For any readers expecting to see a post when I usually try to post of Friday afternoons, I thought I’d let you know I spent the previous night dealing with the results of either food poisoning or a flu bug picked up from kids at an elementary school.  And what a night it was! I’ll spare you details of my demise only to let you know I needed to lay around all day and do as little as possible which excluded attempts at trying to come up with cohesive sentences and typo free copy.  I’ll be back next week.  In the meantime, stay healthy.

The first thing I noticed was the mustache. It’s black and flat like a beaver’s tail and too round on top. It’s fake. I have a certain radar for anything overly false like toupees and eye lashes. It’s hard not to notice when the installment of Drunk Cop I saw begins. It was posted on the Portland Film and Video Group so I took a look. Beyond my initial reaction, I have to admit I hit the fast forward button. I couldn’t brave the ‘stache. At least fast forward is better than indulging my short attention span on something else.

The next thing I know I see the mustache man sitting down off kilter in front of the Kenton Library. I swell with neighborhood pride, the same pride I felt seeing a photo of three out of four members of the band Red Fang sitting in the kid’s section of the same library–a photo on the Multnomah County Library website where the band talks about their favorite books, but I digress. This slumped down man is getting spoken to by a pregnant woman. I start wondering if she’s really pregnant and now realize that this can’t possibly matter. She is saying the most outlandish things of a sexual nature. Pregnant prostitute! I’m freaking out through more scenes of who I now realize is Drunk Cop wallowing in all kinds of filth and depravity. Sick and disgusting, yes, you’ll want to look away but you might want to look back.

A few days later, I sat down and watched an episode of Drunk Cop and was rewarded with many comedic moments. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart but if you’re a fan of gross out humor each scene out grosses the next. Impressive.

Looking over the website, I spot stills from scenes that feature many of my treasured local North Portland landmarks like Heavenly Donuts and downtown Kenton and again I fill with pride. It’s cool to see something local and lively and truly weird going on in North Portland.

On the site under the heading “Lonely?” you can find out how you might be able to participate as an actor or actress in the web series. You probably don’t even have to be pregnant. I’m trying to get up the nerve to get back into the acting game. It’s been a long time since my days in community theater.

Here’s a link to a Drunk Cop episode:

Here’s the Drunk Cop web site. Get back in the acting game:

http://drunkcop.weebly.com

See Red Fang. Scroll down to see the Kenton Library and the band:
https://multcolib.org/blog/20150203/guest-readers-red-fang-and-books-go-11

I must have thought being an English major was going to be more profitable than studying history but I keep my interest in history alive by looking for local historical info where I can find it. I’ve discovered that besides reconnecting with old friends and finding out who goes on the best vacations, Facebook also offers another perspective on the Portland and Oregon experience through various groups I’ve encountered through the site. If you need a first hand history fix or want to learn about places that used to be around consider liking the following groups on Facebook:

Lost in Oregon

Hidden Portland for the Curious

dead memories Portland

Know Your City

Portland Pioneers of Color Walking Tours

All of these merit a separate blog entry which I hope to get to at a later date. In the meantime check it out. You can only imagine what obscure tidbit of information you might encounter.

Director Bryan Hiltner (Center)

The kid impressed me. Ever since I’d read his musings about movies on Facebook and seen many of his short films at the old Attack of the Flix screenings, Bryan Hiltner made me consider that his cinephile obsessions run deep, even down to the ink on his skin. It’s also apparent he knows more than my college film studies teacher knew which is impressive because Bryan is not a Professor, he’s a film maker who draws on his cinematic knowledge to make short movies.

For his recent effort titled Elena Vance, Bryan decided to ramp up his production. He raised money, put together a dream team crew and secured locations, one being the holiday hot spot, Peacock Lane. When I was asked to shoot behind the scenes footage and create a short profile of Bryan in action, I was more than flattered. I was inspired to witness movie making. I realized later that it was an honor to be a fly on the wall, with a camera up to my face, observing the intricacies of what a film crew and actors do when they get together under the orchestrations of a director.

In the midst of this activity, I was handed a business card from a gentleman, also holding a camera, because he was taking production stills. The card provided information about Stumptown Movie Makers, a meetup group, that organizes people interested in all kinds of aspects of movie making. This got me thinking that there’s no better way to learn about making movies then to get on a film set. Local and low budget productions can always use an extra set of volunteer hands helping out with activities that may seem to have little to do with film making but support the endeavor nonetheless. And in the flurry of creativity an opportunity exists to experience a movie being made. You might witness anything from wardrobe choices, to an actor questioning specifics on his character’s actions along with an endless amount of technical decisions being made throughout a day or night of shooting. Hanging around the set for 3 or 4 hours was exhausting enough so I had to consider the endurance that was going to be needed for the 6 days of shooting that had been scheduled to make Bryan’s short movie. It’s tough work and sometimes it’s all hands on deck. It’s what you gotta do to make a movie.

Want to get a foot in the door to helping make movies in Portland? Check out:

http://www.StumptownMovieMakers.com

Every month I make it a point to check out the new Kenton Club show schedule poster. Each poster is a variation on a theme, a lady, a pin up girl, a stripper, I’m not sure what they’re going for but it’s trashy and kitschy and a campy way to present their activities for the month.  The uncensored poster can usually be found inside the club.  Look for December’s poster in both green and red for the holidays.

In one of my recent blog posts I noticed a factual error. It was embarrassing. I was writing about an episode of the OPB radio show State of Wonder that I had enjoyed and in my head I was thinking the theater near the downtown Voodoo Donuts location was called the Paradise Theater. I had listened to the episode a few times and heard them mention the name. About a week later I came across some mention of the theater in the Willamette Week and it hit me. The reference must have included a picture of that iconic sign because I realized it was not the Paradise Theater but the Paris Theatre. After a quick internet search it became clear to me. I had used the wrong name. Part of me considered the Paradise Theater being a more ironic or maybe even a more appropriate name for what is now a porn theater. We’re a long way from Paris out here, but there’s no excuse to have been so far off on the name. I still haven’t figured out the mix up other than realizing I haven’t been in that section of downtown for a while. I promise to be diligent in verifying any information for future posts, you know, fact checking. The beauty of a blog is being able to do a quick edit so it’s all fixed now. No one will ever know.

Here’s a brief blurb about the theatre on the Cinema Treasures website, but no mention of why it’s called the Paris Theatre:

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/10089

While traveling on the Max train on a Monday afternoon I overheard a scruffy gentleman on his cell phone leaving a message. “I just discovered I have four quarters in my pocket that belong to you. I’ll give ’em to you tomorrow,” he said. The importance of those four quarters seemed to put things in perspective and made my current financial woes seem more like “champagne problems.”