Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has officially declared today as “Seattle Sounders FC Day” to commemorate the Sounders’ first playoff game! Catch the game tonight at 7pm on ESPN2. More info from the Sounders FC Blog.

The first thing that people probably assume about an experience involving the examination of, and close proximity to, preserved bodies is most likely that it is for ghoul loving Goths and assorted weirdos.  I happen to have a rather morbid curiosity and don’t find myself squeamish around blood and guts (except smells, I can’t do smells, taking out the trash makes me want to vomit.  But I digress…..).  So when I was offered the chance to attend the pre-opening media event for the Bodies exhibit currently in town, I was actually very excited.

I missed the exhibit both the last time it was here and when it was in the Washington, DC area when I lived out there (although that’s a pretty sordid town, and many people you meet could probably pass as corpses).  Not knowing what to expect from either a media or an experience standpoint, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the exhibit and was immediately greeted by Dr. Roy Glover, the Chief Medical Advisor for Premier Exhibitions, Inc. – the firm that develops and tours the “Bodies” exhibit.  I must be honest here and say that I was expecting him to be a corporate shill attempting to woo the media.  I was pleasantly surprised to find Dr. Glover to be a man with a firm handshake and a kind, inquisitive disposition.  He treated me like I was writing the front-page story for The New York Times, and to his credit I seriously doubt he actually believed that.  He resume in anatomy runs very deep (over 30 years as a medical professor, and he is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Michigan), which set my cynical mind at ease.   I only mention this because I found his attitude to be largely indicative of the purposes of this exhibit.  Sure, Premier Exhibitions is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: PRX), and they aren’t in the business of losing money.  However, Dr. Glover’s presentation made it eminently clear that there is as much, if not more, weight placed on education and experience than on profit.  Case in point: entrance to the exhibit this go round is $19 for adults, compared to around $40 the last time.  This was explained as sensitivity to the economic downturn, but also to providing a first rate exhibit that was accessible to anybody with the intellectual, if not self curiosity to be able to experience “Bodies.”

The layout of the exhibit itself is brand new for “Bodies.”  Located in the former Adidas store on 5th and Pike, the exhibit takes on an open, inviting atmosphere as opposed to a structured, “You will follow this path and like it,” design.  This works surprisingly well in the former retail space, and while I’m not sure if I believe that this layout was their idea and not a product of the space they had to work with, I will admit it works.  The stated purpose of this exhibit is education.  People will not become engaged or walk away from the experience with lasting memories if they feel like they are being forced into something.  Each major system of the body has it’s own portion of the building, and you have unfettered access between the lot of them.  Projectors showing short movies, colored lighting and simple, clean design make one forget that they are in the company of countless real corpses and assorted body parts (diseased and otherwise).  It is timely, what with the current national debate regarding health care reform, that people are able to experience such a personal and indeed candid look at what really happens inside of us.  I am a big proponent of preventative medicine (which if you ever saw me with my shirt off you would place that statement somewhere on the “is he fucking kidding me?” side of ironic), and you have no other choice than to see what poor decision making will do to you.  Lungs that look like asphalt, livers that look like aliens, gall-bladder stones that would stuff up the exhaust pipe on your Prius, sights like these make one re-consider the cocaine off the filter of a cigarette before one smokes it and that double-Jack Daniels night cap.  Seriously though, this exhibit is rad.  The pictures below are of blood vessels.  Like, and arm or a leg or an entire body of blood vessels.  They inject the vessels with chemical a, then dissolve the rest of the flesh with chemical b, and what remains is a perfect, impossibly detailed and only feasible in nature 3D representation of what was once there.  Education or not, this shit is utterly fascinating. Honestly, I don’t even think somebody with a weak stomach would have a hard time seeing this stuff – it is so well done and inviting that you quickly throw aside the fact that you are looking at the remains of a human being.  Using cutting edge technology, they even have an entire body sliced in horizontal pieces from top to bottom (we’re talking like 5mm thick each slice), and one of a body sliced vertically, which you can kind of see in the picture, though unlike the real journalists with the multiple camera’s and telephoto lenses, I only had my Blackberry – Gonzo journalism, anyone?

One portion of the exhibit focuses solely on fetuses in every stage of development.  For those sensitive to this type of thing – don’t worry – not only is that portion clearly delineated from the rest of the exhibit with a warning on the door, but these samples have absolutely not been taken from aborted pregnancies.  This was arguably the most fascinating, educating, and necessary portion of this exhibit.  At that stage of life, we are virtually all the same – seeing this up close and personal gave even this loud-mouthed goon step back and ponder.  Don’t get me wrong – I wouldn’t change my rigidly pro-choice stance if you held a gun to my head – but this portion of the exhibit was truly awe-inspiring.  If you see this article, you need to trust me and go see this exhibit immediately.  Take the kids, take your parents, hell, go see it on a date.  It’s not scary, it’s not creepy, it’s not cliched.  It’s completely fascinating and something we all need to experience, as in truth, we are all experiencing what they have on display every day of our lives.

From Premier Exhibitions:

BODIES….The Exhibition
1505 Fifth Ave.
Tickets available at the venue, or at www.bodiestickets.com
Adults = $19
Seniors (60+) = $15
Children (4-12) = $14
School Groups = $10/pp
Private Groups = $15/pp

After Saturday’s exciting 3-2 win, the Sounders clenched a berth in the MLS Playoffs, the first expansion team to do so since the 1998 Chicago Fire. Tickets will go on sale this Saturday at 10am PT via TicketMaster.com.

The Sounders will be part of the conference semifinals, a two game series that is decided upon by the final goal tally of each team. Here’s an explanation from the  Sounders official site: Sounders FC will play at Qwest Field either October 29 or November 5. This semifinal would be a “home and home” series with the winner advancing on the aggregate goal total. A “home and home” is a two match series in which each team hosts a match. The team with the most total goals scored advances. The opponent is still undecided and will remain so until after the last games of the regular season which take place this next weekend.

Season ticket holders (myself included) have already had their chance to claim their seats for playoff games. Prices for each ticket are very similar to the prices of regular season tickets with a slight increase on each seat. The Sounders will most likely open up the top sections of the XBOX Pitch at Qwest Field, like they did with the Barcelona and Chelsea FC games, to allow more tickets to non season ticket holders.

“All we care about is brewing a malt liquor that will really mess you up!” Almost live hits it right on the nose with this classic sketch.

FishTacoBlog.com is a new website with plans to review the best fish tacos in the nation. The starting cities will be New York and Seattle with plans to expand to other cities across the nation. Each restaurant (or hole-in-the-wall) is reviewed with appropriate meta information and pictures of the fish taco goods. Eat away!

Remember Seattle in 1993? You may not, if you’re in the target age range of this site, but nevertheless is was pretty amazing. Grunge was at its peak, Amazon.com would start in Jeff Bezos’ garage in a year, and Almost Live was an funny as ever with the recurring lame list skit featuring members of Seattle’s heavy metal community. Look for Kim Thayil of Soundgarden in this clip.

From Bainbridge Island’s decades’ old annual Paint Night to countless pictures chalked on sidewalks during local festivals, the Seattle area is no stranger to so-called guerrilla-art. In January 2001, for example, someone even placed a 350-pound steel slab nicknamed the “monolith” in Seattle’s Magnuson Park only for it to be stolen and relocated to Duck Island in the middle of Green Lake.

Seattle’s most recent guerrilla-art is a papier-mâché collection left at Gas Works Park. Unofficially dubbed “The Spirit of Awakening” for words inscribed on upon it, the Seattle Parks Department has announced it will allow the art pieces to remain until Labor Day unless proper permits are obtained.

According to The Seattle Times, a plaque attached to the sculpture reads “Anew is gifted to the citizens of Seattle in the spirit of awakening. Each of us has shells to break through, parameters to look past and wills to exercise. Arise and stand and then start moving.”

Originally displayed at the Critical Massive annual arts event in July, the Awakening’s artist wishes to remain anonymous according to the event’s organization Ignition Northwest.

Photo Credit - Mónica Guzmán at seattlepi.com

Remember back when Bill Nye was an Almost Live cast member, before he made millions and was nationally known? Here’s a funny sketch starring the Science Guy on Almost Live.

You can help name one of two twin baby snow leopards born to Woodland Park Zoo on Memorial Day. Voting is open through Zoo.org or at thezoo in person. Vote now, as voting is open open till Aug 12th!