Last year, Portland writer Sarah Marshall made headlines with a piece in the Believer, “Remote Control,” which dared to ask if infamous Portlander Tonya Harding and her public image were two different things. We’ll be running a lengthy conversation with Marshall in our spring arts guide, but it would be impossible to include all of […]
Megan Burbank
Posted inBooks
It’s a Great Day for Books: Here are Sparkplug’s Forthcoming Mini-Comics, Plus Lynne Tillman’s Weird Fucks
Sparkplug Comics This morning, Virginia Paine of Portland’s own Sparkplug Comic Books shared the press’s 2015 publishing schedule, which will add new titles to the Sparkplug Minis Series (SMS), “a collection of short run, limited addition mini-comics by up-and-coming and outstanding artists,” per Paine’s description. Here’s the lineup, which features frequent Merc contributor Suzette Smith: […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
This Week in Art: Sidekicks, Three-Ways, and Charming Weirdoes
With Fertile Ground over, this week we finally delved into some of the abundance of local theater running longer than a week: Steve saw Portland Center Stage’s production of Yussef El Guindi’s play, Threesome. Despite strong performances and an ambitious scope covering sexual politics, feminism, and identity, he reports that ultimately something kind of crucial […]
Posted inBooks
Through a Special Arrangement with the American Booksellers Association, Powell’s and Broadway Books Will Stock Charlie Hebdo
Fund for Charlie Hebdo and the Families of the Attack Victims on Leetchi.com After the January 7 attack on the the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the American Booksellers Association announced via press release that it was “exploring the logistics” of bringing copies of the magazine to US bookstores. This week, Broadway Books and […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
To Be Continued…
It’s the Season Finale of Action/Adventure Theatre’s Sidekicks
It’s the season finale of Action/Adventure Theatre’s Sidekicks!
Posted inBooks
On the Overt Sketchiness of That New Book By Harper Lee
HarperCollins CALL ME CRAZY, but perhaps this book is enough. If you read books at all, you may have been freaking out or donning your skepticism hat yesterday over the announcement that Harper Lee, longtime middle school English staple, first-time second-novel writer was publishing a follow-up to 1960’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Let’s get this […]
Posted inBooks
Here Are Poor Claudia’s Forthcoming Books for 2015—and Beyond!
Every day, I feel tremendously lucky to live in a city with such a vibrant and growing small press scene, and the magazine slash publisher Poor Claudia is one of that scene’s highlights, especially if you’re into writing that leans experimental but never snooty. Today, Poor Claudia editor Stacey Tran shared the press’ lineup of […]
Posted inBooks
Meet Moss, A New Literary Journal for Your Cold Northwest Heart
The Pacific Northwest just got a new literary journal and it’s called… Moss. I guess because Yep, Still Getting Dark at 4:30 PM, or Persistent Gentle Rain, or Too Foggy to See the Mountain Today, Oh Well were already taken*. Wait! Before you run away, Moss—which is only on its second issue, awwwwww!—looks like the […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
This Week in Art: Chekhov Jokes, Theatrical Fugue States, and Patton Oswalt
CHEKHOV IT OUT:Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Between Fertile Ground and the spate of new productions opening up this month, we’ve been keeping busy with theater this week: From Fertile Ground, I reported on the festival’s millennial-produced shows, and staged readings on the story of Vanport, Oregon, and Gus Van Sant. PETE: Thomas […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Even More Fertile Ground: Hand2Mouth Theatre Reimagines My Own Private Idaho
Hand2Mouth Theatre On Monday night, Hand2Mouth Theatre presented a workshop performance of scenes from their upcoming spin on Gus Van Sant, Time, A Fair Hustler as part of this year’s Fertile Ground festival, at a surprisingly* packed Artists Rep. Generated by Hand2Mouth company members in collaboration with writer Andrea Stolowitz, Time revisits Van Sant’s 1991 […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Wild Kindness
Marion Cotillard’s Dark Two Days of the Soul
Marion Cotillard’s dark Two Days of the soul.
Posted inTheater & Performance
Masha, Masha, Masha!
150 Minutes with Maladjusted Adult Siblings
Maladjusted siblings cast off their baggage in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.