AltWeeklies Wire
It's Not My Fault: What People Will Say to Get Out of a Portland Parking Ticketnew
They pile up each week; the letters about dogs, diarrhea and dyslexia. Stories about autistic children and encounters with Sen. Ron Wyden. Diagrams, photographs, snide remarks and accusations. Pleas for mercy. And excuses, excuses, excuses. They're the things people say to get out of a Portland parking ticket.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
09-09-2009 |
Transportation
How Brent Knopf Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Songnew
Under the moniker Ramona Falls, Knopf has created an eclectic collection of avant-pop songs that, on the surface, sound similar to his work with Menomena.
Willamette Week |
Michael Mannheimer |
08-26-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Why is Tarantino's Opus Being Greeted With Indifference, Even Disdain?new
Some of the blase reception may be ingrained distaste for the Weinstein Company, or Grindhouse fatigue. But I suspect it has just as much to do with the way we have all been bought off by Hollywood marketing -- our loyalty purchased not with payola, but with proximity to the hot new thing.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-19-2009 |
Reviews
'Flotsametrics and the Floating World' Looks at Junk and Shipping Trunksnew
Flotsametrics, written by oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer with help from journalist Eric Scigliano, is the biography of a new offshoot of science; "flotsametrics" means, essentially, the application of quantitative measurement to floating trash.
Willamette Week |
Matthew Korfhage |
08-19-2009 |
Nonfiction
Buried Deep Under the Muck and Sludge of 'Taxidermia' is a Surreal Gemnew
Palfi has crafted a strikingly original film that veers completely out of control in ways that would make David Cronenberg sick. Is it recommended? Only to those who can see past the graphic deviant sex, seas of fluid and some pretty nasty gore.
Willamette Week |
Ap Kryza |
08-19-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Gyorgy Palfi, Taxidermia
Your Guide to the Protests at Portland's Whole Foods Marketsnew
Whole Foods has protesters outside its local stores and on the Web over everything from charges of union busting to a tin ear by its CEO on the need for healthcare reform. Here's a guide to the latest gripes.
Willamette Week |
Allison Ferre |
08-19-2009 |
Business & Labor
Should Portland Mayor Sam Adams Stay or Should He Go?new
Are any big-name Portlanders besides Tom Potter's wife signing the recall petition? We ask Beau Breedlove and many others.
Willamette Week |
Henry Stern |
08-12-2009 |
Politics
The Aliens in 'District 9' Aren't Very Sharp ... the Director Thinks You Aren't, Eithernew
I have faith that Neill Blomkamp will one day make a film that's a marvel from beginning to end. The question is whether he can muster the necessary faith in us. We're smart enough for you, Blomkamp. Take your best shot.
Willamette Week |
Chris Stamm |
08-12-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: District 9, Neill Blomkamp
The Ancient Sorcery in 'Ponyo' is Exceptionally Suited to the Very Youngnew
For the first time since early Hayao Miyazaki works like My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service, it is possible to bring your preschoolers to the theater without fear of frightening them.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-12-2009 |
Reviews
'Soul Power': Papa's Got a Brand-New Documentarynew
The footage assembled for Soul Power was shot by four cameramen, and it reflects Albert Maysles' "direct cinema" movement, that philosophy of keeping documentaries immersed in the moment. But when that moment has been excavated from the stratum of 35 years, it attains an immense poignancy.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-12-2009 |
Reviews
Jules of the Food Worldnew
Nora Ephron’s new film, Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as her modern-day acolyte Julie Powell, follows the parallel stories of these two real-life cooks. It’s a big, gorgeously decorated, bittersweet confection of a film, one that makes up for much of the lumpy, sugary dreck that Ephron’s been concocting for the past decade or so.
Willamette Week |
Kelly Clarke |
08-05-2009 |
Reviews
CouchSurfing International Offers Sofa Safe Havensnew
CouchSurfing.org is a networking forum that helps cushion the experience of finding places to stay for next to nothing. And Portland is one of the most active U.S. cities on the site, as members are drawn from all over the world to experience the friendly City of Roses.
Willamette Week |
Caitlin McCarthy |
08-05-2009 |
Travel
After '(500) Days of Summer,' Here's an Open Letter to Zooey Deschanelnew
Zooey, baby, can't you see Marc Webb and his friends don't understand you? Yes, I know that's part of the movie's point, but the puncturing of boys' expectations can be accomplished by three-dimensional women as well. There are no real girls in (500) Days of Summer. I think you should play one again.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
07-22-2009 |
Reviews
Mentally Ill are Most Likely to Get Tasered by Portland Policenew
A new Independent Police Review Division report finds that subjects with mental illness are now the most likely out of all groups to get Tasered by Portland cops -- even more than people who are actually armed or who assault an officer.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
07-22-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Ron Wyden Disappoints by Recommending Five Straight White Males for judgenew
Wyden ticked off the nearly 1,400 members of Oregon Women Lawyers as well as the state's gay, lesbian and African-American legal eagles last week when he and fellow Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley recommended five straight, white, male lawyers for two open federal judgeships, which are generally regarded as the choicest judicial appointments in the legal profession because they carry lifetime tenure and pay $174,000 annually.
Willamette Week |
Nigel Jaquiss |
07-22-2009 |
Politics
