brianlibby.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Being in my fifties feels like one big out-of-body experience, where 40th anniversaries happen to albums and movies I loved that I swear can’t possibly be more than 25. “Funny how/time flies” indeed. For fuck’s sake!

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My latest Portland Tribune architecture column is about visiting the vibrant new home of local nonprofit Literary Arts, in the circa-1904 Strowbridge Hardware building.

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"Neon Nights," a 1982 compilation from K-Tel that I purchased as a 10-year-old, at Payless Drug in my hometown of McMinnville, Oregon. I was very much into "Let It Whip" and "Don't You Want Me."

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Interviewing director Yael Melamede at the Portland Jewish Film Festival last night.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Tonight I'm doing a Q&A at the Portland Jewish Film Festival with director Yael Melamede, about her film "Ada: My Mother the Architect," at Beaverton's Patricia Reser Center. It's an excellent film, about so much more than architecture. Join us? portlandjewishfilmfest.eventive.org/films/6740f0...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

My latest Oregon ArtsWatch story is a review of the excellent "City of Possibility" exhibit of architectural models, and a broader consideration of whether Portland has turned a corner from its extended post-pandemic hangover.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Two recent pics of 1980s downtown Portland architecture by NYC architects: the Portland Building by Michael Graves (first major work of postmodernism in America), and the contemporary (but Art Deco-influenced) PacWest Center by Hugh Stubbins. Both shots were taken from the Standard Plaza by SOM.

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

Great to see Matt Mcormick's 1999 found footage collage "The Vyrotonin Decision" has been digitized. It was a kind of Big Bang for Portland's experimental film community (which also produced Miranda July). As a young critic and aspiring filmmaker, it really inspired me. vimeo.com/1057616681?f...

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Early evening viewing after meeting a writing deadline. Easily my fifth or sixth time seeing this movie. What is it about Blow-Up that keeps me coming back? I guess that it’s about the unknowable. But the cool Swinging London vibes don’t hurt.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

I don't even have the words for how great this movie is. I just think of Jef Costello's chirping caged bird, his absurdly large ring of skeleton keys for stealing cars, the illuminated map of Paris at police headquarters, and how the movie's first 15 minutes go by without any dialogue. Sublime.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Shots from the "City of Possibility" exhibit of Portland architectural models past and present, including a wonderful circa-1980s model of the entire downtown, Michael Graves's competition entry for the Portland Building (first major postmodern structure in the US) and Pioneer Courthouse Square.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

After some initial difficulty getting our new printer to work, there was a noticeable difference in tone between my test-print page and my partner's.

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I love it when my job allows me to meet and talk with people and institutions I admire. I've been listening to Portland jazz radio station KMHD for over 20 years, which made interviewing program director Matt Fleeger and visiting the studio a treat. www.orartswatch.org/the-music-is...

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

I finished reading Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls while traveling by photographing the last 30 pages. Didn’t want to pack the big hardcover book in my carry-on luggage but couldn’t wait three days to finish it.

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Wrapped up this San Francisco work trip with shopping at iconic City Lights Bookstore and some greasy decadence at Columbus Burgers.

submitted 21 days ago • 2 comments

Fun temporary work commute this week, from my downtown San Francisco hotel and over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County.

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My Portland artist friend Avantika Bawa has a new gallery show in her Native New Delhi, “Modular Waltz,” and I was honored to write a short accompanying essay.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

I’m never not dazzled by old clips of XTC in concert. They stopped touring so early on (a decade before I became a fan) that seeing footage of them playing live feels like something has been almost magically conjured. youtu.be/8fiyvCeU_Xc?...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Many have mentioned Gene Hackman's 95th birthday today. Reminds me of an all-time favorite: The Conversation, an homage to Antonioni's Blow-Up. I love how both explore ambiguity and unknowability within murder mysteries. Hackman's performance as sax-playing, audio-bugging Harry Caul is so soulful.

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

Heard this song on the radio tonight, liked it, but missed its name. Wrote the DJ via Instagram after the show and within five minutes got the answer: “Falcão,” with Brazilian artist Jorge Ben singing in Italian. youtu.be/Z2K-2nuttzQ?...

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Just got assigned an article about the Midland Library here in Portland, designed by New Orleans firm Colloqate and local firm Bora. Well-designed libraries are one of this city's strongest architectural traditions, from A.E. Doyle to Thomas Hacker. Excited to get started.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

I keep returning to this album. Can’t say I own a lot of trombonist records or Japanese jazz records, but this one is so damn good.

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This is the definitive David Lynch take to me newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

submitted 36 days ago • 4 comments

This is so good.

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Jenny as seen by my partner, @brianlibby.bsky.social, who takes her out for walks (yes, on an actual leash) most days.

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

Excited to share this remembrance of interviewing my cinematic hero at his Hollywood home.

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

David Lynch made the most effective nightmares because he understood nightmare logic. It’s not that there are no rules; it’s that the rules aren’t explained. It’s why dreams make sense in your head. You don’t need language to feel your own feelings. His movies become that wordless tongue.

submitted 41 days ago • 6 comments