Organizers of the annual Slider Cook-off have announced the contestants in this year's cook-off competition, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29. And the gustatory gladiators are: BITE, Dirty Oscar's Annex, Lobster Shop South, Maxwell's, Paesan, Social and X Group Catering. Beer will be provided by Narrows Brewing Company.
Full details on the upcoming event in press release form below:
Pfc. Edward Gomez, a driver with 555th Engineer Brigade, 14th Engineer Battalion, 4th Support Company, Distribution Platoon, kneels to avoid enemy fire. Photo credit: Army Staff Sgt. Dayan Neely, 20th Public Affairs Detachment
Staff Sgt. Dayan Neely with the 20th Public Affairs Detachment files this report:
The U.S. Army owes a lot of its success in combat to the ability to operate in dark hours. Under black skies blanketed by clouds, soldiers from 4th Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade conducted nighttime driver's training Feb. 27.
Soon, the soldiers will join 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. The night driving was part of weeklong training designed to fine tune the platoon's capabilities.
"All of the training that we're doing out here is going to accomplish our overall (desired) training and what matters at NTC," said 2nd Lt. Shaun Cunningham, the 4th Company's distribution platoon leader.
Utilizing night vision optics, the drivers maneuvered the rocky, rolling hills of JBLM's training areas, moving the convoy through water holes and up steep grades. The purpose of the exercise was to build confidence in much less than optimal conditions. "My intent was to get everyone out here doing something or learning something new," said Cunningham. "We also are doing a lot of cross-training."
Cunningham pointed out that his platoon is short-staffed and that his soldiers stepped up to handle extra work as a result. "The training itself was a little tasking because of our manpower issues," stated Sgt. 1st Class Fernando Perez, the distribution platoon sergeant. "But, [the training] has still kept the squad tactics in place, and that's what we're out here for."
At the end of the road course, a simulated enemy surprised the convoy with an ambush. The drivers and passengers were met with gunfire from every direction while passing through a training village.
"I just wanted everyone to get comfortable with night driving," said Cunningham. "And getting them used to direct fire, ambushes, reacting to contact, seeing what IEDs look like, and just the overall experience of what [combat] is like."
"I thought it was great!" said Pfc. Edward Gomez, a truck driver in the distribution platoon. "I'm new. I've only been here for four months, and I'm learning a lot."
Congratulations 8th Brigade ROTC at Pacific Lutheran University for winning another MacArthur Award, this time for the school year 2012-2013.
Let's read the U.S. Army Cadet Command's news release:
Fort Knox, Ky. (Feb. 28, 2014) - The U.S. Army Cadet Command announced today the eight winners of the MacArthur Awards for the school year 2012-2013.
The award recognizes the eight schools, selected from among the 275 senior Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) units nationwide, as the top programs in the country.
The awards, presented by Cadet Command and the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation, recognize the ideals of "duty, honor and country" as advocated by MacArthur.
The award is based on a combination of the achievement of the school's commissioning mission, its cadets' performance and standing on the command's National Order of Merit List and its cadet retention rate.
Cadet Command and the MacArthur Foundation have given the awards each year since 1989.
Lakewood City Councilmember, Pierce College teacher and longtime Ranger reporter John Simpson has been training long hours to ready himself for Wednesday night's 25-mile Manchu Mile foot march. He will join roughly 300 soldiers and 50 civilians for one of the 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat team's final events before the unit's March 14 inactivation.
The 4-2 SBCT Public Affairs office just released the details of the march, as well as another huge event before the inactivation - the Spur Ride.
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Soldiers of 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division are slated to participate in two crucible events before the unit's March 14 inactivation.
Soldiers will complete the Manchu Mile, a 25-mile foot march, March 5-6 and a Spur Ride March 4-6.
The history of the Manchu Mile dates back to 1900. Soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment marched 85 miles during their assault on Tientsin as part of the Boxer Rebellion and the China Relief Expedition where the regiment earned the nickname "Manchus". During the Battle of Tientsin, the regimental commander, Col. Emerson H. Liscum, was killed by Chinese fire and uttered his dying words which became the regiment's motto: "Keep up the Fire!" Those who complete the foot march will receive a Manchu belt buckle, the only authorized belt buckle in the U.S. Army.
The cavalry squadron will execute a Spur Ride, March 5-6 to validate individual task proficiency of assigned Troopers and to celebrate the history and lineage of the unit.
Soldiers will be tested on the APFT and 18 individual tasks, qualify on the M4 rifle EST and complete a 12-mile tactical road march.
Rain, again, at JBLM. News team forces me to wear umbrella hat for morning report, news team making gag/choke sounds behind me. Rain through Sunday. Hi’s in mid-50s this week. Chance MTV will pimp my ride: 0. Lo: 45.
This Date in History: 1776
Under the cover of constant bombing from American artillery, Brig. Gen. John Thomas slips 2,000 troops, cannons and artillery into position at Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston.
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As the defense community waits to see whether the U.S. Air Force's Combat Rescue Helicopter program will be funded in the FY 2015 budget, producer Sikorsky's price proposal is set to expire by the end of March.
1. The Harmon Tap Room hosts a Fat Tuesday party with the Southern Comfort Promo Girls, a best mask contest with $50 prize money (7 p.m.), an all-you-can-eat Southern style buffet ($15), commemorative 18-ounce chalice for $10, Jello shots, beads, prizes, swag and more from 6 p.m. to close.
2. The vibrantly filmed SweetDreams (the Rwandan landscape is breathtaking) is a powerful entry in the list of documentaries charting the country's rebirth, illustrating the unexpected ways the human spirit reinvents itself after enduring the unthinkable. Catch it at 1:45 and 6:40 p.m. at The Grand Cinema in Tacoma.
3. Portland, Ore. novelist Cari Luna will read from her debut novel, The Revolution of Every Day, which was named by the Oregonian as one of the Top 10 Northwest Books of 2013. D. Foy will give a sneak preview of his forthcoming debut novel, Made to Break, which recently made Flavorwire's list of 15 Most Anticipated Books of 2014. Both readings will happen at Orca Books in Olympia, which goes down at 7 p.m.
4. Hosted by Ralph Porter every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., Ha Ha Tuesdays at Jazzbones offers a string of comedians and drink specials.
5. The 1230 Room probably has you at "$4 lemon drops," but you also may be interested in the downtown Olympia club's Tuesday deep, tech and progressive house night "Deep Tuesdays." It launches at 9 p.m. with drink specials, no cover and resident DJs Alex Bosi and Evan Mould.
Before there was a Food Network or even a city of Lakewood, there was the Yen Ching Restaurant - a steadfast friend doling out exotic flavors from all corners of Asia as it watched other Lakewood International District restaurants come and go over its 30-year history.
Lakewood is now a city, and the strip of South Tacoma Way around Yen Ching has been dubbed "Korean Town," and still Yen Ching remains my go to for authentic Chinese cuisine with its wide variety of Mandarin and Szechwan dishes.
Speaking of "go-to," Yen Ching Chicken ($12.95) is simply delicious. Tender, marinated diced chicken with sliced mushrooms and bits of green onions are evenly coated in a house "special sauce" teasing with a delicate smoky sweetness and an emphasis on sesame flavor. Don't expect bells and whistles. Do know a splash of soy sauce or sriracha is an option. Served up with white rice, the portion is easily shareable - especially if you start off with their splendid pot stickers.
With rich, worn reds, Chinese New Year placemats, a koi pond and a large Buddha greeting diners, here's hoping Yen Ching is around for another 30.
YEN CHING CHICKEN, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, Yen Ching Restaurant, 8765 South Tacoma Way, Lakewood, 253.582.3400
Mr. Peabody, the most accomplished dog in the world, and his mischievous boy Sherman, use their time machine - The WABAC - to go on the most outrageous adventures known to man or dog.
As a child, I was raised on the delightfully slapdash cartoons of old, via VHS and LaserDisc. Stuff like Beany and Cecil, Popeye, Gumby, and Rocky & Bullwinkle were huge foundational entertainments for me. Sandwiched in the middle of my Rocky & Bullwinkle tapes were these odd little shorts about a genius dog and his boy Sherman. Peabody's Improbable History followed the titular dog and his companion as they traversed through time and space in the WABAC machine.
Now, sadly, we've come to the point where Hollywood shrugs and says, "I dunno, what if Mr. Peabody planks and plays Dance Dance Revolution? Is that anything?"
Mr. Peabody and Sherman is now a Dreamworks 3D animated film, coming 14 years after its flagship program, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, came limping onto the big screen. Playing Mr. Peabody, without the nasally know-it-all bite of the original, is Ty Burrell of Modern Family. There is autotune, there is skateboarding, there are numerous fart jokes. This is all a way of saying that Mr. Peabody is the coolest dog this side of Poochie. Think he'll die on the way to his home planet?
Really, who is this for? Are there children who grew up on DVDs of Peabody's Improbably History? Are there any baby boomers with kids young enough to take to see this movie? I'd like to get in the WABAC machine and go back a few years to convince some producers to finally make the Beany and Cecil movie. The live-action story of a sock-puppet sea serpent and his child-in-peril best friend would be straight-up terrifying.
>>> The Visitor
ON DVD AND BLU-RAY
Speaking of psychedelic mind-fucks, this week sees the release of a long-lost bit of Italian batshit insanity called The Visitor. Released in 1979, the film now finds its re-release thanks to the geniuses at Drafthouse Films, those cinematic dumpster-divers. Starring an utterly bizarre assembly of celebrities such as filmmakers John Huston and Sam Peckinpah (!), Lance Henriksen, Shelly Winters, Glenn Ford and Libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz, The Visitor has been breathlessly described as "the Mount Everest of insane Italian '70s movies."
Briefly: an 8-year-old girl named Katy with telekinetic powers must carry on her magical genes by mating with her brother before a shadow agent can sleep with Katy's mother. Thankfully, a space Jesus known as Jerzy (John Huston) is there to intervene with the help of his child army.
Everyone on the same page? I know I sound like I had a psychotic episode while I was writing that, but that is legit what happens in The Visitor - that, and deliciously overblown visuals that are fraught with symbolic meaning. There's a reason why The Room is so much fun to watch, but stuff such as 3 Days to Kill is just unbearable. Blind, raging ambition is always fascinating, regardless of how successful it is.
The Visitor is like staring directly into the hot, glowing sun of ambition. A midnight screening is surely in order.
Scattered light rain, then solid rain today at JBLM. The high of 59 hits at 4 p.m., around the time of day when I swallow and I feel my throat just kind of click, do you know what I mean? Like a clicking thing. It doesn’t hurt, but still. Lo: 50.
This Date in History: 1964
The Joint Chiefs of Staff order a U.S. Air Force air commando training advisory team to Thailand to train Lao pilots in counterinsurgency tactics. President Eisenhower was concerned that the government would fall to the communists.
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1. The music typically coming out of Denmark leans toward art punk, power electronics and cold synth pop. Jessica Lynne, who grew up 60 km south of Copenhagen, sings country music. Country Music Television had an effect, as did rural life, with cows outside the church windows. Whatever, Lynne relocated to the Pacific Northwest to be with family, and has struck up a relationship with local label Maurice the Fish Records. We found her Spiritual Cowgirl release on Spotify to be lyrically rich and melodically pleasing. Catch her at 8 p.m. with The Moss Brothers and Tin Man in Jazzbones.
2. Have you ever wondered what happens to your mind when you look at a piece of art? How a particular work can stir an emotional response? Artist David Andresen discusses how our perception changes in unexpected ways at 11 a.m. as part of Tacoma Art Museum's Lunch & Learn series.
4. Contemporary painter and art teacher Shaw Osha will speak about her work and show images of her art at the Olympia Timberland Library from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Osha's recent series, "Soul Train," freezes images of screen shots of archival Soul Train videos in loosely gestural paintings on paper. An homage to the romantic, expressive and, at times, transgressive 1970s soul culture, she uses oil paint to give a sense of collective rhythm and sensuality.
5. New York City neo-folk musician Diane Cluck released a new album, Boneset,yesterday, and will perform tunes off it at 8 p.m. in Northern. Sondra Sun-Odeon and Eleanor Murray will also be in the house.
>>> The Visitor
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