‽Bros

The Victoria Bug Zoo, in Victoria BC, Canada, houses all manner of exotic insects in a series of candy-colored terrariums.

Dan (below) is one of the zoo’s tour guides. During his shift, he continually rounds the doughnut-shaped duo of rooms comprising the zoo. Guests drift in and out, joining or leaving the tour at their leisure. At each terrarium, Dan pauses to give a speech and to scoop out one of the bugs within, which he then allows brave gusts to hold.

Noting that he is fairly new to the bug zoo, Dan says he has only seen a female mantis destroy a mate once. He describes the spectacle as a steady diminishing, saying that each time he passed the mantis terrarium, less and less of the male remained, until there were only small undesirable bits. Curiously, the male mantis doesn’t resist the female as she attacks him; in fact, it’s thought that in these cases the male offers himself up, in a last-ditch evolutionary mechanism, as supplementary food for the female carrying his eggs.

Dan pauses at a terrarium housing leaf insects of varying sizes. Sliding open the glass door, he blows air inside, asking us to note how the real leaves and the leaf insects sway at once. The effect is uncanny.

Some guests jump at the chance to hold each bug, and others make disgusted comments and shy away.

And some bugs, Dan explains, aren’t for holding.

This white bug (below) was so beautiful that guests were immediately taken with it and began asking questions. One guest asked what it was called. “I like to call her Bianca,” said Dan, before blushing and correcting himself–it was an Orchid Mantis.

http://www.bugzoo.bc.ca/index.htm

Backstage on the set of the Alter Egos Society’s 48-hour film project, actress Melissa Murray demonstrates the art of eating in stage makeup.

http://www.alteregossociety.com/

Shelby, an 18-year-old Seattleite, rolled into downtown Portland with a suitcase full of dresses, three swimsuits, and a few Trojan Magnums.

The black one is Shelby’s favorite of the three swimsuits she had with her; however, she is careful to note that any of her suits will look good, “because, well, it’s me.”

I was impressed by Shelby’s modeling ability and her charisma–we grabbed strangers from the sidewalk for her to pose with, and she was completely unfazed. One of those strangers, Liam (below), was on his way to the Columbia Gorge in business attire and a friendship bracelet for unknown reasons.

Darcelle (above) has headlined her own drag cabaret at Darcelle XV, her downtown Portland club, for more than 35 years. Darcelle’s alter ego, Walter Cole, first dressed in drag at age 37; he is now 80 years old.

The showplace was largely populated by shockingly young bachelorettes and middle-aged birthday parties. Each performer held a distinct appeal and attracted tips, though some members of a bachelorette party near the stage were also seen stuffing dollars into their own bras, for reasons unkown.

www.darcellexv.com

Every Thursday night, a certain unobtrusive bar secretly plays host to the wildest nightlife in Portland. Neighborhood seniors gather here to play bingo and take jello shots–more than one patron boasted to me that the cherries embedded in the shots had soaked overnight in vodka.

Denny (above left) is a gregarious regular who rather literally froths at the mouth during the game. Though he does not play himself, he goes from table to table joshing and jibing so loudly that he is regularly admonished by the bingo caller. He often leaves before the end of the rounds, not wanting to miss American Idol.
Leonard (above right) runs a printing business and is referred to as a leprechaun by his fellow bingoers. He seems to embrace this image of himself; his business card features a leprechaun-like figure.

Below is a woman identified only as the bingo queen. She was hesitant to have her picture taken at first, but showed interest once others had consented.
“She always wins,” said her husband.