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Archives for February 2010

March 3: OMSI After Dark

February 28, 2010 by Dave Leave a Comment

OMSI After DarkThis month’s first installment of OMSI After Dark takes place Wednesday, March 3rd. (One of these days I’m going to make it to this event, but not this month – I’ll be at Ignite 8, which is going on at the same time.)

OMSI After Dark is an opportunity for the 21-and-over crowd to explore the museum in a child-free environment. Here’s your chance to shoot off water rockets, play with robots, and enjoy the wonders of OMSI with no kids in sight! Enjoy a glass of wine or a pint of local beer while learning about electricity, tornados, and fossils, or taste and learn the science behind food and beverage favorites with local artisans. The OMSI Market Cafe will be open and cash bars will also be available for those who want more than just a taste!

Hours are 6pm to 10pm, and it costs $10 for nonmembers (free for members). You can buy tickets online, but you can also get them at the door (no reservations necessary).

Recently Heather and I did visit OMSI, but during regular hours, on a Sunday (Superbowl Sunday, as a matter of fact), and it was packed to the gills with rugrats. It was my first trip to the “new” location (doh, it’s been there since 1992!); I was hoping for some nostalgic reminiscences, but the gems and rocks aren’t all under black lights! And where is the giant walk-through heart? Where are the bees and baby chickens?! I was disappointed. The best things, several hands on electrical and optical exhibits, were hidden on a catwalk overlooking what seemed more like a giant children’s playground than a science museum. Sigh. The giant globe thing was pretty cool though. And the spinning thing, which you can see in the video below, looks like it’d be a lot of fun after a few beers:

OMSI Visit from Mile73 on Vimeo.

Maybe I’ll make the next OMSI After Dark, which appears to be scheduled for March 31st. Hmm, the preview promises Stoopid Beer Tricks; I’m so there!

February 26-28: Seafoodpalooza, Nano Beer Fest, and BAM

February 26, 2010 by Dave Leave a Comment

Seafood, beer, and movies: sounds like a great weekend!

Friday and Saturday

BAMBeer and Movie Fest

Taking place at theater pubs around town from February 10 through the 26, including The Academy Theater, Bagdad Theater, Cinema 21, and Mission Theater, the goal of BAM is to integrate two thriving industries, craft beer and Hollywood entertainment. [More]

Chowder ChallengeChowder Challenge and Seafoodpalooza

Lompoc Brewing has expanded the annual Chowder Challenge to two days, and are now calling it, fittingly, Seafoodpalooza!

The Fifth Quadrant (3901-B N Williams) is the place to be on Friday, February 26 if you like shrimp, andouille sausage, and beer (and who doesn’t!?). From 6pm until 9pm they are hosting an all you can eat Shrimp Boil. Cajun music is included in the $12 price, though the special beers on tap will cost you extra. [More]

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Nano Beer Fest WinterNano Beer Fest

It takes a lot to get me to willingly venture into the suburbs; Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub out in Tigard (12562 SW Main) may have finally come up with something that will do the trick: The first ever Winter Nano Brew Fest. [More]

Portland Timbers Roundup (02/26/2010)

February 26, 2010 by Dave Leave a Comment

TimbersThe biggest story this week was S – C – O – T. As the roster filled up and opening day approached, the Timbers faithful collectively worried that Scot Thompson might not be signed. A Facebook page was started to pressure the team, Twitter was abuzz with ultimatums to the Timbers front office to do the right thing. And lo and behold . . . .

SCOT is Back!! By Kip Kesgard at OregonLive.com

As I arrived home from work, my wife greeted me with a big smile and some big news. SCOT is back! It was officially announced by the Portland Timbers that defender Scot Thompson has agreed to a one year deal to return to the team, bringing the team’s official roster to 19 signed players and 1 inactive player. Scot will have a dual role for the team as a player and community ambassador. [More]

Timbers’ Thompson returns for 2010 with dual role at PortlandTimbers.com

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers today announced that Scot Thompson will return for the 2010 season in a dual role as a community ambassador and player. The upcoming campaign will mark the defender’s seventh season in Portland. [More]

2010 Timbers KitsTimbers Release 2010 Kits by mao at Mao’s Football

The Portland Timbers today released their 2010 kits featuring a new sponsorship deal with the German solar panel company SolarWorld. As is their custom the Timbers will wear green at home and white away. There will also be a black third kit, the same as 2009. [More]

Timbers sign veteran goalkeeper Adin Brown at PortlandTimbers.com

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers have signed veteran goalkeeper Adin Brown for the 2010 season, it was announced today pending USSF approval. A former member of the U.S. National Team, Brown has played the last five seasons for Norway’s Aalesund FK. [More]

Better Know a Timber: Ross Smith by paulsepp at Dropping Timber

Another big free-agent signing by the Timbers this off-season, Ross Smith will bring experience and steady play to the Timber’s defensive backline. [More]

Timber Bits – More Stadium Porn by paulsepp at Dropping Timber

PGE Park Renovations – Pictures were taken on the morning of Sunday, February 21st. You may think that the renovations picture are redundant and uninteresting, but any day we add new stadium pictures our traffic nearly doubles. [More]

Interview: Andrew Curtis

February 25, 2010 by Dave 1 Comment

Andrew CurtisAndrew Curtis is a local photographer and self described experimenter. A couple years ago I came across his amazing timelapse footage of the Cinco De Mayo Carnival. You may have seen it too, I featured it on my blog, and KATU plugged the video on the air.

Last Thursday at the Portland premiere of The Waiting List, Heather and I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew in person, when Mike Vogel introduced us. Heather came up with the idea for this, and subsequent, interviews (Mike will be the subject of our next one!). Andrew is a local guy doing very interesting things. If we’re fascinated by his work, we’ll bet you will be too . . .

Cinco De Mayo Carnival from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

To the interview:

We’re most familiar with your time lapse videos; what other kinds of photography do you do?

Like my Flickr profile says; “I’m not a photographer, I’m an experimenter.” I work as a machinist by day (or night, as I frequently work graveyard shift) and I’m constantly sacrificing my lunch breaks to make contraptions for my camera. I like to explore different techniques, most of which don’t seem to yield any results. I think because my failure rate is so high with photography, that when the successes do come, even if by accident, its all the more satisfying to me. I’m not afraid to waste an evening trying something even if I’m not confident it will work. An example I’m most proud of is a set of fireworks photos I shot last 4th of July, where I spent the whole time twisting the focus ring on my lens at random, and not knowing if anything good would come out of it.

For those not familiar yet with your time lapse photography work, can you describe the process?

Basically I just take a series of still images at set intervals, anywhere from 1 to 30 seconds, and string them together into a video. The process however requires quite a bit of planning, attention to detail, and some time dedicated to post-processing. I would advise anyone interested in learning about timelapse to visit the Timescapes Forum.

If your fairy godmother came and offered the photography equipment of your dreams, what would it be?

It would have to be the new RED Scarlet camera, with all the accessories of course. Currently I’m shooting with a Nikon D90, so I’d settle for Nikon’s as yet unannounced D700 replacement.

Of the videos on Vimeo, do you have favorites?

I think my favorites are the videos that reveal patterns that aren’t apparent in real time. An example of this is the second shot of the Gorge Fog video, where you see the clouds rolling in and out like waves.

Gorge Fog from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

Another video from the same location, Gorge Light Show shows some incredible interaction between the fog and the car headlights. I like to hang out and take in the scenery while the camera is going, but both of these times I was completely unaware of what was taking place right before my eyes.

Gorge Light Show from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

What video(s) posed the most challenges for you?

One of the harder videos for me to pull off was The World Leaves Portland Behind. I had planned out many more shots than I was able to get, and chasing the ship down the river was pretty tricky. I figured that the ship would pass under each bridge one at a time, leaving me plenty of time to follow it. Turns out they lifted all the bridges at the same time, which I thought would have made for a traffic nightmare. After the first shot I had to race up to Cathedral Park and I barely made it in time.

The World Leaves Portland Behind from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

The music choices for your videos are quite eclectic, and all seem to fit with the subject matter. How do you find or decide what music to add to your videos?

My music choices are usually culled from things I’m listening to at the time or have recently discovered, and a few old favorites. I usually don’t have a plan for what music to use until I get to the editing phase. I will compile the video and watch it over and over while playing different songs. Once I find one that works, I will edit them to fit together.

When we met at the Portland premiere of Mike Vogel’s The Waiting List, you mentioned you weren’t particularly happy with the footage you filmed for his film. Why not? After seeing it on the big screen, did your view of it change?

For those that haven’t seen the film, it takes place in a school near Oregon City. Mike contacted me out of the blue, and wanted to know if I could do a timelapse of the stars overnight in the playground behind the school. I was setting up a shot in front of the swingset, and accidentally managed to capture a meteorite that came blazing down right in front of me. I was hoping that bit of luck would set the tone for the evening, but unfortunately I had problems. The shoot was cut short due to my lens fogging over, and after looking at the results I felt there was just too much light pollution. I told Mike that the shot didn’t turn out, and that I would try again. Long story short, I was unable to try again, and Mike contacted me and asked if I had gotten anything useful, even a still. I put the video together and sent it off to him with a big apology, and to my surprise he ended up using it. While I still don’t consider it my best work, seeing it on the big screen definitely changed my mind. It seemed to fit very well with the film and didn’t look as bad as I remembered!

Are there any projects you’re working on right now that you’d like to mention?

I’m always thinking about timelapse, and I’m shooting as much as I can. Right now I’m working on a piece about the Hawthorne Bridge, just trying to find time to get more shots done. I made up a little teaser video, mostly to motivate myself to finish it. As of now I can’t say when it will be done. I’m also working on constructing some custom motion control devices to try and take my shots to the next level. Beyond that, I’m loosely working on an all-inclusive timelapse film about Portland, but that’s probably even further out than the Hawthorne Bridge. If anyone reading out there with connections can get me into some cool places to shoot (top of Big Pink anyone?) please, please contact me. I will timelapse this town red!

Hawthorne Bridge Teaser from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

All of the videos on this page, and a host of others, can be found on Andrew Curtis’ Vimeo page – in HD! You can also find his work on Flickr, Facebook, iTunes, and at his website: www.ffwdtime.com.

February 26-28: Nano Beer Fest

February 25, 2010 by Dave Leave a Comment

Nano Beer Fest WinterIt takes a lot to get me to willingly venture into the suburbs; Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub out in Tigard (12562 SW Main) may have finally come up with something that will do the trick: The first ever Winter Nano Brew Fest.

Many BIG BEERS from eleven small breweries will be available for your tasting. A HEATED TENT will be set up behind the pub with a tunnel tent leading to the gathering room inside the pub. Don’t miss this chance to experience some of the finest beers crafted in the Pacific Northwest.

The festival takes place Friday through Sunday, February 26-28 from 11:30am to close. A tasting mug sets you back $2, with 4 ounce tasters costing $1.25. The regular pub menu will also be available.

The featured breweries and beers are intriguing:

  • Calapooia Brewing – Albany
    • Ol’ Lickspigot Barley Wine
    • Kringle Krack Strong Ale
  • Fort George Brewing – Astoria
    • Cavatica Bourbon Aged Stout
  • Oakshire Brewing – Eugene
    • Ill Tempered Hoppy Brown
  • Bend Brewing – Bend
    • Outback X
  • Upright Brewing – Portland
    • Auld Reekie
  • Oregon Trail Brewery – Corvallis
    • Rauchbier
  • Double Mountain Brewery – Hood River
    • India Red Ale
    • Imperial Chaos
  • Caldera Brewing Company – Ashland
    • Old Growth Imperial Stout
  • Block 15 – Corvallis
    • Wizenbock
  • Heater-Allen Brewing – McMinnville
    • Hugo
  • Mt. Tabor Brewing – Portland
  • Rocket Blonde Ale
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