Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Portland Humor

Carrie Brownstein, Fred Armisen and the Portland skyline. Photo: thunderant.com

Most people on campus are going home for Thanksgiving but, since I'm from Portland, that's not exactly practical. So I'm missing Portland a little these days.

Thanks to the New York Times' Paper Cuts blog, then, for letting me know about ThunderAnt, the unlikely duo of Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney) and Fred Armisen (SNL), who are filming funny video sketches in Portland--three so far. They embody the city's laid-back, DIY attitude, too.

Paper Cuts highlighted the "Feminist Bookstore" sketch, which pokes fun at all the crazy aging feminists, neo-hippies, New Age healers, etc., that populate Portland. Those are genuine Portland advertising flyers that Fred and Carrie examine--absurd as they may appear!
I know the bookstore where they shot it, and though I'm an unabashed feminist and Portlander, I can take a good-natured mocking.

"This Is Nice" shows some Portland street scenes but is the least funny of the three.

"Boink!" is supposed to take place in Manhattan (though I suspect a Portland in-joke when Carrie's character says her last name is "Overton," one of our streets) but Fred gives a hilarious portrayal of Saddam Hussein as an aging British rock star.

I can't embed the videos in my blog, so I encourage you to go to ThunderAnt and watch them!

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