Blindfold Gallery to Close at the End of This Year: One of the bright spots of Capitol Hill's fragile art scene is closing in December after a 2 1/2-year run. Blindfold Gallery first opened on the ground floor of the painting studio shared by Laura Hamje and Sara Long. Attorney Scott Burk, who'd had an earlier small gallery on Capitol Hill and is an ardent art supporter, spent time running it along with the two artists. Painting was the gallery's specialty, starting with a grand opening exhibition April 12, 2012, of the work of Kimberly Trowbridge, and the gallery has shown strong painters including Kathy Liao, Leanne Grimes, and Justin Duffus as well as non-painters like Rodrigo Valenzuela, Max Kraushaar, and Graham Downing. Part of the reason for closing is that the gallery didn't break even, though it was edging closer each year, Hamje wrote in an email in which she explained the larger reason:

I love representing and showing other artists work but I realize that I can't be a serious painter and a serious gallery owner at the same time. ... I also had no concept of why galleries took 50% commission on sales. Now I have complete respect for the number. It was also a goal of mine to understand more about why people buy art, who is buying art and what excites people enough to buy. I'm convinced overall that people really are drawn to good, successful work (the definition of that of course is tricky, but I really think it can be often be sensed by a majority).

Long, Trowbridge, Grimes, Peter Scherrer, and Stranger Genius nominee Emily Gherard will all be showing at Blindfold before it closes. Ryan Weatherly's work is up now.

Local Filmmakers Receive List-Based Praise: Congratulations must go to local filmmakers Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell for being included in Filmmaker's 25 New Faces of Independent Film for 2014. The films by Earl and Cadwell, two of which were featured on the Slog's Short Film Friday series, are definitely on the sci-fi tip, but also with a heavy dose of Northwest noir (or, closer yet, "green gothic," as the local artist Matthew Offenbacher has theorised it).

“We live in the Pacific Northwest,” Caldwell says, “and we love to be outside. The environment here is a big inspiration to us, and that carries through into the work.”

The film that got Filmmaker thinking about these young men is "Prospect," which takes place on another planet that looks a lot like the wildest parts of the Pacific Northwest....

To Piss Off a Beloved Author: Harper Lee says that a new biography of her is mostly bullshit.

Remember When Amazon Won an E-Book Antitrust Suit Against Apple? Looks like Apple now has to pay $450 million to settle.

In the Orbit of Ra Comp Commemorates Avant-Jazz Legend Sun Ra’s Centenary: On Sept. 23, England's Strut Records will be issuing a two-CD/double-LP compilation of composer/keyboardist Sun Ra’s music to mark the innovative avant-jazz innovator’s centenary. Consisting of 20 tracks selected by Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist and current bandleader Marshall Allen, In the Orbit of Ra includes the previously unreleased acoustic song “Trying to Put the Blame on Me” (recorded live in Rome in 1977) and a previously unreleased Part 1 of the 1962 composition “Reflects Motion.” This solid introduction collates myriad peaks spanning a 25-year period of the unique Mr. Ra’s monstrously sprawling back catalog, which would take several lifetimes to hear and process properly.

Ever Want to See Spider-Man and Batman Making Out? You're welcome.