News Jason Simms sends a new dispatch from Beijing, where he's roaming the streets with a crew from the Portland-based website English, baby! during the Olympic Games. (Read Simms' first emails, including his experience of the opening ceremonies, here.) Anyone can be famous in Beijing. All you have to do is dress like an athlete and convince one person to take your picture (sometimes people just will anyway) ...   More

News Welcomed by waving flags, signs, cheers and smiling faces of the local Tibetan community, Tirian Mink arrived at the Portland Airport at 12:47 pm today. Mink returned from Beijing, where he was arrested and then detained by the Chinese authorities for protesting against the Chinese government's treatment and occupation of Tibet. Mink, a native of Portland and a former construction project manager, ...   More

News Updated noon Friday, Aug. 8: Jason Simms sends an update after the Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing: Here's an opening ceremony update...before it even airs in the US! Earlier today, a lot of people mistook me for an athlete but that's another story. What the world wants to know about now is the much anticipated opening ceremony. Right now, four billion people are watching the opening ceremony ...   More

News Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm concerned that the Chinese gymnasts are, like, all four-year olds too. But, the Times UK was nice enough to research a much more important question that I've been pondering since all those digi-fireworks went off at the opening ceremonies: Who's getting laid at the Olympic Village? Answer: Everybody. Here's a taster from former Olympian Matthew Syed's hot, sweaty tell all ...   More

News SPRINGFIELD: Not that Springfield. This Springfield. PHELPS FEVER: The only clip that's really worth watching is here. GUITAR ZERO: His parents should be put in jail. DEAD MAN STANDING: So sweet...or gross. You decide. OREGON IDLE: That American Idol chicklet, Kristy Lee Cook, who says she lives in Selma Oregon, (but if gossip is to be believed really lives in either Nashville or L.A.) ...   More

News Jason Simms continues his reporting on the games outside the Games in Beijing (read earlier dispatches and watch videos here, here and here): The mission of the English, baby Olympic team was to travel to Beijing and challenge those we met in competition. We didn't count on those we met challenging us. Outside the water cube, we discovered a large Chinese man putting on a show. He rotated metal ...   More