Has Portlandia Ruined Birds?

Portland is reputed to be the most hippyish, organic-eating, environmentally-conscious, animal-protecting, bike-riding, anti-corporate, micro-brewing city in the US. Do you have that kind of people in Australia or not? If you imagine a cityful of them, that's the Portland of Portlandia. And according to Bernie and Jane, it's kind of like that in the real world, too.

I am going to say yes, you will get the satire.

We have them....

How does one take a screen shot of there wallpaper? I just realized I have birds on mine too...

I just Googled mine, being too lazy to take a screenshot and upload it.

If your computer runs on Windows, try Ctrl-Print. (You should find a key saying "Print" somewhere to the right of those keys that say "F1", "F2", . . ., "F12". On some keyboards, it's one of the F-keys.) If you're writing on a Mac, I don't know the answer.

Ctrl-Print copies your screen. You can then paste it into your favorite graphics program (like Paint), save it as a .gif file, and take it from there.

That was pretty common, and until quite recently, too. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. got his start as a naturalist by running around the woods of Maine shooting the local fauna, after which they could be dissected, then stuffed and mounted. It was how naturalists worked. Wallace, who derived a theory of natural selection at the same time as Darwin, and, initially, presented the idea with him jointly to the Linnean Society, made his living going to far away places, locating exotic birds, and then killing them for collectors who would pay top dollar.

I visited the boig Elephant pholio at the Phila Academy of Science once and I was amused at how all the birds seemed to "fit" the paper. Thats when I learnt that the ol boy would kill his birds (look at the flamingo) then arrange them so the would fit on his fine Rieves papers and then, using a tool called a "Camera lucida" which would act ;ike a projector. This is how he sketched his work. I learned this when, in his 1826 "Journal" he was given a whole bunch of "penknives" (used to repair quill pens .To this he addedd that he was well equipped with his pens, pen knives and his "camera" thus allowing him to do field sketching of his subjects.He then brought his sketches and the subject back to his "studio" in Bayou Sara (La) to do the final oil/ watercolor paintings.

He was apparently quite a showman though. His journal of 1826 makes him sound a bit like Ben Franklin mixed with Bernie MAdoff.

I know I know I know.

I love birds. I'm completely oblivious to whether they're in or out. Popular or not popular. Don't give a flying feather about trends.

I wrote a poem about birds. I posted it elsewhere on this site. I'm posting it again here. I think it's appropriate to this discussion.

I wish that I could find the woids
To say how much I love dem boids.
I love dem when dey choip and tawk.
I love dem when dey peep and squawk.
I love dem in a flock or hoid.
I guess I'm just a boidy noid.

Actually, Sozobe is a Mid-Westerner, not a New Yorker. Mid-Westerners pronounce the word "bird" correctly: "brrrd".

Sure you do: You love cats. Cats love birds, too.

First of all, Herr Smart-Ass. I pronounce bird as bird, which rhymes with word. I was using poetic license in my poem.

Second I love dogs, too. Dogs love cats, and cats love birds. What a loving world we live in.

In answer to soz's original question, nothing will ever ruin birds. They're unruinable.

a fave bird poem i remember reading as a kid

spring has sprung
the grass has rizz
i wonder where
the birdies is

the bird is on the wing
now isn't that absurd
i always thought
the wing was on the bird

<standing ovation>

Continuing this theme, even Alfred Hitchcock loves birds!



Sozobe, can you read his lips okay? If not, I volunteer to transcribe.

People outside of Portland watch Portlandia?

Whoah.

That's very Battlestar Galactica.

i've never seen it, but any show that has 1/3 of sleater-kinney in it (guitarist carrie brownstein) can't be all bad

Soz, I really like the things you've made. Your objects would sell for a lot of money here!

I think birds are animals we can all relate to. A lot of people don't like cats, or dogs, or reptiles, or whatever, but almost everyone likes birds and that's one of the reasons that things with birds on them are so popular. To prove my point I'll direct you to: http://backyardbirdshop.com/index.php/about (six stores in Portland).

"Put a bird on it" is kind of a way of saying "That's nice, but it could be better (by putting a bird on it)".

I wouldn't worry about birds becoming passe any time soon!

I actually haven't seen Portlandia yet, though I think I'd like it.

I belong to a loose craft collective here (some sewing, some of this, some of that) and the "Put a bird on it" video made the rounds shortly after it came out since so many of us seem to be bird-lovers.

I think you're right about birds, plus they are so colorful and varied. They're more like flowers than other animals almost.

Fruits, flowers and birds seem to be the perennial decorative features (and sometimes all three).

(Thanks for the compliment! I love making those birds, it's an amazing pattern. That was the first one, I don't like the weird bump on his head, got better at it later. I especially like the one I made out of a vintage linen tea towel. )

Edit: here's the pattern if anyone else is interested:

http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/birdpattern1-1.pdf

Just saw that film again the other day!

soz, I took a more careful look at the things you made. You get a standing O from me. Wonderful stuff. You've got talent, kid.