Adult Contemporary

Portland Has a Branding Problem: John Mellencamp’s Portland Video Not Portland

A video for the aging rocker’s terrible song about the homelessness crisis in Portland shows South Central LA, Manhattan, and Brooklyn.

05/17/2023 By Margaret Seiler

Viral Moments

The Spirit Halloween Memes Have Taken Over Our Timelines. Here’s Our Contribution.

Want to know what the perfect Portland costume entails? Scroll on through for our most accurate depiction.

10/27/2022 By Dalila Brent

Pop Culture Deep Dive

A Knee-Jerk Reaction to Taylor Swift’s Midnights

The superstar’s tenth album descended on an extremely suspecting public when the clock struck 12 last night. Here's how it hit us.

10/21/2022 By Conner Reed

Halloween

7 Pop Culture–Inspired Halloween Costumes You Can Shop for Locally

If you’re panicking as Halloween approaches and you haven’t been stockpiling costume ideas all year, we’ve got you covered.

10/14/2022 By Matthew Trueherz

Pop Culture Deep Dive

What Is Going On with Our Relationship to Don’t Worry Darling?

As a movie, the Olivia Wilde–helmed thriller is drawing unflattering comparisons to ‘Black Mirror.’ As tabloid fodder, it might mark cultural inflection point.

09/12/2022 By Conner Reed

Pop Culture Deep Dive

A List of Things Less Gay Than Beyoncé’s Renaissance

The superstar’s seventh album is a glittering tribute to queer dance music through the ages, making it a hell of a lot gayer than, say, a bachelorette party at Darcelle's.

08/01/2022 By Conner Reed

Pop Culture Deep Dive

Mid-Year Pop Culture Report

From Big Thief to Marcel the Shell to a kinetic new take on Chekhov, these are the pop culture nuggets that have spoken to us most directly.

07/08/2022 By Conner Reed

Pop Culture Deep Dive

Electra Heart 10 Years Later

Revisiting one of Tumblr-pop's most indefatigable outputs on its tin anniversary.

04/29/2022 By Conner Reed

Pop Culture Deep Dive

The 2022 Oscars Were the Last Gasp from a Dying Civilization

Listicles, rage, weakly gestural activism—will horseman number four please stand up?

03/28/2022 By Conner Reed

BOOM

Feel like Watching Something Go Boom and Fall Down?

See Corvallis's Reser Stadium go down.

01/07/2022 By Fiona McCann

Pop Culture Deep Dive

2021 Was the Year of Millennial Ambivalence

What ‘Solar Power’ and ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’ taught me about processing the mess of 2021

12/31/2021 By Conner Reed

Film

The Portland Critics Association Announces First Annual Award Winners

Dune, The Green Knight, The Power of the Dog, and The French Dispatch all received accolades at the first annual Portland Critics Association Awards.

12/17/2021 By Conner Reed

Music

Oregon Talent Scores 2022 Grammy Nominations

Japanese Breakfast, Cappella Romana, and a piece commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival score nominations.

11/24/2021 By Conner Reed

Music

The Best Places in Portland to Hear Each Track on Red (Taylor's Version)

Just between us, did the parking garage on NW 12th and Couch maim you too?

11/17/2021 By Conner Reed

Pop Culture Deep Dive

Every Movie Should Be Like Spencer

Pablo Larraín’s transcendent, ridiculous Princess Diana melodrama harnesses the specific power of cinema like few films attempt.

11/12/2021 By Conner Reed

Television

Portland’s Jimmie Herrod Competes in the Finale of America’s Got Talent

Herrod has to make one last push to become the million dollar act.

09/14/2021 By Cami Hughes

Television

Beth Ditto Will Star with Susan Sarandon in a Country Music TV Drama

Gossip girl enters her Connie Britton era??

09/10/2021 By Conner Reed

Events

3 Must-Dos at Rose City Comic Con 2021

The pop culture festival returns to the Convention Center this year with a typically starry lineup. Here's what we're most excited about.

09/09/2021 By Conner Reed

Pop Culture Deep Dive

HBO Max’s The Other Two Is a Perfect TV Comedy

The long-gestating second season of the showbiz joke machine more than justifies the wait.

09/03/2021 By Conner Reed

Film

Is That ... a Decemberists Needle Drop in the New Suicide Squad?

James Gunn’s new superhero flick may be the first to ever feature the lyric, “Like a Rimbaud to Baudelaire before.”

08/06/2021 By Conner Reed