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Must-see morning clip

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Comedian Fred Armisen dropped by "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last night to promote the season premiere of his award-winning sketch show,"Portlandia." The two SNL comedians ended up performing a sketch of their own, rehearsing bits from their old bands, like Little Baby Sparrows, Nothingness and Birds Tree:

Carrie Brownstein: “A lot of these characters are permutations of myself”

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen's anthropological sketch-comedy series "Portlandia" returns to IFC on Friday, Jan. 4, for a third season of gently mocking and dissecting the behaviors of niche Portlanders and their kin across these United States. Brownstein, who was Sleater-Kinney's front woman and now performs with her band Wild Flag, spoke with me while her dogs barked in the background. We discussed the series, the proliferation of Portland culture, her fascination with couples' behavior and the qualities she shares with Kath and Dave.

How many of the characters on "Portlandia" would make you insane if you encountered them in real life?

No, really. Stop comparing everything to “Portlandia”

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:37:00 +0000

Trendspotters, take note: We asked you in February to please stop comparing everything with a quirky bent to "Portlandia."

And for a while there, the fact that every magazine writer and blogger used the Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein comedy show as their go-to metaphor made it a little uncool. Only now "Portlandia" metaphor creep is back. (In a retro and nostalgic way!) Next month, the show returns for Season 3 on IFC, and that means January will bring a wearying new onslaught of references.

But as you'll see, there's almost nothing left to compare to "Portlandia." A street fight has been compared to "Portlandia." The Republican National Convention. Rock bands and classical groups. Restaurants in every city. Waiters. Diners. Authors. Laura Linney. (And, yes, we know! That could be a "Portlandia" sketch itself!)

So before you make the same simile as everyone else, consider this list of recent comparisons fair warning:

What binds Palin and Stewart?

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:00:00 +0000

Oscar Wilde once noted that the worst vice of a fanatic is his sincerity. And yet in many ways, sincerity -- and its cousin, authenticity -- are the traits we most value in others and hope to cultivate in ourselves. Of course, nothing is more easily faked than sincerity, or more easily marketed than authenticity. So in an age when everyone has a media criticism blog, or at least watches "The Daily Show," why do we continue to be suckered by authenticity?

R. Jay Magill Jr. says the answer goes back centuries. In his new book "Sincerity: How a Moral Ideal Born 500 Years Ago Inspired Religious Wars, Modern Art, Hipster Chic and the Curious Notion That We ALL Have Something to Say (No Matter How Dull) -- hey, someone let this man title the next Fiona Apple album! -- the NPR Worldwide host connects John Calvin to Bon Iver, and traces our abiding need to live sincerely and genuinely, free from the boot of society or The Man. And he notes the irony of how The Man easily sells sincerity right back to us.

Put an octopus on it!

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

"Put a bird on it" is so last year. These days, the smarter "Portlandia" reference would be "Put an octopus on it."

Search Etsy.com, the handmade goods marketplace, for “octopus” and “squid” products and it yields over 17,000 items ranging from jewelry and silk-screened T-shirts to decorated pantyhose and hip flasks. Squids and octopuses are the creatures most frequently depicted attacking things like ships, submarines, bridges and scuba divers. Worn as talismans on medallions, rings, tattoos, knitted caps, belt buckles and clothing, they invoke qualities such as flexibility, adaptability, cunning, camouflage and hostility to traditional forms of commerce.

The electronic punk band Atom and His Package has written an enigmatic song about this obsession with obscure cephalopods: “Octopus. I love you. It hurt./ I can’t think of another animal I’d want on my T-shirt.” But while the birds in that famous "Portlandia" sketch were merely a cute affectation on T-shirts, the octopus has political implications. So how did cephalopods become so beloved as icons of the creative class -- and a growing image of the Occupy movement?

Stop comparing everything to “Portlandia”

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:45:00 +0000

Adam Davidson might be a dangerous hack, but in the New York Times Magazine last week, he managed one impressive feat: He wrote about artisan picklers and beef-jerky makers and did not make a single reference to "Portlandia," the Independent Film Channel's comedy show that satirizes urban hipsters.

That's a trick lots of other Times writers can't claim; the Times has described everything from children's books to Brooklyn restaurants with a "Portlandia" adjective.

But they're hardly the only writers obsessed with comparing things to the comedy show. From GQ and New York magazine to Gawker -- and whether writing about arrests for public sex, coffee shops across America, or combination bike fair/film festivals -- "Portlandia" has become a lazy shorthand for oddball, quirky cool. And no, don't say that should be a "Portlandia" sketch.

The “Portlandia” guide to Portland

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:45:00 +0000

Portland is a town. "Portlandia" is a state of mind.

Portland, Ore., has plenty of reasons to be smug. It’s a bohemian wonderland where, despite high rates of unemployment, homelessness and hunger, sensitive Subaru-driving beardsmen can consume Rogue Voodoo Donut Bacon Maple Ale, enjoy a crispy pig-head roulade, share trailer-refurb workshops with other craftspeople and meet tattooed girls who DJ, knit shrugs and ride custom-made bikes.

Portland boasts a world-class film and video industry (Grimm, Gus Van Sant, Todd Haynes), and more successful bands than almost any other town in the U.S. (Decemberists, Wild Flag, M Ward, Pink Martini, etc.). It leads the nation in eco-superiority, LEED buildings, recycling and banning plastic, clean sustainable living and has a bicycle industry that adds an estimated $90 million per year to the local economy. Local moms report that the kids at school excitedly lap up Brussels sprouts.

“Portlandia” stars: Why we tease the cool kids

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that the smartest sketch comedy show on TV stars an iconic indie-rocker and a quiet “Saturday Night Live” cast member who once wanted to be a drummer. Fred Armisen seems most comfortable burrowed deep into characters and impressions – so much so it’s easy to forget he’s now been on the venerable show for a decade. Carrie Brownstein was the jittering livewire at the heart of Sleater-Kinney, which no less than Time magazine once called the best band in America, and now brings her smoldering, Jagger-esque intensity to the band Wild Flag.

“Put a Bird on It”: The aftermath

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:25:00 +0000

The other day I popped into an artsy boutique to pick up a birthday treat for a friend. Flipping through handmade wooden magnets designed by a hip collage artist, I found my finger resting on one featuring a pen and ink drawing of a bird. Nervous, I glanced left and right before dropping the item back into its display.

The image was lovely, but was it cliché? In a post-"Portlandia" world, I couldn’t show up to a party of design-savvy women with a gift upon which someone had put a bird. What would that say about my taste? That it was stuck in last January? The pang in my gut was so specific and acute that I felt only Germans could accurately name it. Did I just experience der Vogelschäme?

“Put a bird on it, right?” I remarked to the shop clerk with a knowing chuckle. She acted like she didn’t hear me. She likely stopped listening to those jokes months ago, after “Portlandia,” the IFC sketch comedy show starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, reduced the twee design meme, its creators and consumers to a snarky catchphrase she probably hears more often in this shop than she would care to admit.

Fred Armisen delivers high school commencement speech

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Anyone who has yet to watch Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein's amazing IFC show "Portlandia" really missed out. I mean, put a bird on it you guys! The saddest part about "Portlandia" was that it only had six episodes (don't worry, it's coming back for a second season), meaning that as soon as you got hooked on the show, it ended.

Luckily for the show's fans, Fred Armisen went to a Portland high school and gave a commencement speech recently. It reminded us both why "Portlandia" is so funny and also why Armisen should be given every public speaking engagement ever.

“Portlandia”: Can the left laugh at itself?

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:01:00 +0000

In a restaurant sketch on the new IFC series "Portlandia," a waitress approaches a man and woman at a table and asks if they’re ready to order. The woman says she’d like to know more about the chicken.

"The chicken is a Heritage Breed, woodland-raised chicken that’s been fed a diet of sheep's milk, soy and hazelnuts," the waitress replies.

"This is local?" man asks, leaning thoughtfully on his hand.

"Yes," the waitress replies.

"Oregon organic, or Portland organic?" the woman asks.

"It’s just all-across-the-board organic," the waitress says.

The questions get more intense and detailed, to the point where the couple sounds as though they’re doing a background check on a Supreme Court nominee. The waitress leaves for a moment, then returns with a dossier. "His name was Colin," she says. "Here are his papers."

Can the 21st century, granola-crunching, organic-farm-supporting, "Daily Show"-quoting, early-technology-adopting, bike-lane-promoting American left laugh at itself?