Comments on The 2008 Genius Awards: The Cake Episode

More suckoff to Implied Vile-lence
More suckoff to Alexie

OMG TOTES LYNN SHELTON FTW!!!

yay!

Strangeways LOOOOOOOOVES Wynne Greenwood!!!

And all but ONE of your choices was brilliant!

So, I'm guessing that Alexie wrote those idiotic Sonics pieces in exchange for the Genius Award?

Great choices! I love Mr. Alexie. Great reactions, too; it's always good when you can make people cry. Or laugh.

It's about damn time you gave it to Alexie. He's deserved it for years.

Congratulations to all.

what do we need to do to get Matt Ruff one of those cakes?

@7: Ruff was shortlisted last year, the first year I was involved in the Literature portion of the Genius Awards, for Bad Monkeys. But he hasn't published anything this year. He's definitely someone I always keep an eye on. Set This House in Order is one of my favorite-ever books by a local author.

everyone should have a piano.

No cake for you, Non.

Assclown.

And congrats to all, but especially to Paul and Lynn!

Annex Theatre/Caution Zero Network - represent!

Congrats all!

Grats, Sherm! You deserve it!

Can't say much about the rest, never heard of them, but I guess they're good choices.

oh, for fucks sake...quit crawling up the "famous" guy's tired old ass.

And what the fuck does Sherman Alexie need with $5k? He lines his litter box with $50 bills.

You couldn't have found a deserving local talent who could use the cash to finish a work in progress? I'd rather see you give it to Dina Martina so she can complete her autobiography, "Camel Toes and Cantinas: My 40 Years in Show Bidness"

Nice picks, esp. Lynn Shelton. congrats to all! Has anyone sent the Stranger a cake for this running feature?

A box of cupcakes would be a better choice, josh.

That Lynn Shelton is a very attractive young man.

Keep crying, strangeways. Alexie is a genius.

Thank you michael @13, my thoughts exactly. After reading the "article" Alexie wrote last week, it becomes glaringly obvious that this award will do little more then stroke his already grotesquely over-inflated ego... and at best, the money will supply him with 50 more sheets of toilet paper.

What a waste.

I should remind everyone that Genius is a merit-based (not a need-based) award. Otherwise we'd call it the Pretty Talented but Financially Insolvent Awards.

The Genius net is big enough to catch people poor and rich, famous and unknown, early-career and late-career. The only requirements are that the winners live in Seattle and that the Genius Committee—Dave Schmader, Jen Graves, Charles Mudede, Paul Constant, Annie Wagner, Christopher Frizzelle, and me—agrees that their work is genius.

Each of the winners meets that criteria.

Savage isn't on the committee?

@19 hahahaha. Best first paragraph. Also, has it really been a >year since the last ones? That is insane. I remember that night so vividly - not that we made it INTO the party.

Cake or Death!

yay!!!! Congratulations to everyone!!! Wynne and Sherman are so deserving. Both have reduced me to tears at one time or another. Will have to go read up on the others... What great picks!

The Stranger is the coolest weekly paper evar. Notification via cake? THAT RULES!

In that case, Ann Rule would be a better choice than Alexi...

Brendan @19: you've a right to your criteria. But as someone who's actually paid attention to your Genius awards over the years, giving one to Sherman Alexie is a big eye roller, and it adds to an image of The Stranger as losing its place at the forefront of culture in Seattle. I look forward to the awards announcement each year because it tells me about someone, or some organization, I've nevever heard of. Or - better - it reminds me to check out someone I've just begun to hear buzz about.

I and the rest of the world don't need you to bring Sherman Alexie to our attention. We already know who the hell he is.

And the Alexie Suckfest continues...

Any little credibility the Genius Awards have just went swirling down the drain...

Yuck. I'd have rather seen Paul Mullin get a cake in the face for that ridiculous piece of crap The Ten Thousand Things.

@28 Couldn't agree more. That was by far the worst piece of theatre I have EVER seen in Seattle. Never have I been so angry coming out of a play. Angry at the total bullshit I just had to witness and that a group which I respect (WET) would subject it's audience to such drek.

lynn shelton is awesome

@28&29: God, you guys have not been seeing enough Seattle theater. That's the worst thing you have EVER seen? Guess you missed the bodyBODY Project.

Oh, god...not another go-round of the Talentless Hipster Circle-Jerk Awards!

Next year, just be honest with yourselves, and throw a big fucking party for your friends. Either that, or do something honorable by donating the money to charity.

(Incidentally? Including Sherman Alexie in the list doesn't make the rest of the panel more talented. Nice try, though.)

Hey A Non Imus:

If giving $25,000 in no-strings-attached grants to Seattle artists doesn't count as charity in your book, stay tuned for Strangercrombie in December, when we raise more than twice that amount for the hungry and homeless.

That counts as charity, right?

uh, doesn't the money come from a corporate sponsor?

Since Lucky Strike blew town, Genius money has come from a lot of places—some of it from sponsors, a lot of it from our own pockets.

Congrats to all the winners - especially Paul. Darn those photo consent forms! At least they didn't search your cake.