With the Portland Art Museum’s new exhibit, Animating Life – The Art, Science, and Wonder of LAIKA, opening on Saturday, October 14, 2017 and running through May 20, 2018, we’re delving into LAIKA’s history and why Portlanders have a love affair with the Portland-based studio featuring the quirky and unique animation style that is stop motion.
Portland loves comics. We have a ton of comic book stores sprinkled throughout the city. Plus, every year near the end of the summer, we have the Rose City Comic Con – a festival where Stumptowners have the excuse to dress up like their favorite comic book and movie heroes and villains (like we need an excuse to do that).
Photo credit: Willamette Week – Portland’s Strip Club Haunted House will return for the third year in a row
Portland loves nudity. We have the annual World Naked Bike Ride. Oregon has laws permitting public nudity. Appropriately, we have the most strip clubs per capita (we have twice as many strip clubs as we have public bathrooms!).
In 2004, a bunch of comic creators (writers, artists, pencilers, colorists) got together to make a comic book show that focused on the creators instead of the publishers and distributors. Don’t get us wrong – we’re fans of the major Comicons all over the country, but this would be a show by the creators, for the creators. Naturally, since it would be based in Portland, the show’s name would have to do something with Portland, and, thus, Stumptown Comics Fest was born.
We’ve all been there – you’re driving along on I-84, minding your own business, when, all of a sudden, the car in front of you swerves out of control and crashes into a barrier wall. As you slowly pass by, checking to make sure everyone’s alright, the car’s filled with zombies! It’s a true story – “Zombies” in crashed car bewilder bystanders – welcome to driving in Portland.