My "Go-To" Rag for the Haps in Seattle SITREP Jetting in and out of SeaTac for work assignments keeps my head spinning. But when I want to decompress in a cutting-edge environment, THE STRANGER gets me the information I want to see in relationship to the entire scene at once. SETUP Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my iPhone. But what I've discovered is a "weakness" with our tech - or maybe an "insufficiency" - be it iPhones or laptops, tablets, what have you: these cool little devices are great at honing on more specific details of information when you already have a general idea of what you want to do. For example, you know what movie you want to see (maybe "Wrath of the Titans", etc.) and so you can do a quick search on the iPhone and get the 411. Or you might know that Tango has a great happy hour with inexpensive drinks and munchies on Tuesdays going on and you want to confirm these specials, and so you jump on the iPad and get the 411. THE RANDOM But what if you really just want to "see" what random stuff is out there? Expose yourself to the bills and the ads and the what not: "What bands are playing?" Tonight? Tomorrow? "What venues are DJ or Band or Dancing or all combined?" All in a grid matrix on a sheet of paper so you can compare (EASILY) or contrast (EASILY) all the cover charges, the location-neighborhoods? Oh, what's this? A random ad for a cool burlesque night at Noc Noc is going on for Thursday. Oh, what's this? Stumbling Monk is doing a special game night. THE WEAKNESS With my tech, it's not easy for the eye to capture than more than the little "streaming" bursts that are on my little iPhone screen, or even on a tablet. However, with the paper, I can look at a grid-matrix all at once - left-to-right, with my peripheral vision catching just as much as my focus. And until we get to the level of holographic projections (ie. the movie MINORITY REPORT) where we can turn pages of light with our fingers, I think the tech will still be smart, but very truncated and very limited. If I can make this make any sense there is an relevant adage that states, "You don't know, what you don't know." So if you don't enough to ask for information on bands playing in Pioneer square, you aren't going to remember to ask a search in your iPhone to get information on bands playing in Pioneer Square. But if you eye catches the ad placed by Central Saloon that gives the bands for the next 3 days, then you HAVE that information. Bottom Line: for all the tech I have accumulated and use regularly, I STILL find that there sometimes just is not a replacement-tech for the simple act of scanning and turning the pages of a news rag. THE LOWDOWN There are just some things that are tech can not encompass "randomly" that will get my attention as easily as turning the pages of a rag. And so that's why I still rely on THE STRANGER, and why it is still one off the best offerings for the truly random pieces of information that I still enjoy having "my eyes scan over" since I may not always know to search for something specifically on my tech. read more

This paper has really gone to the dogs over the past couple years. Definitely in need of new blood, from the editor-in-chief on down the line. Sad to say the only thing of interest these days is "Ombudsman" A. Birch Steen's snarky column on the Table of Contents page. And maybe once in a while David Schmader prints an amusing "Hot Tip" in Last Days. But he's like a Pavlovian dog. Anytime Hizzoner Mayor 5-Cents proposes something idiotic (like say a 20 cent fee on bags or build a tunnel), Schmader is there applauding wildly. He's a loyal soldier on Team Nickels. No longer (well, at least the last two weeks) are Letters to the Editor printed in the paper version. And pretty much, the movie times have disappeared too. And what happened to Lloyd Dangle's "Troubletown" comic strip? The Mercury in Portland still prints it. Miss Matisse and Adrian Ryan's columns have vanished too. And so has Charles Mudede's Police Beat. The Stranger is a shell of its former self. Borrrrrring! read more

They don't check their facts. I missed a movie I was really hoping to see because of them. They had the wrong day posted. Aggravating. The only reason to glance at this paper is for Dan Savage. I have no idea why someone as talented as him still works there. You have much better options Dan, hell start your own paper, I would read it! Other than that, there are the occasional interesting article. But mostly just a lot of bias opinion. read more

The Stranger - Print Media Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I was horrified reading this week's Stranger. Publishing things like the following is not a good way of celebrating Black History Month "On Feb 1, a 60-ish white man boarded the southbound Link light rail at Stadium Station after a young black woman accused him of touching her ass. The man denied it and didn't apologize. An argument ensued, with the woman's friend, a black woman who was considerably larger in stature, also getting involved. Things escalated quickly. The larger black woman started punching the white man's forehead. The smaller woman knocked his glasses his off. When the man punched the bigger woman, a young white guy stepped between them, and with some help, forced the aggressive geezer off the train at Sodo Station. After the train took off, with the racist man fuming on the platform, the woman he'd touch said, "I Bird Boxed that n*gga," and everyone around her burst out laughing. All in all, this was not a great to kick off Black History Month." The Stranger, I.C.Y.M.I., February 13, 2019 (only in the print version) ***** As a person of color, I need to state that I am shocked at the meanness and lack of impartiality. I was not there at the scene. But neither was The Stranger. There was no mention of witnesses. In Metro buses or on Link Rail, especially when it is crowded, it is easy to accidentally bump someone or brush them with one's belongings. (I've had people accidentally bump me with their bags while I was sitting down and they were holding on to a pole while the bus was moving). Were there actually any independent witnesses to what she alleged happened? Maybe the young woman was "just playing with him." (From the wisecrack she told everyone at the end, it sounds like it was). It sounds like it was the young woman's word against the elderly man's. In the end the old man was thrown off the train. And everyone then on the train had a good laugh after the large woman cracked a joke about having beaten the old man up. In fact, it sounds to me like a hyper-violent ASSAULT. What the two women did can hardly be considered self-defense. (This is, emphatically, not to deny the violence that many women now and in the past have suffered at the hands of men). The women beat the old man up, hitting him over and over again, in the face, so hard that his eyeglasses fell to the ground. It was they who began to hit him and not vice versa. It was two people much younger and, in all likelihood, much stronger punching one much older. I fail to see the humanity, fairness, social justice, and/or compassion in this story. The two women were not being aggressive ??? Was the old white man mentally ill? Homeless? How badly was he hurt? Did he go to the hospital? ***** If the old man had been black and his two aggressors/accusers white, would The Stranger be applauding their actions? What racism and ageism ("geezer") on the part of The Stranger. They'll be geezers, too, and most of them white, like the old man. We'll then call these Strangers "white geezers" just to allow them to continue to sit in their huge fetid pond of white self-loathing. Ha-ha. ***** A person of color myself, I had an African-American in the Federal Building on 2nd Avenue a few months accuse me of hitting him with my backpack. It was an excuse to tell me to my face to go back to my own country and say that my mother should have brought me up better. The federal security agents, mostly white, witnessed this and said nothing. In fact, they "talked the man up" when he went through the security checkpoint. I know what it is like to be falsely accused and for a black person use a pretext to beat me up, verbally. ***** This is not journalism. It is, however, unapologetic, naked, unadulterated malice. Repeatedly punching in the face and HUMILIATING an old man, whatever his race, is not funny at all. It could have been my father, your father, or someone's father or friend. read more

I have a love/hate relationship with the Stranger, and I'm sure it's mutual. I love lots of things about it. I've been reading it since it was a tiny little 6 or 8 pages, with Dan Savage's column and the I Saw U's taking up 50% of the paper. The Rocket was king then, and then the Stranger came and took the crown. They still hold it, I admit. I'm grown up enough to appreciate the Weekly but I'm weird enough that they don't really get my entertainment needs and so I find myself using the Stranger, like one should use a stranger, for your base needs, without even so much as a thank you. So where's the love lost, eh? I mean, that sounds like it's meeting my needs, right? Well, I admit I am one to hold a grudge. A serious grudge. For a long. long. time. And this grudge is related to the way they covered a friend (celebrity)'s death. It was reprehensible, reducing his life to a bad joke about drugs and fame lost. They completely missed the true person behind the headline, and for a local paper, they shouldn't have gone for that cheap shot. And for that, I can't really forgive them. But I still use them when I need to, I just sneer the entire time so it's even more fitting. read more

I pick up The Stranger every week to read Last Days, Savage Love, No, You Shut Up, I Saw You and Free Will Astrology. After I read those I skim the cover stories - usually they're great too. Come election season, I turn to The Stranger endorsements because even if I don't agree I'll be entertained and I'll probably learn something. Remember when Obama got elected? And the story about it was written while the editor was still drunk and was full of typos and exclamation marks? Fabulous. I also love when they call out local politicians, even ones that they've endorsed recently, when they think that said politicians need a reality check. The Stranger makes me feel more connected to what's going on in my city and is a refreshing source of local news, especially now that the Seattle Times (a piece of crap masquerading as a legitimate paper IMO) stands alone. read more

I actually heard about Yelp through The Stranger. Last January I saw a full page ad all about Yelp and thought it sounded interesting and signed up that very night. And for that, I quite like The Stranger - although, to be honest, I never really read much besides "I, Anonymous" and sometimes the food reviews. I mostly just flip to the music section. It's very helpful and I usually cut out all the shows I want to go to and hang them on the fridge - I'll forget otherwise. Ok, ok, I will admit I read the 'I Saw U's - I was in even in one once! He was a crazy stalker, but still, I was in there! I do find the "Drunk of the Week" entertaining and it's been a goal of mine to acheive that status. (I was, however, in the Party Crasher picture this week! Which is close, but no cigar!) I attended The Stranger's Valentine Bash this year and destroyed an engagement ring - and it was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had!! So kudos to The Stranger for that! I don't agree with everything they write, but the same goes for any other newspaper! At least this one makes me laugh. read more

I gave up long ago trusting the movie reviewers on the stranger. I find this to be odd, because I'm a huge fan of cinema in general, reasonably well informed about new art-house films, documentaries, etc...in other words, I would expect a certain level of kinship with the reviewers. It's so rare in our corporate driven media to even find a left-wing bias in any news so I have to support the stranger. I enjoy reading Dan Savage, Dear Science-Jonathan Golob, and the times when Sherman Alexie writes for them. It's the best we got. I hope it gets better. I tend to agree with Patrick G. about the snarkfest on Slog. I still check it out most days for interesting links. I will NEVER forget the Pterydactyl Porn link! Good times. Not surprising, but the Slog is a lot meaner than the worst of the yelp threads. There's a small group who comment on everything and typically make me avoid reading the comments. I rarely read the full length features anymore. I don't have an adequate reason why this is, but it is the case. Probably says more about me. Erica C. Barnett has become a one note defender of all things Hillary...which might her be only reasonable response to the general Obama lovefest among the other editors, but it's grown tiresome. Charles Mudede is mostly unreadable. I used to think he was writing about subjects (marxist politics, africa, and some film criticisms) that I didn't know too much about. So, I never gave him much critical thought. But he's drifted a few times into scientific areas and/or talked about films that I do know incredibly well. He comes up with really simple minded perspectives (i get it, let's put idea 'x' into your marxist analysis and run with it. Intellectual masturbation.). But to me, even more damning, is his arrogance when challenged by other editors and commentators in the Slog. As a result, I've decided he's about as insightful as a text book written by a christian fundamentalist. Musically, I'm probably too old for the musical tastes of stranger staff and skinny jeans/disgusting flat asses of the Seattle music scene...which is fine with me. I accept my lameness, but the movie reviews are terrible. read more

The only interesting reads in here were I Saw You, I, Anonymous and the !??! section of Lustlab. Now it's just fifty pages of bitter complaining about EVERYTHING. They probably don't get invited to birthday parties because they protest the smoke that the candles make. It's so toxic and negative... I wonder if any of the writers and readers ever let themselves have any amount of fun without having to commit hari kari afterward. read more

I must say, I'm a fan of the Stranger. It's so perfect that it comes out on Thursdays, the first day of my typical weekend... so I can go, grab lunch, and read it over my tasty, tasty food (or sometimes not so tasty). Also entertaining to read on the bus. There's been more than once that I've laughed out loud reading it on the bus, receiving some of those "crazy bus rider" stares. I don't care... it was too damn funny! First thing I always flip to is Savage Love... damn, that man can be brutally honest and a complete smartass all at the same time. Awesome! Yes, I realize that he's the editor of this paper, as well. I trust The Stranger to inform me of my entertainment options (there's been several shows that I've found out about by reading this) and I get my "news" here as well, in the Last Days column. Again, I realize that there's much more going on in the area, but I don't have a tv that I can watch... so don't judge me! Stranger Intern, Drunk of the Week, Police Blotter, and the I Saw U's are the other things in here I read on a consistent basis, mostly to my amusement (and disappointment when there's no message for me in the I Saw U's). I don't know about their biases and other various complaints that people have, but I don't read too much into anything. Slightly reminds me of The Chronicle in Austin... which may be why I'm such a dedicated reader. As a matter of fact, it's a beautiful day out, I'm gonna go and pick up a Stranger to read outside right now! read more

The Stranger gets four stars for the approx 10 minutes of enjoyable reading time it provides each week. I do so look forward to these ten minutes. Turn a couple pages in, read "I Anonymous" stick around for 'Last Days' flip to the back for 'Savage Love' check out the pompous movie reviews (my favorite) and 10 minutes later you're done. read more

I try to pick this paper up every week. Decent paper, and like another review said, can't complain too much since its free. I always make it a point to read I Love Television which, for some reason, is my favorite article in the paper. They have other great articles as well. Of course I will try to ready a Dan Savage article, but havent read Savage Love in awhile. And there are a ton of escort ads in the back pages. Rock! read more

This is the thing that steer my trips to Seattle away from the doldrumatic and the repeatable, and toward the items about town that are true. No idea what the rest of the stuff is, but the culture pointers are to be dereferenced at any possible juncture... loop loop loop read more

I used to love The Stranger, read it cover to cover, and religiously picked up a fresh copy every week. I used to feel disappointed that I had missed an issue. There were lots of interesting and entertaining stories and articles but now I'm just reading about a third of the content and picking it up maybe twice a month if I get around to it. Since election season last year, the paper has become incredibly didactic, politicized, and very intolerant of opposing viewpoints (hypocrite much?). I frequently feel assaulted by their tone that suggests that I'm a monstrous asshole if I don't think the same way they do on local issues or other political topics. The issues are so packed with commentary (different from news) on local issues that I feel that I'm reading a liberal equivalent of a religious tract. Also, I'm sick of all the big articles on music and bands. It's print media, not audio media. So unless I HEAR examples of the bands you're talking about, I'm not going to be interested in a 500 word article trying to get me to listen to them. Plus, after taking the suggestion of going to see the Pica Beats, I can tell that my taste in music is incompatible with what The Stranger writers like to listen to. There are already four regular columns dedicated to local music. Must you also have the feature story AND two other stories about music in the same issue? Geez. Make it balanced with more articles about art installations, films, events, restaurants, etc...Balance is key. I still have a few favorite articles but even those are being shuffled around to my dismay. "I Love Television" has a new spot every week, Mistress Matisse has been relegated to every other week. What happened to "Police Beat" or "I Found It!"?I will say that I typically enjoy their 'No, You Shut Up" and "I Anonymous" columns. P.S. Thanks for introducing me to TBTL. That was the last great thing to come out of The Stranger. read more

5 stars because it's the only newspaper that makes me choke with laughter and manages to serve me a slew of world and local news that is relevant to my life. Plus, I find it's brutal honesty refreshing after reading muck like the Seattle Times. And since I'm a fairly young person the politically incorrect jokes and profanity doesn't register at all. I know a lot of the columns are fairly snotty and obnoxious, but it's a fantastic paper to skim each week, and that's what I do. read more

Angst, angst and more angst - all the depression and weirdness that is fit to print goes weekly into The Stranger, one of the two free weekly papers in Seattle. I do read it most of the time, and find some value in it, but often I just weighed down by their focus on the gross, the depressing, the ironic, the macabre, the dark side. But maybe I am just getting old............. read more

The Stranger used to be pretty dang cool when I didn't live in Seattle, but now that I have read a million of them I am a wet noodle of reader erection for their publication. Tons of ads. Erotic section is leaning heavily tranny these days. Articles have increasing number of fanboy authors running the show. They aren't making enough nods to the little gems in Seattle. Their premises are good ones. Their conclusion is not read more

Yeah, okay, so it's snarky and elitist, but it does have more local news and opinion pieces than that *other* weekly paper, and the writers seem to have no problem speaking their minds. I like that style of guerilla journalism, even if it means reading the first ten pages (Last Days; I, Anonymous; political/crime/headline news) and then flipping past the HUGE list of music and film reviews to the last three pages (restaurant review; Control Tower and Savage Love). Even for the less-than-trendy music listener, this is still a good way to spend my Thursday afternoon bus ride. read more

Read the I Saw U section. Funniest reading material in Seattle. "Saw you at the Crocodile at the big show on May 10, 2007. You were wearing a brown hoodie and looked hot in your tight neon green shorts. I think we may have smiled at each other for a moment. Wanna get a drink and smile some more about something more exciting?" Ahh, humanity at its weirdest. read more

The Stranger is seriously one of my favorite things about Seattle. It may be just a newspaper to some people, but I really enjoy sitting down for coffee and devouring the entire thing. One of my favorite sections is "Drunk of the Week". I know in my heart that someday I will achieve that title of greatness. My favorite Stranger cover ever was the one of Terri Schiavo (remember her?) and the pope racing for the grave. Offensive? Yes. Hilarious? Also, yes. The Stranger also has themost interesting selection of personal ads and "escorts" that I've ever seen. read more

The Stranger - this week - Print Media Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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I picked up the Stranger a couple weeks ago to check up on something only to find they left the best part of the paper out that week!!!! How was I supposed to know what movies are playing where if they leave out the Movie Times page? I stopped reading the Stranger a couple of years ago (save a few columnists that I actually like - Paul Constant and Eric Grandy to name a couple). Every once in a while I will pick up the Stranger and attempt to read it again for lack of anything else to read, but am always disappointed. I am not sure who started it or when it started (maybe it has always been this way and I'm just now realizing it), but someone who writes/works for the Stranger decided that it was cool to be ever cynical, overly sarcastic, and pointlessly critical. I don't think it is cool to laugh at gruesome crimes or be crass just for the sake of smashing the idea of political correctness... Swearing is fun, sure, but do I really have to read about some awful murder and be coerced to laugh about it? Reading the Stranger is like watching the network news. But more "hip" and "edgy". All boring human interest stories and fake news. The Stranger served a purpose for me when I was in high school and I got to be scandalous and read Savage Love. It is useful for knowing what bands are playing and where. I love reading Free WIll Astrology. It's a little odd to me that Rob Brezsny, the author of Free WIll Astrology and the book _Pronoioa Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring To Shower You WIth Blessings_, would be published in such a negative paper. Does anybody else remember those phony papers that someone made up years ago to make fun of Seattle's free weekly papers? The Seattle Whitely and The Strangler? Those were awesome... I wish I had kept them. read more

Every time I thumb through The Stranger, I never seem to find anything worth reading. It's almost like the cover art is the best part of it. I think from now on, I'll look at the cover as I walk past stacks of them and only read it online if people paste me links to the website. read more

Why people be hatin' on the Stranger?? It's FREE!!! Dan Savage + IAnonymous + The lust lab + shows + reviews + local happenings + slanted politics + dirty ads in the back = RAD Am I right or am I right? There's always cool local art/photography and inspiring event notifications. Plus I like wrapping presents in the dirty sex line ads in the back!! read more

Not being a Seattle native, I can only go what I've seen in the past few months that I've seen the newspaper. The writing is so hackneyed and jaded that it's difficult to take seriously--but I think that's the point..at least I really hope that's what the point is. It's not overly apparent that they are doing this, which I think is why so many people hate this newspaper. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I still don't think that semi-jokingly vilifying while people is very clever nor the way to raise consciousness (which I think/hope is their overall intention). The reason this is a 2-star review is the because of the great coverage of who is playing where at every venue in Seattle. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they figure out a way to insult white people in the music announcements section though. read more

Today was Thursday, and pretty much everyone on the bus (including me) was reading The Stranger. I liked that, it made me feel like part of a community united in a common pursuit of something. But what? Connoisseurship? Paranoia? Kink? It really doesn't matter what it is, but I have a feeling it has something to do with what brought us all to this city in the first place. I like to complain about it (see my last two reviews), but I still read it. This is pretty much the best place (besides Yelp of course!) to find out what's REALLY going on in this city, and Dan Savage is eternally priceless. read more

To me, Seattle is what it is thanks in part to this great 'zine. I've lived in the SF Bay Area for over 14 years now, visited Seattle dozens of times over that period, and every time I'm in town, I pick up the Stranger and wonder why SF doesn't have this quality of writing and content. What recently impressed me was the really cool special issue they recently published for newbies (ostensibly college freshmen new to town). The writing was sophisticated, the subject matter was useful and important -- most notably, a rundown on where to go for birth control, family planning advice, etc. I wish I'd had such a guide way back when I started school in a new town :-) read more

While combing around the Seattle area there was one thing in mind that I hoped they had for free rags. A newspaper where news was reported and considered to be under the radar or ignorable by mainstream media but more importantly a newspaper that had concert listings. Sure you can get all of that information on line these days but there is some fun in getting a free newspaper and finding a band you enjoy is coming to your town. I realize this sounds really old school but there are plenty of tech heads out there who like to go to a good old record shop and comb through vinyl and seeing the John Waters actress, Edith Massey on a cover of a John Mellencamp record. It is your own private little 'discovery' where you think no one else has made the link but you and Edith. What I say is true. Edith Massey really is on a vinyl cover of a John Mellencamp record. See it for yourself. What I was looking for with The Stranger was the equivalent to Denver's Westword. I didn't exactly get that here but close enough. Whatever The Stranger may have holes in on information the Seattle Weekly newspaper seems to fill in the gaps. read more

Thank gawd for the Stranger. Not that I pick it up every week, but when I need it, it's there for me. I like that sometimes I feel really unhip when I pick it up. I rarely understand what the front cover is trying to say to me. I don't think I'm suppose to, right? It just means that I've still gotta lot to learn in this world. read more

I use the paper-version for the following reasons: -I quickly scan through all the music ads to see if I want to go to any upcoming shows -To keep me mildly entertained if I'm trapped at a Starbucks and didn't bring my usual reading book I use the website for the following reasons: -To decide if I hate or like Dan Savage this particular week -Cool search function to find out what movies or music acts are going on that very night -Reading the very self-indulgent "I, anonymous" I usually stay away from reading the articles in general because I think they are TRYING TOO HARD...to be what? I dunno...different (read: obscenely opinionated) I guess. Apparantly bashing anything that's somewhat considered mainstream or especially conservative, is what the Stranger's all about. read more

Nov 7 2014 update: I hope the exodus of writers will free up enough $$ for secondhand copies of The Elements of Style and Roget's Thesaurus for the lingerers in Editorial who really need them. ------- The arts editor Jen Graves, theatre critic Brendan Kiley, news reporter/Pulitzer Prize winner Eli Sanders, Rob Brezsny's syndicated column, and maybe the stalwart Savage Love column, and of course the concert listings and the Lustlab/Lovelab ads, are the only reasons now to read The Stranger. Whether this is a sign of my age or a sign of deterioration of quality at The Stranger remains to be seen. News item in which two teenaged girls are robbed at gunpoint: not newsworthy. News item in which two men are attacked in Capitol Hill: newsworthy. News item in which a veteran loses his house and is evicted months after foreclosure, no mention at all that the veteran inherited the house and borrowed close to $650,000 five years BEFORE having a debilitating stroke, and then being evicted. News item in which a young immigrant is shot dead at a Link station, people show up for a memorial, fine. Reported quotes that the immigrant was profiled for fare evasion, when all passengers are checked by fare enforcement. Claims the fare evader was shot for no reason: video shows fare evader reaching for his gun when transit officer physically restrains him from leaving. Video shows fare evader pantomiming attempting to use ORCA card to no avail: comment testimony claims that the ORCA card was stolen along with other cards in a wallet during an armed robbery. Stolen ORCA card usage, it is reported by a commentator, syncs with video surveillance at stations. Is this ever reported by The Stranger? No. I'll tell you this though, The Stranger sure loves to delete/eliminate on-topic, polite, apolitical, fact-filled comments on its online posts. It didn't used to be like that. It used to delete only the spammy and abusive comments. read more

This ratty old 'zine is still around? I used to think of The Stranger as a great source of local news, back when I was a young teen and completely naive about the world. Then I grew up and gained some worldly experience. The Stranger only bothers to print articles about their friends. They literally have a personal attachment to each person they write about, such that they are not informing Seattle about anything new, rather they are showing off their connections and claiming that their personal 'zine is somehow more informative than actual newspapers, going so far as to bombard residents with their silly little voter's recommendations; about one flier every single day for two weeks. What a waste, considering they all went from the mailbox straight to recycling. You get two stars only because you entertained younger me. You don't deserve any. Oh, and Dan Savage has next to no business placing judgment upon ANYBODY's sex life, as his column is more want to do despite being there for "advice." Spoilers: his advice all boils down to you needing to have more sex partners and shaming people who do not enjoy giving or receiving oral. SO sex positive /sarc read more

As far as weekly papers go this is not bad. They have good musical news, and what's going on news in seattle, they are also a good way to find some of the more bizarre shops in seattle if your looking for a fun day excursion. Oh yes and the classifieds are always a joy to read over a cup of coffee with a friend. I agree with what the other reviewers saying that its a bit low brow in its political thinking but you know hey its a good read if your stuck at the ferry terminal. read more

It's hard to go wrong with counterculture, distributed for free. I love Savage Love especially, though many of the columns are excellent as well. Bonus points to Dominic, who is one of my favorite staff reporters. Plus, the cover designs are consistently awesome! read more

Truly excellent humor, intelligent news summary, informative, vibrant, and fun to read. On the other hand, may be more than somewhat for-profit and sold out to the corrupt establishment running our society, while appearing alternative / progressive / leftish. So I'm conflicted about it. Have read it regularly for about the past decade, and FAR better than the garbage I see in The Mercury (which is odd, because they're both owned by the same organization). Excellent when it comes to LGBTQ rights, women's rights, & many liberal issues; but then is pretty inadequate when it comes to discussing climate change, political corruption, and what to do about such. Also: seems to divert people towards entertaining themselves, instead of taking any real action against anything... like you'd expect from any for-profit, establishmentarian, corrupt news organization. Still, fun & funny & informative on much stuff, and puts me in a better mood more often than not. And doesn't make any gross sleazy sales pitches for far-right organizations, as the fraudulently "alternative" Portland Mercury sometimes does. read more

What happened? This was a good paper, now it's mostly "straight bashing" articles, self indulgent music crap and ads for Marijuana testing and dildos. Highlights magazine has more interesting articles. In fact, why not replace Savage Love with Goofus and Galant cartoons? There are 3 columns I read...Last Days, Film and Chow, otherwise I just use it to check club listings, movie times and line my cat box. read more

I start by saying that I absolutely hate Seattle. I find it a vapid and cultureless town that is nothing but veneer, containing people who hide in their shells and treat small talk with a stranger like a mortal threat. That said, I have always marveled at the quality of the Stranger. For my money, it's the best paper of its kind in the country. Seattle has very little to offer, but the Stranger at least makes it appear to be thriving (though if you go to any of its listings you will likely find them half-empty or full of listless cadavers). How did Dan Savage come out of such a provincial place? Who knows, but the Stranger is the home of one of our most noble citizens. Last Days and other features are always worth a read as well. If only the Village Voice could give it some competition. read more

This is one of my fav free mags in seattle. There are many great articles with new info every week. the food section and music section are great. I love savage love and mistress matisse. It is free and you can find it at many locations on the streets and shops. I love the info. read more

The Stranger is free. If you complain about something that you get for free...well then that's just plain ungrateful.

This is the paper you get when your from out of town and you want to find something to do! They have a great listing section with everything that is going on for the week. read more

So once a week, along with my second daily vente quad soy latte (what?!?) I pick up a Stranger and forget for a little while I'm a single working tired ass mom. Columns like Savage Love give me perspective. My life's not so bad. You gotta read the alt papers! The news is worthy and Last Days, Knickers in a Twist - the best columns are in this paper and just wait 'til you get to the personals. read more