Physical Education Physical Education, above, will have a show at FORTUNE Gallery this year. Great news! There’s a new gallery in town: FORTUNE Gallery and Press, brought to you by the folks at contemporary art group HQ Objective, who have returned after a months-long hiatus with a shiny new space and freshly minted 501(c)(3) nonprofit […]
Megan Burbank
Posted inPortland
How To Drive In The Snow If You Absolutely Have To
Thinkstock Don’t be frightened! I thought I moved back to the west coast to avoid having to drive in the snow, but joke’s on me, I guess! And that’s my first tip when it comes to snow-driving: Don’t! Make like the alarmist figure in this classic installment of the Oatmeal. Stay home, make yourself a […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Must-See Movies of 2016: Swiss Army Man
To close out the year, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite movies of 2016. Check out what’s in theaters now in our Film section, and go here for movie times! If you want your dreams to be weird for the rest of your life, see Swiss Army Man, directed by Dan […]
Posted inArtsy
Portland Painter Annie McLaughlin Takes on West Coast Pastoral
Annie McLaughlin “What things in American history do we long to get back to?” asks Annie McLaughlin. This was a question she mined extensively while constructing the images in her solo show at Open Gallery, The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Inspired by the resurgence of craft culture (“urbanites who are suddenly interested in […]
Posted inMovies & TV
If This Is What Pandering to Feminists Looks Like, Maybe David O. Russell Should Do It More Often
JOY Hooray! Jennifer Lawrence saves Christmas! “History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with a bucket.” That’s from Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys, not David O. Russell’s new movie, Joy. Russell’s opening epigraph is decidedly more optimistic and banal (it helpfully […]
Posted inArt
Cowpokes of Instagram in The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Portland Painter Annie McLaughlin Takes on West Coast Pastoral
Portland painter Annie McLaughlin takes on West Coast pastoral.
Posted inComedy
Required Vacation Reading: Sara Schaefer on Sexist Internet Trolls
Sara Schaefer We’re big fans of comedian Sara Schaefer here at the Mercury. As Courtney Ferguson once wrote of the stand-up, she’s “friend material.” And so she is! Telling it like it is with winning lady-swagger. Which is exactly what she did recently, in a piece at the Huffington Post titled, “Oops, I Made a […]
Posted inBooks
In His Latest, John Seabrook Portrays the Music Industry as a Corrupt Machine
Norton “Ordinary domestic life needs its bliss points, those moments of transcendence throughout the day,” New Yorker staffer John Seabrook writes in his new book, The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory. He’s describing the function of pop music, and I couldn’t agree more. The number of times I’ve listened to Ariana Grande’s “Break Free” […]
Posted inBooks
Portland Writers, Publishers, and Booksellers On The Best Things They Read in 2015
BE STILL MY HEART. Vacation reading starts NOW. Because I am nosy and curious to a fault, one of the best parts of my job is asking Portland writers about their favorite books. This is especially true at the end of the year, when we look back on the contents of our backpacks and bedside […]
Posted inBooks
Required Reading
Portland Book-People Share the Best Things They Read in 2015
Portland book-people share the best things they read in 2015.
Posted inMovies & TV
With Joy, David O. Russell Hits Peak Whimsy
A Stylized, Playful Portrait of a Striving Single Mom. And Mops!
A stylized, playful portrait of a striving single mom. And mops!
Posted inGirls Only!
In a Classic Case of Too Little, Too Late, Game of Thrones Will Tone Down Its Gender-Based Violence
Eva Rinaldi via Wikimedia Commons Looks like Rape of Thrones Game of Thrones may be changing its horrible, horrible tune. Here’s Jezebel: Whether or not you watched the fifth season of Game of Thrones, you likely caught wind of the controversy surrounding its especially gratuitous violence against women. Even fans of the show condemned certain […]