Zoo, a film co-written by The Stranger's associate editor Charles Mudede (pictured), has been accepted to the Directors' Fortnight segment of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The film about bestiality, loosely based on an incident in Washington two years ago, opened in New York this week and hits L.A. in May. The Village Voice's Nathan Lee says it "moves the mind to reflect on fundamental questions of culture and psyche: the relation of man to animal, the limits of sexuality, the contours of community." The New York Times also weighs in on Zoo, saying it "wraps its sensationalistic core in a seductive mantle, an approach that appeals to viewers already predisposed to art and the Enlightenment, Sesame Street and all things not Rush Limbaugh."

Continue ReadingAlt-Weekly Editor’s Film is Headed for Cannes

In an overview of the Seattle blogosphere's best and brightest, the Post-Intelligencer says the Slog -- the "chatty little sister to The Stranger" -- is one of the city's most popular blogs. The key to the Slog's success? "The diversity of topics and seemingly incessant posting ... gets readers checking back," the P-I says, citing the blog's 725,000 page views in March and 3,000 RSS subscribers.

Continue ReadingThe Stranger’s Blog is Seattle’s ‘Big One’

The Stranger reports that Dave Segal, who has been with the Seattle alt-weekly since 2004, was hired yesterday as music editor of OC Weekly. Segal replaces Chris Ziegler, who left the Village Voice Media paper last month. The Southland alt-weekly also hired freelance film reviewer Luke Y. Thompson as a staff writer, according to Thompson's own blog. And OC Weekly's former feature editor and "Commie Girl" columnist Rebecca Schoenkopf writes that the paper recently lost managing editor Ellen Griley and staff writer Dave Wielenga. She broke the news in the comments section of the Boston Phoenix's recent story on VVM.

Continue ReadingOC Weekly Continues to Remake Masthead

At the Stranger's annual Valentine's Day Bash, the alt-weekly's editor and nationally-syndicated sex columnist destroyed sentimental artifacts from relationships gone awry, employing some unusual tools, including fire and urine. A video from the event was posted on the The Stranger's blog, where Savage recounts his favorite moments of destruction: "Melting down a wedding ring and chucking the little blob of melted gold into the street -- right up there with taking a hammer to a diamond engagement ring."

Continue ReadingDan Savage ‘Deft With the Sledgehammer’

In a preview of an on-campus panel discussion about The Onion, Tim Keck tells a student newspaper that he and Chris Johnson (now publisher of Albuequrque's Weekly Alibi) started the satirical newspaper in their dorm room in 1988 in honor of Keck's hometown paper. "At the time, (the Oshkosh Northwestern) was really bad, and the headlines were unwittingly hilarious," Keck says. He also tells the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's The Spectator that Johnson's uncle came up with the name, which derives from the steady diet of onion sandwiches that penury compelled the co-founders to consume during their college days.

Continue ReadingThe Stranger’s Keck on The Onion’s Origins

After an investigation that began when a detective saw an ad for Paradise Tanning in the Seattle Weekly's "sensual" section in August, the Everett, Wash., police have cited one employee of the spa with prostitution, reports the Daily Herald. An undercover detective and three other men working with police say they were offered sex for money at the spa, according to a search warrant filed Monday in Everett Municipal Court. Paradise also placed ads in The Stranger. "I'm not sure why people think police don't look at these newspapers. We are paying attention and we will respond as we need to," Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz says.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weekly Adult Ads Lead to Sex Sting in Seattle Suburb

"Offbeat Bride" author Ariel Meadow Stallings and alt-rockers Half Zaftig were thrilled when they received positive reviews in "Seattle's snarkiest alt-weekly." But they weren't surprised, since the critiques were purchased as part of the paper's annual Strangercrombie pay-for-play program, whereby creative types bid for review space in auctions designed to raise money for Northwest Harvest, a local hunger relief agency.

Continue ReadingThe Stranger Sells Review Space!

In an interview with GreenCine, screenwriter and associate editor of The Stranger, Charles Mudede, describes the role the Internet played in bringing together the Enumclaw, Washington beastiality circuit that is the subject of his new documentary, Zoo. He also explains that the viral spread of the story via the Internet garnered national attention and eventually brought about a change in state law. "No one knew that bestiality was legal in this state," says Mudede. "That was the first thing everybody learned. No one was breaking the law." Zoo is currently screening at the Sundance Film Festival.

Continue ReadingMudede: Internet Makes for Strange Bedfellows

Job ads for "The Real World" production assistants have been sited around Australia and traced back to the pioneering reality show's production company, reports TV Squad. Why Australia? The AOL blog offers a provocative thesis: that the reason for the trip abroad is that "alternative newsweeklies in American cities, like The Stranger in Seattle, have made it harder and harder for the Real World crew to shoot without interruption and open hostility from the locals." (Insert long pat on back here.) According to TV Squad, the Real World's last ventures abroad, in Paris and London, were not considered critical or popular successes.

Continue ReadingMTV Begone: Did Alt-Weeklies Help Drive ‘The Real World’ to Sydney?

Two months after being fired from The Stranger for allowing the coordinator for club advertising to write for the paper's music blog under a false name, Dave Segal is back, reports the Seattle Weekly. "Segal is freelancing for the paper again," confirms The Stranger editor Dan Savage. "He made a serious error of judgment as a manager and editor, not as a writer or critic. He remains a terrific music writer. We're very happy to have his column in the paper again."

Continue ReadingFormer Music Editor Returns to The Stranger as Freelancer