"You girls ready?"I raise my head from my pillow. I am shoulder deep in industrial-grade bedding, trying to pull the last dregs from an uneasy, however jet-lagged, sleep. Light pours through my window, slicing through …
November 16, 2006
News & Stories
Surf camp at UCSD – five women congratulate each other
He called me his “whiskey priest” and my regulars “the beleaguered Babbitts of my parish.”
Allow me to list the many ways for which we thank the deity (or agnostics thank "goodness," a safe but pointless exercise, pretty much like being agnostic in the first place), or don't allow me …
November 16, 2006
The Reader's Eye on Television
Oh, Britney. If you weren't such a skank you might have a chance with me now that you're single. But, you are. A stupid skank, I mean. I've seen you on TV. Your hair looks …
November 16, 2006
Early Season
The new Bond is not just another pretty face, in fact is a pretty craggy face.
November 16, 2006
Water for Elephants: A Novel
Water for Elephants: A Novel FROM THE DUST JACKET: Ninety-three year old Jacob Jankowski remembers himself tossed by fate onto a rickety train that is the home to the Benzini Brothers circus in the early …
November 16, 2006
Dogged for Dough
This year, Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won the Song of the Year Grammy, which may have helped push sales of their 2004 album American Idiot over the five-million mark. The song also paid …
November 16, 2006
Zero Tolerance, 50,000 Volts
"In the midst of setting up our equipment, [bassist] Travis [Du Bois] was being escorted outside by a campus police officer," says Suffer the Heat singer Brandon Barclay of the band's Halloween gig at MiraCosta …
November 16, 2006
"I Hate the Government"
"I Hate the Government," says Aaron Ballenger, singer/guitarist with Buddah Grinder. Ballenger worked at the OBD (Ocean Beach Dispensary) until July 6, when it was raided for dispensing medical marijuana. "I'm 21 years old, and …
November 16, 2006
Stomped
After becoming one of three finalists in MySpace's "Stomp the Yard" music contest, local rapper Kevin "Juice" Orange has been disqualified. "The contest rules stated, 'The song must be composed, written, and performed solely by …
November 16, 2006
Old-School Punk Rock
Bassist Rob "Noxious" Durham of the Shitgiveits had a heart attack November 4. "His aorta blew out and collapsed all his arteries," reads a post on the band's webpage. "He went under a ten hour …
November 16, 2006
Catching Up with Mr. Thomas
Four-time San Diego Music Award winner Earl Thomas started singing in a Pentecostal church while growing up in Pikeville, Tennessee. "They spoke in tongues and rolled on the floor," says Thomas. "We didn't handle snakes, …
November 16, 2006
High above Pasadena in the San Gabriel Mountains -- a waterfall and pool fit for a king.
Easy trail hiking, then moderate boulder hopping, and finally some strenuous, knee-deep wading will take you deep into the sublime hideaway of the Royal Gorge, a narrow, rock-walled section of the Arroyo Seco canyon that …
November 16, 2006
First Church of Christ, Scientist
"In atmosphere of love divine/ We live and move and breathe/ Though mortal eyes may see it not/ 'Tis sense that would deceive./ The mortal sense we must destroy/ If we would bring to light/ …
November 16, 2006
Scare Tactics
A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice. -- Edgar Watson Howe Changing my position from right to left was a snap decision, made in the half-second between the second and …
November 16, 2006
When You Should Not Buy Real Estate
Title: Dan Melson's San Diego Real Estate and Mortgage Website Address: www.danmelson.com Author: Dan Melson From: Rolando Blogging since: May 2006 Post Date: September 22, 2006 Post Title: Buyer's Strategy for the San Diego Housing …
November 16, 2006
Down Comforters
My sister Meg lives in a 100-year-old drafty home in Massachusetts. Every winter she is freezing. To make matters worse, she is a string bean -- no insulation at all on her bones -- so …
November 16, 2006
David Young in Botswana: Into the Bush, Part 2
Our camp the second night is more beautiful than the first. We stop midafternoon where there is a small seasonal pond in front of us. Life is all about water. Elephants, giraffe, kudu, impala, baboon, …
November 16, 2006
Rich Get Meaner, Pols Get Meaner
The election was a nasty, bitterly partisan battle pitting liberal against conservative, Republican versus Democrat, rich versus poor. The combatants screamed at each other over such issues as tax cuts for the rich and immigration. …
November 16, 2006
You Probably Ate Some Kelp Today
'You won't find [giant kelp] everywhere, for a couple of reasons," says Bruce Stewart, director of programs and exhibits for the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. "One, it needs to be in the right depth, commonly …
November 16, 2006
See Ya
Greg Laswell is the latest in a string of local musicians to have a song featured on a national television show. His "High and Low" played on an October episode of CBS's crime show Without …
November 16, 2006
Asylum From Homophobia
During the past year, about 30 transgender Tijuanenses, many of them prostitutes, left Tijuana and crossed illegally into the United States. Bypassing San Diego, they settled in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now some of …
November 16, 2006
Exams for Sommeliers
'If you're not here, if you're not following the format, you're sort of holding everybody up.'
November 16, 2006
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head
The second Halloween party I went to was lame. I stayed for an hour. I was afraid that if I left sooner, people would call me and say, "Dude, you won't believe what happened right …
November 16, 2006
Rocking the Voters
It's no secret that this fall's election season didn't go smoothly for San Diego Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas. First came news that some 5000 absentee ballots, ordered from controversial e-voting vendor Diebold Election Systems, …
November 16, 2006
Influence On the Road
Along for the ride on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's VIP trade mission to Mexico last week were a gaggle of big-business types from San Diego: ex-Scripps Clinic V.P. David Gollaher, now president and CEO of California …
November 16, 2006
Miss Putt-Putt Of 1958
Human beings are hard-wired for competition, that's how we got to be the top mammal on the planet. And, I should add, whether you're keeping score by evolution or creative design, we did it in …
November 16, 2006
Lord of the Tacos
If it’s done right, the bubbling cheese cements the tortillas together.
November 16, 2006
Mister Natural
Christian Graves, the new chef at J-Six, is proud to be a card-carrying Slow Foodie. If you haven't heard about it yet, "Slow Food" doesn't mean you'll have an hour's wait for your appetizers, or …
November 16, 2006
The Great La Costa Bumper Car Caper
Matt: A few weeks ago, while driving along Rancho Santa Fe from San Marcos to La Costa, my wife and I encountered a number of what appeared to be street-legal, licensed bumper cars. There were …
November 16, 2006
Birds? Bees? Huh?
Hey, Matt: Why "the birds and the bees"? Why not the fish and the squirrels or the rhinos and the geckos? -- Danny C., Escondido This cliché is at least a couple of hundred years …
November 16, 2006