Portlandia is a television series that debuted on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) on January 21, 2011. The show, produced by Andrew Singer and Jonathan Krisel, is set and filmed both in and near Portland, Oregon and features Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen as well as Carrie Brownstein, a member of the now-defunct band Sleater-Kinney and current lead guitarist/singer for Wild Flag.

The name Portlandia refers to the sculpture of the same name above the entrance of the Portland Building on Fifth Avenue in downtown Portland. The statue also appears in the opening montage title sequence.

The EPA’s draft of their findings shows groundwater pollution containing benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), which are health and  cancer causing compounds associated with fracking.

While the reality is that we will continue using fossil fuels and need to find new methods of extracting fossil fuels, it should be done responsibly.

I encourage you to read the complete report

I DID say your neighborhood.

Today is April Food Day and bloggers all over the world are bringing awareness to the needs of the hungry. I serve on the board of a charity called FISH of Greater New Haven.  Our volunteers deliver bags of groceries to people in need. People who are homebound and can’t make it to a food source, people who have economic stress and can’t afford to purchase food for their families, people in crisis – we don’t ask questions, we just get them food.

What can you do to help?

• Fight hunger in the New Haven by supporting FISH of Greater New Haven
• If you don’t know what or where your local food back is, find out and help where you can.
• For US food relief, support Feeding America.
• For international food relief, support Feed the Children.

From Connecticut or close by? Join me on Sunday, May 1 for the Walk Against Hunger. It should be a beautiful walk through the East Rock Park area of New Haven.  Click here to view my fundraising page, join the team, and learn more about the walk.

Thank you for considering others.

Yes, I was hit on by the body fully-pierced-with-safety-pins guy at the Jim Rose Circus Side Show. No, I didn’t go there. Yes, I considered Clown College after high school. No, I didn’t go there. Yes, I’m strangely attracted to things with birds on them. Yes, I found the crazy Harajuku fashion in Japan all glittery and fascinating. Yes, I have declared things “Over” and, most sadly, have probably been a catalyst for things being over, too.

We love Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel for their absurd and brilliant creation, and we secretly loath them for reminding us of our sometimes lame ways.

~pp

Train wreck alert!

I’m embarrassed to admit this.  I really am.  But… I’m on the drug too.  The Charlie Sheen drug.

The Charlie Sheen slow-motion train wreck has captured my attention and I’m not exactly sure why.   I don’t watch his TV show, feel no connection at all, and really don’t think he is an especially talented actor.  Certainly not the caliber of his father.  Perhaps its the anticipation of what he may say next.  Or maybe its waiting to see who comes out next to support him.  Thank God for friends like Mel Gibson.  A real stand up guy who obviously has Charlie’s best interest in mind.  It just adds to the freak show.  Maybe Lindsey will step up for Charlie too?

No, for me I think it’s more the astonishment.  The astonishment that Charlie Sheen, is a famous actor, and ultimately just a person like you and me (but with a lot more money), yet no one can help him.  Scenarios like this happen every day to non-famous people and often end in tragedy.  The Charlie Sheen tragedy is being played out on every tabloid and news media with what seems to be hourly updates and no one can seem to help.

I really don’t want to sound like a “bleeding heart” but this all says to me that there is something wrong with the system if this can happen every day and more often than not ends in tragedy. 

Sure, Charlie may ultimately end up in a rehab center and hopefully get the help he needs (but I’m not putting money on that).  But how many people don’t have the means or the social support to get the help they need?  These are the people we may hear about in the back pages of the local paper or maybe we see them wandering the streets with their shopping carriage.  Unfortunately I don’t know what the answer is other than to try and raise awareness I guess.  I suspect that with the budget cuts every state and city are facing that this issue won’t be on the top of their list.

Well I guess until this ends I’m just like you and will wait for the next news break about Charlie, anxiously anticipating the next nonsensical rambling about his greatness, sobriety, and mental stability.  Or maybe I’ll even go to the next level and follow him on Twitter so I can beat CNN to the punch!

Good luck Charlie, we wait in the shadow of your (self proclaimed) greatness!  ~cg

Joe Barcello likes to think he's more handsome than the gentlemen is this picture!

I have hair in my ears. This shocks and appalls me. I also can’t touch my toes anymore and I have an arthritic thumb that can predict rainfall. How did this happen? I have the brain of a teenager but the body of well…my Dad. Actually I’m a little fatter than him now.

What kind of time warp was I in that I now find myself middle aged? Proper middle aged by the way. I’m 38. I find few things more annoying than a 64 year old Baby Boomer claiming to be “middle aged.” Really? Hey Pops do you plan on living to 128? I don’t so. I don’t care how much fish oil you take and what kind of erectile dysfunction medication you’re on. In my eyes you have one foot in the grave. Better make the best of your final 20 years (if you’re lucky). All I ask is that you embrace the fact that you want that Porsche to compensate for your baldness and not because of some stage of life you’re going through.

I guess in my mind I thought I’d be more evolved by now. Somehow more “grown up.” Sure I like some classical music and I can formulate an opinion on the corporate bailouts and the Social Security crisis. But I also still play video games and listen to old school rap. Does that make me interesting or conflicted? I’m not sure. For now I’ll just keep plucking ear hairs and playing Rock Band on the Wii with my kids.

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Joe Barcello is a self-employed city guy opts to quit his job, move to the country and stay home with the kids while his wife pays the bills.  Check out his own hysterical blog entitled Immature and Old.

Lullaby Renditions of Pink Floyd

If you’re like me you probably remember the good ole college days of drinking excessively and  listening to Pink Floyd.  Well now you can pass that on to your children! Well, maybe not the excessive drinking… but you get the point.

Check out Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Pink Floyd and you too can send your kids to the Dark Side of the Moon!

I don’t know what a “Dino Derrick” is but I sure want one… NOW!

Happy Festivus, You $#&$@ers!

I love it when television becomes our reality.  In my opinion, when it comes to injecting TV reality into pop culture, no other show can hold a holiday candle to Seinfeld.  Recently, an inmate in LA prison embraced the made-up holiday Festivus, from Seinfeld’s 1997 season, to enhance his dining experiences in the clink.  Good for him and Happy Festivus to the free and the less-than-free.  Air your grievances, everyone, because it is a holiday for the rest of us.

• Prison Inmate Tricks Jail into Festivus Perks (Run Time 1:43)
• Seinfeld Montage: Wishing you a Happy Festivus (Run Time 1:54)
• George & Frank Costanza: The Full Story and Experience of Festivus (Run Time 3:09)

Sadly this will likely be the death knell for the mix-tape as well.  And what am I going to do with my 80′s Metal cassettes??