Comedic team of ‘Portlandia’ set to create an off-beat Portland, Oregon, guidebook

by Jessica Festa on


Are you bored of the usual travel guidebooks aimed at everyday tourists? If you’re interested in Portland, Oregon, and would rather learn about funny, fictional places that could exist rather than the Oregon Zoo and the Portland Art Museum, you should put “PORTLANDIA: A Guide for Visitors” on your shopping list. Set to debut in November of 2012, the book is being created by the team who brought you the hit comedy series “Portlandia,” starring Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, which takes you on an off-beat tour of Portland while poking fun at the city.

“It will be written like a Fodor’s or Lonely Planet guidebook, but full of fake, made-up, humorous stuff that could easily exist in a place like Portland, but doesn’t,” explains Ben Greenberg, the executive editor of Grand Central Publishing who will be producing the book. “Everything will be a bit off.”


To get an idea of the team’s humor and what to expect, check out the clip above from “Portlandia” on the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

Sofitel traveling exhibition features sexpot Brigitte Bardot

by Libby Zay on

Sofitel Luxury Hotels just launched a traveling photography exhibition that chronicles the rise to fame of Brigitte Bardot, a legendary French actress, singer, and model. The retrospective, which is the first in North America to feature the international icon and sex symbol, will showcase 30 exclusive photographs of Bardot. Called “BB Forever – Brigitte Bardot, The Legend,” the exhibition starts a yearlong run at Sofitel Los Angeles before it continues to Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York.

It comes as no surprise that the chic chain of boutique hotels chose Bardot for the exhibition. The starlet not only popularized the bikini swimsuit, but also famously vacationed to both St. Tropez in France and Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, a town she is said to have “discovered” with her Brazilian boyfriend during the 1960s. The townspeople credit Bardot with skyrocketing Búzios to fame and have erected a statue in her honor that makes for a very popular stop for tourist photos (especially among males).

Dates for the traveling exhibition are as follows:

  • Sofitel Los Angeles: Through March 26, 2012
  • Sofitel Chicago Water Tower: April 19 through June 7, 2012
  • Sofitel Washington D.C. Lafayette Square: June 21 through September 13, 2012
  • Sofitel New York: September 26 through December 31, 2012

Image: Fight by Jacques Héripret (Courtesy Sofitel Luxury Hotels)

Road trip plans foiled by rising gas prices

by Chris Owen on

Just as spring and summer road trip plans are being made, gas prices are on the rise. That’s no big news, as we reported the same thing about this time last year. This year, though, gas prices are beginning their annual climb earlier than ever with potentially bad news on the horizon for road trippers making plans right now.

In an interview with the Buffalo News, Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, said, “it’s pretty rough. One word can sum it up: ‘ouch.’ It’s going to be a nasty year for gas prices.”

GasBuddy reports gas prices around the United States, assesses what drives the price of fuel, and offers helpful tips on getting the best fuel economy. This week, Gas Buddy reports a national average of $3.63 per gallon of regular gas, with an average of $3.92 and a high of $4.19 in New York City. In Santa Barbara, California, the situation is worse with an average of $4.40, peaking to $4.79 at the highest station, well before road trip season gets going in full stride. The early rise in gas prices has motorists wondering why.

“This year, the price increases are really based on what’s happening in the world oil market, the crude market,” said Wally Smith, a vice president with AAA, explaining to the Buffalo News, “You get around $4, people really start adjusting driving behaviors.”

So what can we do to prepare for $5.00 per gallon gas?

Moneycrashers, an online source dedicated to developing a community of people who try to make financially sound decisions, suggests that those thinking about buying a car might consider a more fuel-efficient vehicle. At $3.00/gal the added expense of a green car makes owning one more for super eco-aware drivers. At $5.00/gal, the math works.

But saving in other areas to offset the price of fuel, often areas directly affected by the price of fuel itself, can help too. Homes heated by fuel oil will see an increase in costs so finding alternative ways to heat your home is a good idea.

Food will go up in price so we can save money by starting a home garden. Moneycrashers even suggests keeping chickens, starting a beehive, growing your own sprouts, or learning how to forage for nuts.

If that sounds a bit extreme, consider other methods to save on food like buying products in bulk, cooking more at home, and eating out less.

“Food prices really surged at the end of 2011, which isn’t good news to consumers,” said USDA food economist Richard Volpe, in Business Week. “Costs this year will rise as much as 4.5 percent for meat products and baked goods.”

All good reasons why cutting back in areas related and affected by rising fuel prices can leave room in the budget for a decent road trip. Online tools to help manage expenses and predict the price of a road trip are also available.

The website Cost2Drive built a galculator, a fun and easy tool to help travelers budget for road trips, because, as they put it, “the carefree days of jumping in the car with no regard to costs are long gone.”The easy-to-use online tool calculates the price of gas from point A to point B based on current gas prices along the way and even throws in carbon footprint data to consider.

So while we may not be able to do anything about the price of gas, we can control expenses in other areas, leaving room for road trip dreams to blossom.


Flickr photo by photopaige

Food crawl in New York’s Chinatown: meat on a stick edition

by David Farley on

The man with the gas mask recommended I get the lamb. As smoke from the charcoal grill wafted heavenward, up from his cart toward the Manhattan Bridge, I stood there having an internal debate. There was a special that day: chicken hearts. Or should I just get the lamb and move on to my next stop?

Welcome to Lamb on a Stick, also known as Xinjiang Kebabs. It’s a misnomer for sure, as this cart, anchored until around 9pm on most days on the corner of Forsythe and Division Streets next to the Manhattan Bridge in New York City’s Chinatown, serves up an array or carnal delights, all attached to a stick. Nearly everything I’ve eaten here has been almost transcendent: the lamb, for starters, is unctuous and juicy. But why stop there? The griller (the guy keeping the smoke out of his face with a gasmask or his non-mask-wearing wife) is also quite skilled when it comes to chicken wings, beef, and partridge. Since I discovered the cart a few months ago, I’ve been back every week, hoping to try everything here. And at $1 per stick, it’s very possible to get full on the cheap.

Xinjiang Kebabs is just one of a handful of places in Chinatown I’ve found since I decided to regularly eat my way through the neighborhood. The Atlantic recently ran an article claiming Chinatowns in America as we know them–In New York, San Francisco, Washington, DC, for example–are dying; a collective relic of a time when China was poor and its citizens clamored for a better life by retreating to American shores. But with China’s economic rise, so the logic of the article goes, there will be less immigration. And as the population of these ethic enclaves in American cities grows old, they will cease to exist. Or be taken over by another immigrant population (see New York’s Little Italy).

Whether the Atlantic piece is prophetic or not, it got me thinking that there are a lot of restaurants in Chinatown, some of questionable quality and some very good ones. How to figure out which ones to go to and which to avoid? I decided to go find my very own canon of Chinatown restaurants. Starting, of course, with Xingjiang Kebabs. The next place I usually hit up after a couple sticks of meat is the Malaysian beef jerky spot. At Malaysia Beef Jerky, Inc., located at 95 Elizabeth St., you won’t find a Slim Jim or that dried jerky we grew up masticating on. This is moist and tender and just spicy enough to dazzle the palate.


But before I headed there, I had a decision to make at the cart: I said yes to the chicken hearts, which were grilled perfectly. The taut exterior gave way to a burst of flavor. I also opted for the lamb and beef. Two sticks each.

Not yet full, I would head on to the Malaysian beef jerky spot and then, as per usual, stop off for some soup dumplings and then maybe one or two other out-of-the-way spots. Just another food crawl in Chinatown.

[Photo credit: Kirsten Alana]

Austin’s Beard and Moustache Competition: Q&A with Allen Demling and Bryan Nelson

by Elizabeth Seward on

For the sixth year in a row, a popular Beard and Moustache Competition was held in Austin. Misprint Magazine, a delightfully snarky read based out of Austin, has sponsored each one of these competitions thus far. Held Saturday night at The Mohawk in Austin, the event attracted throngs of beard-loving people, ready for an eagerly awaited raucous night. With categories like ‘Gnarliest Beard’, ‘Sweetest ‘Stache’, ‘Freestyle Facial Hair’, ‘Ladies!’, ‘Fiercest Chops’, ‘Best Groomed’, and ‘Six Month Sprint’, it comes as no surprise to me that an event like this garners such enthusiasm within the community of Austin. Many people I know in Austin are involved in the ‘bearding’ scene–it’s difficult, I reckon, to live in Austin and not meet people involved in this hairy subculture. And yet, despite knowing so many people in this town who are facial hair hobbyists, the history and purpose of the beard craze specific to Austin has too long eluded me. Thankfully, Allen Demling and Bryan Nelson, both judges for Misprint’s Annual Beard and Moustache Competition and members of the Austin Facial Hair Club, took a moment to answer some of my questions about bearding and related competitions in Austin.

%Gallery-148773%ES: When did you start growing your beard and what motivated you to grow it so long?

AD: I originally grew a beard my senior year in college because I was tired of shaving so often. That beard didn’t last too long. After I graduated I lived in Chicago, and would grow a winter beard every year. I was working for a consulting firm, and after about 2-3 months of growth someone would come to me and hint that I should probably shave it soon. After a couple years working there I finally couldn’t handle the cold winters and moved to Austin. Austin is one of those unique cities where there really isn’t much that is unacceptable. This current beard I’ve had for about 6 years, which is by far the longest I’ve ever grown one. Right after I started growing it, Misprint Magazine started their annual Beard and Moustache Competition. It wasn’t until the 3rd year that I finally won, and after that I became a judge, so shaving wasn’t really an option. I don’t have any plans to shave any time soon.

ES: Given the climate of Austin, it seems surprising that facial hair could take such a hold on locals. What is it that keeps so many Austin men growing and grooming despite the often hot and sticky weather?

AD: I don’t think beards are as uncomfortable as many people think. Personally, I think long hair would be more uncomfortable in the summers because it lays on your neck and shoulders, whereas a beard generally dangles nicely off the chin without plastering itself all over your body. Also, as I mentioned before, Austin is a pretty accepting city, so there isn’t as much “beard shaming” as there is in many other places.

ES: How did the Beard and Moustache Competition begin?

AD: The Misprint Beard and Moustache Competition originally started as a tongue in cheek parody of the burgeoning beard scene in Austin. Since that first competition, however, it has ironically become one of the biggest and most anticipated beard competitions in the country. What other competition could get Billy Fucking Gibbons to show up two years in a row? The answer is none.

ES: What’s in it for participants?

AD: Really the only thing in it for the participants is glory. There are some prizes, usually from local businesses, but being able to share the stage with Matt Bearden in front of 1200 people is reward enough for most people.

ES: Bryan, your bio on the AFHC says you’re studio engineer, musician, and record label owner. Can you tell us more about your musical endeavors? Has your long beard ever gotten in the way on stage, in the studio, or otherwise?

BN: I moved to Austin in 1993 attracted by the music lifestyle. I started studio work in 1995 at a studio called Sweatbox in downtown Austin, and have played in several bands along the way… Sister Run Naked, Peglegasus, School Trauma Flashback, Kytsch, The Pallbearers, Gorch Fock, Creeperweed, The Snake Trap, just to name a few… Austin is a good place if you want to play a lot of music. An interesting current music endeavor is the AFHC Christmas Album that we will release next fall… a bunch of silly, original Christmas songs about beards. Allen Demling on washboard!!! My beard is long enough so it gets caught up in my drumsticks sometimes if I’m playing drums, or gets caught on microphones too… that is annoying. If I am playing guitar sometimes sometimes I will yank out a few hairs while strumming, which might be a reason that my beard length kind of hovers around wear my strings are… when that happens it is like a sudden electric shock on my face, which is distracting to say the least. Engineering-wise, wrapping up cables is the worse. I have to tuck my beard into my shirt or else it gets yanked out by the rubber cables while I wrap them. All this being said, having a beard is pretty fun and the occupational hazards are totally worth it.

ES: You have some beard awards under your belt. How do you prepare for these kinds of competitions?

BN: Well, there is only so much preparation or training that one can do… I try to dress comfortably and try to stay focused on the fact that it is a silly concept, a beard contest. I might wear some lucky underwear, or try to think of an old classic rock song that gets me pumped. Having a bunch of my friends around always helps too.

ES: Beard-growing and the art of facial hair seem like fun things to engage in, generally speaking, but are there other elements of the facial hair community and culture that keep you involved?

BN: There are a lot of beard teams and clubs in the world now, and every major competition is a huge family reunion. The Austin Facial Hair Club stays busy nearly year round raising funds to get our team members to the various competitions. We meet twice a month and keep our merchandise up to date, those things alone keep us busy and involved. There are also several online groups for beard wearers/lovers, and a slow but steady stream of media inquiries from various sources and angles. Facial hair is fun, and it is a warm and inviting community as long as you don’t take it and yourself too seriously.

ES: What is a Lifetime Achievement Award for Beardness?

BN: A few years back the other AFHC guys came up with this surprise award for me at the Misprint competition. They had gotten all of these ancient photos of me, with help from my wife, and put together a slide show of my bearded life. I was shocked; it was awesome. I am a lucky guy to have such great, fun friends.