The Best Tips To Travel With Weed This Summer
Planes, trains and automobiles are busy, so here are the best tips to travel with weed this summer!
The post The Best Tips To Travel With Weed This Summer appeared first on The Fresh Toast.
The Fresh Toast
Plus, the Chainsmokers and More Event Updates for May 23
by EverOut Staff
Billboard-charting hip-hop phenom A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie will stop by Seattle to support his latest album, Better Off Alone. Compton-born rapper YG has announced dates for his Just Re’d Up tour. Plus, EDM pop duo the Chainsmokers won’t let you down on their Party Never Ends tour, which will kick off at Myrtle Edwards Park this August. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.
ON SALE FRIDAY, MAY 24
MUSIC
Bay Ledges
Neumos (Tues Aug 20)
Holo Holo Festival
Tacoma Dome (Nov 9-10)
Jazmin Bean
The Showbox (Mon Sept 9)
The Stranger
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist Is a Surprising, Spooky Ecological Parable
by Chase Hutchinson
There is nothing quite like the thrill of seeing a filmmaker gain widespread acclaim for a movie and then following that project up with something completely different in almost every way. Just when you think you have them pinned down, they upend all your expectations. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, who recently made the Oscar-winning Drive My Car, has done just that with the ecological parable Evil Does Not Exist. It’s a film both meditative and menacing, with extended shots of characters filling up containers from a stream that builds to one of the most eerie endings you’ll ever see. There’s nothing else out there right now that’s quite like it and, for those who can get on its wavelength, it’s one of the year’s best.
The plot, for what pointedly little it matters, centers on Takumi (Hitoshi Omika). He is the first character we meet, but he is by no means its protagonist as the film doesn’t really have one. As we follow him through his day, we get to know his daughter Hana (Ryo Nishikawa) who accompanies him on tranquil walks through the woods. However, whatever peace there is to be found in their home of Mizubiki, a small village located a few hours outside of Tokyo, is about to be disrupted.
Initially, this interruption comes from a company known as Playmode, which intends to build a place for “glamping” without any concern about the impact this could have on the environment. Soon, we see this disruption is only one part of the many ways the relationship we share with the natural world has fallen out of balance.
Even as the community tries to speak up at a meeting with their urgent concerns about the development, it becomes clear their objections will not stop it. It’s as if they are stepping in front of a speeding train that is built for one thing and one thing only: the pursuit of profit at all costs. The scene plays out for several minutes, capturing that agonizing feeling of how comments from the public can often be treated as a formality rather than something actually worth listening to.
Critically, the real tension of the film then comes when we pull back to observe the more complicated questions surrounding the village’s relationship with nature. As one resident remarks, most of them, too, were outsiders at one point and have altered the natural world by being there. This isn’t done to create a false equivalency between the locals and the company. Rather, it exists to cut deeper, to challenge us to reflect on whether small acts of resistance are sufficient.
All of this is established with a refreshing subtlety that, for some, could easily be mistaken for distance. Indeed, just when we think we are getting close to a certain character, the film pulls away to show the broader world around them. That Evil Does Not Exist originally began as a silent short makes sense—there are plenty of striking visual moments and a spectacular score by Eiko Ishibashi. At the same time, it also feels like something uniquely sublime and sinister as a full feature. Without ever overplaying its hand, a deep sense of unease is felt in every frame.
It is this increasingly suffocating sense of dread that comes to define Evil Does Not Exist. Finding an evocative resonance in the way things quickly yet naturally unravel, Evil makes the impending loss almost feel inevitable when you look back on it. It’s a film whose grim revelations can often be obscured by routine, an apt encapsulation of how we all navigate our hellscape. A casual hint of brutality lurks in the beautiful landscape that we are dropped into. While Drive My Car was by no means a rosy portrait of life, it looks downright cheery in comparison.
This feeling of subtle, certain doom extends all the way to the conclusion where the film takes an audacious, haunting turn. It would be hard to tip off exactly what this is as everything is deliberately obscured once more, making it that much more disorienting and frightening as you try to make sense of a major loss. The truth is that the pain of the world is not something that can always be made legible to us. As we realize far too late, devastation of our own creation may be awaiting just around the corner.
Evil Does Not Exist opens May 24 at the SIFF Cinema Egyptian.
The Stranger
For all their service, we should do more to help soldiers who return with issues. Science does say cannabis can help PTSD.
The post Cannabis Can Help PTSD appeared first on The Fresh Toast.
The Fresh Toast
See someone? Say something!
by Anonymous
You liked my hair while walking pass the dog park
I was at the dog park on pine/boren. You stopped to tell me you liked my teal hair. I wished I would have asked for your number.
To you who ordered the bad boy
We share a glance. You say your favorite is the bad boy? Coy. It’s on the menu. So am I. Oh your SO is here? Well I want the hottie or three devils 😉
pearls, mullet, and stache
I was pushing road cases while you ran around with a shopping cart with your contagious smile, probably should’ve given you my number
Meyer Bar and Mariners game
I chatted you up at the M’s game saying I had recognized you from Meyer earlier. Your brother showed up before I could ask for your number.
Gems and Reggae
I feel like such a creep. We spoke at 2 gem shows in a different city, then at a reggae concert recently. You are such a beautiful dude, call me🙏
Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo WiFi
You live near me. Your internet connection is called “hide yo kids, hide yo wifi” and I need to know who you are because I think we’d get along!
Similarly clad in the bike lane at 9th and Mercer
In the same orange-ish Smith helmet and wildcat sunglasses. Before I could comment, the light turned green and you zoomed off, never to be seen again?
u saw me getting engaged
You saw my fiance propose to me at Greenlake on the dock by the boathouse. You took pictures and wanted to send them to us but they never arrived 🙁
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
The Stranger’s morning news roundup.
by Hannah Krieg
First things first: Today, in my humble opinion, will be fucking awesome. According to the National Weather Service, Seattle can expect a little cloud cover in the morning, but once that clears up, we’ll get a sunny afternoon with a high temperature of 66 degrees. I love when outside is inside temperature. Amazing!
ICYMI: We made the ultimate guide to the City. You can read everything online, and I know we would appreciate the clicks, but I would recommend tracking down a copy in the wild. They’re literally all over the place, so just leave the house and you’ll run into one. Then, flip to the cool checklist of 99 things to do in Seattle, tack it on your wall, and see if you can beat me to completing them all. I live a very full and exciting life, so good luck keeping up!
Out now! How to Seattle: 99 Things to Do Before the Big One Takes Us All
Because Seattle is doomed. The Pacific Northwest is riddled with fault lines and active volcanos. One day the Cascadia subduction zone will snap.https://t.co/T3VuS6Z5fV pic.twitter.com/hy40NObyVU
— The Stranger 🗞 (@TheStranger) May 22, 2024
Hey, Seattle Public Schools (SPS)! Just checking in. KUOW wrote that some of your students have been asking the district FOR MONTHS to please move their graduation date because SPS planned graduation week for the same week as Eid Al-Adha, one of the biggest Islamic holidays. The school board suggested hosting a separate graduation for students celebrating the holiday, but the kids say that feels exclusionary, and I totally agree. The district did not respond to KUOW’s request for comment, which does not make me very hopeful that the district will change, especially so close to the ceremonies.
Big decisions: Later today, Sound Transit’s governing board is expected to decide where to put the SLU light rail station. If you thought the station was already set, you would be right. But the power-players at Amazon and Vulcan lobbied to put the station on 5th Avenue rather than on 7th Avenue. The Seattle Times broke down the pros and cons of both station placements. If Sound Transit places the station on 5th, then they avoid some short-term traffic congestion during construction, but they ultimately lose 3,000 riders each day and make it harder for commuters to get to work with the physical barrier of Highway 99 between the station and most jobs. If Sound Transit places it on 7th, then riders will have better transfers and regional connectivity, but Amazon thinks that the traffic from construction will kill business in SLU.
Storm wins BTW: Last night, the Seattle Storm—the only basketball team this City needs if you ask me—beat the Indiana Fever and the Caitlin Clark with a score of 85-83.
WHAT A WIN ⛈️⛈️⛈️ pic.twitter.com/zk0PrFVqek
— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) May 23, 2024
Shocker: Failed GOP candidate Nikki Haley said that she will vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. Not surprising, but it is a shift for Haley. In January, Haley told CNN that Trump and President Joe Biden are “equally bad.” But yesterday, in her first public remarks since dropping from the primary, Haley said Trump “has not been perfect,” but Biden “has been a complete catastrophe.” Guess you got ham up your disapproval when you’re trying to pick off someone’s supporters.
Can they do it? The campaign to fund social housing by taxing businesses that pay anyone more than $1 million set their sights high this weekend, aiming to collect 10,000 signatures in just three days at Folklife. Tiffani McCoy from House Our Neighbors told The Stranger that they’ve hit the halfway mark in collecting 35,000 signatures to get on the ballot. She said I-137 could still make the November ballot, but the council may sit on it and let it go to February. Even though HON has won a special election in the past, that’s not exactly ideal, since turnout tends to be lower in those elections. But the quicker they can turn in the signatures, the harder it would be for the council to delay the measure until February. So, if you see the I-137 crew around, hear them out!
3 days until Folklife! We are in the final stretch of signature gathering for I-137. We will be gathering signatures from Seattle voters for I-137 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Sign up and help us reach our 10k signature goal this weekend. https://t.co/hhtm6VTzss pic.twitter.com/08Pa8bSfvG
— HON- SIGN I-137 fund social housing🏘️🌲 (@houseRneighbors) May 21, 2024
This guy and his flags: After news broke that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flew an inverted American flag outside his house, new photos show an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flying outside a beach home Alito owns. That flag was another symbol carried by rioters on January 6, 2021. Democrats continue to call for Alito to recuse himself from matters related to former President Donald Trump over the apparent show of solidarity with the insurrectionists. That’s cute.
Iowa: Officials say five people were killed after a tornado tore Greenfield, Iowa earlier this week. According to the AP, the tornado was “so destructive that it took authorities more than a day to account for the area’s residents.”
Back to the bargaining table: Families of hostages put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal with Hamas by releasing video footage of captive female IDF soldiers. Within hours, Israeli officials promised to revive negotiations. Israel has denied several deals with Hamas because they stipulated the return of the hostages on a ceasefire, which seems like a win-win if Israel’s whole thing is bringing their citizens home and not annihilation of the Palestinian people for the sake of conquest.
Booooooo: Harvard University will deny 13 students their degrees at commencement today because they participated in the school’s pro-Palestine encampment. The students can still go to the ceremony, and Harvard may give them their degrees after faculty takes another look in an appeal process.
Karaoke: I asked Twitter what my new, hot girl karaoke song should be. This is what Seattle Channel host Brian Callanan suggested.
The Stranger
We will need continued community pressure, in addition to the ongoing powerful student movement, to succeed in striking this blow against the US war machine.
by Zho Ragen
It’s been more than 220 days of collective punishment levied against the Palestinian people. Over 35,000 people have been murdered by the illegal, Zionist occupation of Palestine. The University of Washington (UW) still refuses to acknowledge the genocide in Palestine, and instead joins the ranks of academic institutions repressing students for calling out their complicity.
The Popular University for Gaza in the Liberated Zone on the UW campus has packed up, but it didn’t fully deliver on its demands. Students, employees, and community members are continuing to act in solidarity with Palestine, and they are calling on the University to do the same. The following three demands are still relevant: 1) Materially and academically divest from ‘israel,’ 2) Cut ties with Boeing, and 3) End the repression of pro-Palestinian students, faculty, and community members.
For the two weeks of its existence, the Liberated Zone quickly built momentum across campus. The Associated Students of the University of Washington passed a resolution carrying the demands of the zone with 89% affirmative votes. A petition created and shared after the launch of the Popular University for Gaza garnered over 3,800 signatures. Faculty wrote a letter of support for the occupation of the quad.
Despite this overwhelming support, UW President Ana Mari Cauce still won’t entertain the idea of cutting ties with Boeing, a transnational corporation that manufactures weapons. When publicly commenting on the topic of disentangling from Boeing, Cauce emphasizes her pride in the partnership. In an email on February 15, 2024, she said, “Other endowment sources cannot replace Boeing’s support for the UW in time, talent and funding, nor would we choose to sever our relationship if they could be.”
In negotiating sessions with representatives from the Liberated Zone last week, Cauce cited the sentimental nature of UW and Boeing’s “100 years of partnership” as preventing her from taking action. Boeing’s B-29 Bomber, the aircraft used to drop nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was tested in the Kirsten Wind Tunnel in the 1940s. Referring to the relationship between UW and Boeing, Cauce stated, “Someone that you barely know does something pretty awful, you make one set of decisions. Someone that has been a close friend of yours ever since you were two does something pretty awful, you look at it a little bit differently.”
While Cauce waxes poetic about her institution’s “friendship” with Boeing, it’s worth analyzing the material impacts of this ongoing partnership with UW. UW helps launder Boeing’s reputation as a weapons company. Boeing’s revenue is about equally sourced from weapons production as it is from commercial manufacturing; the Department of Defense is its largest customer. Boeing locks students into multi-year contracts under UW’s supervision, but they are a company known for violating labor laws and intimidating whistleblowers. UW refusing to cut ties–even while Boeing is facing fraud charges from the Department of Justice, locking out its union safety workers amidst an international safety scandal (a door blew off mid flight, in case you hadn’t heard)–is evidence that the money Boeing provides is more important to UW than its students’ well-being. The benefits for the institutions go both ways: Boeing needs UW because it needs workers; creating a pipeline at the university is the best way to secure a steady stream of talent.
Why does UW so desperately cling onto this relationship with a war profiteer? This issue speaks to a broader problem with our education system. Across the country, Universities–even public ones–are becoming increasingly privatized, reliant on exorbitant tuition fees, corporate donors, corporate-invested endowments, and–at UW in particular–revenues from expensive medical care to sustain regular operations and new projects.
University administrations are not eager to meet the demands of students protesting for justice in Palestine because these demands threaten the very character of the institutions themselves. Cutting ties with Boeing at UW is about transforming the school to serve the interests of students and our society, rather than feeding the demands of the war machine.
We will need continued community pressure, in addition to the ongoing powerful student movement, to succeed in striking this blow against the US war machine. There are several quick ways to add your voice to the movement demanding UW divest and end its complicity in the ongoing genocide. Use this tool to send emails to university leadership. Sign both the UF petition, and the Resist US-Led War petition demanding UW cut ties with Boeing. By standing united and strong with the community, we can make sure Cauce and UW think a bit harder about whose company they keep.
Zho Ragen is a recent PhD graduate from the University of Washington and organizes with Resist US Led War Seattle.
Cera Hassinan is a graduate student at the University of Washington and organizes with SUPER.
The Stranger
by EverOut Staff
If a trip to somewhere warm and beachy simply isn’t in the cards for you this Memorial Day weekend, don’t discount the power of the staycation. These Seattle restaurants and bars will make you feel transported—minus the hassle and cost of airfare. Read on for details on local spots that should be on your bucket list if they’re not already, and find even more options in our our food and drink guide.
Agua Verde Cafe and Agua Verde Paddle Club
Agua Verde Cafe, a colorful Baja-style Mexican spot with a patio, bar, and cantina overlooking Portage Bay, feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the city. A cocktail menu from the team behind Rumba adds to the tropical feel, while food options range from quesabirria to rockfish tacos. Not only that, but you can conveniently rent a kayak or paddleboard from the adjacent Agua Verde Paddle Club to complete the experience.
University District
The Stranger
The band didn’t say a single word during their sold-out show; the music was more than enough to inspire devotion.
by Dave Segal
Yesterday was one of those May days in Seattle where the miserable weather sabotages your morale and makes you wonder what the hell happened to spring. We needed something to dissolve our persistent-precipitation blues, and Glass Beams got the job done.
Three androgynous figures wearing gold, bejeweled masks, Australia’s Glass Beams sauntered to their positions onstage to wild applause from the sold-out Crocodile crowd and got down to business. Their standard rock-trio setup is augmented by two compact, sparingly deployed synthesizers. The latter instruments added crucial secret spices to the group’s seductive instrumentals. Glass Beams occasionally sprinkle chants atop the music to intensify the flavors and mystery.
Glass Beams performing at the Crocodile Tuesday, May 21. Jonathan Ochoa
Speaking of mystery, only founding member/bassist Rajan Silva’s name has been publicized and their lone interview occurred in Rolling Stone India. Somehow, with no media blitz, they’ve accrued 791k Instagram followers. The band said nary a word to the audience throughout the hourlong set. They didn’t need to; the music was more than enough to inspire devotion.
Glass Beams’ sound at this early stage of their career (they’ve only released two EPs) has a rather narrow range. But what they do within that range is special. At their core, they are precise minimalists, their songs elegantly bending Eastward via myriad Asian scales and spaghetti Western-echoing riffs. Most of their tracks are effortlessly psychedelic and casually funky, with falsetto “huh”s and “oh”s capping an approach that’s more about mesmerizing listeners than overwhelming them. Draping a holy aura over typically libidinous genres, Glass Beams’ funky psychedelia never loses its composure, even as it’s causing audiences to lose theirs. The golden-honey color scheme of their accouterments, stage backdrops, and record covers filters into their songs.
Glass Beams performing at the Crocodile Tuesday, May 21. Jonathan Ochoa
During their encore, Glass Beams bust out a version of Charanjit Singh’s “Raga Bhairav,” from the genius Indian producer’s cult classic Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. With its swift, metronomic beats and snarling synth accents, the song proved that Glass Beams easily could transition into a techno unit and wow the club circuit, if they set their minds to it. But for now, these mysterious Aussies seem content with conquering psych-rock heads’ hearts and minds, and they’re on track to becoming festival mainstays. Don’t be surprised to see their name in big font atop next year’s THING or Bumbershoot flyer.
Glass Beams performing at the Crocodile Tuesday, May 21. Jonathan Ochoa
Opening act Arushi Jain didn’t fare as well with the crowd, from what I could glean from my vantage point near the stage and judging by the loud chatter emanating from the back of the room. She drew heavily from her latest album, Delight, one of the year’s best. A few seconds into her first tune, somebody exhaled a huge plume of smoke skyward as Jain manipulated an angelic motif on her modular synth, whose tangle of patch cables gave me a migraine just looking at it. The music was a paragon of exploratory and tranquil ambient, evoking chillout tents at ’90s raves.
It’s almost unfair that Jain can sing so beautifully and emotively while also creating music of such sublime radiance. However, her bass frequencies appeared to be too much for the Crocodile’s system, distorting into muddiness. Delicate high frequencies got obscured by the murky low end.
Jain’s set peaked when her wraith-like vocals rippled in psychedelic recursiveness over artfully disjointed beats. There were a couple of shocking detours into Meat Beat Manifesto-esque industrial chaos, which was appreciated. But Jain’s forte remains ambient music of devotional allure and textural nuance. Unfortunately, her set didn’t shine as brightly as it did when Jain opened for Suzanne Ciani at Seattle First Baptist Church last year.
After Jain finished her performance, a guy behind me said, “It’ll be nice to hear something rhythmic.” Don’t ever be that guy.
Glass Beams performing at the Crocodile Tuesday, May 21. Jonathan Ochoa
GLASS BEAMS SETLIST
01 Mirage
02 Black Sand
03 Kong
04 Mahal
05 Snake Oil
06 Orb
07 Rattlesnake
08 Taurus
ENCORE
09 Silver Tongue
10 Raga Bhairav (Charanjit Singh cover)
The Stranger
The inconsiderate, arrogant boss-man fired me the day I had to put down my dog.
by Anonymous
This past winter I got a job at a somewhat well-known waterfront restaurant along the edge of Lake Washington. This place is highly disorganized, but I stuck around because they were open for the holidays and had filled their reservations with loyal locals.
Two weeks into the job, a vet discovered a mystery tumor in my dog. Sadly, I had to put down my canine-companion the very next day. I called out of work to make arrangements for my dog’s death. After that, I did not receive my work schedule for the following week.
When I reached out to the owner, he said, “Apologies I dint reply yesterday- I had an unplanned water leaking crisis at my house. I spent some tine over the weekend and I don’t think this is a good fit with us. I know you have all the skill set in the world, I just need folks that are a little more committed and not just kinda in and out on sched a lot .” Yes, typos and all.
The inconsiderate, arrogant boss-man fired me the day I had to put down my dog. And would you believe this man got a St. Bernard puppy that he kept in his car during his entire work shift? This quickly growing pup was taken out of the car in the parking lot for periodic walks throughout the day. I hope someone opened the door and set that poor canine free. Heaven knows she deserves a pet owner who’s empathetic and has some semblance of a heart.
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.
The Stranger
