24 hours later and dozens of mostly terrible ideas are in!

The mayor is looking to glean public ideas about the Coliseum's future for the 32-person advisory committee overseeing Rose Quarter redevelopment. But that group has 20 more meetings and will have to work with private developers Portland Arena Management. For now, Blogtown readers get the final say in what Memorial Coliseum should become. Choose the best and brightest idea from this poll of Portlanders' Twittered plans for the Coliseum!

WHAT SHOULD MEMORIAL COLISEUM BECOME?

So what I'm wondering is this: Do Blogtownie voters despise Obama's dog as much as the rest of the nation? Let's find out with another "far more accurate than Us Weekly's stupid polls" Blogtown poll!

SO? DO YOU DISLIKE OBAMA'S DOG?

No, there aren't any "third" choices. You either love him, or you fucking hate his stinking guts. Which is it?

WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN JOINING A PORTLAND ADULT TEE-BALL LEAGUE?

Naturally if the answer is "no" I'll skulk away angrily muttering how no one in this town likes to have any goddamn fun—but I'll accept your judgment.

The person who built their own gas powered bicycle?

Or the SUV-driving Steelers fan with the bad boy vanity license plate asking for a ticket?

Which Sesame Street Character Gets Laid Off?

How Do You Feel about Council's 12-Lane Bridge Decision?

Feel free to continue the discussion below! (As if you needed any encouragement.)

Please check the answer that BEST DESCRIBES how you're currently feeling about the Sam Adams Scandal-Gate. (To those who are still "revved up," vote only once please!)

Which Answer Best Describes Your Current Feelings about Sam Adams Scandal-Gate?

SHOULD SAM RESIGN?

DEAR MERCURY—In [Ezra Ace Caraeff]'s piece about recession and the possible effects on the local music industry ["Of Money and Music," Music, Jan 8], not one promoter mentioned the adjustment to their business thinking that would get me out three to four nights a week: starting shows earlier. Let's face it, promoters are missing a big demographic of music lovers who simply can't go out two to four nights a week because shows start too damn late. I wake up at 5 am each morning to go to work. My aging body is steadily losing the fortitude to arrive at a venue at 9 pm, wait around until maybe 10 pm for the openers to begin, and then hope the headliner comes on stage around midnight. Very few promoters advertise a consistent starting time for live music to begin, and rely upon a dependable, yet small demographic of committed folks to support them regardless of lapses in professionalism (starting late, running out of PBR, having shitty service, etc.). I would hope earlier shows would allow venues to concentrate their all-important liquor sales efforts on happy-hour, dinner-time, and pre-midnight sales rather than continue perpetuating the fallacy that the bulk of their sales need to occur from midnight-1:30 am. I went to an AMAZING Saturday night show this past weekend; I paid an $8 cover, bought four drinks, tipped, and purchased $30 worth of merchandise. But when I looked around during the headliner's third (albeit long) song, there were only about two-dozen people still in the venue at 1:20 am. The venues and artists have the opportunity to make a cultural shift that will increase their viability in a crappy economy if they choose to. It would just take time, communication, and some consistency. I, for one, would be more than happy to support them more often, especially during the workweek, should they make that decision.

-Willie

So what say YOU, Blogtownies? Does Willie make sense, or should he move to one of those trailer parks for old people? VOTE!!

SHOULD LIVE MUSIC SHOWS START EARLIER? WELL… SHOULD THEY?

As always, put in your extra two cents in the comments below!

Now, there are a few ethical quandaries here:
1) Cute though this uniform may be, shouldn't the monkey be allowed to wear what he wants to work?
2) What if American employers think this idea is great, and start outsourcing all service industry jobs to monkeys?
3) Worse still, what if this happens at Hooters?
4) And finally, should monkeys receive the same percentage of tips as humans? And guess what? That's the topic of this Tuesday's BLOGTOWN POLL!

SHOULD MONKEY WAITERS BE TIPPED THE SAME AS HUMAN WAITERS?

Ladies and gentlemen, meet 18-year-old Levi Johnston -- and while according to his Facebook page he's a self-professed "redneck" who loves hockey, snowboarding, dirt bikes, and "kicking your ass" if you mess with him, I'm starting to understand why "abstinence" wasn't such a great choice for young Bristol Palin when confronted with Levi's overwhelming man-meatiness.

BUT HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK? Please, truthfully answer the following yes or no statements:

I WOULD TOTALLY LET THIS GUY IMPREGNATE ME!

And...

I WOULD TOTALLY LET THIS GUY IMPREGNATE MY 17-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER!

Not to sway the poll in any way, but I sure wouldn't mind seeing the "Johnston" in his "Levi." Ka-zingle-lingle-ZING!

August 18-22, the Portland Water Bureau and the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross are having a BLOG OFF to see which is the best!

See, the Water Blog gets all kinds of attention for being an innovative way to communicate with customers about something that's usually pretty damn boring (it's a utility, for cryin' out loud). I mean, they post things like photos of the now-infamous Mt Tabor skinny dippers, and trivia on topics like "how often are Portland's iconic Benson Bubblers cleaned?" (answer: every two weeks). The Oregonian has called it "the city's most interesting blog..." and we've called it "pretty rad..." in the past.

All that attention, it seems, has made the folks at the Red Cross blog incredibly jealous. (See: "Oh, Water Blog. You are our biggest competition.") They blog fun stuff too, like intra-office pranks, safety tips, and info on the Breaking Dawn book release party blood drive.

So! The Red Cross Blog challenged the Water Blog crew to a blog off. And you, my friends, get to pose some of the challenges.

From Team Water Blog, Sarah Bott writes:

We'd like to let the readers of Willamette Week and The Mercury blogs decide, and to define the judging categories. For example, on Monday, August 18 both should blog about x topic, and on the 19th both should blog about y topic, etc.

What should the criteria and the topics be? We'd like to let the people tell us in a pre-contest poll.

Not to be outdone, Lise Harwin of Team Red Cross Blog adds:

Just wanted to throw out some daily blog assignments that we thought of for inspiration:

* Create a Top 10 list
* Write a post that must contain five words of the moderators' choice

Feel free to be creative and tough -- I know that Robin and I will be up for the challenge, though I'm not so sure about the Water Blog folks...

- Lise

Oh, it is ON. (And dear lord, I'm a geek.)

So, readers, let it rip! Post your challenge suggestions in the comments (and then, apparently, Corey Pein at WW--who has already stipulated "no haikus"--and I will cooperate in an unprecedented way to come up with the week's line-up).

AND! To crank up the competition another notch, vote for your favorite pre-challenge blog. Let's find out who the underdog really is... (poll closes Friday afternoon at 3 pm).

Which Blog is Better?

Video 1: A kitten with six legs.

Video 2: A one-eyed dope guzzling drag queen.

And now… VOTE!

WHICH IS MORE DISTURBING?

Poll closes Wednesday at 2 pm! Sweet dreams!