Tag: Portlandia

Are We Going Too Far?

I love living in Portland with all its eccentricities that the show Portlandia depicts so perfectly.  But sometimes, I feel the State of Oregon goes a bit too far.  For example, on my way to take the kiddies to school, I saw something particularly strange that I later discussed with Amanda.  There was a Craigslist poster of a local man drinking a cup of coffee.  Seems innocent enough, right?  Until you read that the man in the photo – a self-described “casual home roaster and coffee geek” – has started making Kopi Luwak coffee beans (consumed and then expelled) for $30 a pound!

It might be all in fashion and all, and even actually be a delicious cup of coffee but I personally think that this is taking the eccentricities of Portlanders a little bit too far.  Still, feel free to disagree with me, as clearly a lot of my neighbors are doing!

Portlandia and American Idol

Wow, it seems like Portland really is the place to be vis-à-vis the filming of TV shows.  First Portlandia, then Superheroes and now American Idol!  Last week saw the show come to Portland for the first time ever!  So I wanted to know, who could I maybe spot in our local supermarket who would be appearing on the show? 

There was Brittany Zika.  She was the one who sang with Sara Bareilles onstage (that was the one who made me laugh as she tripped trying to get up to her metal cylinder of doom).  Anyway back to Zika – she had a stunning voice – everyone thought so, as she sang Brandi Carlile’s “The Story.”  

So you never know, I might actually get to see her around town!

Portlandia Again

 

So you remember I started watching this show ‘Portlandia?’ It’s all about an idyll world, everything easy in which people are free to do whatever they want.  So I’m not sure I explained it well: this guy comes to LA and says he was just in Portland, and while he was living there, it was “the dream of the 90s is alive in Portland” and you could just do whatever you wanted.  “Portland is almost like an alternative universe,” he said. The environment is friendly; people ride bikes, no cars, everything is peaceful and good.

But then, within a few minutes, one of the characters spirals with all his gadgets and gizmos and feels the need to text, watch all his movies, go crazy on the Internet, iPad, YouTube, etc.  He’s miserable and overwhelmed.  He needs to free his mind from all this stuff and go back to basics.  Ironically it shows how over-the-top going back to basics can be, which misses the point. 

It’s very interesting.  It’s about a bunch of totally weird people doing totally weird things and men wearing skirts locking innocent people in their stores; all which seem to be accepted in Portland!  Well now you know how much I love my city but I sure hope it won’t become an acceptable behavior to lock people in stores against their will!  As Daniel says, I must remember it’s just a TV show.

More on Portlandia

 

I just downloaded Portlandia – the first season.  Last night I got the kids to bed early (Jayden can often still be up at 9 which is pretty tough for me as I like to be asleep by 10; but he is so yummy and cuddly at that time, but still) and started with the first episode.

I enjoyed it.  For a start, it’s definitely cool to have a show reflecting your hometown. That’s the only reason Daniel started watching it with me.  He didn’t think it would be “him” as he figure it would be a bit chic-flicish, but it turned out it wasn’t at all. Truthfully it was kind of surreal; the way it’s produced and directed is a little strange. It’s got dance/music and then sit-com so it’s a whole mixture of stuff and very different.  In the beginning they are singing a song with a chorus "The dream of the '90s is alive in Portland," indicating that truthfully in America today, with its economics and policies, come live in Portland as then you can live an idyllic life.

We also discovered that the name of the show – Portlandia – is a reference to the Portlandia sculpture (I never knew that big thing we pass regularly was called that) which is on the Portland Building on Fifth Avenue, downtown.  So a bit of hometown history isn’t too bad either.  I’m sure Jayden’s has asked me about that sculpture when we’ve driven by a million times and I have no answer for him.

Anyway, I digress.  I really enjoyed it because I love TV shows that feature couples and this one has Fred and Carrie as the main players.  The first one was about a particular bohemian couple whose priority it is to have the most humane and ethical restaurant. It seems it’s important to some people (especially Portlanders I guess) what kind of life the chicken had before it arrived on their plates at the restaurant.  Apparently the chicken they were eating had 4 acres in which to run around; and then they showed the somewhat weird couple a picture of “him.”  Oh well, as Daniel says, each to their own!

Portlandia

I just started watching Portlandia.  It’s in the second season right now, but I went back to the beginning to watch it from the start as my friend Amanda has been talking about it non-stop for the last couple of months.  Mind you, being 40+ and pregnant for the first time, there’s not all that much sense coming out of her these days.

It’s a fun show.  Fred and Carrie live an idyllic life in Portland.  The first episode of the second season was screened last Friday and I did take a sneak look at it (even though I promised Amanda I would go back to the first season to really catch me up to speed) and it looked fun. She tells me it was such a clever show that they actually coined phrases that are now popular in our area such as “Put a Bird On It.”  It certainly sounds like a good response to the next time my boss starts talking to me about something with which I am unfamiliar!  If nothing else, it will get a giggle!

There is one couple in the show apparently who are totally eco-conscious (typical of Portlanders) and love everything organic.  Then there’s the artsy couple and a feminist. And that’s just a few of them. It seems like the show is full of different and eccentric people. So it sounds like something I’ll really enjoy watching. Not sure if it’s for Daniel but we can at least start a few episodes together.