Believe or not, I am not a gardening enthusiast. I mean, I can appreciate a job well done, but I’m not exactly on top of my perennials. That being said, the Rose Test Garden is what I would consider a job well done. Even knowing f-all about flowers, I really was impressed. That and the fact that it has commanding views of the city make this a must do.
Powell's Books - Originally Published 2008
Life is full of moments where a person is dealt a card that serves to change his perspective. I remember once in junior high school hearing one of my friends tell me, “Man, I hate reading”.
Hate reading? He might as well have said that he hated breathing. Unfortunately, I have found out that the non-readers outnumber the readers. Does this spell our doom as a society? Play it out over a couple more generations and then we’ll talk.
In the future, archeologists may sift through the remnants of a place like Powell’s and try to figure out just what we were up to with objects filled with paper and funny shapes printed on the pages. But in the meantime, Powell’s is king. And by king, I mean that they occupy an entire city block and have the distinction of the world’s largest used bookstore.
If you consider yourself a reading enthusiast, I recommend that you stop. The day I went, they didn’t have any Edward Bunker or Charles Bukowski in stock. Such is life.
Velveteria - Originally Published 2008
The camera never blinks and apparently, neither does acrylic paint on black velvet.
Tucked away in Northwest Portland is a museum devoted to the adoration of black velvet paintings. Carl Baldwin and Caren Anderson have amassed the world’s largest collection and for only a five dollar admission, want to share their passion with you.
There are well over three hundred paintings on view at any time that have been grouped by theme. When we attended, there were nudes, celebrity, religious, unicorn, glow-in-the-dark, and Wild West. However, they do have specific shows. Most recently is one called “Black is Beautiful”.
The museum displays the art without any judgment towards the work or the artists. The proprietors trust their patrons to evaluate the pieces themselves. They have everything from the breathtaking to the flat out god-awful.
As an added bonus, if you can identify the celebrity in the painting hanging in the center of this picture, you can win a prize. We guessed Cesar Chavez. We were wrong.