While coming out of a recent film I commented to my viewing partner how much I had enjoyed the film's score. She had a classic comment, "I never notice background music." Although we may not register a movie score as something we want on CD, it can make or break the atmosphere of a film as much as cinematography or acting. Below is a little ode to the unsung heroes of movie scores with their best works as recommended views.
Now Hear This!
Posted inCulture
Claws Out: Nothing Hurts You Like Family
Among the best films of 2005 was The Squid and the Whale, a dark drama that happens to be wickedly funny. If it leans a little heavily on Wes Anderson (Rushmore), it at least gives fans of Anderson a director to lionize in Noah Baumbach. Produced by Anderson, with whom Baumbach wrote The Life Aquatic, The Squid and the Whale is the story of Baumbach's parents' divorce, a bitter breakup told from the children's point of view. From the perspective of two awkward, bemused teenage boys, the arrogance and stubbornness of their parents - rival writers - feels unexpectedly light and whimsical. The script earned Baumbach an Oscar nomination and a number of passionate supporters. Now his follow-up, Margot at the Wedding, arrives with little fanfare but great expectations.
Posted inCulture
Huey, Dewey and Luey: Latest Apatow Inc. isn’t their best
The Judd Apatow comedy machine has been a most reliable laugh factory as of late. This year saw the one-two punch of Knocked Up (which he directed) and Superbad (which he produced). With the arrival of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story starring the great John C. Reilly, I was figuring Apatow (producing here) would have a 2007 hat trick.
Not quite.
The film isn't a disaster by any means. It has a quick, funny start, followed by an intermittently hilarious middle. But the air goes out of the movie as it progresses, and it eventually goes flat. Too bad, because Reilly is an actor who deserves top billing, and he puts everything into the part.
Posted inFood & Drink
Making Its Mark: Brand 33 at Aspen Lakes
The Cyrus family is trying to do something a little bit different with its resort restaurant. This Central Oregon ranching family has taken some of its land and created a first-class golf community and, more recently, a fine dining establishment. Located outside Sisters, Aspen Lakes is a golf-centric, high-end housing development that has recently completed a majestic lodge with a formal dining room, bar and café.
The architecture is reminiscent of Mount Hood’s Timberline Lodge, but with modern touches. Huge timbers and floor-to-ceiling windows framing the Cascades give this large-scale lodge a homey, country feel. There are spots for private parties, a conference room as well as a sport shop. But it’s the menu at “Brand 33” that sets Aspen Lakes apart from other golf resorts.
Posted inFood & Drink
Making Its Mark: Brand 33 at Aspen Lakes
The Cyrus family is trying to do something a little bit different with its resort restaurant. This Central Oregon ranching family has taken some of its land and created a first-class golf community and, more recently, a fine dining establishment. Located outside Sisters, Aspen Lakes is a golf-centric, high-end housing development that has recently completed a majestic lodge with a formal dining room, bar and café.
The architecture is reminiscent of Mount Hood's Timberline Lodge, but with modern touches. Huge timbers and floor-to-ceiling windows framing the Cascades give this large-scale lodge a homey, country feel. There are spots for private parties, a conference room as well as a sport shop. But it's the menu at "Brand 33" that sets Aspen Lakes apart from other golf resorts.
Posted inNews
Home Sweet Home: After the dust has settled mobile home owners wonder if they are better off
Hoby Herron's neighborhood consists of tightly clustered homes and single car garages nestled up to narrow asphalt streets that evoke some of the intimacy of Bend's older Mill-era neighborhoods.
Cascade Village, as the neighborhood is identified by the sign outside the entrance, is one the surviving manufactured home parks in Bend following a wave of redevelopment projects that have, so far, eliminated half a dozen parks totaling 380 spaces in the past five years.
Posted inOpinion
Bend City Council
Back in mid-November the Bend City Council decided to spend $200,000 on an "interim fix" for the Mirror Pond problem that would have involved some dredging. We said that was a bad idea. Now it looks like the council has come up with a better one.
It's talking about contracting with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, a nonprofit conservation and restoration group, to explore alternatives to dredging. The group has done some nice-looking restoration work along the banks of the Deschutes just downstream from the Bill Healy Bridge, and the city had been talking with it about possible Mirror Pond solutions a couple of years ago, until the dredge-it-at-any-cost faction in town put the skids to that approach.
Posted inOpinion
Farewell to a Master
The jazz world lost another from its diminishing ranks of giants last week: Canadian piano genius Oscar Peterson died two days before Christmas at age 82.
Growing up in a Montreal ghetto in the 1920s and '30s, Peterson started out playing the trumpet but switched to piano after a bout of tuberculosis. He was trained in classical technique by his father and sister and a prominent Montreal teacher, but was captivated by the sounds of the great jazz pianists of the era. (Later on he would say that two of his main influences were Art Tatum and Sergei Rachmaninov.)
In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Peterson collaborated with a list of artists that reads like a Who's Who of jazz - Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Stephane Grappelli, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and many more. His recordings in the 1950s with the Oscar Peterson Trio (himself, bassman Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis) are landmarks of the genre.
In his native country, Peterson was more than a musician - he was a national institution. He was showered with awards and honors, and at one point Prime Minister Jean Chretien offered him the position of lieutenant-governor of Ontario. (Peterson declined.) They even put him on a postage stamp.
A crippling stroke in 1993 sidelined Peterson for several years. Although he never regained his old form, he kept recording and performing up until last year, when his health began seriously deteriorating.
After his death tributes poured in from fellow musicians and scholars of jazz, including Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz at Rutgers University, who told the Washington Post: "Any pianist who came after Oscar Peterson would have had to look up to him as a model of all-around musicianship."
But we prefer the more succinct praise offered by Ray Charles in 2003: "Oscar Peterson is a m****r-f***ing piano player."
Posted inOpinion
Adios and Goodbye
Paul Motta in his column in the 12/27/07 issue of the Source Weekly apparently believes that many who identify as Democrats are not Democrats if they do not agree with him to the last dotted I and crossed T. Perhaps without his type of leadership the local Democratic Party, candidates will be more successful in the forthcoming election.
Posted inOpinion
Take Your Act To Arizona
Re "Destruction on the Deschutes": What the heck is wrong with you people? Okay, I have a fabulous tip for all of you would-be landowners. If you don't like messy greenery, big trees, water, or little wildland creatures, you should immediately buy land in ARIZONA.