A hamlet morphs into suburb.
October 19, 2006
News & Stories
If telepathy were an accessible human faculty, I bet it would work best in October.
I don't want October to end. This has been a fine one. Three-quarters of the way through my favorite month I have to look around me and say, this is good. I have a theory …
October 19, 2006
The Reader's Eye on Television
"What do you want to be?" A classroom full of scruffy, grubby, teenaged boys and primped, upright girls. I'm drawing Transformers and comic-book characters on my desk. Optimus Prime and Wolverine. "If you don't know …
October 19, 2006
Preliminaries
The director tries to lose the viewer in a maze of flashbacks-within-flashbacks.
October 19, 2006
Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood FROM THE BOOK JACKET: "My family has a grand tradition. After a woman gives birth, she goes mad. I thought that I would be the one to …
October 19, 2006
One-In-A-Million
Once in a while the Box recommends a book for your consideration. It has to be a sports book and it has to be brilliant. At hand is such a book: The Blind Side: Evolution …
October 19, 2006
Hike up and over the east end of Santa Catalina Island, enjoying 270-degree ocean views.
On certain crystal-clear days (most common between late October and March), the looping hike over East Mountain on Santa Catalina Island affords an ever-changing panorama of the blue ocean, San Clemente Island to the south, …
October 19, 2006
Mira Mesa Bible Baptist Church, Scripps Ranch
"Each one win one" and "Go ye therefore..." read the raised foam letters on the back wall of Mira Mesa Bible Baptist Church. Below these exhortations hung rows of framed, typewritten missives from Baptist missionaries, …
October 19, 2006
Where Is Frankie?
My job often takes me to the Gaslamp, that hotbed of perpetual restaurant openings, and when I spot a newbie, I usually glance at the menu before strolling on. At Gourmet India, a small, simple-looking …
October 19, 2006
Divine Intervention
That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you. -- Charles de Lint 'Two amazingly synchronistic things happened to me this morning, …
October 19, 2006
Fat Cats Bully Commoners
San Diego's jockstrap plutocrats, with support and succor from city councilmember Scott Peters, are muscling in on land that belongs to the public, say critics. It's happening in two places: on the beach in front …
October 19, 2006
The Heart Meets the Law
Jose Esteban held a rolled-up poster under one arm and his two-year-old daughter with the other as he walked toward Washington Avenue from the west side of the Escondido City Hall. Inside, that Wednesday evening, …
October 19, 2006
News From Home
Last Friday's Union-Tribune featured a front-page story from the Wall Street Journal about the growing number of "learning-disabled workers" who have complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act …
October 19, 2006
Dam Leaks
Anyone living downriver from the Lake Hodges Dam, just north of Rancho Bernardo, might wish to take note. The City of San Diego is spending "not-to-exceed" $159,026 on a consultant who is supposed to find …
October 19, 2006
Pay for Play
State senator Christine Kehoe -- who carried Senate Bill 1627 this year to loosen local limitations on cell-phone-tower expansions, which was recently signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- has continued to rake in …
October 19, 2006
Scary Contact Lenses
My 82-year-old dad is like a character from a 1950s horror movie. All year long, he's a retired suburban gentleman who goes to church on Sunday, keeps his lawn mowed short, and waves to the …
October 19, 2006
Simone Angel in Belize
Hallelujah, it's hammer time What a wonderful, unusual experience I had last night. Our Belizean babysitter is a preacher's daughter, and together with her parents she has been following some kind of Bible study for …
October 19, 2006
Roller Derby Queen
I heard about a party for a company called CH1 Productions. As I drove to the Clairemont location, I assumed it would be in a studio, but it was a house with a RockStar Energy …
October 19, 2006
Red Riding Hood Lied
'The Alaskan gray wolves here eat beef, chicken, goat, horses [when donated], deer, and some fish, on occasion, that is donated by the Navy," says Melinda Booth, development manager of the California Wolf Center. "Deer …
October 19, 2006
Indier Than Thou
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Todd Dulawan has an issue with the way bands are booked for the third annual San Diego Indie Music Fest scheduled for March 3, 2007. "Most of the slots reserved are for bands that …
October 19, 2006
Average-Looking Scumbags
At 7:30 p.m. on October 3, local rapper Brendan B was on his way home from a Newport Avenue bar in Ocean Beach. "I was cutting through an alley, and two guys came out of …
October 19, 2006
Oh, Diddy
"They picked us over Channel 9-3-3 and Z-90 because they thought we were the station with the most high school appeal," says Blazin' 98.9's Cesar "DJ Seize" Gonzalez. P Diddy's appearance at Chula Vista High …
October 19, 2006
There's a Crock, Then There's KROQ
A couple of weeks ago, before he played the Killers' unreleased single "Sam's Town," 91X morning DJ Chris Cantore asserted that it was a "leak"; the song's airing was unauthorized by the record company. "That …
October 19, 2006
Boosting Baja's Image
'I'm overjoyed whenever I see references to Mexican wine in the literature.'
Scatter!
Bands often leave their hometown for greener pastures, but Tristeza left town because of their lack of green. "It's sad when a practice room costs the same as an apartment," says Tristeza drummer James Lehner. …
October 19, 2006
Remasterful
"Every time I open my mail, someone has sent me the most important recording in their home," says audio-restoration specialist Eric Van der Wyk of his King Tet Productions. "People send me cassettes, reel-to-reels, and …
October 19, 2006
The Mysterious Ad Council
TO: Matt Alice: President Clinton and President Bush the Uno, in the TV commercial asking for donations for tsunami relief, I'm sure volunteered their time. But do they receive residuals when the commercial plays? And …
October 19, 2006
The Six-Million-Dollar Bra
Heymatt: It seems like I just did something that really pissed off my girlfriend. While I try to figure out what it was, I think I need a gift for her. What's the most expensive …
October 19, 2006