Meet at the Pig: a Seattle events calendar for geeks, makers, hackers and worldchangers

The Pig’s Last Call

Justin Martenstein — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:12:59 +0000

After almost two years of solid effort, Stuart and I have decided it’s time to put the Pig to rest. We’ve enjoyed covering the local geek scene, but neither one of us has the time or energy to keep it going. And frankly, we’d rather be putting the effort towards hosting events (like Ignite Seattle, Saturday House, and Six Hour Startup) than simply writing about them.

We’re leaving you in good hands, though. To find out what’s happening on the tech scene around Seattle for any given day, check out TechFlash, or Seattle Tech Calendar or Gary’s Guide. And keep coming to the events – you’ll probably see at least one of us there.

We appreciate all of the comments, kind words and support we’ve received over the past few years. So please join Stuart and me for a last salute to the blog, and to Rachel, our muse and inspiration. We’ll be at White Horse Trading Company from about 7:30 to 9:30 on next Tuesday, the 2nd. Come, hang out with us and plan the next great Seattle event.

Walking with Dinosaurs

Robert Eickmann — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:27:13 +0000

Walking with Dinosaurs is coming to Key Arena in Seattle this week. It is a large scale show featuring life size dinosaurs walking around and acting like well giant dinos.

This should be an amazing show for any small child or any geek who is still fancinated by the giantic beasts that used to walk this land.

Click the link below for a discount code for tickets to the show.

[Update: In the comments, Heather says, “Check out this page for the daily Ticketmaster links for discounted tickets. I believe the initial link provided only works for Wed night’s showtime.”]

$10 Off Select Tickets w/ Code “MYDINO”
Ticket URL: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0F00425700B45CA7?did=mydino
Ticketmaster Phone: 866-448-7849
Discount not valid on lowest price level ($19.50)
Discount valid on the following dates: 4/29, 4/30, 5/1, 5/2 (7pm), 5/3 (5pm)

Objectified in Seattle

Stuart Maxwell — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:28:23 +0000

Tickets are on sale now for a special screening of Objectified, a documentary about manufactured objects and the people who design them. Director Gary Hustwit will be on hand for a post-film discussion. Wednesday, June 10, 7pm at Seattle Cinerama.

Goodbye, Giraffe

Justin Martenstein — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:52:16 +0000

For the last year, Giraffe Labs has held a special place in my heart, even though there are plenty of people that spent more time there than I did. When Jackson Fish Market moved out of the space last April, I was convinced that we had a great opportunity to create a Hacker clubhouse / co-working space / geek hangout. Thankfully, Brian Dorsey and Anders Conbere were thinking the same thing. It didn’t take too much work to also convince the Saturday House folks to move up to Pioneer Square. But, when I couldn’t cover the financial obligations of renting the space, Anders and Brian were happy to step up and manage the space. Everything that the space is now comes from their hard work. And it’s been working pretty well for the last year, until the past few months.

Brian sums up the reasons for the shutdown of Giraffe Labs pretty well in the TechFlash article. I think proper care and feeding of the space is the core issue. No matter how much it seems like any project can run itself, there always has to be someone in the center, keeping things running, taking care of the space, keeping an eye on members, etc. Someone who can take a plan from “hey, that’s a cool idea” to actual implementation.

I don’t want to use the word “demise” here. Giraffe Labs was an amazing experiment, and I think plenty of people learned a lot from it. I certainly did. There’s still room for a low-cost geek clubhouse (Hackerspace) here in Seattle, and I don’t doubt that one, or two, or three will come along. Hopefully, I can get in on the ground floor. There will be a grand send-off on April 27th. I’ll be there – hope to see you, too.

Ignite Seattle is looking for speakers

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:47:02 +0000

The next Ignite Seattle! will be on April 29th at the King Cat Theatre. Speaker submissions are being accepted until April 16th. See the Ignite Seattle! website for details.

PresentationCamp at UW

Justin Martenstein — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:05:15 +0000

Since the last Seattle Mind Camp, this city has long been overdue for an unconference. Thankfully, Kathy Gill of the UW Communications Dept. is stepping up to the plate with an event next Saturday, April 4th. She’s organizing PresentationCamp Seattle, modeled after a handful of recent similar events. The always fantastic Scott Berkun (author of Myths of Innovation and Making Things Happen) will be giving a keynote of sorts, and there are a few other pre-scheduled talks. In true unconference fashion, the rest of the grid will be filled in as people choose what they want present / consume. Me? I’ll be there in hopes of making my PowerPoints just a little less sucky.

Nominate your favorite startups

admin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:23:52 +0000

for the Seattle 2.0 Awards, to be held May 7th at Pacific Science Center. Got a favorite Seattle area technology startup? Nominations are open until March 25th.

Seattle 2.0

Orchestral Manoeuvres (with a Wiimote) in the Dark

Stuart Maxwell — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:32:15 +0000

As someone who grew up in the early days of video games—we’re talking Pong and the Atari 2600 here—I tend to associate video game sounds with crude and primitive bleeps and bloops. (Heck, in order to get game audio from our old TRS80 Model I Level I, we’d place an AM radio next to the monitor and tune it between stations. The changes in level and intensity of static was our accompaniment. But I digress…)

Gaming has come a long way since then, of course, and I think there’s no better evidence of this than Video Games Live, the national concert tour in which symphony orchestras and choirs perform music from games such as Final Fantasy, Tron, Frogger, and Earthworm Jim. As they say on their website, “It’s the power & emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert and the technology and interactivity of a video game all completely synchronized to amazing cutting edge video screen visuals, state-of-the-art lighting and special on-stage interactive segments with the audience.”

It’s a long way from bleeps and bloops, is what I’m sayin’.

VGL is coming to Seattle on Saturday and will include a debut of music from Halo 3:ODST. Halo Composers Marty Oâ€™Donnell and Michael Salvatori are slated to make an appearance, as are Gabe & Tycho from Penny Arcade. Tickets are available here and more international TOUR DATES can be found on the VGL site.

UPDATE: Thanks to Andrea for forwarding a link to this article about VGL in today’s Seattle Times.

Want to make it a whole weekend of geeky music experiences? Don’t forget that internet troubadour and podcasting hero Jonathan Coulton will perform on Friday night at the Moore Theatre.

Get your early bird tickets for Gnomedex 9.0

Stuart Maxwell — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:26:15 +0000

now for only $399 ($349 for alumni) through February 20. Register at Eventbrite. This year’s Gnomedex will be held August 20 – 22 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center.

Cinematic Titanic tickets are on sale now.

Stuart Maxwell — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:46:55 +0000

The live tour by the creators of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 will hit Seattle March 13th and 14th. See the CT site for details, including a link to purchase tickets.