Balancing tech with outdoor play is something I bet you’ve fretted over in your daily fretting routine—but getting your kids into nature doesn’t necessarily mean outfitting them in Patagonia and embarking on miles-long wilderness excursions. A strip of woods at the edge of a park, or even a vacant lot (if you can find one), […]
Patrick Alan Coleman
Posted inUncategorized
Generous Helpings
Feeding Oregon by the Forkful
The luckiest eater in Portland asks that you help spread the bounty to everyone.
Posted inFood and Drink
My Life as a Critic: Parting Shots
This is my last official post as the Portland Mercury‘s food editor. Here are some final thoughts: Every time I mentioned my “dining companion” in my reviews, it was code for “my lovely wife, Kitty.” To the woman who ate every meal with me, who was my co-conspirator, my assistant, my unpaid co-worker, and the […]
Posted inSports
Enter 442
Back in July I told you about 442, a new soccer bar that would be replacing Taste of Europe on Hawthorne. Today I received an e-mail saying they’d be open this weekend. “Sure,” you say. “How much soccer can a soccer bar actually show on their multiple screens?” Funny you should ask. Take it away […]
Posted inEvents
You’re Invited
Tomorrow is my last day at the Mercury, and as such we’ll be having the traditional Mercury Viking Send Off at Club 21 [2035 NE Glisan] (in which my fellows get me drunk and then shoot flaming arrows* at my cab as it leaves to take me home). Sound like fun? Want to join in? […]
Posted inMedia
My Life as a Food Critic: The BREAKING Game
In my first Life as a Food Critic post, I briefly mentioned how difficult it can be to stay in the shadows while trying to remain relevant by breaking news—jostling for position as a go-to source for all the up-to-date restaurant info. There is a bigger story surrounding that struggle; it’s the strange dance that […]
Posted inFood and Drink
My Life as a Food Critic: Fat and Fairness
On the Road to Fastsville After lasts week’s post on anonymity, I received a couple requests from Portland’s pro eaters to talk about the health costs involved in eating for a living. I’m happy to oblige because, for me, the concern of packing on the weight was far more intense than that of keeping a […]
Posted inFood and Drink
My Life as a Food Critic: Anonymity
Elvis and I at the Barfly Awards With my last food review officially out in the world, I thought I’d say a few words about being a food critic in PDX. So I’ve decided to write a series of blog posts about it over my last few days here at the Mercury. Are you curious […]
Posted inCats
Cyber Robot Kitten Toy Room, LIVE!
I know the above blog title looks like a bunch of very exciting and pleasing words jammed together willy-nilly. But, oh, the reality is so much better/worse than you can possibly imagine. What I’m talking about is the new Oregon Humane Society interactive cat room, which combines the joys of their Kitty cam (kam?) with […]
Posted inScience!
Happy Binary Code Day (Again), Nerds!
Yes, it’s 100110 (apparently representing an “&” in ASCII). But don’t get too excited, today is merely one of several Binary Code days that we will celebrate this year, and next. Now, let me annoy the crap out of you with this fantastically dated and absolutely WTF clip from Laurie Anderson’s Home of the Brave […]
Posted inFood and Drink
This Week’s Mercury Food Section: Backwater Cheapskates
I love a good debate, and it seems I’ve struck a nerve with my review of FIN. (Huzzah!) Which is all to say the biggest disappointment of a trip beneath FIN’s waters is that it’s over much too soon, and the pleasure of taking the journey costs a tad more than one might hope. It’s […]
Posted inUncategorized
Under the Sea
A Fish’s FIN-est Hour
A trip beneath FIN’s waters is expensive and over too soon, but still worth the journey.