Eric Roberts had his moment in the sun as a serious and talented actor playing Paulie in the 1986 Oscar nominated film Pope of Greenwich Village. The Pope was a high watermark for the gritty, low-budget films about tough losers in New York first pioneered by Martin Scorsese's 1973s debut film Mean Streets. The style, persisted right through the 1990s in films like Laws of Gravity.   Eric Roberts's moving work in Pope reflected a period in American culture that was submersed in corruption, stagnation and self-defeating nihilism in the decades following Vietnam and the waning optimism of the Post-World-War period. Roberts role in Pope, conveyed a subtle interplay of self-pity and exaltation that characterized a bi-polar nation gestalt expressed adroitly in popular youth music genres that emerged during this period including punk rock, hip-hop and grunge.  Roberts, for his part, plays deftly and professionally the emotions of...oh screw it. Roll SHARKTOPUS!!!!

To loyal readers of the Sentinel site and consistent users of our community calendar:

The Sentinel site is scheduled to lock-down this coming August 3. Staff content production ceased earlier this month but the site continues to be actively used by the community. However, after some effort on my part, I have been unable find a sustainable business model or partnership that would allow continued service.

Last month The Sentinel and the Oregon News Incubator ceased their publishing and office share arrangement. The partnership produced a significant amount of coverage throughout the spring. However, by June it was clear that taking on news assignments was more demanding for ONI members than the rewards yielded by relatively free workspace in North Portland. The ONI continues to meet and conduct its work of supporting freelancer reporters. I wish them well.

Despite the fact that no partnership or staff reporting has occurred recently, some 8,000 users still traffic and post to this site. I believe this proves that both the publication and the online model we created here turned out to be a useful resource to the community.

After August 3, the site and it’s data will continue to be publicly available through search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. However, all dynamic features will cease to publish. No new comments, events, or other new material may be added after July 31.

The site’s files will be transfered to the non-profit group North Portland Community Works. The NPCW will maintain the files so that they can still be accessible through the web. A set of the Sentinel’s paper editions will be donated to the City of Portland's archives and another set will go to the St Johns Heritage Society.