The Home Computer of the Future and the 1980s: The Commodore 64

Posted inCulture

The Home Computer of the Future and the 1980s: The Commodore 64

Shawn Wallbaum

Come in, commodore.The home PC landscape in the 1980s was quite a bit different than it is now. The average consumer believed that home computers were just video game systems with keyboards and to a degree that was true. One home computer, however, helped change that myth and it was called the Commodore 64.

The first Commodore in the line was the Commodore Vic-20 that debuted in 1981 with pitchman William "Captain Kirk" Shatner asking consumers: "Why buy a video game when you can have a computer?" The Vic-20 was a huge success selling millions of home computers at a price comparable to video game systems of that era.

The Vic-20 was a good value for the dollar, but its limitations were obvious to those who wanted some power with their computing and were willing to pay extra for it. Commodore heard the cries of the public and in 1982 the Commodore 64 was released. The case it was released in, the famous "brown breadbox," was the same as the Vic-20's only a different color. The idea behind this was to keep costs down by cramming all the new 64 components into the Vic-20's shell.

Posted inCulture

High Octane Deadpan: Futuristic cult classic remake wipes out humor

Intern

The new David Carradine?This remake has so little in common with its predecessor and so much in common with crunch-fisted driving movies that it almost defies comparison. Almost. The original, Death Race 2000, starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone as rivals in a cheesy, campy, primary colored, Roger Corman scuzz-fest that although stupid was also a laugh a minute. This version, however, is dead set on being dead serious.

The minimal plot is laid out as so: Ex-race car driver Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is framed for murder and taken to the Terminal Island penitentiary to replace Frankenstein (the dead-by-the-first-car-crash driver), and participate in the highest rated show on TV via prison: DEATH RACE. Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen bringing the term "ice queen" to new heights) promises him release papers if he dons the frank-mask and drives. They're all here: the rivals, the bad guys, the worse guys, the goodhearted guys, the evil warden, the buffoon guard. It's stuff we've all seen before, so Race applies the majority of its focus on car racing. As with the original, this one pits Frankenstein against Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) and a few deadbeat contestants. Oddly though, after the initial action sequence, the rest of the scenes seem to stay at the same level: spin out, shoot, curse, quick edit, floor-it, curse, smash-into, blow-up, etc.

Posted inCulture

Reality TV on the Big Screen: American Teen is a compelling snapshot of modern high school

Intern

I survived high school. I didn't know anything about American Teen, but with that title I was hoping Kristen Bell had a lead role. Somebody should have warned me. I hate documentaries. It's a character flaw. I hate self-awareness books; and of course high school is self-awareness on steroids around every locker-lined hallway and family dinner crisis. I don't like animation and this film has flotsam and jetsam of animation sprinkled about. Even with all that going against it and without Kristen Bell or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I liked Nanette Burstein's slick movie of high school angst. It was interesting. It was entertaining, maybe a bit enlightening and a trifle compelling at times. Some of the scenes and relationships seemed forced or even scripted, but so does my life at times. I'm always calling for rewrites and a stand-in.

The press info on the film has lines that remind me of the loudspeaker in M*A*S*H giving plots to morale boosting films in Korea. "Documentary follows the lives of four teenagers in one small town in Indiana….We see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future." Isn't that what everyone remembers about high school-all those damn profound decisions about the future? If we only knew then that events and not agonizing decisions sweep us along in life, we could have had more time for beer and sex.

It's senior year in a Midwest high school. There will be cruelty, humor, strangeness, scary moments, more talk of sex than actual sex, a dash of drinking, and a pinch of smoking. Yeah, some things never change. But a funny thing happened on the way to gym class. I ran across real people who could somehow carry on with their lives, perhaps not quietly but at times with desperation, and pay little attention to microphones and technicians and cameras. That is one thing that has changed in today's world: everyone is on camera; everyone is on the web.

Posted inFood & Drink

Spring, Summer, or Fall: Revamped Seasons features big ideas but uneven execution

Intern

Resorts with overnight accommodations have a built-in clientele for their on-site restaurants. Sometimes that can mean resort restaurants are lax in quality control and overall dining experience. That’s not the case with Seasons. There is no doubt the management and staff have made huge efforts in the re-visioning of this fine dining restaurant. Although the menu is ambitious and the attitude is one of dedication, the overall dining experience comes up short of expectations.

Over the last three years, the entire resort has undergone some drastic remodeling, changed its name and completely overhauled the dining facilities. What used to be a dark room characterized by a bad ’70s motif, the resort’s fine dining restaurant, Seasons, is now surrounded by big windows with views of the new pool area and patio seating.

The servers and management are exuberant about the establishment. After a slightly confusing walk to find the entrance, my dining partners and I were given a tour of the new dining room and bar before being seated.

Starting with appetizers, our party of four began with the Cracker Jack Oysters ($10) – big oysters coated in pulverized Cracker Jacks and fried to a crispy crunch. Slightly sweet, they were the best of the appetizers. We then moved on to the Carrot-Ginger Bisque ($3) which I found bland, even though it had some heat, The Tuna Salad ($13) had an unusual purple dressing surrounding seared ahi slices. It was slightly sweet with the intention (I would imagine) of offsetting the spice of the jalapeno and lime crust on the fish. It ended up being conflicting rather than complimenting. We ended our appetizer course with the Seafood Pistou ($12), a dish that comprised mussels, clams and halibut cooked in a pesto broth that lacked punch. However, the crusty toast for dipping was a nice touch.

Posted inFood & Drink

Spring, Summer, or Fall: Revamped Seasons features big ideas but uneven execution

Intern

Resorts with overnight accommodations have a built-in clientele for their on-site restaurants. Sometimes that can mean resort restaurants are lax in quality control and overall dining experience. That's not the case with Seasons. There is no doubt the management and staff have made huge efforts in the re-visioning of this fine dining restaurant. Although the menu is ambitious and the attitude is one of dedication, the overall dining experience comes up short of expectations.

Over the last three years, the entire resort has undergone some drastic remodeling, changed its name and completely overhauled the dining facilities. What used to be a dark room characterized by a bad '70s motif, the resort's fine dining restaurant, Seasons, is now surrounded by big windows with views of the new pool area and patio seating.

The servers and management are exuberant about the establishment. After a slightly confusing walk to find the entrance, my dining partners and I were given a tour of the new dining room and bar before being seated.

Starting with appetizers, our party of four began with the Cracker Jack Oysters ($10) - big oysters coated in pulverized Cracker Jacks and fried to a crispy crunch. Slightly sweet, they were the best of the appetizers. We then moved on to the Carrot-Ginger Bisque ($3) which I found bland, even though it had some heat, The Tuna Salad ($13) had an unusual purple dressing surrounding seared ahi slices. It was slightly sweet with the intention (I would imagine) of offsetting the spice of the jalapeno and lime crust on the fish. It ended up being conflicting rather than complimenting. We ended our appetizer course with the Seafood Pistou ($12), a dish that comprised mussels, clams and halibut cooked in a pesto broth that lacked punch. However, the crusty toast for dipping was a nice touch.

Posted inMusic

Packing the Schwab: Beck and Wilco bring in the crowds

Mike Bookey

Amidst much talk of pre-Wilco parties, Sound Check was determined not to miss the buzz heavy opener Fleet Foxes, having had a chance to listen through the Seattle band's solid debut album. Alas, we found ourselves marooned at a Westside all-you-can-eat fajita buffet and couldn't manage to extract ourselves before the culmination of Fleet's truncated set. Thankfully, Tweedy and Co. were good enough to bring the Fleet Foxes back on stage before the end of the night for all us stragglers that missed their set. But more on that later.

Headliners Wilco seemed to have found their niche in Bend where their blend of mashup alt-country-pop-rock and discord melodies resonate with our musical and cultural schizophrenia (The epic Wilco-Beck weekend is to be followed this week by former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald and an unnecessarily reunited Stone Temple Pilots). But we digress.

Back to Saturday night… frontman Jeff Tweedy took the stage at 7:30 sharp dressed in black, but in a seemingly light mood. Exchanging barbs with audience members, he carried on a casual monologue through the entire show, which included topics like the connection between Radiohead and Wilco (there is none), the emerging Lawncore movement, the impact of rock and roll (specifically Wilco) on women's fertility and an impromptu PSA for Bend's Breedlove guitars (the band's acoustic axe of choice). Between the banter, Wilco managed to put on an epic - by Les Schwab Amphitheater standards - show that spanned the band's entire decade-plus catalog of music with as much emphasis on earlier work as their most recent efforts, including the stellar Sky Blue Sky. Highlights included a shimmering "Impossible Germany" and an awesomely dark "Spiders/Kidsmoke" to round out the band's roughly hour and fifteen minute set. Thankfully, the lights stayed down and the house music was nowhere to be heard as the band took a quick breather and marched through two encores.

Posted inMusic

Picking Up the Scraps: Mosley Wotta is here to check your ego

Mike Bookey

Mud on the Left, Wotta on the right. "It's not the bottom of the barrel or anything, but it's what I have around me that I love. It's the idea of using what's around you to improve what's around you," says Mosley Wotta, a.k.a. Jason Graham, of his new EP Scrap Mettle.

The five-track record has been in the works for a few months now, and is for the most part quintessential Graham - crisply voiced hip-hop lyrics that lean closer toward poetry than rap music laid atop constantly innovative instrumentals. While locals will likely recognize Graham's loud, low and direct voice within the opening seconds of the album's opener, "Boom For Real," the EP is hardly same-old-same-old fodder from one of Bend's most visible artists.

Just as he wears masks during some of his solo performances or is apt to changing his stage name (some might know him not as Wotta or Graham, but rather "The Rook"), Graham doesn't seem to mind reinventing himself, perhaps not drastically, but enough to keep things interesting in a musical landscape where change is often necessary.

"It's like stories I've heard of Japanese calligraphers who keep changing their names. They'll build up an entire career and then change their name," Graham says. "You gotta keep allowing yourself to be you - I mean I'm still going to be a six foot tall man of color in Bend, I'm not going to be able to get away from that, unless I become so successful I can go the Michael Jackson route or something like that, which I probably wouldn't."

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