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City Inside/Out with Brian Callanan: Belltown Blues

channelweb — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:48 +0000

Belltown has always been a diverse and popular neighborhood in Seattle, but many residents and businesses are now singing the blues. Multiple gun shots on New Year’s Eve, coupled with a recent police report that 50 people are responsible for 2,700 Belltown arrests, have led to increasing public safety concerns. Merchants who pride themselves on the area’s shopping, restaurants, and nightlife say that Belltown is now a center for crime, filth, and lagging economic development. What is the city and county doing to help Belltown change its image and reduce its problems? Our studio guests include Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, Belltown Business Association President Jim Miller, Belltown business owner Jessica Norton, and Jon Scholes of the Downtown Seattle Association.

Premieres Fri., Feb. 3, 7 p.m.

Watch the shows at www.seattlechannel.org/CityInsideOut

This Week on Art Zone with Nancy Guppy…

channelweb — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:00:58 +0000

Nancy and The Zone bring the goods this week, with a preview of the upcoming Seattle Improv Festival, a not-so-silent look at the man behind the Paramount’s mighty Wurlitzer organ, and a profile of the exceptional Cellist Lori Goldston. Also, The Young Evils blow the doors off of the studio. (Note: the band kindly replaced the doors afterwards.)

Premieres Fri., Feb. 3, 8 p.m.

Check it out at www.seattlechannel.org/artZone.

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with CityStream!

channelweb — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:22:47 +0000

Learn about the Lunar New Year with host Lowell Deo at the Wing Luke Museum. We’ll also learn about one of their leadership programs that are helping teens understand about their culture with an artistic flair. Then, discover the unusual and playful way computers are helping to cure diseases. Finally, check out how teenage immigrants are learning about their new home and culture through the power of still photography.

The award winning CityStream premieres Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. on the SEATTLE CHANNEL, Cable 2, or watch it online anytime at: www.seattlechannel.org/CityStream

This week on American Podium: Hitchens, Havel, and Kim Jong-il Remembered

channelweb — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:03 +0000

Within the space of four days in December, three public figures died. Obituary page proximity aside, Christopher Hitchens, Kim Jong-il, and Václav Havel had nothing particular in common—except they each lived emphatically larger than life on the global stage. Some local luminaries deliver remembrances/assessments of these men and their cultural impact… although not all will be warmly remembered.

To watch episodes of American Podium, visit: www.seattlechannel.org/americanPodium.

Premieres Tue., Jan. 31, 8 p.m.

Governing for Racial Equity Conference: Why Race Matters

channelweb — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:43 +0000

Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) is a citywide effort to realize the vision of racial equity. The Initiative works within Seattle City government and with community leaders to get to the root cause of racial inequity: institutional racism. Government officials and employees from Washington and Oregon recently met to discuss this vital subject, with topics including the best practices to address institutional racism, measuring and assessing racial equity outcomes, applying a racial equity tool to budget and policy decisions, and more.

Premieres Tue., Jan. 31, at 9:30 a.m.

City Hall Open House Saturday, 1/28, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

channelweb — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:00:33 +0000

Join Mayor Mike McGinn, the City Council, City Attorney and City departments on January 28th 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, at Seattle City Hall.

City Inside/Out with Brian Callanan: The Future of Tolling

channelweb — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:00:22 +0000

Since December 29, 2011, the new SR-520 toll has been taking a toll on many drivers trying to cross Lake Washington. How have traffic patterns changed, and is the state on track to raise the revenue it needs for a replacement bridge? Looking ahead, are Washingtonians willing to accept more tolling across the state for better roads & highways? Don’t miss our discussion with studio guests Craig Stone, Tolls Director for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Mark Hallenbeck, Director of the Washington State Transportation Center, Richard Ford, Chairman of the Washington State Transportation Commission, and Doug MacDonald, former State Transportation Secretary (2001-2007).

Watch the show at www.seattlechannel.org/CityInsideOut

Premieres Fri., Jan. 27, at 7 p.m.

Art Zone @ The Movies: Margaret’s Blessed Mess

channelweb — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:22:36 +0000

Bless This Mess

Margaret, Dir. Kenneth Lonergan
Now Playing at SIFF Cinema

You Can Count on Me, the Oscar-nominated 2000 directorial debut of playwright Kenneth Lonergan, was a marvel in miniature: a brilliantly acted, acutely rendered character study that displayed a firm grasp of what to leave unsaid. Margaret, Lonergan’s follow-up, unfortunately accrued some legendarily bad mojo on its way to the screen. Originally shot in 2006, the footage collected dust on the shelf as the director and producer waged a legal war over the length of the final cut, with various running times reportedly ranging from 90 minutes to over four hours. Now finally granted release in 150 minute form (Martin Scorsese apparently lent an uncredited editorial hand), the resulting film is a truly odd experience: a sweepingly expansive post 9-11 reflection that is beautiful and frustrating and insightful and unfocused, sometimes all in the very same scene. I can’t stop thinking about it.

The story follows the wobbly trajectory of Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin), a privileged Upper West Side teenager whose combination of calculated disdain and vulnerability serve to flummox both her mother (J. Smith Cameron, Lonergan’s real-life wife) and teachers (including a still-dewy Matt Damon). After she inadvertently contributes to a horrific traffic accident, Lisa finds her carefully constructed universe imploding, with her guilt leading her on a self-serving crusade against the bus driver (Mark Ruffalo) involved in the crash. Any capsule plot description, though, is really only scratching the surface of the filmmaker’s ambition, which combines pungent observations about education and art and performing and racism and the absurdities of the legal system into a heady, sometimes baffling stew. (The title of the film, taken from a Gerard Manly Hopkins poem, should serve as an indicator that the movie is aiming for the intellectual upper decks.)

Great movies are rarely perfect movies, to steal a line from Pauline Kael, and Margaret certainly qualifies for at least the latter category. Not to sympathize too much with the studio folks, but there are some notable flaws present here — most notably some shaky staging, and the relative unlikeability of the majority of the characters — that would rankle regardless of the film’s length. For all of its problems, however, Lonergan’s crazily overstuffed vision contains so many moments that feel just so perfectly, dead-solid right that it makes virtually everything else out there seem safe and toothless in comparison. Grand folly, or unjustly truncated masterpiece? Both, maybe.

Also opening this week: Liam Neeson dukes it out with wolves in the existential action movie The Grey (Check out my review for the Portland Mercury), and the dopey but fun thriller Man on a Ledge, which I wrote up for Amazon.com.

Questions? Comments? Gerard Manly Hopkins knock knock jokes? Let me know at alwright@gmail.com

This Week on Art Zone…

channelweb — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:00:10 +0000

Nancy and the Zone check out the sights through the distinctive viewfinder of photographer Daniel Carrillo, go through some new routines with choreographer Mark Morris, and serve up a profile of tactile art hostess Sierra Stinson. All this, plus musical collective The Family Crest raising the studio roof.

Check out the show at www.seattlechannel.org/artZone.

Premieres Fri., Jan. 27, at 8 p.m.

This Week on CityStream with Nicole Sanchez…

channelweb — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:00:25 +0000

This week CityStream visits a local school where students are taking a class about compassion…from a teacher much younger than themselves. The Roots of Empathy program aims to teach kindness and understanding through interaction with a baby, and what the kids are learning will become lessons for life. Then join host Nicole Sanchez at Seattle City Hall, where we’ll learn about a local network of neighborhood news blogs and meet with city officials in preparation for Seattle City Hall’s Open House event this coming Saturday, January 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Watch the show at www.seattlechannel.org/CityStream

Premieres Thurs., Jan. 26, 7 p.m.