There’s a sense of dread when you watch an ensemble film about a landmark birthday. The tension you assume is that the grim reaper is the last guest and the party is a way to tell everyone you love that death is imminent. Yet, Blue Lights subverts and twists this tension into something else. People who bring baggage to the party in one way, leave with new, but healthier baggage at the end.

Democrat Melissa Chaudhry has made it to the general election for Washington congressional district 9’s seat in the US House of Representatives. She’s challenging the nearly 28-year incumbent Democrat Adam Smith who has denied the genocide in Gaza. His largest donor by far is the pro-Israel AIPAC, the biggest source of Republican money influencing Democratic primaries. Chaudhry runs a grassroots campaign. Smith just voted to send $26 billion to Israel—$14.1 billion of which is for U.S-made weapons.

OUT is a beautifully sandwiched film that brings the viewer through the coming-of-age story and the uneasy, relationship-driven plot. From beginning to end, the viewer is gifted with strategic pictures, impactful dialogue, and truth from the acting. While the subjects and explicit nature of the film may not be for everyone, it holds true to the story of what growing up queer can be like today: to jump into gay culture, make new queer friends, and grow distant in former relationships.

“The public has a right to art, art is for everybody.” -Keith Haring

Art and history seamlessly coincide in the Keith Haring exhibit at the MOPOP. Haring (1958-1990) is most renowned for his colorful art and unique shapes, which he often used as a vessel to bring light to social issues that were taboo or not widely spoken of during his time.

Loneliness and heartbreak go hand in hand. We try to stave off heartbreak by solving the problem of loneliness. Not being alone never solves loneliness, of course, but we fail to realize that at the time and often leads to more heartache.

That is where we meet Lourenço (Marco Pigossi) at the beginning of the film High Tide. His mood is sedate and atmospheric with the specter of Lourenço's ex-boyfriend hanging over his head. It's the end of summer and the beaches are clear, enter Maurice (James Bland) the balm on Lourenço's fresh wound.

SQFF’s Fright Night! was a great reminder that queer horror is an incredibly varied genre. Each short stood out not only as a horror piece, but also as queer art. Sapphic stories stood hand-in-hand with narratives about gay men; there were queers who cruised and queers who wanted a homestead.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda as it is known in the Philippines, made landfall in November of 2013, yet as seen in Asog, the effects and devastation that Yolanda caused are ongoing. There are many stunning aerial shots composed by director Seán Devlin and cinematographer Anna MacDonald. They show forests of coconut trees flattened, cargo ships in the middle of neighborhoods, roads that have become impassable, and homes that are unlivable.

Music is one of the ways in which we can bridge gaps between different communities, cultures, and peoples. Choir especially is a building block to creating wonderful community. Singing can be a vulnerable but rewarding experience, and sharing it with others is a great way to build confidence and bond with the people around you. Singing in an ensemble is the coming together of individual voices to create something whole, to bring a solo piece into a harmonic movement.

Do you ever think about what you will dream before you ultimately fall asleep?

In Seattle poet Seth Jani’s poetry collection Night Fable, Jani guides the reader on a journey through a world of ethereal dreams, both playful and melancholy. Through these poetic dreams, the reader sifts through their own self-reflection while gaining new discoveries about the world. Jani serves as a herald and guardian through the extensive and vast dream world.

A grid is a series of intersections: real or imagined lines that demarcate and converge to create a pattern. Grids are used in our systems of computing, to balance the distribution of electrical power, in many of our cities’ street layouts, and have long been utilized as a tool of craftsmanship and artistic expression (Agnes Martin’s 1960s works, quilts, such as those by Agatha Bennet, and multiple works by Sol Lewitt in the 1960s and 1970s are just some examples).

The Grid, at Seattle Central’s Rosetta M. Hunter gallery, features women whose works tap into the allure of the grid in distinctive ways.

Despite being self-described as chronically online, I also spend a lot of time reading. I’ve been a big reader ever since I was a child. I loved it so much I read my way into an English Degree (just dropping my credentials). I love the romance genre, and thanks to social media, it’s a bit of a hot-button issue. Booktok, Bookstagram, Bookbook? Whichever platform you’re on, there's a community of readers discussing all kinds of genres; but it’s hard to get away from the conversation of romance if you love it or if you hate it, because that makes you engage.

The film asks us to remember the early days of isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic, to recall times when we felt particularly isolated from our communities. One particularly poignant section of the film asks us to consider, in those early days, what it felt like to try and hold someone from afar, to try to build connection when physically coming together and sharing space was impossible.

It's time again for the Seattle Queer Film Festival (SQFF)! In its 29th year, the festival has dozens of films that explore multiple facets of the LGBTQ+ experience. The festival offers both an in-person theater experience October 10th-13th and a virtual experience October 14th-20th with events and Q&As throughout.

Before attending the interactive experience, Leave Only Footprints, I was unsure about what to expect: A haunted house? A murder mystery? But this spooky, fun, campy, mystery experience by The Emilys (Emily Pike and Emily Sershon), along with a dynamic cast of 40+ performers and multiple writers, did not disappoint.

Since the dawn of humanity, music has been a vital condition for what it means to be human. From animal skin drums crafted by the neolithic people to every instrument which has followed since, we as a species have sought to give voice to the parts of us words cannot express. We danced to communicate emotion and what little understanding we had of the world. We sang wordlessly long before language bound us to its form. We made music: The thump of the drum like a heartbeat, the trill of the flute like hope, and the deep drawl of the cello like despair.

Net Zero raises many questions with few solid answers: Is it really happening? Is it even possible? Will there be enough money? Is there enough staying power on the part of states, companies, and organizations?

The two-man band weaves together synth pads, crisp guiding melodies, improv solos, innovative drum beats, a tasteful touch of live flute, and a bass sound that gets one in touch with their body’s natural resonance frequency. Their music is made modular by the power of their linked Ableton setup and sequencers that they expertly manipulate to recontextualize different musical parts on the fly.

When it comes to fish around these parts, it’s hard to deny that salmon is king—literally in the case of the king salmon species. But what if I told you there was another fish that quietly reigns in abundance from our West Coast to Alaskan waters? What if this hypothetical fish had just as many, if not more, healthy OMEGA-3 fatty acids and loaded superfood proteins? This fish is already hot stuff in Japan and mostly found as a high-end restaurant item here in the states.

. POTUS… is an in-your-face farce, a dramatic comedy filled with crude jokes and slapstick bits. Fillinger probably wrote this play during the shutdown either as a reflection of American society’s relationship to women or as a gift of permission to laugh in the face of extreme anxiety. And because many of us are gripped by the haunting return of all those feelings as we anxiously careen towards this November’s election where (and you can’t make this stuff up!) the very guy who caused all the aforementioned horror and chaos is on the ballot and wants to be president… again!

Art comes in many different mediums, bodies, and passions. Art is Everywhere offered people new ways to allow them to experience creation and its many forms on their own terms without it turning into an overwhelming and strenuous process. Instead of making one rise to the challenge, art meets a person where they are, not where they will be. Whether you are an artist, an art critic, or art appreciator, Pacific Place’s Art is Everywhere offered an enthralling experience centered around inclusivity and community. Art may be everywhere whether you look for it or not. A key component I learned while spending my time at Pacific Place is that because art is always everywhere, art is and should be accessible for everyone.