I'm not getting the point. Thank goodness.

Is that Phallus or phalanx?

Well at least we know for sure what is on his mind...all the time.

No.

It's said that Siegmund Freud once remarked "Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar".

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

There are no cars in the picture and only one bicycle rider. Is this after Portland crashes? Is the City empty?

Neville Shute's book "On the Beach"features an empty Seattle, everyone dead after a nuclear holocaust. But maybe the risk isn't nuclear or terrorist attack. Maybe the threat is fiscal crash greater than anything we've seen yet.

Maybe Portland's theme should be "Rise With Us."

"The Hidden Persuaders" by Vance Packard:

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Persuaders-Vance-Packard/dp/0671531492

Still a great read after 50 years.

And for wasting a little time this weekend, Google, "subliminal advertising examples" for web and images.

Why did you crop the Portland sign with just two trees? I like Sam Adam's version with three 'trees' much better.

Keep Portland creative and weird.

A Message to Portland from Mayor's banner -

Looks like an eagle has to fly the coop away from here since Adams is willing to
take his habitat of West Hayden Island, and we may have to do the same as our Portland as we knew it, is falling down, as illustrated by what was once the Paramount Portland sign toppling, looks like the tram is broken too, as is SoWhat, so then we have the Steel Bridge – message there is that we need to steel ourselves for the mess we have been left with by his policies!
(Note: Policies set by Katz, former planning commissioner, Charlie Hales, and that Adams who was there the whole time is continuing)
Oh and the only way out and/or around will be by bicycle as the traffic congestion turned into the worst gridlock in the country.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar"

I thought Clinton said that.

Didn’t Groucho Marx say something about taking the cigar out of his mouth sometimes?

You know Jack, this is just offensive and in keeping with your general cynicism and snarkiness towards just about everything. Seriously?

Missing a creative type leaning against a wall. You know, inked, pierced, dragging on a cig while texting 25 feet away from a food cart.

Exceeded only by the control tower at the airport. My gf gets excited just driving west on airport way.

I'm sure Sam will be delighted to find out someone has cracked the nut in his secret game of "Where's Wally?"

An updated version is currently in the works that includes his other crowning achievement: the Portland Bum Toilet.

And up until now, I was unaware that "Portland, Oregon, USA" consisted entirely of downtown SW Portland and one bridge. Silly me, I was operating under a phallusy.

Jason,
What is much more offensive than comments here is what watchdogs have seen take place in what was once our lovely City of Roses to now the City That Has Really Worked Us Over!!

Brush up a bit and then you might understand.
If it is so offensive you don't need to read it.

By the way, are you one of Sam's followers?
You need to take your blinders off!

Didn't Clinton say, I never had sax with that horn?

Strangely, it doesn't include the Streetcar.

And speaking of streetcars:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/17/light.rail.streetcar/index.html?hpt=C1

Especially humorous is the "iReporter" who claims that the Streetcar is responsible for the existence of the Pearl District.

This doesn't surprise me that much. Sam runs this city like it's the city he thinks it ought to be instead of the city it is.

As juvenile as it sounds though, I do chuckle every time I drive by the banner the city put up on Foster between I-205 and 122nd. There's just something about Sam Adams telling people to "See Children" that hits me funny.

Allan L.:I'm not getting the point. Thank goodness.

Interesting.
I got so many points.
and more . . .

Looks like a little devil with horns and a cape sitting in that tram.

Steel bridge because that is the one that has light rail.

Tower toppling with only readable letters left as LAND, a big gig here, money to be made on land, especially "correct" parcels owned by "those in the know."

Evokes a kind of leaning tower of Pisa. Echoes of Clinton, a president whose variant anatomy was so dutifully described in the Starr report. History will tell us that the two years of disarray produced by the partisan bonfire of 98/99 made possible the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing wars, and, ultimately, the financial collapse.

Will we never be free of this kind of nonsense paid for by our taxes?

I had a thought/dream yesterday which reflects the sunny disposition I sometimes still have, vis-a-vis government. Is it possible the Republicans will get stuff done in order to make themselves look good, now that congress has the lowest approval rating in poll history? Is it possible that they are smart enough to realize that rehabilitation of their image is paramount to winning more seats? Will we see tax simplification? Immigration reform? Public education fixes? A reasonable healthcare bill we can all read? Entitlement reform?

Or will they obstruct everything to death together in order to make Democrats even more unpopular under a weakened president, hoping this scenario will bring them more power?

Of course none of this applies to the people's republic of Portland, where sheer lunacy appears to drive the political engine.

More like a bull, symbolic of SoWhat...lots of bull.

But look at the cyclist. Huge load and the back wheel is broken.

Hmmm, all you readers out there....

Must be all that Viagra in the drinking water......

Steel Bridge??? No, that bridge is definitely NOT the Steel Bridge.

It is the Hawthorne Bridge...the one with all the bikes that go on it.

http://www.portlandbridges.com/00,0,16,0,1,0-portland-oregon.html

Erik H.
You are right, the top reminded me of the steel bridge, so instead of steeling ourselves, I guess we are left with "thorney"
problems.
Thanks for correcting, my bad.

Maybe Adams is just a fan of the Little Mermaid.

http://www.eeggs.com/items/1166.html

Jason: You know Jack, this is just offensive and in keeping with your general cynicism and snarkiness towards just about everything. Seriously?

Who made you Communication Cop?

If you're "offended", you have a really easy choice.

Personally, I've about had enough with the narcissistic kids that have descended on this town.

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.

Clinamen...you know nothing about me or who I follow. This HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with politics. I'm a gay man who can't wait for Sam to be defeated in the next election and will support someone to do that; however, the insinuation from the picture is homophobic and nasty beyond what I expect from Jack.

Max...Communication cop? HAHAHA! You're even more cynical than Jack. Thanks for the comment though. Bet you're yelling at kids to get off your lawn.

This HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with politics.

"Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions."
-Wikipedia

In this case it's a group of 5 people making collective decisions concerning our well being with little to no guidance from the rest of us.

I call shenanigans on claims of homophobia stemming from this blog post (haven't read the comments thoroughly, though).

Does anyone really need to be reminded that there are also creepy straight men with unhealthy, phallocentric imaginations? Just like Sam "Mayor Creepy" Adams.

Quick, someone find Goldschit's blog for a similar parsing.

Jason,
Why be mad at Jack for showing the Mayor's banner? The Mayor evidently thought it was just fine as he uses it on his blog. If he didn't think there would be criticism then he should not have accepted this design.

As for who you follow - I asked the question if you were a follower? - -
By the way, are you one of Sam's followers?
You need to take your blinders off!

Might have been better if I had prefaced that last sentence with - if so, you need to take your blinders off.

That banner to me had everything to do with politics and what the city has lined up for us, and how we should all live.
The politics of our city council, not just the Mayor are what has so many of us snarky on this blog.

Glad you will not be supportive of this Mayor if he should decide to run again.
Take care.

Having spent many years in the past designing logos and letterheads, and now being in a video production environment, I can state with all the experience I have had that ANY person with ANY design sense at all would have seen the potential for the center of the masthead to taken as phallic symbol. It's the oldest reference in the book. And it's an often used tool. Ha ha ha. (That is kind of funny!)

Anyway, the way I look at it, either the designer, the proofer, the advisor, the printer, the client... are all pretty dimwitted not to see it, or else a little "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" was let go somewhere along the line to toy with us ignoramuses. After all, it's the old "PARAMOUNT" sign that later became the "PORTLAND" sign. It doesn't lean. It has straight sides. If some kind of "perspective" is being implied, then why aren't the other elements similarly treated? And why is the perspective of the sides bending? It's an "easter egg" pure and simple.

By the way, I'm not sure how homophobia enters into this. Whatever one's opinion is on the logo, it's a funny subject. Always has been, and always will be. Not sure why laughing at a logo that looks like an erection is hurtful to anyone. I think the "designer" and the client are the ones laughing at us with the design.

"Clinamen...you know nothing about me or who I follow. This HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with politics. I'm a gay man who can't wait for Sam to be defeated in the next election and will support someone to do that; however, the insinuation from the picture is homophobic and nasty beyond what I expect from Jack. "

Jason, you and I are batting for the same team but I just dont get the homophobic angle...

How dare anyone criticize the psycho mayor of Portland! Whoever says anything bad about him must be homophobic.

Yeah, right.

Thinking back to the Hoover Tower on the Stanfod Campus-the first example of a phallic symbol I recognized after learning about phallic symbols in high school English class.