Culture
Posted inCulture

Just Like in Bend! The Banff Mountain Festival is made especially for you… probably

There’s this video being bounced between inboxes and Twitter feeds for the past couple weeks if you haven’t seen it, you should (xtranormal.com/profile/2359091).
Mike Bookey

There's this video being bounced between inboxes and Twitter feeds for the past couple weeks if you haven't seen it, you should watch it right now. Essentially, it's just two animated dudes talking to each other, but what they're saying is hilarious, but only if you've lived in Bend for a while. The two guys just talk about what they're up to that day, which turns into a long stream of where they're hiking, skiing, drinking coffee or taking their kids, complete with the sort of outdoor geek slang we're accustomed to hearing in these parts.
Well, that video could easily include a mention of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, taking place Sunday night. Because if we can't be skiing, kayaking, trail running, saving animals from extinction or hanging prayer flags, we love to watch movies about people who are. And that, for the most part, is the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Posted inCulture

Stephen Hawking Gets More Tail Than Me

I get a lot of tail—we hold this truth to be self-evident. HOWEVER! It’s causing me no small amount of distress that world-famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking probably gets more tail than I do.
Source Weekly

I get a lot of tail – we hold this truth to be self-evident. HOWEVER! It's causing me no small amount of distress that world-famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking probably gets more tail than I do. Now, I realize that “getting tail” is not a competition – except that it is a competition, and Stephen Hawking is winning.
First some background on Stephen Hawking and why he gets such a copious amount of tail. As touched on earlier, Stephen Hawking is famous for advancing humanity's understanding of theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. In other words, Stephen Hawking studies shit that happens in outer space, which includes, but is not limited to, “black holes,” the nature of space and time, as well as the formation of the universe itself. This is wildly interesting to hippie chicks, who undoubtedly furnish him with tail.

Posted inCulture

Hello Moto: New MotoGP fires on all cylinders

The first time I saw MotoGP racing was in San Francisco. I had been invited to the launch of the PlayStation 2, and one of the games available for the system was called MotoGP. “A motorcycle racing game,” I thought as I sat down to test it.
Eric Flowers

The first time I saw MotoGP racing was in San Francisco. I had been invited to the launch of the PlayStation 2, and one of the games available for the system was called MotoGP. “A motorcycle racing game,” I thought as I sat down to test it. I revved my engine and accelerated toward the first curve.
As I turned, the bike tilted at an impossible angle. The rider's knee bowed down until it was inches above the racetrack that sped along like a vicious belt of sandpaper. I straightened my trajectory and the rider leaned to the other side as the bike veered across the track. I jammed my thumbstick the other way and the bike spun out of control, sliding sideways and spinning off the track.
For the first time on a console, racing was being simulated instead of sensationalized. Until MotoGP, most racing games made do with a cursory amount of physics. They were primarily distinguished by shortcuts, speed-boosts, banana peels and assault weapons. It took the processing power of the PS2 to make an intense, uncompromising game like MotoGP possible.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for 4/21 – 4/29: Last Band Standing, Tony Furtado, Empty Space Orchestra, Earth Day and more

What to do in Central Oregon this week.
Source Weekly

Last Band Standing
thursday 22
We've got a story in the Sound section about what happens when you put 38 bands in one room and then head to Boondocks for the first show of the Last Band Standing competition. This week features Capture the Flag, Tentareign, Never Heard the Shot, G String Stranglers, and Kleverkill. $3/adv at BIGS, $5/door. 8pm. Boondock's Bar and Grill, 70 NW Newport Ave.
Tony Furtado
friday 23
This is the first show in what we're calling The Weekend of Brain-Boilingly Awesome Live Music™. Furtado is a longtime stalwart of the Oregon roots music scene, using his multi instrumental abilities to stir a crowd, especially in this region. Remember when he rocked the streets at Bite of Bend? Excellence. $10 at bendticket.com. 8pm. Old Stone Church, 157 NW Franklin Ave.

Posted inCulture

Couple Dating is Hardly Controversial: But will you think it's funny?

Couple Dating, the locally produced play isn’t necessarily offensive, but it’s humor is a bit on the chiched side.
Mike Bookey

Before taking a seat in the 2nd Street Theater last night to take in Couple Dating, the locally written and produced play by Cricket Daniel was already well on my radar. In fact, it had jammed my radar…like in that scene in Spaceballs.
Last week, we ran a letter to the editor from a reader who found the three-act comedy offensive, thus igniting an avalanche of web commentary and also creating some street chatter and Facebook posturing. Word was that The Source Weekly wasn’t running a review as to censor the play because it was so recklessly offensive. Obviously, that wasn’t the case.

Posted inCulture

Send in the Clowns: Date Night never gets beyond formula gags

Holly Grigg-Spall

It's soul crushing to see great comedians on cruise control. Can we reconcile Steve Martin in The Jerk with Steve Martin in Cheaper By The Dozen? Or Richard Pryor's transition from Stir Crazy to Another You. Or Gene Wilder doing the same? How about the Eddie Murphy of Beverly Hills Cop becoming the Eddie Murphy of The Adventures of Pluto Nash?
So it seems with Tina Fey in Date Night. The best ever “Weekend Update” anchor on Saturday Night Live, Fey rose to scripting excellence with Mean Girls before arriving at the genius that is 30 Rock. Yet the disappointing Date Night finds Tina Fey on autopilot. She leaves the writing to Josh Klausner of Shrek the Third (and-only-Shrek the Third) fame and the directing to the sub-mediocre Shawn Levy (Cheaper By The Dozen again).

Posted inCulture

Estimated Prophet: A Prophet examines a criminal's metaphysical rise

A Prophet is a French prison/mob film that sucks you in from the first scene.
Morgan P Salvo

A Prophet is a French prison/mob film that sucks you in from the first scene. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture, I guarantee this movie will inspire you to recommend it to others a) because it's that good and b) because… it's just that good.
Prophet is the story of the transformation of an impoverished young Frenchman of Arab descent, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), and his Machiavellian rise to power within the prison system. Learning the ropes as he goes, Malik is a quick study. From the Muslim gangs to the Corsican mob led by César Luciani (Niels Arestrup), he constantly absorbs knowledge.

Posted inCulture

Swinging for the Fences: Latest MLB dreams big but doesn't deliver

My first mistake was deciding to play as a catcher. The “My Player” feature, which joins Major League Baseball 2K10 in addition to its basic “play ball” mode, allows me to develop my own character from a generic nobody into a superstar.
Source Weekly

My first mistake was deciding to play as a catcher. The “My Player” feature, which joins Major League Baseball 2K10 in addition to its basic “play ball” mode, allows me to develop my own character from a generic nobody into a superstar. I assumed that catcher would be a good position to witness various hitters' styles and learn the idiosyncrasies that can tip off whether a pitcher is winding up for a fastball or a curve.
But the life of a “My Player” catcher isn't that insightful. The game only allowed me to play my turns at bat and my chances to run up and grab bunts. Not only did I not get to watch the entire game unfold, but I had very few opportunities to be an active part of the outfield. Trying to move from the bush leagues up to the big leagues was obviously going to be a long, slow stretch if I stayed behind home plate.

Posted inCulture

Torn Between Three Lovers

Oh, is that how it's gonna be, television? You're gonna make me choose? After years of dedicated viewership, you're going to treat me like I'm Tiger Woods and force me to settle on a single mistress/skank? Well, EFF YOU, my friend.
Source Weekly

Oh, is that how it's gonna be, television? You're gonna make me choose? After years of dedicated viewership, you're going to treat me like I'm Tiger Woods and force me to settle on a single mistress/skank? Well, EFF YOU, my friend. I didn't make the ludicrous decision to program THREE AMAZING SHOWS to air at the same time this week. That would be like eating three of my favorite meals in the world – a Canadian bacon Totino's pizza, a hamdogger (three hot dogs crammed inside a hamburger), and a quart of vodka – in one sitting. It's ridiculous. And now I'm starving. And thirsty.

Posted inCulture

The Ghost Writer

Source Weekly

“I should be scared,” she [Sarah] said. “I'm dead. I've never been dead before. And I'm not scared.”
Mary Sojourner's new novel, Going Through Ghosts, is a storytelling triumph. This should come as no surprise from this seasoned author, who is also a popular writing workshop facilitator and former commentator for NPR. Published by University of Nevada Press, Going Through Ghosts is a novel about transformation, both in a physical and a spiritual sense.
It's hard not to fall in love with such expertly fleshed-out characters like Maggie Foltz, a veteran cocktail waitress earning her unrewarding living in the Mojave Desert in Southern Nevada, her new friend Sarah, a Native American who works at the same casino and Jesse, a disturbed three-tour Vietnam vet.

Verify your email

We'll send a verification code to .

Sign up for newsletters

Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.

Sending to:

Gift this article