember watching that final game on TV, with Brent Musberger counting down the final seconds as Gus Williams launched a celebratory granny shot into the Capital Centre rafters.

Good times (sigh).

Happy 100th, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition!

It was 100 years ago today that Seattle's A-Y-P officially opened.

I hope to write more about it later (particularly about its souvenir Billiken). In the meantime, here are some nice photos, a recent Seattle Times article, and more.

The Honeymoon's Over...

...And it was great!

Some highlights from the final five days: Stockholm's mind-blowing Vasa Museum, housing a warship that sunk on its maiden voyage in 1638, and then in 1961 was raised from the bottom of Stockholm's harbor (tho' it was too dark for decent photos)... We stayed at the cool Hotel Hellsten, and took a trip up the tower atop Stockholm City Hall.

Then the good ship Gabriella brought us to Helsinki. The Viking Line cruise was plenty scenic, otherwise, we opted for a solid night's sleep over the duty-free shopping, casino gambling, and entertainment in the lounge by the Let’s Sing! Dancers the Let’s Dance! Singers.

Arriving in Finland brought my countries-I've-been-to total to 25, and Helsinki marked the northern- and easternmost points from the US that either of us had ever been. We dug the train station (above), went to some outdoor market, ate at Hesburger, and stayed at Hotel Helka (right across the street from Heavy Corner). Eliza toured the Alvar Aalto House while I hung out at the next-door library, reading up on Lordi.

We visited the Finnish Design Museum, though our favorite bit of Finnish design was the cool Lasipalatsi building. Either that, or the adorable penguin logo on Valio Jäätelö ice cream products. I also liked this Space Needle sticker, randomly spotted on some street...

The actual Space Needle was a sight for sore eyes when we got home last night, following a brief London layover (we took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus and had dinner at Inn the Park). Good times, but we're glad to finally be back in town...

Skål!

You're Welcome, Stockholm

We finally got to ride Copenhagen's free city bikes, and though they expedited our sightseeing, they were still fairly crappy -- no wonder they get thrown in the canal.

We parked ours outside Ida Davidsen (where I had the awesome shrimp pyramid smørrebrød), and later we visited the suburban Finn Juhl house.

Along our train ride to Oslo we stopped in Goteborg for a few hours, long enough to hike around town and visit the Liseberg amusement park. It isn't nearly as charming as Copenhagen's Tivoli, as it aims for more of a branded, Disney-ish theme, starring its own Mickey-Mousy mascot, the creepy green Liseberg Rabbit.

In Oslo we took the water shuttle across the harbor to a bunch of cool museums: the Folkemuseum (the folk museum), the Sjøfartsmuseum (maritime museum), the Vikingskipshuset (Viking ship museum), and the best one, the Kon-Tiki museum -- that's the famed craft below.

For Eliza's birthday dinner we rode the T-bane up to Frognerseteren, a restaurant atop a mountain overlooking the city, and took a postprandial stroll through Vigeland Sculpture Park.

Here's me in front of the Oslo rådhus (city hall).

Now we're at Stockholm's Hotel Hellsten, having spent yesterday touring the Kulturhuset and Gamla stan. We rode up the Katarinahissen, and had dinner at Rolfs Kök with Eliza's grandmother's Swedish cousin (Hej Gun! Tack!).

The Swedes dig the Stones...

Lots of Scandinavian design in Scandinavia...

Tonight we sail to Helsinki!

Skål!

First thing we see last night after stepping off our plane in Copenhagen is this ad for flights to Seattle, though we've hardly been away long enough to feel homesick... We then took the Metro to The Square hotel, where we've since been adjusting to our jetlag.

Today we hiked around the city center, and then looked down on it all from the Rundetaarn. Above is Mrs. Truitt, taking it all in.

Here's another elevated view, this one from from the top of the Ballongyngen, a ferris wheel at the awesome Tivoli Gardens, open for business since 1843 (!). Beyond the trees is the SAS Hotel, where this morning we had their killer breakfast buffet.

Great Odin's raven!

That's some goofy Viking sculpture at Tivoli. We also rode the cool old wooden Rutschebanen roller coaster, which has been in near-continuous operation since 1914, and had the first of what will likely be many open-faced sandwiches.

You can never wash your hands too many times at any amusement park -- here Eliza cleans up in the elephant sink...

...And here she stands outside some weird-looking ride.

I've been totally stoked about Copenhagen's free city bikes program, but the few we've found so far have all been broken and unusable. Instead, we had to hike to dinner at BioMio, which was more or less worth the trip.

Skål!

Happy 65th, Rock 'n' Rollen!

Rollen Stewart hits the big six-five today.



For more info, check out the killer 1997 documentary, The Rainbow Man/John 3:16.

Scandinavia in the the Spring

Eliza and I got married on Saturday and tomorrow we are going to Scandinavia for a ten-day honeymoon.

I'm planning on doing some blogging while we're there.

Set Phasers to Fabulous!

Last night we saw the new Star Trek, and while we're non-Trekkies Trekkers fans ourselves, we still enjoyed it.

May the force be with you!

Steve's Autographs #7: Tony Millionaire

Tux-clad Tony Millionaire held a book signing tonight at the Fantagraphics Bookstore. While knocking back PBRs, he kindly obliged my request to sketch Batty in the front matter of his new book, Drinky Crow's Maakies Treasury. On the facing page, below, he signed it to Eliza and me.

Here is a picture Eliza took of him with Ellen Forney.

Dook dook dook!

Another Scorekeeping Season Begins

At an M's game last month I picked up the new 2009 official Mariners scorecard for my small collection... Wait -- what? There's no online gallery!? (At least none that I can find?!?)

Welp, problem solved. Fresh from the oven, my second flickr set.

Another Election Season Begins

At Friday's Mariners game I picked up the new 2009 All-Star Game ballot for my small collection... Wait -- what? There's no online gallery of those punch cards that stuff ballpark ballot boxes!? (At least none that I can find?!?)

Welp, problem solved. Fresh from the oven, my first flickr set.

Happy 70th, Batman!

Batman hits the big seven-oh this month.

He first appeared in Detective Comics #27, dated May 1939. I love how "The Bat-Man" has evolved over the decades, culminating in last year's kickass The Dark Knight.

In the nonfiction realm, here's an amusing gallery of circa-now wannabes.

Homer Simpson Thinks the Space Needle is Actually from Outer Space

From last night's Simpsons, another reference for my Simpsons Take Seattle inventory...

Father Knows Worst (April 26, 2009).
Homer scans a Springfield Elementary hallway to get ideas for Bart's balsa wood model contest. Seeing an Eiffel Tower poster, he dismisses it as "too obvious." Then, seeing a Space Needle poster (above), he remarks, “gotta be something from Earth.”

Homer might've avoided this goof had he joined Marge and the kids on their Seattle visit in The Simpsons Movie, in which our fair burg looked like this:

I don't know how last night's episode ended, 'cause I fell asleep.

Bigfoot is Everywhere

Particularly in Portland, where Eliza and I spent the weekend.

Ground Kontrol has the White Water pinball (featuring Bigfoot's furry spinning head), while over at PGE Park (where the Beavs beat the Grizzlies), I spied Bigfoot's hot dog stand.


Elmer's has the "Big Foot Breakfast" and "Big Foot Burger" on their kids' menu (unfortunately, they were all out of these)... At the Candy Basket, home of the creepy chocolate waterfall, I scored a milk chocolate Bigfoot foot (not so big, really -- it's only eight inches long)... I picked up a Bigfoot postcard promoting Crafty Wonderland, and saw in Willamette Week that the Portland Ikea will be handing out Bigfoot air fresheners this week in honor of Earth Day.

In other unsolved Northwest mysteries: on our drive home we stopped by the Ariel Store and Tavern, near where D.B. Cooper supposedly touched down (I previously wrote about him here). Sadly, the place was closed for the evening (and, from the looks of things, might have been closed for some time). All I got was this lousy photo.

My theory: Bigfoot abducted Cooper, then ate him.