My world was shattered today regarding one of those small little truths we just wanted to believe so much. But, upon learning the truth, we must face the harsh realities of life with courage: Apparently Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were not named after the cop and taxi driver characters with the same names …
The New York Times has decided to have some fun at Portland’s expense in an article titled, “Can a City This Self-Serious Take a Joke?” which contains such big city literary observations as the following: “For years, many residents here have reacted with practiced apathy and amusement toward the national fascination with Portland. Outsiders and …
It’s all here at TMZ or, more traditionally, here at Reuters. Oprah’s half sister, Patricia, was put up for adoption at an early age and Oprah had never learned of her existence, until now. From Oprah.com – http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Breaking-News-Oprah-Reveals-a-Hidden-Family-Secret
Here’s the link to the BBC’s live text coverage of the Moscow Airport bombing, where 35 people were killed, 130 others injured: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/9372022.stm Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Here’s the link to Russia Today’s English Language Youtube Channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday Here is some witness video, taken moments after the …
For those of you who’ve never lived with a Swede, this is exactly how dinner was prepared every day at five PM at the ancestral home in Chicago, and how it’s still done to this day here in East Portland, including the feet.
”It’s everything you love in a game, and your Mom’s going to hate it…” This is a very clever advertisement which will sell lots of Dead Space 2 units to teenagers. It’s interesting to look at in the wake of all the recent discussion of pop culture influencing people to act violently in real life. …
This lady should have won…
It’s all here, part of a contest of Newberry Award Winning children’s books each dramatized in videos of 90 seconds or less: “A Wrinkle In Time” In 90 Seconds from James Kennedy on Vimeo.
Note to criminals in Seattle: dress up in a green and gold suit before going on a crime spree, then everyone will think Phoenix Jones did it. Phoenix himself had to have been affected by popular culture because what rational adult would suit up and play Batman unless every movie had superheroes in them. Then …
If we need to tell kids what math is useful as an adult, I would say percentages and how they relate to tipping and financing charges. Learn your percentages, kids. Take finance in college. Community Channel is the Youtube’s most popular Australian:
”Rent” may seem like the most maudlin of guilty pleasures, on par with “Seasons in the Sun.” But, one of very few late-80s nostalgia vehicles, “Rent” hits the mark more often than, say, “St Elmo’s Fire.” Nothing evokes the 80s better than a musical about addiction, death, sex, mediocre art and moving Westward. Casual references …
“Or… I guess,… just possibly,… it was the father in me, despite my weaknesses, flaws, and short-comings, hoping that someday I might live up to being such a hero figure to my kid – perhaps even passing down just a tiny bit of such true grit.” The Parallel Convergence Zone Mike and Jeff work together …
I realize that When the Clock Strikes (1961) is at best a campy post-noir tribute but I really like it and come back to it every now and then. It’s an oddly compelling little timepiece (groan). The female lead, Merry Anders, was born in Chicago in 1934 of Swedish, German and Irish extraction. She had …
The Parallel Convergence Zone Mike and Jeff work together and have discovered a mutual fascination with old television series, B-movies, bizarre personal experiences, brushes with fame and peculiar characters they’ve met along the way. Here, they have undertaken to provide the following tandem media review for your reading pleasure: BLACK SWAN By Jeff Williams The …
Not sure weather it’s Ethel’s handlebar or Fred’s rug, but this classic I Love Lucy “Barbershop” scene pretty much takes my brain and gives it the Heimlich maneuver of archived gut laughs from beyond. Lucy’s eyeballs, specifically when they take that hot towel off of her face, make the entire thing for me. Which says …
For me, it happened a couple of months ago. I was at a birthday for one of my daughter’s little playmates and the mother was lamenting a poor turnout. “I facebooked everyone just yesterday, and they had other things going on already,” she said. The very next day someone else mentioned facebooking about something. Talk …
One of the many missions of this blog (five year missions) is to bring Philippine pop culture to East Portland. Thus, I present the Jollibee bee dancing his little stinger off. Never has a mascot, or a bee, danced so gleeful-ly. Jollibee is the Philippines’ No. 1 fast food chain and has recently opened restaurants …
While browsing Boing Boing (boingboing.net) last week, I ran into this blog entry: “The Dream of the 90s is Alive in Portland” — a hymn to one of America’s greatest towns — “where zines, slacking, good coffee, social consciousness, public transit and all the other sweet fantasies of the 90s are still alive.” It features …
The politics of that last few years have had their particular rancor and tone not because of Pres Obama or Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, but because of a political party gone off the rails, leaving the Democratic party to be its own loyal opposition since the Republicans have ceded the field. Leaving me with …
“Ground is too hard… if he wanted a proper burial, he should have gotten himself killed in the summer.” How many times in the past few years have I seen a film, and by the time I got home wanted to see it again? Not many… but I’m going to catch an encore of True …
So much gets presented as a challenge to President Obama, but his leadership style really asks more of his base and the American people: patience, a sense of history, an understanding of the modest limits of politics and our governing institutions. Obama seems to have these—do we? – Lawrence Spaulding Now, doesn’t that feel better? …
Matthew 1:18-25 (New King James Version) Christ Born of Mary Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a …
Haley Anderson produced this public service announcement for a class in Public Policy. It’s excellent and she is on to something. Domestic violence is by far the most common felony in every jurisdiction in the country (and probably the world) and yet whenever there’s talk of crime rates, crime crackdowns, or getting tough on crime, …