In this bi-monthly Seattlemag.com column, Knute Berger–who writes regularly for Seattle Magazine and Crosscut.com and is a frequent pundit on KUOW–takes an in-depth look at some of the highly topical and sometimes polarizing issues in our city. I recently went on a guided nature walk at Seward Park. The Audubon Center there conducts regular “owl…

New parents have been known to go to great lengths to wangle a much-needed nap for their babies (and themselves): long car rides, pushing the stroller mile after mile…and now, hula classes. Especially if Marcie Mahinakealo Cheung, a longtime dancer and cofounder of the new dance program A Honu World of Hula (ahonuworldofhula.com) has anything…

This article originally appeared on Avvo.com. Many Americans are looking to slim down and promote overall health and wellness in 2015. Although not a bad goal, health-related resolutions leave consumers vulnerable to the onslaught of fad diets, weight-loss products and flab reducers that infiltrate the market after the holiday season. The following are the top six…

If Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch opts to display any obscene gestures during the Super Bowl (AKA, his crotch grab during the playoffs), NFL officials say referees will tack on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Lynch had previously been fined around $30,000 for his PG-13 gestures. An epic send-off: Kiro 7 News has a host…

Long, long ago in 2011, a Huffington Post trends and traffic editor was busy analyzing words and phrases that people were searching on the Internet. This editor would then write posts using that data in order to get them to appear in Google’s top-ranked search results. The day before Super Bowl XLV between the Green…

Roommate ready: At the Super Bowl in Arizona, all players are granted their own hotel rooms, but Russell Wilson prefers not to break tradition. He’ll continue to room with Seahawks running back and fullback Robert Turbin, as he does at all away games during the regular season. “It’s not a superstition,” Wilson told MyNorthwest.com. “It’s just I…

Must ScreenChildren’s Film Festival at Northwest Film Forum(1/22 to 2/7, times vary) Seattle’s most surprising film festival celebrates its 10th year, with more than 175 kid-oriented flicks from nearly 50 countries. With documentaries, animation, feature films and shorts, there is plenty here to keep grown-ups occupied while the younger set mingles. Must ShopNew Sephora Store…

If you were a kid in the early 1970s, you likely spent Saturday mornings sprawled on the living room floor in front of cartoons—and just as likely, you were unaware of the radical act taking place on the tube. But 40 years ago, Josie and the Pussycats, The Harlem Globetrotters and The Jackson 5ive were…

“The first thing that got kicked off the budget was the flying rig,” says filmmaker Webster Crowell. A contraption that facilitates the illusion that actors are flying would have come in handy on Rocketmen, his retro sci-fi adventure story, but this is a low-budget, seven-episode Web series. So the flying rig went out the window—as…

Downtown crime: A shooting last night around 8 p.m. at Second Avenue and Pine Street left two men wounded. According to King 5 news, witnesses said they heard “between 12 and 20 shots.” There is still no word on who the gunman might be or the reason for the attack. When did Apple become the…

Never say die! When The Goonies—the cult favorite 1985 film set in Astoria, Oregon—turned 25 in 2010, mayor Willis Van Dusen declared that June 7 (the film’s original release date) would officially be Goonies Day in Astoria from thenceforth. As the film toasts to 30 years this summer, the seaside city is pulling out all…

Remember when gas was like super expensive and everyone was all “bro, don’t buy that Hummer H3!”? Frivolous car trips were a thing of the past and mass transit passes became de rigueur. Well, guess what: The party’s over. Now that the price at the pump has decreased, we can expect more gridlock as more…

A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Meby Jason Schmidt (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, January 2015) From the opening line of the prologue, which grabs you by the hair and drags you into a blood-spattered home, this coming-of-age memoir is a page-turner. Schmidt recounts a harrowing 1970s and ’80s youth spent in Eugene and Seattle…