The Esplanade

 Steel Bridge leading to the Esplanade across the river.

I went on a ride a few days ago, one of my standard routes: down to the river, around the downtown Esplanade loop, then south along the Willamette on the Springwater Corridor. Downhill, uphill, city, and nature. It’s fifteen miles, more or less, and only five of those are on the street. The rest is all smooth, flat, riverside paths. Three hundred million dollars just so people could enjoy their lives. Gotta love Portland for that.

The light was perfect; it always is in fall. Warm and mellow, illuminating faces with a golden glow, but also casting long, foreboding shadows. On Sunday the reflections off the river lit the undersides of all the bridges, and I took a lot of pictures.

More photos at my new flickr account devoted to Portland’s “built environment.”

Whenever I consider moving away from Portland, I wonder whether I could ever find another place to live that’s nearly so pleasant. Whenever I ride around the Esplanade, I wonder to myself, “How could I ever leave?” Yet I still consider it. Is there any excuse for wanting more when I already have so much? Maybe not, but I do.

Happy Monday

Every Monday I post photos of shirtless, uh, I mean smiling men.

I’ve Got a Nice Box

It was deceptively bright and sunny today, but really only about 50 degrees out and windy. It looked so warm, thought, that I took my woefully underused bike on a ride around town, eventually heading up Mt. Tabor.

At the top, I was all sweaty and suddenly cold, and I knew I was going to freeze on the way down. So I coasted home slowly, hoping avoid a few of the chilling arctic blasts up my sleaves. And due to my leisurely pace, I spied a nice wicker… what? hamper? toybox? Whatever. It was a very large, hinged top wicker box with a free sign. I grabbed onto it with one hand and continued coasting, the huge hamper balanced on my hip as I gently wobbled and braked downhill.

About halfway home on a steep stretch, a guy cranked past me going up in the other direction. He looked over and yelled out in a sassy voice, “Nice box.”

I smiled and turned to see him quickly disappearing into the dark. “Thanks,” I called after him in the deepest, manliest voice I could muster, “…that’s what all the boys tell me.”

Cooking for Engineers

With the holidays coming up, perhaps you are searching for a good recipe for an herbed Chevre cheese ball crusted with glazed Marcona almonds? If so, I can’t really help you. However, if you just want to make a decent pumpkin pie, then may I recommend Cooking for Engineers, a well done little website with a slew of good basic recipes, most of them complete with excellent instructions, measurement conversions, and loads of pictures. In an endless sea of internet food sites, this one rise to the top for attention to detail alone.

The thing I appreciate most, however, is that their “Recipe File” is so useful, consisting of classics like cheesecake, pecan pie, or peanut butter cookies. That’s the stuff most of us actually want to cook and eat, especially for Thanksgiving. Me, I’ve got organic, locally-grown pumpkin from last fall in the freezer, and I’m finally going to make a pumpkin pie.

Happy Monday

Every Monday I post photos of men smiling. It’s a nice sunny day here in Portland, which seems like the perfect excuse to post more shirtless guys. (The other perfect excuse is that it’s not sunny.)

Fox and His Friends

Being as opinionated as I am, I’m often inclined to suggest a book or a film or even a butter substitute to my friends, and that instinct is even stronger when preparing this blog. So far though, I haven’t done very much of that around here. The problem is that I mostly just want to say “See this!” but don’t really have anything intelligent to write about creative works (much less about Earth Balance), and I don’t want to waste anybody’s time, least of all mine, trying to produce a useful, interesting review.

 Rainer Werner Fassbinder (right) in Fox and His Friends

However, I think I’ve stumbled upon a solution. With the limitless bounty of the internet right at my fingertips, I have access to practically infinite pre-existing reviews of anything and everything. Why not make use of them? Could I really have anything to add to the work of a professional film (or book or butter) geek anyway? So rather than write reviews, I’m going to start making recommendations and then, for those few of you who do not take my word as gospel, supplementing that with links to what others have to say on the subject.

Well….

Future Shipwreck
Recently a friend sent me a link to a blog called Future Shipwreck by this annoyingly capable and prolific 19 year-old whippersnapper in L.A. who writes about gay culture, the movie biz, and other assorted cool stuff. I browsed through, and it was indeed diverting. But it wasn’t until I got to his recommendation of Fox and His Friends, possibly the best film made by legendary German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder, that I thought it deserved more attention. I guess it all comes down to the fact that this kid can find, watch, and recognize the qualities of a relatively obscure and underappreciated film then select it for a special mention. I figure if he’s got that much on the ball, then he deserves special mention too.

(Also, his post on Queer Men Who (Indie) Rock has rekindled an old idea of mine for an entry: “Gays Who Don’t Suck.”)

Fox and His Friends
His film Querelle, based on a violent and homoerotic novel by Jean Genet, is the best known of Fassbinder’s work (if mainly for the steamy sex appeal of a shirtless Brad Davis), but Fox and his Friends is certainly its equal in importance, if not far superior. (At least so say I.) If you have a genuine interest in film, by which I do not mean Hollywood movies, then this is one that belongs on your list.

Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine:

“One of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s towering masterworks, Fox and His Friends is the devastating story of a poor circus worker who wins the lottery and finds himself fleeced out of his fortune by lecherous upper-class monsters….

“…first and foremost a riveting evocation of social Darwinism in action…” (full review)

Jim Clark, Jim’s Reviews:

“…one of Fassbinder’s most poignant and accessible films. The story and performances are direct, and the look of the film is polished and inviting. Yet it is also a powerful work, dealing with some of Fassbinder’s central themes, such of the search for love, and exploitation in its many forms…” (full review)

Who doesn’t like exploitation in its many forms? So, enjoy!