This Week in the Mercury
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sports PTFC2K9: Firing on all cylinders
Posted by Mark Evans on Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Portland's most magical weekend—well perhaps its most family friendly magical weekend— was the perfect setting for a Timbers team to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps, last year's league champions and the only team who has beaten the Timbers this year.
I always like games against Vancouver because of the rivalry, the history, and the away support who make the trip down from Canada. The old adage 'enemies on the pitch, friends at the pub' has always rung true with the 'Caps fans, win or lose they're the opposite of Shittle fans: polite and mostly good humored. After all, we share one very important point: we fucking hate Seattle.
(p.s. I accidentally posted this into the past, so now I'm fixing it)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Film / TV May DVD Roundup: Falling Down, Taken, Old-School Star Trek.
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Sun, May 31, 2009 at 11:22 PM
A bunch of DVDs came out over the past few weeks, and because I'm super-busy and popular*, I just barely got around to checking out a few of the more interesting ones. Hit the jump for some thoughts on recent releases of Falling Down, Taken, and a couple of greatest hits-style collections of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
*Shut up. Totally true.
Gossip / Music Zooey Deschanel Sings at Jenny Lewis Show
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Sun, May 31, 2009 at 3:04 PM
At Jenny Lewis' show last night at the Roseland, Zooey Deschanel made a guest appearance! This comes on the heels of the rumor of her being spotted around town. Deschanel sang unobtrusive backing vocals, along with two members of Lewis' backing band, on "Trying My Best to Love You," a tune from Lewis' Acid Tongue album, then hastily left the stage. It was swell. She was adorable. On my personal 1-to-10 scale of the momentous events in my life, "Being in the Same Room as Zooey Deschanel" rates at least a 9.5, ranking just above "Losing Virginity" and just below "Death."
Sigh.
I took a couple pics with my phone, but since they are of embarrassingly shitty quality, I'll post them after the jump.
Media / Politics When Graphic Design Goes Unchecked
Posted by Matt Davis on Sun, May 31, 2009 at 9:19 AM
This ad has been popping up on Blue Oregon over the last few days. Every time I see it, I marvel and cringe and then marvel, once again. 
Mercury / Music Blur Reunite Which Is Sad
Posted by Matt Davis on Sun, May 31, 2009 at 1:22 AM
Now I know how it felt to be my parents, watching the Rolling Stones in the mid eighties.
Back in early 2006 when I went to get my green card at the American embassy in London, Damon Albarn was there too, sitting with a minder, waiting to get a performer's permit for a trip to New York with his newer band, Gorillaz. He was far more suntanned than any Briton has a right to be in mid-March, and a bit fatter and more wrinkled, too. He had a lot of product in his hair. As I waited anxiously for my number to be called I considered striking up a conversation, but realized he'd think it was ridiculous. While he was looking confidently "just out of bed," I was looking nervously "just out of prep school," having worn my most Republican-looking suit in the hope of impressing the American clerks due to stamp my papers. Meanwhile Albarn was petulant as a nine-year-old.
"Whaddaya mean I've got to come back next week?" he asked, half-shouting, when he was called up to the window to present his documents. I'm paraphrasing but you get the idea.
"Next week?" I asked. "And you'll have it ready for me then? An honor! Truly..."
Sitting there over-eager opposite fat wrinkly perma-tanned over-producty-haired grumpy Damon Albarn was a deflating epilogue to my adolescent idolization of the man. And in many ways a fitting end to my time as a resident of Britain. It was a literal and metaphorical rite of passage—the end of something. But no...
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Homo A serious question
Posted by Stephen Marc Beaudoin on Sat, May 30, 2009 at 8:34 AM
I was chatting up some of my Facebook friends last night about (gaaaaay!!) Pride upcoming, and getting some rather unbridled criticisms about the fest ("every year I'm disappointed with PDX's Pride," one wrote), which prompted Pride NW board president Debra Porta to throw out a bombshell of a question, which I reprint here and pose to all of you Blogtownies:
What is it you find disappointing about Portland's Pride festival? And yes that is a serious question.:)
There you have it, people! A serious question about Portland Pride, followed by a smiley face emoticon. Queer or otherwise, what's your beef with Pride?? Have at it.
(PS, tonight I'm heading to something called a "Pride Mixer" tonight at the Portland Q Center, 4115 N. Mississippi Ave., to shmooze it up with some of the peeps in charge of Portland's three separate pride fests: Latino Gay Pride, Black Pride and Portland Pride. Fun! Right?)
Friday, May 29, 2009
Crime Cold Case Cards for Prisoners
Posted by Rachael the Unpaid News Intern on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Remember the “Iraq’s Most Wanted” playing cards?
Police and nonprofit Crime Stoppers of Oregon released a similar deck this morning, each card profiling an unsolved murder. On each card is the face of the person killed, making for a pretty grisly game of gin rummy.
Also, instead of putting the cards into the hands of soldiers and law enforcement officers, the cards are replacing regular decks in jails in four counties at $1 a pop. “People who engage in criminal behavior brag about [it] to other inmates,” Sergeant Paul Weatheroy from the Portland Police Bureau's cold case unit explained. He hopes the cards with help inmates cough up clues in the 52 unsolved crimes.
“The Mayor of 42nd Avenue,” Edward Victor Morgan, who was murdered 15 years ago today, is the six of diamonds. Joshua Michael Jeffries, the youngest victim in Portland’s cold case file, is the eight of hearts. Earl Richard Barker, shot and killed less than a year ago, is the Queen of hearts.
Artsy From the frying pan to the gallery... Bacon
Posted by Matt Stangel on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Not gonna lie, love me some bacon, and when I see it out of its natural habitat—my stomach—I get all flustered, suppressing my pent-up hunter instincts. Thought I had done it all when it comes to cured meats, but recently a few artsy-things have set my baco-dar a'flashing.
If bacon didn't have a mythological representation, it does now. Sculptor Andrew Kirk fashioned a "mythological bacon creature" out of scrap metal, welding gnarled strips into a fish-like form he calls "Bakonawa: The Mooneater." You can find Kirk's bacon creature hanging at the Fine Grind Cafe through the month of June as part of a group show entitled "Metal Plaster Wood."
MIcki Skudlarczyk's Launch Pad installation, "Well Finished," takes the opposite approach to bacon mythology, attempting to make viewers think about how meat gets into the package. As a meat eater that has seen slaughterhouses, Skudlarczyk is interested in an animal's journey from womb to plate, raising a discussion on the poor quality of life experienced by industrially farmed animals through her art.
As a structural frame, Skudlarczyk bent wires into a series of upside down U-shaped ridges. The ridges are arranged to ascend in height, the smallest standing at one foot, and the tallest at upwards of five feet. Skudlarczyk covered the wire frame in caul fat (slaughterhouse leavings; mainly cured organ linings). This slug-like series of ridges leads to a slaughter ramp. As the featureless ridges get incrementally taller towards the ramp, they suggest an animal's journey through life, highlighting a shrouded existence within industrial farms. At 1 pm on Sunday, May 31st, Skudlarczyk is giving a lecture and Q&A at the Launch Pad Gallery—she might ruin bacon for you, so be careful.
Lastly, Jason Bacon of UNKL— Portland-based manufacturer of artsy, graffiti-centric toys— has a show at Compound with his partner-in-design, Derek Welch. While Bacon doesn't actually make bacon-related art, his name is fucking BACON, so it counts. Bacon made "character-based" silk screens and paintings specifically for the Compound show. The pieces are affordable 2D renderings of the characters from UNKL's popular line of toys, catering equally to lovers of graffiti and Japanese design art. The show ends June 2nd.
Alright, I'ma go get me a Baconator from Wendy's, 'cause that shit has crazy mad bacon all over it... Six strips, baby!
Mercury Questionland: Finally, a Land for Your Questions
Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 3:50 PM
You've got questions… you've got answers. And finally, there's a place for both in QUESTIONLAND! Some of the brainest brains in Portland are there right now answering questions from people just like you! (Unless of course you're one of the brainiest brains that I'm talking about… in which case, shouldn't you be in Questionland instead of dinking around over here?)
Here are just a smidge of the interesting questions that are being queried currently in Questionland!
• Why does inner Southeast always smell like Jagermeister?
• What are some good places to buy fireworks near Portland?
• IUDs: Yay or nay, and why?
• Is there an age at which men should stop wearing shorts?
My answer to that last one? Balloon shorts are always in fashion!
QUESTIONLAND: Get yer knowledge on.
TV Behold the Live-Action Episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 3:39 PM
The Onion's A.V. Club (which is where I swiped the above image from) has the scant details on this Sunday's live-action season finale of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, in which T-Pain plays Frylock.
The episode almost didn't air at all and will run with a disclaimer. Why? ATHF co-creator is being vague with the details but has told The A.V. Club, "[Matt Maiellaro and I] were very close to posting the whole thing on YouTube... We did seriously consider it as the last ATHF ever (but of course we got picked up for more)."
Listen, disclaimer shmisclaimer—all I needed to know is that T-Pain is playing Frylock. Admittedly, ever since the crappy movie, I haven't been quite as fond of the Aqua Teens as I once was, but even I know brilliance when I see it. And casting T-Pain as Frylock? Brilliant. Nearly as brilliant, in fact, as the work of art that is the Aqua Teen movie's theatrical poster.
I could gaze at that for hours.
Via Comics Alliance.
News Beau to Texting Reporters: Leave Me Alone!
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 3:34 PM
The O just reported that a judge this afternoon denied Beau Breedlove's request for a restraining order against Oregonian reporter Brent Walth. Breedlove apparently got fed up with Walth constantly texting him about the scandal and feared it could negatively affect Walth's reporting and the public perception of Breedlove. The judge denied the restraining order because a restraining order requires the threat of physical violence not just, uh, the fear that some text messages will make people not like you.
Breedlove was sour on reporters a few months ago during his naked interview in Unzipped (which did not negatively affect his public perception at all...) and expressed as much to Matt Davis with his memorable succinct signature.
News CubeSpace in Court
Posted by Rachael the Unpaid News Intern on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 2:44 PM
For three years, CubeSpace has been Portland’s reaction to the sterile environment of most offices — the “co-working” building rents shared office space to small businesses and nonprofits, selling the idea of a working within a supportive business community that helps cubicle-dwellers get through the day without wanting to gouge their eyes out with a number two pencil. But this week CubeSpace is wading through less friendly business negotiations: last week their landlord US Bank issued the group an eviction notice and court subpoena. CubeSpace had not paid rent since March.
Today US Bank and CubeSpace’s owners, Eva Schweber and David Kominski, are debating in court whether they can negotiate rent or whether US Bank has the right to lock their doors.
Schweber and Kominski are wary of talking to the press lest they further infuriate US Bank. But a letter they posted on their website spells out their side of the story:
We sent a letter to our landlord, US Bank in August 2008 asking for a rent abatement so that we could get on top on our bills….We were under the mistaken impression that they had a stake in us remaining in the space. They responded in October 2008 with a "no."We continued struggling along, until February when we had a truly awful month. We have prioritized paying our employees, taxes and health insurance over everything else. We paid February's rent on the last of our credit cards. We sent an email to US Bank explaining that we were really out of cash and needed to renegotiate our rent payments. US Bank responded with a letter threatening to come after all of our assets (you know, all of those assets that we sunk into CubeSpace).
In March…David called US Bank's lawyer and proposed a payment plan in which we paid partial rent now, and slowly paid the back rent over the course of our remaining lease….The lawyer said he would speak with the local property manager and get back to us.
We didn't hear back from the bank, but our business continued to grow….Tuesday, May 20, we were served with an FED (Forcible Entry and Detainer), a court action by a landlord to remove a tenant. This was the first response we had received from the Bank since their October 2008 letter.
[Photo removed by request of photographer.—eds.]
Within hours of the posting of this letter, supporters set up another website, SaveCubeSpacepdx.com and raised $5,130 in a few days. That’s a good chunk of change, but far short of the $45,000 Cubspace needs to make it into the clear, according to numbers printed in the Oregonian.
The story continues below.
Drunk / Sports Monster Truck Back Flip Friday
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Yes, I tagged this as both drunk and sports. Because there is no better sport to watch while drunk than Monster Trucking! I also think that Monster Trucking is best performed when drunk. I mean, how drunk do you have to be to decide you want to do a back flip in your Monster Truck?
"Heeey, Jerry. Jerry." *hic* "You knowhad I'mgunna do?" *hic* "You knowhad? I'mgunna do a fuggin' flackbip in my fuggin' monser truck!" *hic* "Fug you, Jerry. I will so. Jess you watch me. Jess you watch." Vroom Vrooooooom
At least that's how I picture it in my mind. And yes, Monster Trucking is a goddamn sport! It happens in an arena doesn't it?
props to Fark
Geek A Whole Blog Post About Zombies
Posted by Alison Hallett on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 1:43 PM
So... there's like a zombie scene, right? And I know I should be all, "Zombies are the new pirates, Keep Portland Laaaame," or whatever, but... I think zombies are funny. I listened to Mail Order Zombie's podcast this morning and it doesn't suck—there's a solid report on the new zombie trend in YA lit—and Zombie Squad kinda cracks me up ("We can handle it from here. We've talked about this a lot on the internet").
If you are similarly entertained by all of this, the friendly nerds over at Geek in the City have teamed up with Guardian Games to host May of the Dead, a full day of zombie-themed gaming (including "Portland's first and only Left 4 Dead Tournament," which may mean something to someone?), zombie movies, onsite makeup artists and makeup workshops, and a 20% discount on Guardian merch for anyone who dresses up. That's tomorrow, May 30, at Guardian Games, 303 SE 3rd, from 11 am-10 pm.
ALSO, in other undead-related news, here's some news for Troma fans (and full-disclosure, my big sis helped organize this event):
"Poultrygeist, Night of the Chicken Dead is playing Thursday, june 4 in the parking lot of voodoo 2. Lloyd Kaufman will be in attendence. The Toxic Avenger and Tromettes will be there from 8:30 on...Lloyd will show up after a book signing at Powell's. There's no admission fee!"
Gossip Zooey Deschanel Sighting!
Posted by Marjorie Skinner on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 1:40 PM
HOT TIP!! A very reliable source (meaning someone engaged to someone who works at Anthropologie) has informed us that none other than cutey pa-tootie ZOOEY DESCHANEL has been shopping in downtown Portland today! Where did she go? What did she buy? I have almost as big of a girl-crush on Zooey as I do Emily Blunt, so tell me anything you know. (Photos are a big-ass plus.) (I wonder if she's here to hang out with whatshisname that she does music with or something, maybe?)
Food / Ethics Of Cookies and Torture
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 1:20 PM
It took more questioning, and some interrogators' sleight of hand, before the Yemeni gave up a wealth of information about al-Qaeda — including the identities of seven of the 9/11 bombers — but the cookies were the turning point. "After that, he could no longer think of us as evil Americans," Soufan says. "Now he was thinking of us as human beings."
The article in Time magazine about how some intelligence professionals feel torture is over-rated in intelligence gathering, hinged on the simple act of giving a diabetic man some sugar-free cookies.
Apparently that was enough to get Abu Jandal to stop ranting about Americans and give up a little information. Well, it was the cookies and the smarts of some resourceful agents.
But the question for me is whether or not this is an anomaly. Did this man just really like cookies? Or is there something in receiving tasty comforting sustenance that just leads a person to relax and open up?
I’m thinking of every cop show that I’ve seen where the lead detective opens the interrogation room and ushers the suspect inside with a wide smile while saying something along the lines of, “Have a seat Strangler Pete. Can we get you coffee? Something to eat?”
Or how about this NSFW (language) clip from the Wire wherein Bunk uses a McDonald’s meal during an interrogation to great effect:
But these examples are straight fiction. The cookie story is not. The whole thing got me wondering… Is there any meal that could make me give up information? Is there any food that has such power over me that I’d sing like a canary just for a taste? I guess it would depend on the circumstances. Hunger can make anything look good after awhile.
What about you Blogtownies? What food could make you snitch?
Film I Found My Stuntman, Guys!
Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 11:56 AM
As you guys probably know, my script for the autobiographical movie of my life, "Prostate Full of Dynamite: The Wm. Steven Humphrey Story" has been given the motherfucking green light! WOOT NOW! Therefore the only thing really left to do is to find a stuntman who can handle all the mind-blowing action scenes (and has a similar body type—which is to say "wicked rocking.") And I think I've found him! Check out the demo reel for stuntguy/ parkour maniac Damien Walters. He does everything I would do if my groin muscle wasn't pulled.
Hat tips to Film Drunk!
Artsy What’s the Story, Wishbone? The Unauthorized Audio Tour of PAM
Posted by Jane "the Intern" Carlen on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 11:24 AM
I long for an art gallery with non-white walls. I’ve never heard of 90% of the artists I see, maybe more. How, then, am I supposed to understand their intentions, their message? I wish that museums gave more than a blurb’s worth of background information. Nobody picks up Shakespeare, starts reading halfway through, and considers it an informative experience. If you do, you're missing out on a lot.
I understand the inclination. You want to house art in a way that doesn’t interfere with it. Any attempt to convey the art’s meaning also has the effect of interpreting it. Nobody wants that.
This is the jumping off point for PDL’s Unauthorized Tour of the Portland Art Museum (PAM). PDL is a performance troupe from Seattle trying to make contemporary art more “refreshing, accessible, and fun” for the public. An audio tour is ideal for this purpose. It can be informative and lively without being overbearing. Armed with a personal headset and dorky earphones you can view a piece, form an impression, and subsequently hear more about it.
The tour itself is more of a companion than a guide. It’s like taking a friend along to the museum with you—unfortunately, one who won’t shut up.
Games Pre-E3 Trailerpaloozastravaganza! (Part 1)
Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 10:10 AM
E3 kicks off next week and in lieu of frying my pasty Caucasoid ass off in sunny Los Angeles, I'm spending the week strapped to my laptop, trying to explain to my roommate's cat why he can't eat Skittles.
The happy benefit of this arrangement, for everyone aside from the candy-starved cat, is that I'm also free to pass along all the trailers you're missing out on by being stuck in Oregon's most hedonistic city.
Expect more footage to follow as the week progresses, but here's a few of the already-launched clips to whet your appetite for pre-release hype.
Music How Radio Rocked My Morning
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Day in day out all week long
Things go better with rock
The only time I turn it down
Is when I'm sleepin it off
Turn up the radio
I need the music, gimmie some more
Turn up the radio
I wanna feel it got to gimmie some more
-"Turn Up the Radio" by Autograph
At one time American radio had the kind of prescient magic that people now associate with their iPods. On a summer evening, as you cruised through the city on your way to a barbecue, or sat on your stoop drinking a beer, it was as if the DJ knew exactly what to play to enhance the mood.
Okay, so maybe I’ve romanticized an era of radio that never existed, but I can tell you that when I was a kid, the radio was always on and the programming was rarely a disappointment, no matter where I spun the dial.
Now I search the dial (yes, I still have a dial) like a safe cracker trying to find that magic click that will give him access to the riches of sound and memory. But either I’ve grown older or radio got dumb, because it’s rare that I can stay on a station for more than a half hour before they’ve completely lost me.
This morning it was different. When I turned on the car radio at the start of my commute, I decided I’d let Def Leppard’s “Autograph" "Photograph” ride, just because it was a warm gorgeous day and the soaring butt-rock harmonies and bright rock guitar seemed to go pretty well with the coffee and sun and light traffic over the Ross Island bridge. The next track, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” ensured the station would not be changed.
I was surprised when the robo-announcer came on to tell me that the station I was so thoroughly enjoying was 105.9, now known as the Brew, and that they were in the middle of playing 10,000 songs in a row, commercial free, save for their annoying self promotion. I have no idea why the radio was tuned into 105.9, the perennially changing frequency that in my 9 years in Portland has featured classic rock (the River), light jazz (the Suck), and a mélange of toothless pap (the Kool). I’d happily given up on 105.9 when they dropped the classic rock format for soul destroying mellow jaZzzzz—hey I like a little Chuck Mangione as much of the next guy, but not ALL THE TIME!
The commute continued thus: “Patience” by Guns n’ Roses, ACDC’s “Highway to Hell,” which is probably the best morning commute song ever, and to bookend the whole thing “Turn Up the Radio” by Autograph, a demand that I’d already acceded to during the ACDC, surely annoying the polite neighborhood where my commute ends at 7:30 am with the pounding of the distorted chorus.
Could 105.9 become my new summer go-to station? It’s possible. If they continue spinning playlists like the one I heard this morning, I might just give my poor, over-worked iPod a rest. This kind of pop-rock—just barely holding on to the late seventies blues, glomming on to prog-rock’s use of the keyboard (though not necessarily at the same time)—just says summer to me. And when it’s played over car speakers, or boom box, into the warm open air of the city… so much the better.
I’m not sure how long this 10,000 song thing is going to last (my guess is that it started last weekend and will continue to the end of the week) but I’m ready to give 105.9 another shot.
So, who else in Blogtown is listening to commercial radio these days? What’s your frequency?
News Good Morning News!
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, May 29, 2009 at 9:11 AM
Judgment Day: Conservatives dig into Sonia Sotomayor for her "sharp tongue" and anything else they can think up.
Bomb Yr Facebook: The Pentagon creates a military wing to defend the Internet.
Climate Change: WMD? A new study says global warming causes 315,000 deaths a year with killer weather!
North Korea: WTF? The country of his holiness Kim Jong Il continues to fuck shit up. Will Obama decide to use military force?
Hugo Chavez: STFU? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez launches "four day Talkathon" in honor of himself.
Milk Market Implosion! Organic dairy producers across the country might soon go under.
Crumbling Castle: West Hills "Canterbury Castle" is due for demolition.
High speed rail! High speed rail! Northwest bigwigs meet in Vancouver to plan our glorious future.
Beau Files Restraining Order! Against an Oregonian reporter, alleging threatening text messaging occurred.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
News / Politics Leonard Talks "Snow Jobs" On Baseball Deal
Posted by Matt Davis on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 10:30 PM
City Commissioner Randy Leonard was on the radio yesterday, answering questions about "snow jobs" on the baseball deal.
First, there was some throwing of the Blazers under the bus. The hosts of the show asked Leonard whether it was the architects' movement that stopped the deal going down in the Rose Quarter. Or whether it was, in fact, the Blazers.
"The Blazers, I've said before, and I don't think they're particularly pleased in my saying this, but the truth of the matter is they certainly weren't helpful, and at times they suggested that we may not have the legal right to put the baseball stadium on that site which is curious because we own the site...but it's not inaccurate to say that the Blazers weren't helpful," said Leonard.
"I was really disappointed in them being their worst enemy and not understanding that this broader development would have been in their best interests," said Leonard.
"Where are you gonna get the money considering today's economic environment?" asked a caller called Bob, who sounded a lot like County Chair Ted Wheeler attempting to disguise his voice, but probably, actually, was called Bob. "It sounds like it's a rush snow job on the taxpayers of Multnomah County."
"It sounds like he's already made up his mind and I've found that when you give an answer to a question like that, it doesn't really change anyone's mind," said Leonard, before talking about the ticket tax, Paulson's rent guarantees and urban renewal. "Not only is it a fair deal, it has been worked out and nobody is being given a snow job."
"We just got an EcoNorthwest consulting job that said 453 jobs would be created during the construction of the stadium," said Leonard, when asked about economic benefits of the baseball stadium. "We didn't ask them to look at the long term economic benefits."
Interesting use of the pronoun "we," there. We've been told Leonard had no part in the commissioning of the study, and that he didn't know about it until Tuesday.
The hosts then go on a tirade about people being "spectacularly uninformed" about the deal. "People here are so, like, ashamed to think about public money going to a stadium," says the co-host. "It's just as necessary as libraries and everything else." "I'm a sports fan," he says. "I want mine. Do something for me, now."
And then the co-hosts say the deal won't be using any public money. Although they do then have to do some back-tracking about "urban renewal technically being public money." "But its uses are limited."
Limited by a statute with a "blight" loophole so broad one could drive a truck full of public money through it, perhaps? Still, don't let me influence your interpretation. Listen to the podcast at Leonard's site.
Transportation Committee Splits on Bridge Design
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 7:18 PM
The committee overseeing the design of the new light rail, bike-ped bridge over the Willamette split today on which bridge design they should move forward. A majority of the 14-person group opted for the cable-stay bridge, which is the cheaper option, but a small group pushed to have a "minority opinion" written up in favor of the originally-approved hybrid option design.
The differences between the two designs are subtle. The biggest difference is that the cables on the hybrid option (below, top) swoop will a soft curve in the middle while the cable-stay option comes together in a straight V (below, bottom). "The hybrid is a little bit riskier but a little bit more innovative," says TriMet's Rob Banard.
But the cost is what made the difference for many committee members: At $102 million and $110 million, the two cable-stay options are projected to come in under Portland's $135 million chunk of the bridge budget, while the $138 million hybrid bridge is three percent over. While the federal government is covering an undecided amount of the bridge budget, the city is scrambling to come up with its share of the cost.
So is the cable swoop worth the extra $29 million pricetag? "I like the spatial action that it lends to the bridge, rather than just being a straight corridor," said architect Thomas Hacker. "These renderings are beautiful, but the only people who would have the opportunity to see that view are the news room helicopters," summed up Metro Councilor Robert Liberty, siding with the majority.
Newly-hired architect John Donald Macdonald spoke up in favor of the cable-stay design, too, saying it "fits better into the geometry" of the existing bridges over the river. The hybrid's swoop "looks like an afterthought, you put a cable up there for this vision," said Macdonald. "For your budget and what you're doing, you're spending the money for such a little piece. I would rather see that money used on the details like lighting." "The lipstick!" hissed architect Brian Libby, sitting next to me in the crowd.
Libby and other architects raised the alarm last week after TriMet replaced the original bridge architect, Miguel Rosales, with a new firm, Macdonald architects. TriMet chose Macdonald for his experience - with similar bridges, no doubt, but likely also his diplomacy skills.
"I've been through the battlefield of many public hearings," acknowledges Macdonald. He seems to be a stickler for detail - while showing a picture of a massive bridge, Macdonald would key in on the shape of a certain light or handrail. His firm's most innovative design crosses the marina in Dubai (Dubai!) and is, as Macdonald put it, modeled on the shape of a peregrine falcon, which Arabs use to hunt.
MacDonald has worked on a series of white cable bridges and bike/ped bridges across the country, including the Cooper River Bridge in South Carolina, the east span of the Oakland bay bridge and a bike/ped bridge in Berkeley that was the result of "16 or 17 public hearings."
Books Readings Tonight
Posted by Alison Hallett on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 3:58 PM
At the Ella Street Social Club (AKA the old Towne Lounge), the Portland Lit Offensive presents the vaguely defined Portland Aggressive, "an evening of tough love" with nine local authors. 714 SW 20th Place, 7 pm, free
Tonight at Powell's, Aleksander Hemon reads from Love and Obstacles, his new collection of linked short stories about a young Bosnian writer. I agree with Paul Constant's writeup in this week's paper—it's a very good collection. (I'd still recommend The Lazarus Project first, though.) City of Books, 1005 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, free
Also, who wants to go see Glen David Gold at Powell's tomorrow night and do a Blogtown writeup? I'm super bummed that I can't go—I strained my adjective muscle this week trying to write about how great Sunnyside is—but the reading conflicts with some play about cat ladies I have to go see. If you go, send me some thoughts; I'll edit 'em beyond all syntactical recognition and post them here. I want to know if he's really as charming and wonderful as he seems.
On a newsier note, if you've been following the interspeculation about Murakami's 1Q84, the Millions reported yesterday:
Amazon.co.jp has put up a page count, and it's a whopping 1,055 pages. While size isn't everything, it seem to be working in the book's favor; published in two volumes, it currently occupies the top two spots on Amazon Japan's book rankings. Although I've yet to find confirmation of who is doing the English translation or when it will be released, English translations of Japanese text tend to be 1.5 to 2 times longer than the source text
They also link to this post from a reader who's already snagged a copy.
Games Modern Warfare 2, Now With Awesome Trailer
Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 3:36 PM
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