Pitcher perfect?

NW Davis & Broadway: Street art cum street lighting, Portland style. (SOOC cropped.)

CRAZY is today's DDW challenge topic.

You either love 'em or you hate 'em. Guess which side I'm on.

These "17-foot monstrosities" (see article) are scattered around the edge of the Pearl District, most obnoxiously within shouting distance of two fine fine-arts galleries. (This month, Rick Bartow at Froelick is not to be missed.)

These looming vases of reticulated fiberglass in garish colors (meant to resemble carnivorous pitcher plants) do not mercifully recede into the gloom as darkness descends. They light up! Their slanted top is not an opening; it's a flat surface covered with photovoltaic cells. In daylight the cells look exposed and out of place, like the guts of a gadget that weren't meant to be displayed.

One of these would be crazy enough. I passed three on my way to noon mass!

A limited-time exhibit of this sculpture would be crazy enough. It's permanent! Meant to be street lighting.

Whoever first said "Keep Portland Weird" must have been on the committee that chose these. I can't say I'm crazy about them.

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NaNoWriMo report: I think I've settled into a rhythm I can keep up. 1,100 words today. This tempo is not going to make me a 50,000-word "winner" but if I get 30,000 done this month I'll be thrilled. I might even be finished, since what I'm writing is an addition to 80,000 words of a novel I've been working on (on and off) for years. This is a violation of the Nano rule to write a book from scratch, but I already have several unfinished novels lying around and I'd be crazy to produce another one!

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BLIP NOTE ON STARS

Thanks to the person who gave me four stars yesterday. Or to the four people who gave me one star each. I laughed and laughed. I have never seen anything but five stars on Blip, and when I give out stars I'm nervous that my hand will slip and I'll miss giving all five.

When I first began blipping I had stars turned off because I didn't like the idea of being graded. Then a blipper asked me to turn them on, so I did. I soon discovered that stars weren't a grade like B+. They were more like pass/fail. Either you got five, or you didn't get any. This felt more comfortable.

Now I have four. Or one, four times. I'm still laughing. Being a writer of fiction, I can readily invent all kinds of reasons why yesterday's blip might merit only four stars. Or even only one. But I think I'll just assume that somebody's hand slipped. ;-)