ramblings of a dabbler

A birthday wish from little old (literally, ha!) me.

2011-03-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

A week ago I celebrated a significant milestone - my 40th birthday. So far, it's been looking like an exciting year. As one of my wishes, I'd like enlist your help.

I am on the board of directors for a truly unique and inspiring theatre program for young actors in our region. Portland Theatre Brigade provides professional theatre training for young people ages 7-14. Theatre Brigade not only teaches amazing acting skills (using improvisation through Spolin work - most of you know how important improv is to me!) - but it also empowers these young people to know their own voice and to be leaders and team players no matter their age and talent. I've seen first hand how transformational this program can be to these kids!

One of the most unique offerings in the program is the Portland Theatre Brigade School Tour. Our young actors tour to schools throughout the Portland metro area providing FREE theatre performances for 3,000 students each year. Not only is this an invaluable experience for the young members of Theatre Brigade, it also serves as an inspiring and lively experience for the student audiences they reach. And with the dwindling arts education resources in our schools, Theatre Brigade performances may be one of the few live theatre performances these students get all year.

As Portland Theatre Brigade gets their spring School Tour underway, I humbly ask

PLEASE HELP US RAISE $10,000 BY APRIL 23!

Through a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, as well as pledges from other donors, we're already nearly halfway there.

Visit our website to donate online or send a check to Portland Theatre Brigade, PO Box 5823, Portland, OR 97228. Watch our thermometer fill up as donations come in!

As a special 40th birthday gift to me, I'm hoping that you'll consider a gift of $40 or more towards this campaign. If 100 of you wonderful people pitched in $40 we'd be so close to our goal!! (Of course, we'll be happy to accept donations of any size smaller or larger than $40.)

Anyone who donates to Theatre Brigade during this campaign will receive a link to a wonderful video about Portland Theatre Brigade created by one of the student alums.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all your support!!

Toni

PS - If you haven't liked our Facebook page, do it now! Click here.

thank you

2010-11-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

xin cảm ơn
xièxie
thank you
spasibo
shukran
salamat
obrigado
ngiyabonga
merci
mauruuru
komapsumnida
kiitos
kia ora
khawp jai
grazie
gracias
diolch
dank je
danke
asante
arigato

hey baby, what's your favorite color?

2010-11-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

My husband and I were joking recently about how well we knew each other and I said, yeah, like what would you say if someone asked you what's my favorite color. And he said, uh, what is your favorite color. And I said, actually, I don't really have one.

There's a really cool design article about color from Smashing Magazine, and online mag aimed at web designers.. It's actually a three part series called Color Theory for Designers.

Etsy has two pretty rad color tools to enhance your handmade shopping experience. Find them here and here.

Here's a few cool photos I found on flickr:

from gem66

from mag3737 through the squared circle group

from kholkute

from Auntie P

from woody1778a

Matt's new commercial

2010-11-24T16:09:00.000-08:00

[I missed posting yesterday, so I'll be trying to do another make-up-cheat-double-posting-day for my NaBloPoMo effort this month.]

My hub Matt is in a new commercial for Napa Auto Part and their commemorative football for the "civil war" rivalry between OSU and U of O (Hate the civil war reference, but oh well, it's not my game).

Here's a link to last year's:

2009 Napa Commercial

The Market

2010-11-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

This post is sort of a mini-ode to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market. The last day of the market for the season was this past rainy Saturday. It prompted my first poem in about 20 years and some images taken last week.

Kabocha, pear, bell pepper, onion, chard.
The market air filled thickly, hunting for
our meals. It's crisp now, autumn giving dare
to cold of winter. Where to go? Inside.

Friday's A to Z: the "Stinky" Edition

2010-11-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

a - agism.
b - black friday.
c - comic sans.
d - "don't ask, don't tell." repeal this already!!!
e - education in this country.
f - feet. stinky feet, literally. blech.
g - glenn beck. there's even a comprehensive glenn-beck-sucks blog.
h - halitosis.
i - ice cream. actually, i love ice cream, but it stinks that i can't have it after every meal.
j - jealousy.
k - ken buck. he recently received the douchebag decree over at bitchmedia's blog.
l - legalese.
m - model minority myth.
n - neo-nazi's. my friends at circle a radio did a program about the rise of fascism in portland.
o - outsourced, the tv show. hear our commentary on the next apa compass fri dec 6th.
p - pickles. eew.
q - queer-bashing. aka homophobia.
r - racism.
s - sarah palin. here's a recent blog from huffington post with leaks from her forthcoming book.
t - trafficking, of humans.
u - unemployment.
v - vermin.
w - war.
x - xenophobia.
y - yanni.
z - zealots. of any kind.

eclosion

2010-11-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

I finally had a chance to catch up reading my friend Sarah's blog avventure. She's a professional clown who is in Florence as a pedagogical knight (read more about that on her blog) for a brand new international clown school Helikos, founded by her mentor Giovanni Fusetti. Not only is she blogging wonderfully about her own process as a teacher in training and a witness to the "emergence" of a new school, she's sharing a lovely portrait Florence.

In one of her posts - giocavamo [we have been playing (imperfect)] - she shares one of the teacher's lessons on LeCoq's Twenty Movements. The one that resonated with me was "eclosion" or the verb "eclose"

Definition: "Emerge as an insect from the pupa case, or of a larva from the egg."

I love that essence of emergence. And as a concept for movement... very interesting. I'll be checking out more LeCoq.

how did I become such a dance geek?

2010-11-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Doh. I did not get to post yesterday. So, I'm going to have to cheat a bit on my NaBloPoMo and post twice today....

I, myself, do love to dance. What's more I've been thrilled with the extreme success of dance in pop culture today. It's one of the "hot" things right now that I actually think is worthy, recognizing dancers as the incredible artists and talents that they are and bringing them to the forefront when they are most traditionally relegated as a backdrop.

Anyhoo, my current dance phenomenon obsession is The LXD - Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. It's a web-only series on hulu, the most successful one existing. The story is somewhat simplistic: dancers as superheroes and super villains whose power is the dance itself; good vs. evil; recruiting and training of new team members. What makes the series super freaking awesome is the dance. The LXD includes so many genres of dance, from krumping to poi to popping to contemporary to tap. The other thing I love about it is that the series is filled with people of color, both in front of and behind the scenes. I think it could use more women. Regardless, it's a hip hop ballet circus that kicks ass. I can't wait for the next episode!

Here's Season 1, Episode 1 (they are currently in the midst of Season 2, with new episodes released on Wednesdays):

Tina and Twain

2010-11-16T05:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my pal Sarika for pointing me to this! (She's part of the APA Compass crew and also writes for Hot House.)

Last week, Tina Fey received the venerable Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Whoohoo! Though, I've been rather disappointed with 30 Rock of late, I still do ♥ Tina Fey, a most righteous and deserving recipient for this stuffy (Kennedy Center/PBS, represent!), yet impressive award.

A little background on the Mark Twain Prize : The Kennedy Center established the award "to recognize those who create humor from their uniquely American experiences." Past honorees the prize, which was first awarded in 1998 to Richard Pryor, include other amazing comics, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin.

On a side, statistical note: 3 of the 12 awardees have been African American, and 3 have been women. Not, too shabby. However, only 2 prize winners were given the award when they were age 50 or under, Tina being the youngest at age 40. Due to the "American" nature of the prize, I'm guessing it will be a long time before we see anyone of any other ethnicity honored with this prize (Margaret Cho? Cheech Marin? Mindy Kaling?), especially given the current climate towards immigrants in this country.

Back to the brighter note of Tina Fey's awesome achievement, here's her spot-on acceptance speech from this year's presentation:

Watch the full episode. See more Mark Twain Prize.

The full program:

Watch the full episode. See more Mark Twain Prize.

dinner theatre for families!

2010-11-15T09:00:00.001-08:00

For those of you in the Portland area with school age children, there's a great family event benefiting a great children's theatre company (admittedly I'm biased, as I'm on Portland Theatre Brigade's board of directors - but really it is wonderful!).

Details:
Sunday, November 21
4:00pm
Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE MLK, Portland
Tickets: Kids under 16 $7, Adults $12
Pre-purchased tickets include grilled cheese and tomato soup! Purchase tickets here.
Sponsors: Curious Comedy Theater, The Waterbrook Studio, CheezyFlicks.com, Dave's Killer Bread

The performers include two local actors and three professionals from across the country who all specialize in story theatre, having studied with the venerable Paul Sills, son of the godmother of improvisation Viola Spolin.

More details about the company and the dinner theatre event on the Portland Theatre Brigade website.

Friday's A to Z: the "Boundary" Edition

2010-11-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

Keeping with a theme from earlier in the week, a list of words from A to Z. I'm working with the loose theme of "boundary," a little research for possible exploration in improvisation. I actually broke out an old-fashioned printed dictionary book for this one: Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, published in 1990. Wow, it's hard to believe 1990 was 20 years ago. That'll have to be a whole other list (the A to Z list of things that makes me feel old)... also consulted my Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus from 1993.

abut vb 1) to touch along a border or with a projecting part; 2a) to terminate at a point of contact b) to lean for support / vt 1) to border on; touch; 2) to cause to abut

boundary n something that indicates or fixes a limit or extent; a bounding or separating line, point, or plane

compass n 1a) boundary, circumference b) a circumscribed space c) range, scope; 2) a curved or roundabout course; 3) a device for determining directions by means of a magnetic needle or group of needles turning freely on a pivot and pointing to the magnetic north

door n 1) a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened, also, a similar part of a piece of furniture; 2) doorway; 3) a means of access

edge n 1a) the cutting side of a blade b) the sharpness of a blade c) penetrating power d) a noticeably harsh or sharp quality; 2a) the line where an object or area begins or ends, border b) the narrow part adjacent to a border c a point near the beginning or the end d) a favorable margin, advantage; 3) a line or line segment that is the intersection of two place faces (as or a pyramid or of two planes

freestyle n a competition in which a contestant uses a style of his choice instead of a specified style

game n 1) activity engaged in for diversion or amusement, play; 2) a procedure or strategy for gaining an end, tactic; 3a) a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other b) organized athletics c0 a situation that involves contest, rivalry, or struggle

husk n 1) a typically dry or membranous outer covering of a seed or fruit; 2a) an outer layer, shell b) an emptied shell, remnant c) a supporting framework

ictus n the recurring stress or beat in a rhythm or metrical series of sounds

jalousie n 1) a blind with adjustable horizontal slats for admitting light and air while excluding sun and rain; 2) a window made of adjustable glass louvers that control ventilation

kern n a part of a typeset letter that projects beyond its side bearings

latchkey n a key to an outside and especially a front door

myopia n 1) a condition in which the visual images come to a focus in front of the retina of the eye resulting in defective vision of distant objects; 2) a lack of foresight or discernment, a narrow view of something

né adj 1) used to indicate the original, former, or legal name of a man; 2) originally or formerly called

obstruction n 1a) an act of obstructing b) the state of being obstructed, especially a condition of being clogged or blocked; 2) something that obstructs

pattern n 1) a form or model proposed for imitation; 2) something designed or used as a model for making things; 3) a model for making a mold into which molten metal is poured to form a casting; 4) an artistic, musical, literary, or mechanical design or form; 5) a natural or chance configuration; 6) a length of fabric sufficient for an article; 6) the distribution of shrapnel, bombs on a target, or shot from a shotgun; 8) a reliable sample of traits, acts, tendencies, or other observable characteristics of a person, group, or institution; 9) the flight path prescribed for an airplane that is coming in for a landing; 10) a standard diagram transmitted for testing television circuits 11) discernible coherent system based on the intended interrelationship of component parts; 12) frequent or widespread incidence

quay n a structure built along the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place

regimen n 1a) a systematic plan, especially when designed to improve and maintain the health of a patient 2) a regular course of strenuous training; 2) government, rule

symmetry n 1) balanced proportions; 2) the property of being symmetrical, especially correspondence in size, shape, and relative position of parts on opposite sides of a dividing line or median place or about a center or axis; 3) a rigid motion of a geometric figure that determines a one-to-one mapping onto itself; 4) he property of remaining invariant under certain changes

transparent adj 1a) having the property of transmitting light without appreciable scattering so that bodies lying beyond are entirely visible, pellucid b) fine or sheer enough to be seen through, diaphanous; 2a) free from pretense or deceit, frank b) easily detected or seen through, obvious c) readily understood

unbridle vt to free or loose from a bridle, to set loose, free from restraint

village n 1a) a settlement usually larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town b) an incorporated minor municipality; 2) the residents of a village; 3) something suggesting a village; 4) a territorial area having the status of a village

wall vt 1a) to provide, cover with, or surround with or as if with a wall b) to separate by or as if by a wall; 2a) immure b) to close with or as if with a wall

xenophobia n fear and hatred of strangers of foreigners or of anything that is foreign

yielding adj 1) productive; 2) lacking rigidity or stiffness, flexible; 3) disposed to submit or comply

zenith n 1) the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the nadir and vertically above the observer; 2) the highest point reached in the heavens by a celestial body; 3) culminating point, acme

Small Space, Big Stories tonight

2010-11-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

I've been directing three improvisors for a show we're calling Small Space, Big Stories. Our venue is a very small, intimate space (hence the title), Nisus Gallery. Tonight we'll explore themes of place, relationship and constraints, in the first of what we hope will be regular improvised theater performances at Nisus. There is just the tiniest amount of seating so get there early (doors open at 7:30) to ensure you've got a spot.

More details about Small Space, Big Stories here.

You'll also get to see the visual art exhibit up at Nisus, "Barbie" by Claudia Porter.

the wonderful world of words

2010-11-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

Still NaBloPoMo-ing, though I did take a break on the weekends. I get so caught up in writing these that I need to have that breather. If (or rather when - think positive, right?) I succeed at NaBloPoMo this month with weekends off, the next goal will then be full, daily blog posts. Hooray. Speaking of writing...

I've seen and heard a few good wordy things of late.

My friend Rich shared this great post of 20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around The World. My favorites from this list include...

Mamihlapinatapei: Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” - perhaps it's because I'm an improvisor, I recognize this feeling so well; the best improv, though, is to do away with that reluctance part of the equation

Cafuné: Brazilian Portuguese – “The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.” - that's just sweet

Duende: Spanish – While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.” There’s actually a nightclub in the town of La Linea de la Concepcion, where I teach, named after this word. - I love the dark origins of this word, very evocative

On NPR this week, Robert Siegel did a piece (Website Helps Rescue Obscure Words) about savethewords.org, a clever, promo developed by ad company Young and Rubicam for Oxford English Dictionary. You can adopt a word by pledging to use it in everyday conversation. I adopted the word jobler, one who does small jobs. Appropos for an unemployed person, no?

Finally, for the type geeks of you out there here are some of the font blogs I follow. Mostly they go over my head, but I still love gazing at nibs and stems and rhythms of text. Please feel free to suggest others!

I Love Typography
The Grid System
The FontFeed

The art of the music video: OK Go

2010-11-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm generally a fan of many art disciplines from theater to visual art to film. But, as a art buff with a limited budget and never enough time, I've sort of placed music lower on my priority list for things I spend time on. In other words, I've not bought any new music in probably 10 years and I rarely go to see live music.

I'm no connoisseur of music, as I've already stated, but I like OK Go's music. Even more, I do fully appreciate their music videos. For a fun behind-the-scenes, Nerdist (fun podcast for tech and comedy nerds) did a nice podcast with the OK Go guys here.

They've just released their newest video - freakin' gorgeous stop motion toast animation for their song Last Leaf. Check it out:

Last Leaf

OK Go | Myspace Music Videos

Other favorites...

That awesome Rube Goldberg machine one, for This Too Shall Pass:

And then there's that other This Too Shall Pass, the original I believe, featuring the University of Notre Dame's marching band:

Finally, one of the earlier amazing videos, Here it Goes Again:

bizarre job postings

2010-11-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

As one of the 10%+ unemployed in this state, I peruse craigslist on a regular basis. Because I'm such a multi-talented individual (read: hard to pin down "career" path) I look at many of the categories of job opps and gigs. Here's a collection of the stranger postings of late...

case law research-temp
Potential! (?)
All Hands on deck - Seeking Hot Female Amputee
Models with over developed legs

Friday's A to Z

2010-11-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Building on yesterday's post, here are some things I ♥ right now:

A - APA Compass. We did a show this morning. We'll have archives up in the next couple of days.
B - Boots.
C - Community. One of my favorite TV shows right now with one of my favorite characters on TV right now Abed. One of the best episodes of TV ever is Modern Warfare from Season 1, Episode 23, directed by Justin Lin.
D - Danny's Auto on Halsey and 60th.
E - Energy.
F - Farmers Market. Only 2 more weeks!
G - Gabriel's Bakery's herb cheese bagels.
H - Harry Potter. I know, I'm a late bloomer.
I - Improv Theater. Shameless promo: We're doing a show next week Small Space, Big Stories.
J - Jackets.
K - Kissing hubby.
L - The Library.
M - Milani Nail Lacquer "Cappucino" - described "Light Coffee with Gold Shimmer"
N - The Great Northwest.
O - Owls.
P - Piano. I feel very blessed to have one of my very own. I recently learned how to play "Don't Stop Believing" and "Here Comes the Sun" on YouTube. Amazing.
Q - Maggie Q, star of Nikita. I watched the show as homework for our APA Compass radio discussion about APAs on TV, and now am fully sucked in.
R - Rest.
S - Slings and Arrows. More on this next week.
T - Time Traveler's Wife.
U - Upper Horsetail and Triple Falls at the Columbia River Gorge.
V - Vodka Martini. A little dirty.
W - White Tea. Specifically Vanilla Apricot White Tea by Tazo.
X - Extracurriculars. (Close enough to X!) My life is all extracurricular it seems right now.
Y - Soft Yolks. I had my eggs over easy this morning and it was yum.
Z - Portland Zombie Walk.

"A" image is by me.
"Z" image found on Wikimedia Commons: Route sign for Missouri Supplemental Route Z. Based on Image:MO-supp-K.svg by User:PHenry.

Check out

2010-11-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

I ♥ Multnomah County Library.

Did you know, not only do we in Portland have the highest circulation in the nation for libraries our size, but we also have the highest collection turnover rate, too. And yes, we passed the library ballot measure this past week. Apparently I'm not the only one who loves the library... More on our voracious library culture from the Oregonian a few months back here.

Currently checked out:

Books
1491 : new revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (actually, hub's reading this one)
The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century by Studs Terkel
The Lemon Tree: an Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan
Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader: The Yellow Wallpaper and other fiction by Charlotte Perkins
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Seed to Harvest by Octavia E. Butler

DVDs
Extras: The Complete First Season
Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series
Slings and Arrows: Season 3
Weeds: Season 5

CDs
West Side Story: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Saltbreakers by Laura Veirs
It's Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
La Foret by Xiu Xiu
Centuries Before Love and War by Stars of Track and Field
Inland Territory by Vienna Teng
New Moon by Elliot Smith

what's on the tube?

2010-11-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was sad to witness a couple of my favorite tv shows display some cringe-worthy, questionably racist and sexist moments. I'm actually one of those lefties who likes tv and appreciates keeping up with some pop culture. But my enjoyment of the boob tube is always slightly dampened when my media criticism radar starts flashing during 30 Rock or So You Think You Can Dance. And now, there's a whole new crop of TV shows featuring Asian Pacific American faces including Hawaii Five-0, Nikita and Outsourced. So far, from what I've seen it's both cringe-inducing and encouraging.

The radio collective I'm part of APA Compass is launching a new feature and dedicating our next show to it - APA Pop Watch - commentary and analysis on APA representation in media and pop culture. The program will air Friday morning November 5, 9am PST on KBOO Community Radio. You can listen online or, if you live in the region on the FM dial at 90.7 Portland, 91.9 Hood River, 100.7 Corvallis.

If you'd like to prepare yourself for our discussion, you might want to hulu some of those new shows and check out these recent(-ish) commentaries...

Asian American Sitcom in the Works - Angry Asian Man

Asians in Primetime - by Dmae Roberts, The Asian Reporter

Fall 2010 TV Season Preview - racebending.com

Is 30 Rock Racist? - by Zeesham Aleem, Huffington Post

Beyond Apu by Nina Shen Rastogi, Slate.com

Election Day

2010-11-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

A clip from one of my favorite political movies...

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Seriously, though. Don't be like Tammy. Show that you do care - about our country, about our neighborhoods, about our communities. It does matter! If you haven't already, vote today!!!

Slings and Arrows, for the arts administrator

2010-10-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

To ring in the new Gregorian year, I'd like to recommend this series...

I stumbled across Slings and Arrows somehow. Someone along the way recommended it to me (thank you, whoever you are!!) and I've finally finished the three seasons on DVD. A perfect show for those arts administrators amongst us, the delightful comedy extolls the foibles, earnestness, absurdity and glory of bringing arts to the people.

It follows the creative and administrative teams at the fictional "New Burbage Festival," a Shakespeare festival, not unlike our fine state's Oregon Shakespeare Festival (though I believe it's really modeled after the Stratford Festival.) Complete with lots of great Shakespeare, star-crossed lovers, intrigue, ghosts and great accents - thank you Canadians for your most excellent comedy!

Butternut Squash Egg Casserole

2010-10-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going for it. One blog post each day for the month of November. They say I can be blog free on the weekends so we'll see how that pans out. Speaking of pans, I'll start this month with a nice Autumn recipe. Remember, I'm an improvisor at heart, so this is more of an idea starter...

We recently bought a lovely butternut squash at the farmer's market. I had nothing particular in mind, just know that I love winter squash. Here's what I decided to make with it based on what I already had in the kitchen. It's rather quiche-like.

Butternut Squash Egg Casserole

Ingredients
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 in cubes
1/2 large onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 red pepper (roasted or raw), diced
6 eggs
1 cup of milk
a splash of water
dash-1/2 tablespoon of 2-5 spices (I used thyme, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon)
1/2 cup of cheese (I used monterey jack because it was in m fridge, but swiss, cheddar or even smoked cheese like gouda or provolone would probably work well)
1/2 package of tofu (if desired)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Saute onions in olive oil for 5-7 minutes. Make sure they don't burn, but are soft and aromatic. Add butternut squash and and bit more oil. Add spices. Saute until squash is soft enough to pierce easily, but not so much that it's complete mush. Probably about 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, water and milk together until completely blended. Also, oil small-medium size casserole dish and preheat oven to 400º. Crumble tofu in with squash and saute for 3 minutes. Add bell pepper, salt and pepper to the squash and saute for 3 more minutes. Transfer squash mixture to casserole. Top with cheese and then egg mixture. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove cover and brown top for 5 minutes.

That's it. Pretty darn easy and yummy. Suggest serving with an arugula salad or other greens.

on creativity

2010-07-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a fascinating article by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman from Newsweek about the decline of creativity in the US:

The Creativity Crisis

The article uses reports from professor E. Paul Torrance's creativity tests as a jumping off point about measuring creativity, how creativity manifests and why it's important. Early on the author's define creativity (not sure who has "accepted" the definition, as I might wordsmith it some myself):

"The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful, and that’s what’s reflected in the tests. There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result)."

On the one hand, the authors posit that "creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom."

"The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded. When scholars gave creativity tasks to both engineering majors and music majors, their scores laid down on an identical spectrum, with the same high averages and standard deviations. Inside their brains, the same thing was happening—ideas were being generated and evaluated on the fly."

On the flip side, it does seem that artists do have a leg up in the creativity category. Using an example of a study done at University of Western Ontario neuroscientist Daniel Ansari and Harvard’s Aaron Berkowitz, the article highlights the value of right-brain/left-brain process in creativity:

"They put Dartmouth music majors and nonmusicians in an fMRI scanner, giving participants a one-handed fiber-optic keyboard to play melodies on. Sometimes melodies were rehearsed; other times they were creatively improvised. During improvisation, the highly trained music majors used their brains in a way the nonmusicians could not: they deactivated their right-temporoparietal junction. Normally, the r-TPJ reads incoming stimuli, sorting the stream for relevance. By turning that off, the musicians blocked out all distraction. They hit an extra gear of concentration, allowing them to work with the notes and create music spontaneously."

The whole article left me pondering creativity vs. arts and really how we can provide opportunities for more, more, more. This means rethinking everything: arts education, education reform, community development - all of it. To me empowering creativity is empowering individuals to be critically engaged in our world and our environment.

Back to Blog A-Z

2010-07-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

A. apricot and cherry crumble with alden's vanilla bean ice cream
B. basement = "summer palace" when it's 94º outside at 8:30pm
C. our new favorite card game is called "hand and foot"
D. waiting for DVR to capture a good chunk of sytycd
E. sick of walking on eggshells around certain stressful individuals
F. font: CarbonType
G. goal!!
H. our neighborhood hollywood farmers market rocks my world
I. inspired somehow to get back to blog
J. joke - q: Why does a chicken coop have two doors? a: Because if had four doors it would be a chicken sedan!
K. thinking of getting a flip camera or a kodak Zi8, please share thoughts if you've got 'em.
L. love my hubby lots
M. our 2 yr old nephew maceo loves trucks and hummus
N. nuts i love: almond, macadamia, cashew, filbert
O. our nephew oscar brought over his pet hamster furball
P. harry potter. obsessed. anxiously awaiting for bk 6 from the library.
Q. we made two different, delightful quinoa salads last week
R. reading like mad
S. word scramble 2 interface on my ipod touch is very cool
T. finally got our tax return
U. conveyor belt sushi delivered unagi tonight
V. on the librarian recommendations new release shelf, picked up ether: seven stories and a novella by evgenia citkowitz. evgenia. neato.
W. time to talk about something besides the weather
X. x-ray? x-men? xylophone?
Y. finally getting some yardening on
Z. zit on my nose = contact lenses

A2Z September 2009 Edition

2009-09-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

a) My ankle is bunk. I had a Spice Girls incident years ago (tripped over my own platform shoes)(OK I know, why the hell was I wearing platform shoes? What can I say, it was the 90s.) and ever since my right ankle has been sensitive on an on and off basis. This week, on. :-(
b) Fall means Back to Blog! I shall blog regularly again after my unexpected summer hiatus.
c) Our poor Corolla has a whole slew of problems right now. Nothing serious, but annoying enough. On the list: driver side seat belt is failing; dome light doesn't work; window rattles; some weird noise when we turn (okay that might be more serious). If anyone has a good mechanic in Portland let me know.
d) Dog or no dog? That is the question.
e) Egg Salad. I want to make egg salad today.
f) Excited to dabble in the film world again. I recently joined a small collective (if you're knowledgeable about the local film scene and interested in getting involved let me know!) producing a new program at KBOO called Behind the Screen. Listen in the last Thursday of the month.
g) I'm gazing out my window and the skies are gray. Or is it grey? Actually grey is the British spelling. So, now you know. Madonna would definitely use "grey."
h) House! Enough said.
i) Now that it's fall, I'm committed to doing more improv! A group of us gals just started meeting to play together. Hopefully that will get going on a regular basis. I founded a rad all-woman improv troupe in Chicago years ago called RED. One of the other members of this group was in Southern Oregon's Hamazons: Warrior Princesses of Comedy. Other improv opps I plan to partake in: Jumping Off Place and Curious Comedy's Open Court.
j) Didn't get to finish Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake before I had to return it to the library. I'm putting it on hold again.
k) Just watched Project Runway Allstars on DVR. Korto Momolu was robbed! Just goes to show that white man making an "edgy" collection that can be worn by twig-sized teens gets more respect than a woman of color making bold, well-crafted beautiful designs for women of all sizes.
l) I'm into my Burt's Bees' Lip Shimmer. Shade: Peony.
m) I'm excited to dive into the slo-cooker pork mole that Matt made. Yummy!
n) Check out the newly designed Bitch Magazine. The stalwart feminist pop culture rag took a break to regroup and are looking better than ever in "The Consumed Issue." They've also got a new Executive Director Julie Falk who we hope will continue to help steer the Bitch boat in the right direction. Call them Bitch Media now and enjoy not only the magazine, but their offerings of audio, blog and more. Support Bitch by joining their B-Hive!
o) Open auditions for Portland Theatre Brigad e are happening starting next week! All young actors ages 7-15 invited to audition for this fabulous, empowering, young people's theatre company.
p) Pens I'm into right now: Uni-Ball Gel Grip Pens, 0.7 mm, Medium Point; Uni-Ball Vision Elite Liquid Rollerball Pens, 0.5 mm, Micro Point; and always the magical, wonderful standard Fine Point Sharpie.
q) Quip: 1. A clever, witty remark often prompted by the occasion.2. A clever, often sarcastic remark; a gibe. Courtesy of Free Dictionary.
r) RIP Richard Francis, host of KBOO's A Different Nature. I didn't know him well, but I know he was a sweet soul and well-loved at KBOO. Here are nice articles about Richard on the Kill Ugly Radio and Baron Landscape's Broken Hour blogs.
s) Super Project Lab, my hubby's improv troupe, has a whole bunch of shows coming up. This weekend they're doing "Old Flames" at Curious Comedy and they are sharing the bill with Canoofle. And Matt (my sweetie) directed the show!
t) TBA! TBA! TBA! Here's an interview I did with curator Kristan Kennedy for Behind the Screen.
u) Okay, nearing the end of the alphabet and feeling a bit stuck... I always wanted Wonder Woman Underoos. It seems they still make them.
v) The Verdana font was designed by Matthew Carter specifically to be read on a computer screen. Here's more from fonts.com.
w) Speaking of Wonder Woman, did you know that Joss Whedon started writing a live action film adaptation of Wonder Woman? Too bad it never came to fruition.
x) Xi is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is preceded by Nu and followed by Omicron
y) I'm a full-time working stiff now. Luckily it's at this marvelous place, Young Audiences.
z) Zee End.

Attention KBOO Members - Exercise your privilege and vote in the Board elections!

2009-08-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

Some of you who know me may or may not know about the circumstances around my recent lay off from KBOO Community Radio. I've decided there's no reason to hash any of it out here (it's being well-hashed elsewhere and who knows, it may be fodder for a satirical short film someday). I'm still a proud member and active volunteer at the station.

And since I no longer work at KBOO, I can feel free to say how I feel about some of the folks who are currently running for KBOO's Board of Directors. If you are not a member of KBOO Community Radio then join now and support grassroots, locally crafted, non-commercial media. If you are, then you've probably received your official 2009 KBOO Voters' Guide and Ballot in the mail. Don't forget send in your completed ballot or deliver it to the KBOO Annual Membership Meeting on Saturday, September 26, by 2pm. The Annual Meeting takes place at Liberty Hall, 311 N. Ivy St.

Hell yeah!
The reason I'm endorsing the following folks is because I think they are all excellent people whose unique and thoughtful perspectives will help propel KBOO forward during a time of needed change, revolution and evolution. I'm also pleased to note that each of the candidates I'm endorsing are women of color. Where else in Portland you gonna get that kind of slate?

Keller Henry - I've worked some with Keller and can attest to the fact that she is a hard-worker, bright and energetic. Though she's only been with KBOO a short time, she's shown incredible commitment and enthusiasm. Her experience as an activist and perspective as a queer Haitian-American would be a valuable asset to KBOO and the Board.

Nia Lewis - I've worked with Nia a bunch and she kicks ass! She has been serving on the board over the past year in one of the appointed positions and has proven her worth as a committed and savvy board member. As a young African American woman she brings a much-needed perspective as KBOO continues to grow inclusive of diverse voices.

Paul Small - Paula is extremely savvy and exceptionally committed. In her short time at KBOO she's already taken on the role of Board Treasurer (she was appointed to the board at the last meeting after serving on the Finance Committee over the past few months). With her experience in accounting and non-profits, her enthusiasm and grounding energy she will continue to be a strong addition to the board.

Mimi Villarqui - Mimi is a talented and enthusiastic KBOO volunteer who's been doing KBOO events and serving on the Development Committee over the past year. Her interest in marketing/outreach combined with her commitment to community radio make her a huge asset to the KBOO board.

Please, no!
I implore you to please NOT vote for the following candidates:

Scott Forrester and Michael Papadopoulos - They are in the process of suing KBOO. More of that story here.

Now you've got my $.02. Go forth and vote!

Summer vacation is almost over

2009-08-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize I was taking a summer vacation from the blog! As the summer winds down I'm back. I've been busy, busy, busy, with lots of exciting, crazy antics, which I'll probably write about later when things are a bit more settled. Because I'm been so INSANE (just know, the last three weeks, and the last few days in particular, have been one of the biggest roller coaster rides I've experienced), and because my poor hubster is so darn sensitive to the heat, we decided to go to the air-conditioned movie theater last night. A welcome and excellent distraction!

There were a few good options at the Lloyd Center theatre (the one outside the mall on Multnomah) - Funny People, (500) Days of Summer, Julie & Julia. We chose Julie & Julia starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci. The (based on true) story follows a nearly-30 young woman named Julie who dreams to be a writer, but depressingly plugs away at government desk job. Her husband encourages her to start a cooking blog. She decides that her blog/life project will be to cook every single recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in exactly 365 days. Parallel to Julie's story is Julia Child's story - how she began seriously cooking in her 40s while living in Paris, studying at the Cordon Bleu and her deeply romantic and loving relationship with her husband Paul. To top it all off it was written and directed by queen of the chick flick Nora Ephron of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle fame. Sounds like too-perfect a package, right?

Loved it! OK, I admit, it's exactly what I wanted and needed for a distraction - a sappy, sweet love story. But it was even better than I expected from a formulaic Hollywood "chick flick."

First of all, Meryl Streep is frakkin' brilliant. She is such an amazing actress! She always manages to create fresh, complex, engaging characters, unlike so many other iconic (particularly male) actors of her caliber and age, who seem to fall into trite characterizations of themselves. (Think DeNiro, Pacino.) Streep's Julia Child is hilarious, loving, lovable, tragic, flamboyant and charming. Stanley Tucci makes a perfect Paul to Streep's Julia and their chemistry is heart-warming and wonderful to watch. Jane Lynch has a fun appearance as Julia's equally tall and charming sister.

In the other story line, Amy Adams does a very nice job as the sweet, quirky blogger. Her journey through Julia's cookbook is somewhat predictable, but well-played and satisfying. Eric Messina brings a nice grounding to their story line as husband Eric.

Another interesting aspect to the film is the political and social backdrop of the time periods of the two stories. Julia and Paul's story takes place amidst the scary McCarthy years, with Paul himself getting investigated for his communist ties. Julie and Eric live in Queens, Julie working at the Lower Manhattan Development Project post-9/11 answering calls about claims for survivors of folks who perished.

All in all, I enjoyed the film. It made me yearn for (and almost feel sick over) the gorgeous, rich French dishes. And it's always lovely and rare to see a good movie with strong, interesting, complex women characters, made by a strong female director.

Today's A 2 Z

2009-05-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

A: Angry Asian Man
B: Blogorrhea
C: Chocolate, dark and bitter is good
D: Dr. Horrible
E: Elliot Smith
F: Fonts
G: Grace Lee Boggs
H: Hamblog
I: Improvisation
J: Juice, carrot-orange
K: KBOO
L: Lost, yes I'm enjoying it again
M: Colectivo La Malagua
N: Naomi Iizuka
O: Octavia Butler
P: Parks
Q: Quince paste and manchego cheese on a nice cracker
R: Racialicious
S: Spectacles
T: T, the letter
U: Ursula K. LeGuin
V: Vernal equinox
W: Word games, puzzles
X: Malcolm X
Y: Yam, roasted, but not candied
Z: Ruth Zaporah

donut wedding

2009-05-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Lena just moved here from Boston. Her sweetie Paul just, just moved here from London. Today they got hitched in true Portlandia style - at the legendary Voodoo Donuts. Proprietor Tres Shannon did the honors. There were kazoos, a pirate and of course, lots of donuts. It was very sweet!

Here's a few photos. More on flickr.

Seth's Quake

2009-05-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a short story I wrote a few years ago. I had developed this exercise inspired by some work Matt and I were doing at the time. "Oppstacles" we called them - opportunity-obstacles. I created four buckets to inspire some flash fiction - 1) Word/Object, 2) Place, 3) Relationship/Character, and 4) Song (lyrics). For this particular piece, my randomly chosen items from these oppstacle buckets were: quake, parking lot, obsessed, Bizarre Love Triangle.

Seth's Quake
Seth was sick and tired of being the “bad” brother. Sure, Osi was righteous and all that, but geez can a brother get a break? Osi has a beautiful wife and a son, and what about Seth? Nothing. Torrents. Terror. Destruction. Again, he’s lonely sitting here at the Costco parking lot for the 100th day in a row. Why? To see if Isis will appear again. She doesn’t show herself often, but Seth knows that Isis can hardly resist the wholesale quantities like a crate of fresh strawberries or that 24 pack of toilet paper. Seth has loved his brother’s wife since third grade when her voice cut through the torrent of anger and humiliation he endured as Osi yet again found victory at the school spelling bee. Isis told Seth, “You spell fine, but your real talent is to move the earth with your heart.” And from that point on, Seth did just that. His first natural disaster was a landslide in Peru. 18,000 died. Another kicker was the monsoons in Thailand. 10,000 died. Seth felt great power and shame. Osi, meanwhile brought food to drought stricken Ethiopia. He clothed poor in China. He built houses for homeless in Guatemala. Seth and Osi were like two sides of the same coin. One couldn’t exist without the other. It’s just that Seth’s side got such a bad rap. How can being so good at something be so bad? Finally, in the 23rd hour of the 100th day of waiting, lovely Isis appeared with her perpetual baby boy in a sling. Seth slowly rose up from his waiting spot in parking space 301. Each movement from Seth snowballed into a thundering rumble and shaking of the ground, as he reached forth to his unrequited. Before he could reach her to tell her of his undying love, she fell through the cracks of the broken ground slowly floating, like a feather in the wind. She waved as she always did, the broken record of missed connection between one who loves and one who is loved.

Day 8 NaBloPoMo done. Quarter of the way there.

zombie haiku

2009-05-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

apparently haiku is a favorite form on twitter. i recently discovered a special niche - zombie haiku (#zombiehaiku). here are a few of my picks:

Oh, friend, lasting friend, you have taken a mouthful. I am whole no more. @lamusique

Silent morning air / still as a lonely graveyard / morning rendezvous @Christwitery

rigor mortis pain / the living all move too fast / a zombie's lament @kristen_pfaff

With a strong sucking, they pop right into my mouth. Eyeballs taste like grapes. @WootiesDotNet

i am grey on the outside, blue inside, dead all over so sue me @t_love_pdx (yes, that's me)

the boneyard

2009-05-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

When Matt and I went to Las Vegas back in March, the one thing I wanted to be sure and see was the Boneyard. It's part of the collection of the Neon Museum, an organization preserving, salvaging and restoring old signs so they just don't end up in the dump. They are also all about celebrating the "neon sign" as a uniquely Las Vegas artform. For now, the Boneyard is a big lot (actually two lots) where they store all the signs that they've salvaged. In addition to neon signs (many of which also also use incandescent bulbs) the museum ends up salvaging all kinds of other large signs. I thought it was pretty dang groovy, and a great Vegas activity if you're not much of a gambler or need time away from the regular action. You can only visit by appointment only, so don't forget to call at least a week before you want to go.

Here's a few of my favorite photos from the Boneyard. My whole set is up at flickr.

Next time, I'll be hitting the Liberace Museum.

reading list

2009-05-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

In an effort to create better life balance, I've made time to read more lately. I'm really into sci-fi right now, especially women authors. Any other recommendations are welcome! And please share your reading lists, too.

t-love's Reading List May 2009

Current

Neuromancer by William Gibson
Standing Up To the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times by Amy Goodman and David Goodman
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 edited by Dave Eggers

Recently finished

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

On deck

Tales From Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
Storycatcher by Christina Baldwin

NaBloPoMo day 5.

news roundup

2009-05-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

It's May 4, which means Day 4 of my NaBloPoMo month. Only 27 days to go...

Here are some random news and headlines that have caught my eye over the past few days:

When Coffee Wars Get Bitter: The Floyd's Saga - There's some shady stuff happening with one of my local coffee shops. Our PDX explains how Floyd's, the cool drive-thru coffee shop, were forced out of their space. Photo courtesy of One True b!x on flickr.

R.I.P. Al Robles and Manong Al Has Left the Building- Longtime Filipino-American community activist and poet Al Robles passed away. He's best known for his work around the closing of the I-Hotel in San Francisco, a former low-income residence for lots of Asian American elders that got torn down amidst lots of controversy and not-without a huge resistance from the community. He is featured in Curtis Choy's classic documentary Fall of the I Hotel as well as his latest film Manilatown is in the Heart, currently hitting the film festival circuit. Hyphen and Racewire report.

Brazilian theater director August Boal dies - Another sad loss for the community. Boal is the founder of Theater of the Oppressed, which he continued to teach until now. His work has been incredible in empowering communities to communicate and make powerful change. Photo courtesy of Teia 2007 on flickr.

If Pigs Could Fly: Traveling in the Time of Swine Flu - Interesting commentary from Sandip Roy at New American Media about America's new-found role in the swine fly scare.

Highest Paid CEOs for 2008 - In case you're not pissed off enough already. Based on AP research here's an unfuriating list of some folks who've made off well, despite the rest of us struggling. And yes, 4 of the top 10 are from our friendly banks.

sweet shamelessness

2009-05-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Time for some shameless promotion.

First me...

Here's some recent audio work I've done at KBOO Community Radio. I've been part of the APA Compass Collective for the last couple of years. I also recently started a new pilot show with S.W. Conser called Behind the Screen focusing on local filmmakers and festivals.

Tze Chun, writer/director, Children of Invention - an interview I did with a filmmaker in April who screened at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon
Bethany Leal, Network Director, Multi-ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network (MIWON) - this is an interview that fellow collective member Sudarat Musikawong did, which I produced and edited
Behind the Screen - in this recent episode we discuss upcoming film festivals and I did an interview with the founder of Filmusik, a new group that does new live musical scores for old films

I also write for the Asian Reporter. Here are a few of my recent opinion pieces:

Now to brag about my friends' projects...

My friend Sarah Liane Foster is a brilliant clown. Check out her new solo show The Last Show You'll Ever See playing later this month at Curious Comedy Theater in NE Portland.
I know a bunch of folks involved with the live soap opera Soap St. Theater including creator/director/writer Eric Martin Reid, musician Ralph Huntley (of Live Wire! and Super Project Lab fame) and actors Adrienne Flagg (also Creative Director at IFCC and founder/artistic director of Portland Theatre Brigade), Jennifer Lanier (also a Portland Theatre Brigade teacher) and Sean McGrath (another LiveWire! cast member).
My friend Risa Morimoto's documentary is airing nationally on PBS's Independent Lens this week for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The film is called Wings of Defeat, which reveals the true stories of World War II Kamikaze pilots. Check your local PBS listings for exact times.
A bunch of friends and colleagues organize and are taking part in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival going on right now. It's their 25th Anniversary! Congrats folks!
Levi Ethan Cecil is a musician I know (and also a dj on KBOO - his show is Midnight Mixtape) who's doing something very grassroots to try and get his CD released. Check out his website to learn more.

Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure there will be more later!

Day 3 of NaBloPoMo done.

Buck Howard, pretty great

2009-05-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

NaBloPoMo Day 2. I managed to work the "sweet" theme in...

Matt and I adventured to Living Room Theater to see The Great Buck Howard. I didn't know anything about the film, but the description sounded intruiging, and just the right light tone we were looking for. It stars John Malkovich, who I often find is annoyingly just shades of the same character on screen, but we still thought we'd give it a go.

Malkovich plays Buck Howard, a washed up stage entertainer as a mentalist. (The character is inspired by real-life mentalist The Amazing Kreskin. The film's director Sean McGinly was actually Kreskin's road manager for a while.) A mentalist is kinda like a magician (though he hates being called one) and a hypnotist rolled into one. His claim to fame is that he had appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 61 times. The story follows Buck through the eyes of his new road manager, Troy Gable, played by Colin Hanks (aka son of Tom, both in real-life and in this film). Troy is a law school drop-out who finds himself sucked into the world of the Great Buck Howard.

Buck and Troy travel his circuit of civic centers in third class cities like Bakersfield and Akron. Despite his corny and outdated performance style, Buck still enthralls the audiences, especially with his signature finale. The "effect" (what one might call a trick or an gimmick, but with mentalist, you just write things off as fake) is this: Buck enlists two audience members to hide the cash that he's receiving for the gig somewhere in the theater. He enlists another two volunteers who stay with Buck and his entourage backstage in the Green Room while it's being hidden to ensure that he is not cheating. Once the money is hidden, Buck returns and somehow, someway, always sniffs out that wad of cash.

The trajectory of the film moves toward Buck's big new effect, which he insists will be the impetus for comeback he's been waiting for. I won't give it away, but I will say that the end is both predictable and not.

I loved John Malkovich in this. He creates such an interesting, specific and empathetic character in the guise of a diva buffoon. In his shiny suits and gawdy sunglasses, Buck has these hilarious mannerisms, such as an overly vigorous handshake and his constant demonstrative declarations, "I love this town!"

Overall, I found both the writing and the performances to be quite good. Colin Hanks is extremely likable, Emily Blunt is capable, Steve Zahn is wonderful as an overzealous Cincinnati "groupie." Tom Hanks even makes an appearance, albeit, a rather forgettable one as the senior Gable. There are also lots of other fun cameos from the likes of David Blaine, Jon Stewart, Griffin Dunne and others.

If you're looking for a sweet, interesting character comedy, I would check it out. And if you see it at Portland's Living Room Theater, I would also recommend the chocolate cake with peanut butter cream icing. Yum.

Sweetness

2009-04-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm trying NaBloPoMo again this month. I tried it a few months back and lost steam because I went out of town a few times. For the month of May I will post on my blog once a day. Yes, every single day in May. That's 31 posts. Of course I picked a month with 31 days! But it is spring, so I suppose I'm feeling inspired. The theme for the month is "Sweet" if I choose to use it. Today I will...

If we're talking sweets, we're talking dessert. If we're talking dessert, then for me, above all else, we're talking CHOCOLATE. And I mean the real kind, not the icky, weird concoction they call "milk chocolate." Here's a few factoids and trivial things about our friend chocolate:

The Mayans and Aztecs were the original chocoholics. Some of them loved it so much they even grew cacao in their backyard gardens. Now, that's my kinda urban gardening!
One of my favorite chocolate books is Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival. Each chapter of the book begins with a recipe. The novel employs a heavy dose of magic realism which works well with the foodie, soap operatic plot.
Xocolātl is a popular cacao drink that the Mayans and Aztecs made. Dagoba makes a bar they call Xocalatl.
Seeds from the evergreen tree Theobroma cacao are used in making chocolate.
Another fictional chocolate I enjoyed is the film Chocolat with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. The themes aren't entirely different from Like Water for Chocolate with passionate chocolate making and high drama about a small conservative French town who receives a big shake up with a new chocolatier in town.
Theobromine is the bitter alkaloid in chocolate that gives you that nice chocolate buzz.
"Chocolate gives you zits." Remember that old rumor? Well, bust that myth, cuz it ain't true.
Portland is home to some pretty nifty chocolatiers. Alma Chocolate, Cacao Drink Chocolate, and Moonstruck Chocolatier are some of the standouts.

Here's a young girl after my own heart. Photo courtesy of RIPizzo on flickr.

Gorging on the gorgeous Gorge

2009-04-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Matt and I took a much-needed day off today. It was time for a little nature adventure. Our first thought was to hit the famous Multnomah Falls. A friend advised we try some of the other, slightly less popular (and less crowded) hikes. So, we consulted our trusty Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver hiking guide. After considering a few, we decided to check out Horsetail Falls.

I can't believe how close all this stuff is to Portland. The Columbia River Gorge is only about 30 or so miles east. I'm embarrassed and a bit regretful that we haven't explored here sooner.

This is Horsetail Falls. So wonderful to sit underneath and just experience the falls crashing into the creek. It's springtime so all the falls are going off.

As you can see from my curry chicken salad sandwich, we enjoyed a divine lunch in front of Three Falls.

The famous Multnomah Falls. Stunning.
You can see more of our photos from the trip at my flickr photostream.

And here's my curry chicken salad recipe:

2-3 cups of chopped chicken (you can use canned, or I always used leftover rotisserie chicken)
2-3 tblsp curry powder
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 -3/4 cup peas
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2-3 tblsp mayo

Fold all that stuff together in a bowl until well-mixed. Serve with greens or in a sandwich.

the happy home office

2009-04-21T08:01:00.001-07:00

It's early and I'm sitting here in my new office. Matt and I have been spending the last week or so trying to purge, clean, organize and store some crap in order to switch our office spaces and by doing so create a more workable guest bedroom. After some serious cleansing and negotiating little bits of space, have pretty much accomplished our goals. I must admit IKEA (and their yummy cinnamon roll) comes in handy at these moments.

It's been quite a process and we're nearly there. It reminded us both about how traumatic moving is, but also how exciting it is to make positive change. And that was on just the smallest level of switching two rooms. Needless to say, I'm anxious/thrilled that someday in the near-ish future we'll be shopping for a new home. But, that's a whole other story...

I'm also excited about my cute new business cards. I used some laminate samples I found at SCRAP and printed the text on clear labels, which I stuck on the back.

As someone who works from a home a lot of the time, it's always a challenge to stay tidy, organized, motivated and to keep boundaries. Having a separate space definitely helps. Inspired by my new office digs, I will now share with you some of my home office philosophical insights:

Those who multi-task, stand tall on a pile of paper, binders and notepads.
Warning: a new home office may bring inspired work, prolific blog entries, random acts of crafting and a safe space for screaming.
A good pen, engenders a happy writer.
Containers, containers, containers.
Land lines still sound better than cell phones.
Things to add to the to do list: jiggle your head, relax your shoulders, eat a snack, sing a song, talk a walk.

Stuff to see around PDX in the next few weeks

2009-03-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd better start this list of things I want to see over the next couple of weeks. Of course, it includes some shameless (yet, deserved) plugs.

My hubby's improv group Super Project Lab has a new show for just two weeks more (Saturdays at 8pm) at the Winningstad. It's called "Dear ___" and in this format the players incorporate the audience's letters, email, postcards and correspondence into the show. Plus if you bring a letter in, you can get 2 for one tickets. Another bonus - a portion of this run's proceeds benefit the awesome program Write Around Portland.

This month's Hip Hop Cabaret at the IFCC celebrates women's contributions to hip hop. Seems like a great way to honor Women's History Month and International Women's Day. Sunday March 8 at 7pm.

The annual Clowns Without Borders benefit show is coming up Friday, March 20th at 7:30pm at the Da Vinci Middle School Theater, 2508 NE Everett, Portland. "The best of new vaudeville and modern circus to fund two Portland-led Clowns Without Borders projects in Haiti." CWB is just amazing and this annual showcase is always a lot of fun. Bring the whole fam!

Da Vinci: The Genius is a much-lauded traveling exhibit currently on display at OMSI. The exhibit explores everything you ever wanted to know about Leonardo. An intriguing display is the "Secrets of Mona Lisa Gallery" in which French engineer/photographer invented a 240 million pixel camera to photograph the Mona Lisa Gallery. I don't really get it, but it's peaked my interest. No if I could only track down some comp tix...

13

2009-02-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

13 trivial things about Friday:

1. Etymologically speaking, "friday" refers to "day of the planet Venus." (photo from voobie's photostream on flickr)
2. The original Friday the 13th in 1980 made the name Jason and hockey masks super scary. The franchise spurned eleven, count 'em, eleven sequels, including a mashing of the series with another iconic horror franchise Nightmare on Elm Street in Freddie vs. Jason. And now, a new revamped Friday the 13th opens in theaters today, at a multiplex near you.
3. Freaky Friday is a classic children's book by Mary Rodgers in which a mother and daughter wake up and find themselves in each other's bodies for a day.
4. The hit 1995 film Friday helped boost the acting careers of Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. Two sequels: Next Friday and Friday After Next.
5. The first T.G.I. Fridays restaurant opened in New York City at First Avenue and 63rd Street. Now in strip malls across America.
6. In Robinson Crusoe, Man Friday is a native whom Crusoe saves from other savage cannibals. Man Friday becomes Crusoe's personal slave, I mean, servant. Now we use the terms Man Friday or Girl Friday to describe a loyal, dedicated assistant.
7. Black Friday often refers to that lovely day after Thanksgiving when shoppers go insane on the first shopping day or the Christmas season. The anti-Black Friday is "Buy Nothing Day" a day of protest started by Adbusters Magazine.
8. Ironically (or not) Black Friday also refers to human disasters like the Haymarket massacre, the Eyemouth disaster and the US Canadian tornado outbreak in the 80s.
9. Casual Friday, in which companies allow their employees to do away with the suit and tie for a day, actually started in the 50s with a few companies, but became more popular in the 70s, then the 90s with the dot-commers.
10. Friday is the title character in Robert Heinlein's award-winning 1982 sci-fi novel about a superior artificial woman.
11. In the classic kids song "Today is Monday" where you go through foods associated with each day of the week, Friday is fish day.
12. In Christianity, Good Friday is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, three days before Easter when he arose from the dead. Maybe it's just me, but "good" in this case seems a misnomer. I'd go with something more like "Crap Friday" or "Shite Friday but don't worry Good Sunday."
13. Speaking of divinity, TGIF/Thank God It's Friday was first coined by an Akron, Ohio deejay Jerry Healy in the 70s. Another Ohio deejay, Alan Freed, is credited with first using the term "rock and roll." Go, Ohio, my home state.

when in doubt, make a list

2009-02-12T00:10:00.000-08:00

oy, i've been so busy that i've had little energy for blogging. so, what to do? time to make a list. here's a list of places i'd like to see, based on recommendations or inspiration from trusted friends. domestic sites for today; i'll go international another...

the boneyard: a part of the neon museum in las vegas, the boneyard is a a lot filled with non-restored signs of all kinds. seems pretty surreal, industrial, nostalgic.
(photo by angie1611 on flickr, creative commons license)

grand canyon: what can i say, i've never been.

high desert test sites: from their website - "The High Desert Test Sites are a series of experimental art sites located along a stretch of desert communities including Pioneer town, Yucca Valley, Joshua tree, 29 Palms and Wonder Valley. These sites provide alternative space for experimental works by both emerging and established artists." andrea zittel is one of the artists who founded it. rad stuff.

sequoia national park: hamblog recently made the trip, and it inspires. big, old gorgeous trees in the amazing sierra nevadas.

25 Random Things

2009-01-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

I have been remiss in posting but finally garnered some inspiration. This meme has been going around Facebook and I've been tagged several times to do it so here goes.

25 Random Things

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I'm generally not an addictive person, but I do think I've become addicted to volunteering/doing projects. Either that, or I'm not as good at saying "no" as I thought or my ex-Catholic guilt has cursed me with endless obligation. At the moment I have 4 paying gigs, all of which include a certain amount of "volunteer" hours and at least 4 active volunteer gigs. Oh gods, I think I'm going to lie down now. Oh wait 24 more "things" to go. See? Another project.
2. Sadly, I am eating a burnt frozen pizza right now. A bizarre oxymoron.
3. I am also known as Tita Toni, Aunt Toni, t-love, Tone, T, TTR.
4. I get my hairs cut every four weeks by a fun gal named Juneka.
5. I freakin' hate washing dishes. I live for the day we have a dishwasher.
6. I love my hubby very much. He makes me laugh, pretty much everyday. One of our wedding vows was "Never forget the importance of snuggling."
7. I am a cylon. I am a geek.
8. I love a good handbag. I know, weird. I think I got it from my mom who also loves a good handbag. She taught me how to identify quality vs. trendy. Thus, I like expensive handbags. I also love a good tote bag and a good panier (for my bike, yo). Okay, I am a bag freak.
9. I love Portland. I like the size of it; the vibrant and collaborative arts scene; the rivers and bridges; the proximity to the ocean and to the mountains; the bike culture; the history. I know it's a super "white" city, but that just means there's lots of good work to do, activism in educating people about racism, socio-economic oppression, etc, etc. See #1.
10. I'd like to speak Spanish. I'd also like to speak Tagalog more. I had a funny experience when I went to the Philippines with Matt (my white hubby). I'd never been to the Philippines with a non-Filipino and realized quickly that I was going to have to translate for Matt. And whaddya you I was able to translate fairly well. The funny thing was, people would speak to us in Tagalog, I would translate and respond in English. They would respond in Tagalog. It all worked out somehow.
11. I knit, but I want to try crocheting. Last weekend someone showed me how. I'll be trying it any day now.
12. Oh dear, not even half way there yet. Let's see. The most recent book I've finished: Ursula K. LeGuin's My Left Hand of Darkness. Loved it! Other books I have not yet finished: Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Standing Up to the Madness by Amy and David Goodman, On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
13. Countries I've visited: Philippines, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada. Countries I'd like to visit: China, Australia, Greece, South Africa, Peru.
14. I love word games. Boggle, Scrabble, crosswords, word jumbles, cryptograms. I'm a general fan of board games. My newest (thanks to my bro Eric for the most excellent Christmas present!) is called Foodie Fight - kinda like trivia pursuit for foodies. It was a big hit at my friend's birthday beach outing last weekend.
15. I wear eye glasses. I am a glasses person. I feel like eye glasses are a part of my visual persona. Eye glasses and short hair.
16. I wish I felt more confident in my creativity.
17. I recently started feeling like a near-40-something, rather than a thirty-something. And I'm cool with it.
18. I am a chocoholic. I do also like other sweet things - bread pudding, fresh fruit cakes, pies - but if there is a chocolate option for dessert, it always trumps anything else.
19. I'm pretty good with directions and I like reading maps.
20. I'm also one of those people who finds things. Common scenario: hubby looks all over the house for his lost keys. Pockets of clothing, bags, drawers, table tops, car, etc. The first place I look for his keys (usually someplace he has already tried to look) I find the keys.
21. In 2005, Matt and I had a crazy summer of wedding events when we married. We called it the "Union Tour" and even had concert-like t-shirts made with all the various locations and dates. First an engagement party in his hometown, Middletown CT hosted by his folks. Then, a wedding shower in my hometown Rocky River OH hosted by my folks. Then, the actual wedding ceremony in Stateline NV/Lake Tahoe. After that, back to OH for the wedding "reception" again hosted by my parents. Finally, a last-minute small gathering of friends in Davis CA where we were living at the time. Truthfully we missed out inviting our close friends to anything which is our only regret. Look out for our 5 year anniversary!!!
22. I am very good with spatial relations. I perfectly pack moving trucks, car trunks, luggage and boxes. One time I packed a car well-enough to fit 5 humans and all our snowboard crap into a car. My friend declared that I had good "spatial consideration." I know use that term for my special skill.
23. I enjoy making compilation cds. Back in my teens, I used to call my mix tapes "Tone's Tunes."
24. I recently found out that I'm anemic. Annoying!
25. I make a delightful lasagne and a lovely veggie curry.

Snow Trivia!

2008-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

I thought it apropos to celebrate the snowy week in Portland before I dash off to Mexico for a couple of weeks. Yeah, I know, lucky me! No offense to winter, but I'm definitely looking forward to a beachy keen Christmas.

However, my midwest roots can certainly appreciate the wonder of the white stuff. Here is some fun snow TRIVIA! I put this together for the wonderful hambox advent calendar for the December 19 edition. Scroll down for the answers below...

1) Which of these words describes a "fear of snow?" a) snophobia, b) crystallophobia, c) cryophobia, d) chionophobia

2) The typical snowflake has how many identical "arms?"

3) Snow that does NOT melt during the summertime forms what geological mass?

4) The word igloo is derived from what language, meaning "house?"

5) What illustrious "Roughrider" state holds the Guinness World Record for most snow angels made simultaneously in one place? Coincidentally, the record was broken on my birthday March 28, 2007. A momentous day indeed.

6) "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) had the distinction of being Disney's first what?

7) Rockers Snow Patrol hail from what country?

8) In the Nutcracker, what is the name of the heroine who saves the nutcracker/prince and is whisked off through the snow forest to the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy?

Scroll down for the answers...

The Answers:

1) Which of these words describes a "fear of snow?" a) snophobia, b) crystallophobia, c) cryophobia, d) chionophobia

2) The typical snowflake has how many identical "arms?" six
3) Snow that does NOT melt during the summertime forms what geological mass? glacier
4) The word igloo is derived from what language, meaning "house?" Inuit

5) What illustrious "Roughrider" state holds the Guinness World Record for most snow angels made simultaneously in one place? Coincidentally, the record was broken on my birthday March 28, 2007. A momentous day indeed. North Dakota. City? Bismarck. Number of snow angels? 8, 692.

6) "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) had the distinction of being Disney's first what? animated feature

7) Rockers Snow Patrol hail from what country? Scotland
8) In the Nutcracker, what is the name of the heroine who saves the nutcracker/prince and is whisked off through the snow forest to the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy? Clara

Give what you can

2008-12-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

We all know that the global economy is in dire straits. I, for one, know that I'm counting my pennies and I certainly feel worried about what's to come. When you're thinking of cutting back, please consider maintaining or even increasing your giving to good non-profits. Supporting the work of non-profits is essential and you can consider it a worthy investment into your community. I always advocate supporting arts nonprofits because they tend to get left out of support despite the fact that the arts are proven to enhance learning in ALL areas. (Check out the awesome Right Brain Initiative.) Whatever you choose, just go and give what you can (say, $50 or $100) to an organization of your choosing.

If you need some ideas on who to give to this year, I've got some ideas.

Shameless solicitation of support for the organizations that pay my bills and orgs who I've committed myself to:

B-Word Worldwide/Bitch Magazine - B-Word is the incredibly important and vital voice that brings you the most cutting and insightful feminist analysis of pop culture. I'm on the board and we're currently looking at how to evolve as an organization and stay relevant in light of the changing media landscape. Join the Beehive!

Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center - Wonderful, beautiful interdisciplinary arts center in North Portland that includes a gallery, theater, dance studio. The mission is to foster diversity in the arts and they support both emerging and established artists and serve the community at large with a range of education programs. I've admired IFCC since I arrived in Portland and am happy to report that I'm currently doing some contract work for them.

KBOO Community Radio - At 40, KBOO is one of the oldest community radio stations in the country. Portland is lucky to have such an amazing resource! KBOO has an eclectic, diverse programming lineup of news, public affairs, music and spoken word. Nearly all the programs are run by a dynamic group of volunteers. KBOO is powered by over 500 on-air and off-air volunteers, a member-elected board of directors and a small staff of 12 (full- and part-time). I work there part time and I'm also a volunteer with the radio collective APA Compass. (9am the first Friday each month!) Right now you can donate to KBOO through the Willamette Week's Give! Guide and get lots of cool goodies!

Portland Theater Brigade - I grew up a drama geek and it certainly changed my life. PTB is an amazing young people's theater program that not only teaches youth professional theater skills (using improvisation!! based on the work of the inimitable Viola Spolin), but empowers the students with opportunities for collaboration and leadership. I came on as Managing Director this year and it's like I've come full circle.

Other cool orgs to consider supporting:

Beehive Collective - Another Beehive. The swarm's mission: "To cross-pollinate the grassroots, by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images that can be used as educational and organizing tools." Amazing mission, beautiful work.

Center for Asian American Media - My former stomping grounds. CAAM continues to do incredible work supporting Asian American media through funding, production, distribution and a dynamic festival.

In Other Words - A vibrant Portland feminist resource - bookstore, resource center and community space - is in trouble. They need to raise $11,000 by the end of the month to keep their doors open! Please support them if you can!

Oregon Cultural Trust - Did you know that you can match gifts to eligible cultural non-profits to the Trust and receive a 100% tax credit? That's a tax CREDIT (way better than a tax deduction) and a great incentive to support Portland area nonprofit arts orgs. More info on the program here.

my weekend...

2008-12-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

as i sit here waiting for audio to be extracted off the cd from our great apa compass show (we talked about ethnic media and also had a piece about the agent orange justice speaking tour) this morning, i thought i'd share some of the cultural outings i'm planning (or recommending) for the weekend.

hubster matt and his improv troupe, super project lab, are at it again with their first run at the lovely, brand new curious theater. they're trying a different format for this run (instead of their mainstay, "meet your ___" in which local celebs become monologuists who inspire the groups improv scenes). it's called "3some" and each show will feature just 3 players performing a long-form improvised show. should be interesting! the shows are 9:30pm dec 5/6 and dec 12/13 at curious theater 5225 ne mlk, portland.

on saturday, we're headed to see our talented friend lisa degrace in her one-woman piece "flying iron" using music, movement, text, costume, clown and more. check out this description: "The audience sees someone "trapped by choice" in a very small world, an iron hoop skirt contained within a 30-foot diameter dress." sounds intriguing, no? shows are at performance works northwest, 4625 se 67th, portland on saturday and sunday dec 6/7 and dec 13/14.

also on saturday, artist shu-ju wang is doing an artist talk at the central library in downtown portland. she has a very sweet exhibit showing in this cool room of the library called the john wilson special collections (it holds rare materials). feels kinda like you're walking onto the set of buffy the vampire slayer. the show is called "relay/replay" and it includes 4 artist books that she created in collaboration with elders from rose schnitzer manor. really beautiful pieces.

on the other end of the spectrum, my friend john breen is starring in a movie called the auteur playing at cinema 21 this week. it's a comedy, it involves the porn industry. not my usual topic of interest, but hey i'm up for a good laugh, if it's a good laugh.

off to finish uploading this dang audio. it's taking forever!

How are you?

2008-11-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

I am good. That's right, I am good, not well. I am doing well. I feel well. But if you're asking how I am, I can now confidently say, I am good. Thank godess.

It's a grammar question that's been bugging me for a while as I've listened to extremely literate, articulate friends answer, "I am well." It always rubbed me just slightly wrong somehow, but my grammar ins-and-outs are pretty rusty. Thanks to the trusty internet tubes and Grammar Girl I found a great explanation about why I am good.

Watery goodness

2008-11-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

After a little cranky morning, I settled into a brief, but needed yoga session. The sun is actually shining today, but I found myself channeling the water that defines this season in the Pacific Northwest. Or maybe I'm still holding on to my turn as the dingy water in a Sea World dolphin show scene from my improv class last night. Or maybe I'm still dopey from my restless night of sleep. Whatever the inspiration, I moved slowly through my vinyasa, never really stopping the movement, like the steady drizzly rain we often see in Portland. Even in the stillness of downward dog or mountain pose, I enjoyed a subtle pulsing of the breath, of the muscles. And, rather than fight the restlessness I've been feeling, I'm sticking with that riding of the gentle waves for the rest of my day. So far, steadily accomplishing a variety of tasks, running a little behind on things, but feeling content with where I'm at.

Cross posted to Yogster.net

Fifth sentence...

2008-11-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

This meme was posted on Facebook

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note on your page.
* (then tell what book it's from)

"I have my mother's hair."

- Maggie from Arthur Miller's After the Fall

web 2.0

2008-11-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

i consider myself pretty savvy. i wrote a bit about it in the asian reporter a few weeks back. that column outlines my general internet usage at that moment. the crazy thing is that it's already out of date. i just started using twitter recently. and i've watched facebook evolve to incorporate a lot of this stuff, including twitter (i can update twitter and my facebook status simultaneously) and my blog feed. (another reason for this blog post, so i can see how it works.) it moves so quickly and fluidly that it's easy to get sucked in and then you realize, ack, i don't really want to use that feature anymore, or shoot, i'm up late playing that boggle game.

my question to you all is, what do you do on the internet tubes? do you have a facebook or myspace account? do you use both? what about linked in or twitter or other services? do you blog? do you use rss or social bookmarks? what else do you use? why do you use what you use? do you feel more connected or less connected the more you use these tools? post your musings in the comments.

sick and tired

2008-11-14T12:16:00.000-08:00

yup. that's where i'm at today. sick and tired, despite the lovely sun brightening the day.

first up, i've had to throw in the towel on my first attempt at nablopomo. i forgot that i was actually leaving the internet tubes for two days and was therefore unable to post on those days. and once i got back it took me a bit to catch up on things. so, i'll be trying again for december and i'll try my best to post most of the rest of this month. it's hard to post everyday!!

next up, i found an interesting discussion on racialicious musing on a race equivalent to the bechdel test. the bechdel test refers to cartoonist alison bechdel's origianly strip in which the two female characters talk about the requirements of movies they will see. (the racialicious post includes the original strip). check out the blog post here and let me know your thoughts.

mother tongue

2008-11-07T07:19:00.000-08:00

apa compass is a radio show i help produce as part of a collective at kboo. shameless plug: we're on today at 9:00am pacific at kboo or on the FM in portland 90.7. in case you miss it we'll have an archive (and podcasts soon!) at kboo.fm/apacompass. today we're talking about language and identity and community.

i long to speak another language fluently. my parents' first language is tagalog (filipino) and they never taught it to me and my brothers. when we were young, they thought it would hinder our ability to learn english and possibly leave us with an accent which might make it more difficult for us to fit in. and now as adults we all realize that loss and my mother tries to speak to us in tagalog at random times as if it might still seep in. and it might.

in fact, all these years, i've claimed that i don't know tagalog. but the truth is that i actually understand a LOT of tagalog, but can't open up my mouth and speak it.

in honor of our show today, i want to share a funny experience from when my husband and i went to the philippines last year. it was his first time and my first time with a "guest" who was not filipino. we were on our own a fair amount at the megamalls, the museums, tourist sites etc. i quicky found myself interpreting for matt. that's right, i was actually interpreting, much more than i thought i ever could. it was a delightful discovery and has changed my perspective on my relationship with my parents' mother tongue.

and another bizarre thing occurred, a story matt loves to tell. people would speak to me in tagalog. i understood the gist of what they were saying. then i spoke back to them in english. they understood me. we communicted back and forth in two different languages. i actually barely realized that it was happening, but matt, as an observer pointed it out. it happened all the time during our two week stay.

i'll keep working on my tagalog. but next i'm going to tackle me some espanol...

it's raining in my brain

2008-11-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

okay, i'm doing this blog post a day thing and of course, now i'm stuck. i'll just run through my morning and leave it at that.

i woke up and turned on democracy now! on kboo. interesting analysis of the elections from a more progressive standpoint, including a roundtable discussion with folks from around the world. definitely worth a listen and a welcome antidote to the rah-rah rhetoric of mainstream media.
checked email, facebook.
turned on some soothing tunes and did some yoga. first time in ages. felt nice. maybe i'll declare it MyYoEvMo - my yoga everyday month.
waterproofed my new cute boots (thanks to mom for picking them up in krakow and finding boots that fit over my big calves!).
hit the shower and luckily found some backup hair product after running out yesterday. gods forbid i don't have hair product!
toasted a bagel for breakfast.
perused different blogs through nablopomo's randomizer feature. looking for inspiration, encouragement to do my blog post.
wrote this blog entry.

the date after

2008-11-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

i'm still trying to sort through all this elections business. most things went the way i hoped. obama's decisive win is a step in the right direction for sure, though i still hope that obama will take some better stands on the wars, israel and a few other issues.

here's an interesting post from racialicious with a bunch of different thoughts on the elections. it certainly reflects my own cautious optimism, especially in regards to the part that race plays in our country.

i'm upset that california voted to pass prop 8 the gay marriage ban. despite the momentum of obama's election, it seems that our country's backwards view on gay issues. florida and arizona also passed their gay marriage bans. :-(

the fight is still not over...

DST

2008-11-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

I'm up early this morning, and I attribute it to my recent East Coast trip and Daylight Saving Time. I've been doing a little bit of research on the ole DST and here's some nuggets I thought were interesting.

Ben Franklin first came up with the crazy idea to save candles. An early conservationist.
The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.
Arizona does NOT observe DST. I guess McCain is a maverick amongst mavericks. Hawaii doesn't do it either.
DST makes train schedules screwy. This is from npr: "When the clocks fall back at 2 a.m. this Sunday, Amtrak trains running on time will have to wait in the station for one hour before resuming their journey. Springtime overnight travelers find their trains suddenly one hour late, but their engineers just keep going and try to make up the time."
During the mid-20th century there was no national law mandating DST. "Localities could determine their own DST. Here's a funny recounting from webexhibits.com: One year, 23 different pairs of DST start and end dates were used in Iowa alone. For exactly five weeks each year, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were not on the same time as Washington D.C., Cleveland, or Baltimore--but Chicago was. And, on one Ohio to West Virginia bus route, passengers had to change their watches seven times in 35 miles! The situation led to millions of dollars in costs to several industries, especially those involving transportation and communications. Extra railroad timetables alone cost the today's equivalent of over $12 million per year."
Here's an amazing story about twins born during the DST switch, essentially reversing their birth order.
Robertson Davies fictional character Samual Marchbanks wrote this little diatribe against DST: "I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves."

I for one enjoy both the moonlight and the sunshine. DST is a slight inconvenience, but if it saves us some energy resources then I'm for it.

Resources: webexhibits, NPR, National Geographic, WRAL

so i'm a slacker already

2008-11-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

i already missed one day in my blog a day posts for the month. i can't help it. i was traveling back to portland from cleveland and couldn't put down my adorable nephew maceo long enough to post before we had to get on the plane and part ways with the family again.

so with that i'll give some capsule reviews on the plane movies we got on our flights. mostly not too bad...

Diminished Capacity stars Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda as a nephew an uncle pair who are both suffering from memory loss and mental issues, one due to a head injury and the other due to Alzheimers. They go on an adventure to sell a baseball card that may or may not be extremely valuable. Solid movie with that charming, quirky indie-wood feel. Alan Alda is great, a nice departure from his recent sleazy conservative yuppie types. And I'm always a fan of Matthew Broderick (since his early turns in Lady Hawke and Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Get Smart is a pretty fun romp based on the old tv show. Not quite the same campy feel, but still pretty fun, especially when you're sitting in uncomfortable plane seats. Steve Carrell does a some slightly new things with his rendition of the somewhat bumbling 86 and Dwayne Johnson (yes, the Rock) is pretty hunky and funny in his role as one of the star agents. Oh yes and then there's Ann Hathaway who is also fine as agent 99, though she seems slightly miscast in the role. Masi Oka (Heroes) takes a turn as, you guessed it, a geeky sidekick who helps develops some of the spy toys used by the agents. Still he's always fun to watch.

Mamma Mia, we watched Mamma Mia. I wanted to get into it (I am a big fan of musicals. For an awesome treat check out Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog) but I have to admit I found a lot of it cringingly cheezy. That being said, Merryl Streep is super fab as Donna, the mom of Sophie who is trying to figure out which of Donna's three past lovers is her father. Another favorite hunk of my past Pierce Brosnan (Remington Steele baby!) plays one of the the potential dads and while he's still pretty damn handsome, the man is NOT a singer. Ah well, now I've seen it. And I'll never have to see it again.

Finally the last film we saw was Henry Poole Is Here. It follows the story of, you guessed it again smart readers, Henry Poole a man who's terminally ill and moves back to the street he grew up on to die alone. The story goes that a water mark on his wall is interpreted to be the face of Jesus Christ by one of the busybody, but sweet neighbors Esperanza (played wonderfully by Adriana Barraza). It's another well-intentioned indie film, that's refreshingly slower paced and thoughtful. Luke Wilson stretches his acting chops slightly to play a cranky, depressed, disheveled man. I think in the end the story was a bit to faith-based with the whole "you just have to believe" theme throughout.

brilliant halloween costume

2008-11-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

saw this on angryasianman...

brilliant halloween costume

too funny.

today is my first post in my month of posting every day, aka nablopomo. yup, starting off easy cuz i'm tired and it's late. barely making it in time for the midnight deadline. i'll be back tomorrow for shizzle.

autumn linkage

2008-10-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

here's my opportunity for shameless promotion of my other projects:

recently started contributing to the opinion column My Turn at The Asian Reporter
i ruminate on things like Margaret Cho's The Cho Show, hip hop, Olympics coverage, etc etc.
we have some new APA Compass episodes archived and available for download.
i'm on the board of the rad, feminist non-profit Bitch Magazine and we've had some great fundraising efforts over the last month in reaction to a financial crisis. now we could use some help in the form of feedback - do our survey!

that's all for now. i'll be back here starting november 1, beginning a crazy stint with NaBloPoMo...

So many things to do and see

2008-10-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of interesting things to check out in Portland over the coming weeks:

sm[art] art auction, a benefit for Bitch Magazine, featuring the legendary Judy Chicago
ladies who rock, from the Bitch blog
Super Project Lab, improv comedy (my hubster Matt is in the group)
Evil Doers, Ltd - Muslin comics, yes you read that right, Muslim comedy, baby
Global Concerns: Human Rights on Film at NW Film Center - just a few more screenings
Election Day! Don't forget to vote!

A-ha and Tears for Fears, hilarious redux

2008-10-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite 80s tunes, in a new light...

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

playing with Ruth Zaporah

2008-10-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed a wonderful week-long workshop with Ruth Zaporah, founder of Action Theater. It felt so good to play!

I've done improvisation for many years since I lived in Chicago in the mid-90s. There I learned Chicago-style improv comedy. Basically, improvised scenes that hung together in the form of short improvised plays. Very narrative driven. The Chicago scene is so saturated and deep that folks were really doing some interesting experimentation with that form of improv. A group that I founded, an all-woman troupe named RED, began playing with using bigger physicality on stage, bringing a more visual element to the staging of the traditional improv comedy form.

Flash forward a few years in San Francisco. Did a bit of improv there, mostly building on what I'd done in Chicago. I even taught (with the illustrious Becky Haycox) and starting directing an incredibly gifted, intelligent group of improvisors THE FROOKIES. During that time, one of my students and a movement teacher exposed me to this strange and wonderful thing called Action Theater. It was physical, fun, funny, engaging, beautiful and much less verbose than the improvisation I was used to. From there I explored a little of that, a little contact improv and opened up to this new world of movement improvisation. I also picked up a copy of Ruth's brilliant book Improvisation of Presence

Flash forward to Portland 2008. A woman I met on Alberta Street, who teaches an improvisation class, named Mary Rose emailed out the word that she was bringing Ruth Zaporah out for a workshop. I was thrilled! I talked it over with hubby and we scrounged up the cash to enroll me. I was nervous because I haven't improvised in ages. I thought, what if I suck? What if I do something stupid? What if I forgot how to improvise? Damn you gremlin, get out of my head!

Turns out it was still in me after all. Ruth was an amazing teacher. The time was limited, but she managed to give us some great stuff to chomp on. The two big concepts I came away with was engaging the eyes and really connecting with the visceral sensory experience. I was pretty tired all week, from work and being a bit under the weather. But I think that actually helped me stay out of my chattering, gremlin head.

Here are some snippets of what I got from Ruth:

- "Each action is a manifestation of a truth we have inside."
- "I position myself so that everything happens beautifully without me." - This is what how she describes the improv "fairies."
- "The soup of awareness."
- "Have patience to stay with something for a long time."
- "Saturate."

And just as exciting is the fact that I've met some amazing folks through the workshop. And this sunday, along with some of my pals, I'm headed to Mary and Domeka's Jumping Off Place for some fun explorations!

explore your Curious side...

2008-10-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Matt and I just went to one of the Grand Opening performances at the sweet new performance space Curious Theater.

The Location. It's in a fantastic location (how did they get that space?) on NE MLK, between Alberta and Killingsworth in the VanPort Square Plaza along with the new locations for Horn of Africa and Old Town Pizza. It's also across the street from the The Blazers Boys and Girls Club with whom Curious Theater company has struck up a cool youth theater program. I appreciate that the company has already made connections with the existing community. I hope they can continue to build partnerships that are inclusive and accessible. Material that's come from that partnership will be showcased in a show tomorrow called Sometimes Toilet Water.

The Theater. The theater that they've built out so far is great. A decent sized stage (though a bit small for the eight-person improv troupe that performed there tonight), cabaret style seating, and concessions that includes beer and wine, sandwiches and snacks. It reminds me of theaters in the Chicago theater and comedy scene that are conducive to having a full night out with your peeps and liquid enhancers to making the shows fun and funny.

The Improvised Musical. The show that we saw was called Sam Adams! Sam Adams! Mayor Ex Machina. It was a fully improvised musical show complete with live musicians. The tag line is "We know Sam Adams will save our city, but can he save our musical???" and that's exactly what the character of "Sam Adams" attempted to do, and with moderate success. In general, I would say that I was pretty impressed with the show. Improvising is challenging as it is, and adding musical numbers is a special test for the hearty improvisor. The company was quite successful in delivering a fun, entertaining show, with a decent story, respectable musical numbers and some pretty great performances.

To start, an audience member provided the inspiration of "rodeo." The beginning of the show was a little rough for me (which I find is often the case for long-form improv theater) as the group searched for the characters, the story and an opening song. Two of the characters eventually emerged to be the protagonists: a cross-dressing ex-rodeo clown, rodeo princess wanna be and a toy-horse-playing 5 year old with a borderline uncomfortable relationship with her "Manny" (Male Nanny) and disturbed toy-horse-playing parents. The performers were committed and supportive of each other. There were some really nice moments throughout, as well as a few forgivable rough patches. As with the opener, the closing number was a little, let's say, long, but that's how this whole' improv thing works. Part of the fun and interactiveness of an improv show is how we as an audience are constantly rooting for the improvisors. We appreciate the risks that they're taking, the process that they're working through, right there in front of our eyes. We know that it's a brave thing they're doing and we're there for them.

All in all, I highly recommend this show! Especially if you're a fan of musicals and especially if you've never seen a fully improvised play. Sam Adams! Sam Adams! runs Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30pm through November 8. All shows are $12 general, $10 students/seniors and you can save $2 with one of the postcards.

Portland Theatre Brigade

2008-10-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

I am super excited about the Portland Theatre Brigade. I just joined them as Managing Director (very part-time for the fledgling organization), one of two new staffers. Jennifer Lanier has also joined the staff as East Brigade Director and Touring Manager. Adrienne Flagg, who also serves as Creative Director at the IFCC, is the PTB Artistic Director. Along with the Board of Directors, we've begun this year with a blast, having just finished casting this year's company of 40 young actors/creators.

I was a young theatre geek back in the day. I studied early on at Beck Center for the Arts, a community theater in Lakewood, OH. From there I was empowered to do high school plays and a college tv show, on and on. Theatre unlocked in me this incredible passion and confidence. I truly believe it was a guiding force that continues to allow me to do the things I do, all of which I hope is always giving back to community.

The wonderful thing about PTB, is that the youth are empowered to take on a lot of the control and responsibility. We have student stage managers and they young actors choose the stories and write the plays that they want to perform. The training is based on the work of Viola Spolin, the fairy godmother of improvisation and games in theatre. The beauty of being Spolin-based, is that the young actors are encouraged to be generous, curious, open-minded and ensemble-centered. We're working with the kids to encourage them to be good humans in how they interact in rehearsal and onstage, which follows that they also become great performers.

We have a couple of students that need some additional help with tuition. If you're reading this and feel like you'd like to contribute, just let me know at toni [at] theatrebrigade.org. Here's a letter we sent last week:

This weekend we'd like to offer you a very easy way to make a very big difference.

Theatre Brigade is enrolling now a fabulous group of new students for the upcoming season. We are very excited about the talent and diversity of these young people and we know they will be putting on a great show for the Portland community next spring.

But this year we also have an large number of very deserving children who's families need some extra help paying tuition. Some of these parents are in exceedingly difficult circumstances, but they are dedicated to their children and desparately want them to have this opporunity.

Our scholarship fund is simply not adequate to meet the need - yet we can not bear to have to turn any of these children away. You can help.

Your donation of any amount, if made this weekend, will go directly to scholarship funding for this year's students, allowing you to create an immediate impact in this community.

As little as $5 will help us help these children experience the benefits of Portland Brigade Membership.

$15 pays for one week of Brigade
$66 pays for one month
$285 provides one standard partial scholarship
$600 allows a poverty-affected child to participate for the full year

These children can not wait for the economy to improve. But you don't have to have a lot to spare to be able to make a big difference in their lives. Please help today in whatever way you can.

It's all about me

2008-09-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

In case you don't have the chance to pick up the paper copy of the Asian Reporter, you can catch my contributions to the My Turn opinion column at their website. My latest topics include hip-hop, a recent racist comic and the recent coverage of the Olympics (old news by now). Thanks for reading!

Legal Immigration path, illustrated

2008-09-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

On Boing Boing I read about Reason's amazing poster they created that comically charts the "legal" path to immigration. Check it out:

Too hot to hibernate

2008-08-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yes I've been hibernating. Haven't posted in ages. Way overcommitted this summer. Looking forward to fall when I can reprioritize my life. The truth is I don't have too much to report. Too tired, too hot, whatever. Thought I'd point to two of my current favorite blogs:

- Bitch Magazine recently launched their new website which looks amazing. Full disclosure, I am on the board so this is surely a biased review. But they've been doing such a great job with their blogs! They're keeping it real: interesting, thought-provoking, diverse. Stay tuned for more info on our 2nd annual [sm]art benefit featuring the legendary Judy Chicago and loads of other local and national art people.
- Angry Asian Man is always at the top of my list for excellent blogs. He's a voracious, cutting surveyor/analyzer of all things Asian.

On a slightly different, but still opinionated note - I recently started contributing to the My Turn column at The Asian Reporter. Check me out if you interested in seeing other stuff I've been up to...

Two, count 'em two benefits!!

2008-05-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

In case I didn't get to spam you...

Two benefits I'm working on are coming up (in the same week, yikes) and I would love to see you there!

Benefit for Bitch Magazine
The Bitch Pub Quiz, Thursday June 5
Support what you love; come to Bitch's first ever fundraising Pub Quiz! It'll be a trivia-licious evening of questions, answers, games, music, and more! Quizmistress Toni Tabora-Roberts (yes, that's me!) will test your knowledge of women and pop culture with everything from general-interest questions to name-that-tune brainteasers. You'll expand your knowledge, get the chance to win some great prizes, and support the work of your favorite local feminist magazine. $5-$20 (sliding scale) per person to play--up to 6 people per team. Bring your friends, your competitors and some dough. For more information check out bitchmagazine.org or call 503-282-5699. Thursday, June 5, 6 p.m., Vita Cafe, 3024 NE Alberta, Portland.

Benefit for KBOO
Pink Martini Fundfest 2008 June 3-6 at the Crystal Ballroom
KBOO is one of the lucky beneficiaries of this year's Pink Martini FundFest! Each year Pink Martini does a series of concerts to benefit four local non-profits. If you are interested, or if you'd like to tell other potentially interested folks about this great opportunity to support KBOO, let us know. The goal for this event is to raise $80,000 total or $20,000 for each of the four non-profits and 100% of the net proceeds go directly to the organizations.

In addition to the main concerts, there is a very special Patron Reception happening on Friday June 6 from 6-8pm at Lola's Room. Pink Martini's band leader Thomas Lauderdale will play Gershwin's Rhapsody while folks mix and mingle with the band. Tickets are $100, $55 of which is tax-deductible. Patron ticket includes a ticket to the main concert at 8pm and is available directly through KBOO or Ticketmaster.

Of course, you can also support us by attending one of the main concerts. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Those tickets are available through the Crystal Ballroom box office or through Ticketmaster.

More details about this event are available at kboo.fm.

Clowns Without Borders rocks!

2008-05-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

Our friends jesikah and Thom were in town this weekend and fortunately they were very enthusiastic about joining us for the annual Clowns Without Borders benefit show at daVinci Arts Middle School.

Our good friend Sarah (who just finished her fabulous Nomadic Theatre show Running Into Walls which I wrote about in my previous post) was one of the main organizers and it was a truly wonderful show.

I remember last year's being a smidge too long (okay, a lot too long). This year most of the acts got the clue and brought some really fun, clever performances. In my humble opinion I would say that most of the acts took some great leaps and bounds in evolving their work over the past year. Notables for me were Nomadic, Nanda (an energetic, amazing acro-performance troupe), and another act (can't recall their names!), a duo who did clown, juggling and some funny stuff with a bowling ball, some of it in lovely pink tutus.

Something so RIGHT, and one RWONG

2008-04-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

This week I'm writing to recommend two FABULOUS shows. The first is a wonderful, imaginative, hilarious, poignant clown show featuring my good friend Sarah in her company Nomadic Theatre Co. The show is called Running Into Walls. If you've never seen a clown show (and I'm NOT talking Ringling Brothers) this is a great introduction into that delightful world. The story follows two very close clown friends as they take a strange journey to confront mortality. Wonderful physical comedy, engaging performances, touching story. Plus, you'll find out the origins of the word "muffin" and what the word "Himalaya" means. The show runs through April 27 at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont, Portland.

Next is Roberta Wong's art exhibit at IFCC gallery in North Portland. If you've never been there it's a pretty darn cool space. She's showing some of her installation work from the past 2 decades and it's all still extremely relevant stuff exploring race, gender, history and identity. I wrote about Roberta's show in The Asian Reporter so check out my story. The exhibit runs through April 26.

Movie quotes meme, inspired by hambox

2008-03-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

Okay I admit I first had to figure out what a meme was. Wiktionary defines it as:

Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity.

A cultural virus of sorts. So, here's my movie quotes meme, inspired by my friend hambox who go it from spark and foam who got it from Life in Scribbletown and so on...

The rules:

Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
Post them on your blog for everyone to guess in the comments.
Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
GUESSERS: NO Googling/using IMDB search functions. I mean, you can cheat if you want, but all that would do is make you win. Where's the fun in that?
One movie guess per human allowed in the comments, but email me with additional guesses, if you like.

The Quotes:

"Oh, you think you're hot shit 'cause you get to sit over there and play Pictionary, well guess what? My five year old daughter could do that and let me tell you, she's not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed." Rico's good he got 2 of the quotes. I'll credit him for both cuz he's my bro. This one's Juno .
~~"Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place."~~ Rico's done it again. Breakfast Club, baby.
"My embarrassing admission is I really like that you're nice, right now."
"I've been trying to write her a poem, but I can't seem to finish it. What rhymes with 'glass'?"
~~"Great pate, mom, but I gotta motor if I wanna be ready for that party tonight."~~Nice get Ms Polly! Great line from Heathers
"Oh, I just think I'm gonna barf... Well, that passed. Now I'm hungry again."
~~"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."~~ That's Princess Bride of course. Ms. Becky was quick on that draw.
~~A: "Would you like another schnitzengruben?" B: "No, thank you. Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben."~~ Thanks for playing FreshHell! Blazing Saddles is correct.
"I don't care what you believe in, just believe in it."
A: "Is life always this hard, or is it just when you're a kid?" B: "Always like this."

Snow and Sangre

2008-02-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the pleasure of snowboarding for the first time in two years. I'm volunteering with Matt's org Chill. Funded in large part by Burton Snowboards, Chill brings Portland teens up to Mt. Hood to teach them life lessons, such as persistence and responsibility, in the guise of snowboarding. Matt's working with a bunch of different amazing Portland agencies dedicated to youth empowerment, including Metropolitan Family Services, New Avenues for Youth, El Programa Hispano, IRCO, Open Meadow and a bunch of other schools and organizations.

So, last Friday I drove up to Timberline early with a bunch of the other volunteers - Rico, Scott and Daley. It was a gorgeous and warm-ish day. We had time for a bunch of awesome runs, then Scott, Daley and I decided to take one of the long trails (2+ miles) directly to Government Camp (sort of illegal and out of bounds, but very cool!) where we were to meet up with the busload of kids to help them gear up (Burton provides snowboards, boots, jackets etc for all the kids and their chaperones) for the day. Once we got everyone geared up we hit the mountain. After a day of riding I was pretty whipped, but it was energizing for me to hang with some of the kids. I was drawn to the kids who were having a harder time because I wanted to help keep their spirits up and not let them give up when they got frustrated. Plus it's just a pleasure to connect one-on-one with these teenagers, as I don't necessarily have many other opportunities to hang with teens. I'm back with them tomorrow and I can't wait!

Last night a bunch of us went to see our friend Jaime in a show at Milagro Theatre called Bodas de Sangre or Blood Wedding written by the famed Federico Garcia Lorca. As you might gather from the title, there was certainly some drama and intensity to the piece. Themes running through included death, birth, destiny, history, love and lust. In general, I thought the Olga Sanchez (the show's Director, and also Milagro's Artistic Director) did a fine job putting this together. The staging was inventive and poetic. Better known as a poet, Lorca's words are evocative and brimming with symbolism. A highlight for me was just post-intermission. The angry wedding crowd is in the midst of searching for the runaway bride and her lover. It reminded me of a Greek chorus with the Moon spouting incantations and Death lording over with foreboding. The staging was simple, elegant and dreamy. I believe this was the first play I've watched in another language with supertitles. Very much list viewing a foreign film with subtitles. Effective enough, but sometimes I missed some of the action and other times my timing in reading was off. All in all, though it was a lovely experience and I look forward to checking out more bilingual shows at the Milagro.

Ruminations from Powell's Coffee Shop

2008-02-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a 12oz chai at Powell's always hopping coffee shop/reading room. Not supposed to have more than 5 books, but i suck a couple of extra in. Figure, I'm pretty much set on buying almost all my items. It's always fun, and a bit daunting to peruse this institution. I always find it's good to have a game plan, i.e. a couple of key things you are looking for. This trip I was on the hunt for 3 things:

1) Birthday present for Matt. Wanted to find an fun, encouraging film book to support his pursuit of creative projects.
2) Information/reference books for my Pub Quiz Oregon quiz writing.
3) Zine(s). I'm a big fan of zines (however, as a dabbler, not deeply knowledgeable - just know what I like).

Here's what I ended up with:
1) Making Short Films by Jim Piper (coincidentally the name of our very nice previous landlord). It seems to have mixed reviews, but I like that it has pictures and seems somewhat The Conversations by Michael Ontaje. Looks very inspiring.
2) The reference books are my little secret...
3) A new local zine "Monster of Fun! a collection of Razorcake columns by Amy Adoyzie" which looks very promising. And hey she's APA which is always nice to support. Also picked up "time enough at last" by A.j. Michel out of Lansdowne, PA. I'm a list junkie and this one is subtitled: "A Reading Log 2007" including juicy documentation of A.j.'s reading habits over the past year.

Juno, you know it

2008-01-27T21:00:00.000-08:00

When I called our friends Bryce and Liz tonight to see if they wanted to meet up with us to see Juno, they laughed because they already has planned to go the the same 5:30 showing at the local 2nd run theatre around the corner Cine Magic. So we met up and found some seats in the well worn-theatre, just in time to see a preview for some lame-looking Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes vehicle. Admittedly, I have never actually seen Colin Farrell in a movie, and yes, I've chosen to stereotype him as a H'wood dumb party boy who probably has not much talent. Anyhoo onto the feature here, Juno. Well, I thought it was adorable. A feel good movie, but in that quirky, well-written, well-performed, indie film kinda way. Kudos to Diablo Cody for a delightful, truly gal-power script. It's just amazingly refreshing to see such robust, complex characters in a pretty typical coming of age story. Juno, played spot-on by Ellen Page, plays a teen who accidentally gets pregnant by her best friend Bleeker (the always awkwardly charming Michael Cera, the next Owen Wilson?). And that's it. We follow her journey from pregnancy through birth. And in that time we meet some pretty stellar characters, each of which is at times odd, sweet, dumb, brilliant and just plain old regular. Great performances include Allison Janney, Jason Bateman and JK Simmons. (Jennifer Garner was the weakest link in my opinion, nothing surprising there.) You might sympathize, you might cringe, you'll certainly laugh and yes, you might even tear up (I admit, I did). Check this one out for sure.

January linkage

2008-01-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some links to some of my recent work online:

APA Compass on KBOO Community Radio
Paper Cuts, Tung-Hui Hu and the Angry APA Minute

The Asian Reporter
Emerging artist finds inspiration from quilts, industrial sites
Local comic shop owner puts together stunning tribute to Bill Mantlo, writer of ROM Spaceknight
Vancouver-based artist’s new work explores identity and labor through subtle forms
North Portland gallery explores the world of sophisticated craft

another year, another set of resolutions

2008-01-12T16:50:00.001-08:00

Greetings and happy new year, whether it be gregorian, julian, lunar, tet or other. I'll admit it, I've got some resolutions in mind for 2008. Trite, but useful. We've got the rules of improv, recipes for cooking, outlines in coloring books - which can all be considered structures, but in my opinion can also provide a smaller container from which to explore freely. I'd like to think that resolutions can do this too.

"Resolution" as defined on Wiktionary:

The state of being resolute.
His stalwart resolution is perhaps admirable, perhaps foolish.
A statement of intent, a vow (often New Year's Resolution).
My resolution is to cut back on the fast food this year.
The act of discerning detail.
(computing) The degree of fineness with which an image can be recorded or produced, often expressed as the number of pixels per unit of length (typically an inch).
Printing at higher resolution will cause a reduction in performance.
(computer hardware) The number of pixels in an image that are stored or displayed.
This monitor's maximum resolution is 800x600.
A formal statement adopted by an assembly.
(sciences) The separation of the constituent parts (of a spectrum etc).
(sciences) The degree of fineness of such a separation.
(music) Progression from dissonance to consonance; a chord to which such progression is made.

Some of those sound pretty juicy. I especially like the #7 and #9. Here's just a few of my resolutions, vows, intentions for 2008:

Blog at least twice a month
Eat more veggies
Intentionally move my body at least once a day
Work with Matt on completing at least three video shorts
Continue improvisation PLAYgroup
Organize and maintain my office/craft space
Buy a house
Raise money for KBOO and Bitch Magazine
Create one audio documentary piece
Learn and practice more Spanish
Streamline programming of the Portland Grassroots Media Camp
Watch lots of films
Practice sewing at least twice a month
Read these books - Omnivores Dilemma; Eat, Pray Love; Brave New World; Tokyo Cancelled; People's History of the United States; Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White; Writing Down the Bones
Teach an improv class
Take a walk at least once a week
Sing
Practice my New Zealand accent (currently obsessed with Flight of the Conchords)

okay, it's been a while, but i've been busy...

2007-11-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

lots of stuff has been going on. at kboo we had an excellent fundraiser on halloween called boo bash. kboo's night of the living tongue, a radio program that explores the bizarre and noise music and text world, hosted the evening which began with some very interesting experimental performances. the evening the evolved into more accessible danceable tunes. the bands i especially enjoyed Rainbow and the Kittens and Strength. and yes we raised a bunch of money for kboo. yay!

in my volunteer hat at kboo with apa compass radio collective we had a great show this month featuring apa women artists including dj anjali, spoken word artists yellow rage, and visual artists una kim and shu-ju wang. check out this link to hear an excerpt from the show which includes the live discussion with una and shu-ju.

saw the most excellent indie film, true to what i believe indie film can best be. as the name alludes, colma: the musical takes place in colma, a town close to san francisco and known for it's large population of dead folks, and is indeed a musical. to sum up what i love about the film: 1) the writing (dialogue and music) is wonderful, not too clever, not too trite, not too serious; 2) the performances are nice by a likeable cast of beautiful real, interesting people, instead of the typical beautiful, beautiful people; 3) a testament to the true indie spirit, the cast and crew not only make do with the limited resources they excel with some gorgeous scenes including a lovely scene in a cemetery. here's the trailer .

hand2mouth at tba07

2007-09-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

sadly i only got to see a couple of shows for this year's tba:07 festival. it was a jam-packed impressive lineup of a wide variety of performance and media works. luckily i caught some goodies. of significant note: on saturday, i brought my out-of-town visitors (the annual SB2K trip with my childhood girlfriends from cleveland, who this year converged on me in pdx) to the interstate firehouse cultural center to see renowned local edgy theatre folk hand2mouth theatre company perform their new repeat after me, a show filled with american dreams, anthems and a dizzying array of american flag costumes. i love this company because of their enthusiasm and unabashed lack of inhibition. they're not afraid to go there. yes, they open up the can of worms that is being an american. and they rode the line quite effectively - of poking fun, challenging, dissecting, complicating, blurring and even embracing some of those stereotypes that are so often mockingly simplified by the left. the first act took a bit of time to blossom, but by halftime, they hit their stride, pushing forward on an epic musical journey. can't wait to see what they come up with next...

hey campers! special edition post dedicated to pgmc

2007-08-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

ah finally. the day has arrived for the portland grassroots media camp (pgmc). it's a weekend of hands on media workshops and special events aimed at immigrant, activist and community groups. so many great organizations are involved! check out the website for a look at a great list of collaborators. festivities begin tonight and run through the weekend. everything's free, but of course we could sure use donations. there's still room in some of the classes so email bolivarianmedia [at] gmail.com or call pcasc at 503 236 7916 to reserve your spot!

friday, august 24: tonight we'll have a bunch of activities. a few of us who are participating in the camp will appear on portland community media's "a growing concern" at 7pm on cable channel 11. at 8pm the opening night party for pgmc at the musicians union hall at 325 ne 20th street (at sandy). and then late night at kboo the first of many many workshops will happen at kboo, set and training to broadcast live music. the culmination of the training will be the randemonium from 11pm- midnight featuring the girl's rock 'n roll camp's revenants.

saturday, august 25: workshops all day at various locations around town. highlights include blogging, audio production using garage band (this class is in spanish), public records (did you ever wonder how to access government data, legislative records etc?) and write around language from the write around portland folks. then the evening includes a community dinner and discussion at musicians hall catered by las mujeres del brazalete (a group of women who were detained in the del monte ice raids). we'll eat some yummy food and talk media.

sunday, august 26: workshops all day at various locations around town. highlights include video art for women and queers, setting up a press conference, writing a press release and how to make a portable audio sound system.

come check it out!!

the real dirt on the real dirt

2007-08-16T09:31:00.001-07:00

went to see the real dirt on farmer john at the hollywood theatre last weekend. it's a wonderful coming of age documentary, not only of farmer john, but of society and our country as we grapple with issues around sustainability, community and healthy living. the filmmaker taggart siegel and farmer john have known each other for over 20 years and that closeness reveals intimate moments in john's journey from failed family farmer in the 80s/90s to cutting edge eco-conscious farmer/artist/community builder in present times. included are clips from john's old 16mm art films shot on the farm which add a nostalgic, dreamy, quirky tone. the film brought tears to my eyes at several points, not from saccharine, sappy manipulations, but from visceral emotional connection to farmer john's odyssey. from an activist perspective, the film leaves you hopeful and encourages individuals to make pro-active choices in their own lives. as for me, it reminded me of the joy of being a csa subscriber when i lived in cali and now i'm looking for a farm to join in the portland area. highly recommend the film. i think it's at the hollywood for a few more days, then should be available on dvd soon at farmer john's website for angelic organics.

early august happenings

2007-08-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

had a surprise family visit this weekend. matt's brother christopher, his partner rob and their son oscar came back through portland on their way home from a 2 week road trip. we decided to hit oaks park, first because we know 4 year old oscar is pretty obsessed with rides and also because we've been wanting to check it out after cycling by it on the awesome springwater corridor trail. it was a bit trashy, but old school amusement fun. we even rode the "lewis and clark adventure ride" where you get in this rickety old car that's on a track and it takes you through these cheesy murals mimicking lewis and clark's journey through the old missouri. my brother in law rob observed "lewis and clark look like a couple of homos" depicted in smiley cartoony style in the ride. next time we'll probably hit the roller skating and maybe even the roller coaster.

next it's all about the hollywood theatre this week!

we caught the very tail end of the home movie day on sunday. it's a cool event where they invite the public to bring in their old super 8, 8mm and 16mm home movies to be cleaned and screened on the big screen. they'll be doing more screenings in upcoming months so i hope to bring in some of my own old films and watch others. actually one of matt and my earliest dates was at the home movie day in sf a few years back and was a good sign that my guy was adventurous and arty.

we're also planning to check out another film at the hollywood, the real dirt on farmer john playing this week. the filmmaker taggart siegel (who lives and works out of his se pdx home) and farmer john have been in attendance at some of the screenings this weekend. the film has gotten great feedback and follows a 25 yr long friendship between taggart and john - "Along the way, Siegel charts Farmer John’s astonishing journey from farm boy to counter-culture rebel to the son who almost lost the family farm to a beacon of today’s booming organic farming movement."

one more thing i'm planning to check out this week - 48 hour film project screenings. the films are being completed as i write this and will include a ballon as a prop and "do you smell what i smell" as a line of dialogue. the screenings are wednesday and thursday the week, yes at the hollywood.

long time no see...

2007-08-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

it's been forever since i've posted. guess i just got overwhelmed with life, weddings, projects. my brother mark married his sweetie kimmi in chicago last weekend. it was a fun, exhausting, hot weekend. of note were the neo-futurists' too much light makes the baby go blind a fun dada-ish show in which they attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. always an interesting range of things from comedy to political to satirical. and every week they roll dice to see how many new plays they'll write/pull for the following week's show. (the particular show we saw was fun, not the best of theirs, but always worth a look). i also loved the cloud gate at millenium park (better know as the "bean" because it looks much more like a bean than a cloud). a simply designed yet, wonderfully engaging and compelling scultpure that somehow pulls you in.

i also started working part time at kboo community radio as outreach coordinator. it's fun and hectic for sure. i'm also part of the apa compass collective and we're currently looking for new members who are interested in helping produce our monthly asian pacific american public affairs program.

more locally some great stuff happening... i'm helping to organize the portland grassroots media camp a weekend-long event of skills trainings and workshops designed to make media creation more accessible taking place august 24-26 at various locations around portland. matt and i are teaching a workshop at scarlet star studio called generate, create, communicate: using improvisation to unleash the story inside. also, matt and i are trying to organize an improvisation share/playgroup which will probably come to fruition sometime in september.

Sunday, no day of rest

2007-04-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Matt and I spent the weekend with a bunch of cool new friends at Nehalem Bay State Park in Manzanita on the Oregon Coast. As soggy as it was, we loved being by the ocean again. The beaches around there are quite beautiful. And for a coastal state park, Nehalem is pretty damn cool. About 30 of us shared yurts which in just about the most luxurious camping experience I've ever had. The yurts were large, well-sealed mini-cabins that slep 5 comfortably on a bunk bed and a futon. The skylight brought brightness into the room, despite the cloudy skies. Plus each yurt has heat, electric (yes you can plug in your cell phone and even get reception for the most part, but I would recommend just turning the darn thing off), a small deck with picnic table and parking for two cars. Call this super-deluxe, cush, car camping. Our group also rented out the meeting hall for just a few more dollars which included a full sink, tables and chairs inside and out (for non-rainy days), so we had a nice gathering place out of the rain. From camp, we walked out to the beach, up and through dramatic sandy dunes. It is gorgeous beach there, dramatic yet peaceful. Apparently this part of the coast is pretty unpredictable and they have plenty of signage for emergency tsunami action. Yes, tsunami in Oregon, USA. Who knew? Manzanita, is about 5 minutes away from Nehalem and offers quaint coffee shops, galleries and markets. Like I said, this is cush, almost like non-camping, camping. But it's fun and it is the ocean so you just can't beat it.

The art of the debrief

2007-04-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago at my birthday cocktails, a few of us got into an interesting (some might say heated) discussion about art and the general question about whether art needs an audience. I'll admit that I'm on the side that says that yes, art is made for an audience, even if the audience is only the art maker themselves. I do believe that art is made for some kind of viewing and not just purely for expression. Otherwise what's the point of outputting that expression into some visual or tangible form, rather than just expressing away in our heads. Okay I see some points there that can be taken on, but I offer this in part to ruminate about why it is just so juicy and interesting to discuss art after we've seen it, experienced it. Whether it's dance or television or a painting - there's something inside us that wants to rush out the door and compare notes with our neighbor. Often it's just a re-hashing or inquiry about what we just saw. But other times it does become a dynamic dialogue not only about the work, but about some larger issue either directly-related or inspired by what's presented. For example I went to an interesting, lively debrief for Kitchen Sink PDX's recent Step into my office art event. Maybe it's not a fair example because this event was all about audience interaction (or was it?). There were certainly different levels of how artists expected visitors to engage with their work. And there was also a long discussion about the other major premise for the event - that of collaboration and the nature of how to collaborate. And of course a little tense talk about money and stuff. All in all, though, it was a good dialogue about the work. Well who knows if any of this makes sense. I'm just spitting stuff that's been on my mind. Yo.

Some links to explore ArtLex is a kind of nutty sprawling index of all kinds of art terms. Click on "Art" for some relevant fodder. I'm a sucker for about.com so here's a link to some easy articles touching on the subject art appreciation.

kitchen sink and minh tran

2007-04-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

There's couple of art events that I'm looking forward to this week. I'm volunteering at Kitchen Sink PDX's Step Into My Office. It's an art show that's being installed in an office space with all kinds of crazy cool art projects including an email performance piece; a wild green installation including lots of botanical life and even a waterfall; id badges for all visitors; and several video installations. And that's just the tip of the cubicle iceberg. It opens at First Thursday in the Pearl.

The other event is a new completed program by Minh Tran & Company, Forgotten Memories. The piece reflects on the Khmer Rouge genocide, creating a powerful and interactive dance performance experience at the Wonder Ballroom. I had the lucky opportunity to see a recent rehearsal and it's looking to be a very intense and beautiful work. The dance company also collaborated with a visual artist, a composer and a filmmaker. Performances are Friday and Saturday night.

it's my birthday

2007-03-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

Fun fun. As I enter into my late thirties (okay, just barely) I ponder over the significance of the whole birthday thing. My brother just reminded me that my husband and I were apart on my birthday last year (to make a few bucks) just as we are this year. I love the idea of birthdays, but the execution is always somehow lacking. Trying to live up that great surprise 16th back in the day I guess. I've got a fruitful day ahead. Already written a review of Taste of Tea a Japanese for The Asian Reporter. Now off to make some bones at a Go Game then a few drinks in store for tonight... yipee

testing gabcast

2007-03-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm working on figuring out how to post audio to the web. At first I thought I'd learn how to create the flash file etc etc, but now I'm exploring alternative ways using existing services. I'm checking out the free version of Gabcast! to see how it works.

Gabcast! APA Compass test #1

Neato!

networking-mama

2007-03-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Another rainy day in P-town. I'm not complaining actually. Just stating the fact as a backdrop to the days musings. It's been an interesting week of networking-mania. That sounds so funny and corporate, but we artsy, non-profity types need it. Especially when you're a new kid in town. I'm trying to be proactive about doing interesting, creative, community-oriented stuff while I search for some steady income. Joining the APA Compass Radio Collective at KBOO and the writing team for The Asian Reporter have been amazing ways to meet folks and get myself out into the community. And those projects are definitely keeping me busy. However, I'm still looking for ways to make a living - not just pay the bills, but help develop more contacts and knowledge to lead me to the next thing, my dream enterprise, a dynamic Process Space venue. I'm also always in search of folks to do collaborative, multi-disciplinary art projects with. With those things in mind I pursued some great local resources. Young Women Social Entrepeneurs recently hosted a meeting at a cool flexible office space in the Pearl, Souk. In addition to the usual networking type interactions, the meeting featured Dr. Kalyn Culler Cohen and Paige Coleman of Kindle Partners who shared some insights about how women bring a different approach to traditional enterprise models. And the big suprise came when I actually won a free consultation with Kalyn and Paige - I've never actually won one of those 'throw your business card in to win' things, so it was rather exciting. Definitely looking forward to talking with them. I also went with my friend Patti to a Sisters in Cinema meeting at the NW Film Center School. It's a mellow roundtable where you can bring completed pieces or works-in-progress to share with the group. And of course do the whole networking thing. Pam Minty, the organizer challenged us to bring some sort of work-in-progress to the next meeting in June. I met some nice gals who I might try to wrangle into a project so we'll see what happens. Oh I guess the other big thing is that I had a very good interview for the Executive Director position at Print Arts Northwest. Keeping my fingers crossed - I expect to hear something (hopefully second round interview!) by the end of the week. That being said, I'd better get back to the resume-generating machine while I'm in a chatty mood.