I'm coming. You got room in your garage?

It is nice to know that others are on to the absurdity that is Portland. Unfortunately the same people this video parodies will get to make $100/day as extras. That will only enhance their belief that they will be provided for while exerting minimal effort.

Portland is so progressive we've become the land time forgot. How the heck did Neil make that happen?

Not so funny is there's no need for a TV show.
The real nitwits in local government and all their loopy minion activists are more than enough to demonstrate to the world
how laughable Portland is.
And locally it's why Clackamas County, Washington County and Clark County are finally waking up in unison to reject the "weird" and their agenda.
Thankfully there are many Portlanders who recogonize the insanity and will eventually be successful in purging Multnomah County of these elements and madness.

This show can only help.

Along with this.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/rates_set_to_jump_for_pacific.html

Greg Gutfeld also did a nice job ribbing Portland on his Red Eye show on Fox. It was just as hilarious and true. http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/red-eye/transcript/greg-alogue-why-portland

Popcorn, please.

I think I know two of the people in that.

Is that Leonard in the Speedo?

What an opportunity for our Mayor to fix his tarnished reputation in a national venue. Reminds me of Tanya Harding putting Portland "on the map"

Portland only parties as if it still the roaring 90s, because of sugar daddy federal government, state government and Metro. Cut off the flow of candy, and Portland governments can't continue to spend and party like its the 90s.

Cut the fiscal obesity caused by federal bailout sugary like drinks, and we might be freed from the juvenile insanity called Portland governance.

Taste the bitter sweet freedom of the Tea Party movement and Americans for Prosperity. If you can't accept these reality movements, you're watch'n too much cable TV news or drinking too much from the PSU fountains.

The place where there are no cars...everyone walks and rides a bike...

Cut to scene of Interstate 5 in the background. Oh, wait, creative editing. Re-dub the audio so you can't hear the roar of eight lanes of freeway traffic, and creative video angle so that the approach to the Marquam looks like a warehouse, rather than - a freeway, filled with rush hour traffic.

And the Fremont Bridge, the iconic symbol of the Pearl District...no, it isn't a park. It's...it's...just another freeway.

First impressions? The best thing heading for TV in a long time. It's no "Skating with the Stars" - that's for sure.

How do you make a parody of a parody? It's like a Buddhist Koan.

Girls who wear glasses! Hahahaha! It's absolutely brilliant.

"Portland. Where young people go to retire."

What's scary is, how much of this just seems normal? I consider myself to be a responsible adult, raising my kids out in East County, and this got me wondering--how much of my daily life that seems ordinary to me, would seem weird to people in another city? How warped have I become from living here all my life?

There's an app for that.

"So what I can surmise, from what you're positing, Portland is almost an alternative universe."

With solar powered showers/loos.

I'm not sure this is all that funny. Hollywood and Portland have a raging love affair going on right now and I seriously doubt there'll be much parody of the real city we know and live in.

Not that long ago I met a young 20-something who told me in all seriousness that she moved here from Austin to join the ranks of people building the new society, that our local government is so like totally cool and that it does nothing wrong and that they're leading the people in all the right directions to save the planet. I am not making this up. I was speechless.

I also wouldn't be too surprised if local tax dollars were somehow involved in the production of this disguised as another 'business incentive'. So, just another TV show looking for ratings and sponsors or paid-for propaganda? That depends on how creative editing gets used.

I'm sure I sound paranoid but there is something strange going on politically here... the dysfunctions and shady arrangements keep appearing not to be randomly oriented and so far haven't yet self corrected, and at same time the bad economy makes a convenient scapegoat.

We have long joked about Oregon annexing the Couv. Should we now be talking about WA inviting PDX to join them as a better option?

Just as natives of the South Pacific use termites to create a canoe so do Manhattanites use other simple life forms to create their long planned utopia.

$100/day? Where do I sign up!

Is it just me or is it raining during the filming of the video?

Also, I note that they "filmed LA" by walking down a Portland street with a Mexican palm...but we know LA never looked so good!

Bob Vina,

My niece and nephew, both in their 20s, left Portland for LA as soon as they were able. There are some very nice areas near the coast and the air isn't always as dirty as I remember it being in the 1970s. Overall, LA is too crowded for my tastes, but it lacks the heavy sense of ideological oppression I experience in Portland.

And jc,
I have met 30 -somethings,40-somethings and 50-somethings who believe that about Portland.

Dear Mr. Bogdanski,

Please post a couple more articles so I don't have to look at this screen shot when I navigate to your site. Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely,

PDXLifer

Glad I dont get IFC channel.

Seems they have Kyle MacLachlan playing the mayor, and Adams playing his assistant?

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2010/08/06/fred-armisen-and-carrie-brownstein-to-write-portlandia

"$100/day? Where do I sign up!"

No need. I make an average of $500 a day, as one of those "nonexistent but economy-leeching, freeloading slackers" who is self-employed in the-- hold on to something real tight now -- "creative class". Of course people like me don't exist because I don't vote Republican, and it doesn't fit in the worldview of the Lars Larson and CPI-leaning folks.

The husband and I just laughed until we cried. In the Pearl, we've seen a lot of art with birds on it.

isbp

Are you "creating" for the City, TriMet or Metro?

The juxtaposition of the elegance of the Crosby with the inaneness of Portlandia (say, doesn't Kaskey have the copyrights on Portlandia?) is more than I can bear. How long until it mercifully disappears beyond the bottom of the screen?

The nicest people I've met on MAX...were always people from Los Angeles in town on a trip. I've had quite a few pleasant conversations with folks from L.A. while riding the train.

When I went to Los Angeles and rode their rail system for the first time my wife and I were walking in Union Station connecting between a Metrolink and a Metro Red Line (subway) train. A passer-by just walked up and asked if we were headed to the Red Line, and walked us there. No pickpocketing, no mugging, just a genuinely nice guy. In Portland, I frequently see people ask for help on the transit system, and the person being asked just ignores the guy.

In Los Angeles if you're walking across the street, the motorists will wait until you are exactly half way across the street OR on the sidewalk before the move. In Portland, you better watch your backside - and NEVER stop or back up (you WILL get hit!)

Oh, and today while checking out the Borders store closing sale downtown...the parking garages were FULL of SUVs, there were plenty of street beggars, and I saw all kinds of styrofoam packing peanuts littered all up and down 5th Avenue between Morrison and Yamhill in front of Pioneer Place. It looked like a White Christmas of styrofoam. (Didn't Portland outlaw styrofoam a few years ago?)

The only thing strictly outlawed in Portland is common sense. Everything else is process.

isbp...

"who is self-employed in the-- hold on to something real tight now -- "creative class".
---

Do people actually claim to work in the 'creative class'?

Do people who are on the left politically actually call themselves 'left-wingers'?

Do people who are on the right politically actually call themselves 'right-wingers'?

I always thought those were derogatory terms used to disparage.

Maybe you are a troll? Or just too proud when you should be embarrassed?

As I've noted before, I suspect that this show will become the William Shatner "Get a life!" speech for the hipster community. Most of the world will laugh and point, agreeing with the sentiments being expressed. With the rest, about half will laugh and point, squealing "Oh, I know SOMEONE ELSE who's just like that?" (With Shatner's speech, this aways came from some Cat Piss Man who was still looking for a job that allowed him to wear his "Next Generation" uniform to work every day.) The other half will look at it, sneer, and whine "Oh, I don't think that's funny at all."

I'm pretty sure there are a few of Sam's staffers in that video. Really, I'm not making that up. Look closely.

Erik H.,

That reminds me of one day about 15 years ago, when I was stopped at a light downtown. The car windows were open and Randy Newman's "I Love LA" was playing on the 4-track. At least two passersby scowled at me; the third came over to the driver's side window and shook my hand.

This video does hit the nail on the head doesn't it?
And it IS embarrassing!

"Thankfully there are many Portlanders who recogonize the insanity and will eventually be successful in purging Multnomah County of these elements and madness."

Purge? How very Stalin of you. Do you have re-education camps in mind? Perhaps on the site of old Japanese internment camps.

A world before Blog's. Imagine.

Can we keep the Microbrew?

Six-of-One, internment camps aren't necessary. We just advocate locking stoners and hipsters in a broom closet with Eddie Vedder and Oliver Stone. True, it's a violation of the Geneva Convention, but it's remarkably effective at encouraging enlightenment.

"The nicest people I've met on MAX...were always people from Los Angeles in town on a trip. I've had quite a few pleasant conversations with folks from L.A. while riding the train."

So I guess all the jerks in Portland are the East Coast/Midwest/Bay Area transplants then?

It's known as satire for those of you with a sense of humor.

Go away for two weeks and things happen!

"Are you "creating" for the City, TriMet or Metro?"
- Posted by Ben
______________

No, I haven't. However, I have done work for a number of governmental organizations locally, regionally and nationally, including the U.S. Army. The overwhelming percentage of my clients are for-profit corporations. (~97% as of today; 87% US clients, 13% overseas clients, again as of today)
______________

More by Harry:

"Do people actually claim to work in the 'creative class'?

Do people who are on the left politically actually call themselves 'left-wingers'?

Do people who are on the right politically actually call themselves 'right-wingers'?

I always thought those were derogatory terms used to disparage.

Maybe you are a troll? Or just too proud when you should be embarrassed?"
_______________
I have cunningly employed the term "creative class" as used as a pejorative by other posters to this blog.

Am I a troll? Don't think so. Embarrassed? That's kind of funny. You might be projecting.

Back to work now. On a clear and sunny Sunday afternoon, natch.