Will Ferguson Happiness Monday, July 8 Powell’s City of Books William Ferguson is a Canadian author whose first novel, Happiness, satirizes the American self-help phenomenon. His first work of fiction is pricelessly humorous, and delivers a critique of the U.S. that is both cutting and affectionate. The premise of Happiness is that a mysterious guru, […]
Marjorie Skinner
Marjorie Skinner is the Portland Mercury's Managing Editor, author of the weekly Sold Out column chronicling the area's independent fashion and retail industry, and a frequent contributor to the film and other arts and feature sections of the paper. She has been writing about Portland life and culture for the Mercury since 2001, produces one of Portland's largest annual spring fashion shows, and occasionally answers emails.
Posted inMovies & TV
You Weren’t There
Respect Your Bare-Assed, Perma-Fried Elders
Documentaries about the hippy heyday in San Francisco during the late ’60s/early ’70s all have the same structural development. First, drag out the old farts; noticeably drug-damaged in varying degrees of severity. Let them rhapsodize in grand, bug-eyed terms about how “We thought we were gonna start a revolution, man. We were gonna change the […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Double-Wides And DUIs
True Life Moviemaking
“The following story is . . . true.” The introductory narration of Muleskinner Blues dangles on a pause, its tone elusive. Documentaries taking up subjects whose quality of living, education, and/or cultural capital is intended to appear substandard often make a point of remaining detached–even clinical. Initially, this “truth” can be taken in the same […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Who You Calling Tiny?
Bigass Fun with Super 8 Film Freaks
Tiny Picture Club: Heroes & Villains Thurs June 13 Guild Theatre The Tiny Picture Club, our local collective of Super 8 film freaks, can’t stop inundating Portland with offbeat fun. Heroes & Villains is their latest collection of shorts, all revolving around the titular theme. This manifests in hilarious bouts between “Good” and “Evil,” in […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Trannysaurus Sex
I Definitely DO Like this Movie
Princesa dir. Goldman Opens Fri June 7 Clinton Street Theater Princesa is an Italian film about a Brazilian transsexual prostitute–which might sound like something you’re familiar with, having been inundated with Hedwig And the Angry Inch, The Crying Game, etc. However, it lacks even a whiff of the cartoonish campiness that many representations of the […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Cupid & Psyche
Theater Review
Cupid & Psyche Stark Raving Theater through June 29 This production takes on the somewhat daunting task of retelling the ancient Greek legend of Cupid and Psyche, the first written record of which is found in Lucius Apuleius’ The Golden Ass. Since then, it has been reinterpreted in poetry, narrative, and theater throughout the history […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Let it Bleed
Another Day, Another Breathless Detective
Tell Me Something dir. Youn-Hyun Chang Fri May 17 Clinton Street Theater Against a dim backdrop of muted colors and sleek surfaces, the scarlet drench of torrential blood is the star of Tell Me Something. A Korean thriller directed by Youn-Hyun Chang, the film follows a detective’s search for a killer who leaves dismembered bodies […]
Posted inGeneral
your handy- dandy guide to local casinos
…And All Within Driving Distance!
Pullout: Gambling
Posted inNews
SPIDEY WITH A SAX
Local Wall-Crawler Blows Own Horn
Spider-Man Saturday Afternoons Pioneer Square On a Saturday afternoon, amid the throngs of shoppers, protesters, and spare changers, a local superhero glides through Pioneer Square, leaving a wake of mesmerized onlookers. “Hey, it’s Wonderman!” sputters an over-eager and misinformed member of the populace, nearly wiping out his toddling daughter in an attempt to lurch at […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Vitriol and Violets
Theater Review
Vitriol and Violets: Tales From The Algonquin Round Table (Cygnet Theatre) Through May 18 Cygnet Theatre took on a daunting task when it set about portraying some of the most fascinating literary figures to come out of 1920s New York. The cast is comprised of members of an elite lunching group of notoriously quick-witted and […]
Posted inMovies & TV
So South You Need Subtitles
Hope for Progress in LaLee’s Kin
LaLee’s Kin dirs. Fröemke, Dickson, Maysles Sat April 27, Sun April 28 Whitsell Auditorium Pacing the streets of this country, in and out of shops and restaurants humming with cell phones and pop culture, it’s hard to reconcile the fact that LaLee’s Kin takes place in the present era. Filmed in the deep South of […]
