Defunkt Theatre’s current show is a workshop production of playwright Anne Washburn’s The Communist Dracula Pageant, which takes place during the 1989 Romanian Revolution and focuses on the trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, who had ruled Romania for the previous 40 years. The couple was seized during a military coup, and eventually executed for […]
Alison Hallett
Alison Hallett served nobly as the Mercury's arts editor from 2008-2014. Her proud legacy lives on.
Posted inTheater & Performance
Believers
For the past several months, Fever Theater has researched cults and their followers, paying particular attention to the way that cult recruitment and brainwashing often invoke the apocalypse, and now Fever has built a show that draws on this recurring motif. Fever will be revisiting the show with an expanded design crew in March, so […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Rebel Yell
Revolution Comes of Age in Persepolis
Dressed in black and looking for all the world like a panel from one of her own comics, cartoonist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi sat smoking in a conference room at the Hotel Monaco, a mole on her nose just like the dot found on the face of her two-dimensional counterpart—the bold, irreverent heroine of her […]
Posted inUncategorized
Star Crossed
Cosmic Misalignment at Virgo & Pisces
Even before setting foot inside Virgo & Pisces, which has recently staked out the corner of NW 21st and Glisan, there were warning signs. The restaurant’s website, for example, advertises “Northwest cuisine with a Pan-Asian flair.” Eep. A few years behind the curve on that one, guys. Or how about “Your horoscope-themed restaurant and bar […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Where’s My Money?
Theatre Vertigo has never been a company to play it safe, and in that regard, their current production of John Patrick Shanley’s incredibly mean-spirited Where’s My Money? makes sense. It’s a weird script—itchy with unhappiness, restless with dissatisfaction: kind of the opposite of a crowd-pleaser. All that’s fine, but Shanley seems to consider being caustic […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Exploring the Human Condition
(With the Help of a Few Sexy French Nurses)
Movies that are “based on a true story” are usually dismal affairs—extraordinary human experiences flattened into pseudo-inspirational morality tales. An emphatic new exception is Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the autobiography of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Jean-Do to his friends). Diving Bell is that rare case where an amazing story and amazing […]
Posted inUncategorized
Do You Like Afghan?
Acquire a Taste at Kabobi
There are a few things to keep in mind about Kabobi. (1) They are open until 10 pm on Sunday. (2) They serve complimentary cups of delicious milky tea, which, with a healthy amount of sugar, taste like a liquid version of Cream of Wheat—you didn’t know you wanted it, but you do. (3) They […]
Posted inBooks
Helping Me Help Myself
by Beth Lisick (Morrow)
It’s hard to begrudge Beth Lisick the book deal that led to the publication of the mediocre Helping Me Help Myself. She had an idea, and while she didn’t strike precisely while the personality-driven “Dare me to do something wacky for a year?” iron was red hot, she managed to smack it before it had […]
Posted inBooks
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
by Michael Pollan (Penguin)
Okay, I’ll say it: If you read one book about food this year, it should be Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. It’s not a diet book in the traditional sense—Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, doesn’t concern himself with calorie counting, nor does he take a narrowly prescriptive approach to eating. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Foster Gets Uppity
Cava Aims High
Cava represents yet another step in the evolution (gentrification… call it what you want) of yet another Portland neighborhood. The well-appointed new bar and restaurant on SE Foster boasts a higher-end menu and a cozy dining room whose burnt orange walls and wood floors evoke a hipster hunting lodge (if such a place could ever […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Your Dreams Are Worthless
Great World of Sound Wants You!
Great World of Sound starts out looking and feeling like a low-budget Office Space, with a lackadaisical yet likeable lead, the pleasantly bland, gently self-loathing Martin (Pat Healy) interviewing for a job as a “music producer” at the shady recording company Great World of Sound. The job is totally suspect: a fly-by-night operation in which […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Fun in Nursing Homes
The Savages‘ Family Dysfunction
The Savages speaks directly and perceptively to a question that will only echo louder for each subsequent generation: What do you do with your parents when they can no longer care for themselves? And the issue is exacerbated when—as in the case of writer/director Tamara Jenkins’ somber new film The Savages—you’re asked to take better […]