Hand-Taming Wildlife: Don't feed the bears… or the deer or the skunks

Posted inOutside

Hand-Taming Wildlife: Don't feed the bears… or the deer or the skunks

The Source Staff

There are a lot of people throughout Central Oregon who think it's cool to tame mule deer so they can pet them. That, Oh Best Beloved, is one of the dumbest things anyone can do.
Then there's the business of people baiting cougars by attracting deer to their back yards. That's equally as dumb. I know one guy near Sisters who feeds carrots to mule deer by hand. Some day either the deer will beat his head in or perhaps a cougar will decide man meat is better than deer meat.
Leave game animals to be just that, Dear Readers – “game.” It's unlawful to “bait” deer during hunting season anyway and in my book it's just plain dumb to bait cougar at any time. But having said all that, there's the business of feeding birds and our little Mountain Chickadee is trusting enough that it is often “tamed” and will come down to a human finger in hopes of finding a sunflower seed.

Posted inCulture

Geek Love: Flesh Eating Undead serves as backdrop to sappy love story in Zombieland

The Source Staff

The first five minutes of Zombieland depict some of the best chewing, spewing and gore-guzzling zombies ever seen on film amidst side-splitting comedy. Unfortunately, what follows does not live up to the film's early promise. It's as if the grand finale starts the show.
This is not a Zombie movie to rival Shaun of the Dead. Mostly, it's a poorly directed love story with interspersed moments of humor. Zombies serve only as comedic background for a feeble and redundant story of love and angst. Too many “touchy-feely” moments interfere with the sort of guts splattering and zombie killing scenes that make for zombie film gold.

Posted inCulture

Money Talks: Michael Moore asks, “Dude, where's my money?”

Source Weekly

Michael Moore loves America, but America does not always love Michael Moore. After the release of Fahrenheit 9/11, public opinion of the liberal filmmaker took a downturn. Republicans have good reason to hate him, but the attitude of Democrats is baffling. They claim to dislike his oversimplification, his manipulation of emotions and facts and his bombastic personality. Conservatives have long used these methods to influence the public with great success – all Moore does is play them at their own highly effective game.
Moore, in a way, has been a liberal in Republican's clothing for the last decade – he looks like a Republican and he sounds like a Republican. He takes radical ideas, mixes them up using the conservative's recipe, and makes them easy to swallow. Capitalism: A Love Story contains some very radical ideas. Moore argues that capitalism is evil, that the US is run like a corporation and that big business holds more power than politicians. He started making the film before the crash, and although the recession has produced a few more doubters of the American Dream you don't have to look far to see that the ideal is still alive.

Posted inCulture

Playing God: Stuck in limbo with just a handheld and a clue

Source Weekly

Problem: A prisoner, a bully and a lawyer are all in hell – represented in Scribblenauts as an island of dull grey brick floating in flaming lava. Above them hovers heaven – a red-carpeted platform topped with pillars, parapets and a golden castle with an angel hovering overhead. Without changing their lifestyles, I must save the bad guys.
Solution: I decide to try building a stairway to heaven. I open Scribblenauts' virtual keyboard and type “STAIRWAY.” Immediately a small brown wooden staircase appears on the screen. I slide it next to the prisoner and he floats upwards through the air, landing in heaven, followed by the bully and the lawyer.

Posted inFood & Drink

Thai on the Fly: Thai home cooking at a drive-through speed

The Source Staff

A while back, I started hearing whispers about a magical drive-through on the Eastside that serves up some of the best Thai food in town. I was skeptical. Not only is it hard to imagine the words “magical” and “drive-through” in the same sentence, but every time I drove out that direction with an eye open for it, the elusive little shop escaped my notice. I was starting to think that this so-called Thai on the Fly was an urban myth, when finally I caught sight of the tiny trailer tucked next to the Xpress Lube at Greenwood and 7th St. It is a wonder that food of this caliber can come out of such modest digs and at such a reasonable price point. But it is, in no small part, chef and owner Kaew Sumner's way with customers that keeps them coming back. To Sumner, everyone is “honey” and from her perch at the drive-through window treated like a special dinner guest.

Posted inFood & Drink

Thai on the Fly: Thai home cooking at a drive-through speed

The Source Staff

A while back, I started hearing whispers about a magical drive-through on the Eastside that serves up some of the best Thai food in town. I was skeptical. Not only is it hard to imagine the words “magical” and “drive-through” in the same sentence, but every time I drove out that direction with an eye open for it, the elusive little shop escaped my notice. I was starting to think that this so-called Thai on the Fly was an urban myth, when finally I caught sight of the tiny trailer tucked next to the Xpress Lube at Greenwood and 7th St. It is a wonder that food of this caliber can come out of such modest digs and at such a reasonable price point. But it is, in no small part, chef and owner Kaew Sumner's way with customers that keeps them coming back. To Sumner, everyone is “honey” and from her perch at the drive-through window treated like a special dinner guest.

Posted inFood & Drink

Veg Out: Something Special At Zydeco

Source Weekly

I've been working on taking my diet to the next level by adding as much organic, locally grown fair to my plate as possible. Zydeco came up in conversation as the place to do this. An hour later, friends in tow, we took our seats under an outdoor heater on Bond Street. Our waiter asked if anyone would like the gluten-free menu. “I'll take the vegan one,” I said. They didn't have one; but our waiter told me, the chef had created a vegan special earlier that was reportedly some kind of wonderful. Perfect, bring it over!
While waiting for our table, I overheard a young woman mention Zydeco's crispy fries ($4) were the best in town. I needed no further encouragement. We ordered two cups of fries for the table and one cheese-less Acadian Flatbread ($11), a crispy hand-rolled cracker-bread, topped with oven-fried tomatoes, pearl onions and pepper. I could have eaten the entire thing myself; three, in fact.

Posted inFood & Drink

Veg Out: Something Special At Zydeco

Source Weekly

I've been working on taking my diet to the next level by adding as much organic, locally grown fair to my plate as possible. Zydeco came up in conversation as the place to do this. An hour later, friends in tow, we took our seats under an outdoor heater on Bond Street. Our waiter asked if anyone would like the gluten-free menu. “I'll take the vegan one,” I said. They didn't have one; but our waiter told me, the chef had created a vegan special earlier that was reportedly some kind of wonderful. Perfect, bring it over!
While waiting for our table, I overheard a young woman mention Zydeco's crispy fries ($4) were the best in town. I needed no further encouragement. We ordered two cups of fries for the table and one cheese-less Acadian Flatbread ($11), a crispy hand-rolled cracker-bread, topped with oven-fried tomatoes, pearl onions and pepper. I could have eaten the entire thing myself; three, in fact.

Posted inMusic

Fueled by Curiosity: Ruins of Ooah will confuse you… right before you start dancing

The Source Staff

At the Bend Roots Revival a couple weeks back, the sun was starting to set and the crowd at the Victorian Café grew steadily as curious onlookers tried to get a better view, and perhaps more dancing space, as by far the most bizarre act of the weekend cranked away on the stage.
The act was a trio called Ruins of Ooah and it doesn't have a guitar player, or a bass player or keyboardist. There's no horn section or turntables or any of that fare. It's just your typical didjeridu, harmonica and drums collective… not that this is typical by any means. Tyler Spencer, a local didjeridu maker (that's a typical profession, right?) leads the act, which also includes Justus Williams on harmonica and Adam Bushey on drums, both of whom are based out of Eugene and once accompanied Spencer in that city's jam band of record, Reeble Jar.

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