Dave Knows Portland

Archives for October 2008

High Country News talks to Portlanders about transportation options

by Leave a Comment

High Country News, an independent news organization that reports on the West’s natural resources, public lands, and changing communities asked people on the street in Portland to talk about why they’re not driving a car. Portlanders obliged:

Portland’s commuting stats are compared Phoenix, which has followed a different approach to development:

About 13 percent of Portland’s population uses public transportation, 5 percent walks, and 5 percent uses bikes and other alternative modes. Ten percent carpools and 61 percent is still stuck behind the wheel, driving alone. Compare these figures to the Phoenix statistics: 73 percent has a solo commute, 16 percent carpools, 4 percent uses public transportation, 2 percent walks and 2 percent uses bikes and other alternative means.

Weekend Recap: Apples and Pumpkins

by Leave a Comment

We decided to forgo Molalla and the paw paws (alas, paw paws, and Molalla to be frank, are still a mystery to me).

Instead we made our way to Portland Nursery‘s Apple Tasting event, and then drove out to Sauvie Island to visit the clothing optional beach Pumpkin Patch.

The Apple Tasting has been going on for 21 years, but this was my first visit.  Too many damn kids, if you ask me.  But I guess that’s the price you pay for fresh pressed apple juice and free samples of 60 varieties of apples and pears.  The apple juice was great (all 3 ounces of it) but the line for the apple samples was too long.  Maybe next year I’ll get there earlier . . . or it’ll rain . . .

Apple Tasting Line

I had not been to the Pumpkin Patch since I was a wee child. All my memories of the place involved mud. Lots of mud. But the cool, crisp, and dry weather yesterday removed that impediment. The highlight for me was the animal barn: Lucy the Lama looked sideways at us, the ducks slept, the chickens did their silly chicken thing, and the pig really enjoyed the attention.

Piggie

Photos courtesy of Heather at Mile73.com. She too blogged about our weekend escapade.

Pawpaws, books, and apples. Or things to do on a chilly Fall weekend

by 3 Comments

I thought maybe pawpaw was another term for papaya, but no, Wikipedia tells me . . .

Pawpaw (Asimina) is a genus of eight or nine species of small trees with large leaves and fruit, native to eastern North America. The genus includes the largest edible fruit indigenous to the continent. They are understory trees found in deep fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat. Pawpaw is in the same family (Annonaceae) as the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, ylang-ylang and soursop, and it is the only member of that family not confined to the tropics.

A friend recently planted a pawpaw tree in his yard. And he’s become a little obsessed with them. The tree is still a couple years from fruiting, so he is excited about One Green World‘s Harvest Festival and Orchard Tour this Saturday, where pawpaws, amongst other fruits, will be featured. One Green World is located in Mollala though . . .

I know what an apple is. And 50th and Stark is much easier to get to . . . This weekend and next Portland Nursery (5050 SE Stark) is hosting apple tastings events. Sixty varieties of apples and pears (pdf) will be available to sample. And there will be live music too!

But apples are fleeting . . . books can take me all the way through to spring. Friends of the Library‘s 35th annual Fall book sale is going on this weekend in St. Johns (8150 N Lombard Street).

Movie Review: Year of the Fish

by Leave a Comment

Year of the Fish is a modern adaptation of the Cinderella story set in New York City’s Chinatown. Cinderella is young émigré Ye Xian. She has come to America seeking a job so she can send money back to her sick father in China. Mrs. Su, a distant relative, takes her in with the promise of employment. The employment turns out to be indentured servitude in a massage parlor; Mrs. Su is this story’s Evil Stepmother. When Ye Xian refuses to give customers the requisite “happy ending” she is forced to be the massage parlor’s scullery maid and janitor. Prince Charming is a young man named Johnny who plays the accordion in a hipster jazz band.

The Cinderella story most of us are familiar with largely shapes the film, but there are a few twists.  Some elements come from Ye Xian, an earlier Chinese version of the story.  Others from the Slavic folktales about Baba Yaga.

The film is “animated” in that the live action video was gone over with a rotoscope-style digital painting process. The result is water-colorish. At times the effect is stunning and beautiful: in close-ups of actors’ faces, impressionistic shots of the city streets, the parks, a fountain. But mostly I found it distracting and obfuscating. I expected a transition to live action at some crucial point, a la Wizard of Oz‘s black and white to color, but that was not in the filmmakers’ plan. Like with subtitles, however, after a few minutes I almost forgot about it . . . until it became distracting again.

Some plot revelations late in the film make one wonder why there was no inkling earlier (script? editing? time constraints?). Chinatown, when it appears, is one of the most interesting characters in the film, but the depressing confines of the massage parlor get much more air time. Some of the clichés seem heavy handed, even allowing for a fairy tale’s lack of nuance.

Randall Duk Kim, who plays three characters in the film, performs each with gusto (his performance reminds me of Jeremy Irons‘ in Dungeons and Dragons. Seriously. Shitty movie, but you cannot tell me he is not having a fantastic time). I also enjoyed the performance of Tsai Chin, as the acerbic Mrs. Su. An Nguyen and Ken Leung, as the Cinderella and Prince Charming, respectively, give good, if somewhat wide-eyed, performances.

But the highlight of the film for me was the accordion music (written and performed by Ted Reichman).

Year of the Fish premieres in Portland Friday at the Hollywood Theatre.