Boy, was I wrong about this one. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Apparently, “petard” is not a kind of leotard. And to “hoist by one’s own petard” is not to be given some sort of atomic wedgie. Nope. In fact, according to the American Heritage Dictionary: pe-tard n. 1. A small bell-shaped bomb used to breach a […]
Ned Lannamann
Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things.
Posted inMedia
Mark Twain Was Rad, Claymation Was Creepy
Mark Twain appears on the cover of this week’s Time, and there are some good pieces in which Twain is likened as a precursor to today’s funnyman-as-political-commentator (see: Stewart, Colbert, Maher, et al). Perhaps most interestingly, Roy Blount Jr. talks at length about Twain’s essay, “The United States of Lyncherdom,” which I haven’t read, but […]
Posted inMusic
Tu Fawning – Secession
Tomorrow marks the CD release of Tu Fawning’s debut mini-album, Secession, on Polyvinyl Records, but the vinyl version has been available for a few weeks on Portland’s own Discourage Records imprint. I’ve been meaning to get up a review for some time as part of End Hits’ ongoing vinyl review column, and here it is, […]
Posted inSPECIAL!
Take Back The Red, White, and Blue
Foreigners Are Stealing Our Jobs… and Our Flag Colors!
Foreigners Are Stealing Our Jobs… and Our Flag Colors!
Posted inFood and Drink
Retro Breakfast Cereals
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog has posted a whole bunch of kid’s cereal boxes from days past. Some of these look amazing. I especially like Crazy Cow, which threatens to turn my milk into “Artificially Flavored Strawberry Milk.” Nothing says breakfasty goodness like spontaneously pink fluid and the possibility of mad cow disease. I am […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Very Berry
Like berries? Want to get some RIGHT NOW? Head on over to the Ecotrust Farmer’s Market for the Red, White and Blueberry Bash that’s taking place in Ecotrust’s parking lot. RIGHT NOW. And if you spend $5 from any vendor, you get a free berry shortcake. We all know how great seasonal fruit is, and […]
Posted inMusic
Riffs, Politics, and Plot
The Jet Age Gets Conceptual
The Jet Age gets conceptual… about suicide bombers?!
Posted inMusic
US Air Guitar Regional Competition TONIGHT
FAKIN’ IT–What can you say about an organization that allows eccentrics with names like Björn Türoque (“born to rock,” get it?) to get on stage and play the invisible axe to Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades”? It’s the US Air Guitar Championships, and after tonight’s regional competition, the winners head to San Francisco to compete for […]
Posted inBooks
Creamy Bullets
by Kevin Sampsell (Chiasmus)
It’s a book filled with unlikely—at times indescribable—occurrences: A talking cat plots to kill his adopted caretaker’s wife. A female peeping tom witnesses her teenage neighbor gradually transform from a boy to a girl. A fictionalized Lenny Bruce has sex with a bum, and then injects his own ejaculate back into his body with a […]
Posted inMusic
Enter Blue Giant
Viva Voce Gets Big
When Kevin and Anita Robinson of Viva Voce finished their extensive tour last year, they knew they wanted to approach the next project differently. So rather than begin another album as a duo, as they had done for so many years—with each of them playing and overdubbing all the parts—they aimed to try something more […]
Posted inMusic
Rabbit Punches
Frightened Rabbit Hits Hard
The first photos of Frightened Rabbit showed the band wearing masks or facing away from the camera entirely. Even the members’ surnames remained a mystery: A trio of first names and a hometown of Selkirk, Scotland (demonstrated by the charming, indelible brogue of the band’s vocalist) were the only pieces of information provided. Well, that […]