Sunday, January 16, 2011 Page 3C LIFESTYLES Participants in this program have experienced: • Improved blood pressure and cholesterol levels • Weight Loss • Increased strength and balance • Better fitting clothing (due to changing fat to muscle!) • Weight Loss • Reduced cravings for “junk food” • Discovered great new flavors in foods • Learned new cooking skills and techniques • Gained positive self image and enjoyment of life • People with Diabetes have improved glucose control. Classes run for 6 weeks. They are fun, exciting and the atmosphere is supportive. The fee is just $45. We want you to be successful! Individual nutrition counseling is available. A registered dietitian has significant academic education and professional training to work with people who have health concerns related to nutrition and food. Dietitian West dietitian Valerie Conner, MS RD has worked with people with all types of lifestyles, health conditions, attitudes, learning abilities, and needs. She will communicate with your physicians and health care providers (if you like). Mrs. Conner is familiar with medications, conditions and treatments as clinical nutrition manager of an acute care hospital. She studies nutraceuticals, herbal remedies, native plants, and various traditional medicines and treatments. Call to reserve a place in class. Daytime and evening sessions are available. Call 541-276-0759 or 541-276-2522 www.oregondiabetesclinic.com 43293CM 43293CM Dietitian West is Pleased to Offer PENDLETON BELLY BUSTERS FREE INTRODUCTORY CLASS JANUARY 27TH! Informational meeting January 27th in the Jesse Vert Room at Pendleton First Presbyterian Church (201 SW Dorion). Learn about the classes, meet the instructors, see what you think. You can register for Belly Busters at these meetings. Daytime meeting at 2:00 p.m., evening meeting at 5:30 p.m. HEALTHY EATING CLASSES walking dogs to adminis- tering their medicine when needed. “I probably will never leave,” Hutchison said. “It’s great. I like just knowing I can help someone out. Even if I get a full-time job, I’ll still be down here.” As for Harsin, the other volunteer that recently started, there’s a certain sense of responsibility that drew him to the job. “Animals are kind of like babies — they can’t take care of themselves,” he said. “If volunteers don’t do it, no one will. I love spend- ing time with the animals, give them exercise and clean their kennels the way I’d want to live.” Harsin said he got in- volved when he took a dog down to the shelter and no- ticed there wasn’t much help. Now he spends around 20 hours a week at PAWS. “I came down here and cleaned up, and I just liked how it felt,” he said. “You can never have too many volunteers. At the end of the day you feel good about yourself. You’ve done your good deed for the day and the animals really appreci- ate it.” Continued From 1A comedy, though, always bears a quality of warmth. He typically admires those he parodies — he’s a huge Prince fan, for example. “He’s probably one of the least jaded people I know,” Brownstein says. “He actu- ally gleams true enjoyment from what he does. He loves working. Sometimes, I feel like a rain cloud next to him.” Neither of the two quite remember how they met (“sadly a hazy memory for both of us,” says Brown- stein). They had several mutual friends, and had of- ten traveled in the same circles. Armisen was an “obsessed” fan of Sleater- Kinney. Brownstein, a Portland resident, knew Armisen only for his music, not his comedy. They be- came friends in the early 2000s. Since Sleater-Kinney am- icably disbanded in 2006, Brownstein’s career, she says, has been one of ex- ploration and growth. She has dabbled in acting, spent time volunteering for the Humane Society and been a popular blogger for NPR. When Brownstein and Armisen first began making videos in 2005, they didn’t have a website and just passed the videos out among friends. “I don’t even know why we started; it was just kind of an activity,” Armisen says. “I thought it was a bet- ter alternative than playing music. I didn’t want to be like, ‘Hey, let’s start a band’ because I’m a comedian.” Their first video was in the style of a public access show with Armisen playing Saddam Hussein being in- terviewed by Brownstein. At the time, Armisen thought Hussein looked like an aging rock star, so he played him that way. “He was so angry and so well dressed,” says Armisen. Armisen quickly recog- nized that Brownstein had a talent for comedy. “It was something that was immediately clear to me and I don’t know why,” he says. “She’s exactly the right temperament. She doesn’t take herself too se- riously. She just made me laugh.” Brownstein says that that music-related beginning speaks to the old adage of start with what you know. “It’s hard for Fred and I ever to divorce ourselves from our affections for mu- sic and the way it’s really ruled our lives,” she says. “We both came of age at a time where punk music and indie and DIY were very revered. “If we had a series of out- takes from ‘Portlandia,’ they would be every single character having an insane amount of knowledge about obscure punk: ‘Wait, how does this hippie person know about the Minute- men?’” The two hope “Port- landia” gets picked up for a second season. Their schedules might be slightly harder to make overlap, though, since Brownstein has returned to music, forming the band Wild Flag. Armisen and Brown- stein don’t discount the possibility of taking their show on the road, and bringing “Portlandia” to rock audiences. Regardless, the show is a culmination for a unique friendship that developed despite bicoastal lives, the two drawn together by the common bonds of music and goofing around. Says Brownstein: “I guess we were able to marry our two loves.” Continued From 1A TV: ‘I guess we were able to marry our two loves’ PAWS: ‘I just like knowing I can help someone out’ Staff photo by E.J. Harris Volunteer Jenifer Groves plays with Sable and Jake Friday after exercising the dogs Friday at the Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelter. ‘Green Hornet’ leaves you wondering, ‘Where have I seen this before?’ T here is no justice.” What started as Kato’s drunkenly slurred, mournful epiphany in the back of a pimped-out car quickly turned into a fitting epi- taph for the long-awaited silver screen version of “The Green Hornet.” For all the jaw-drop- ping stop-and- start editing, witty one- liners and humorous male- bonding moments, “The Green Hornet’s” sum sadly is less than the whole of its parts. Directed by Michel Gondry (“Be Kind Rewind” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”), “The Green Hor- net’s” biggest flaw lies in its predictability (some- thing Gondry is not known for). The movie opens with a young Britt Reid being sent to his newspa- per publisher father (Tom Wilkinson) after getting in a fight at school. Here, his father berates him for be- ing a failure who can’t look after himself, and that emotional scarring never abetted. (Daddy is- sues run rampant in the superhero genre, it seems.) Twenty years lat- er, Britt (Seth Rogen, who co-wrote the screenplay) has become a carefree trust-fund man-child, all but useless to society and a total disgrace to his fa- ther. Well, that all turns around when Britt discov- ers his father has died, leaving his newspaper empire for him to run. At first, Britt could not care less, but after meeting the engineering genius, mar- tial arts master Kato (Jay Chou) — who also makes the perfect latte — Britt conjures up the notion that the pair can be a crime-fighting duo, using his father’s bullet-proof, flamethrower-ready cars. However, in order to pre- vent falling prey to the classic villain-threatens- innocents-so-you-must-sur render scenario, Britt reasons that if they act as criminals while actually being the good guys, they won’t be cornered into playing heroics. Kato agrees, and so begins the birth of the Green Hornet and his nameless side- kick. A cache of envy-inducing cars and destructive weapons (all created by Kato) aid the pair in their endeavors. However, the plot itself is hard to imagine as be- ing any type of plausible. Without giving too much away, the biggest scene involves trying to upload information from a flash drive to the Internet. And instead of tweeting or posting the incriminating details on Facebook from his phone, Britt and Kato travel across town in or- der to upload the data to his computer at the news- paper office. Admittedly, it’s hard to yet again recreate a se- ries that was on radio in the 1930s, film serials in the ’40s, television in the ’60s and comic books everywhere in between. In fact, this film version has been in flux since the ’90s, with actors and di- rections constantly changing. It’s not that the story’s protagonist lacks character; it’s that we’ve all seen this character be- fore. Combine Batman, Iron Man, a spoiled 5- year-old and a green mask, and you get the Green Hornet. However, this may have less to do with Rogen’s perform- ance and more with the inundation of superhero films as of late. While every once in a while a “Dark Knight” is re- leased, it’s far more often for an “Iron Man 2” to supply our comic-turned- movie fix. There can be only so many types of he- roes, and it seems the well is finally running dry. And the 3-D didn’t help matters. (The Pendleton theater is only playing it in 2-D at the moment, but have you noticed that, while watching a 3-D movie in 2-D, it’s becom- ing easier to discern what’s meant to be 3-D? One can only hope that the motion sickness-in- ducing gimmick will return to theme parks and science fairs before long.) For someone with such an artistic eye, it’s a pity to see Gondry re- duced to obvious tricks. But it’s not all bad news. The budding bro- mance between Britt and Kato is something to see. Rogen and Chou have an infectious energy, and you just want them to become best friends. The banter is clever and organic, if sometimes juvenile and coarse. The chemistry goes a long way to making the movie palatable. And it’s slightly humorous to see how cocky Britt be- comes, despite the fact that Kato is the one kick- ing butt and taking names. (Kato vision would be an awesome su- perpower.) And Cameron Diaz (who plays Lenore Case, the love interest) provides just enough san- ity to balance out the vigilante-wannabes (if on- ly slightly). The villains, however, leave much to be desired. Neither Christoph Waltz (“Inglou- rious Basterds”) nor David Harbour (“Quan- tum of Solace”) impressionable perform- ances. While attempting to pulverize some thugs, Britt, using his one-off catch phrase, shouts, “You’ve just been stung!” And by the time the cred- its start rolling (in slightly nauseating colors), you just may feel the same way. Let’s just hope you’re not allergic to bee stings. 3 out of 5 stars Dominic Baez is the copy editor/paginator for the East Oregonian. At the Movies DOMINIC BAEZ E EW W ‘You’ve just been stung!’ “Green Hornet” ★★★★★