Dave Knows: Portland

Heather is new to Portland, so I’ve taken it upon myself to inculcate in her an understanding of Portland’s all-around greatness. One of Portland’s greats is Gus Van Sant. I was shocked to learn not only that his films were not one of her reasons for moving here, but that she’d only seen [...]

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I guess I have to stop with the frog jokes.
In college I studied Spanish, Portuguese, and even Hungarian; all more useful to my cultural prejudices and post-college travel plans than French.
I never made it to Budapest.
Two years ago, however, I did spend a week in Montreal. I fell in love with countless cosmopolitan women, [...]

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To make the life of a lazy blogger easier, I recommend finding a non-lazy blogger with whom you can do bloggable activities.
Heather of Mile 73 fame has done such a great job of writing up our day trip to the Gorge (and she also has a camera), that, once again, I’ll steal her map image [...]

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Spring has finally arrived, and with it my favorite part of the year: Festival Season.
That’s what I call it anyway.
By late summer every weekend has beautiful weather and copious cultural and neighborhood festivals.
But things start slowly.
Lucky for us beer, as it so often does, saves the day:
Spring Beer and Wine Fest
This is the beer festival [...]

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If you were tasked with translating the smoky, beery ambiance of, say, the Crow Bar, into a sophisticated drink, it might look like this:

3oz PBR Reduction
2oz Cigar Infused Whiskey — don’t try this at home
1oz Meyer lemon juice

Shake with ice, strain into martini glass
Read the whole post by Lance J. Mayhew at My Life on [...]

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Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho is the film I recommend to all my Portland transplant friends. It provides a glimpse into the city almost two decades ago. The Pearl, for example, didn’t exist; Blitz-Weinhard’s malty steam suffused the area. The loading docks were loading docks by day, prostitute promenades by night. [...]

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Monday training camp started at PGE Park. Today the soon to be semi-regular Tuesday Timbers Tidbits starts. And now on with the show:

The Nerd is the Word reminds us to mark the calendar for Saturday, March 29th: Timbers Season Kickoff Party
A good new Timbers Blog: Nasty Challenge
My fellow Jesuit alumnus Chris Brown may [...]

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Philadelphia is celebrating Philly Beer Week (March 7-16). Beer deserves celebrating. But some people in Philly aren’t satisfied with merely celebrating the city’s beer scene; they also want to claim that they have the best “beer scene” in the country.
Philadelphia City Paper:
Beer. Here.
Some claim Philly’s beer scene is the best in the nation. [...]

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The Red Bull Flugtag is coming back.
I attended in 2004, and despite the the sponsorship by the company that makes an undrinkable beverage, it was a lot of fun (delicious beer was sold at the event).
This year’s three lucky cities are Chicago, Portland, and Tampa Bay.
The Portland event will be held on August 2nd at [...]

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On Sunday, both the Daily News and The Times featured interviews with the king of the disaffected-youth-in-Portland movie: Gus Van Sant. His most recent contribution to the genre is Paranoid Park.
Gus Van Sant on filmmaking and ‘Paranoid Park’
Van Sant discusses his take on the Hollywood system, and how a low-budget helps him retain artistic [...]

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