If someone has an explanation, I'll drop the resentment, but so far I haven't found much logic!

What were the planners thinking when they designed the new MAX tracks on 5th/6th? Whenever I look down that way I envision a lot of bewildered drivers and rear-end collisions and... what, yield signs, being ignored? Why the track/lane changes instead of one solid, continuing lane like the Streetcar? Are they trying to maximize street parking or something? I'm also stunned by the total impossibility of bicycling on these two streets (hello shallow track angles), instead of a shared roadway like SW Morrison, which is great for cycling. I've talked to police officers, too, who are predicting a lot of accidents and weirdness. It feels like there's some hidden goal here that the rest of us are not grasping. Confusion reigns supreme.

I feel like maybe I should ask someone involved with the project, except the damn thing's already built and we're stuck with it. At the very least, we can gripe about it, as we do best, right? :P

It's Soundies Night at Monday Movies!

Tonight, March 3, 2008, at 9PM Monday Movies will bring you over 20 original vintage Soundies, including many rare reels of black American Jazz and blues performances unavailable anywhere else.

Soundies were three-minute black and white mini-musical films made to be played on a self-contained coin-operated 16mm rear-projection machine, known by the brand name of Panoram. For a nickel, arcade, tavern and nightclub patrons could play three of the movies. More than 1800 of the Soundies mini-musicals were made during their brief peak of popularity in the 1940’s. Soundies were one of the few ways a black performer could reach a white audience on a grand scale in the US at the time.

The show begins at 9PM at Mississippi Pizza Pub in North Portland. Local media historian and author Tom Robinson will introduce each 16mm print from his collection and play it on a vintage projector.

Mississippi Pizza Pub
3552 North Mississippi Ave.
Portland, OR
503.288.3231
This is a free event. Full bar and menu. Non-smoking, child-friendly venue.

For a complete calendar of upcoming movies, go to http://www.myspace.com/mondaymovie. To sign up for our email list, please write to mondaymovies@aol.com