Portlandia

[magazinewhore]

Love this show too. I was just going to say, "Put a bird on it," but you beat me to it. The BSG episode was great.

[Deleted]

I've never been to Portland and always find myself wondering how "true to life" the show is. Can anyone elaborate?

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Love this show, although it can be uneven. I wonder how long they can make it last.

The BSG sketch was so true to life that it was like they had set up a hidden camera in my living room while burning through Friday Night Lights episodes. I'm pretty sure I wore pj's and did not leave the couch for an entire weekend.

[kostgard]

Feb 3, 2012 8:43:09 GMT -4 @killershrew said:

I've never been to Portland and always find myself wondering how "true to life" the show is. Can anyone elaborate?

I live in Portland, and it's really an exaggeration of a certain segment of the population here. It's satire, but there's definitely a grain of truth to it. There's a certain sense of pride in Portland's quirkiness - it's why you see those "Keep Portland Weird" bumper stickers everywhere around here (and I think you see it written on a wall in the opening credits of the show).

[Deleted]

Thanks. I figured it was an exaggeration of sorts, I was just wondering how big the "grain of truth" was. Sounds about like I imagined.

[huntergrayson]

I also think part of the skewering is universal to hipster-y trends. The ridiculousness of the mixologist? Yeah, that's definitely certain bars in LA/NYC too. But I like how, overall, the satire seems to be really affectionate.

[kateln]

Feb 3, 2012 12:35:50 GMT -4 kostgard said:

Feb 3, 2012 8:43:09 GMT -4 @killershrew said:

I've never been to Portland and always find myself wondering how "true to life" the show is. Can anyone elaborate?

I live in Portland, and it's really an exaggeration of a certain segment of the population here. It's satire, but there's definitely a grain of truth to it. There's a certain sense of pride in Portland's quirkiness - it's why you see those "Keep Portland Weird" bumper stickers everywhere around here (and I think you see it written on a wall in the opening credits of the show).

I used to live in NW Portland, the Alphabet District, and joke that my neighborhood needed to thin out the herd of hipsters to save the species.

Here's my best example of when I realized that I had "adjusted" to Portland, one Saturday morning, I was bleary eyed, tired, and falling asleep. I walked through the health and beauty section of my neighborhood grocery store, and came across a transvestite. What shocked me wasn't so much the "transvestite" part--because let's face it, if you're brave enough to dress how you truly feel, rock on. It was the fact that he was dressed so badly for his age and body type!

I had an Elvis impersonator a block away from me, I would routinely see a guy walking around dressed as a rabbit, doc martins never went out of style there, and roses are everywhere there.

Honestly, this show captures a lot of the oddity there very well. Plus it's fun for me to go "Oh, I know where that is....", which also why I watch "Grimm".

[kostgard]

That's the other thing - a lot of this stuff happens in certain parts of town (NW certainly being one them). A lot of them are kinda their own microcosms, and this show is certainly getting that aspect of it right.

[kateln]

Feb 3, 2012 16:22:17 GMT -4 kostgard said:

That's the other thing - a lot of this stuff happens in certain parts of town (NW certainly being one them). A lot of them are kinda their own microcosms, and this show is certainly getting that aspect of it right.

That's very true. For example, the Hawthorne district is IMO the most hippy/granola area of Portland, The Pearl houses Powell's Bookstore, but is also Portland's upscale urban neighborhood (as opposed to The West Hills where the mansions are).

My neighborhood was unique in that it was a complete blend, on my morning runs I got catcalled by the homeless camps (there was one at the 21st Street Cinema, then a few others at the stores on 23rd). I'd also though see other runners, the hipsters heading home (stupid hipsters), middle class dad's taking their dogs out for walks, and the traders--who handled the east coast accounts--on their way out the door. You name it, they lived in my neighborhood. I have not seen that here in DC.

But yeah, near the Park Blocks? There are Womyn's Collectives which have feminist bookstores, NW has the "Put a Bird On It" craftiness, they just need to get the Upper Middle Class Urban Mom's of the Pearl District. Seriously, have they filmed Jamison Park yet?

[huntergrayson]

I've adored the last two episodes. Who did the stop-motion rats? I loved their little feud with mice.

And "Catnap" was awesome. Plus, Miranda July is possibly the Portlandia-ist of all their guest stars.