Archives for September 2015

H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival (2-4 October 2015)

September 30, 2015 by Dave Leave a Comment

"H. P. Lovecraft, June 1934" by Lucius B. Truesdell — “H. P. Lovecraft, June 1934” by Lucius B. Truesdell

The 20th annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival returns to Northeast Portland’s Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy) from Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, 2015.

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® promotes the works of H.P. Lovecraft, literary horror, and weird tales through the cinematic adaptations by professional and amateur filmmakers. The festival was founded in 1995 by Andrew Migliore in the hope that H.P. Lovecraft would be rightly recognized as a master of gothic horror and his work more faithfully adapted to film and television.

This festival of cosmic horror and unnameable fear features author readings, filmmaker discussions, a raffle, and of course lots of films – both shorts and features. The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival is the only festival that understands. Don’t miss the Arkham Bazaar for Lovecraftian Novelties to Other Weird Oddities.

Several ticket options are available. Visit the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and Cthulu Con websites for more information.

Walktober 2015

September 29, 2015 by Dave Leave a Comment

Walktober 2015, the greatest walking holiday of the year takes place in Portland throughout October.

Walk anywhere, everywhere, for any reason, or for no reason at all. This is Walktober: walking fun October 6th through Halloween (the greatest walking holiday of the year).

Inspired by Pedalpalooza, three weeks of bikey fun in Portland held every June, the Oregon Walks conceived Walktober to promote walking as a fun, healthy, ubiquitous activity in the Portland metro region.

Some highlights include the Walktober KICKOFF Walk, it’s a pub crawl, on October 1; International Walk to School Day on October 7; Beers Made by Walking (more info on the website here) on October 10. The Walktober calendar is open – anyone can create, post, and lead a walk. Walks are put on by people like you!

Visit the Walktober website for the full calendar of walks.

Portland Queer Film Festival (2-8 October 2015)

September 28, 2015 by Dave Leave a Comment

The 2015 Portland Queer Film Festival runs from October 2 – 8 at Cinema 21 (616 NW 21st Ave). This annual festival showcases feature, documentary and short queer films from all over the world.

The opening night film is Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein in Guanajuato:

The venerated filmmaker Eisenstein is comparable in talent, insight and wisdom, with the likes of Shakespeare or Beethoven; there are few – if any – directors who can be elevated to such heights. On the back of his revolutionary film Battleship Potemkin, he was celebrated around the world, and invited to the US. Ultimately rejected by Hollywood and maliciously maligned by conservative Americans, Eisenstein traveled to Mexico in 1931 to consider a film privately funded by American pro-Communist sympathizers, headed by the American writer Upton Sinclair. Eisenstein’s sensual Mexican experience appears to have been pivotal in his life and film career – a significant hinge between the early successes of Strike, Battleship Potemkin, and October, which made him a world-renowned figure, and his hesitant later career with Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible and The Boyar’s Plot.

General admission to most films is $10 and a full festival pass is $100. There are special ticket prices for the Opening Night and Closing Nigh films and parties – visit PDXQueerFilm.com for a schedule of all the films and more details.

History Pub: Portland Communists, A Longshoreman Strike, and The United States Supreme Court (28 September 2015)

September 27, 2015 by Dave Leave a Comment

Portland Communists, A Longshoreman Strike, and The United States Supreme Court: Oregon v. DeJonge and the Right to Freedom of Assembly is the latest History Pub on Monday, 28 September 2015 at the Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd).

On July 27, 1934, the Portland Police “Red Squad” arrested Dirk De Jonge, a World War I veteran, longshoreman, former Portland mayoral candidate, and Portland communist. The State charged him with criminal syndicalism for speaking at a meeting sponsored by the local Communist Party. The meeting was called in response to a police crackdown on striking longshoremen, who had shut down every West Coast port from southern California to northern Washington. De Jonge’s crime was speaking about jail conditions experienced by the arrested strikers. A jury found him guilty, and the judge sentenced him to seven years in prison. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding that the criminal syndicalism statute, as applied to De Jonge, unconstitutionally infringed on his right to assembly as protected by the First Amendment.

Presenter Marc Brown is an appellate public defender with the Oregon Office of Public Defense Services. He has taught at Washington State University-Vancouver and is a recent recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to teach about the U.S. Constitution in Guangzhou, China.

History Pub, presented by McMenamins, Oregon Historical Society, and the Holy Names Heritage Center, is free and open to all ages. Doors open at 6 PM, and the talk begins at 7 PM.

Portland Weekend Amusements (25-27 September 2015)

September 24, 2015 by Dave Leave a Comment

Oktoberfest season continues! This weekend get your bier at Oaks Park, ride your bike at the last Sunday Parkways of the year, watch a film on the river, juggle to your heart’s content, and amazingly – a lot more!

Friday – Sunday

Oaks Park Oktoberfest

The 2015 Oaks Park Oktoberfest takes place Friday through Sunday, September 25 through 27.

Bier!Bier! Main sponsor Paulaner will be offering a festival lineup of Oktoberfest, Hefeweizen, Paulaner Salvator, and their Pilsner. Wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be available too.

Portland Juggling Festival and Vaudeville Extravaganza

The 2015 Portland Juggling Festival takes place 25 September through 27 September at the Reed College (3203 SE Woodstock Blvd) gym. The Juggling and Vaudeville Extravaganza takes place Saturday, 26 September the Reed College Kaul Auditorium.

One of the largest regional juggling festivals in the country, the festival provides a venue for jugglers from around the world to come together to share knowledge and hone skills in workshops and juggling sessions.

Saturday

Museum Day Live

The Museum Day Live! ticket provides free admission for two people.

In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket… for free.

Upriver: Outdoor screening at Sellwood Riverfront Park

The Portland EcoFilm Festival is proud to partner with Portland Parks and Recreation for the Portland premiere of UPRIVER, screening outdoors in the beautiful Sellwood Riverfront Park!

Home to roughly two-thirds of all Oregonians, the Willamette River system has endured a history of human use and abuse similar to most large river systems. UPRIVER, a locally-produced feature-length documentary, explores the recent movement of Oregonians from all walks of life to improve the health of the river and the diverse life it supports and provides a new look at what this river is, where it comes from, and where it’s going.

Sunday

Tilikum Crossing / Sellwood Portland Sunday Parkways

End the Sunday Parkways season big by exploring the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge of the People and the Sellwood area. This new route will include the Tilikum Crossing and circle the Sellwood area introducing participants to the Westmoreland, Sellwood Parks plus Brooklyn School Park where music, food, and fun are waiting.

Harvest Festival

Enjoy the bounty of Oregon while indulging in snacks, sweets, beer and music from the Pacific Northwest region! Learn about Oregon specialty crops from local farms, CSA’s, cooking demonstrations and artisan vendors. There’s fun for the whole family, including kids activities and live entertainment. Come celebrate the harvest season at OMSI!

Ongoing

Chapman Vaux’s Swift Watch 2015

In September thousands of Vaux’s Swifts coalesce into a giant undulating swirl in Northwest Portland near Chapman School after spending the day eating bug. Around sunset the swirl gets more compact, like a ground pepper tornado, and begins disappearing, measure by measure, down the school’s huge old chimney. On the lawn below hundreds of mesmerized and picnic-sated Portlanders stare into the sky from the comfort of lawn chairs and blankets while their oblivious children roll down the grassy hill screaming. Cheers erupt from the crowd when the slippery swifts dodge the opportunistic Peregrine falcons, boos when the predators get lucky.