Dave Knows Portland

Sign Up for the 2011 Milk Carton Boat Race!

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Milk Carton Boat Race 2011My favorite Rose Festival affiliated event returns in 2011: the Milk Carton Boat Race!

Race day is June 12th (11am), at the Westmoreland Park casting pond.

After a seven year hiatus the race I obsessed about as a kid returned in 2009. If you’re going as a spectator I recommend you read my reviews of the 2009 and 2010 events so you’ll know what to expect (e.g. no beer garden?!). The basics: Bring a blanket (or lawn chairs) and a picnic lunch and enjoy the spectacle!

If you want to participate there are two categories of boat you can choose from:

Racing class: designed for speed and consists of narrower and lighter frames

Showboat class: design is primary goal – does not race

There are four classes of racing boats: children, adults, family/multi-rider, and corporate. Deadline to register is June 8th at 11:59pm! Visit the event website for more information. Follow @MilkCartonBoat on Twitter for the latest news.

Friend of the blog Mike Vogel raced last year!

Mike Vogel at the 2010 Milk Carton Boat Race!
Photo courtesy Heather from Mile73.com.

Video Interlude: PDX Timelapse – Last week of March 2011

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Local filmmaker Mike Vogel is enjoying his new iPhone’s HD video and editing capabilities:

The music for this timelapse is by Trevor Bennett, who scored “Did You Kiss Anyone?” This song is used in the movie and I’ve listened to it a lot the past year or so. Portland plays a big part of the movie. Not so much in the plot or narrative, but especially in how the movie was made. So to me, the music and video are a perfect match.

SNOW!!!

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This never gets old (video by Mike Vogel!):

Here was the view from my balcony this morning at 4:52am (it was all gone by 5:30am):

Photo taken at 4:52am. All was slush by 5:30am.

Portland Filmmaker Mike Vogel on the Blog Method of Film Distribution

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The Waiting ListThe rise of the internet and the breakneck speed of technological innovation have made it much easier for artists of all stripes to show their work to the world. But as artists of all eras have discovered, making a buck from their art is difficult if not well nigh impossible.

Local filmmaker, and friend of the blog, Mike Vogel has been contemplating how to make money, even a little bit, from nano-budget filmmaking. He’s come up with a few ideas:

I started to think about how I watch movies: Netflix (declined me) or Hulu (declined me) or YouTube (de– wait, I’ve got movies on YouTube). YouTube is going to be around longer than Neoflix, IndieFlix, hell I’d even say longer than MOVIE THEATERS. So I uploaded my entire feature to YouTube (google how to do this if you didn’t know you could).

Read the rest at MikeVogel.com: The Blog Model of Film Distribution.

Mike blogs at MikeVogel.com and tweets too: @FrontAve. Check out his films at FrontAve.com. Watch The Waiting List and preview Did You Kiss Anyone?, which is currently in production!

World Toilet Day 2010 and a Portland Loo Unveiling

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Mike Vogel and the LooWorld Toilet Day, a day to celebrate the importance of sanitation and raise awareness for the 2.6 billion people who don’t have access to toilets and proper sanitation took place on Friday, November 19 2010.

Events were held around the world, including in Portland, where the public was invited to celebrate World Toilet Day at the First Flush of the Ash Street Portland Loo with Commissioner Randy Leonard.

Alas, this extremely Portland event escaped my attention until it was underway. Fortunately intrepid local filmmaker and blogger Mike Vogel attended. He provided an entertaining live commentary of the event on Twitter, and blogged his special contribution to the ceremony this morning.

When I heard that they would be opening a new Portland Loo on World Toilet Day, I knew that I would have to go, but I also didn’t want to get my hopes up that I would be the first person to officially pee in it. I’m sure construction workers or plumbers installing the Loo used it, and who knows if it was locked before the ceremony. But what if I could be the FIRST person to pee in the new Loo after the ceremonial first flush? A boy can dream.

Read the rest at MikeVogel.com: The Portland Loo on World Toilet Day