Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Not all nerds are nerds about everything, so while I'm a nerd about a broad spectrum of media, my one big shortfall is that I've never been a nerd about video games. I'm prefacing my review of the "Halo" streaming series on Paramount+ by saying this so you will know I am reviewing this series from the standpoint of someone for whom this is an introduction to the "Halo" mythos. Of course, I was aware of the "Halo" franchise and had even watched my younger cousin Shawn play a few rounds, so I got...
The League of Women Voters of Mason County heard from a pair of veteran journalists on "The Decline of Local Journalism and Its Impact on Democracy" during its March 15 meeting. Sally Carpenter Hale retired in 2019 after 40 years with The Associated Press, most recently as director of regional media for Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. As the AP's bureau chief in New Jersey, she directed that state's coverage of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and their aftermath. Dee Anne Finken reported for the Fresno and Sacramento Bee newspapers early in...
Artist Alice Durrie has embraced an eclectic variety of media in her attempts to capture and convey the beauty she sees in seemingly insignificant and naturally occurring phenomena around her. Belfair Self-Storage manager Barbara Treick said she looks forward to sharing Durrie's visions and handiwork with appreciative audiences in April. Durrie traces the origins of her 25-year professional art career to influences that include her father, an interior decorator whom she watched create domestic...
Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger were able to lean on their movie careers to get elected governor of California, which led Reagan to higher office and Schwarzenegger back to Hollywood. Donald Trump's high profile from his reality TV show was credited with helping him win the presidency, although his social media presence played at least as large a part in that. But none of those three entertainers went directly from playing the president of their country on TV to getting elected...
Port of Grapeview officials received a monthly update last month on the work of the Case Inlet Fishery Task Force from task force facilitator Brad Pomroy. The task force is supported by the Grapeview and Allyn ports, with Grapeview Commissioner Art Whitson and Allyn Commissioner Ted Jackson representing their ports. Pomroy said the task force has spent the better part of the past year getting up to speed on salmon matters in Case Inlet and working to understand who stakeholders are. Pomroy cited...
The Port of Grapeview agreed to put property up for sale for a minimum price of $100,000 after a public hearing at the port’s March 15 meeting didn’t draw any negative reactions. The 1.74-acre parcel designated as 12108-21-90041 is zoned commercial residential and sits on Grapeview Loop Road on the corner of Okonek Road. It was previously part of the port’s industrial development district before the port commissioners unanimously voted to remove it from the district March 15. The removal of property from the industrial district required commi...
The Port of Hoodsport is still dealing with the fallout of its hazard trees and is considering upcoming waste disposal needs. The port’s vouchers for February totaled $14,797.30, which port Operations Manager Kathleen Wyatt said is higher than the usual total of about $8,000. Wyatt said the port’s vouchers included $7,000 for Hoodsport-based Northwest Land and Tree to have hazardous trees removed, plus $900 for the port’s annual IT, domain and web tech fees, and attorney fees of $225 from when Wyatt consulted with legal counsel about the Fjord...
So much of the 10-episode first season of "Star Trek: Picard" in 2020, on what's now Paramount+, was devoted to cleaning up the collateral damage of 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis" and J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" reboot that it left me wondering what a second season of "Picard" might look like. I shouldn't have been surprised, because even without those loose ends that were demanding to be addressed, the second season of "Picard" (which premiered March 3) is still much like the first. It offers a...
The Port of Dewatto closed out its regular meetings for the winter with an update from port campground coordinator Joe Newman, who said he visited the campground several times during the winter to clean up debris. Newman told port commissioners Feb. 9 that a "large amount of debris" remains scattered through the campground and predicted it would take "quite some time" to get it removed. Newman pledged to do as much cleaning as he could before the March 26 cleanup of the campground. The...
Port of Allyn commissioners initially agreed last month that they were ready to move forward with a comprehensive scheme update before two of the three commissioners reacted favorably to a suggestion on how to solicit more public comment before taking action. But in spite of posting the community survey for its comprehensive scheme update on its website and Facebook page, plus adding links to it on every Facebook group covering Mason County and contacting local media, Port Executive Director Lary Coppola said only “a small number” of sur...
With 2022's "The Batman," writer-director Matt Reeves has achieved something unusual within the broad field of big-screen adaptations of DC Comics' Dark Knight. In a story that spans Oct. 31 through Nov. 6, we're introduced to Bruce Wayne during his early days of leading a dual life, but it's not an origin story. We don't see his parents getting shot, and both the Batcave and Batman's tools have already been built. It's two years into Bruce's crusade, and he's questioning how much good he's...
As the North Mason Regional Fire Authority's headquarters building at Fire Station 21 nears completion, the district aims to make it a place where they can get business done while also providing a place the public can enjoy. The fire district is seeking proposals for public art to be displayed inside the under-construction new headquarters at 490 NE Old Belfair Highway. According to North Mason RFA Fire Chief Beau Bakken, the goals of this project are to increase the community's interest in...
This year's Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle ran from Feb. 9-13 and saw first-time entrants Crazy Hill Garden and Botanicals of Belfair win both the Gold Medal overall and the People's Choice Award. Crazy Hill co-owner Elton Busby credited his partner, Michael Kerkes, with following his dreams to completion by coming up with a design to submit. The Seattle show accepts submissions only from those it has invited to take part. Although the show had other award categories, Busby said the...
Ivan Reitman died Feb. 12 at 75 years of age, leaving a half-century legacy of filmmaking that transformed cinema. Reitman logged close to 70 movie and TV credits as a producer, and 17 feature films as a director. He also created four short films, a music video and an unsold pilot that aired as a TV movie. Reitman directed some of cinema's classic comedies, making "Saturday Night Live" alum Bill Murray the comedic lead everyone believed he could be, and musclebound action hero Arnold... Full story
Port of Allyn Executive Director Lary Coppola presented updates on the port's finances, a community survey, the well project and the status of the Oyster House. Coppola said Feb. 7 that the port received its staging area expense reimbursements from the state Recreation and Conservation Office, but only the construction cost portion, which was slightly more than $41,000. "We have not yet gotten the amount we spent for staff payroll, which is approximately $9,000," Coppola said. "They seem to...
Mason Health Superintendent and CEO Eric Moll gave the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce a look at how COVID-19 affected the hospital. Moll told the gathering Feb. 17 that Mason Health's inpatient numbers are "still high by historical standards," but not as high as it was last month. Moll estimated the hospital averaged about 13 patients pre-pandemic, whereas the five months prior to February were trending around 30, more than double the preceding (and current) numbers. According to...
The saga of fake German heiress Anna Delvey (Anna Sorokin), whose larcenous misdeeds were first made famous by articles in Vanity Fair and New York magazines in 2018, seems almost tailor-made for a TV miniseries adaptation, so I couldn't help but check out the nine-part "Inventing Anna" on Netflix. With Shonda Rhimes at the helm as executive producer, it's no surprise that this adaptation of Jessica Pressler's "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" for New York is well-cast and...
Amazon Prime and Netflix recently released two eight-part direct-to-streaming miniseries whose respective target audiences are far apart, but whose commitment to their genre formulas of storytelling are equally impeccable. 'Reacher' on Amazon If you've ever read one of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, you're old enough to remember when airplane trips didn't include the luxury of entertaining yourself with portable electronic devices during flight. For you youngsters out there, a subspecies of...
The Port of Dewatto began the year by reviewing its storm damage and revisiting online payments and reservations. As of the port commissioners’ Jan. 12 meeting, Campground Coordinator Joe Newman said he hadn’t been to the campground since the December snowstorm because the snow was piled high in front of the gates. He told commissioners he’d go there after the snow melted. Port Commissioner David Haugen had been there and discovered many branches and limbs had come down during the storm. At le...
A few days remain before Valentine’s Day, so since we gave you six films last week, here are eight more, so you can enjoy 14 offbeat romantic movies through Feb. 14. ‘Pump Up the Volume’ Christian Slater is an anonymous, foul-mouthed pirate radio DJ who can’t work up the nerve to speak out as provocatively in his daily life as a high school student and new kid in town, until he connects with an inquisitive and insightful classmate, played by Samantha Mathis, who’s written him filthy letters a...
The Port of Hoodsport welcomed its newest commissioner at its Jan. 26 meeting, and OK'd the trimming of "hazard trees" and other trees to ensure its trail park and disc golf course are cleared and safe before spring starts. Cody Morris was welcomed to his first meeting as the port's Position 3 commissioner, repeating his oath of office, though he'd already been sworn in with a notary. Morris' term is set to end in 2027. The port district's 1,851 registered voters cast 793 ballots in the...
Maybe it's Valentine's Day and you're looking to get into the spirit of the occasion. Maybe it's date night, whether it's with someone new, with whom you're looking to take things further, or with a longtime love with whom you're looking to keep that romantic spark going. The problem is, so many of us have seen so many of the same familiar favorites, from more modern popcorn crowd-pleasers like "Love Actually," "When Harry Met Sally" and "Say Anything" to cinema classics like "West Side Story,"...
Belfair Self-Storage doesn’t have shows scheduled for February, but manager Barbara Treick hopes area artists will think ahead to her March fundraiser for “Keep Music in Schools” month. She wants artists to create and display their works at her business’ art space for the occasion. “I’d like to get the word out for this as soon as possible so artists can start working on their pieces during February,” Treick said. “Especially since the subject for all the pieces — artists’ interpretations of...
The Port of Dewatto’s monthly voucher total for December was once again lower than the previous month’s, which allowed the port to move into the new year with enough cash to close out its December warrants and prepare for the first quarter of 2022. During the port commissioners’ regular meeting Dec. 8, port volunteer Kris Tompkins reported the port had received another $4,000 in state Department of Natural Resources timber trust money since its commissioners’ November meeting, for a 2021 to...
You can tell a lot about someone by who their favorite "Saturday Night Live" performers are. Folks who still swear by the original "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" are staunchly loyal traditionalists. Those who favor Phil Hartman (RIP), Bill Hader or Kenan Thompson appreciate performers who are solidly dependable, if not as showy. If you love Adam Sandler, you either just turned 13 or have remained 13 for too many years. And the Joe Piscopo fan club consists solely of Joe Piscopo. If you...
