Pulse Editor:
Ryan Nyburg
Ryan Nyburg@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, July 15,2004
— Oregon Daily Emerald
PULSE
Hot Picks
The Suicide Girls Burlesque Show
WOW Hall, Monday, 8 p.m.
$ 10 in advance or at door
Farmers' markets offer local flavor
Eugene residents can find
farm-fresh food at four popular
outdoor markets this season
JACKSON HOLTZ
FREELANCE REPORTER
Farmers' markets, where local growers come
together to sell their bounty, are blooming like
wild blackberries in Eugene. During the summer,
people can shop for fresh, locally grown food at
four different locations in downtown on practi
cally any day of the week.
The Lane County Farmers' Market is the largest
with more than 56 participating growers. Both
the 5th Street Market and the Meridian Market
also have smaller versions.
But shoppers don't seem to care where the
markets are — just that they can buy fresh,
mostly organic produce, flowers, plants, baked
goods and other assorted items direct from
growers and producers.
"I cook, so I'm always looking for things to
create a delicious organic meal," Eugene resi
dent Annie Greenberg said while picking out
salad greens.
Greenberg comes to the market to supple
ment what isn't available from her own garden.
But for those who don't have gardens, buying
food at the market is the next best thing to
growing it themselves.
What's best depends upon what's ripe. Dur
ing mid-summer, farmers are harvesting green
beans, berries, summer squash and garlic, and
they're just bringing in the early crop of toma
toes — among other things. The result is a
colorful cornucopia that delights sight, smell
and taste.
Farmer Charles Duryea, whose Grateful
Harvest Farm produces a variety of vegetables,
herbs and berries, offers several tips for people
unfamiliar with shopping at the market.
He suggests scoping out all the vendors to see
what people have, talking to the farmers to ask
what's good at their stand, coming with a shop
ping list and bringing a sack to carry purchases
home (although most stands will provide
a plastic bag). He also is mindful of proper
food handling.
"We don't use pesticides, but we still encour
age people to wash their produce," he said.
Other farmers point out that since the food is
picked when it's ripe, it's best enjoyed on market
day, or soon after — unlike commercial produce
that is picked early so that it will travel, some
times as far as 2,000 miles. In contrast, most food
at the markets is picked that morning.
Prices are usually cheaper than grocery store
prices, but sometimes commercial growers
flood the retail market and bring prices down
below what a family farmer can offer, according
to local farmers.
No matter what the cost, shopping at farmer's
markets helps support local farmers and keeps
them in business.
While direct-to-consumer markets make up
only around one percent of the agricultural
Please see MARKET, page 8
1.1 ' ’’
Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor
Sweetleaf Organic Farm employees Jon Sciarra and ‘Raychel’ work the Farmers’ Market in downtown Eugene
Saturday afternoon.
% Robot'film doesn't equal novel
The film is action-packed, hut
misses the hook's depth of plot
and dilutes its themes
SARA BRICKNER
FREELANCE REPORTER
Here's a shocker: Will Smith stars in another
macho action movie (a genre to which he seems
to be drawn) as a detective with baggage and an
attitude. "I, Robot" is slightly better than some of
his previous efforts (remember "Wild Wild
West"?), but most of the film's successes may be
attributed to the classic upon which it was based.
Director Alex Proyas ("Dark City") has once
again created a compelling futuristic world using
his prowess with special ef
_ fects, but after films like "Lord
MOVTF of the Rings and “The
iVlv_/ V 111 Matrix" redefined visuals, "I,
R hVT K VV Robot" is nothing moviegoers
_ haven't seen before.
The film, "suggested" by the
short story collection "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov,
makes several unwelcome changes to the origi
nal. However, in typical Hollywood fashion, the
film gleans a few good ideas from a classic and
then proceeds to homogenize the plot.
In the film, robots are the most obedient of
slaves, doing chores and the dirty work without
resentment or complaint because the Three
Laws of Robotics (one of the few unchanged
concepts to come from Asimov's work) ensure
that robots follow human orders and prevents
robots from causing harm to humans. Detective
Del Spooner (Will Smith) is the only person
who seems to be suspicious of the robots, and
his suspicions are heightened when he is sent
to investigate the mysterious suicide of Dr.
1L.I u
Courtesy
Will Smith stars in the science-fiction thriller ‘I, Robot,’ which opens Friday.
Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the founder
of modern robotics and creator of the Three
Laws. In the original novel, Dr. Susan Calvin is a
75-year-old robo-psychologist whose narrative
is*the basis for the story, but in the film Dr,
Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) is a supporting
character, becoming an attractive, young robo
psychologist who aids Spooner's investigation
while Spooner is scoffed at by his peers and his
lieutenant, John Bergin (Chi McBride).
"I, Robot" deals with the ethical issues sur
rounding artificial intelligence fairly successful
ly, but while the film conveys some interesting
concepts, they are still diluted from the novel.
Despite the film's extreme departure from the
story upon which it was based, "I, Robot"
brings very few new ideas to the screen, except
for those which make the film more like other
Hollywood action/science fiction/detective
films. Proyas' vision of a futuristic Chicago is
neat, but while he includes economic inflation,
hovering cars that drive themselves, and ID
scanners in his futuristic world, he doesn't both
er to upgrade current stereotypes or gender
Please see I, ROBOT, page 8
J. TOBIAS MONTRY
STOP BREEDING
From bad
to worse
After 23 years — well, give or take — of
an obsession with all things cinema, I re
alized the other day while browsing the
video store that there was only one movie
left that 1 hadn't seen.
One movie.
However, the movie was so god-awful,
so hopelessly soulless, so incredibly Hol
lywood that even I, who will watch nearly
anything to kill two hours, hadn't touched
it. In fart the movie, a manifestation of the
decay of American art, would walk the
streets and eat small children if suddenly
sprung to life. This is the kind of movie
that I'd expect U.S. Rep. Rick Santorum —
you know, the whack job who tried to talk
to an AP reporter about man-on-dog sex
— to recommend to his Bible study as a
good example of benign tween fun.
The movie was 'From Justin To Kelly,"
the pseudo-musical starring Justin Guarini
and Kelly Clarkson of American Idol fame.
Reluctantly, but with great pride in my
journalistic responsibility, I thought of
you, dear reader. For you, I would endure
the closest thing to hell this side of Texas.
And then I would spread the word that the
Antichrist had indeed arrived in the form
of accumulated second-rate hacks from
American Idol.
After picking up the movie, the next stop
was the store for, well, the alcohol. No
man should be forced to succumb such a
wrath without strong drink to cure his ills.
My soul was prepared for the monstrosity,
but was my tender nervous system? Noth
ing a halt-rack couldn t help.
Back at home, DVD in hand, I knew I
couldn't face this demon alone, so 1 con
signed my roommate, Bob (name
changed to protect him from the army of
14-year-olds who actually liked the
movie), to face it with me. He was a Mick
to my Rocky. I was Han, and he was Chew
bacca. I was O.J., and he was Kato. I was ...
well, you get the picture. Needless to say,
he demanded strong drink as well.
Let me say first before 1 begin that Guar
ini has about as much stage presence as a
barnyard animal. And I would warn you of
spoilers, but I doubt it would really mat
ter. In fact, here's the entire plot in four
sentences: Kelly, a good Southern girl who
hates those who objectify women, decides
to go to Florida for spring break with her
two friends, one who is an evil bitch who
loves being objectified. When the evil
bitch finds out Kelly likes Justin, an angst
ridden party boy who is, like, sooo misun
derstood and just wants a nice girl like Kel
ly, who he meets and loses after evil bitch
stabs Kelly in the back and tries to steal
him. However, all ends well after Kelly
finds out evil bitch betrayed her and
swears her off as a friend but suddenly
makes up with her shortly after evil bitch
sets up a romantic outing for Justin and
Kelly on the beach. After that, they all sing,
flounce, and live happily ever after in a
bleach-blond suckers paradise. Pause
briefly for brain aneurysm.
First 10 minutes: The first scene places
Kelly, played by Kelly Clarkson, pretty
much where she belongs: In a Texas hick
bar with a solitary sex-starved cowboy
standing in the audience looking like he
Please see MONTRY, page 8