Today's Tree - NE Shaver & 31st

Astute readers will notice this tree is located physically not too far away from the tree in our inaugural interview way back in July.

While we here at Urban Blog would normally frown at such shoddy representation, we have a good reason for this exception.

It turns out that today's tree is a big fan and actually requested the interview.

Hope you enjoy.




TREE: Thanks for coming out here; I'm so excited. I've been following your blog from the very beginning.

ME: That puts you in a minority, but it's great to hear. How did you find out about it? Is it a big topic amongst the trees?

TREE: A big topic? Hahahahahahahahaha. No, it couldn't be further from it. Other than me and the trees you have already interviewed, I don't think a tree in the world knows about your blog. And actually some of the ones you interviewed might have already forgotten.

ME: So how did you ever hear about it?

TREE: I saw you interviewing my neighbor a while back and got curious. I've been following it ever since.

ME: That's great. But...You're a tree. How do you even read a blog?

TREE: It's not that hard. So can you ask me some movie questions. I really like movies.

ME: Okay, sure. Um, did you see the Lord of the Rings movies? What did you think of the Ents?

TREE: The Ents looked cool, but the film they were introduced in [ed: The Two Towers] was was piss poor. The general feeling of us trees is that it loses out on not having the confrontation with Saruman, with Aragorn's pointless solo adventure and all the Arwen/Elrond crap which is just mesmerisingly dull. Sean Astin is a terrible actor and having him narrate the movie at the end made so sense.

ME: That's harsh.

TREE: I'm just getting started. Return of the King loses out for not having the Scouring (understandable from a timekeeping POV but it is thematically vital to the story) and for having Slimer and his buddies save the day at Minas Tirith, undermining the spirit and self-sacrifice of the humans and rendering the final act nonsensical (there is absolutely no reason whatsoever given why the Army of the Dead can't just go and kick the shit out of the orcs at the Morannon as well). The entire trilogy suffer from turning Legolas into a skater boi punk hero and Gimli into a walking cliche.

ME: Good points all.

TREE: Ooh, ask me another one.

ME: Sorry that's all the time for have for this week. Thanks and we'll see you all another time.

Today's Tree - Mt Hood Wilderness

URBAN PINE GOES RURAL

Mt. Hood Pine.

Rejoice, ye Urban Pine readers (both of you) for we have a special treat this week. By broadening the definition of "Urban Pine" so that it instead means "Any Pine," we bring to you an alpine guest. The moral of this week's interview? Even when you're green, the grass is always greener.

ME: Hey there, Mr. Rural Pine. What's it like up here in the forest?

TREE: Pretty, I guess. But cold. Guess what? It's August and I'm already covered in snow.

ME: I noticed that. So how does it compare to living in the city.

TREE: Man those city trees have it so easy. Up here, we have to worry about being buried in snow, about rain washing out our roots, about forest fires, about bears scratching us, beavers cutting us down, loggers, and I could go on. What is there to worry about for trees in the city? Man, they have it good. Those lucky lucky bastards.

ME: Well, you have your looks.

TREE: True, and thanks for noticing. Plus it's nice to be with my family. I do feel sorry for urban pines, separated from their seedlings and spread to who knows where. On the other hand, I bet they don't get snowed on in August.

ME: You're probably right. Well, that about wraps it up. Any last words for our readers?

TREE: I always like to encourage people to come out and see me. There's lots to do up here. My motto, if I had legs, would definitely be "Up a mountain, Down a beer."


Tune in next week for a return to the urban portion of urban pine!