Vikings Volleyball: Battle Tested – Battle Ready

by J. Logue, Vanguard staff

As the night begins to set in over Spokane, I can barely contain my excitement. While everyone walks around doing their holiday shopping, I know there is a battle that is about to take place right outside town.

Crossing paths with head coach Michael Seemann today, I could feel his intensity and it was clear he was ready to play. Speaking on last night, he noted how Montana brought an intensity that caught the Vikings off guard. 

Vikings Volleyball: One wish

by J. Logue, Vanguard staff

After two thrilling games in Cheney, Wash., the dust has finally cleared and the teams have been decided for the championship game.

With both games going extra sets and the latter going five sets, Portland State and Northern Colorado have emerged as the top contenders for the Big Sky Tournament Championship and still have the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament.

Despite strong pushes in each match by their opponent, the Vikings and Bears were able to hold off their respective teams and grab the win in semi-convincing fashion. 

Read more after the jump.

Vikings Volleyball: Ready and Focused

by J. Logue, Vanguard staff

With the first game of the conference tournament looming, the Vikings are keeping an even keel. Despite playing in front of what should be a mostly hostile crowd, the Portland State women's volleyball team appears to be ready for whatever the Big Sky Tournament has in store for them.

Considering the last two years, it’s hard to argue with them.

Playing in the Big Sky postseason in every year head coach Michael Seeman has been at the helm, the Vikings have enjoyed their time in the tournament.

One beat makes you larger and one beat makes you small

The best part about Canadian rapper turned Portlander Josh Martinez is that he never takes himself too seriously. You can tell if you ever listen to his music or get the pleasure of talking to him that he's a silly dude who's having a lot of fun. In the new video for his song "Underground Pop," featuring Moka Only, the two hip-hoppers channel the late and great Hunter S. Thompson on a Fear and Loathing style trip. The video is directed by Stuey Kubrick, the lesser known and very reclusive nephew of Stanley Kubrick:



This song is pretty rad and the direction is decent, but it's Martinez's acting that completely steals the show. Who knew his legs were so bendy or his eyes so shifty?

Peter Broderick is still amazing and always will be

A long time ago, Peter Broderick used to live in Portland and was a member of folk outfit Horse Feathers. Now, he's living in Europe, collaborating with some incredible musicians and producing his own solo work.

Broderick is one of those artists I will never tire of hearing and, recently, I came across this video for "Below It," a song off his 2008 album Home:

Peter Broderick Below It from Ralph Etter on Vimeo.

Thank you to Local Cut and Michael Mannheimer at Willamette Week for reminding me just how breathtakingly gorgeous Broderick's music is.

This week's "This Week..."

The final edition of "This Week in Big Sky Football" is up and ready for your listening enjoyment.

Typically, as we've done in week's past, we would also have the weekly teleconference with the conference's football coaches and the media.

However, this week was unlike others for Portland State football. Why, you ask?



That's why.

Sports satire of the day

From our friends at the Onion:

Improv comedy show tonight at the Brody Theater!

by Wendy Shortman

The Corporate Headquarters Improv group performs every second Thursday of every month. This month, they will be introducing a new blend of improv comedy that will be even more predictable then before. Check out the Facebook event page here.

Here's a video of a previous performance. The clip is of a game where three bakers are in the process of baking while interpreting a fast-paced play list of popular songs. There's a bit of a slow start, but it does pick up around the 2:40 mark though when Outkast's "Hey Ya!" comes on. Now that's some funky bread:

Solange Knowles covering Dirty Projectors

Holy crap. This sounded cool when I first read about it but, after listening to it, Solange's cover of "Stillness is the Move" may just be my new jam. Pitchfork has it here. This what they have to say about it:

"If Solange Knowles isn't sampling Boards of Canada or getting Jay-Z and Beyoncé into Grizzly Bear, she's jamming out to Dirty Projectors. She's been bumping DP so much, in fact, that she decided to go ahead and cover the Brooklyn band's Bitte Orca standout "Stillness Is the Move", which always sounded like a monster R&B track in disguise anyway."

Thanks Pitchfork (jeeze it was hard to type those words).

"This Week in Big Sky Football"

Another installment of "This Week in Big Sky Football" is available for your listening pleasure. Guests this week are Idaho State coach John Zamberlin, Northern Arizona running back Alex Henderson and David Coulson, executive director of FCS Football for the Sports Network.

The weekly conference call with members of the media and Portland State head coach Jerry Glanville is also up.

Enjoy!
 

Eco-art happenings this week in Portland

by Bianca Blankenship

As part of National Sustainability Education Week, some events are being held on and off campus this week that should be fun.

This Wednesday at Ivy School in northeast, you can take a West African dance class from 6-7:30 pm and/or a West African drum class from 7:30-9 pm. The dance class asks for a suggested donation of $10-15 and the drum class asks for $15.

If you're not feeling the African rhythms, you can head out Thursday to Bagdad Theater and Pub where the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is happening at 7 pm. Doors open at 5:30, tickets are $8, and the event is 21+. Check out the trailer below:

PSU hockey: Live blogging to earn our keep

Sometimes we here at the Vanguard are forced to earn our cheap plastic media credentials by doing some crazy thing called reporting. Personally, I find it rather presumptuous and demanding, but I really like the pass. It's shiny, and I'm easily amused.

So, tonight we're at the Valley Ice Arena in Beaverton, bringing you, our dear readers, a live-blog glimpse of the second in a two-game series between the Portland State hockey club and the team from the University of Oregon.

Last night's match-up ended in favor of the Ducks, who ran away with the game early with a 5-2 lead after two periods. Halfway into the third, two PSU goals in under a minute made it an interesting 5-4 game, but the Viks couldn't get the puck into the net to tie it up and Oregon skated off the ice with a 6-4 win after an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left.

Read more after the jump!

Next stop: Soccer championship

Call them hard working. Call them efficient. But whatever you do, call them the regular season conference champions.

That's the title the Portland State women's soccer team earned after closing the season out with a 4-1-2 conference record, and 10-6-3 overall. The Vikings continue into the postseason as conference champs for the second time in school history this weekend, when they will host the Big Sky Championship at PCC-Rock Creek.

The first semifinal match will feature Idaho State against Eastern Washington at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The first-placed Vikings will then square off against fourth-seeded Northern Arizona at 4 p.m. in a rematch of last year's semifinal. In that meeting, Northern Arizona trumped the Viks with a 1-0 victory.

The winners of each semifinal will have a day to rest before facing off in the championship match on Sunday at 11:00 a.m., with the winner earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

This marks the third consecutive postseason appearance by the Vikings' soccer squad--a first in school history. In both 2007 and 2008, the Viks fell in the semifinals. The last time Portland State won the conference title was in 2004 with a record of 4-1-1. That year they lost to Weber State, 2-0, also in the semifinals.