Escapes: Up, up, and away!

Riding along with Vista Balloon Adventures

By Eric A. Johnson

There are many ways to experience an adventure, and, among the people driven to do so, adventure tastes vary greatly. Whatever your preference, it seems most adventurers have a hot-air balloon ride on their 'would love to do' list...

Cheap eats and great deals

An economic stimulus package that tastes terrific

By Melissa Wolf

Experts are niggling over the term "recession," but there's no disputing that we all feel it deep down in our empty, hollow pocketbooks - times is hard. Fortunately, it's still possible to eat out on the cheap! Here are a few of our favorite local deals...

Hiking in a waterfall wonderland

Multnomah Falls and beyond

By Mike Bitton

Each year, an estimated 2 million visitors lay eyes on Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. If you seek a little more adventure from your day in the Gorge, though, I challenge you to view its iconic Benson Bridge through a different lens...

Psychic salvation

A dose of melody soothes the soul

By Adam Stewart

While I'm no stranger to arts reviewing, I'll confess at the outset that I've never had the privilege of attending a symphonic performance on assignment before. Happily, Bravo! Vancouver's orchestral offerings proved to be a real treat...

Ask Joe: May 2008

Fast Specialties: Enough toys to make a gearhead drool

By Joe Bovee

The second I walked into Fast Specialties in Vancouver, I was like a kid in a candy store - a candy store that also carries all the toys in the world. So, while I'm not normally inclined to do what essentially amounts to a business review, this time I couldn't resist...

Truthiness and factiness

Blurring the lines between fiction and fact

By Jack V. Booch

When attempting to explain away the astonishing array of historical inaccuracies in the Showtime drama The Tudors, writer/creator Michael Hirst proudly proclaimed, "Showtime commissioned me to write an entertainment, a soap opera, and not history." My instant reaction was incredulity - why call the damn show The Tudors at all if biographical detail is less important to you than populist pap? Why not call it One Medieval Life to Live instead?

Put your money where your writer is

D.K. Holm needs your support

By James Walling

D.K. Holm has been a critical institution here in the Northwest for more than two decades. He's written for - and often about - a vast array of influential local and meta-arts organizations. More importantly, he writes for The Vancouver Voice. And he's got cancer...

Vancouver's Uptown Village

A neighborhood on the verge

By Eric A. Johnson and James Walling

The Uptown Village neighborhood is our bread and butter here at The Vancouver Voice, and it's always shocking for us to discover how oblivious many Vancouverites are to this charming neighborhood's existence. With our "You Are Here" focus - a feature we hope to repeat semi-regularly with other areas of interest in SW Washington - we'll try to shine a light on Uptown. If you're a regular visitor or a local already, kick back and bask in the glow; if you're still unaware of this great neighborhood and its charms, behold...

Ask Joe: April 2008

The XJ rebuild saga continues

By Joe Bovee

In lieu of answering your questions about the noise/smell coming from behind your dash, or whether or not you should get a 3-foot-high rear spoiler (please god, don’t), Joe’s taking on a burly rebuild project and will chronicle his progress here as a series called Project XJ...

From Grange halls to gigabytes

A call for choosiness in the information age

By Jack V. Booch

It used to be that the greatest difficulty faced by anyone eager to learn about the wider world was the accumulation of dependable source material. Not so anymore. Choice has become the deciding factor in the makeup of individual intelligence...

Whitewater swimming? Why not...

Riverboarding takes extreme sports to the next level

By Mike Bitton

I was perched dangerously in the boulders at Carter Falls near Estacada, Ore., waiting to photograph the next paddle team competing in the 2005 Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival, when a couple of crazy guys in wetsuits, helmets and fins flushed through the Class IV rapids...on boogie boards...

Sckavone's scores

Portland fare without the stare

By Eric A. Johnson

In our ongoing effort to serve up a variety of honest and reliable restaurant reviews for Vancouver and the surrounding areas, it was inevitable that we would eventually cross the cold, watery chasm to Elsewhere...

Dollars and Scenes: The Film Box

Our monthly look at the local and national movie industry

By D.K. Holm

It should have come as no surprise that 10,000 B.C. "won" its opening weekend at the box office. It came with a profitable pedigree - that of a prime hit-making machine in the form of Roland Emmerich...

Lush Lit

Clockers author sues for justice on the streets of Gotham

By James Walling

Richard Price is one of the strongest literary voices working today, and the release of his eighth and most recent novel, Lush Life, has been heralded as a cultural event...

Abounding apathy - true or false?

Testing reader interest in local politics

By James Walling

Most Vancouverites don't seem to get too stirred up about the ins and outs of local politics or the ups and downs of our local politicians, but when it comes to human-interest stories, our region's readers can't seem to get enough.

Surf music's prodigal son returns

Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static" neither sleepy nor static

By Ossie Bladine

I've been a fan of Johnson's since I first heard "Middle Man" on the surf movie, Loose Change. The best thing about his music is that critiques of it are pointless - at least more pointless than most. The nature of the man is laid-back, and he makes music that reflects it...

Arts Equity vs. the Mainstream

The Main Street Theatre closes its doors

By Adam Stewart

People visiting the south end of Main Street in downtown Vancouver anytime soon are likely to stumble across a ghostly presence. The Main Street Theatre's signage of boldly offset gold lettering against red background is still intact, but in fact it is little more than the skeletal remains of the once vibrant theatrical venue...

Ask Joe: March 2008

Your friendly local automotive advice column

No, Project XJ isn’t done. Joe’s just taking a break this issue from his monthly project update in order to answer a few questions while he really gets up to his elbows working on the Jeep...

DVD Pick of the Month: March

A key comedy

By D.K. Holm

If I had the power to command into existence with the flick of a wand anything I deemed worthy of being, it would be a modern remake of The Apartment (1960) starring Tom Hanks, Renee Zellweger, and Alec Baldwin. But then, I look at the recently released The Apartment and wonder, why bother?

Film Shorts: March 2008

Quick takes on new releases

By D.K. Holm

Film critic D.K. Holm offers up witty (and pithy) analyses on a handful of this month's new theater releases...