What? He doesnt like a layer of hot, slippery cream cheese with his dog?
What? He doesn't like a layer of hot, slippery cream cheese with his dog? Screenshot from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Trailer

Sonic the Hedgehog is kicking ass here in Seattle: Well, at least in a version of Seattle anyway. Paramount just released the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and in the first few seconds we get a shot of the Space Needle. Sick! Sadly, its production shot the film in Vancouver, likely thanks to our lack of financial incentives for movie productions. In any case, we also get a glimpse of Sonic's sidekick Tails and his nemesis Knuckles, as well as Jim Carrey reprising his role as Robotnik. It looks bad, but I'm definitely going to eat an edible and watch when this comes out:

Seattle Met dropped their most influential people in Seattle arts list: Coming in on top is Claudia Castro Luna, our city's first civic poet. The Met's Sophie Grossman says that through her writing, Castro Luna "creates a place where people can live." Also making the list is country singer Brandi Carlile, writer Don Mee Choi, KEXP DJ Marco Collins, Sub Pop's Megan Jasper, and more. Not making the cut? The king who made this sticker. God bless them wherever they are.

This is one way to get people back to South Lake Union: In late November, art agency Creos installed four new public interactive art displays in the neighborhood that will be up until the end of the year. There's Impulse (2121 7th Ave), a series of six illuminated seesaws that have speakers; Oscillation (2121 8th Ave), interactive and colorful crystal-like objects; Prismatica (2250 7th Ave), a series of 25 six-foot-tall rotating prisms that play bell music (but curiously, no Gaga); and Passage (426 Terry Ave N), a luminous spiral tunnel that "activates light animations and sounds." The pieces are available to interact with from 8 am to 10 pm every day. It honestly looks... cool? I'll check it out this weekend.

ICYMI: There are also three new permanent public art installations along Delridge Way SW in West Seattle. Ene Osteraas-Constable and Scott Constable, a.k.a. Wowhaus, have installed a series of bronze nut and wrench sculptures called Delridge Know How at three intersections in West Seattle. Each installation has three sculptures that "invite viewers to physically interact with and think about the history of the area." More from Art Beat Blog here:

In the development of the artwork, Wowhaus attended several community meetings, held impromptu focus group meetings on the 120 Metro Bus, hosted a site walkthrough with elementary students from Roxbury Elementary School, and delved deep into the history of the area through resources at the Seattle Public Library and Museum of History and Industry. From this engagement work, the idea for the artwork Delridge Know How was developed.

Two artists are charged with faking Native ancestry and trying to sell their art at Seattle galleries: Federal authorities have charged Maple Falls' Lewis Anthony Rath and Seattle's Jerry Chris Van Dyke, a.k.a Jerry Witten, with separately violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, reports AP. Rath falsely claimed membership to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and Van Dyke claimed Nez Perce Tribe membership. Apparently, they sold counterfeit "masks, totem poles, and pendants" at Raven's Nest Treasure and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in 2019. They are both facing counts of "misrepresentation of Indian-produced goods," with Rath also facing a count of "unlawfully possessing golden eagle parts" and another of "unlawfully possessing migratory bird parts."

Derrick Adams got a nice write-up today in ARTnews: The New York-based artist has a joint show with Seattle-based artist Barbara Earl Thomas up at the Henry until May.

Start off your Friday evening with a killer remix: Shaina Shepherd and Chong the Nomad dropped a remix of Shepherd's 2020 track, "The Virus," out now via Freakout Records. Chong atomized the shit out of the original song, chopping up Shepherd's soulful voice and jigsawing it back together again. She turned the piano-driven track into a quirky club banger. We love to see Seattle musicians come together like this!