The incredibly talented Fred Armisen's series Portlandia is a joy, but if you happen to be from there, or to have lived there for a bit, well...wow. Let me just say that it isn't often that one sees one local hang outs on national/international television stuffed with not only the local SWPL types but smart people making fun of them for precisely the right reason!
It's where young people go to retire.
LMAO! Catchy tune.
ReplyDeleteJourdan, that was funny, even if not entirely meant to be, I don't know. I liked the 'you look a little San Francisco right now'. IMVHO Portland is and has been a SF wannabe, but yet wanting a distinct NW vibe. Maybe I'm being harsh, but it is still the little city that could be in my mind. I guess I mean, after a while freakishness is just normal. Which on a higher level is just what the freaks desire... or something.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend - former grad school lab mate - who has left the corporate world and is making a living doing artsy lighting installations (residential and commercial) in San Francisco. I hung out with him for a day a bit ago and got a taste of the scene.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the difference is - Portland takes itself a hell of a lot less seriously that San Fran. Something like "Portlandia" wouldn't fly there, IMHO.
(I swear I saw the Dalmatian clown chick just a few days ago, trying now to remember where...)
Funny and weird, and I like it. :) I haven't been "home" in quite some time...things have obviously changed there.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Portland will always be the union craftsmen renovating downtown and creating something amazing (my grandpa was one of them). It's the ships sailing down the Willamette on fleet week, it's the Rose Gardens and OMSI, and it's seeing the twinkling lights of Vancouver from my Grandma's upstairs window, and shopping at Fred Meyer.
Yes, Lady Red, all those good things for me, too. Minus the grandpa. I saw a lot of good music at the Rose Garden back in the day. Perhaps it's because I lived in or near both cities for a good long while that I made the comparison I did. And it was harsh, I admit.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll admit it ... that video gives me an over whelming urge to set up a Ma-Deuce and hose the lot of the freaks. The place looks like a Lewis Carroll nightmare. "Jabberwocky" the official language, right?
ReplyDeleteYour :"Ma-Deuce" here ...
imgw:"http://cdn1.gamepro.com/blogfaction/images/m2.jpg"
Also ... somebody explain to me why during my several business trips to downtown Portland, I never saw the freak show? Brew Pubs, yes ... and a relatively clean downtown area ... but no snot nosed leech folk.
ReplyDeleteThey probably saw you first... and ran like hell. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso good of you to use a jarhead on that Ma-Deuce.
I loved it!!! And so true :-) I will send it to my nephew who lives in Portland (but right now is living in St. John for 6 months...ah, the adventurous nature of youth...)
ReplyDeleteWhat is Ma-Deuce?
ReplyDeleteMa-Deuce -> M2 -> machine gun.
ReplyDeletelink
Sheesh, you'd think I could've figured THAT one out...TY, lewy.
ReplyDeleteJourdan, these are hilarious! Check this one out:
ReplyDeleteFeminist Bookstore: Reading List
LMAO!!!
florrie, that was awesome. I love the bit about pole dancing!
ReplyDeleteThis studio is a staple of the advertising pages of the local alt weeklies - everybody knows them!
I love how there are so many little "easter eggs" for the locals!
florrie, that was great. It encapsulated hundreds of stereotypes in just three minutes. Ari would have a red hot barrel on that deuce. :)
ReplyDeleteLewy, there is too much there. I'm not even sure how to respond...
ReplyDeleteBut, "self-levitating the body horizontally"
"International Pole Federation"
I guess that's why I was never more than a pseudo hippy. I didn't have the chops for the real stuff. Or something.
Ecdysiast! Well, you know the saying..."Stereotypes; they're based in reality".
ReplyDeleteJourdan, these are real gems, or as lewy put it "Easter Eggs" for the locals.
I sent it to my sister (mom of the nephew who lives in Portland) but he had already told her about it. They loved it too!
I've only watched 3 but as sure to work my way through them all :-)
I guess that's why I was never more than a pseudo hippy.
ReplyDeleteLOL!! Same here, Luther!
Can we sue da hippies?
ReplyDeleteDetroit had its "Plum Street" neighborhood and Ann Arbor had its "Hill Street" crowd in the late 1960's. Plum Street and the old Hill Street mob more or less vanished ... guess they moved to the Northwest, eh?
ReplyDeleteimgw:"http://wiki.ic.org/uploads/1/1b/HillStCrowd.jpg"