Help a Young Nebraskan

Posted inOpinion

Help a Young Nebraskan

Mike Bookey

Dear Citizens of Oregon,

I am in the fifth grade at Northeast Elementary in Kearney, Nebraska. I
have adopted your state as a class project to research. I will be doing
a report and other projects. Then on May 3rd my class is having a
"States Fair." I will be displaying my report and any other information
or materials I receive about your state. I am hopeful that some of your
readers will be able to help me with my project. I was able to research
your city and newspaper on the Internet and I'm excited to learn more
about your state.
  

Posted inOpinion

Age of Uncertainty

Mike Bookey

Not since the beginning of World War II has there been such a feeling
of uncertainty as there is at the present time among the general public
in this country. Most people don't say much, but within most lives is a
strong feeling that all is not well. To know what to do about it leaves
most people with a feeling of helplessness because as individuals we
can't really do much to change the course of history for this nation,
as it rests in the leadership. Leadership seems to be lacking while
power by some seems to be shooting off in hundreds of directions. We
have lived through trial and tribulation before, but this time it is
different, and I think a bit more complex.

Posted inOpinion

Time for the Truth About 9/11

Mike Bookey

Some say that Americans are particularly weak in the subjects of math
and science. This is unfortunate, since these are the disciplines which
prove that 9/11 was a false-ยญflag inside job.
Other nations are now
having open discussions about the evidence which supports that 9/11 was
done by a rogue element within the United States government working in
unison with certain foreign factions.
A Danish news channel
interviewed an observer who said one only needs to be able to count to
three to figure out something is wrong with the official story of 9/11.
Two planes flew into two skyscrapers and pulverized three huge
buildings into dust and 30-foot lengths of steel.

Posted inCulture

Video Game Flashback: ColecoVision and the Adam computer

Shawn Wallbaum

They just don't make video games like this anymore…thankfully.Back in the early 1980s after the Atari 2600 system was released, other
companies wanted to cash in on the video game craze and one such
company was Coleco. Considered a second-generation game system, the
ColecoVision was released at the end of 1982 with 12 arcade-quality
titles. The system was sold with a licensed version of Nintendo's
"Donkey Kong," and helped beat its main rival, the Atari 5200, which
also provided more advanced, arcade-quality games, but was ultimately
less successful than the ColecoVision. The system sold more than a
million units in its first year and more than seven million during its
lifetime. 

Posted inOutside

Old Evolution’s Under Way, Maybe: Killer birds on the loose … someday

Jim Anderson

House finch, or soon to be killer diller bird killer…? So there I was, sitting at my kitchen table watching the marvelous
assortment of birds on my feeder (including three beautiful orange,
white and black spotted towhees) when all of a sudden all "you know
what" broke loose!
A small, innocuous-looking – albeit belligerent –
male house finch decided the feeder was his and went into a tizzy,
attacking bigger and littler birds. Everyone scattered to get out of
the way as the combatant finch exercised his territorial imperative.
(A
moment while I digress (again). Stay away from bird feed with Milo in
it. It is nothing but a "filler" that costs you more and ends up on the
ground under your feeder, which may or may not be good for your soil.)

Posted inOutside

Gear, Legends, and Heroes: From Hillary to Camelbak all in one week

Mike Bookey

This is what heaven looks like to your typical overactive Bendite.Sir Edmond Hillary
dies at 88

On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmond Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay became the first mountain climbers to stand on top
of the tallest peak on Earth. "Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation
- these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first man to
stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others have failed.
But my dominant reactions were relief and surprise," reported Hillary,
attempting to sum up his climb. Hillary always considered himself and
his accomplishments as ordinary.
After reaching the summit of
Mt. Everest, Hillary conquered more difficult missions in Nepal. This
country houses Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Land, which Tibetan
speakers refer to as Mt. Everest. In 1962 he founded the Himalayan
Trust, a humanitarian nonprofit that raised $250,000 a year to help
build hospitals, health clinics, airfields, and schools.

Posted inCulture

A Tortured Soul: The Films of Heath Ledger

Mike Bookey

Last week Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. At
28, he had created a career based on risky roles and shunned the
heartthrob characters he could have played. In his last film, The Dark
Knight, a sequel to Batman Begins, Ledger plays the deranged villain,
The Joker. It is due out in July of this year. Below are the best films
available on DVD of his short, but notable career.
Candy
Ledger
and Abby Cornish are stellar in this bleak tale about two artistic
souls tumbling down the road of self-destruction from heroin use.
Tragic and sad, these characters are the poster children for staying
far away from recreational drug use.
Brokeback Mountain
There's
no discussing Ledger without mentioning Brokeback Mountain. By far his
most challenging role was his heartbreaking performance of Ennis Del
Mar, the sexually conflicted cowboy never able to allow himself the
freedom to be happy. Accolades were mounded on Ledger as well as the
rest of the cast and the film as a whole. This is where Ledger met
Michelle Williams, who later became his romantic partner and the mother
of his child. Ledger had recently separated from Williams.
 

Posted inCulture

Fourth Blood: Stallone kills, kills, kills in another over-the-hill sequel

Mike Bookey

How many 60-year-olds can kill like this?Let's get this straight right off the bat, something I'm sure we ALL
know … DO NOT MESS WITH RAMBO. This movie sledgehammers that fact home
by combining preachy stereotypes and super-gore. And you know what?
Parts of it are actually all right.
Rambo opens with grisly authentic
stock footage of the atrocities in Burma (oddly never referred to by
the nation's present-day name of Myanmar). Stallone said he wants this
movie to carry a "real" message, so people will become aware of the
genocide that plagues Burma, but then he chucks himself into a fake-ass
drama smack-dab in the middle of it, allowing him to come across as a
hero, "find" himself and kill tons - and I mean tons - of people in the
meantime.

Posted inFood & Drink

Party On: Marz keeps it cool after all these years

Mike Bookey

The Special Bowl of rice noodles, clam, pork belly and scallions in a chili-soy broth at Marz Bistro. Years ago, three perennially hip couples who had been working in
restaurants most of their adult lives decided to give Bend what it
really needed – an urban-feeling oasis of world cuisine, moderate
prices and a creative list of wines priced at half the normal
restaurant mark-up.

Bright colors and wavy booths, salt shakers that
look like squeezy baby toys and a mirror ball helped the atmosphere
attain something that had never been attempted in Bend. The food was
lauded as wonderfully different, a great value and served up from a
down-to-earth, fashion-minded staff.

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