Culture: Page 200

The World’s Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors

Cultural inspectors Floomf and Schmorple come to Eugene

Culture

When Floomf and Schmorple descended upon Earth, it was for one specific reason: To investigate a claim made by the city of Eugene in the early aughts. The two were inspectors for the highly regarded Associated Stars Systems for Cross-cultural Outerspace Propagation (ASSCOP) located in the Boopz Galaxy, and their satellite scanner had intercepted the message: Eugene is The World’s Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors. Continue reading →

Prize in the Bottle

Wine: It's not just sour grapes

Drink

Wine is just fermented grape juice. So what’s all the fuss and chatter? There’s a prize in every bottle of good wine. And the prize can be very special, one that connects to memory, one that draws friends closer, one that opens experience. There’s often synergy with food: Wine makes food taste better, food makes wine taste better.  Now, add time in the bottle. A minor miracle ensues. Horizons expand. Sweet tastes sweeter. Continue reading →

Annuals Brighten Native Gardens

Annual plant species are a great garden addition

Gardening

Annuals rarely get a mention in books and articles on gardening with native plants. That’s too bad, because a succession of annual species can add a lot of color to your springtime garden, and attract pollinators, too. Flourishing plants of farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena) can bloom for many weeks — a happy thing, because it’s one of the showiest natives we have, and an eager self-sower. Mine escaped into a well-watered blueberry patch last year, providing months of gorgeous rose-pink flowers on bushy plants, not to mention abundant seed.  Continue reading →

Lane County Propagation Fair

Come learn about propagating plants

Gardening

The 2016 Lane County Propagation Fair will take place from 11 am to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27, at the old Whiteaker School, now the Whiteaker Head Start Building, 21 N. Grand Street. There will be outdoor workshops on a variety of topics on Sunday, March 27. This free annual event aims to promote local food security by supporting home orchardists, vegetable gardeners and native plant enthusiasts in and around the southern Willamette Valley.  Continue reading →

Pinball Wizards

A game that has truly held up throughout the years

Culture

Two Turtles releases the spring-loaded plunger, and a small steel ball rockets up the chute and begins its arcing trajectory across the candy-colored table. Wearing a beard and T-shirt that reads “I’m kind of a big deal,” Turtles’ focus is locked on the dazzling array of lights glowing from a 40-year-old pinball machine called “Wizard!” Turtles is a regular here, a fixture on Wednesday nights when Blairally hosts Pinball Knights, its weekly double-elimination pinball tournament. And he’s destroying me.  Continue reading →

Trekkie Trivia

Starlight Lounge hosts a wild sci-fi happy hour

Drink
Illustration by Trask Bedortha

Late-night bar trivia is only fun if you occasionally know an answer or two. Otherwise you end up quietly resenting your teammates for knowing so much about 1980s sports and leisure. Not that I’m speaking from experience. So when I heard about Star One, Eugene’s science fiction and fantasy happy hour at Starlight Lounge downtown, I squeaked with delight. The nature of the event varies month to month, but when I attended in February, trivia maven Dr. Seven Phoenix had taken the helm and was orchestrating a killer game of science fiction-themed trivia. Continue reading →