Brian Libby
@brianlibby.bsky.social
Portland, Oregon architecture & arts journalist (Metropolis, Dwell, Oregon ArtsWatch, NY Times) • keen photographer and experimental filmmaker • fond of film noir, college football, cats, British panel shows, tennis, jazz, espresso, Columbo, democracy
Even though I haven't read that much Ursula Le Guin (which hopefully will soon change), I'm looking forward to checking out this exhibit at Oregon Contemporary. www.orartswatch.org/a-larger-rea...
‘A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin’ honors the work and the life of the iconic novelist • Oregon ArtsWatch
An expansive exhibit at Oregon Contemporary, curated by the late, great Portland writer's son, opens up the speculative worlds she created and how she shaped them in words.
www.orartswatch.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Even though I haven't read that much Ursula Le Guin (which hopefully will soon change), I'm looking forward to checking out this exhibit at Oregon Contemporary. www.orartswatch.org/a-larger-rea...
What a treat today getting to see four Rothko paintings, and in a room my myself no less, after today’s press preview of the expanded Portland Art Museum and its newly opened Rothko Pavilion.
November 13, 2025 at 10:18 PM
What a treat today getting to see four Rothko paintings, and in a room my myself no less, after today’s press preview of the expanded Portland Art Museum and its newly opened Rothko Pavilion.
Excited to finally have my own copy of this long out-of-print 1974 album by former Monk saxophonist Charles Rouse, courtesy of iconic jazz label Strata-East. And it’s SO good!
November 11, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Excited to finally have my own copy of this long out-of-print 1974 album by former Monk saxophonist Charles Rouse, courtesy of iconic jazz label Strata-East. And it’s SO good!
I’m not even done watching the 1946 noir Deadline at Dawn yet, and I’m already kind of mesmerized, especially by Nicholas Musuraca’s cinematography and by Susan Hayward’s performance as a world-weary heroine coming to the aid of an innocent, would-be-wrongly-convicted seaman.
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 AM
I’m not even done watching the 1946 noir Deadline at Dawn yet, and I’m already kind of mesmerized, especially by Nicholas Musuraca’s cinematography and by Susan Hayward’s performance as a world-weary heroine coming to the aid of an innocent, would-be-wrongly-convicted seaman.
Why yes, the best part of my Sunday was reading a 20-year-old interview with Peter Falk about Columbo and Cassavetes. www.avclub.com/peter-falk-1...
Peter Falk
Peter Falk
www.avclub.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Why yes, the best part of my Sunday was reading a 20-year-old interview with Peter Falk about Columbo and Cassavetes. www.avclub.com/peter-falk-1...
Slightly mesmerized by a tow truck’s lights outside my house.
November 8, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Slightly mesmerized by a tow truck’s lights outside my house.
Saw the 1991 experimental film Papers by Yoshinao Satoh for the first time this evening and was blown away. It’s a montage made from thousands of Japanese newspaper pages, and the Steve Reich music is an ideal match. youtu.be/1cmlaTIvd7I?...
PAPERS 制作：Yoshinao Satoh
YouTube video by よしながき
youtu.be
November 3, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Saw the 1991 experimental film Papers by Yoshinao Satoh for the first time this evening and was blown away. It’s a montage made from thousands of Japanese newspaper pages, and the Steve Reich music is an ideal match. youtu.be/1cmlaTIvd7I?...
Such a brilliant film.
I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
DoP: J. Roy Hunt
DoP: J. Roy Hunt
October 31, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Such a brilliant film.
I always say, autumn is my favorite two weeks of the year.
October 31, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I always say, autumn is my favorite two weeks of the year.
Saw this display on my walk and thought that in addition to Halloween, it also might work for July 4.
October 29, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Saw this display on my walk and thought that in addition to Halloween, it also might work for July 4.
This house in my neighborhood has more pumpkins on display than I've ever seen, and fake cobwebs, even as it's shrouded in protective plastic sheeting for some kind of repair. Or wait...is the plastic part of the Halloween decor? I don't even know anymore.
October 29, 2025 at 3:54 PM
This house in my neighborhood has more pumpkins on display than I've ever seen, and fake cobwebs, even as it's shrouded in protective plastic sheeting for some kind of repair. Or wait...is the plastic part of the Halloween decor? I don't even know anymore.
Nothing is better musically for helping me stagger through the last two hours of a story-deadline day than Art Blakey. Just total swing and swagger and chops. Even as the personnel around him changed in the fifties and sixties, one great record after another.
October 28, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Nothing is better musically for helping me stagger through the last two hours of a story-deadline day than Art Blakey. Just total swing and swagger and chops. Even as the personnel around him changed in the fifties and sixties, one great record after another.
Thinking about drummer Jack DeJohnette's death yesterday. He plays on many records I love, but I only recently discovered his solo work, which has a kind of serenity, even in a song like this from 1977's "Pictures," with nothing but drums for the first two minutes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RWR...
Picture 1
YouTube video by Jack DeJohnette - Topic
www.youtube.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Thinking about drummer Jack DeJohnette's death yesterday. He plays on many records I love, but I only recently discovered his solo work, which has a kind of serenity, even in a song like this from 1977's "Pictures," with nothing but drums for the first two minutes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RWR...
I enjoyed this article about items from Gene Hackman's home being auctioned off, including a painting he did that I think is pretty good, and his own Galaga game (which was always one of my favorites at the arcade.) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
October 26, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I enjoyed this article about items from Gene Hackman's home being auctioned off, including a painting he did that I think is pretty good, and his own Galaga game (which was always one of my favorites at the arcade.) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/m...
Visiting the Nyback Archive last night for a screening. After archivist-projectionist Dennis Nyback's death a couple years ago, a team of volunteers has kept this thousands-strong collection of 16mm films alive, and even created a fun microcinema. I loved hearing the sound of a projector again.
October 24, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Visiting the Nyback Archive last night for a screening. After archivist-projectionist Dennis Nyback's death a couple years ago, a team of volunteers has kept this thousands-strong collection of 16mm films alive, and even created a fun microcinema. I loved hearing the sound of a projector again.
The many sides of Jenny...
October 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
The many sides of Jenny...
I’m so pleased and proud we’ve had three truly great filmmakers choose to live in Portland—Gus Van Sant (great early in his career, occasionally mid-career), Todd Haynes and most recently Kelly Reichardt—none of them born here. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
A film about an audacious art heist? Inside The Mastermind, the timeliest movie ever
Just days after the Louvre theft comes this drolly unconventional gallery robbery drama. Director Kelly Reichardt talks about solving crimes as a kid – and casting Josh O’Connor as a crook in autumnal...
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I’m so pleased and proud we’ve had three truly great filmmakers choose to live in Portland—Gus Van Sant (great early in his career, occasionally mid-career), Todd Haynes and most recently Kelly Reichardt—none of them born here. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
I love this bookstore, not only for the great new banners, but for the endearing inconsistency of three different versions of the store's name on the facade, window and over the doorway.
October 23, 2025 at 12:40 AM
I love this bookstore, not only for the great new banners, but for the endearing inconsistency of three different versions of the store's name on the facade, window and over the doorway.
Fall leaves, in my yard and peeking over the grocery store's rooftop parking lot.
October 21, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Fall leaves, in my yard and peeking over the grocery store's rooftop parking lot.
My latest for Oregon ArtsWatch (@orartswatch.org) is a walk-through of the expanded Portland Art Museum with its director, Brian Ferriso, as he reaches the end of a 19-year tenure. www.orartswatch.org/touring-the-...
Touring the Rothko Pavilion with Brian Ferriso • Oregon ArtsWatch
As his 19-year tenure reaches an end, Portland Art Museum Director Brian Ferriso leads an enthusiastic tour of his signature achievement, the new Rothko Pavilion.
www.orartswatch.org
October 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM
My latest for Oregon ArtsWatch (@orartswatch.org) is a walk-through of the expanded Portland Art Museum with its director, Brian Ferriso, as he reaches the end of a 19-year tenure. www.orartswatch.org/touring-the-...
I'd been meaning to watch the 2012 Christian Petzold film Barbara ever since it came out, and finally did last night. What a lovely blend of quiet melancholy and simmering tension, with evocative cinematography, which makes wind in the trees a beautiful continuing motif.
October 19, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I'd been meaning to watch the 2012 Christian Petzold film Barbara ever since it came out, and finally did last night. What a lovely blend of quiet melancholy and simmering tension, with evocative cinematography, which makes wind in the trees a beautiful continuing motif.
Reposted by Brian Libby
After adding new data to our spreadsheet, our central estimate of turnout for the No Kings Day protests yesterday has risen to 5.5 million, with an upper bound of 8.7 www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants
Here are the initial results from our crowdsourced crowd-counting estimates
www.gelliottmorris.com
October 19, 2025 at 1:15 PM
After adding new data to our spreadsheet, our central estimate of turnout for the No Kings Day protests yesterday has risen to 5.5 million, with an upper bound of 8.7 www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
