Lummi Island 2026, Day Two

Lummi Island 2026, Day One

Okay, one more cut of my "Matthew McFifty' video! This is my "alternate ending" version, which edits in Laney's wonderful song at the end. This version clocks in at a total of 20 minutes and is my favorite. 1drv.ms/v/c/41c14cb1...

Wow, a lot of people seriously hating THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. I enjoyed it! And if you think THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is bad but think THE RISE OF SKYWALKER was good, I suggest you go fuck yourself with a lightsaber.

Flawed, but not a disappointment!

The tradition continues! First Star Wars movie opening night in seven years! (It’s pretty good.)

Kids today, they don't know you should be careful what you wish for. Also: justice for Sandy!

Scenes from my evening: taking Monorail Espeesso (actually mine was a hot chocolate) to the new downtown Seattle Barnes & Noble, + a kitty bus rider.

If this film didn't invent the "camp noir" genre then I must know which one did because I need more.

I love the vibe in here. (@Caffe Vita at KEXP)

This tracks.

This one's just not for me I guess.

Capitol Hill Art Walk - May 2025 I bought “Crouching Dragon” by 24-year-old artist Niko—his first sale of the night! He was adorably excited, and I really love the painting.

Careless woman! You have to be a lot more detail oriented than this, and I'll be way more careful than her when *I* write a children's book about grief.

The sweetest movie with talking sheep you'll ever see.

It's important to remember that there are people on our side in states like Texas, and generalizing them with the conservative majority (if they even are actually the majority) is a mistake.

I went to the Container Store in Bellevue last night to get stuff for my work desk drawer and I am stupidly excited about it 😀. (If you look closely in the second two shots you can see how I can still slide my laptop in there; there's barely enough space to store my stuff for when I go on vacation)

There are many ways to interpret this wonderfully evocative image, but the first one I think of is the design wasteland of so many (15!) of Seattle's north-downtown plain-box residential towers being built to the exact neighborhood height restriction of 440'.

An art film that takes itself very seriously as one.

Shobhit went to a SIFF industry event tonight, as a member of SAG-AFTRA Seattle, which is one of the sponsors, at the top of the 440-ft, 41-story Arrivé building—and I got to be his plus-one! Probably my only chance ever to go up this building, and the views were spectacular.

May Happy Hour at one of our all-time favorites! (@ La Cocina Oaxaqueña)

What fresh bullshit is this?

If you know this director's filmography, it's about as weird and impenetrable as you'd expect.

“Okay everyone, call and response!” … “Harlan Oates!” —from the dream I just woke up from

I left the theater with a warm and appreciative smile.

Birth Week 2026 Epilogue! Gabby and Nick had us over for enchiladas and margaritas, for what she kept calling “Cinco de Matthew.”

I asked Laney to write and sing me a song for my 50th birthday party, and boy did she deliver! I edited this version of the video to combine the visuals from both the version I recorded with my phone, and the version Laney's daughter Jessica recorded with hers.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #14: Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve, Olympia, WA Formed: estimated 16,000 years ago. Established as Natural Area Preserve: 1976.

A stupendous party celebrating my 50 years!

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #13: Providence St. Peter Hospital, Olympia, WA Built: 1971. Far more importantly, where Matthew McQuilkin was born: April 30, 1976.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 12: Freeway Park, Seattle, WA Opened: July 4, 1976. World's first park built on a lid over an active interstate, built to mitigate the impact of Interstate 5 on downtown Seattle (this stretch of freeway opened to traffic in 1967).

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #11: Olallie State Park, North Bend, WA Originally Twin Falls State Park (since 1950), 200 acres of land transferred to Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission June 21, 1976. First stop: Weeks Falls, part of the 200 acres added in 1976.

Happy 50th birthday to me! "MATTHEW McFIFTY" Click: 1drv.ms/v/c/41c14cb1...

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #10: Ballard Avenue Landmark District, Seattle, WA Designated April 11, 1976

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #9 : "Issaquah Alps," Issaquah, WA Phrase for the mountains around Issaquah, coined in 1976 by "hiking curmudgeon" Harvey Manning (bit.ly/4u8dPha).

Is it??

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #8 : Starbucks at 1912 Pike Place First coffee shop opened 300 ft from here in 1971, but has been at current location at Pike Place as the oldest standing Starbucks since 1976.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 7: George's Restaurant, Kirkland, WA Opened: August 15, 1976. Longest family-owned and operated restaurant in Kirkland.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 5: “Erector Set,” Everett, WA Sculpture celebration: April 29, 1976. I had hoped to find more information about this fascinating installation in downtown Everett, but could find almost nothing besides the fact that it was installed in 1976.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 4: Mason County Senior Activities Association, Shelton, WA Formed: 1976. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1981. Accepts people over 50!

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 3: Bataan Park, Bremerton, WA Opened 1967, dedicated 1976, "to honor all the Filipino and American lives lost during WWII, especially those who died in the Bataan Death March." (bit.ly/4sUCuEY)

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #2: Third Place Books, originally PCC Ravenna store, Seattle WA Opened (as PCC Ravenna): 1976. Actually the second location of the Ravenna store, which originally opened in 1969, but Third Place Books is in the building that was PCC Ravenna between 1976 and 2001.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 1: 1600 Seventh Avenue, Seattle, WA Opened (as 1600 Bell Plaza): November 22, 1976 32 floors, 498 ft. Nov 1976 dedication ceremony featured then-Governer Dan Evans, and Don Ameche, the actor who portrayed Alexander Graham Bell in the 1939 biographical film about him.

Deeply affecting and extremely effective.

It’s a beautiful day!

A good-enough dumb-fun action flick that lives up to its title.

Select scenes from my "Line 2 Redux" Link Light Rail ride today, this time with Shobhit, to capture art missed the first time around.

I think late-period Steven Soderbergh is my favorite.

Someone asked Frank at work how he is today and he said, "If I were any better I'd be Matthew!" I was like: I'll allow it.