Willamette Week - http://www.wweek.com/portland/articles.sec-1360-1-.html Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT+7 en hourly 1 <i>Body Awareness</i> (Coho Productions) - Our bodies, our very complicated selves. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19802-body_awareness_%28coho_productions%29_our_bodies_our_very_complicated_selves.html People with Asperger’s syndrome are often said to lack empathy. But no matter how emphatically Jared, a character in the deft and funny Body Awareness, denies such a diagnosis, his social apti]]> Keys To Survival - A St. Paddy’s Day option if you’re plowed at a bar and want to go home with your car. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-17215-keys_to_survival_a_st_paddy%E2%80%99s_day_option_if_you%E2%80%99re_plowed_at_a_bar_and_want_to_go_ho.html It is nearly midnight on a clear Friday. We are parked on East Burnside Street outside Rontoms, our hazard lights flashing and our windows down. The moon is full. ]]> Shelved - The story of Powell’s layoffs, according to affected workers. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-16965-shelved_the_story_of_powell%E2%80%99s_layoffs_according_to_affected_workers.html Powell’s Books employee Sheila Ashdown said her heart started pounding when she got the email last week from her employer announcing plans to lay off 31 workers. “People were depressed, teary-]]> House United - What a worker-owned restaurant is doing about the housing crisis. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-16893-house_united_what_a_worker_owned_restaurant_is_doing_about_the_housing_crisis.html In a city with an estimated shortage of 20,000 affordable housing units, every new project in Portland helps, even if it’s only a few units. “Affordable ]]> Gigantic Brewing: Giant’s Lair - http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19249-gigantic_brewing_giant%E2%80%99s_lair_.html Unless you work at a powder-coating warehouse or metal fabricator, this industrial stretch of Southeast 26th Avenue is no destination. It’s a peculiar location for cheekily named Gigantic Brewin]]> Gus - Portland’s greatest filmmaker and his controversial new movie. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20059-gus_portland%E2%80%99s_greatest_filmmaker_and_his_controversial_new_movie.html What would Portland look like without Gus Van Sant? The elk statue on Southwest Main Street would still be there, but would you see it the same way if Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix hadn’t hud]]> Winter Guide 2013: Stone Cold - A <i>WW</i> correspondent learns to keep her beer off the curling rink. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20166-winter_guide_2013_stone_cold_a_ww_correspondent_learns_to_keep_her_beer_off_the_curling_rink.html The Evergreen Curling Club posts three rules by the rink. First, shake hands. Second, if you win, clean the ice. And third, winners buy the first round of drinks. That final rule pretty well e]]> Cheap Eats 2011: Pupuseria El Buen Gusto - http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-17147-cheap_eats_2011_pupuseria_el_buen_gusto_.html ’Couve Crawl - A night out in Portland’s northern neighbor. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19983-%E2%80%99couve_crawl_a_night_out_in_portland%E2%80%99s_northern_neighbor.html Vancouver’s nightlife is not bountiful, but it is comprehensive. Along downtown’s Main Street corridor, you’ll find an Irish bar, a sports bar, a martini bar, a wine bar, a discoteca, a br]]> Trek in the Park (Atomic Arts) - Set phasers to “mildly entertaining.” http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19527-trek_in_the_park_%28atomic_arts%29_set_phasers_to_%E2%80%9Cmildly_entertaining%E2%80%9D.html The audience at Cathedral Park looked so normal. They licked Popsicles, fanned themselves with their programs and drank bottles of craft brew. There were kids. And dogs! There were surely other ]]> <i>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i> (Portland Center Stage) - Staying warm with Shakespeare. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19927-a_midsummer_night%E2%80%99s_dream_%28portland_center_stage%29_staying_warm_with_shakespeare.html November and December seem, at first, an odd time to stage A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s not just the play’s title that contributes to its air of endless summer: Shakespeare stocked his fe]]> Your First Overnighter - Everything you need to know before your first bikepacking trip. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20471-your_first_overnighter_everything_you_need_to_know_before_your_first_bikepacking_trip.html Rochelle Comeaux and Don Eaton remember their first overnighter as cyclists. It was the first day of their 70-day cross-country trip along the TransAmerica Trail, which winds 4,233 miles from As]]> Streetcar Bistro and Taproom: Train in Vain - http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20079-streetcar_bistro_and_taproom_train_in_vain_.html In attempting to summon cool, Streetcar Bistro and Taproom (1101 NW Northrup St., 227-2988, streetcarbistro.com) might have looked a bit farther than our city’s much-loathed covered moving sidew]]> <i>Venus in Fur</i> (Portland Center Stage) - No one gets away until they whip it. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20221-venus_in_fur_%28portland_center_stage%29_no_one_gets_away_until_they_whip_it.html Fifty Shades of Grey reduced sadomasochism to handcuffs and spanking. Venus in Fur—while not devoid of dog collars and riding crops—throws into question such simple ideas of control and compli]]> Madea Goes to Langley - Tyler Perry vs. James Patterson http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19781-madea_goes_to_langley_tyler_perry_vs_james_patterson.html This weekend, Tyler Perry, Hollywood’s defending biggest earner, stars in Alex Cross, adapted from a thriller by airport bookstore kingpin James Patterson. Both Perry and Patterson are wildly pr]]> <i>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</i> (Portland Center Stage) - Shave and a haircut…and <i>murder</i>! http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19703-sweeney_todd_the_demon_barber_of_fleet_street_%28portland_center_stage%29_shave_and_a_haircut%E2%80%.html House lights still on, a rags-clad crowd shuffles about the stage, looking forlorn and doing little. Suddenly, two actors dressed as riot police storm the stage and haul off one of the men, exit]]> <i>It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues</i> (Portland Center Stage) - Pitchin’ a wang-dang doodle, and little else. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19255-it_ain%E2%80%99t_nothin%E2%80%99_but_the_blues_%28portland_center_stage%29_pitchin%E2%80%99_a_wang_d.html The history of the blues is complex, meandering its way from rhythmic African chants to Southern spirituals to Chicago pop hits. In Portland Center Stage’s final production of the season, howeve]]> Gift Guide 2012: The Unformed - http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19953-gift_guide_2012_the_unformed_.html The thing with kids is, everything you do affects who they are; it’s like the butterfly effect, we’re told. If you give them a lollipop as opposed to some candy corn, it’ll affect whether th]]> Far From Home - The hopes and fears of A local Egyptian couple. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-16889-far_from_home_the_hopes_and_fears_of_a_local_egyptian_couple.html Abeer Sayed long ago gave up on the political process that passes for democracy in her native Egypt. Sayed, a 31-year-old Egyptian raised by political activists in Cairo, moved to Portland in 2004 with her husband so he could pursue neurosurgery here.

She says her parents were active in student protests

]]> <i>And So It Goes</i> (Artists Repertory Theatre) - The love songs of Kurt Vonnegut. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19675-and_so_it_goes_%28artists_repertory_theatre%29_the_love_songs_of_kurt_vonnegut.html Welcome to North Crawford, Conn. As narrator Tom Newton (an impeccable Tim True) assures us, this is a place where things “change just about as quickly as the rules of chess.” It’s 1962, and]]> <i>Penelope</i> (Third Rail Repertory Theatre) - Talkin’ loud and sayin’ too much. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19285-penelope_%28third_rail_repertory_theatre%29_talkin%E2%80%99_loud_and_sayin%E2%80%99_too_much.html In middle school, I acted in a production of The Odyssey. Bored by a dumbed-down script, our adolescent cast attempted to punch it up with absurdity: Circe wore a sweater vest yet spoke in slang. ]]> <i>The Odd Couple</i> (Clackamas Repertory Theatre) - What a sweet old couple! http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19390-the_odd_couple_%28clackamas_repertory_theatre%29_what_a_sweet_old_couple_.html Here’s something of a confession (and perhaps a disclaimer): I’ve never seen the movie version of The Odd Couple. I’m familiar with the plot, of course, and I’ve watched maybe half an epis]]> <i>The Left Hand of Darkness</i> (Hand2Mouth Theatre/Portland Playhouse) - Androgynous aliens in a world of blue AstroTurf. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20608-the_left_hand_of_darkness_%28hand2mouth_theatre_portland_playhouse%29_androgynous_aliens_in_a_world_.html When Portland author Ursula K. Le Guin wrote The Left Hand of Darkness in 1969, she imagined it as a thought experiment. What would a world be like, she asked, where humans spent most of their liv]]> Hotseat: Penelope Spheeris - The filmmaker talks about punk rock and losing her temper. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20339-hotseat_penelope_spheeris_the_filmmaker_talks_about_punk_rock_and_losing_her_temper.html Teenage angst has paid off well for Penelope Spheeris. Her breakout film, the remarkable]]> <i>The People’s Republic of Portland</i> (Portland Center Stage) - Maybe she should have put a bird on it. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20607-the_people%E2%80%99s_republic_of_portland_%28portland_center_stage%29_maybe_she_should_have_put_a_bi.html It would be easy to carp about Lauren Weedman’s mispronunciation and misnaming of this newspaper (on opening night, she referred to it as “Will-uh-met Weekly”). But that would be too simpl]]> <i>Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson</i> (Portland Playhouse) - America, the oversexed adolescent. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19776-bloody_bloody_andrew_jackson_%28portland_playhouse%29_america_the_oversexed_adolescent.html In Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the seventh president pours himself into skinny jeans, slicks his hair back Fonzie-style and packs a microphone...]]> <i>Kabuki Titus</i> (Bag&Baggage) - Turning Shakespeare Japanese. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19417-kabuki_titus_%28bagbaggage%29_turning_shakespeare_japanese.html In Japanese Kabuki theater, tricks of costuming and staging assist actors as they undergo swift transformations or make sudden revelations. It’s a theme applied to bold effect in Bag&Bagga]]> Remember the Alameda - Revisiting blaxploitation classics at a former Alberta street institution. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19992-remember_the_alameda_revisiting_blaxploitation_classics_at_a_former_alberta_street_institution.html In the early 1970s, during the heyday of blaxploitation, there was only one place in Portland you could consistently see pictures like Shaft and Superfly: the Alameda Cinema.  “There wasn]]> Getting Hitched - Cinema 21 celebrates the Master of Suspense. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19851-getting_hitched_cinema_21_celebrates_the_master_of_suspense.html

Like denim or Dr. Seuss, Alfred Hitchcock never goes out of style. But the director is particularly hot right now: Anthony...

]]> No Land of Milk and Honey - Gus Van Sant’s <i>Promised Land</i> wears its heart on its well-tailored sleeve. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-20072-no_land_of_milk_and_honey_gus_van_sant%E2%80%99s_promised_land_wears_its_heart_on_its_well_tailored_.html There are shots in Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land that could be mistaken for shots in 1991’s My Own Private Idaho: beautiful pastoral scenes, rolling country roads]]>