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Geek Olympathon Next Saturday

May 14, 2012 12:24 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

From the PGC3:

After delighting Portland with the debut of its Geek Olympathon last June, the Portland Geek Council of Commerce and Culture (PGC3) is proud to announce that the city-wide nerd-fest will return May 19! After forming a team of up to five members, participants will compete in geeky contests and events all over Portland in order to win fantastic prizes, including tickets and hotel accommodations for five to the world’s premier gaming festival, PAX Prime in Seattle from August 31-September 2. Both weekend and single-day passes to this convention have completely sold out, so you won’t want to miss out on this opportunity!

The Geek Olympathon will commence Saturday, May 19 at 9 a.m. at Backspace (115 NW 5th Ave) with opening ceremonies and a Racing the Tubes bike race sponsored by Old Town Computers. Backspace will also provide free house coffee and facilities for last-minute team registration. Individual events will run from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and be hosted in a number of locations in Portland. Entry is $25 for teams of up to five people or $5 per individual, and teams can register online.

This year’s events includes a mix of old favorites and new entries that are designed to utilize a variety of nerd skills. Competitors should be prepared to show their superior knowledge of comics, video games, television, movies, and pop culture. Hosted by PGC3 member organizations across Portland, not all competitions will require five members, which will enable teams to split up and compete in as many events as possible.

After the day’s events are over, participants will face the final competitions and be awarded prizes at the Awardathon, an epic celebration at the Eagles Lodge at 4904 SE Hawthorne from 8 p.m. to close. Here, teams will compete in a special edition of Things From Another World’s Geek Trivia with Cort Webber and Bobby Roberts of “cortandfatboy” before they are awarded prizes for their performance in the Olympathon, as well as bonus awards for overall participation.

In addition to a trip for five to PAX Prime, prizes include two Club-level tickets to a Portland Timbers game, as well as generous donations from Cognition the Robot Uprise, Geek Chic Cosmetics, Guardian Games, PDX YAR, Sock Dreams, Things From Another World, Old Town Computers, and more.

Star St. Germain’s “Date Lines”

May 2, 2012 11:12 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

From the Sequential Art Gallery:

In an art show that can’t be contained by mere picture frames, San Fransisco-based multimedia maven Star St. Germain presents: “Date Lines”.

Date Lines is 13 mixed media pieces (plus site-specific installation elements) exploring Star St.Germain’s failed adventures in the San Francisco dating scene. Star’s various suitors are represented as silhouettes, faceless testaments to all manner of sexy mistakes. The show is about finding hope amongst the most dismal of interactions–with hilarious results.

A tornado disguised as a girl, Star St. Germain has contributed comics to books like Comic Book Tattoo for Tori Amos/Image Comics, Strange Tales and Girl Comics for Marvel, and most recently, Womanthology for IDW.

Sequential Art Gallery, 328 NW Broadway #113
Opening Reception: May 3, 2012, 6-10pm
Runs Through: May 26, 2012

Finding Portland

April 25, 2012 3:25 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

(via Stumped In Stumptown)

Finding Portland from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

Finding Portland was produced, shot, and edited in 51 days during March and April at the invitation of TEDx Portland, where the video was unveiled to a sell out crowd of 650 and met with a standing ovation. Filmed in Portland and the Columbia Gorge, this time-lapse piece offers a new perspective to the City of Roses. From a Portland Timbers season opening soccer game, to the top of the Fremont Bridge, to an aerial shot of Oneonta Gorge, Finding Portland tells the story of a city and its many faces.

Uncage the Soul‘s video definitely deserved that standing ovation. Sometimes I can’t even figure out where they put the camera.

Bear In Heaven at Mississippi Studios, 4/12/12

April 19, 2012 3:51 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

As is typical on a tour, the Brooklyn-based trio Bear In Heaven mostly played songs from their new album I Love You, It’s Cool at Mississippi Studios. The album had only been released nine days before on April 3, so the audience was unfamiliar with the new material except for “The Reflection of You,” which became available before the album as a single accompanied by a dizzying music video with a background like the laser yearbook photos of the early 1990s.

Listening to songs from the new album is like eating musical vegetables; it perhaps requires a more mature palate and is necessary for growth, but it’s not the treat we’re waiting for. I Love You, It’s Cool doesn’t have any stand out tracks that compare to the catchy character of songs like “Lovesick Teenagers” from Beast Rest Forth Mouth. An undeniable crowd pleaser, Bear In Heaven played “Lovesick Teenagers” with a sheepish grin as the crowd whooped with unrestrained glee on the first electronic beeeyooou sound. The band played three songs from Beast and, like their fans, seemed more comfortable with the older material. Drummer Joe Stickney could play the familiar beats with his eyes closed, and he did, his head tilted back in satisfied pleasure. Although I Love You, It’s Cool doesn’t quite carry the enthusiasm of Bear In Heaven’s previous work, its more modest guitar and synthesizer sounds are sufficient to get Portlanders to dance on a school night and work bassist Adam Wills into a mustache sweat.

“This is the best fucking Portland show we’ve ever had,” said singer Jon Philpot to the crowd. “Thanks for dancing with me. Can we bring you to Seattle? That place needs an attitude adjustment.”

Photos by Rhienna Guedry

Bear In Heaven at Mississippi Studios Tomorrow!

April 11, 2012 5:45 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

Tomorrow, April 12, Bear In Heaven plays at Mississippi Studios with Blouse and Doldrums. BIH stole my hipster heart with “Lovesick Teeangers” from Beast Rest Forth Mouth. Their new album I Love You, It’s Cool came out on Dead Oceans/Hometapes on April 3.

This is the music video for “The Reflection of You.” I like the song but, honestly, the video makes me disoriented.

Thursday, April 12
9pm
$12
Mississippi Studios
3939 N. Mississippi

Write to Publish Flash Fiction Contest

April 3, 2012 3:41 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

Ooligan Press’s Write to Publish, a conference on the process of publishing for writers, is holding a flash fiction contest (<500 words). Submissions are due April 15th.

The contest winner will have the opportunity to read his or her story on the author stage during Write to Publish. All three prize winning stories will be displayed on the Ooligan Press website and at the Write to Publish conference [April 28th].

First Prize
*Reading of your piece on the author stage
*A full-day pass to Write to Publish
*A copy of Blue Thread and You Have Time for This (both published by Ooligan Press)

Second Prize
*A pass for one workshop
*Two passes to the author stage
*A copy of You Have Time for This

Third Prize:
*One pass to the author stage
*A copy of You Have Time for This

Submit online.

BMP/GRND: Evidence that the “Dream of the 90s” really is alive in Portland.

1:21 pm

by djrhienna

This past weekend was the debut night of BMP/GRND: a new queer 90s party at Rotture (315 SE 3rd ave). We think the pictures say it all:

The next BMP/GRND party is slated for Friday, May 18th, featuring special guest performance by Hammercise, and resident DJs Kasio Smashio and DTRer DJ Rhienna. Party details can be found on the BMP/GRND Facebook page.

Small Jobs Listings on Coffee & Power- Launch Event Tonight!

March 14, 2012 12:39 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

Need a logo designed? How about a crocheted octopus? Someone will pay you to put up posters. Coffee & Power seeks to connect talented small goods and services providers with customers more efficiently than the “gigs” section of Craigslist.

From Coffee & Power:

Started by Philip Rosedale, the founder of Second Life, San Francisco-based Coffee & Power today launched its third co-working space at the Urban Grind Coffeehouse in the Pearl District of Portland.

Coffee & Power is an online marketplace where people can buy and sell small jobs, enabling a new breed of mobile workers to connect in a way that’s fast, low-friction, and fun. Coffee & Power’s innovative marketplace includes its own payment system, live communications and public chat, a game-like rating and review system, and a several real-world facilities where users can meet and work together.

To celebrate the partnership, the Portland Coffee & Power Workclub will be hosting a tech startup event on March 14. The event will feature Scott Kveton, CEO & Co-Founder of Urban Airship, a successful Portland-based mobile services platform provider.

Coffee & Power Launch
March 14, at 6:30pm
Urban Grind
911 NW 14th Ave

Giselle – Oregon Ballet Theatre, Spring 2012

March 4, 2012 11:47 pm

by djrhienna

Portland’s premiere performance of Giselle delighted a full house on a crisp and cold Saturday evening in February. The performance boasted of imported costumes from Italy, and an authentic adaptation of a Romantic-era ballet featuring updated choreography and staging by Lola De Avila.

The story begins Act I, and we are greeted with Giselle, the darling of a small town, who (even in the Middle Ages) appears to have some serious game. Giselle flirts-and-dances with a suitor, falling instantly love; Giselle is met by another man, who warns her not to trust this other dude, but of course, she is already consumed by love and cannot listen.

It sounds like not much has changed in hundreds of years of melodrama, but the beauty of Giselle is of course in the performance itself: the ever-talented OBT Orchestra, scores of world class dancers, ornate and lush set design and costumes.

As the story progresses, Suitor No. 1 proves to be a “bad boy” who is actually betrothed to another; Suitor No. 2 is all “I told you so,” but poor Giselle is devastated, and her village watches her unravel, until sadness and heartbreak ultimately takes her life.

Act II is where Giselle shines as both a piece of breathtaking dance and haunting storytelling. Giselle arrives in an afterlife grave, met by scores of other women who have also died, many jilted before their wedding. These spirit-ladies perform a macabre and gorgeous number in a glade under moonlight, each dressed in white and wearing veils. Their synchronicity, accented by the delicacy of the piece and the classical music, rendered hairs to stand on end.

Giselle is a marvel, for anyone curious about ballet and looking for a gateway performance that is both eye candy and tells a story–I find dance pieces all the more enjoyable when they contain a narrative–and the blend of Romantic and gothic/dark themes work well as bookends. Whereas Act I is seen primarily in warm pastels, with delicate light scattering through autumn-leave branches of trees, Act II is practically monochrome in shades of blue. The colors accentuate the mood of the music and the story, accordingly.

The Oregon Ballet Theatre has created a “cheat sheet” for student and young-age theatre-goers, but I find the four-page Study Guide to be a useful ancillary to the story itself, as well as serving as a Ballet 101 FAQ document of sorts. If you’re reading this post and thinking how you never get around to honoring that New Year’s Resolution to do more cultural things in Portland, snagging tickets to see Giselle ain’t a bad place to start.

Upcoming Oregon Ballet Theatre performances:
Chromatic Quartet (April 19 – 28, 2012)
Dance United (June 9, 2012)
Body Beautiful (October 13–20, 2012)
Swan Lake (February 16–23, 2013)

Ghost Town- Art by Emi Lenox

February 26, 2012 12:14 pm

by Lauren Hudgins

From the Sequential Art Gallery:

For the month of March, Sequential Art Gallery will be hosting local artist Emi Lenox. Lenox has created nine original art pieces especially for her “Ghost Town” show, done in watercolor and ink. The exhibit will also include original pages from EmiTown Volume 2, the second print collection of Lenox’s autobiographical online comic, coming in March from Image Comics.

Opens: First Thursday, March 1, 2012, 6-10pm
Closes: Saturday, March 31, 2012
Open Thursdays 3-7pm, Saturdays 11am-5pm
Sequential Art Gallery + Studio
328 NW Broadway #113