Brud Giles Nathaniel Hawthorne’s slut-shaming classic The Scarlet Letter isn’t fun at all, but Michelle Horgen’s new adaptation at Portland Playhouse, Scarlet, really is. It’s also a musical? I don’t know, I’m just as surprised as you are. Because with the crucial exception of the 2010 Hawthorne-inspired movie Easy A, I hold no special place […]
Megan Burbank
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: School Walkouts, Democratic Victory in Pennsylvania, and Cheerful Orca News
Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today. Get this guy all the salmon he wants! MarkMalleson / Getty Today is the Ides of March. Beware! Yesterday, thousands of students throughout the country walked out of class in a mass protest […]
Posted inArts
At Portland Playhouse, Scarlet Gives Hester Prynne a Voice
And a Song! Surprise! It’s a Scarlet Letter Musical!
And a song! Surprise! It’s a Scarlet Letter musical!
Posted inNational Politics
Anti-Abortion Centers Posing as Clinics Don’t Want You to Abort Your IUD
Congratulations, ma’am. It’s a beautiful baby ParaGard. flocu / Getty Today, in eyeroll emojis: ThinkProgress reports on a 19-year-old woman who visited anti-abortion centers that pose as clinics and lure women in with the promise of free pregnancy testing, then try to coerce them into staying pregnant with misinformation about abortion. This isn’t a new […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I Hereby Submit That Submission Is Not a Very Good Movie
Submission starts out well enough, with Stanley Tucci doing his best as Ted, a mildly discontented novelist who teaches at a liberal arts college in Vermont. But things devolve quickly from Perrotta-adjacent domestic dramedy to outright cliché when Ted falls in love with a student (Addison Timlin), who is somehow writing a publishable novel. (Okay, […]
Posted inNews
Washington State Has Passed a Bill Requiring Insurance Coverage for Abortion
Joel Carillet / Getty At long last (seriously, I set up a Google alert for this legislation in 2013), Washington’s state legislature last week successfully passed the Reproductive Parity Act, which mandates that insurance companies that cover maternity care must also cover abortion. Here’s KIRO News: The Senate concurred on changes made in the House […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Trump’s Tariff War, Mueller Time, and Sad Crow News
Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today. Why would anybody want to hurt this li’l guy? PaulReevesPhotography / Getty It’s International Women’s Day! While we have your captive attention, and before I get to today’s batch of awful news updates, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Submission Review: It’s Like Wonder Boys, Only Bad
I Submit That This Is Not a Very Good Movie
I submit that this is not a very good movie.
Posted inBooks
Know a Large Adult Son in Need of Reform? Tin House Can Help You Out With That
Darrin Klimek / Getty In a PR gambit obviously designed to reel in people like me, Portland publisher Tin House has a tantalizing offer: If you know a maladjusted manchild in need of reform, they will send him a free copy of Joe Dunthorne’s manchild-focused The Adulterants, in the hopes that it will spur self-reflection […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I Want to See Everything at the Hollywood’s Feminist March Series
To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Hollywood Theatre has Feminist March—a series showcasing over a dozen films about women and from women directors, encompassing a slew of genres. Between the screenings and guest presenters, Feminist March is a lot, so before we get to the Mercury’s recommendations, please understand that I want to see everything. […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Hollywood Theatre’s Feminist March Series Should Last a Whole Year
How Else Will We See All These Wonderful Movies?
How else will we see all these wonderful movies?
Posted inArts
Michelle McNamara Used True Crime for Good
Revisiting the I’ll Be Gone in the Dark Author’s Online Investigations
Revisiting the I’ll Be Gone in the Dark author’s online investigations.