Uncharted 2: Among Thieves begins with a dramatic letdown. Nate Drake, a young treasure-hunting adventurer (sort of Indiana Jones with hair gel), awakens bleeding on a red velvet seat in an old passenger train that is dangling off the edge of a cliff in the Himalayas. Suddenly Drake's seat falls, taking him with it. Tumbling out of the train car's back door, Drake manages to grab onto a rail, leaving him hanging above an icy gray abyss. While the train creaks and moans overhead, it's my job to quickly guide him upwards to safety.
A Real Cliffhanger: Uncharted 2 is a wild, Indiana Jones inspired romp
Posted inFood & Drink
The Winter Warmer
It's the time of year when going out involves more than two pieces of clothing and a pair of flip-flops. Jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, earmuffs, mittens, ear warmers, nose warmers and a myriad of other clutter is strewn about once everyone is gone from the bar and we turn the lights up. And of course, whoever is missing these abandoned items is positive someone stole them, and ninety-nine percent of the time whatever has been lost is really just on the floor getting danced on.
One night, a young man would not give up the notion that someone had certainly hijacked his beloved AC/DC sweatshirt that he shanghaied from his big brother in 1994. He bemoaned that his sweatshirt was his best friend and his identity; and he couldn't believe someone would take it. I too couldn't believe someone would take it, because I'm fairly sure there is not a hot second market for ratty, has-been band sweatshirts. And apparently there's not – as we soon found it right next to where he had been sitting all night.
Posted inFood & Drink
Something Special: Off the menu and right on target at Staccato
Three things I know to be true: Salad is only as good as its dressing, pasta as good as its sauce, and pizza as good as its dough. Naturally, all this comes down to a restaurant that is as good as its chef.
Staccato at the Fire Hall's Executive Chef James Malone has worked in the restaurant industry all his life; from his beginnings in a family-run bakery and deli in Spokane; to his apprenticeship with the renowned Michel Richard at DC's famed Citronelle. There, Malone set out to challenge himself amongst what he called “the masters of French cuisine – the black belts.”
Posted inFood & Drink
Something Special: Off the menu and right on target at Staccato
Three things I know to be true: Salad is only as good as its dressing, pasta as good as its sauce, and pizza as good as its dough. Naturally, all this comes down to a restaurant that is as good as its chef.
Staccato at the Fire Hall's Executive Chef James Malone has worked in the restaurant industry all his life; from his beginnings in a family-run bakery and deli in Spokane; to his apprenticeship with the renowned Michel Richard at DC's famed Citronelle. There, Malone set out to challenge himself amongst what he called “the masters of French cuisine – the black belts.”
Posted inMusic
Sound Check Goes to Oz
Sound Check spent much of Saturday night not really looking at Poor Man's Whiskey, but more looking around the band at all the lasers, movies, lights, fog and the brightly colored wigs of our fellow concertgoers who'd packed into a sold-out Domino Room. Oh we saw the band – adorned as the characters of the Wizard of Oz, which included guitarist Eli Jebidiah's gratuitously short Dorothy dress (or not-so-gratuitous, depending on how you feel about the male thigh) – there was just a lot going on.
Posted inOutside
Powder To Go: Surveying Mt. Bachelor's RV scene
High-elevation camping in a January snowstorm isn't most people's idea of a good time, but Chris Justema didn't get that memo.
A self-confessed ski bum who happens to oversee a successful group of brew pubs and restaurants in Central Oregon, Justema is a fixture at Mt. Bachelor, logging some 75 days on the hill last year by his own estimate. Though he jokingly confesses that it's a sliding number; it goes up or down depending on who is asking. Family or business partners? The number slips downward. Fellow tele-addicts? The number might inch up a bit.
Posted inOutside
What's New?: Bachelor goes wireless, slides the scale, educates and more for 2009-2010
The last couple years have been changing times for Mt. Bachelor with a shift in the management team to kick off last year and then big price changes again this off-season. This year has seen other shifts for our local mountain, so here's a rundown of the changes you'll see on the hill:
Telecommuters Rejoice
There's nothing more jealousy enducing on a powerdy January morning than being stuck at your desk and reading e-mails sent from the chairlift via your telecommuting friend's Blackberry. Now, those mobile workers can spend whole days on the slopes thanks to Bachelor's new partnership with BendBroadband that brings WiFi to its lodges. Crank out a few runs, then in turn crank out a PowerPoint presentation or a spreadsheet or whatever it is you business folks do.
Posted inNews
Flushed Away: City hydro project could be a drain on Tumalo Creek
You wouldn't guess it from the rain soaked streets this week or the water gushing down Tumalo Creek, but there are signs aplenty that the upper Deschutes basin is running out of water to meet the demand of farms, cities and fish – all of which have legal, as well as historical and biological, cases for getting their share of water, especially during the parched summer months.
Recent data indicates that well owners are drilling deeper to hit groundwater, hinting that population growth and other high-intensity uses like golf courses may be negatively impacting the aquifer – something that just a few years ago experts said wasn't likely to happen under the current rules. Meanwhile, pending applications for new groundwater withdrawals are approaching the ceiling the legislature set up when it crafted a series of special rules to stave off a potential development moratorium.
Posted inOpinion
Election: “Yes” On COCC Bond
Voters again have an opportunity to provide much-needed funding to Central Oregon Community College by checking “Yes” on their ballots in next week's election. By doing so, voters will impose a miniscule tax increase on themselves (roughly $2 per month for the average homeowner in Deschutes County) while collectively providing a significant boost to the college, which has seen its enrollment numbers swell recently as unemployed workers and recent high- school grads make the best of the economic slowdown by getting additional education under their belts, that's a base of knowledge that will strengthen our area's workforce as the recession ebbs, positioning Central Oregon for recovery.
Posted inOpinion
A Sweet Deal on the John Day
It's a rare thing in human affairs to put together a complicated deal that makes everybody happy. But the Oregon Natural Desert Association, Young Life and the BLM seem to have pulled it off.
Young Life is an organization that runs a non-denominational Christian camp for young people. The camp is located near the remote town of Antelope not far from the John Day River. The site probably is most famous (or notorious) as the former home of the Rajneeshee cult commune.