R and I managed to drop into both geek-oriented cons in Seattle this past weekend: NorWesCon and SakuraCon. Thanks to the way we arranged the visits, we were able to see the improv acts at both cons. The short story: SakuraCon’s act for the win.

NorWesCon’s improv was provided by The Comedy Court, which usually plays in a couple Seattle comedy clubs. Their poor act is not helped by their host, who thinks she is funny, and has all the cheeriness of a tour guide at a whoopee cushion factory. In fact, the hackneyed, unoriginal whoopee cushion is a perfect metaphor for the act’s idea of humor: barely original half-jokes presented as if they were much funnier than they really are. Our first warning should have been when more than 2/3rds of the audience, who had come for the costume contest, immediately walked out as the troupe came on stage. We barely stayed through it ourselves, despite wanting to see who won the contest, which would come later. Eventually, the heckling audience — including the guy in the back who kept suggesting “Jesus” for everything from “fake superhero” to “worst job ever” — surpassed those on stage collectively for amusement. Some of Comedy Court’s improv methods were probably original — like the “get one guy to understand an absurdist scene using only gibberish” routine — but that didn’t make them entertaining, or more importantly, funny. All in all, the emcee of the masquerade contest, for all his simple irony and heavy corniness, was at least 5x as funny as the improv act he bookended.

About 10 miles north in Seattle proper, SakuraCon’s improv was provided by Albertan troupe The 404s, who performed two sets over the weekend. The 404s didn’t rely on an act gimmick (Comedy Court’s routines were presented as “arguments” presided over by a “judge”), costumery, or were even terribly organized, but none of these are important to comedy. This troupe made up for it in unassuming self-deprecation and honest wackiness and shamelessness, and an emphasis on being funny rather than on sticking to structure. And unlike NorWesCon’s act, the 404s actually made an effort to touch on the theme of the con they were at (anime) and showed that they were literate in it — the best example being the “perform a scene with some performers reading from every other line of a manga” bit. This team ripped off standard improv routines where they worked, and used original ones — like the closing “blindfolded on a floor of mousetraps scene” bit, which never failed to entertain, in no small thanks to the fact that one performer was actually trying to find ways to get them snapped.

What it came down to was that the 404s were sincere and real, pulled no punches, avoided stilted gimmickry, and knew their audience. Comedy Court’s bit might work better for a liquored-up office worker crowd downtown, but not for a room full of con-going geeks.

Oh great. I can’t wait for the anti-viaduct crowd to add “It encourages crime!” to their repertoire.

Two people carjacked under viaduct

Two people were forced from their car at gunpoint late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning in downtown Seattle, the Seattle police reported.

The carjacking occurred around midnight in the 900 block of Alaskan Way, police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said.

Sound Transit’s Link light rail construction project is curently occupying the Seattle bus tunnel and strips of land along 6th the busway in Sodo. The tracks are down, the platforms are in, and even the shelters, sconces, and other decorative / stylistic elements. The stations look like they could open in two months… but the system won’t be operable for another 2-3 years.

Don’t get me wrong. Seattle and more importantly, its metro area, really needs this project. But does Sound Transit really think that all the nice Sol Lewitt-esque modern-art-deco fixtures and awnings will really look as nice in 2-3 years when the stations finally open, as they do now? Looking around at the surrounding buildings and fences, etc., in Sodo, nearly everything covered in graffiti and lots of windows broken, I don’t have much hope for the safety of the nice white plexiglass and bright red trim. I hope Sound Transit has budgeted the cost of having to replace as many as half of these fixtures by the time the line is running.

You remember in high school, the clique of smug bastards who picked on, belittled, and fucked around with everyone not like them?

Seattle’s just like that.

(To its credit, rfjason was banned from the LJ Seattle community ages ago, and meetups have been cancelled for fear of his disrupting them. Which is exactly the sort of reaction he gets off on, unfortunately, to the point where it is an obsession.)

BB - Wired - VB

K and R survived the evening “lock-in” at the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries. The esteemed Museum hosts exhibits on every paranormally linked person, place, or thing in Washington, including but not limited to such topics as D. B. Cooper, Bigfoot, Georgetown Castle, even Mel’s Hole. Unfortunately, nothing on our favorite Seattle mystery, which to date has had no paranormal associations; although there is a corridor dedicated to former Seattleite Bruce Lee, who reportedly fought with and lost to a ghost.

Can’t say much about the museum’s in-house ghost tour, which takes you out back to a forgotten alley, the women’s rest room, and a utility closet, all of which may or may not be haunted by ghosts. In addition to their back hallways, the museum also believes that Pike Place Market, the Harvard Exit Theater, and even the Kalakala ferry boat, among other places, are haunted.