Culture
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No Fairy Tale: Bashir shows us what nightmares are made of

Mike Bookey

The things they carried. An animated documentary with real life interviews in cartoon form,
Bashir dissects the Lebanese civil war that followed the assassination
of Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel. One might assume that taking an
animated approach to atrocities of war would risk trivializing the
tragedies, but for the most part Israeli writer/director Ari Folman
pulls it off.
The opening scene with wild dogs all fire-eyed
and snarling running through the streets in a dream sequence recounted
by Folman's pal is an effective set up. The dream jars the director's
vague recollection about his possible involvement in a
massacre/slaughter/battle/conflict, prompting him to regain his
repressed memory.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week of 3/4-3/12

The Source Staff

Tuck and Roll, Pistol Whipped Prophets, !Danger Death Ray!
thursday 6
Tuck
and Roll is one of the newest members of the Bend punk scene, offering
up a hard-driving and tiger-tight pop-laced punk rock with plenty of
panache that can't help but create a likeness to NOFX. The trio is
playing this free show before a quick Oregon tour that takes them to
Eugene and Portland. You should also check out the two other punk acts
on the bill: Pistol Whipped Prophets and !Danger Death Ray! Players Bar
& Grill, 25 SW Century Dr.
Too Fine to be Unsigned Tour
friday 6
Goodnight
Sunrise, a super young pop punk outfit from Helena, Montana, headlines
this all ages show that also includes other killer unsigned acts like
Call The Cops, Bidwell, Love You Long Time and Redmond's own The Roe.
7pm. $10. Domino Room, 51 NW Greenwood Ave.

Posted inCulture

We’re Not That Smart: Our one-round appearance at the Trivia Bee

The Source Staff

We totally would have got that one right.Did you know that Oregon's state slogan was: "Oregon. We love
dreamers?" No, you probably didn't, and neither did the Source's
three-member team at the 2009 Trivia benefiting the Education
Foundation for the Bend-La Pine Schools on Saturday night.

And
did you know the name of the dude that Michael Phelps beat out by the
length of a fingernail to win one of his eight gold medals? Yeah, we
didn't get that one either. The correct answer was Milorad Cavic of
Serbia, which you probably didn't know. Or maybe you did, because
unlike our team, you actually remember Olympic swimmers not named
Michael Phelps. Maybe if Cavic had been recently photographed holding a
bong we would have got it. Who knows?

Posted inCulture

Strikeout: Front Office swings for the fences and comes up short

Mike Bookey

Yes, even virtual players are on 'roids. Of all the jobs in the world, I never thought I'd be managing a
baseball team. I like baseball. I watch baseball. I've even played
baseball. But managing baseball is all about directing a group of men
toward a unified goal. It's an American ideal. And I'm not sure I can
even navigate all of these menus.

MLB Front Office Manager is a
baseball simulation that sits on the screen like an operating system
from the last century. A tower of choices is stacked up along the side
of the screen with names such as "Payroll," "Transactions" and "Budget
Allocation." Somehow, amidst these unintuitive options, I'm supposed to
find the path to victory.
During my first career-with the New
York Yankees-I managed to lose most of my best players because I failed
to visit the menu that would have let me renew their contracts. After
ruining that venerable franchise, I transferred my ignorance to the
L.A. Dodgers where I was unable to successfully negotiate with Manny
Ramirez. It's not that I wasn't willing to pay him a superstar's
salary-I just couldn't figure out how to control the arbitration.

Posted inCulture

Notes from the Oscars: Parsing Hollywood’s annual salute to itself

Mike Bookey

All Jack(man)ed Up
As someone who is averse to People magazine and
most other forms of 21st Century celebrity worship, I can honestly say
that I switched on my TV without any clue as to who would be hosting
Sunday night's Academy Awards. I know that I wasn't alone when I
breathed a small sigh of relief realizing that it was Hugh Jackman on
emcee duties. It's not that I'm a big Wolverine fan. But like many
other Americans, I'm still recovering from Whoopi Goldberg. Just out of
curiosity I checked to see how many times the Academy inflicted Whoopi
upon viewers like me. Surprisingly few, in fact. Whoopi hosted just
four times, but the punishment was spread out over nine years between
1993 and 2001. And I think that's what made it so difficult - the not
knowing. Pouring through the stats we determined that Billy Crystal was
the King of the Post-Reagan Era with seven hosting credits to his name.
But nobody can hold a candle to Bob Hope who hosted or co-hosted a
record 17 times between 1938 and 1977.
Jackman did a solid job
showing off his song and dance skills in some Old Timey choreographed
show tune sequences. But the Academy was clearly shooting for a
controversy-free host when it tapped one of its own to emcee. And
missing were the snappy one-liners and industry jabs provided by Jon
Stewart who hosted two of the past three Oscars.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week of 2/25-3/5

The Source Staff

Kris Delmhorst & Jeffrey Foucault
thursday 26
The Sisters
Folk Festival Winter Concert Series continues with this show featuring
two brick-solid singer/songwriters. Kris Delmhorst has a poppy yet
folky approach to her songwriting and couples storytelling lyrics with
a silky voice to create smile-inducing tracks. Midwesterner Jerry
Foucault co-headlines, combining blues and country to create a brand of
Americana that tugs on your heartstrings. His album Ghost Repeater is a
must-have for the indie-folk fans of today. 7pm. $15/adult,
$10/student. Sisters High School Auditorium, 1700 W McKinney Butte Rd.
Sisters.
Polar Plunge Deschutes benefiting Special Olympics Oregon
friday 27
Don't
believe the hype…opthermia! Oh come on, now. We're just kidding. It's
not that cold, it's just the Deschutes River. Jump or crawl on in and
raise money for the Special Olympics. Then afterwards you can rejoice
in that warm tingly feeling you get when doing something nice for
others…or that could be your body screaming for warmth. Plunge at
6:30pm. 4:30pm Friday, Feb 27. Riverbend Park.

Posted inCulture

Nature’s Face Blanket: Why we love our winter beards

Winter beards, and beards in general, have become increasingly acceptable in the past couple years. Gone are assumptions that the bearded man is homeless, a
Mike Bookey

Winter beards, and beards in general, have become increasingly acceptable in the past couple years. Gone are assumptions that the bearded man is homeless, a logger, a homeless logger, a 19th century sailor, an iconic Christmas figure, a sexual predator, or, God forbid, a hippie. It's come to the point that a man can have a beard and a job. In fact, some 71 percent of the Source's male staffers and contributors are currently bearded.

Upfront columnist Mick McMenaminuses sports a trimmed black number that features largely clean cheeks, resident beer specialist Ric E. James is currently sporting a "rebirth beard" (a beard that is grown immediately following the shaving of the previous facial hair installment), while I myself have an increasingly unruly face full of hair that currently smells like Cheetos. Yes, I had Cheetos with my lunch today.

Posted inCulture

Any Way You Slice It

Mike Bookey

How to kill a ninja:
You can always kill a ninja with a flurry of indiscriminate sword-swings. But ninjas are resilient little suckers-almost as durable as you are. It can take a lot of sword-swings, which just isn't practical when you're facing a whole pack. If you really want to put a ninja to rest quickly and efficiently, you'll want to bisect them.

Posted inCulture

Jason No-Die! – Friday the Umpteenth adds nothing new to formulaic concept

Mike Bookey

Ahoy there!The same team responsible for the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is
back again with less fervor and a rote take on an already tired genre.
With the newest Friday the 13th nothing has changed to reinvigorate the
worn-out formula. Jason, it seems, has been resurrected for the sole
purpose of raking in box office revenue. (Which he did, by the way to
the tune of $24 million over opening weekend - tops at the box office)
What the film sorely lacks is something dastardly different. Slasher
flicks depend on originality because we've seen it all before.

While
I found it sacrilege to remake TCM, Friday the 13th sinks to new
depths.The original film added suspense to the grisly killings with a
secret killer whose identity was revealed at the end. Only in
serialized sequels does the saga of hockey-masked Jason Voorhees
commence. Here in redux land we get a mini intro explaining the
decapitation death of Jason's mom and his subsequent rampage. The first
part of the movie is strong, reminiscent of 2002's Cabin Fever.
Marginally interesting characters actually seem like they're
interacting, and the inevitable demise of the oversexed, weed smoking
campers is hilarious, frightening and, true to any early slasher flick,
ripe with abundant sex, gore and nudity.

Posted inCulture

Money Walks: Run Lola Run director misfires with bloated bank thriller

Mike Bookey

Owen and Watts make a lonely run on the bank. I have never been to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, but I
imagine the trip would be a heckuva lot more fascinating with non-stop
Uzi fire and fountains of spurting blood. That is one thing The
International understands pretty well. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a
firm grasp on much else.

Tom Twyker, the German-born director of
1998's cult hit Run Lola Run, helms The International with the
intention of producing a film that is equal parts James Bond and
political thought piece. The problem with trying to straddle two very
different worlds is that you usually end up with a cramp in your groin
and fall flat on your face. That's sort of what happens here.

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