This week's LOW comes from long time resident and frequent city council critic Barbara McAusland who seconds our recent Boot to the council's proposed time limit on initiative petitions. Thanks for the letter Barbara, you're entitled to a $25 gift certificate courtesy of Dinner's Ready for your contribution to this week's Mailbag.
Don’t Dismiss Petitioners
Posted inOpinion
I’m in the Zone
If you haven't been in to The Reptile Zone yet, you are missing out.
I just took my friends who are nine and six (years old) in to meet Jeff and his reptile family and we all left 30 minutes later with huge smiles on our faces.
Posted inOpinion
Quit Yer Bitchin!
Would someone please change H. Bruce Miller's diaper? His big fat tears about the "obnoxious noise pollution" over at LSA probably need wiping too.
Posted inOpinion
Keep it Local
As another election season heats up, I just wanted to weigh in with my own opinion. No president can ever give me what I need - what I need is a vibrant local economy that sustains its members by keeping its dollars here.
Posted inCulture
Bangkok Ludicrous: Meandering Dark Remake Swallows Itself Whole
I left Bangkok Dangerous with several questions. First, why are remakes of Asian films in such high demand? It seems like an exercise in intentionally wasting time and money. Beyond that, why do Asian filmmakers like Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) and now The Pang Brothers remake their own movies? Americanization saps the mystique and charisma out of the originals. We didn't see John Woo come over here and start re-making all of his flicks. (No, he had the good foresight to make new, crappy American movies.) And what's the deal with Nicholas Cage? I remember a time when he was good. The problem is that he has made so many bad movies that it's getting hard to tell if he can even make a good movie. If he can, Bangkok Dangerous isn't it.
Bangkok is the moody and dark story of a lonely hit-man, Joe (Cage), who decides to befriend his chosen courier (Shahkrit Yamnarm) because he "sees himself in him." Yeah, right. The sidekick-mentor-teacher-pupil strains believability. Everyone knows a hit-man cannot trust anyone, yet right away he befriends some kid. Here we have yet another in a string of hit-man movies wherein the dude doing the killing gains a conscience somehow along the line of work, breaks all his own rules and then gets into trouble with the bad guys. The only sensible way is to shoot it out. No plot twists, no tricks, just straight forward storytelling no matter how farfetched and ridiculous it gets.
Posted inCulture
Great Expectations: Don’t hate on Burn After Reading for being a merely good Coen brothers movie.
Pity poor Joel and Ethan Coen. You make a masterpiece or two, and people start expecting it from you every time out.
Let's face it: Part of being a great artist in any field is the burden of high expectations. If you're Bob Dylan, and you produce an album that's merely good stuff by any other standard, the pundits will be lined up to shrug, "Meh, it's no Blonde on Blonde."
And in contemporary cinema, that's what you face if you're the Coens. Jon Favreau funnels Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man performance into a halfway competent comic-book movie, and he's the second coming of Steven Spielberg. Burn After Reading, on the other hand … well, it's no No Country for Old Men. Over 23 years of filmmaking, the Coens' worst movies-The Ladykillers, Intolerable Cruelty-have been better than anything 90 percent of filmmakers will ever make. Discovery-or its cousin, the comeback-makes so much more interesting a story than sustained quality.
Yet here the brothers are again, turning out another goofy, predictably unpredictable caper about people in over their heads. It all begins with Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), a hot-tempered CIA analyst whose demotion inspires his resignation, and plans for a tell-all memoir. But the notes for Cox's book wind up on the same disk as financial information for his wife Katie's (Tilda Swinton) planned divorce proceedings, which all inadvertently winds up in the hands of two D.C.-area fitness center employees. For Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), the information could be the key to paying for the cosmetic surgery she longs for; and for her co-worker Chad (Brad Pitt) … well, it's something cool to do.
Posted inFood & Drink
Industry Round Up
Leaves are already falling and our two-month summer seems to be coming to an end and with it goes Bluefish Bistro. Chef Matt Mulder’s popular downtown fine dining spot has closed it doors for good.
Posted inFood & Drink
Industry Round Up
Leaves are already falling and our two-month summer seems to be coming to an end and with it goes Bluefish Bistro. Chef Matt Mulder's popular downtown fine dining spot has closed it doors for good.
Posted inFood & Drink
Roll It Up: Downtown food gets a little faster
Just a few months ago the proliferation of high-end restaurants combined with the closing of many less-expensive eateries had more than a few locals lamenting about the dining scene downtown.
“Not enough lunches under $7 to choose from”, “too few inexpensive places to grab a casual table service dinner” and “downtown has become a bastion of special occasion restaurants” are some of the complaints I heard on a regular basis. Fast forward to today and there are two new spots promising quick, inexpensive food for all three meals-but they may not be what diners were hoping for.
The word is out that there is a Subway opening up in a Bond Street location that has been vacant for more than four months. It’s not as bad as having a Micky D’s downtown, but it’s close. Subway is a chain based out of Connecticut with 29,907 franchised restaurants in 87 countries, serving an inexpensive product that has few (if any) local roots. I’m not saying I’ve never indulged in a Subway six incher-as far as fast food goes it’s not a bad choice. Still, it is fast food.
The other newcomer is The Pita Pit-a sort of Subway of Mediterranean food. Originally a Canadian company, Pita Pit has over 200 locations through Canada and the USA. Their tag line is “Fresh thinking, healthy eating” and their claim to fame is staying open until the wee hours, which is reason to brag in a place like Bend where most restaurants cater their hours to the dinner rush and not much more.
Posted inFood & Drink
Roll It Up: Downtown food gets a little faster
Just a few months ago the proliferation of high-end restaurants combined with the closing of many less-expensive eateries had more than a few locals lamenting about the dining scene downtown.
"Not enough lunches under $7 to choose from", "too few inexpensive places to grab a casual table service dinner" and "downtown has become a bastion of special occasion restaurants" are some of the complaints I heard on a regular basis. Fast forward to today and there are two new spots promising quick, inexpensive food for all three meals-but they may not be what diners were hoping for.
The word is out that there is a Subway opening up in a Bond Street location that has been vacant for more than four months. It's not as bad as having a Micky D's downtown, but it's close. Subway is a chain based out of Connecticut with 29,907 franchised restaurants in 87 countries, serving an inexpensive product that has few (if any) local roots. I'm not saying I've never indulged in a Subway six incher-as far as fast food goes it's not a bad choice. Still, it is fast food.
The other newcomer is The Pita Pit-a sort of Subway of Mediterranean food. Originally a Canadian company, Pita Pit has over 200 locations through Canada and the USA. Their tag line is "Fresh thinking, healthy eating" and their claim to fame is staying open until the wee hours, which is reason to brag in a place like Bend where most restaurants cater their hours to the dinner rush and not much more.