Posted inCulture

Hell and Back Again: Lakeview Terrace doesn’t add anything new to a familiar thriller sub-genre

There’s a place where I can go…It took Lakeview Terrace to remind me that we didn't know how good we
had it in the early 1990s. The Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall had
crumbled, leaving post-Cold War America without a real international
threat; terrorism was a vague concept. Yet if you were to judge by the
movies, we were all buckets of free-floating anxiety convinced that
everyone around us would stab us in the neck with a letter opener if we
looked at them sideways.

Yes, it was the golden age of the
"fill-in-the-blank from hell" thriller-that time when your babysitter
(The Hand That Rocks the Cradle), your roommate (Single White Female),
your co-worker (The Temp), the girl next door (The Crush) or your kid's
new stepparent (Domestic Disturbance) was a psycho-in-waiting. Lakeview
Terrace appears in an age when paranoia seems just a bit more
justified, and you'd think that there would be room to re-explore the
genre in light of this. Instead, we get more or less what we would have
gotten 18 years ago: middling melodrama too concerned with providing
visceral kicks to uncover anything truly psychologically insightful.

Posted inCulture

Self Righteous: DeNiro and Pacino take on water at every turn

Even the dynamic duo can’t save this disaster. Expectations abound for a movie co-starring Al Pacino and Robert De
Niro. Their only recent movie together, Heat, although considered
brilliant by most observers, had just one scene in which they were on
screen together. In their new film Righteous Kill, they are Siamese
twins, cop buddies, together in virtually every scene.

And let's be
honest, these two can carry a mediocre film on their collective backs.
They both have careers which need no buoying up, and if any two actors
working today could be called living legends, it's probably these two.
What's
not derivative these days in a cop movie? We start with the killings of
people whom the world would not miss: child rapists, Russian mobsters,
a seedy collection of low lives whose deaths probably serve to improve
the lives of others in New York.

Posted inFood & Drink

Quick Bites – The Walk of Wine: Promenade du Vin

Pouring a little out for a cause. One event that helped put Bend on the culinary map is the annual
Sagebrush Classic, a golf tournament that hosts a lavish feast
featuring famous chefs from around the country. With no shortage of
golf courses, or those who love to golf, other such events have
sprouted up in Central Oregon such as the Ghost Tree Classic. This year
the prominent wine tasting fundraiser, formerly known as Wine by the
River, paired up with the Ghost Tree Classic and changed its name to
Promenade du Vin. Organized before the Friday dinner that commanded
$300 per seat, the Promenade du Vin was casual, affordable and
benefited a great cause: the Hospice Center of Bend and La Pine.
Stretching
out over the lush lawn in front of Pronghorn’s grand clubhouse,
wineries hosted tastings under white tents. Over 25 wineries displayed
their wares, offered tastes and gave event goers a chance to talk with
wine makers. There were seminars on chocolate and wine and a Master
Wine Competition. Along with wine makers there were also a few artisan
cheese makers, including Tumalo Farms, which sampled its fabulous
Remembrance and Classico, and an Irish dairy called Kerry Gold.
Moonstruck Chocolates added some sweetness to the mix, as did Extreme
Chocolate and Meeteetse Chocolatier.

Posted inFood & Drink

Quick Bites – The Walk of Wine: Promenade du Vin

Pouring a little out for a cause. One event that helped put Bend on the culinary map is the annual
Sagebrush Classic, a golf tournament that hosts a lavish feast
featuring famous chefs from around the country. With no shortage of
golf courses, or those who love to golf, other such events have
sprouted up in Central Oregon such as the Ghost Tree Classic. This year
the prominent wine tasting fundraiser, formerly known as Wine by the
River, paired up with the Ghost Tree Classic and changed its name to
Promenade du Vin. Organized before the Friday dinner that commanded
$300 per seat, the Promenade du Vin was casual, affordable and
benefited a great cause: the Hospice Center of Bend and La Pine.
Stretching
out over the lush lawn in front of Pronghorn's grand clubhouse,
wineries hosted tastings under white tents. Over 25 wineries displayed
their wares, offered tastes and gave event goers a chance to talk with
wine makers. There were seminars on chocolate and wine and a Master
Wine Competition. Along with wine makers there were also a few artisan
cheese makers, including Tumalo Farms, which sampled its fabulous
Remembrance and Classico, and an Irish dairy called Kerry Gold.
Moonstruck Chocolates added some sweetness to the mix, as did Extreme
Chocolate and Meeteetse Chocolatier.

Posted inFood & Drink

Sushi for the Masses: Mio brings the dollar down on Japanese cuisine

Mama Mio, affordable sushi in Bend? Bonzai!When someone mentions sushi as an option, the dollar signs often start
flashing in diners’ minds. That’s because the commonly held notion is
that this Japanese culinary treat is expensive and not really that
filling. Mio Sushi is trying to put an end to that perception and is
doing so not with mini boats, conveyor belts or pre-made rolls, but
with freshly made dishes ranging from traditional nigiri sushi to
Americanized house rolls.

A welcome addition to Cascade Village Mall,
Mio Sushi is located across from The Bungalow Tropical Bar and Grille
and is the first of the Portland-based chain to open outside the
Portland area. The interiors are very similar to the Portland
locations-clean, cool colors, modern fixtures, an ample sushi bar and
LOTS of staff yelling “irasshaimase” (please come in!) when you walk in
the door.
We started out our meal with the kid-pleasing miso
soup ($1.50) and edemame ($2.94). Slurping savory soup right out of the
bowl and popping salt beans from the pod kept our two kindergarteners
happy while we filled out our sushi order.

Posted inFood & Drink

Sushi for the Masses: Mio brings the dollar down on Japanese cuisine

Mama Mio, affordable sushi in Bend? Bonzai!When someone mentions sushi as an option, the dollar signs often start
flashing in diners' minds. That's because the commonly held notion is
that this Japanese culinary treat is expensive and not really that
filling. Mio Sushi is trying to put an end to that perception and is
doing so not with mini boats, conveyor belts or pre-made rolls, but
with freshly made dishes ranging from traditional nigiri sushi to
Americanized house rolls.

A welcome addition to Cascade Village Mall,
Mio Sushi is located across from The Bungalow Tropical Bar and Grille
and is the first of the Portland-based chain to open outside the
Portland area. The interiors are very similar to the Portland
locations-clean, cool colors, modern fixtures, an ample sushi bar and
LOTS of staff yelling "irasshaimase" (please come in!) when you walk in
the door.
We started out our meal with the kid-pleasing miso
soup ($1.50) and edemame ($2.94). Slurping savory soup right out of the
bowl and popping salt beans from the pod kept our two kindergarteners
happy while we filled out our sushi order.

Posted inMusic

Anywhere, Anytime: Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad’s bold movement

An American Band in Jamaica, part I.Taking your all-white, six-piece reggae band to Jamaica is a bold move.
It certainly takes some balls. In some respects, this is akin to
growing up in Norway crafting since the age of seven what you believe
is an authentic and high-quality country western act, then taking your
show across the Atlantic to Nashville. So, it was with a bold stride
that drummer Chris O'Brian and the five other members of Rochester, New
York's Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad arrived in the birthplace of
reggae a little over a year ago.

"As a large reggae ensemble of
Caucasians from upstate New York, we tried not to let ourselves get
singled out for playing this music that has spread all over the world
in a short amount of time. We don't take it heavy, we don't take it
lightly, we just don't even take it when people come with their funny
look on their face," O'Brian says rather assertively while driving on
the Massachusetts Turn Pike on the way to what will be GPGDS' second
festival appearance of the day.

Posted inMusic

Hip-Hop on Parade: Trading E-mail with Aesop Rock

You need goggles like that when you send these kind of e-mails.Aesop Rock is coming to Bend along with the esteemed gentlemen of the
Hieroglyphics crew and a gaggle of other hip-hop all stars for what
very well might be the most prolific hip-hop event this town has seen
since we got that shipment of water-damaged Sir Mix A Lot cassettes in
'91. I wanted to get some phone time with Aesop Rock, but was told that
Mr. Rock prefers questions be directed his way in the form of e-mail. I
obliged and here's what Aesop Rock had to type about Tom Waits, curtain
installation and reading National Geographic:

tSW: A slightly
pedantic question: Indie hip-hop, or alternative hip-hop or however you
want to "genre-ify" it, seems to be increasingly drawing on influences
outside of the hip-hop arena. What’s your most significant non-hip-hop
influences past and present?
Aesop Rock: Probably either the
Mountain Goats or Tom Waits. They both happen to strike that chord in
me that usually only a savage MC can get to. They both are masters at
their craft, they put a massive amount of effort into the lyric-writing
aspect of all of this, and each have distinct deliveries that work
hand-in-hand with the way they write. I'm a longtime fan of both. Tom
Waits' albums have such unique production, and overall drunkenness to
them. I dunno, I could go on about them each forever.

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