■ Restaurant review
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
The Oregon Electric Station is located on the corner of East 5th Avenue and Willamette Street.
Historic Oregon Electric Station is
on right track as a classy restaurant
The building endured a long history of varied uses
before pulling into the station with incredible food
BY AMY LICHTY
SENIOR PULSE REPORTER
Eating in the dining car of an old
train does not typically create a ro
mantic atmosphere, but the
Oregon Electric Station is not a
typical restaurant.
Built in 1912, the Oregon Electric
Station began as a train depot
designed to serve the Great North
ern and Northern Pacific Willamette
Valley electric train systems. The de
pot saw its peak in 1920, when earn
ings totaled close to $900,000. By
1932, earnings had shrunkto less
than $18,000 as automobiles caused
the train stations to lose business.
By 1933, the Oregon Electric Railway
had become a piece of history.
Since the railway's demise, the
Oregon Electric Station has been
used for a variety of spaces, includ
ing offices, storage space and even
as the Southwest Oregon Museum
of Science and Industry. Overthe
years and through various owners,
many surface changes were made
to the building, but the owners of the
present restaurant have gone to
OREGON, page 11
Nyburg: Directors dumb down culture
Continued from page 5
digital projection long before digital
quality has caughtup with good old
celluloid. Yetthis man has somehow
gained the status of a directional
shaman or grand old wizard of film.
What bullcrap. Outside of the origi
nal "Star Wars" and "THX1138,"
what else has he done that's worth
while? That pile of nostalgic "Happy
Days" baby-boomer, feel-good,
clap-trap, "American Graffiti?"
Speaking of hack work, let's take a
look at Michael Bay's films for an ex
ample of how to single-handedly
dumb down an entire culture. Not
only has this man cut the average at
tention span of his viewers in half
through his relentless editing, which
leaves no time for character devel
opment or actual human emotion,
but he has spent the lastfewyears
taking a big ol' shat on horror cine
ma history by producing blankly sty
listic remakes of classic horror films.
Next on his list is "The Hitcher," as if
his complete misreading and ham
fisted handling of "The Texas Chain
saw Massacre" weren't enough
(he's planning a prequel to that as
well, that son of a bitch. There is also
a rumor involving a remake of "The
Birds." Godammit, this demon must
be stopped).
Do you realize that "Armageddon"
has an average shot length (the av
erage time between cuts) of only 2.3
seconds? This is about half of what
most films average. Now if only he
would make his f**kin' movies short
er, we would all be better off.
Moving on, all of the "Left Behind"
books really suck, and so did "Pas
sion of the Christ" for that matter.
Dull, self-righteous religious
polemics that indulge in the worst
aspects of Christianity. Honestly,
why should anyone give a crap? The
"Left Behind" series is especially
atrocious, not only for its boiling
down of religion to action-adventure
cliches, but also for its black-and
white view of salvation, bereft of any
sense of complexity or intelligence.
Anyone who pays money for these
books will only be dumber for it.
Now I know that a lot of people
love these books and will accuse me
of "religious bigotry" or some such
crap, but let me just preempt that
and ask them all to grow up and join
the adult world. Religion does not
excuse art from being viewed with a
critical eye, and sometimes that eye
will look upon it unfavorably. The
"Left Behind" series belongs on a
Jesus fan fiction Web site, not on
book shelves. And speaking of Je
sus, if I wanted to join a religion that
worshipped a smelly hippy with bad
hair, I'm sure I could find a few more
accepting ones right here in Eugene.
(Just kidding, Mom. I'm in church
every Sunday. I swear.)
While we're on the subject of liter
ature, all of the following authors are
not worth the trees destroyed to cre
ate their books: John Grisham, Nora
Roberts, Mitch Albom, Michael Crich
ton, Dan Brown and Nicholas Sparks.
I think that's about all of the vitriol
I can manage forthis week. Sorry I
didn't get a chance to touch on some
of my other pet peeves, such as
droning, pedantic jam bands or
celebrity Kabbalism. Butmaybe an
other column. Right now I'm going to
lay down and drink some tea.
ryannyburg@daiiyemerald.com
012836
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Holocaust Awareness Week
Today 3PM GER 246
Today is Yom Ha’Shoah, the
day of remembrance of the
Holocaust.
In honor of this day, Professor
Monique Balbuena will read
selections from Sephardic
Jewish poets about their
experience of the Holocaust.
Presented by: Jewish Student Union, Cdtarai Forum, Oregon Hid
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