Maybe it's because I'm sick and feel like garbage, but I re-watched Alien VS Predator today and it kinda rules. It's not great cinema or anything, but it knows what it is and does a fine job with the monster fights.

A huge problem with political life now is that lots of people seem to think that personalist politics between elites is just a fact of life and not a problem to be solved. But institutionalized political life is good, actually. It can seem de-personalized, but that’s better than the alternative.

I was at the UofO when Roboduck debuted, and on the student government's Athletic Department Finance Committee. We asked a representative from the Athletic Department why they were debuting a mascot no one seemed to like. He told us it was to appeal to young boys and a new generation of Duck fans.

Hell yes! And perfect timing. This is coming to theaters the day before my birthday. Looks like I'll be celebrating with horny/insane nuns this year!

When Marx wrote "the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce," he was talking about the French Second Empire, led by the buffoonish Louis Bonaparte, aka Napoleon III, aka Louis Napoleon. Louis Napoleon tried and failed to take over Mexico in the early 1860s. It did not go well.

"May the fourth be with you." "And also with you."

It's May. May is the summery spring month, like how March is the wintery spring month. September is the summery fall month, and November is the wintery fall month. April is the springy spring month and October is the fally fall month.

Slightly diminish a book: Absalom.

My five-year-old asked what an outlaw is and I thought for a moment and said “basically a land pirate.”

As a chicken sandwich aficionado, this is true. Chicken sandwiches are for when you want to say “I don’t want anything heavy, I’ll skip the burger” and then you order an entire fried thigh with bacon on it instead.

I don’t want a remake of The Great Mouse Detective, but another adventure with Basil of Baker Street could be a lot of fun. Given that Vincent Price is unavailable for further voice work get Matt Berry to play the villain.

I wrote about 503 Day, a totally real Portland holiday coming up this weekend in the new "Pink Light District." www.portlandmercury.com/culture/tota...

Re-watched Alien: Resurrection recently. Hadn’t seen it in over 25 years. I remember hating it and wondered if my opinion would be different now. Nope! Alien 4 is bad. Just deeply frustrating to watch. My teenage opinions were good and correct!

This kind of mixed use urban planning is illegal in America

I love how healthcare providers are like "thank you for choosing us" and it's because they happened to be in network.

Wrote up a preview of Portland Playhouse's production of The Spongebob Musical! It looks like a blast. I can't wait to see this thing. www.portlandmercury.com/theater/spon...

'Costume designer Eiko Ishioka holding a mask she created for Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, circa 1992.'

I just called someone the wrong name on a phone call. I must turn my back on the world of humans and walk into the wasteland beyond civilization now.

The exterior shots of the Overlook in The Shining were filmed at Timberline Lodge in Oregon. The hedge maze from the end of the movie is not in any of those shots. You can chalk that up to the maze being a ghost thing, or Kubrick knowing that no one would notice the beginning/ending discontinuity.

I watched Untold: Jail Blazers for the Mercury. It's a weird little documentary. www.portlandmercury.com/movies-and-t...

when we mourn le guin, we mourn one of our greatest writers & thinkers. but we also mourn one of our all-time greatest haters

POW MIA flags are so funny, it’s like every post office having a flag that says “chemtrails”

my gyre? tight. my beast? smooth. my centre? on hold.

Did they ever interview the people in the original versions of the New colonies (York, Jersey, Brunswick, Caledonia, South Wales, etc) to see how they felt about the franchises carrying the brand name?

😂😂😂

On Saturday, Portlanders gathered to say "so long" to TriMet's MAX Type 1 trains which are being retired after 40 years of service and two million miles of travel. Joe Streckert was there and provides a brief history of the train that moved Portlanders for decades.

In 1999, I was playing a decker in Shadowrun, and tried to distract a guard by hacking a water fountain to overflow, and my GM said "why would a water fountain be on the network? That's fucking stupid. No you can't try." Well it's 2026 and I just want you to know, Phil, that I FUCKING CALLED IT!

All the novel writing advice I see is basically "revise your novel one million times until it is a flawless diamond" but I also read plenty of books and many of them are bad. But I find the bad books inspiring! I, too can write underwhelming prose!

John Swartzwelder had the best answer to this question.

The human circulatory system, before and after proper cable management.

Five-year-old: “Dad, what’s this band called?” “They’re called Black Sabbath.” “What’s ’black sabbath’ mean?” “A black sabbath is when witches have a party.” “I want to go to a witch party!” “You can go to one when you’re older.”

Lloyd Center has an official closing date now: August 8th. www.portlandmercury.com/culture/lloy...

I watched Conan the Barbarian when I was maybe seven or eight. I loved it! Even though it's rated R it's absolutely aimed at kids who think swords, beheadings, and snake wizards are cool as hell. So I'm not sure I was "too young."

As a lifelong Star Trek fan and as a guy who’s recently gotten way into 40K I feel both seen and very attacked.

incredible that the lifelong Catholic in this specific situation is The Pope

Hey, everyone. Welcome to my YouTube channel! Please like and subscribe if you haven’t already. Anyway…

initially i thought it extremely inappropriate for jd vance to travel to another country and try to meddle in their elections and now i think he should go stump on behalf of every right wing reactionary party in europe, give him a special budget for it, i don't care, get him on the local news

Honestly I’m really glad I decided not to go to law school.

I wouldn’t say this is a bad take, but bucatini is a better fit for carbonara than spaghetti. Also, udon+Japanese style curry+shredded mozzarella might sound weird but it totally works.

You’re right. That might not be enough time to bury the Statue of Liberty and distribute 400 million ape costumes.

Did you know the Mercury’s monthly issues are now delivered via electric cargo trikes? Today, we rode along with B-Line from SE Portland to downtown see the delivery of the new transportation issue.

Portland almost demolished a good chunk of Southeast for a freeway. Almost! I wrote a bit about the never-constructed Mount Hood Freeway for the @portlandmercury.com Transportation Issue.

Me, an atheist: Your holiness I stand ready to join the crusade against these heretics

If you need to distract yourself for a few hours, no better way than diving into this darkly comic, hopeful sci-fi classic, even if you could not give one iota of a shit about football:

BREAKING: Trump announces two week window for Congress to remove him from office

It's been really hard to write marketing copy today.

HOLY SHIT

The US president is about to commit heinous and cruel war crimes and somehow we're also going to host the World Cup in two months.

everything we are seeing now is the consequence of having a political environment in which indifference to the deaths and suffering of other people - even by the state whose supposed responsibility is to safeguard their welfare - is a superpower rather than a political liability