Predator and Prey: The plight of the salamander

Posted inOutside

Predator and Prey: The plight of the salamander

Jim Anderson

A few years back, I had the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Among the papers presented was one titled “The Effects of Stream Crossing Culverts on the Movements of Coastal Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus).”
Essentially, the researchers were interested in the role of culverts in the distribution and genetics of the Coastal Giant Salamanders living in the Coast Range. The results indicate that culvert design will greatly influence the genetic diversity, safety and distribution of salamanders. This, in turn, has led to the redesign of forest road culverts by U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) engineers to ensure the welfare of the salamanders.
Never underestimate the political power of the lowly salamander…

Posted inCulture

This Means War!

Source Weekly

Now hold on just a second there, Mr. Tom Brokaw (noted former anchorman and author of the best-selling book The Greatest Generation)! If you ask me, I think it's bullpoopy of you to single-handedly decide that the people who fought in World War II are going to be forever known as “the greatest generation.” I mean, C'MON. My generation is pretty awesome, too! After all, we're the generation that invented Internet porn. And the Transformers. And decent marijuana. In case you didn't know, the so-called “greatest generation's” dope SUCKED. (Don't believe me? Ask my grandpa and his cataracts!)

Posted inCulture

Who'll Stop The Rain?: Cinematic presentation drowns Heavy Rain

Source Weekly

I knew Heavy Rain was going to be an artsy game as soon as it instructed me to take a piece of paper and fold it into an origami bird. Shortly thereafter I got to see a man's naked ass. By the time the game's female shower scene happened – with the camera swirling around the girl's breasts in intoxicated filmschool closeup – Heavy Rain had sunk so far into pretentious territory that I could tell without looking it had been made by the French.

Posted inCulture

Down the Garbage Hole: Tim Burton brings us a most un-wonderful Alice In Wonderland

Holly Grigg-Spall

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland is a film so half-assed, so slap-dash, so unbearably boring that I can't even care enough to fully concentrate on writing this review. I am distracting myself with the Oscars – and finding even the interpretative dance sequence to the soundtrack of The Hurt Locker miles more entertaining than the tepid trash Burton is peddling as an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's fascinating classic.
The self-consciously wacky director takes a tale brimming with images, historical and cultural references, poems, songs and extraordinary invention, reduces it to a handful of glib catchphrases, then repeats these ad nauseam – while constantly informing us of what has happened, what will happen and what is happening in the style of one of those reality TV shows desperately low on interesting content. Think of all the bits you love from the book, or the Disney cartoon even; well you won't find them here – Burton instead sees fit to strike out the original story and replace it with a CliffsNotes sequel.

Posted inCulture

The Righter and the Wronger: Flying bullets dispense final justice in Brooklyn's Finest

Morgan P Salvo

Going into Brooklyn's Finest I didn't expect something special, but I came out somewhat amazed at how bland it really was. It's a lame attempt at combining Training Day and Crash that comes off like a mediocre television crime drama.
Finest begins with an ominous black car silhouetted in front of a New York cityscape, as Vincent D'Onofrio delivers a foreboding monologue about what's “righter and wronger” in the fight between cops and lawbreakers. We lose his character quickly, but then a trio of stories begins. We get Dugan (Richard Gere), a drunken suicidal “doesn't-give-a-shit” loser cop with seven days left before retirement and Sal (Ethan Hawke), a Catholic-guilt-ridden, crooked, sociopathic narcotics cop ready to kill and swindle money for the good of his pregnant wife and growing family. Then there's Tango (Don Cheadle), a conflicted undercover cop deep into the drug scene, dealing with the dilemma of busting his long-lost pal Caz (Wesley Snipes) who once saved his life. Tango and Caz… get it? Other stereotypical characters are Will Patton as the grizzled nice guy detective and Ellen Barkin, resembling a cornered bulldog, doing her tough-mama-agent routine.

Posted inFood & Drink

Generous Portions and Good Fortunes: Getting into bed with Red Dragon

Amy Belasen

As teenagers, my friends and I became known by name at the Chinese Buffet in our upstate New York town. There, we followed a ritualistic fortune cookie reading in which we'd tack on “in bed” to the end of our fortunes, making each experience a memorable one, and the buffet rotation felt almost like a school cafeteria. Whether it was the sleep-inducing buzz from MSG or our raging teenage hormones that led to the tagline, a reprise of “in bed,” fortunes echoed at Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant this week.
For many foodies, Americanized Chinese food isn't a regular stop with more authentic Asian options like Japanese and Thai food available, but several of my friends, devout fast-foodies, as I've come to call them, enjoy nothing more than heaping portions of General Tso's (an American invention) at Red Dragon. We arrived at this south-end spot and settled in with good intentions and were greeted by a giant gold Buddha in the entryway and the familiar sounds of trickling water and soft music. The space was well lit and decorated with porcelain vases.

Posted inFood & Drink

Generous Portions and Good Fortunes: Getting into bed with Red Dragon

Amy Belasen

As teenagers, my friends and I became known by name at the Chinese Buffet in our upstate New York town. There, we followed a ritualistic fortune cookie reading in which we'd tack on “in bed” to the end of our fortunes, making each experience a memorable one, and the buffet rotation felt almost like a school cafeteria. Whether it was the sleep-inducing buzz from MSG or our raging teenage hormones that led to the tagline, a reprise of “in bed,” fortunes echoed at Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant this week.
For many foodies, Americanized Chinese food isn't a regular stop with more authentic Asian options like Japanese and Thai food available, but several of my friends, devout fast-foodies, as I've come to call them, enjoy nothing more than heaping portions of General Tso's (an American invention) at Red Dragon. We arrived at this south-end spot and settled in with good intentions and were greeted by a giant gold Buddha in the entryway and the familiar sounds of trickling water and soft music. The space was well lit and decorated with porcelain vases.

Posted inMusic

The Funky Old and the Funky New: Maceo Parker and Trombone Shorty blow their horns across the entire region

Mike Bookey

On Tuesday night, two men will be blowing their horns here in Central Oregon and both will be getting terribly funky. One specializes in the saxophone while the other favors the trombone but their styles both weave through the realms of jazz, soul and, again, the funkiest of funk.
There are plenty of other similarities to be found between these two men and their dance-happy sounds, but where they diverge is the 43-year age gap between them. The man on the saxophone is Maceo Parker, one of the forefathers of funk music, and the other is Trombone Shorty (real name: Troy Andrews) the 24-year-old New Orleans virtuoso who has already generated a mystique of his own, having burst onto the scene as a youth on his namesake instrument.

Posted inMusic

Quasi – American Gong

Source Weekly

Quasi
American Gong Kill Rock Stars Records

All along – when Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes weren't busying themselves with Heatmiser and Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks, or being married and then being divorced – they were Quasi. So when they do occasionally choose to wear their Quasi pants, fans freak. On American Gong, Quasi's eighth record, the band (now a trio) offers more of what makes people love them: out of nowhere jams, lullaby-choruses, sing-song rhymes and dissonant juxtapositions. In fact, it's a bit of a show-off record – not hoity-toity, but a portfolio, almost, of everything they're capable of. “Bye Bye Blackbird” starts as a contagious, loud-quiet-loud rock song, before shuffling off into an all-out jam session.

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