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
Four boxes of desserts shipped to us from the UK by a friend, sitting on our dining room table right next to my cat’s insulin and syringe for diabetes, as if Jenny is trying to warn me.
January 12, 2026 at 5:36 AM
Four boxes of desserts shipped to us from the UK by a friend, sitting on our dining room table right next to my cat’s insulin and syringe for diabetes, as if Jenny is trying to warn me.
The three films you mentioned are my three favorites of hers. I do think certain others are very worth seeing though. I quite like Showing Up, and of course ones like Wendy & Lucy or Meek’s Cutoff are, while maybe slightly more difficult, timelessly good.
January 11, 2026 at 10:40 PM
The three films you mentioned are my three favorites of hers. I do think certain others are very worth seeing though. I quite like Showing Up, and of course ones like Wendy & Lucy or Meek’s Cutoff are, while maybe slightly more difficult, timelessly good.
So good. A
contender for my favorite Kelly Reichardt film. And so fun seeing my hometown portrayed soulfully.
contender for my favorite Kelly Reichardt film. And so fun seeing my hometown portrayed soulfully.
January 11, 2026 at 8:17 PM
So good. A
contender for my favorite Kelly Reichardt film. And so fun seeing my hometown portrayed soulfully.
contender for my favorite Kelly Reichardt film. And so fun seeing my hometown portrayed soulfully.
Going through a 2002 photo album and was reminded of a neighbor I had who drove her own personalized hearse. Wound up interviewing her for the annual @wweek.com Best of Portland issue: a motivational speaker (now deceased) named Alyce Cornyn-Selby. She also had a hat museum in her house.
January 11, 2026 at 5:14 AM
Going through a 2002 photo album and was reminded of a neighbor I had who drove her own personalized hearse. Wound up interviewing her for the annual @wweek.com Best of Portland issue: a motivational speaker (now deceased) named Alyce Cornyn-Selby. She also had a hat museum in her house.
No worries at all! Next Portland was/is great.
January 11, 2026 at 2:38 AM
No worries at all! Next Portland was/is great.
Actually I’m not the Next Portland guy. That’s Iain MacKenzie. I used to have the Portland Architecture blog.
January 11, 2026 at 12:04 AM
Actually I’m not the Next Portland guy. That’s Iain MacKenzie. I used to have the Portland Architecture blog.
Thanks very much! Yeah, I see what you mean. I guess it’s the analog photos with some low light levels, the old Art Deco station, and the fact that there’s nothing like clothes, cars or technology to make the time period clear.
January 10, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Thanks very much! Yeah, I see what you mean. I guess it’s the analog photos with some low light levels, the old Art Deco station, and the fact that there’s nothing like clothes, cars or technology to make the time period clear.
It happened to be November 1 that day, and a few minutes later we came across a Day of the Dead celebration with great costumes and pageantry.
January 10, 2026 at 4:39 AM
It happened to be November 1 that day, and a few minutes later we came across a Day of the Dead celebration with great costumes and pageantry.
Going through old photos and found these 1997 shots of Union Station in Los Angeles. Wasn’t taking a train. Just happened upon it while walking through the neighborhood on a visit to college friends.
January 10, 2026 at 4:33 AM
Going through old photos and found these 1997 shots of Union Station in Los Angeles. Wasn’t taking a train. Just happened upon it while walking through the neighborhood on a visit to college friends.
Reposted by Brian Libby
Belated Christmas present from one of my best friends that, emotionally speaking, came right on time.
January 9, 2026 at 4:45 AM
Belated Christmas present from one of my best friends that, emotionally speaking, came right on time.
I love The Inflated Tear so much! Possibly my all-time favorite jazz record. What a masterpiece.
January 8, 2026 at 6:29 PM
I love The Inflated Tear so much! Possibly my all-time favorite jazz record. What a masterpiece.
I actually have the first track from this album, "The Black and Crazy Blues," stipulated in my will as one of my funeral songs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkaj...
The Black and Crazy Blues
YouTube video by Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:56 PM
I actually have the first track from this album, "The Black and Crazy Blues," stipulated in my will as one of my funeral songs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkaj...
Excited to learn there's a new reissue of Roland Kirk's "The Inflated Tear," which is possibly my all-time favorite jazz album. I first heard it on a 1995 trip to London and was just absolutely floored. I think Kirk plays eight different instruments on this. www.rhino.com/aod/the-infl...
The Inflated Tear | Rhino
Roland Kirk’s 1968 debut for Atlantic Records, THE INFLATED TEAR, announced the arrival of a jazz visionary. Playing eight instruments, including saxophone, clarinet, string and flute – sometimes a co...
www.rhino.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Excited to learn there's a new reissue of Roland Kirk's "The Inflated Tear," which is possibly my all-time favorite jazz album. I first heard it on a 1995 trip to London and was just absolutely floored. I think Kirk plays eight different instruments on this. www.rhino.com/aod/the-infl...
Awesome! Macdonald is my favorite crime writer, and one of my top three favorite novelists. Wycherly is great, and so are about 10-plus more he wrote.
January 8, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Awesome! Macdonald is my favorite crime writer, and one of my top three favorite novelists. Wycherly is great, and so are about 10-plus more he wrote.
Surprising jazz discovery of the night: Romano Mussolini, son of Benito the fascist dictator. I heard on the radio and quite liked this title track from the 1974 album “Mirage.” (I do wish fascist was a term I had to use less often.) youtu.be/Z8hgm4uwJ1w?...
Romano Mussolini -- Mirage
YouTube video by SoulOnYourSide
youtu.be
January 8, 2026 at 5:16 AM
Surprising jazz discovery of the night: Romano Mussolini, son of Benito the fascist dictator. I heard on the radio and quite liked this title track from the 1974 album “Mirage.” (I do wish fascist was a term I had to use less often.) youtu.be/Z8hgm4uwJ1w?...
Reposted by Brian Libby
Robert Longo
Untitled (No Threat), 2018
charcoal on mounted paper
This is my new Bluesky banner
Untitled (No Threat), 2018
charcoal on mounted paper
This is my new Bluesky banner
January 7, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Robert Longo
Untitled (No Threat), 2018
charcoal on mounted paper
This is my new Bluesky banner
Untitled (No Threat), 2018
charcoal on mounted paper
This is my new Bluesky banner
At some publications, the reviewer actually doesn't get to choose the amount of stars. Hopefully that's not the case with the Guardian, though.
January 6, 2026 at 11:52 PM
At some publications, the reviewer actually doesn't get to choose the amount of stars. Hopefully that's not the case with the Guardian, though.
I feel like I witness this concept of aesthetic dimensionality every year when @valarie.bsky.social reorganizes our bookshelves.
January 6, 2026 at 5:14 AM
I feel like I witness this concept of aesthetic dimensionality every year when @valarie.bsky.social reorganizes our bookshelves.
I enjoyed this Aperture magazine Q&A (by Ekow Eshun) with sculptor Theaster Gates, talking about a trip to Japan that greatly humbled him, and introduced the idea that crafting beautiful objects — or even just the arrangement of existing objects — can have an almost spiritual dimension.
January 6, 2026 at 5:14 AM
I enjoyed this Aperture magazine Q&A (by Ekow Eshun) with sculptor Theaster Gates, talking about a trip to Japan that greatly humbled him, and introduced the idea that crafting beautiful objects — or even just the arrangement of existing objects — can have an almost spiritual dimension.
Holy cow! That’s wonderful!
January 4, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Holy cow! That’s wonderful!
When I think of IKWIG, I think of that phone booth by the waterfall. So great. And what you said about BN makes sense. I think its otherworldly quality slowly sinks in deeper. I actually paused the film numerous times to photograph the TV screen.
January 4, 2026 at 7:57 PM
When I think of IKWIG, I think of that phone booth by the waterfall. So great. And what you said about BN makes sense. I think its otherworldly quality slowly sinks in deeper. I actually paused the film numerous times to photograph the TV screen.
I like A Matter of Life and Death best, but of course lists are inherently silly. Red Shoes indeed is sublime. I also quite like P&P’s early film The Spy in Black (among several others).
January 4, 2026 at 7:40 PM
I like A Matter of Life and Death best, but of course lists are inherently silly. Red Shoes indeed is sublime. I also quite like P&P’s early film The Spy in Black (among several others).
Where might you rank this one on your P&P favorites list?
January 4, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Where might you rank this one on your P&P favorites list?