Arts & Culture

The hipster is seen by many as a mainstay of pop culture here in Portland, but Valeriy Todorovskiy’s 2008 musical Hipsters offers a starkly different depiction. Filmed from a Russian perspective during the Stalinist regime of the 1950s, this drama tells the story of youths using jazz and fashion to rebel against social conformity.

You’ve probably heard Patton Oswalt’s joke about time machines. Faced with the choice to alter human history, Oswalt confesses that he’d instead “go back to the summer of 1993 and kill George Lucas with a shovel” to prevent the Star Wars prequels from happening.

All together now: progressive coffee shop alt-Americana. If the phrase intrigues you (it’s not a drink), if it sounds like one or two notable albums in your collection, or a good description of your musical tastes altogether, then The Weather Machine’s Mr. Pelton’s Weather Machine (2012) may be worth your attention.

This quick recipe is great for groups of snacking hipsters and can be customized for most dietary restrictions.

Ellsworth Kelly has been described as among the most influential living artists in American contemporary art. This summer, the Portland Art Museum is giving patrons a rare chance to view dozens of works from his extensive career in printmaking.

“All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don’t believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe that someone should become a person like other people,” journals 26-year-old Travis Bickle, a friendless cabbie who spends his nights driving his taxi through the filthy, steamy, dodgy streets of New York City and his days simply trying to relate to people.

Ever since Nachtmystium decided that it wanted to deviate from the black metal fold and have its songs featured in Guitar Hero games, I’ve been mourning its passing almost weekly. What once was one of the mightiest, most innovative bands in the genre is now a hull of its former self, getting checks cut from Activision to write black metal tunes with four-on-the-floor drum tracks.

Temperatures are rising in the good old Northwest. Why not match this new glorious heat wave with some fiery food? Delightfully cold to the tongue but packing some serious spice, this shrimp cocktail is a savory and delightful appetizer that will leave your mouth craving more.

Last year, The New York Times published an essay titled “Eating Your Cultural Vegetables.” The article, by film critic Dan Kois, is a sort of confessional. Kois admits that he seeks out films beloved by the intellectuals he most admires, even though he does not particularly enjoy them—a phenomenon he calls “aspirational viewing.”

Whom do you see when you look in the mirror?

Once selling for over $40 million at auction, “Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror” (1976), by Francis Bacon, debuted in Paris in 1977 and immediately received great praise. In it, the Dublin-born painter sought to portray the dual concepts of artistic process and insight in one of his most well-known works, on solo display at the Portland Art Museum through Sept. 2.

In 1896, Georges Méliès revolutionized the film industry with the first special effects. The Northwest Film Center will present The Extraordinary Voyage—a 2011 documentary by directors Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange on Méliès’ career and his greatest masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon—on Sunday, July 8.