As a sophomore at UC San Diego, I went home for the summer to get a cavity filled in at the dentist’s. I lay there, saliva ejector hanging out the side of my mouth like …
May 3, 2017
News & Stories
UCSD literature majors — why they exist
Reply to Missionary Cram of the Boston Missionary School
Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, …
May 3, 2017
A funny and fascinating glimpse of mating habits
Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno Live (USA, 2015, Ovation) is an ultimately educational but undeniably funny and fascinating glimpse into the mating habits of numerous species. Rossellini proves that she can tackle any acting role, even …
May 3, 2017
Ex-con’s party
Ex-Republican assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who turned independent and then Democrat while placing third in two bids to become San Diego’s mayor, continues to ramp up an apparent try for the county supervisor’s seat being vacated …
May 3, 2017
Brian Karscig helps launch Instagram of music
“My business partner Nick Venti and I set out to make a music social app called BLKBOX that allows friends to share music and images with the moments of their lives,” says Brian Karscig (Louis …
May 3, 2017
No man is an island or sky except maybe Daniel Isle Sky
In the early days of Daniel Isle Sky’s music career, which essentially started by playing piano for church functions, he still managed to make time to earn a degree in aerospace engineering. Soon, however, he …
May 3, 2017
Extreme cinema
“Stub me,” I asked while stopping to split my ticket with the usher on duty at Reading Cinemas Grossmont Center. My left hand was preoccupied with notebook and silo of Coke, so I extended my …
May 3, 2017
Noir with a twist
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (USA, 1988, Touchstone Pictures) and Shutter Island(USA, 2010, Paramount Pictures) — noir with a twist! After taking the ride at Disneyland, what better to do than finally watch Who Framed Roger …
May 3, 2017
Summer’s Roe boat
With what some are referring to as the pending anointment of Summer Stephan as successor to Republican district attorney Bonnie Dumanis comes conflict-of-interest questions involving at least one member of the county board of supervisors. …
May 3, 2017
A Quiet Passion actress Catherine Bailey on Emily Dickinson
Terence Davies’s slow and sumptuous A Quiet Passion turns the famously reclusive poet Emily Dickinson (played mostly and hauntedly by Cynthia Nixon) into an unenthusiastic but unshakable martyr for her sex. It’s not that she …
May 3, 2017
Everything Mother’s Day
Mom is coming for Mother’s Day, so I need to find things we’ll both enjoy. The Rose Wine Bar and Bottle Shop in South Park (619-281-0718) will be offering a mother-daughter flower-crown workshop on May …
May 3, 2017
Silent Sky: Henrietta Leavitt goes beyond the Milky Way
Sean Fanning has done it again. The Designer of the Year for 2016 converted Lamb’s Players’ stage into the Harvard Observatory. Laura Gunderson’s Silent Sky begins early in the 20th Century. Harvard has the state-of-the-art …
May 3, 2017
Eat here, live longer
"Shiny beans,” says Dave. “Sure sign.” He’s talking coffee beans. And he should know. He’s managing this new coffee place-café here kitty-corner to the Firehouse museum at Cedar and Columbia in Little Italy. “Uh, sure …
May 3, 2017
Batman and Rodin — welcome to Perry Vásquez's world
Artist and musician Perry Vásquez recently released a concept album designed to prod at the listener’s sense of morality, justice, and personal responsibility. The Gates of Heck began as a visual arts project in 2008, …
May 3, 2017
The San Diego hipster constantly threatens to move to Portland but doesn’t
Dear Hipster: I think you can probably guess where this is going, but, how about the difference, if any, between San Diego hipsters and Portland hipsters. — Janelle Portland hipsters have acquired some legendary statues …
May 3, 2017
Random DNA created the Oxen of rock
Drummer Matt Nelson says his band the Oxen (which has been likened to the Breeders, Love and Rockets, or “a less drugged-out Spiritualized”) has quite the random DNA. “I was a pop-punk drummer from Cleveland, …
May 3, 2017
Del Rey Canyon: a lesser known Chula Vista pocket canyon
The Rancho del Rey community in Chula Vista is home to several urban canyons. Sometimes referred to as “pocket canyons” due to their relatively small size and the fact that they are tucked between more …
May 3, 2017
Being young, I knew I’d never die
On Receiving a Death’s Head Rosary Some twenty years ago, I was eighteen And being young, I knew I’d never die And came to Rome, the oldest place I’d seen And in St. Mary’s church, …
May 3, 2017
The value of Stanford vs. UCSD
What makes the Silicon Valley economy tick and other California metro areas — San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — lag behind? One factor is that Silicon Valley recruited engineering talent as a result …
May 3, 2017
Swimming in Copley cash
The salary of Dean Dwyer, chief executive of the David C. Copley Foundation, has been holding steady, from $228,960, plus benefits of $29,629 in 2014, to $230,000 in pay and $29,677 in benefits as of …
May 3, 2017
Not your typical supernatural horror movie
The House at the End of Time (Venezuela, 2013) is not your typical supernatural horror movie. It focuses on Dulce, who is unjustly imprisoned for killing her son. Excellent writing, directing, and acting make you …
May 3, 2017
Read something, say something
No Pier to Surf While George Freeth may have coached Duke Kahanamoku while in San Diego in 1916, it is very doubtful “Kahanamouku surfed the O.B. Pier,” according to John Elwell. There was no pier …
May 3, 2017
San Diego record roundup (May)
Experimental pop group Mayor Taco Ghost and drone/doom vocal duo Vas Hermeticum both released new albums at the Black Cat on April 29. Acoustic songstress Elise Trouw will celebrate both her 18th birthday and the …
May 3, 2017