Dave Knows Portland

Introducing: TriMet Diaries

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TriMet Diaries TriMet Diaries, a new site for sharing the inevitably amusing, amazing, and horrifying tales gleaned by riding public transit in the Portland metropolitan area, has launched!

I was inspired to create the site after I stumbled upon Muni Diaries, which bills itself as a place to share and read rider tales and news about the sometimes crappy, sometimes efficient, but essential public-transit system of San Francisco. I could relate, and I was delighted by the stories and photographs submitted by San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) riders.

Portland metro area transit riders already have available a surprising variety of transit blogs and websites, including the excellent (and recommended) Portland Afoot, PDX’s 10-minute newsmagazine on buses, bikes & low-car life, which encompasses a magazine, a blog, and a wiki. The Portland Afoot magazine sports a regular feature called Only On The Bus, where riders write in with their favorite bus stories. TriMet Diaries aspires to be a similar venue.

I invite you to stop by and peruse the (evolving) website, and please contribute if you have a story to share.

Follow TriMet Diaries on Twitter for the latest updates and stories.

Oregon Film and Video Industry Blogs and Resources

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Oregon FilmIn LA everyone is working on a screenplay. In Portland everyone is an extra and knows Cole Wagoner.

No doubt influenced by the Twitter bubble in which I’m enveloped, lately I’ve come to the realization that Portland and Oregon have a respectable and growing film and video industry. Portland stars in a Gus Van Sant film every few years, television shows like Leverage and Portlandia excite us from time to time, and animation studio Laika is based here. But I’m most interested in the local indie projects, of which there are legion, which I try to feature occasionally on this blog, like the work of local actress Audrey Walker, and filmmakers Mike Vogel and Chris Wilson.

With this in mind, both for myself and for my dear readers, I thought it would be a worthwhile endeavor to round up all the local film and video industry blogs and websites I could find. With an immense amount of help from Portland-based actor Harold Phillips* and filmmaker Mike Vogel, I present to you the fruits of my research:

Oregon Film and Video Industry Blogs and Resources

The Confluence – Bringing together the creative streams of film, television, and media in Oregon…

“The Confluence” blog was created as a place for the Oregon film, television, and media community to come together and share what is going on locally in the industry.

Oregon Film And TV Dollars (work for ALL of Oregon!)

We’re focused on the economic benefit that Oregon’s Film and TV Industry brings to the state. In an era of unprecedented economic woes for the Beaver State, Oregon’s film industry is growing – hiring thousands of workers state-wide and pumping millions of much-needed dollars into our economy.

Oregon Movies, A to Z

Oregon Movies, A to Z began life as a blog kept during the year which preceded the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival at Marylhurst University. Dennis Nyback and [Anne Richardson] co-curated that ten day festival, which focused on expanding the definition of Oregon film to include, not just films made in Oregon, but films made by Oregonians.

OMPA – Oregon Media Production Association

OMPA is the largest nonprofit association for commercial, film and TV professionals in Oregon, uniting crew, talent agencies, producers, directors and others who cater to the industry.

PortlandIndieFilms.Com

As part of an effort to bridge the indie film makers with the actors to bring a sense of cohesion to the Portland film community we have launched . . . www.portlandindiefilms.com. If you are a local film maker and want to have your trailer featured please send us your information.

The Casting Scoop

A place for actors to get the inside scoop from a working casting director. Featuring upcoming castings, workshops, premieres, audition tips, casting nightmares and acting resources. Find out what it’s like on the other side of the audition table!

PortlandFilm.Org – About local films, events, and people.

PortlandActor.Com – Oregon’s Official Resource Guide to Portland Acting and Film

And last, but not least!

portland craigslist – gigs – talent gigs

* I’m especially grateful for the help of Harold Phillips, who provided so much information when I asked that I was able to harvest enough for at least another future post. Stay tuned!

Oregon Blogs You Should Be Reading #4: Faith in Honest Doubt

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This is the fourth edition of an occasional series of posts on Oregon Blogs You Should Be Reading . *

Periodically I visit each of the blogs on my blogroll. Many are popular and well trafficked, others are infrequently updated, but contain some gems. And then there are the ones that are almost always well written or entertaining, and routinely updated, but don’t seem to have the profile they deserve – those are the blogs I’m highlighting in this series.

Faith in Honest DoubtFaith in Honest Doubt

This is one of the most thoughtfully written blogs I’ve stumbled across in all my years of following local blogs. Dale Smith (who you should also follow on Twitter: @bureaucrat117) holds forth on sundry topics and themes; running, politics, god [or lack thereof] stuff, science, and Mad Men, to name a few, all covered intelligently, with just enough, but not too much, snark.

I really can’t do Dale’s posts justice by describing them, just go read his blog! On the right sidebar of Faith in Honest Doubt there’s a view random post link, which on most blogs wouldn’t have much value. On Faith in Honest Doubt, it’s a near certainty it will uncover a nugget worth reading.

* The first three posts in this series were actually posted under the title Best Portland Blogs You’re Not Reading, but it was pointed out to me that the phrasing could be taken as a gibe at the bloggers, whereas it’s the readers I’m trying to spur to action. Anyway, I took the advice of the person who brought this unintended interpretation to my attention [i.e. my wife!], and reworked the title a bit.

Portland Poutine Turns One!

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Quietly last week (because I forgot) Heather and my first collaboration, Portland Poutine, reached a milestone – the one year anniversary of its launch!

In the past year, for our dear readers, Heather and I (often accompanied by friends) have eaten and reviewed poutines from over a dozen restaurants, mostly in Portland, but also in Los Angeles and Seattle. We’ve also made and shared our homemade poutine recipes, traditional and “healthy”. Through diligent googling we’ve found and featured poutine related music and games. We were the very first guests on Cascadia.fm‘s Savor Portland, and Portland Poutine was featured in The Oregonian and The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Canada!

There are a few more poutines in Portland we haven’t tried yet, and we intend to re-review others (and get better photographs in some cases) – so stay tuned, thanks for reading, and consider contributing your own reviews to Portland Poutine!

Read My Wife, Please!

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Mile73Heather at Mile73.com (aka my wife!) has been on a roll recently with a series of great posts on diverse topics. In just the past two weeks she has delivered these gems:

On writing: Virtuous Procrastination

A book review: Free Range Kids

A cheeky Twitter tutorial: Twitter: How You Do It: In 27 Easy Steps!

And a series of posts on minimalism and downsizing:

So in the tradition of the Best Portland Blogs You’re Not Reading posts (see the first two: Unexpectedly Bart and Cyclotram), I recommend you stop by Mile73 to read one of the best Portland blogs you may not already be reading. Seriously, even if we weren’t married I would still extoll her writing prowess. If you enjoy writing that is (seemingly) effortlessly funny and conversational, read her blog (not mine!). Her posts also elicit edifying (and generally non-trolly) discussions in the comments, so read and learn.

Oh, and she’s also a sweetheart!