Rendering of the proposed Multnomah County Courthouse done in fetching blue and yellow hues. Welp, there goes the neighborhood. It doesn’t look like good news for Portlanders who can afford $17 chilaquiles: Veritable Quandary—the downtown restaurant that bills its patio a “dining oasis”—is probably getting bunch of criminals as neighbors. The Multnomah County Commission on […]
Discomfort Zone
Posted inNews
No new cab companies and no new ADA-accessible vans … yet
Those with an iron (or a fleet of irons) in the fire that is Portland’s rapidly changing private for-hire transportation industry had a busy Wednesday. Both the city’s Private for-Hire Transportation Board of Review (known as the Taxi Board, though they represent many types of for-hire transportation companies) and the Innovation Task Force met, separately […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Attack of the Bronies
<img Okay, to be fair: We probably should have seen this coming. But we didn’t. In this week’s Mercury, Elinor Jones reviewed A Brony Tale, a documentary about bronies. I recommend reading the whole review, but it’s the last part of it that’s earning the ire of bronies: Sure, most of the bronies we meet […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Wanted: Your Cure for a Post-Thanksgiving Clogged Duodenum
If you’re anything like me, you awoke this morning with an entire three-pound turkey leg resting uncomfortably and snoring loudly inside your upper intestine, refusing to awake. It took a while, but I finally rousted him from his slumber and made him move along—though it took a grand total of four separate trips to the […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Discomfort Zone: A Hipster Goes to the State Fair
Was that the anticipated result of this assignment? A blog post about how weird and tacky the State Fair is, and some photos of creepy religious things and maybe also a picture of a fat person eating funnel cake? Compared to last year’s Worst.Night.Ever., this summer’s Discomfort Zone was just kinda… underwhelming. We went to […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Welcome to the Discomfort Zone, Alison Hallett!
DISCOMFORTABLE. Well, well, well, we’re nearly at the end of our mildly successful Discomfort Zone series, and who’s left? It’s Mercury arts/web editor Alison Hallett, whose likes are, in this order: 1) Cats. 2) Comics about cats. 3) Eating gelato from Alder while reading comics about cats. But we don’t care about that! What are […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Discomfort Zone: I Busked at Pioneer Courthouse Square
I went busking on Saturday, per the dictum of the results of my Discomfort Zone vote, in which a two-hour performance by yours truly at Pioneer Courthouse Square edged out attending a six-hour kiddie concert at the Children’s Museum. Well chosen, Blogtownies! This turned the Discomfort Zone into something a little different than it’s been […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Make Alison Discomfortable! Watch Me Be Discomfortable!
Thanks to a suspiciously high number of votes, I will be busking tomorrow at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Well, actually, as close to the square as I can get—the Festa Italiana is also taking place this weekend, so I may be budged out to the margins of the square. I will be there from 1:00 to […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Welcome to the Discomfort Zone, Ned Lannamannaman!
The weekly Blogtown torture chamber continues, this week with Mercury music writer/astronomer/misanthrope Ned Lannamannaman. If you know anything about Ned, he’s a feckless passive/aggressive bastard who survives in the print industry primarily because of his unwillingness to do anything great. He hates any music that doesn’t include a banjo, and considers “people” a tiring, but […]
Posted inCats
Discomfort Zone: I Went to a Spoken Word Event… about CATS
In a world where cats are considered the highest life form (the world I’m speaking of is, of course, the internet) I am a pariah. Why? Because I just don’t like cats that much. I don’t endlessly coo over them, nor do I loathe them. To me, a cat is like a broken ottoman: It’s […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Got Any Ideas That Will Make Ned Discomfortable?
So as you know, I’m doing my Discomfort Zone thing tomorrow (CAT STORIES?? AT 10:30 IN THE MORNING?? Oh, for the love of Christ.), but our own Ned Lannamannaman is being thrust into the Discomfort Zone next week! GOT ANY IDEAS THAT WILL MAKE HIM WRITHE IN DISCOMFORTMENT? If you want to play, look for […]
Posted inDiscomfort Zone
Welcome to the Discomfort Zone, Wm. Steven Humphrey!
Imagine. “I think the thing that would really get Steve, “ popular/ist commenter Graham said as we were staging a mock serial killer bedroom in his basement, “is to be bored. Just make him really bored.” This Discomfort Zone might be like shooting fish in a barrel because, as Steve readily admits, “I am very […]