Mike Bookey

mike@tsweekly.com
Posted inCulture

Lessons in African Culture: The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda

Author and narrator Thor Hanson details his Peace Corps experience from beginning to end in his new book, The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in
Mike Bookey

Author and narrator Thor Hanson details his Peace Corps experience from beginning to end in his new book, The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda. The story begins with a host family's home in Kajansi - a small town in Uganda where Hanson trained for his impending Peace Corps duties.

Posted inCulture

Nothing Noble: Techno music, camera quirks and contrived plot twists sink Nobel Son

Mike Bookey

Hey baby, take a look at this Nobel Prize I've got here.Like a root canal, the best thing you can say about the new Alan
Rickman movie, Nobel Son, is try to endure the first 30 minutes, it
does get better, but only slightly. But like that popular dental
procedure, it also lingers for the rest of your day causing you intense
moments of nausea and disquietude.

The same gang that gave us that
clumsy but charming wine movie, Bottle Shock, got together lock, stock,
and (ouch!) barrel and decided to make what the PR folks call a
psychological thriller. You and I, however, might call this new genre
cinema terrible. At least Bottle Shock had at its core a reasonable
(and largely true) story held thinly together by two good actors who
appear in Nobel Son as well. But the supporting cast included actors so
far over their heads and drowning you left the theater gasping for air.

Posted inCulture

The Wrong Neighborhood: Tragic tale of innocence in a death camp

Mike Bookey

They had tire swings in those days?Let's cut to the chase here: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is hardly
uplifting. Based on the book by John Boyne, this movie tells the
haunting story of the atrocities of the Holocaust as seen through the
eyes of a child. Opening with a quote that a child experiences sight
and sounds before reasoning takes over, the movie begins with symbolic
scenes of kids harmlessly playing war, setting up the innocence that is
to be shattered.

Posted inFood & Drink

Quick Bites: A Perfect Pair: Finding the right wine for your holiday party

So, you’ve been invited to a holiday feast. You ask if you can bring anything and your host replies, “Oh, just bring a bottle or
Mike Bookey

So, you've been invited to a holiday feast. You ask if you can bring anything and your host replies, "Oh, just bring a bottle or two of wine."
You say "sure," then gulp - visions of thousands of kinds of wine on shelves give you a little sweaty palm. You've approached these thousand of bottles before and found yourself, sort of, confounded.
There are a couple of pathways out of this conundrum.
You could just grab some PBR and tell your host you ran out of time -problem is it's not true.
So let's eliminate the easy out and bump it up a notch or two.

Posted inFood & Drink

Quick Bites: A Perfect Pair: Finding the right wine for your holiday party

So, you’ve been invited to a holiday feast. You ask if you can bring anything and your host replies, Oh, just bring a bottle or
Mike Bookey

So, you’ve been invited to a holiday feast. You ask if you can bring anything and your host replies, “Oh, just bring a bottle or two of wine.”
You say “sure,” then gulp – visions of thousands of kinds of wine on shelves give you a little sweaty palm. You’ve approached these thousand of bottles before and found yourself, sort of, confounded.
There are a couple of pathways out of this conundrum.
You could just grab some PBR and tell your host you ran out of time -problem is it’s not true.
So let’s eliminate the easy out and bump it up a notch or two.

Posted inMusic

CD Review – Woven Hand

Mike Bookey

Woven Hand
Ten Stones
Sounds Familyre
Music dealing with spirituality, especially themes Christian in
ethos, struggle to set a high standard for artistic achievement. David
Eugene Edwards' current project, Woven Hand, is unlike most that
attempt to sing about the Divine. The message on Ten Stones (which was
released this past September) is generally the same as with any
recording by Edwards and company; Old Testament imagery coupled with
the ugliness of sin and beauty of redemption. However, Ten Stones is
much heavier sounding than previous albums. Ten Stones is hypnotic,
forceful, and inevitably haunting. The musicianship, as it is with any
Woven Hand album (also see 16 Horsepower), is incredible. The layering
is rich and each song dwells beside the next naturally while heavy
bass, raw guitars and pushing drums aggressively and fiercely weave an
explosively majestic album. Edwards' deep, untamed voice allows his
words to find their appropriate place. When he sings: "All these
tears/Gather together/Down your cheek/ Your neck and feathers" on "Iron
Feather," it's a simple reminder that few sound quite like this.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week of 12/10-12/18

Mike Bookey

Slick Side Down CD Release Party
thursday 11
Bend's smooth
jazz/funk/R&B band is releasing their debut CD Eat At Joe's and
they want you to celebrate with them. The self-proclaimed "Loudest Band
in Bend" (we may have heard a few louder ones, but whatever) will have
you dancing in no time to the quartet's funky distinctive jazz fusion
sounds. No cover. 6:30pm. The Blacksmith Restaurant, 211 NW Greenwood
Ave, 318-0588.
The Summit Saloon & Stage
First Anniversary Party
thursday 11
Believe
it or not, the Summit has been open for an entire calendar year and the
popular nightspot is celebrating with what's sure to be a ripping set
from Moon Mountain Ramblers and then dancing late into the night with
DJ Moksha. The Summit has been through a bevy of entertainment changes
over the course of the year, going from a live music venue to a dance
hall and back again, but things are looking up over there on Oregon
Avenue. No cover. Summit Saloon and Stage, 125 NW Oregon Ave.

Posted inCulture

Theater-apalooza – Holiday Edition: Bend community theater, from Dickens to “Gunsmoke”

Mike Bookey

The Around the Bend players bring you some old timey Christmas shows.While the weather outside has yet to be frightful (although 62 degrees
in December is kind of scary), inside Bend's local theaters the holiday
season is underway and definitely delightful. Area theaters and
production companies have pulled out all the stops to ensure that
Bendites have the most Holly Jolly Christmas play lineup yet. While
Bend Theatre for Young People, Innovations Theater Works and one of the
Tower Theatre productions have already wrapped (see sidebar), there's
still plenty more to see. So even if it's 75 degrees outside next week
and Bachelor reopens its Frisbee golf course, you can still get into
the festive seasonal spirit thanks to Bend's diligent theater stewards. 

Posted inCulture

Off The Deep End: Surrealistic masterpiece creates the ultimate existential dilemma

Been waitin’ for the bus all day. Knowing writer Charlie Kaufman’s (Being John Malkovich/Adaptation) warped sense of humor, I figured the misspelling of Schenectady, New
Mike Bookey

Been waitin' for the bus all day. Knowing writer Charlie Kaufman's (Being John Malkovich/Adaptation) warped sense of humor, I figured the misspelling of Schenectady, New York was a setup for a cool in-joke. Turns out "synecdoche" is a real word, which according to Webster's means, "a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (as society for high society).

And Synecdoche New York is set in Schenectady. This movie is a surreal mess, mesmerizing in its complexities, perfectly depicting depressing beauty with stunning diatribes of madness, loneliness and despair. It's also a hilariously dark comedy.
Directing for the first time, Kaufman delivers what seems a straightforward story, but after a few minutes things start to twist. The first few hints involve the misinterpretation and mispronunciation of words. Kaufman then begins to fill the screen with images and ideas at a rapid pace. Soon we figure out that it's not going to do us any good to try and make sense of this journey. Just sit back and enjoy the circus.

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