It's almost here: The World Cup final—the Netherlands vs. Spain—is Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Click through for addresses and more info, and get to your bar really early (or roll out of bed and enjoy the LiveSlog while drinking at home). Note that now twothree bars are showing the final in 3-D (which The New Yorker's Nancy Franklin says is pretty cool). New listings courtesy of three-dimensional Chow intern Matthew Bathan.
NEW! • GORDON BIERSCH downtown: Opening at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Gordon Biersch claims to be the first and only bar in town showing the game in 3-D. While they may be the first, they are not the only. Gordon Biersch, say hello to Sport Restaurant & Bar...
NEW! • SPORT RESTAURANT & BAR near Seattle Center: Opening at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sport will be serving $3 domestic beers and $4 microbrews. Unlike other bars (but very much like Gordon Biersch), the game will be displayed in 3D. Throw in the smell of grass and mansweat, and you've just saved yourself a trip to South Africa.
NEW (courtesy of Fnarf)! • MURPHY'S PUB in Wallingford: This Irish standby is also showing the final in 3-D, with reportedly properly poured Guinness (it's breakfast in a pint glass!). Doors open at 6:45 a.m.—redefining beer o'clock in fine style.
• THE GEORGE & DRAGON in Fremont: Seattle's soccer stronghold the George & Dragon will show ALL World Cup matches LIVE. The joy of victory, the agony of defeat, and the inevitable ties are all better experienced at the George, where everyone's a fanatic and all are fueled by tons of pints and decent fish 'n' chips. In 2006, the George was voted one of the top 10 places to watch un-American football in the U.S. by GQ, and rightly so. My brother and I went to watch a match in 2006 in the George's special parking-lot World Cup setup, and it was awesome.
• THE DRAY in Ballard: Showing live coverage of ALL World Cup matches, the Dray is a sweet spot that's all toasty-colored wood, with pretty great sandwiches and a mighty impressive beer selection.
• THE 5 POINT downtown: Showing all matches LIVE, while cheating tourists and drunks as usual.
• LA ISLA in Ballard: This Puerto Rican place will have full live coverage of all World Cup games, with breakfast and drink specials (get something with rum).
• KELL’S in the Pike Place Market: Showing all games live. Ireland's not in the Cup, but Kell's is still bound to be a football madhouse in which to get fluthered in the fine Irish style.
Lots more after the jump and in comments.
It's not often that a post on a Christian blog makes me tear up.
A group of Christians got together last weekend and went to the pride parade in Chicago. They were there to wave signs and make their presence known and expose the homos to message of Jesus Christ. But unlike most self-identified Christians who show up at pride parades, these guys didn't come to condemn. They came to apologize.
I spent the day at Chicago’s Pride Parade. Some friends and I, with The Marin Foundation, wore shirts with “I’m Sorry” written on it. We had signs that said, “I’m sorry that Christians judge you,” “I’m sorry the way churches have treated you,” “I used to be a bible-banging homophobe, sorry.” We wanted to be an alternative Christian voice from the protestors that were there speaking hate into megaphones.What I loved most about the day is when people “got it.” I loved watching people’s faces as they saw our shirts, read the signs, and looked back at us. Responses were incredible. Some people blew us kisses, some hugged us, some screamed thank you. A couple ladies walked up and said we were the best thing they had seen all day. I wish I had counted how many people hugged me. One guy in particular softly said, “Well, I forgive you.”
Watching people recognize our apology brought me to tears many times. It was reconciliation personified.
My favorite though was a gentleman who was dancing on a float. He was dressed solely in white underwear and had a pack of abs like no one else. As he was dancing on the float, he noticed us and jokingly yelled, “What are you sorry for? It’s pride!” I pointed to our signs and watched him read them. Then it clicked.Then he got it.
He stopped dancing. He looked at all of us standing there. A look of utter seriousness came across his face. And as the float passed us he jumped off of it and ran towards us. In all his sweaty beautiful abs of steal, he hugged me and whispered, “thank you.”
Here's the whole post. I'm almost afraid to dig into this story—the Marin foundation's website is here—because I don't want start clicking around only to discover that these guys came to pride to deliver the same old love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin message, only with a smiley face this time instead of a "God Hates Fags" sign. More info and "I'm sorry" t-shirts available at the "Love Is An Orientation" website.

If this catches on—if repentant Christian bigots start showing up at pride parades across the country and they don't believe that being gay is a sin—these guys are gonna be the new PFLAG moms.
Thanks to Slog tipper Wayne.
UPDATE: It was too good to be true. It's the same old love-the-sinner/hate-the-sin bullshit in a brand new bag. From God Hates Fags... to God Hugs Fags—but He's still gonna send 'em to hell to be tormented by demons for all eternity unless they repent, blah blah blah. It's progress, I guess, but I doubt that guy in the underpants realizes just what he's wrapping his arms around. More at Bilerico.
And guess what time the I-1068 backers chose for their appointment with the Secretary of State on Friday?
4:20 p.m.
Dude. So awesome.
But here's the problem:
"Organizers said they have already tallied about 200,000 signatures and have been getting a lot of petitions back in the mail every day," said Secretary of State spokesman Dave Ammons. "The bare minimum is 241,153 valid signatures of registered Washington voters."
That's more than 40,000 valid signatures from registered Washington voters that need to be received in the mail over the next day or so.
Plus, these all need to be valid signatures, which is why the Secretary of State suggests building in a cushion by turning in at least 300,000 signatures for any serious initiative. It doesn't sound like I-1068 will have that kind of cushion, which means—despite what you may have heard about me being a dumb motherfucker on these matters—that this initiative is unlikely to get on the November ballot.


Today's 5 Point Cafe special: Oreos dipped in Bailye's Irish Cream then dipped in panacake batter and deep fried. Really. They are AWESOME. 4 oreos for $3.
Posted to The Stranger's Flickr pool by dreamsjung.
Mistress Matisse's column this week is a gem.
I recently received an e-mail asking me, somewhat impatiently, for the exact addresses of Seattle's "professional dominance centers." The writer wished to begin employment at one right away and found it annoying that she was unable to locate them easily.
Read the whole thing here.
Microsoft is dropping its Kin phone after poor sales, reassigning the team and shifting its focus to the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform. The surprisingly decisive move comes just three months after the Kin phones were unveiled, a month after they went on sale and a few days after Verizon Wireless slashed the phones' prices. It's also a big step toward sorting out the confusing mix of phones Microsoft is developing in its desperate competition with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform.
I'm going to miss that Kin commercial with the guy who's stalking his ex-girlfriend. Stalking seemed to be a theme for Kin.
Via the Seattle Pi:
Two big beverage distributors have given $1.4 million to Initiative 1105, one of two measures seeking to privatize liquor sales in Washington state.The other effort - I-1100 - turned in 396,000 signatures to the state last week. I-1100 is backed by Costco, which has contributed $735,000.
Both initiatives continue to gather steam, despite the fact that they might cost the state more money than they'd make and claims that they'd turn Washington teenagers into drooling booze hounds.
My wife is studying abroad. I'm here in the U.S. Before she left we talked at length about possible opportunities to be non-monogamous. We agreed that while neither of us wanted to open up the relationship, we would understand if "something happened." The deal was that we would tell each other about whatever goes on. To date, nothing outside of drunken flirting has happened for either of us.Brass tacks: I'm tired of masturbating to porn. I really don't have it in me to sleep with someone else. I've been given permission, but... meh. What I'd like to do is use this free Back to the Future II technology like video chat and have my wife masturbate for me while I watch. She's agreed to do this and she did so once. She wasn't into it and yawned an awful lot. What really gets me is that she talks about wanting to do it for me in emails or chats while I'm at work, but when it gets down to actually frigging herself, tiredness, busy-ness, or some another excuse stops her from following through with any heart. That gets me limp pretty quick. It also bothers me that I'm the only one (apparently) pursuing any kind of sexual gratification—at least in this way. She tells me she gets horny but that she just "doesn't think to call" me to get off.
Am I a chump? Am I being unreasonable? Is she lying? Is it likely that when a person gets horny, they don't think of ways to satisfy the drive? This is pretty important to me and it's reached the point where I feel like I'm nagging her about this. Isn't she copping out? Is there a way for me to have her understand how important it is that she has some desire to get off with me?
Cock Hard Under Much Pressure
My response after the jump...
"The numbers are striking given our depressed economy," says de Place. "Usually, fuel consumption paces what the economy's doing." The report credits falling gas prices in 2009—after record highs in the summer 2008—for putting more drivers on the road. However, there was one area where the economy still reigns as lord and master: diesel fuel consumption, which fell 10 percent in 2009. Diesel consumption is closely tied to commercial activity and long-distance trucking, which has tanked across the nation in recent years.
De Place says the trend shows a disconnect between people's ideals and habits: "I suspect most Northwest folks—and people in general—would like to reduce our consumption of dirty fuels, especially in light of the Gulf oil spill," de Place says, "but meanwhile we're on track to increase our gasoline consumption in 2010. This should be a reality check for the public and for policy makers. At the very least, it's a good conversation starter for road trips."
His suggestions for policy improvements? "We need to put a limit on carbon emissions in Washington and in the northwest," de Place says. "The number one source for emissions is transportation fuel. If we want to limit our contribution to climate change, we need to curb our consumption."
De Place adds that oil refineries operating in the northwest should also help pay for the environmental cleanup associated with gasoline use. During the 2009 legislative session, environmental groups introduced a measure that would've increased a tax on petroleum and other hazardous materials from .7 percent to 2 percent, and used the tax money to treat stormwater runoff.
"The state's biggest water pollution problem comes from toxins washing off roads, driveways, and parking lots into our water ways," says Brendon Cechovic, program director for the Washington Conservation Voters, which backed the tax increase. "Almost all of it comes from petroleum. The refineries don't pay a penny towards cleanup." The measure failed after fierce opposition from refineries.
Yesterday, the New York Times ran a story about how Google will be selling e-books through the websites of independent booksellers:
Later this summer, Google plans to introduce its long-awaited push into electronic books, called Google Editions. The company has revealed little about the venture thus far, describing it generally as an effort to sell digital books that will be readable within a Web browser and accessible from any Internet-connected computing device.Now one element of Google Editions is coming into sharper focus. Google is on the verge of completing a deal with the American Booksellers Association, the trade group for independent bookstores, to make Google Editions the primary source of e-books on the Web sites of hundreds of independent booksellers around the country, according to representatives of Google and the association.
If you've been reading Slog, this shouldn't come as news to you—I wrote about it back in October and several times since then—but I want to repeat what I said when this news first broke: Indie booksellers need to figure out ways to make their websites into destinations that are just as interesting, appealing, and welcoming as their physical stores.
Third Place Books is far and away doing the best job of that in the Seattle area so far—they have blogs and social networking profiles, and they update content frequently. Pilot Books does really good work, but they're a little sporadic as they figure out what they want their website to be. But everyone could be doing a much better job: Videos of readings, interviews with authors, book recommendations, online book clubs, and other online strategies don't cost you anything but manpower, and they'll convince customers to spend time on the site. If they spend time on the site, they'll be much more likely to buy e-books directly from you.
Like it or not, your website is just as important as your physical store; the bookselling business is about to go through a change as dynamic as when Barnes & Noble and Borders first came on the scene, or when Amazon suddenly became the go-to bookseller for America. This time, indie bookselllers have a shot at reclaiming some ground from the big boys; if you blow it, you'll go out of business. It's that simple.
If marriage is a question reserved for the states to decide...
...that means Congress should immediately repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act, right? And the federal government should immediately recognize as valid all of the legal same-sex marriages that have been performed in Sen. Grassley's home state of Iowa, right?
Right?
Animal Legal Defense Fund’s is suing the City of Seattle for making the lives of several elephants at Woodland Park Zoo not worth living.
The Seattle City Council, Woodland Park Zoo management, and the Zoo’s Board of Directors have been made aware of the inhumane practices for the last five years and continue not to improve the situation. The elephants spend 16 - 17 hours a day for 7 months of the year in a tiny barn stall the human equivalent of about a 4 foot square closet. Outdoors they have less than 1 acre.Elephants, which are recognized by the most intelligent animal, humans, as intelligent creatures (not only do they have the ability to recognize themselves in mirrors but they can also play football), require lots and lots of room. ALDF believes that the "elephants need to go to the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary." That's happening in Seattle; this just happened in Vancouver:
[A] provincial court judge had the unpleasant task recently of having to deem a family pet dangerous after it bit three people last year.One of the bites caused severe injuries.
Dangerous dogs have to be put down, according to Vancouver's animal control bylaw. As a result, the eight-month-old puppy, a Korean breed of hunting dog called a Jindo, had to be euthanized last Friday, after the 30-day appeal period expired.
The owners of the violent animal (an animal that lived with humans and had a taste for human blood) did everything they possibly could to keep it in the business of biting people. Their insanely singular dedication to the dog even impressed the judge:
Judge Paul Meyers tried to offer the Korean owners comfort when he told them they had done everything humanly possible to save their dog named Scott.How is it possible to live in a city with a dog that is in the habit of biting people? Why is it hard for the owners to see that this is a serious problem? Why all this effort against the rule of reason? Why?"If it is of any help, I can tell you that I have never in my 10 years as a judge, seen anyone fight so hard, so long, and put so much effort and money into saving their dog than the Shin family has," the judge told the owners, Sue Kang and Young Mi Shin
"If anyone were to ever criticize you for not doing beyond what was humanly possible to keep Scott alive, they would not have heard these words of mine.
"I have never seen anyone, Jindo owner or otherwise, who has done more, or a family that has done more, in cost, time, and effort to try to save their beloved pet."
I'm not sure it can be accused of being interesting artistically, but here it is.
(Hat tip Marie.)
Wow. Just wow. Comedy nightmare.
I would pay a million dollars to see Solomon Georgio—gay, black, son of immigrants, probably part "China-people" and part French: basically everything that freaks Gallagher out—open for that pallid '80s bag of bitterness. And then interrupt his set... with better jokes. The old man's head would explode like a watermelon.

It's easy to figure out who's behind Initiative 1082. Dial the number on the initiative's filing documents and a friendly voice answers: "Hello, BIAW, how may I help you?" Or look up who's donated the most money to get the initiative on the ballot this fall, and you'll find the same thing: It's the conservative Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), in for $500,000 so far.What, exactly, would I-1082 do? That's the more complicated answer.
Get that answer, and the details on how this initiative could bring the conservatives at the BIAW millions if it passes, HERE.
...to think of a cover concept.
On the left: New York magazine, June 2003. On the right: Seattle magazine, July 2010. Always remember: The Internet is watching.
Via Robert Newman at www.spd.org.
It's a battle about the fish in the sea being waged over Costco by zeppelin!
Regarding Costco, Greenpeace says:
EVERYTHING ABOUT COSTCO is bigger than normal. Costco is the largest wholesale club operator in North America. People shop at Costco because of its bulk goods, low prices, and the wide variety of merchandise available in their giant warehouses. But, while Costco continues to grow bigger and bigger, so does its footprint on the environment. Costco is destroying our oceans through its horrible seafood purchasing practices, leaving its customers in the dark by hiding the truth from them...
13-year-old Hibiki Kono of England has invented a Spider-Man style wall-crawling device that uses vacuum cleaners on his hands. Say his jealous classmates, "Hibiki, please come down, so we can beat your ass."
Apparently, Wonder Woman is getting a new costume and origin. Because there is nothing more important going on right now, this story, which started in The New York Times, is all over the internet. Here is a cover showing the new costume: (Click to enlarge.)
Now the reactions are coming in, including former TV Wonder Woman Lynda Carter:
"I think it will take time for people to get over not seeing a lot of leg," she told ABC News. "[But] I think it's going to be very sexy and it's new and I love the little cap sleeve. You know, she's a hip girl."
And fanboys, as usual, are overreacting to what will no doubt be a temporary change:
I actually just threw up…how dare you do this. THIS IS DISGRACEFUL. I hope you lose the rights to WW. I am now done collecting comics. GOOD JOB!
WW is supposed to be the ultimate male fantasy. Now she looks more like Elana Kagan. I give this new look one year (two tops!).
As always: Stay classy, nerds. This whole Wonder Woman thing is about as meaningful and long-lasting as this, this, or this.
Tomorrow from roughly 5 to 9 pm. Don't miss:
Isaac Layman at Lawrimore Project.
Lynne Woods Turner and Peter Millett at Greg Kucera.
TXT at James Harris.
Magicality at Platform.
Tenfold at Catherine Person.
Plus new members at SOIL and a good-lookin' group show at OK Hotel.

I did it! I watched it! I watched the whole thing.
Could such a cultural phenomenon really be that bad? When millions of humans around the globe are weeping and buying $40 sparkly dildos and peeing a little and screaming to the heavens, "Yes! I love Stephenie Meyer's figurative pucky and I celebrate her entire catalog and waiting until marriage to have sex with a reanimated corpse who eats people is what God wants me to do and God really pumps my 'nads!"? Could it? Be that bad? (Rhetorical question, virgins. Shut up.)
Read and comment on my full review HERE.
"Adam is a straight man who used to be gay."
Um, can we talk about that brown-and-gold-lamé ascot for just a minute?
via Joe.My.God
The Stranger production department subscribes to a number of clip-art sites and every once in awhile we run across something funny, freaky, or inexplicable.

WHAT IS IT?! I searched for "hot dog"!!!!! GAHHHHHH!!!!!!
Swedish ex model Nordegren ended up with double the sum she originally sought, after her lawyers proved Woods, 34, was worth much more than the $1billion she thought. Her friend explained: "Elin's legal team have done a great job digging up all sorts of assets. "The price of the huge sum is her silence: no interviews, tell-all books, or TV appearances about this for the rest of her life—even if Tiger dies first—or she'll lose the lot."
Woods reportedly isn't allowed to introduce any of his girlfriend(s) to his children. "He can bring a new flame into their lives only if he marries her," according to the story. That seems like settlement-mandated bad parenting to me—shouldn't kids meet a potential new stepparent before the wedding?