If your mom were diagnosed with cancer, how would you deal with it? Comic creator Brian Fies decided to use sequential art to help cope and deal with the struggle his mother had with the …
April 21, 2005
News & Stories
Mom's Cancer – graphic novel by Brian Fies
Twin Lovers
“They have this intense seven-day bacchanal that is the biggest fundraiser in Atlanta.”
Theodore Roethke: Selected Poems
Theodore Roethke: Selected Poems. Edited by Edward Hirsch; The Library of America, American Poets Project, 2005; 158 pages; $20. FROM THE DUST JACKET: From the recollections of his youth in Michigan to the visionary longings …
April 21, 2005
Live from Marin County, California
White-Collar Crime: Notes From The Underground I lie. I lie and cheat and steal. I don't do it publicly; I do it through the System. It's how those of us with a bit of money …
April 21, 2005
Dear Michael Jackson
Dear Mr. Jackson: I would like to start off by saying how sorry I am about your childhood. I saw it all on VH1’s Michael Jackson program, so I am well versed on how the …
April 21, 2005
Point and Spray
'Digital zoom adds nothing to the image, so I wouldn't use it, nor would I buy a camera based on it," says Lee Otsubo. "Optical zoom is real. Digital zoom is a marketing ploy." Otsubo, …
April 21, 2005
...And All I Got Was This T-Shirt
Since my voice mail appears at the end of this column, I get interesting calls. One person wanted to know why I made fun of Asians. Another person called saying I was making fun of …
April 21, 2005
Travelin Light
The growing glamour of Little Italy is echoed in the changing incarnations of the site of Voyage. It started a century ago as a tool and die shop, then became a grocery. More recent old-timers …
April 21, 2005
“No” Guilt
But they whose guilt within their bosoms lie imagine every eye beholds their blame. --William Shakespeare 'Am I a bad person for not going? She came to my party. Doesn't that mean I have to …
April 21, 2005
Hike the Lightning Ridge Trail for a great view of Laguna Meadow and the pine-clad Laguna Mountains.
We're a month past the vernal equinox now. Vernal refers to the spring season, but it literally means "green." That color is likely to prevail over all others among the mile-high ridges and meadows of …
April 21, 2005
The Reader's Eye on Television
Journal Entry, April 17, 2005: I guess the story could start anytime. It could start when I lost my job. It could start the night before I lost my job when I bought the bottle …
April 21, 2005
Ghost Crowd
“There’s something about it. The old feel, not dressed up, real. Neighborly. Could be back in Queens.”
April 21, 2005
House Painting Tips
The Kelly household has had its share of painting disasters. There was the time we didn't mix all the cans of paint together and, after hours of painting, ended up with a mauve wall next …
April 21, 2005
Haute Monde Mechanic
Doodling along the Internet and come across, "Bobileff Motorcar Company is internationally known for their expertise in fine automobiles and their ability to restore cars to the highest state of perfection." Then I espy the …
April 21, 2005
The Kabbalah Centre
"We all are looking for something in life. What are you looking for?" asked Joseph Shvili. Shvili led a free Kabbbalah introductory class inside a La Jolla strip-mall. Twelve people sat in the Kabbalah Centre's …
April 21, 2005
No Doubt Drummer Adrian Young
No Doubt drummer Adrian Young joined Bow Wow Wow for a KROQ gig in L.A. almost two years ago. He's been with the band ever since. Rolling Stone wrote that Young played with the So …
April 21, 2005
Long Story Short?
"Long story short? [Rob Brewer] sucks. He hit me and then we fired him." So said Unwritten Law's Scott Russo to MTV News April 11, announcing that guitarist Brewer had been kicked out of the …
April 21, 2005
Fistful of Peanuts
Movies reviewed this week: Don’t Move, Kung Fu Hustle, A Lot Like Love, Oldboy, and Walk on Water
April 21, 2005
The Observer
The Observer, the campus weekly newspaper for Notre Dame and St. Mary's colleges in Indiana, wrote last month, "Unwritten Law's latest [is] better left unwritten.... With the recent release of its sixth album, Here's to …
April 21, 2005
"If Blink was the Daytime, Plus 44 is the Nighttime"
"If blink was the daytime, Plus 44 is the nighttime," Travis Barker told MTV News. Barker and former blink-182 bassist/singer Mark Hoppus are recording with a new band called Plus 44. "I play...electronic drums, plus …
April 21, 2005
There's a Backlash Because I Sing in English Now
"There's a backlash because I sing in English now," says 26-year-old Frankie J, who was born in Mexico and raised in San Diego. His second English-language album, The One, was released by Columbia in late …
April 21, 2005
A Candlelight Vigil Was Held for Jacob Faust
A candlelight vigil was held for Jacob Faust on April 4. He had been fatally shot three times by a San Diego police officer around 1:45 that morning in front of the Golden West Hotel …
April 21, 2005
I Owned the Name
"I owned the name. They didn't want to buy it back." Guitarist Joe Wood wasn't one of the founding members of the Orange County punk band T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty), but as the original …
April 21, 2005
Jack Armstrong, All-American Fly
Greetings, Matt!: In the 1930s and 1940s, a popular radio program was Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. Jack's sidekick was Billy. What was Billy's last name? P.S.: Do flies dream? -- PSK, San Diego And …
April 21, 2005
The Roman salute
Heymatt: Just one question�why the middle finger, Matt, why? -- David Sparks, New Orleans Maybe because it's the longest digit, sticks up the farthest already. But the bird is so old a gesture, there's no …
April 21, 2005
Wet dreams
Heymatt: I've noticed that when I take a nap in the afternoon, I drool all over the place. But at night nothing. I've checked with other people, and they say the same thing, sort of. …
April 21, 2005
Going to extremes
GOP county supervisor Greg Cox is no shrinking violet when it comes to his personal investment strategy. According to a recently filed financial disclosure statement, on February 20 of last year Cox and his wife …
April 21, 2005
Man Gets into Beauty Trap
'You're blond, you're thin, you're gorgeous," Christianne De Marco remembers telling then-25-year-old Karina Ivanova (not her real name) the only time she met her. The two women sat by themselves in Harvard business graduate and …
April 21, 2005
Intent to Deceive
San Diego is known for both big and small stock-market scams. Peregrine Systems is a big half-a-billion-dollar scam -- right up there with Enron, WorldCom, et al. But San Diego is also called Pump-and-Dumpsville because …
April 21, 2005