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I’ve been a resident of the north area of Seattle for over 15 years and the Ballard Denny’s located on the corner of Market St. and 15th has been a very important landmark for me.  Unfortunately, the building–which is a great example of mid-century Googie architecture–has been vacant since it was sold to ill-fated monorail project in 2007 and is slated for demolition.  The land is tragically slated to be developed into yet another condo with a Rite-Aid on the corner.

The building was built in the mid-60’s as the Manning’s Cafeteria and was one of many Manning’s restaurants up and down the west coast.  Manning’s was one of Seattle’s longest running and successful chains.  The Manning’s Cafeteria Building was the only building in Seattle designed by Clarence Mayhew, a very well-regarded Bay Area architect.  More information about the building can be found on Docomom WEWA’s website.

Tomorrow, the building will be up for nomination as a historic landmark at a public hearing.  Here are the details:

Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 3:30 p.m.
Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Ave., Room 4060. The meeting will be open to the public.

Hope to see you there!

As tech-savvy people, we love our digital media. But as designers, math savants, artists, writers, and general thinkers we often find inspiration in those old-fashioned information-conveyers called books. Remember those? Reading rates are declining alarmingly in the U.S., but we refuse to believe that’s happening here in our office.

To prove it, we thought we’d spend a little end-of-the-week energy discussing the books that engage us. We like to call it the Plexipixel reading room. Come inside, pour yourself a cup of hot tea, and peek at what has us snuggled up under our afghans in the mid-February cold.

Here’s our “in process” or just-completed list:

• Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis – “Funny and dark and crude … by the end I was like, ‘Enough already!’ but it cracked me up,” says Kiva P.
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith – “Smith is sharp and incisive. It’s a great book on diversity that doesn’t bang you over the head,” says Amie S.
• The Worst Years of Your Life: Stories for the Geeked-Out, Angst-Ridden, Lust-Addled, and Deeply Misunderstood Adolescent in All of Us - “Four out of five stars,” raves Ryan W. about this collection of short stories about junior high.
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• If I Die in a Combat Zone (Box Me Up and Ship Me Home) by Tim O’Brien
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
• Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy – “Very dark and post-apocalyptic, but touching and hopeful in its own way,” says Ian R.
• Al Jaffe’s Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions #5
• Magilla Gorilla: A Big Golden Book
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Blade Runner: The Inside Story by Don Shay
• Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
• Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky – “All those other white powders have nothing on salt,” says Tizzy A. “Just try to pickle a herring in Splenda!”
• The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Automatic Drawings, Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure, and The Focus of Life by Austin Osman Spare
• Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
• The daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer – says John T. “It’s all I ever read.” (He’s not lying. -.ed)

And like most readers, we’ve got a long list of books we’re going to get to… someday. (Except Joshua S., who always finds time for his book list. “I’ve never missed out on a book. if I want to read something I read it,” he says. “There are probably some really good books that I don’t know about that I haven’t read, but would like to read, because they’re good, right?”.) Maybe so, Joshua S. Here’s what’s on our shelves to finish in the next few years:

• Moby Dick
• Ulysses and Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
• Photoshop CS2 for Dummies
• Necronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft
• First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio
• Birds and Words by Charley Harper – says Drake B. “He was incredible. He just passed away last year, right as his giant anthology book got published.”
• The Art of Project Management by Scott Berkun
• My Life by Bill Clinton – “The one book I’ve had since it came out, but I just cannot get any traction on finishing,” says Allen C.

How about you? What’s in your Reading Room? 

A bunch of us from the studio (including our bookkeeper Amber and her brother Phil) decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see Obama at the Key Arena.  I mean, how often can you go see a presidential candidate speak with  18,000 other people… and just down the street, to boot! 

We started queuing up about an hour before doors opened.  The line was so long by this point that we ended up just 2 blocks south of Plexipixel.  Fortunately, we got a lucky break and got to enter the doors on the 200 level.  There were at least another 3,000 people (including two of our own) who were not able to get in to the Key Arena. 

The line snaked through the Seattle Center all the way down past the EMP

Jesse, Drake, and Ian R. watching the Jumbotron.

So last entry was about the “what” of a caucus and this one is more about the “why”. 

Matt and I went to an organized event last night for a couple of hours to watch the results with a bunch of other people.  The census around our table was that no one was completely clear on how the process of electing each party’s candidate works.  We had such a mixture of ages, sexes and races that were obviously interested enough in the process to perhaps know a bit of something. Both Matt and I were also admittedly in the dark about how it all works which resulted in the following questions for me: “Is the US political process so difficult as to keep people from participating?” and “Am I gonna let the ‘Man’ keep me down?”  I’m sure you’re formulating your own questions at this point… 

Some facts I learned last night which may answer some of your questions (they certainly did for me) and you’ll see why it’s all so confusing: 

• The Republican party has opted for the “winner take all” scenario.  This means that whoever wins the popular vote in the state wins all of the delegates.  Makes sense, right? 
• BUT the Democrat party has decided to divide the number of delegates per state. 
• Add this to the fact that each state can decide by caucus or primary or both (like in WA) and they can decide when to have these things happen 

So why is this particular caucus important?  If any of you followed the races last night, you’ll know that it’s a tight race all around.  In the Republican camp, there are 3 top candidates vying for delegates.  The Democrats have 2 who are very much neck-and-neck.  Even though almost half of our states (24) elected their candidates in the Super Tuesday event yesterday, the races are still very much in the air.  This means Washington’s caucus this Saturday is still extremely relevant.  

Our caucus is uniquely suited for being extra exciting.  This is a historic race: the first time we have a woman, a mixed-race African American, and a Mormon all as very viable candidates for the presidency.  People are coming out in big numbers to take part in this election process.  It’s also a very close and, at times, heated race.  All of these things combined make for an opportunity for a very interesting caucus.  Unlike voting, which tends to be private, caucuses are more of a community event.  With a caucus, “you have to be present to win” or at least take part.  People make speeches and woo folks in real time which sometimes results in a sort of musical chairs where people move from one part of the room to another (each candidate will have an area of the room for people to gather to be counted).  Plus, you may also get a chance to be voted to represent Washington as a national delegate and go to Denver (this caucus is the first tier of a three tiered process).  Pretty exciting, no?  

Additional information specific to Washington State: 

• You will be able to register to vote or update your personal information at the caucus location 
• You will need to register as a Democrat or Republican in order to vote in the caucus.  However, if you do not want to register for a particular party, you can make speeches, but not be counted for the vote 

So I hope some of you will take the opportunity to participate in this year’s caucus on Saturday.  It’s gonna be an exciting day! 

Here’s a copy of the email that I sent out to everyone in our studio which is relevant to all but one person (Kristi who is now a resident of San Francisco–CA is part of today’s Super Tuesday).  Take part in your political process everybody!:

To clear up some of the very understandable confusion, here’s some information: 

Both the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington State are relying on caucuses to determine how many delegates will represent each candidate.  If you’re a Democrat (or planning on voting Democrat), your vote in the primary will NOT count towards the # of delegates.  If you’re voting Republican you can go to the caucus AND vote in the primary.   

If politics matter to you, please make sure to take part in the caucus this week Saturday (2/9) at 1pm. 

• Read about caucuses here:
  http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/politicalsystem/a/delegateprocess.htm
  or get information here (from the MSN Interactive Voting Map that Amie and Allen worked on):
  http://election.msn.com/DefaultSchedule.aspx
  http://www3.capwiz.com/electionmsn/e4/rlist/?state=wa 

• If you’re voting for a Democrat get information on your caucus location here:
  http://www.wa-democrats.org/caucusfinder 

• Republicans can go here to find your caucus location:
  http://www.wsrp.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=6885 

• If you’re not already registered to vote, register here:
  http://www3.capwiz.com/electionmsn/e4/nvra/?action=form&state=WA
  Note: The deadline for registering to vote in Washington is August 4, 2008 for the Primary Election. The deadline for registering to vote in the General Election is September 30, 2008. 

• I you don’t know if you’re registered or not or you’ve moved or changed your name recently, go here:
  https://www.metrokc.gov/elections/pollingplace/voterlookup.aspx 

Matt and I took Will Vinton, his lovely wife Gill, and daughter to brunch this Sunday before Will’s Master Animation Class at the Northwest Film Forum.  We wanted to welcome an animation luminary to our lovely city and have an excuse to check out the brunch at Palisade Restaurant.

Will’s little daughter had a bit of a rough morning–we picked them up at 9am so that we’d have enough time for a leisurely meal and get Will back in time to set up for the class.  As soon as her Very Berry Smoothie (which came in a tiki glass) and Wacky Waffle (adorned with a bacon smile) arrived at the table, she was able to find some enjoyment in hanging out with a bunch of adults in a strange place.

Will and Gill were amazingly sweet people and extra fun to talk to.  Matt was able to talk shop, taking as much in about Will’s experience as an Academy Award and Oscar winning animator.  Gill and I talked about food–one of my favorite subjects.  Gill’s from Yorkshire (she didn’t think that I picked up on her slight British accent) and Matt’s family is from London/Ipswich so we had a lot to gab about.

We all ended up eating way too much.  You see, the way brunch is set up at the Palisade is that you pick an entree and it comes with trips to the buffet.  I know you’re thinking “ugh! buffets… usually not the cream of the crop.”  But this buffet had shrimp cocktail, oysters on the half shell, papaya, mango, macademia nut pancakes (with rum maple syrup)…  *burp*  Oh yeah, AND we had our entrees which were also amazing.

All the while, we were able to oogle the Seattle skyline, mountains, and water all from our table.

Floating World Comics
20 NW 5th Ave
Portland, OR 

Thursday, Feb. 7th, 6-10PM

Founded by visionary cartoonist Jim Woodring and Bob Rini, “Friends of the Nib” is a modern cartoonist salon. Cartoonists participating include: Jim Woodring, Bob Rini, Kinoko, Dalton Webb, Mark Campos, Matt Tamaru, Sara Spink, Angela Stork, Max Clotfelter, Scott Faulkner, and David Lasky. Schedules permitting, all artists plan to attend the event.

Book Launch Party & Art Exhibition 

LUST: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle’s The Stranger 
By Ellen Forney

DJ David James! Valentines! Chocolates! A short performance by Ellen! More!!

Saturday, February 9, 6pm - 9pm

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 Vale St. (at Airport Way S., in Georgetown)
206-658-0110 

Hello friends - 
LUST, my spankin’ new “Lustlab Ad of the Week” collection, is out! (My first hardback!) Just in time for Valentine’s Day…! Please come to the book launch party, it’ll be fun I SWEAR!!
xo 
Ellen.