Posted inCurrent affairs Entertainment

Eye-opening, disturbing, inspiring: “Where to Invade Next” movie

My wife and I just got back from seeing Michael Moore's new movie, "Where to Invade Next," at Salem Cinema. We hugely enjoyed it.  It should be a political game-changer for the United States. Unfortunately, the people who should see it, those who really need to see it -- the right-wing flagwavers who wrongly consider America is #1; the tax-cutting fanatics who don't believe in the efficacy of government programs; the strong-military zealots who fail to understand the harm our giant defense budget is doing to this country -- they won't risk having their delusions challenged by seeing the movie.…
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Posted inEntertainment Health

Cowspiracy movie presents powerful reasons to go meatless

I'm no psychic. But it doesn't take any ESP abilities to say that most of the people reading this ate meat today -- Christmas.  My wife and I didn't. Nor do we ever.  Which explains why we felt a pleasing sense of self-satisfaction when we watched "Cowspiracy" at the Salem Progressive Film Series last week, since the basic message of the documentary is that eating meat and fish is one of the most environmentally destructive actions a person can engage in.  The "spiracy" part of the title comes from the assertion that environmental organizations like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

I love our new Apple TV, even without Amazon Prime

Today our Apple TV arrived. (For those who don't obsessively follow all things Apple'ish, this isn't an actual TV, but a little box that hooks up to your TV and streams content to it via wi-fi). We've used the previous incarnation of Apple TV, along with a Roku. We also got a "smart" Samsung TV a few months ago that has apps for streaming services like Netflix and Hulu built-in to the television.  But all of these devices have been quite difficult to use. Playing a movie or TV show has been pretty easy, but finding what you're looking for…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Enlightened Theatrics’ Hair production made me feel “the 60’s are still real”

I've never enjoyed live theatre more than Enlightened Theatrics' production of Hair my wife and I saw last night at Salem's Grand Theatre.  And that isn't the cannabis talking. Well, let's make that it isn't just the cannabis talking. Hey, it seemed oh-so-appropriate to celebrate a paean to 60's hippiedom with some of Oregon's newly-legal recreational marijuana. Which, in a non-roundabout way, brings me to the Numero Uno reason I felt so good during and after this marvelous production of Hair: The talented directors and performers made me realize The '60s are still real.  Meaning, it isn't only that the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Tell DirecTV, “2015 is the year to carry the Pac-12 Networks!”

With August having rolled around, it's time for me to start getting irritated again at DirecTV for not having reached a deal to carry the Pac-12 Networks.  (This is my 2014 rant, which includes links to my previous rants.) There's more hope this year than in the past. The president of the Pac-12 Networks said that he is hopeful a deal can be worked out with DirecTV, now that it has been bought by AT&T. And a statement on the Pac-12 Networks web site raised my football spirits a bit: We know that DirecTV subscribers have been frustrated not having…
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Posted inEntertainment

Photos of the oh-so-fun 2015 Oregon Country Fair

Like ex-hippie swallows returning annually to their tie-dyed nesting place, Laurel and I flew down I-5 from Salem to Veneta yesterday -- Oregon Country Fair time! Even though marijuana became legal in Oregon on July 1, this didn't make any difference to the fair's ambience. Sure, per usual we smelled a few whiffs of pot here and there. But I didn't see any open marijuana use, in line with a story in the Eugene Register-Guard. The Oregon Country Fair is wonderfully family-friendly. I can hardly wait to take my eight year old granddaughter to it. Though the fair is crowded,…
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Posted inEntertainment

Cirque du Soleil’s Verakai makes me want to join the circus. At 66.

Last night my wife and I journeyed up I-5 to Portland's Memorial Coliseum, where we were hugely entertained and inspired by Verekai, a typically indescribable Cirque du Soleil production.  Indescribable, because Cirque du Soleil productions touch me like no other show.  Partly because they are live. Partly because they are creative beyond belief. Partly because the men and women on stage perform physical feats I wouldn't believe were possible, if I wasn't seeing them with my own two eyes. Which, with Verekai, were attached to a body that was sitting in a front row seat on the floor of the…
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Posted inEntertainment

Trevor Noah will be a great replacement for Jon Stewart

My wife and I have been worrying about Jon Stewart's departure from The Daily Show, which comes on the heels of Steven Colbert's ending of The Colbert Report -- two stressful events for us. So when I saw today that Trevor Noah has been named as Stewart's replacement, I wasn't sure whether this was good or bad news.  We're not wild about The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which is a big step down from The Colbert Report. Wilmore and company are OK, but not nearly as watchable as Colbert. Usually we skip it and just watch The Daily Show.…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Sadly, I am forced to be my own Salem’s Oscar “red carpet” paparazzi

Yesterday my wife and I decided to watch the Oscars at the Northern Lights theatre pub in south Salem, rather than, per usual, sit at home with each other in front of our TV. Carlee Wright and Tom Rastrelli, who are Statesman Journal newspaper staff, did a great job organizing and hosting the event. We enjoyed viewing the Oscars with a bunch of other people. During commercial breaks Carlee and Tom keep everybody entertained with Academy Award trivia questions and other stuff. And the really big TV screen was cool. Laurel and I decided to dress up. In our own…
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Posted inEntertainment

Why you should watch porn rather than Fifty Shades of Grey

Given the generally dismal reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey, the advice of these women to watch real porn instead makes a lot of sense. Yeah, there's a 30 second commercial to sit through at first, but the Funny Or Die "5 Reasons" video is worth a half minute of your time. The last reason, support independent cinema, is compelling by itself. 5 Reasons Pornstars Hate 50 Shades Of Grey from Funny Or Die
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Posted inEntertainment

We watch “The Interview” on Christmas Day. And like it!

It seemed fitting for us heathen unbelievers to finish watching "The Interview" Christmas evening. Plates of Tofurkey perched before us on TV tables, memories of a completely non-religious day resting in our heads, pleased to perform our patriotic duty by silently screaming Hands off our right to enjoy tasteless sexist frat-boy humor, North Korea! via my brave commitment to free speech by allowing Google Play to charge $5.99 to our credit card so we could stream the movie and watch it at home. (OK, experts are beginning to suspect that North Korea wasn't responsible for the hacking of Sony, but that…
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Posted inEntertainment Television

Curses on DirecTV and Pac-12 Network after I miss Mariota’s last home game

This being a halfway family-friendly blog, I'll let readers of this post mentally fill in their favorite profanities to shower on DirecTV and the Pac-12 Network after...  Once #%!@#! again yesterday, I missed a U of O football game that I #%!@#! wanted to see because you two #%!@#! corporate idiots have persisted in your pissing match over DirecTV being able to show Pac-12 Network games, which has now gone on for three #%!@#! years!!!!!!! That said, I readily admit that I too may be a #%!@#! idiot. Because, as noted in this post, I renewed our DirecTV subscription last August even though I…
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Posted inEntertainment

My fart-filled investigation into Nicki Minaj’s feminist credentials

Until recently I was disturbingly unaware of several important bits of information relating to female rapper Nicki Minaj. Though I'm 65, not exactly Minaj's target audience, I still try to keep up on youth culture by watching the MTV Video Music Awards each year and... Um. Well. Let me think. And... OK, not much else.  Still, I was vaguely aware of Minaj's assets, so to speak, having noticed somewhere the difficult-to-forget image of her album. What truly drew me into learning more about Minaj, though, was coming across a mention of how someone had added fart sounds to her "Anaconda"…
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Posted inEntertainment

2014. Still no Pac-12 Network on DirecTV. Am I an idiot to renew?

As I begin to write this post, the Oregon-South Dakota game -- kicking off the 2014 season for the Ducks -- will begin in nine minutes. I won't be watching it because of two goddamn corporate assholes. I live in the boonies of rural south Salem, 20 minutes from a sports bar. I have DirecTV, which is still in a three year long pissing match with the Pac 12 Network, with both sides throwing insults at each other (see preceding links). So I'll be listening to the Ducks game on the radio. Sure, the nailbiter in this mis-matchup will be…
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Posted inEntertainment

Photos of 2014 Oregon Country Fair — yes, yes, yes!

Man, I so love the Oregon Country Fair in Veneta. Every year my wife and I feel joyful and rejuvenated when we attend on our usual opening Friday.  If only the entire freaking United States could be this loving, this uninhibited, this creative, this yes-yes-yes (a Fair slogan) ALL of the time. After parking our car, we came across a talented couple outside the entrance gate who reminded us that everyday reality is much enhanced during the three days of the fair. We had bought tickets months ago in anticipation of our annual secular-sacred July pilgrimage to a land where…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

I’ll be part of Stories from the Dark Side. Existential angst, be mine!

OK, blog post title philosophical nit-pickers, the emotional core I want to get in touch with for my Stories from the Dark Side bit isn't exactly existential angst. But it's close. I'm thrilled to be part of the next Stories from the Dark Side: Thursday, May 29, Grand Theatre, 7 pm. Tickets $10 in advance, $15 at door. Oregon Crêpe Company and Santiam Brewing Co. will be offering food, wine, and beer before the event starts at, I think, 7:30. I've got a good dark story to share, as do the other presenters. You can see who other dark story-tellers are on…
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Posted inEntertainment Humor

I’m so outraged at Jen Selter’s “butt selfies,” I had to look at them three times

My intellectual interest in Jen Selter arose when I read a piece on Jezebel, "We Need to Talk About 'Butt Selfie Queen' Jen Selter." Though I noticed two photos of Selter at the top of the page, I hurried past them to study what I hoped would be a serious post-modern feminist critique of the objectification of women -- a practice that I have heard about, but naturally have no personal experience with, given my lifelong heterosexual male practice of paying attention only to a woman's inner essence, not her bodily form. The article, sadly, turned out to be a…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Entertainment

Jesus explains to Sarah Silverman when life begins

Finally. We've got a divine revelation that settles a vexing abortion rights question. "Jesus, when does life begin?'" "At forty." (laughter) "The fertilized eggs aren't people. People are people." ... "But, people who believe fertilized eggs are people are people too. You have to love them." Done. Settled. Finis.  Jesus Christ, son of God, had this interchange with Sarah Silverman. I know, because I've seen the You Tube video.  And we all know that everything on the Internet is true. Watch. And believe.  
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Posted inEntertainment

“Gravity” movie messes up some basic physics

Last night my wife and I saw Gravity, 3-D style, at Salem's eating/drinking-friendly Cinebarre movie house.  My overall impression was great movie. Not least, because no matter how bad a day I have from now on, remembering what it was like for Sandra Bullock to be lost in orbit, oxygen almost depleted, with no apparent way back to Earth, utterly isolated, will remind me that there are way worse sorts of days. Watching Gravity, though, there were times when my semi-scientific mind went Huh? How could that be? It turns out that I was justified in my skepticism about the…
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