April 10, 2008
Bikers Take Over the Theater
Thousands of bike enthusiasts won't be out on the streets riding this weekend - they'll be at the Clinton Street Theater watching bikes take over the silver screen for Filmed by Bike, the annual film festival featuring bike-themed shorts. And when they say short, they mean it: all movies are eight min. or fewer. Submissions are sent in from around the world, but the festival only happens in Portland.
Friday night is the Opening Night Throwdown (showings at 7 + 9) with beer, a raffle of over $2,000 in prizes (including some really nice roadwear from Rapha and a custom-made bike bag), a line snaking all the way down the block and tons of hootin' and hollerin'. But if boisterous bikers yelling at the screen isn't your thing...
...don't worry; the festival continues all weekend long with screenings at 5, 7, and 9pm on Saturday and Sunday. [ schedule ]
Sure you've probably seen a million BMX movies, trail riding and tricks, but Filmed by Bike is about so much more than all of that. What happens when you enter a relationship knowing the exact date you will end it? That's the Pull, a movie about two men who enjoy riding bikes together. Or how about a glimpse bicycle culture in Sweden, a bike-themed Zen proverb or a recumbent documentary? The festival also features animated shorts, mockumentaries and plenty of inspiring footage of people who love riding their bikes. There are no advance ticket sales so get there early to get in.
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 4:53 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 15, 2008
Filmed by Bike: Get in Free
Filmed by Bike, the annual festival of bike-themed movie shorts, is April 11-13 at the Clinton Street Theater. The Opening Night Throwdown party is on the 11th and it has sold out all five years. Worried about getting in? There are a few options. And one option gets you in for free.
The screenings are all weekend long so if you are concerned about getting in on Friday, you can choose from six additional screenings on Saturday and Sunday. And if you want to get in free, you can volunteer. There are a variety of positions still open. See the website for more info.
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 10:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
January 31, 2008
Sunday Parkways
The Sunday Parkways event is coming to Portland. Check out this cool video:
Sunday Parkways is a transportation and active living event patterned after Ciclovias, an event that first became successful in South America. Every Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. the city of Bogota, Colombia closes 70 miles of major roads so that people can bike, roller blade, run and stroll without traffic. The Ciclovia has become a major community activity with 1.5 million people enjoying the traffic-free boulevards on an average weekend. Another term for this concept is "Sunday Parkways", and they're coming to Portland this summer.
The City wants to hear your ideas for fun and healthy activities you would like to see in the four parks and along the six-mile looped route. They are also seeking suggestions on how to make this event successful and enjoyable for all participants and neighbors so they have put together two town hall meetings. The first meeting is February 6th at Kaiser Town Hall, 3704 N. Internstate, from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. The second is on February 7th at Chief Joseph Elementary School, 2409 N. Saratoga, from 5:30-8:00 pm.
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 9:39 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
January 12, 2008
Filmed by Bike Trailer
Filmed by Bike, Oregon's festival of bike-themed movie shorts, just debuted a fun little movie trailer for the 2008 festival season. It just hit the streets! Check it out here:
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 12:56 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
December 20, 2007
Jury Nominations
Filmed by Bike, the festival of bike-themed movie shorts, is looking for jury members to work on selecting films for the 2008 festival. Jury members are typically bike and film enthusiasts from Oregon and Washington.
The deadline for jury nominations is January 1. You've got just enough time to think of who would make an awesome jury member, or to convince your friends to
nominate you!
[ More info ]
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 12:10 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
November 14, 2007
Bike Lights from Percolators : BikeCraft III
BikeCraft III, the annual craft fair hosted by BikePortland.org. The event is Thursday night at the Lucky Labrador Brew Hall, NW 19th and Quimby, from 6-10pm.
This is a great opportunity to hang out with other bike enthusiasts while perusing truly creative bicycle works of art and craft.
[ more info ]
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 10:26 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 31, 2007
Yeah, this is Cyclocross
Halloween cyclocross, does bike life get any better? Kegs, costumes, cow bells, racing and hundreds of really fun people. If you've been out at the races lately, you've probably noticed the three-wheeled videographer Dan Kaufman. Dan, of CrankMyChain, has been documenting the races as part of his online video series on bike culture. The tricycle to allow him to ride along with the fun while shooting footage. This latest video (see below) was shot at the Halloween cyclocross race at the Astoria fairgrounds. You can check out more of Dan's work on his website.
Just goes to show... around these parts, we don't just ride our bikes to ride our bikes. We take it to the extreme, we really know how to have fun. Cyclocross? This is how we do it here:
Comments (2) | Posted by orbike at 8:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 19, 2007
Check out Alpine
This is a clip from the Alpine Trail, one of the highlights of Mt. Bike Oregon. Check out the quality of the trail. Oakridge, where Mt. Bike Oregon is held, is known for having some of the best maintained trails, thanks to the Disciples of Dirt, the Eugene-based mtb club.
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 11:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
April 11, 2007
Very Cool Filmmaker Profile
Filmed by Bike is coming up at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland this Friday. Check out this cool profile of one of the filmmakers and his movie. It's all about super fast skating paired with a biker on the streets of London. The skater was chosen to be in the movie because he was well known for overheating his bearings doing 60mph on alpine switchbacks.
Bill Prouty is a Minneapolis-based filmmaker. His thrilling chase film TAG pits a cyclist against a super-skilled rollerblader on the streets of London. You wouldn't know it, but Bill says the piece was a totally guerilla production, filmed by hanging off the backs of busses, clinging to a motorcycle and skating along side the action. " All very dangerous," he says, "but no serious injuries to speak of."
Bill, a cyclist and skater himself, says he shot the piece to see the interplay of speed and agility, skating and biking. I made TAG because I skate and cycle, and wanted to pit the two forms against each other.
Comments (4) | Posted by orbike at 9:00 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 27, 2007
Win an Electra Amsterdam
Filmed by Bike, a festival of bike-themed movie shorts, is coming to the Clinton Street Theater on April 13-15. The festival features submissions from around the world, but it only comes to the theater once a year. This year they're raffling off an Electra Amsterdam, that super cool European style city bike. You can purchase raffle tickets online and you don't need to be at the festival to win - so get your tickets today!
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 9:50 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 26, 2007
Reach the Beach Amazing Video
You've got to watch this Reach the Beach video. People ride Reach the Beach for all sorts of reasons. This video features Brian, a rider who only has one lung, and how his company, Rejuvination, rallied around him to support his ride. It's a great story.
[ watch the video ]
Comments (2) | Posted by orbike at 9:02 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 22, 2007
Flickr and Portland
Flickr quickly jummed onto the scene as one of the best ways to organize and share photos online. However, few people use it to it's fullest extent. A handful of Portland bike enthusiasts have been trying to get others to standardize their tags, or at least a handful of them. Tags are categorizations for photos, so if a photo is tagged as "PIR Racing" you can click a PIR Racing link and pull up all the photos associated with that category.
You can easily cruise through Flickr and get a sense of all the great Portland photos that are up there. Check out the collection of over 300 photos that are in the Portland Bike Culture group.
By the way, this photo is of a Pederson bike at the Alice B. Toeclips awards, shot by Dat Nguyen.
Comments (3) | Posted by orbike at 9:10 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 21, 2007
Awesome Trail Video
Check out this awesome trail video shot by Chad Sageser of Back Country Productions for Mt. Bike Oregon. If you've been toying with the idea of going on Mt. Bike Oregon this year, just watch the video. It will give you a good sense of how great the trails are there.
The early registration price for Mt. Bike Oregon ends on April 30th, so register now to get that deal. The Saturday Middle Fork shuttles are already sold out and the tide is filling up fast on both weekends (July 27-29 and August 17-19).
[ watch the video ]
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 8:39 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 15, 2007
2007 Filmed by Bike Program
The program for the 2007 Filmed by Bike festival has just been released. Check it out and see if you and your friends made the cut. Though submissions came from around the world, including Ireland, Victoria, Australia, France and England, the majority of the winning submissions came from NE Portland. No, not SW, not SE, NE. Go figure. I guess NE is the new hot bed of creative cyclists. NYC watch out, NE Portland's giving you a run for your money.
[ View the program ]
Comments (3) | Posted by orbike at 10:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
Bamboo Bicycles
I once saw a guy with a bike made out of bamboo. I can't recall where it was, but I'm fairly certain it was here in Portland. Well, today I was again searching for vintage bicycle posters for work and came across this old image of a bamboo bike. Bamboo is really strong and light, but for a bike? I don't knnow about that. They obviously didn't catch on.
Man, again, I have to tell you, don't go searching the internet for vintage bicycle posters! There are so many great ones out there you could get lost all day - and you could go broke. Fortunately I left my credit card securely locked in my wallet, but it was TEMPTING! Click this image for a larger view.
Comments (2) | Posted by orbike at 8:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
March 8, 2007
Seven Screenings for 2007
Filmed by Bike is holding SEVEN screenings of bike-themed movies this year, up from two last year and just one all the previous years. The festival will run April 13-15, 2007 at the Clinton Street Theater. The Opening Night Throwdown is Friday with a raffle featuring an Electra Amsterdam donated by Bike Gallery. Tickets for the raffle will be available online later this month.
The deadline for entries was today, so if you didn't get your movie together, you've got 365 days put it together for the 2008 screening - plenty of time.
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 8:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
January 3, 2007
Vintage Cyclocross
I was searching for images on the web today and came across this awesome vintage cyclocross poster. The gallery describes it as "An interesting study of a cyclist carrying his bike, by a designer who excelled designing sport and cultural event posters. Mancioli earned a degree in civil engineering, but by the mid-1930s he opened a graphic studio with his brother Ottorino and began producing posters." Click for a larger version.
I do not recommend you start searching the web for vintage bike posters unless you have nothing else to do today. It's easy to get lost for hours in a sea of incredible images.
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 2:39 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
December 18, 2006
A Fixie Music Video
Sit back, relax, and enjoy a bizarre fixie music video by RIP SLYME. This Japanese boy-band really likes their bikes. And when, at the end of the video, they build a bike for the entire band, they're even wearing helmets.
Comments (2) | Posted by orbike at 11:34 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
December 8, 2006
Don't Spend All Weekend Watching This
The Broadband Racer is a video site with race highlights, news, analysis and original content to give the viewers a look inside pro cycling worldwide. There are tons of up-to-date interviews as well as archives to sift through. Definitely more than you need to watch, and definitely enough to consumer your whole weekend - so don't forget to get out on your bike at some point and enjoy this rain-less wearther (for however long it lasts).
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 7:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 31, 2006
New Yorkers Want Ideas From Portland
StreetsBlog is a daily source for news and information about New York City’s burgeoning livable streets movement. The blog is coordinated by the NYC Streets Renaissance organization. Clarence Eckerson, one of the coordinators, reports that the site will be a featured Portland video short every day for the next week. He also has this to say:
"We want to get a dialogue started, esp. from folks in Portland who'd like to inspire New Yorkers about what else is good/not so good, so PLEASE leave a comment if you so desire."
[ check out the site ]
Comments (1) | Posted by orbike at 4:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 20, 2006
MTB Film at Clinton St. Tonight
This announcement just came through on the ORbike calendar:
The Fat Tire Farm is proud to present New World Disorder 7: Flying High Again at the Clinton Street Theater. One night only, Friday, October 20th at 7:00 and 9:00 pm. Please note that the 9:00 pm show is 21 & over only!! Anyone under 21 will NOT be admitted, no exceptions! There will also be a raffle and prizes given out! Tickets are $10.00 and are available now at the Fat Tire Farm. Buy early, last year sold out fast!
[ full listing ] [ New World Disorder 6 - peak ]
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 10:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 19, 2006
Celebration of Portland Transportation at the Bagdad Theater
On Saturday, October 28 the Bagdad Theater will feature an afternoon of transporation-oriented entertainment. A series of locally made short films will be shown along with live historical presentations highlighting how our community has created Portland's world class transportation system that serves families, seniors, pedestrians, bicyclists and businesses. The program is two hours long and starts at 2:00 pm.
This free event will be MC'd by Commissioner Sam Adadms.
Samples of some of the films can be watched on the BikeTV website here and here.
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 5:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 17, 2006
Filmed by Bike : Call for Entries
Filmed by Bike, a festival of bike-themed film shorts, has an open call for entries of films that are 8 minutes or under. Every spring, with a team of judges, I am one of the lucky people who gets to screen and select the films. It's a lot of work and the movies are all a mixed bag. Other than bikes, the only constant theme is that we get a glimpse of what goes on in the creative minds of cyclists world wide. Some are professional, others are grassroots "first-timer" videos. There seems to be very little correlation between the quality of the filmmaking and the merit of the movies. A lot of the very grassroots pieces are the most clever.
It's now easier than ever to edit a video on one's home computer system and Filmed by Bike has seen an increase in the number of submissions over the years. In fact, the crowning film of the 2006 festival was shot completely on a digital still camera using the video feature. It was the creator's first movie and it wound up being a favorite of the judges and of the crowd.
Comments (0) | Posted by orbike at 9:19 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 5, 2006
Older Adult Bike Program Video
About a month ago I wrote about the City of Portland's new Older Adult Three Wheeled Bike Program. Today I stumbled upon a video about the program shot by Clarence Erickson of BikeTV. Bike TV is a New York City program, but Clarence really gets around to cover stories about bike culture and programs across the country.
[ Watch the video ]
Comments (2) | Posted by orbike at 1:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBack