Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Do This Tonight: Oscar-Nominated Shorts at the Varsity

Arts & Culture   March 13, 2010 at 10:03 am Alexandra Bush

Going into the Oscars, almost nobody (including me) has ever seen the short films. And, after the awards ceremony, most people quickly forget them.

Landmark Varsity is giving us a chance to remedy that this weekend, showing both the live-action and the animated 2010 Oscar-nominated shorts.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRJlbZO8OI[/youtube]
I’m particularly intrigued by this year’s short animation winner, Logorama (Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy, France)—my friends who had seen the nominated shorts program before the Oscars cheered when it won.

Logorama depicts a series of escalating actions and interactions that end in disaster for an imagined version of Los Angeles in which every person, place, and thing is some version of a corporate logo (main characters include the Pringles man and Ronald McDonald).

In his perfectly charming Academy Award acceptance speech, producer Nicolas Schmerkin thanked the 3,000 companies whose logos he used in the film, and said the 16-minute film took six years to make.  ”I hope to be back with a feature in about 36 years.”

Other shorts in the animation program include A Matter of Loaf and Death (a 30-minute Wallace and Gromit film by UK director Nick Park), French Roast (France, dir. Fabrice O. Joubert), Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (Ireland, dir. Nicky Phelan), and The Lady and the Reaper (Spain, dir. Javier Recio Gracia).  Shows are at 2:15 and 7:10pm.

The live-action program features The Door (Ireland, dir. Juanita Wilson), Instead of Abracadabra (Sweden, dir. Patrik Eklund), Kavi (US & India, dir. Gregg Helvey), Miracle Fish (Australia, dir. Luke Doolan), and Oscar-winner The New Tenants (US & Denmark, dir. Joachim Back).  Shows at 4:30 and 9:20pm.

Check here for trailers of all films in the program, and go make sure the shorts don’t get short-shrifted.