As summer rumbles into view, it brings with it another innocuously themed Gay Pride Fest: “Everyday People.” Though some may complain about titles (especially ones that fetishize assimilation like this one), Pride is still a warmhearted get-together for the gay community—like a family reunion picnic, but with fewer mayonnaise-based dishes and more buttless chaps. Here’s […]
Katie Shimer
Posted inMovies & TV
Get It On
C’Mon Smiths, Do It Already
Mr. and Mrs. Smith dir. Liman Opens Fri June 10 Various Theaters Either you’ve heard it, or you know it from experience: the really good-looking people are the worst in bed. They’re also the most boring, because they think they’re fascinating from years of people staring longingly into they’re baby blues. Well, watching Mr. and […]
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Revisit the Classics
Fratelli Could Be in Black & White
Fratelli 1230 NW Hoyt 241-8800 Fratelli is a classic. It was the first nice restaurant I ever ate at in Portland and it holds a warm, nostalgic spot in my heart. It’s a place you can keep coming back to with confidence, both that the menu will have evolved with the seasons and that your […]
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Teen Fantasy
Wax Feeds the Fountain of Youth
Wax 5101 N Interstate 283-9093 If you’re a North Portlander, you know that special feeling of excitement when you spot a new restaurant or bar in your neighborhood. Several times, I’ve nearly swerved into oncoming traffic while gawking at, say, Mio Sushi, or Echo, or Wax. And while I first curiously ogled Wax about six […]
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No More Drama
SubRosa Perfects Simplicity
SubRosa 2601 SE Clinton 233-1955 As we get older, life gets more complicated. The people we encounter have more baggage. The transactions we enter are more detailed, and our actions are tainted by years of interacting with other complicated people and processes. Thus, a little simplicity is welcome relief from the everyday. And simplicity has […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Life Is Messy
Head-On: A Real Love Story
Head-On dir. Akin Opens Fri May 20 Cinema 21 Love: It brings out the best and the worst in people, inspiring the most innocent acts and the most depraved ones. Love can lift a person out of the gutter, and it can just as quickly send them hurtling back–it’s one fucked-up emotion. Head-On, a fabulous […]
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Blind Date
Everything In Moderation
As far as I can tell, the latest trend in dating is blind, with potential partners procured over the internet. Meet online, instant message for a week, grab a drink, then possibly have sex. This is an efficient system, but one rife with failure. Online photos are not often representative of how people actually look, […]
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Pretty And Popular
Gotham Inspires Envy
Gotham Bldg. Tavern 2240 N Interstate 493-2646 Much like with people, the things you love about restaurants are often the same things you hate. For example, I love my Dad’s biting sense of humor, but I hate it when he’s cleverly calling me fat. Likewise, I love super couple Michael and Naomi Hebberoy’s latest restaurant, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Save the History
Kingdom of Heaven is Beautiful Fiction
Kingdom of Heaven dir. Scott Opens Fri May 6 Various Theaters Every “epic” film I can remember pits the underdog against an unbeatable enemy: A hero of purity and conviction against a giant blob of brute force. Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven monkeys with the formula a little–its enemy is a bit more complicated and […]
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Bar Meditation
Shuffleboard Is the New Xanax
I liken bar shuffleboard to rollerskating in the sense that A) I’m no good at it, and B) regardless, I still find it profoundly relaxing. The way the metal puck skates along the surface of the wood, the accompanying cold brewski, and the fact that two people can compete without having to grunt, yell, and […]
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Itsa Delicious!
Reinventing the Italian Deli
Lorenzo’s 3807 N Mississippi 284-6200 You know that Italian deli in The Sopranos where Tony has his sit-downs at the checkered-cloth covered table out on the front sidewalk? Well, Lorenzo’s is something like that, but a fancier version of a classic New Jersey shop. And as far as I know, no one has been dismembered […]
Posted inFashion
New Kicks On the Block
The Latest Crop of Where to Shop
Hip boutiques are opening up in Portland like gangbusters. What does this mean for you? Well, first up your monthly shopping budget; second, amend your Nordstrom-for-everything rule; and third, get out there and try Portland’s newest spots for slamming digs. Cuckoo 3967 N Mississippi, 808-9880 This small but packed store has an array of clothes […]