SCRAP.

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

Here’s something to ponder the next time you’re up late and staring out the window, wondering about your place in all creation:

Scientists who study the dispersement of material throughout the universe theorize that the Earth is so fantastically efficient at redistributing its matter –so mind-bogglingly good at re-using things– that every time you inhale, you are, in fact, breathing in at least a bit of Mr. William Shakespeare. (I swear, you couldn’t make this stuff up.)

And so it goes with water, dirt, air…and everything else. The Earth is, indeed, recycled…every last bit of it. And what is true for the planet at large is true for our own fair city.

On the next Outlook Portland, we’ll be joined by Alyssa Kail, Creative Reuse Center Manager of SCRAP. If you haven’t heard of SCRAP, just ask around: you’ll find that this quintessentially-Portland endeavor is making quite an impact on how our fellow townspeople reuse, recycle, and refashion everything.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: the leader of The Decepticons…Megatron.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson.

Stephen Cassell and the Q Center.

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

A truly fascinating conversation with Mr. Stephen Cassell, most recently known as the man behind “Hands Across the Hawthorne”. He’s also the founder of public-relations firm Cassell Communications, and sits on the board of The Q Center, which builds awareness and support for Portland’s LGBTG community.

We’ll talk about the art of marketing, advertising challenges in The Age of Irony, and the 1980s biography which inspired his career choice.

PLUS: a discussion of Portland’s Q Center and Q Patrol PDX, as well as look ahead to Portland Pride 2011.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: The Last Son of Krypton…Superman.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson.

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…I’ll talk with two of Portland’s premier online broadcasters.

In 2009, they moved from terrestrial media into the world of online entertainment as the hosts of FunemploymentRadio.com. And then, earlier this year, they added online television to their resumes when the Portland Trailblazers began airing their program, Sportlandia. (And, somewhere, back in the mists of time, they worked alongside an edgy, Gen-X motormouth whose name currently escapes me.)

Sarah X. Dylan and Greg Nibler…on the next episode of Outlook Portland.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson..

Podcasting in Portland.

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

There’s a lot that science fiction got right in terms of prediction: atomic power -and atomic bombs, for that matter- spaceflight, the practical application of lasers, and cloning, to name just a few.

Where dreamers of the past got it wrong, however, is where designers and creators of today get it right….and that is matters of size. One device -which fits in one pocket- and represents the miniaturization and consolidation of…everything–your phone, your videophone, your computer, your GPS, your Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In fact, the only thing immense about this device is the vast, nearly limitless amount of content it can access. In the blink of a figurative eye, terms like “radio” and “broadcast” have become either augmented or obsolete, depending on your view.

Sunday, we’ll talk with two Portlanders who are knee-deep in this ongoing change: Mr. Matt Hunter, creator and host of A Jumps, B Shoots, which focuses on video game news and culture, and Mr. Kyle Yount, founder and host of Kaijucast, which centers on all things directly or tangentially related to Godzilla. We’ll get their take on owning and operating  a podcast in 2011, as well as pitfalls that might face up-and-coming programs. It is a glorious time to be alive.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: The King of the Monsters…Godzilla.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson..

All about Zombies.

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

Throughout human history, we have struggled to find tools by which the universe might be understood: Galileo and Copernicus wrestled with theories of heliocentrism and geocentrism, Thomas Young fought to decode the Rosetta Stone, and Douglas Adams sought the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

It is, however, entirely possible that the residents of Portland, Oregon have discovered the true philosophical and galactic constant–the method and means by which anything can be explained…or, at least, made infinitely more entertaining.

The center of existence may, indeed, be zombies.

In fact, this month, Portland devotes a four-week stretch to the shambling ghouls, with May of the Dead…a series of disparate events covering film, music, money, gaming, and, of course, booze. Zombies are at the center of Portland life…so to speak.

On this week’s Outlook Portland, I’ll be joined by Heather Erickson of the Portland Zombie Prom, and we’ll discuss other May of the Dead happenings, such as the Portland Zombie Walk.

I’ll also engage in a bit of awkward self-promotion: I’ll speak with Todd Werkhoven, who, along with CNN reporter Lisa Desjardins and myself, is one of the authors of Zombie Economics: A Guide to Personal Finance.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: Vince, from the zombie-themed graphic novel Walking Dead.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson..

Portland’s History: The good, the bad and the sordid.

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

As Mick Jagger once said, there is no future, only recycled past. And one can scarcely find a pattern more frequently repeated than that of vice…and vanquishing. Indeed, in our own time -in our own city- these things are never far from sight. When in doubt, check your rearview mirror–in this case, to just over 100 years ago, when the City of Roses was both very much the same…and shockingly different.

This weekend, two different authors with a shared love of Portland will give their perspectives on the city’s cycle of rise, ruin, and reclamation:

Dan Haneckow, who writes extensively about Portland history -the good, the bad, and the sordid- at CaféUnknown.com.

And Tracy Prince, author of the new book Portland’s Goose Hollow, which contains hundreds of photos documenting a Portland era very nearly lost to history.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: Magic: The Gathering’s Thornscape Battlemage.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson.

Chris Haberman and K.C. Cowan

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

George Carlin once said that in his opinion, the only good thing Christianity had given the world was the music. While the veracity of that belief is up for debate, this much is true: religion does absorb -and redistribute- cultural and aesthetic flavors from every corner of the world, acting as a sort of sociological greatest-hits album. The Catholic Church, in particular, has inspired -or acquired- artistic leanings from nearly every discipline, helping to accelerate the co-mingling of seemingly-disparate forms.

So it is wholly appropriate that this week’s guests were brought together in collaboration by a collection of…Patron Saints.

KC Cowan (Portland media veteran and longtime host/producer of Oregon Art Beat) and Chris Haberman (painter, musician, poet, and gallery operator) are the writer and illustrator, respectively, of the new book They Ain’t Called Saints for Nothing, which looks at the lives of 20 notable patron saints.

We’ll talk about the genesis -so to speak- of the book, as well as the appeal of saints as artistic subjects. We’ll also discuss the creative process, especially the transition from solo artist to co-creator.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: a small lump of ginger root from the tea drawer in the company breakroom.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson.

Indigo Kelleigh, Stumptown Comics Fest

On the next Outlook Portland (Sunday, 6:30am, on NW32 TV)…

Let us now praise Tippy the Turtle, familiar to millions, even if they never knew that was his name.

Tippy the Turtle, along with a pirate just called “Pirate”, peered out from matchbooks and comic books for several decades, passing along the positive message that you (yes, you) could be an artist. If you could draw the turtle, the advertisement said, then a world of magical knowledge was within reach…an art school was standing by, and there, you would learn all the secrets of visual creation.

A great many of us did learn several things from this exercise:

1) Advertisements included with a pack of cigarettes or a copy of Swamp Thing aren’t necessarily the gold standard for truth, and

2) Drawing the turtle -drawing anything- is a lot harder than it seems, giving most of us a newfound appreciation for people such as this Sunday’s guest.

Indigo Kelleigh is an illustrator and designer; a creator of artwork for individuals, corporations…and for its own sake. He’s also the director of the Stumptown Comics Fest, which happens this weekend at the Oregon Convention Center.

This Sunday, he’ll join us for a discussion of art, inspiration, and what makes the Stumptown Comics Fest stand apart. Don’t miss it.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: The King of the Monsters: Godzilla.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson.

Stumptown Comics Fest

Tune in this Sunday for a brand new OP with the director of Stumptown Comics Fest, Indigo Kelleigh. Tickets to SCF are available at TicketsWest and also at the door. The festival is this weekend, April 16 and 17th, at the Oregon Convention Center.

Author of Nerve,Taylor Clark, on the next Outlook Portland.

If you want to know how human beings really think, look to the Greeks, who had a seemingly-insatiable fetish for isolating, naming, and, finally, personifying in deity form all the various facets of our existence. (And sometimes through bizarre multitasking, such as Athena being the goddess of wisdom……and handicrafts. Really.)

There was, however, one element of Earthly life so large, so powerful that it took no fewer than six beings to represent it. And thus, when Ares went to battle, he was accompanied by Phobos, who represented horror, Deimos, who was terror, and by four attendants: Trembling, Panic, Dread…and Fear.

Fear is, perhaps, the overriding emotion in our lives, and Outlook Portland’s next guest wanted to learn more about what causes fear, who can handle it, and what it really does to us.

Taylor Clark, the author of Starbucked, returns to discuss his latest book, Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool.

The show will also feature another “Outlook Portland Editorial Reply”, brought to you by our marquee sponsor, Things From Another World. This week’s guest editorialist: The King of the Monsters: Godzilla.

Outlook Portland, Sunday at 6:30am, only on NW32 TV…the home of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Rick Emerson.