Our November Endorsements Reprised
Federal
For President: Barack Obama
For U.S. Senate: Jeff Merkley
Posted inOpinion
The Source Weekly’s Election Cheat Sheet
Posted inOutside
And No Juice Box, Either
It was a scene right out of Pop Warner football. A player makes a good play, then commits a dumb penalty and the coach summons him to the sideline for an earful.
The
player's benched. He pouts a little bit. And after the coach has some
time to think, tells the player, "You know what. Why don't you head on
home. I don't want you on the field right now."
Except on Sunday,
this wasn't Pop Warner football. It was new San Francisco 49ers Head
Coach Mike Singletary putting his stamp on the woeful team he inherited
after coach Mike Nolan was fired.
The moment of clarity for
Singletary happened after 49er tight end Vernon Davis caught a short
pass in a game the 49ers were losing to Seattle. After the play, the
Seahawks defender started chirping and Davis slapped his facemask,
drawing a 15-yard personal foul penalty.
Singletary benched Davis
after the play. According to ESPN.com, Singletary told his oft-troubled
tight end, "I told him that he would do a better job for us right now
taking a shower and coming back and watching the game than going out on
the field. Simple as that."
Posted inOutside
Moving With the Sun: Monarch butterflies’ long trip south and back again
Snow Geese & MonarchsThis is it, Good People, the time when Mother Nature's Children must
obey the Sun. Whether it be Monarch butterflies, Snow Geese,
hummingbirds, night hawks, plovers, whales or Flammulated Owls, they
can not stop themselves from obeying the Call of the Sun. Even human
Snowbirds traveling south in their gas-guzzling Mini-Winnies must obey
the call of our Sun.
Way back, when most of you were just a gleam in
your daddy's eye – and for some, even before that – I was a
duck-hunter. Yes, I do love to eat mallards and geese. Every
Thanksgiving I would head off for Summer Lake to shoot snow geese, and
Crane Prairie Reservoir for Canada Geese and mallards. (When I
discovered I was killing families of Canada Geese and leaving orphans,
I realized the error of my ways and quit.)
It was the discovery
of Russian bands on snow geese harvested at Summer Lake, however, that
also gave me further insight on the migration of birds. At the same
time, some of the pin-tail ducks I killed were also wearing bands
Posted inOutside
Shine a Light: Solar power your way through winter
BEATING SAD
Sunset over Maui: not very SAD.At 2am on Sunday November 2, we "fall back." I call it
the "Saddest Day of the Year." Thank goodness the Energy Policy Act of
2005 extended Daylight Savings Time one extra week, but all too soon it
will be dark when you go to work and dark when you come home, a
depressing situation for a solar-powered person like me. At least we're
not in Portland, where the incessant grayness can make one suicidal. I
lived in Portland through the icestorms of '95 and the mudslides of
'96. We went months on end without seeing the sun and I couldn't seem
to shake the gloominess. Eventually, I diagnosed myself with Seasonal
Affective Disorder (SAD) and bought an expensive, high-intensity,
full-spectrum light for my cubicle. It attracted co-workers to my desk
like moths to a flame, but it didn't really solve the problem, so I
finally told my doctor how unhappy I was. He said, "Well, I can
prescribe some anti-depressants… or you could move to Central Oregon!"
Shortly thereafter, I picked up and moved to Bend… and never looked
back.
As our well-placed promotion in last weekend's Warren
Miller ski flick, Children of Winter, touted, "In Bend, the number of
days of sunshine competes with the number of inches of snow." That's
our saving grace. Mt. Bachelor's average annual snowfall is 370 inches
at the base and Bend claims 300 sunny days per year (which I think is a
marketing stretch), so I think the edge goes to the snow, but it would
be an interesting statistic to track.
Relocating to Central Oregon is one way to defeat SAD. A few other suggestions follow.
Posted inCulture
Bloodbaths and Buzz-cuts: Inner turmoil reigns supreme in gritty cop drama
The Norton effect. A family of Irish cops and police corruption… sound familiar? Yes,
Pride and Glory has all the makings of a formulaic, seen-it-before
storyline, but at the hands of writer/actor/director Gavin O' Connor
(Tumbleweeds) it takes on an original, seedy life of its own. This is
actually a pretty good movie.
Dark and disturbing from the beginning,
there is not one lighthearted moment. From the initial body-laden
bloodbath of dead cops and drug dealers to the yelling, crying,
relentless violence and inevitably bitter end, this movie doesn't let
up. Shot in gritty and grainy blue hues depicting the evil beating
heart of NYC, Pride and Glory takes its stand among such movies as
State of Grace, Serpico, King of New York, Training Day and (the
underrated) Monument Avenue.
Posted inCulture
Ultimate Fright: My top 10 horror flick picks
1) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir: Tobe Hooper) 1974
By far the best
horror movie ever is this original TCM classic. It's surprisingly not
as gory as the title infers, but the twisted saga of Sally and
wheelchair-bound Franklin travelling with some friends goes hazardously
awry after they pick up a hitchhiker whose brother makes "headcheese
real good." Enter cannibalistic inbred nut-jobs and good ol'
chainsaw-wielding Leather Face and you're off and running. This movie
is so demented that it keeps you on the edge of your seat not only due
to the sheer terror involved, but also the hilarious dialogue and goofy
acting.
2) Evil Dead (dir: Sam Raimi) 1981
Horror at its
frenetic peak! This is the one of the most hilarious, knuckle-biting
and gory creep fests ever made. Lantern-jaw Bruce Campbell and pals
wig-out royally in a cabin in the woods possessed by at least three
Linda Blairs from The Exorcist and blood spews like wretched wine. This
is one fast-paced inventive gore-fest that can make you laugh as hard
as you scream.
3) Audition (dir: Takeshi Miike) 1999
Japan's hardest working and most prolific film maker, Miike, has made
arguably the creepiest movie ever. It seems to be a tragic, almost
boring love story until the halfway mark. Then something happens
causing the movie to take so many jaw-dropping turns, bending into
unfathomable sadistically evil and surreal images that your guess is as
good as mine as to what the hell went wrong.
Posted inMusic
LAHF or Die: Larry and His Flask are back, plugged in and louder than ever
The old Larry & His Flask. Check out the updated version at two shows this weekend. Larry and His Flask, Redmond's fun-loving punk band is back in electric
action for the first time in three months. If you've ever been to a
LAHF show before, you'll notice one big change - a different drummer.
Other than that, expect the same high-energy anything-goes all-out rock
shows (complete with death-defying leaps off of the speaker towers) the
band has been known for since its inception five years ago right around
Halloween.
The band, which currently consists of Jeshua Marshall,
Jamin Marshall, Dallin Bulkley and Ian Cook, is playing shows with
Hands On Throat drummer Sean Rule and looking for a new permanent beat
keeper. Their former drummer, Beau Batts, left the band in August after
their national tour ended.
"He decided to leave for personal
reasons," explains Jeshua, "And reasons that didn't consist of living
[out of] a van and being poor," he adds.
Posted inMusic
Crossing Over: How Person People became Bend’s most exciting live act
The answer to the age-old Question: How many Person People members can you fit on the Domino Room stage.
Gathered around a table tucked in the back of a downtown coffee shop,
four members of Person People (less than half of the hip-hop
collective's total enrollment) are contemplating what it means to be
what many people consider Bend's most exciting band. After all, they
are the only local act with a known name for its devoted following: PP
Heads. Also, they've recorded what very well might be Central Oregon's
most well constructed hip-hop record to date.
"It feels good to get
some recognition for making music for so long," says founding member
KP, one of the act's MCs, after a few beats of thought.
In the
past year and a half, Person People have come to build a fan base
that's far more expansive than the following they accrued during the
group's first four-plus years. What was once a rapper-and-DJ act is now
a fully functioning band, complete with an instrumental section that is
an all-star lineup in its own right. The shift has given Person People
an appeal that's drawn not only increasing numbers of devoted hip-hop
fans into the fold, but also the roots music fans that make up the core
of Bend's musical fandom to give them crowds that often amount to 200
or more people.
Posted inCulture
Our Picks for the week of 10/29-11/5
HDC Halloween Party
and Drag Show
friday 31
In the first of
the many, many Halloween events we're picking out for you (there's even
more on our special Halloween section on page 16!), the Human Dignity
Coalition is throwing their annual Halloween bash featuring PDX's
Poisonwaters and friends, after party with Grove DJs, live auction,
dancing and more. It's pretty much a guaranteed good time. And wear a
costume for crying out loud - trust us, you'll fit in no matter what
you wear. 21 and over. 7:30pm. $26. Midtown Ballroom, 51 NW Greenwood
Ave.
Power 94 Monster Ball
friday 31
The notion of
spending Halloween night in an old church has a frightening tinge to
it, but perhaps not as much if you realize the church is the feel-good
domain of the Old Stone Church, which is being transformed into a
"haunted" dance club. There should be plenty of thumping music for your
gyrating pleasure and you can get in on the $2,000 in prizes by wearing
your scariest, naughtiest and/or funniest costumes. 8pm-2am. Old Stone
Church. 157 NW Franklin Ave.
Rocky Horror Picture Show
friday 31
Last
month we got word that the Tower was hosting a hard rock show and now
we've learned they're playing Rocky Horror Picture Show. Man, things
are suddenly getting urban at the Tower and we like it. Dress up like
your favorite character and, well …if you've been to a screening of
this cult classic before, you should know what to do. Costume contest!
And promoters want you to know that this is a dry show, even if it is
21 and over. Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St. 317-0700. $10/adult,
$7/students (with ID).
Posted inFood & Drink
Hop-Knobbing
Alert: Fresh Hops Ahead!If you’ve never been to the Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room, an event space with a stunning view of the Cascades on the top floor of the brewing facility, it’s worth a visit.
Several times a year, the Brewery puts on dinners that are open to the public, often high-end, sit-down meals including beer pairings with a steep price tag to match the fare.