AltWeeklies Wire
Discovering the Bbest of Pica's 2008 TBA Fest.new
Here are our top TBA picks, organized thematically.
Willamette Week |
Staff |
09-03-2008 |
Movies
Tags: film festivals
Slavoj Zizek on 'Violence'new

In this book, he argues that in addition to the “subjective” violence we normally associate with the term (backstabbing, slap fights, waterboarding), there is an additional “objective” violence inscribed into our language and politics.
Willamette Week |
Staff |
09-03-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tags: violence, Slavoj Zizek
Are Portland Students Buying P.E. Credits?new
More than 100 high-school students in Portland Public Schools will opt out of their state-required physical-education classes this year. Instead, many of them will earn their P.E. credits from an alternative operation called Quest Schools, based in Tigard.
Willamette Week |
Beth Slovic |
09-03-2008 |
Education
OMFG It's MusicFest NorthWest!new

Consider this the liner notes from behind the scenes of this festival, detailing the 1,000 little decisions made over the past 360 days that culminate in MFNW's music-packed, sweat-soaked, four-day run.
Willamette Week |
Staff |
09-03-2008 |
Concerts
Alex Holdridge on the Perils of Shoestring-Budget Filmmakingnew
The Midnight Kiss director explains the dark place where indie filmmaking meets Starbucks.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-27-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Life and Death in Washingtonnew
Call it "death with dignity" or "assisted suicide," Washington preps for Initiative 1000 -- with Oregon's help.
Willamette Week |
Paula L. Stepankowsky |
08-27-2008 |
Science
Lobbyists Woo Oregon Delegages in Denvernew
Maybe the change we’re all supposed to believe in is that lobbyists are OK, provided they’re Democrats who represent progressive causes.
Willamette Week |
Nigel Jaquiss |
08-27-2008 |
Politics
Some Things are Rotten in 'Hamlet 2,' but Not Steve Coogannew

Coogan is the master of center-stage asshattery. In place of an arrogant blowhard, Coogan is reduced to the drama teacher who cares a little too much and is painfully oblivious to the way his effeminate enthusiasm alienates his students.
Willamette Week |
Saundra Sorenson |
08-20-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Andrew Fleming, Hamlet 2
Doubledutch Aims for Psychedelic Soulnew
While things never get too creepy, the mostly slow- to mid-tempo pace of the songs and warmth of the recordings definitely take Alicia Keys' catalog to heart.
Willamette Week |
Michael Mannheimer |
08-20-2008 |
Reviews
The Valiant Arms Sound Like Old-school Portlandnew
One can find traces of legendary Portland outfits like Hazel and the Crabs in the Arms' (whose first release was, unsurprisingly, a Crabs tribute) new disc, Blue Skies and a Clean Getaway--from the punk-paced snare hits to the rumbling, pumped-up low end and cleanly enunciated vocals.
Willamette Week |
Casey Jarman |
08-20-2008 |
Reviews
Why Can't Khadija Go to Mosque?new
Khadija could be a star spokeswoman for Muslims if they wanted to show off Islam's teachings of peace and acceptance. Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, the imam of Masjed As-Saber, won't let Khadija back in his Southwest Portland mosque because Khadija is transgendered.
Willamette Week |
Byron Beck |
08-20-2008 |
LGBT
Why These Portlanders Aren't Voting for Obamanew
To see how race relations and politics were playing out in Portland, a city that's 6 percent black, we went door-to-door in two neighborhoods. It wasn't hard to find swing voters who aren't Democrats or Republicans and also aren't voting for him. Their reasons may surprise you.
Willamette Week |
Raymond Rendleman |
08-20-2008 |
Politics
Do We Really Need the Gay Olympics Anymore?new
One organization might become obsolete thanks to the new queer visibility at the Olympics—a sporting event called the Gay Games. Every four years a cluster of queer folk gathers for the world’s largest LGBT-inclusive sporting event.
Willamette Week |
Byron Beck |
08-13-2008 |
Sports
Dirk Wittenborn Explores Psychopharmacology and Murder in 'Pharmakon'new
Wittenborn's previous novels, back in the early '80s, before his coke habit and virus-calcified heart brought him low enough to write screenplays, dealt with the safety-netted high wire of art brokers and the congenitally rich.
Willamette Week |
Matthew Korfhage |
08-13-2008 |
Fiction
Woody Allen's European Sex Romp is a Shocking Triumphnew

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a breezy triumph for Allen, not so much a return to form as a discovery of new perspective. It's the delight of an old jester discovering that his best material -- youth, and its illusions -- is inexhaustible.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
08-13-2008 |
Reviews