The Eye found a surprise when we opened up our copy of The Bulletin on Sunday - an insert containing a DVD of a documentary called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West."
“Obsession”: Springing a September Surprise?
Posted inNews
Round One Goes to McCain
The first big debate is over, the early reviews are in, and - predictably - both sides are saying they're happy with the way their guy did.
Posted inNews
Paper Scissors Live at the Silver Moon – Saturday 9/27
We caught up with the men of Fairbanks, Alaska's Paper Scissors today as the band woke up in Portland as part of their current Northwest Tour. The guys talked to us about their eclectic taste and how they manage to sound nothing really like any other band around.
Posted inOpinion
Outta Control Burning
Come on…let's face it: the Controlled Burning in Oregon is outta control.
Hmmm, Let's see…It's a No Brainer that early this past Wednesday winds were extra strong from the get go…Not talking a little breezy here, we're talking strong, forceful, steady, blustery winds. Could it be a dangerous type of person with a mindset to "Get on with outta controlled burning" that allowed the now Wizard Fire to spread uncontrollably on Thursday, Mr. Forest Service Man? No question about it, there's your mysterious answer; search no further Mr. Ranger Man. So forget your heroic pledge, how you, "Vow a complete review to see what went wrong, and work to prevent any repeats of this problem." The only "Sequence of Events that took place that need corrective measures" is you and the mindless decision to forge forward to burn Thursday.
Let’s take another perspective of burning, a different view from another angle of LIFE. Let's say there are plenty of forest fires from spring to fall, none of them landed remotely near or around where controlled burning has left all life dead and trees charred from past years. So now what? What on Earth cajoles the human mind into believing that these controlled burns are in fact saving more LIFE than they KILL? Now that's the Real Mystery for sure!
Posted inCulture
Great Expectations: Driving Miss Daisy succeeds at Tower Theatre
It's only the second performance by the cast of Driving Miss Daisy, but
it seems like the 100th. Cast members Michael Learned, Willis Burks II
and Dirk Blocker are seasoned acting veterans and it shows. As the show
ends and the lights on the stage go out, the nearly full theater for
Sunday's matinee performance is immediately on its feet and the
applause echoes off the walls of the Tower Theatre. The three actors
take their bows and exit stage left. With several local theater
companies in Bend putting out quality productions on a regular basis,
the cast of Driving Miss Daisy had some high standards to live up to.
After all, this wasn't a community theater performance where you expect
a few mistakes here and there. These were professional actors and the
audience wanted a production akin to those in New York, Los Angeles or,
at the very least, Portland and Seattle. Thankfully, this play lived up
to all the expectations.
Posted inOutside
A Bad Rap: Follow a few rules in rattlesnake country
Whoa there, that’s a western rattlesnake.Among the magnificent variety of reptiles you may meet up with as
you're wandering around the Northwest is the much maligned, greatly
feared and infamous Great Basin Rattlesnake, a subspecies of the
Western Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis (spp).
Contrary to popular
opinion, rattlesnakes are not "poisonous," they are venomous, and as
such, they do pose a threat to humankind. However, the idea of
"impending doom" to humans has been exaggerated to the point of
absurdity. If you are in rattlesnake country, you should use the same
amount of caution when you drive your vehicle through a construction
project or school zone.
If you traveled any distance in a motor
vehicle to visit the land of rattlesnakes, you have experienced a
greater threat to your safety and welfare than meeting up with a snake.
Motor vehicle accidents have killed and maimed – and are still killing
and maiming – thousands of times more people than all the rattlesnake
deaths in the US ever since we began keeping records about such things.
Posted inOutside
On the Comeback Trail: Another bike/car crash, talking Lance and more
Local olympian Barb Buchan with legendary cycling coach Eddie B. IS IT SAFE TO RIDE
YOUR BIKE IN BEND?
Last week, I told my story of
being hit by a car while riding my bike. I don't have the data to
statistically prove an epidemic, but it sure seems like one. Naturally,
I've now heard all sorts of other stories and just this past week there
were two new serious incidents in which cyclists were struck by cars. A
lot of the feedback to my article, and others, rants about the Bend
Police Department letting the automobile drivers off the hook.
Ironically, an off-duty police officer was one of the victims this
week, so we'll see if striking close to home has any impact.
Sadly,
Bend is becoming a scary place to ride and I'd love to see our city
make a real effort to become more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly. I'm
jealous when I visit other cities that seem to care so much more about
this. In Ketchum this summer, I was impressed by their bike paths. When
I lived in Boulder and Palo Alto, I rode the dedicated bike paths all
the time. Even little things can make a difference. Can someone tell me
why the bike path up to Summit High, one of our rare segments of bike
path, does not have a curb cut to allow access? What excuse is there
for the lack of a pedestrian crosswalk across Galveston at the south
end of Drake Park? That crossing is officially considered part of the
River Trail. I'm hoping that we've reached the critical mass of
tragedies that makes this issue a priority.
Posted inCulture
Cold Dark Ride: Transsiberian veers off the tracks
I’ve listened to preachers, I’ve listened to fools. Opening with an intriguing and deftly shot scene, Transsiberian
promises a film that will look good, even if it goes sour. And sadly,
sour it goes. Nevertheless, there's something compelling about this
snow-driven trek
A do-gooder American couple (not without their
own problems), Roy and Jessie (Woody Harrelson/Emily Mortimer), depart
for a charity trip, traveling from China to Russia via the historic
Trans-Siberian train. They meet up with a suspicious couple, Carlos and
Abby (Eduardo Noriega/Kate Mara) whose motives immediately become
questionable. After a few misguided episodes, Russian narcotics officer
Grinko (Ben Kingsley) joins in the dreary ride.
What was really
lacking as the movie progressed was a sense of urgency. The time it
took setting up the characters could have been well spent giving us
more clues, or deception around the characters’ real agendas. The
tables get turned a couple of times, but nothing that psychologically
intimidates or fools us. On the whole, the train stops in loophole city
way too often.
Posted inCulture
True Romance: Choke finds an unexpected vein of sweetness in the creator of Fight Club.
Shakespeare in love. Clark Gregg did it. I wouldn't recommend trying, but he did it. This is Chuck Palahniuk we're talking about, after all.
The creator of Fight Club.
The nihilist.
The gross-out artist.
The
guy who famously or infamously or anecdotally inspired multiple people
to drop over in a dead faint at readings of a story about heinous
masturbation-inspired mishaps.
That grotesque, pathetic, twisted guy.
But
Clark Gregg did it. He took Palahniuk's Choke as screenwriter and
director and found another vein. Buried beneath the blasphemy and the
bodily fluids and the self-loathing was a story about redemption.
About recovery.
About love.
Clark
Gregg turned Chuck Palahniuk into a romantic. Or maybe he just pulled
back the covers to expose the romantic that was already there. It's
certainly not easy to see at first in the tale of Victor Mancini (Sam
Rockwell), who's messed up in so many ways that it's hard to know where
to begin. He attends 12-step meetings for sex addiction with his best
friend and compulsive masturbator Denny (Brad William Henke), but
pretty much only so he can pick up women. He visits with his ailing
mother Ida (Anjelica Huston), but her dementia has reached the point
where she doesn't even recognize him. And while he has a job at a
colonial theme park, he supplements his income by shoving food down his
throat at restaurants, finding someone to save his life, and becoming
the beneficiary of his newfound saviors' sense of connection.
Posted inFood & Drink
Happy Hour: Astro Lounge
What’s the ideal menu for a seven-year-old’s birthday? How about hush
puppies and pigs in blankets? Pizza and chips and dip? Sounds perfect,
though when the party’s for the seventh anniversary of Astro
Lounge-Bend’s one-shop answer to Northwest Portland or Williamsburg,
Brooklyn-you can bet that those old favorites come with an attitude and
a formidable playlist. Astro Lounge, once largely a waiting room for
its neighboring restaurant Marz, is all grown up, independent, and
serving one of the best happy hour deals in town.