What’s Going on @ Sillydog Media

Well, pretty much finished — there are a few touches I could make, but I started building this website early this summer in my “spare” time and just now, finally got enough black tea in me to just stay up all night and get it done.

It’s for my friend and “employer” Kristin Zabawa, a gifted photographer who I occasionally assist with headshot photography.  It’s a lot of fun and educational for me.  Also, she’s a great gal.  I recommend her to any of my actor acquainances.

I think it looks pretty spiffy, it is is my first foray into flashy-ness.  So, the moral of the story is that I can make a functional website, but it takes a little while.

Or, at least that’s what I like to tell people. Honestly, I don’t seem to be able to hold enough liquor to actually get that drunk, so I tend to be more of a sipper. There are plenty of opportunities to get loaded in St. Paul, too, so you can think of it as a euphamism.

However, if I really did get around to tying one on, I might feel the need to repent on a Sunday morning. You can hardly do so in a nicer church than the Cathedral of St. Paul, right next to my very first apartment in the city over on Marshall Ave.

I mention this because I’ve had a photo of said cathedral included on the Minneapolis Schmap! applicaiton. It’s funny to me that anyone would consider those two cities to be one and the same, though I suppose the good citizens of Ft. Worth feel the same way.

Indeed, the east and west sides of Portland are becoming a bit like different cities. Perhaps they will be someday. Until such time, take care during your bridge crossing and just know that the Eastside Rules!

Portland is blessed with a great many places where you can enjoy wine these days. I recently did a few reviews of those who are either run or cater to women. They also both happen to be near my house, which is even better for me, since we all know the Eastside is the best side. First there’s the Vino Vixens over on Powell, for all your wine drinking pleasure (bring your own dinner or have their snacks) in the most improbably location ever.

Then, there’s the Hip Chicks Do Wine – a real urban wine works where they primarily do the blending of juice and grapes that have been trucked in from elsewhere. While this may sound a bit industrial, it’s actually far less industrial than some of the operations that take place out in the country.

And, why shouldn’t women be all over the wine thing? I suspect women make a great many choices regarding wine purchases, and now that I’ve spent some time in the wine industry, I feel as if I’m qualified to say that my sisters can do a very good job of just about anything from running the vineyard (like Marsha does over at Eola Hills) to blending to pressing to selling and even turning into something even more impressive (aka spirits).

Yep, women are all over the booze these days. And, since I’ve been working here and there at the New Deal Distillery this year, I’m all over it, too. I like being a girl!

There’s nothing quite like a liberal coffeehouse – well, I mean honestly, is there another kind? Perhaps in small towns, but they’re a different sort of place altogether. No, Mao’s Little Red Book and high levels of caffeination among young artsy types.

I hung out at coffeeshops because I wasn’t very good at getting out and meeting people otherwise. As luck would have it, i picked a venue that is very natural the habitat of someone like myself. Though I lean more toward the tea these days, I still feel like I owe coffee a debt of gratitude.

I recently reviewed a few coffeehouses – the first one was across where I worked in what a pal of mine called “the oil fields.” Though called the Bipartisan Café, it actually is quite liberal. Something of a kid-friendly shrine to the Democratic Party, really.

Regardless, they do serve good, homemade soup, which is the cornerstone of any civil society. Americans don’t eat nearly as much soup as we should. People from other countries are shocked at how little soup we eat, as a people. No wonder our medical expenses are so high. Lack of soup!

The other place I reviewed is right by my house. Matt and I walk by Legare’s almost every day on our way to New Seasons or Clinton Corner. When we stopped in one day, shortly after they opened, we were impressed w/ their odd selection of serve-yourself tea bags and nice proper tea service. They do also have the black stuff, but it’s very good to have another local tea house I can walk to. Especially one that’s open relatively late.

I review ‘em as I visit them, since I don’t write the nice, long sorts of reviews (though I’d love to) that warrants a food budget, I cannot affortd to go to even as many restaurants that open up in PDX in a given month on a writer’s budget. Therefore, when I hear that a place is good I wait ’til Matt wants to take me out and recommend we visit during happy hour. As we’re both freelancers, we can go whenever, which is double-great if we’re going to catch a late happy hour.

I reviewed Pasha after Lilah got me to check her belly-dance performance (I highly recommend it) at what was totally tripped out Middle Eastern disco that was being DJ’d by a fellow I believe was Ukrainian. Very trippy. Regardless, they have decent food, a darn decent all-you-can-eat lunch buffet (as long as you avoid the obviously not Middle Eastern dishes) as well as a buttermilk and mint drink that I swear to you is most excellent no matter what it sounds like.

I also reviewed the Blue Dragonfly, which serves a very high class pile of happy hour appetizers, thought the featured cocktails are not on happy hour special at all. It could be really cool if people find it over there on Powell. Thus far, it smells a bit of boondoggle, though I’ll very happily hit up the after 10pm happy hour ’til their accountants come to their senses.

Nothing breeds success like success, eh? It looks as if I’ll be doing a June show of my photography and writing at the Roots Organic Brewery that I recently reviewed for wCities.

Not only am I excited about this as a photographer but also, because I’m looking forward to doing some writing on the virtues of organic wine, beer and distillates. As is my custom, my show will focus on the writing as well as photography in an interactive manner. I really look forward to it.

What’s even cooler is that I got the gig because of the review I wrote as well as having a wordpress blog that I can link to with my media. I cannot say how very happy I am that tools such as word press exist!

This portrait of Rizzo as a young rooster was chosen to be the December model for The Henhouse’s annual chicken calendar. What a great way to end the year!

Of course, you can still get 14 months of chickeny goodness from my very own calendar, “Chickens!” Get yours printed on demand today from Lulu. I bought one for the house and sent one to my mother, as per request. They look great, just like a real calendar should.

I hope Rizzo’s doing well in his new life on the farm. He was getting to be a bit of handfull, what with all the crowing and attacking Matt’s bare feet whenever he came out. I thought they were cute, but three roosters can get quite rowdy. Of course, I had no hens to offer him and when the hormones get moving, that’s really what they want. You can sort of see it in his still slightly juvenille eye.

A photo of mine was remixed lately and used to illustrate a quote about crime in “virtual worlds,” such as Warcraft and probably about a hundred others I’m not hep to. Didn’t South Park cover this? I think that’s the merging of worlds I’m most concerned about.
Check out the remix by lynetter in a set of photos with notable quotes.

Again, what a fine use of creative commons to foster creativity. I remain a huge fan and would encourage just about everyone to use it.

I ended up writing an rather lengthy description of how Camilla came to be here on my FlickR site. I thought you might enjoy it.

You ought to check out the large version of this pic — the foot scales are especially nice, I think.

Camilla is from Washington originally and came with the wild bird. The other was a wee little pullet with a rather small comb. As you can see, Camilla has a very impresssive comb for a hen.

After finding a good taker for “the boys” (Read on …)