Posted inCulture

Is the Force Strong with This One?: Star Wars The Force Unleashed

Using the force since 1977.When the demo for Star Wars The Force Unleashed was released it looked
like an incredible game. The thing I hate about demos is that they can
set you up for disappointment if the game doesn't live up to the
preview's promise. As a result, my approach to this game was one of
caution. The story is sandwiched between episodes three and four and
tells the tale of Darth Vader's "secret" apprentice. The story line of
the game is certainly not Shakespearean, rather it's a fairly
straightforward read that adds a bit of spice to the Star Wars canon.
Unlike most Star Wars games, this one takes a darker road, beginning
with the protagonist. (That means main character, gamers. - editor)

The
game drops you in Darth Vader's dark shoes/boots on the Wookie plant of
Kashyyyk. After destroying trees, throwing around Wookies and taking
out the ineffectual Jedi whom the Wookies can't protect from your
badass dark side, you stumble on a child prodigy. Following the
Jedi/Sith mandate of a Master and apprentice, Darth trains the boy on
the ways of the dark side. The grown apprentice, named Starkiller, (the
original name that Lucas wanted to use for the Skywalker family) is
then sent out into the universe to follow his master's commands.

Posted inCulture

Puppy Love: Peter Sollett again captures awkwardness in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Oh, how awkward.It took five years for director Peter Sollett to follow-up his sparkling feature debut Raising Victor Vargas with his adaptation of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's novel Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. And while the road along the way surely was littered with Hollywood-typical stories of aborted projects and collapsing funding, he should take comfort in this: He has now established himself as cinema's reigning genius of awkward young love.

Maybe a filmmaker might consider it problematic to be so pigeonholed. It becomes too easy to ignore the other facets of someone's talents, like when Quentin Tarantino became "fast-talking, pop-culture-referencing super-violence guy" and the world conveniently ignored his profoundly moral humanism. But it can also mean that a talented director gets to keep working. And when you've seen something as effortlessly charming as Raising Victor Vargas followed up with this sweet little keeper, you want Sollett to keep working.

Posted inCulture

BendFilm Roundup: Diverse films capture wide range of audiences’ attention

The New Year Parade shows strong at BendFilm.BendFilm's list of movies once again can be summed up in one word:
Diverse. That seemed to be the overriding theme of almost every movie I
saw

The New Year Parade (Best Director Award, Tom Quinn) was
perhaps the most interesting, focusing on a divorce and the subsequent
fallout of family and friend alliances. The context is South
Philadelphia and its marching band orchestra. Using actors and plain
ordinary people gave it a forceful character study of good people, bad
reactions and even worse relationships.

Posted inFood & Drink

Happy Hour: The Bamboo Room at Hong Kong Restaurant

Enter the Bamboo Room and you’d never know that you were in a bar at the back of a Chinese restaurant-and you probably wouldn’t guess that you were in the year 2008-but you know immediately that you’re somewhere that is authentically, well, itself. There are some hints at the East, including plastic bamboo branches and unfurled oriental fans mounted on the wall, but it’s otherwise a classic ’70s, dimly lit, smoky room with video lottery machines, dark red pleather booths, and a crowd of locals talking shop around the bar.

Posted inFood & Drink

Happy Hour: The Bamboo Room at Hong Kong Restaurant

Enter the Bamboo Room and you'd never know that you were in a bar at the back of a Chinese restaurant-and you probably wouldn't guess that you were in the year 2008-but you know immediately that you're somewhere that is authentically, well, itself. There are some hints at the East, including plastic bamboo branches and unfurled oriental fans mounted on the wall, but it's otherwise a classic '70s, dimly lit, smoky room with video lottery machines, dark red pleather booths, and a crowd of locals talking shop around the bar.

Posted inFood & Drink

A Rose is a Rose: 12 O’clock Tart puts a spin on food delivery

It’s not take out, it’s delivery.Rose McKenna is a motivated woman. Growing up on Maui with a single
mother on welfare didn’t inhibit her drive to succeed. She knew from a
young age that her life would involve food and went for it with a
passion.
Growing up poor meant no exposure to restaurants. To Rose,
restaurants were magical places where everyone got to order what they
wanted. After listening to a recruiter for the Western Culinary
Institute at a high school job fair, she decided that was the way in.
Rose moved to Portland at 19. Living off student loans, she graduated
with honors and recommendations from the director.

Posted inFood & Drink

A Rose is a Rose: 12 O’clock Tart puts a spin on food delivery

It’s not take out, it’s delivery.Rose McKenna is a motivated woman. Growing up on Maui with a single
mother on welfare didn't inhibit her drive to succeed. She knew from a
young age that her life would involve food and went for it with a
passion.
Growing up poor meant no exposure to restaurants. To Rose,
restaurants were magical places where everyone got to order what they
wanted. After listening to a recruiter for the Western Culinary
Institute at a high school job fair, she decided that was the way in.
Rose moved to Portland at 19. Living off student loans, she graduated
with honors and recommendations from the director.

Posted inMusic

O Canada: Ohbijou and The Acorn bring a little slice of our neighbor to the north to Bend

They don’t smile much up there in Canada.Think for a minute. How much do you really know about the Canadian
music scene? If you think that you maybe remember hearing that Alanis
Morisette was Canadian (and who can forget Snow and "Informer") then
probably, like the rest of the world, you overlook Canada's
contribution to the music scene. The thing is, you shouldn't. Canada
has been pumping out some talented bands for the last century - some of
them have made it mainstream (like Great Big Sea and Our Lady Peace)
and some of them are just being discovered.

Lucky for you, two
Canadian-bred promising and popular acts make their way into Bend for a
show that will prove that The Country Above the United States has more
talent than just Shania Twain and the Barenaked Ladies … and Snow.

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