Photos“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” — Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2When a man reaches a certain age, he’s liable to have favorite Simpsons jokes. One of mine comes …
November 14, 2024
As an undergraduate at Thomas Aquinas College near Ojai, California, Matthew Lickona co-founded and ran The Hype, a college lit-mag printed on the school's copier and sold at a dollar a copy to pay off speeding tickets acquired while trying to make movie times in Los Angeles. This may or may not have helped him to land a job at the Reader upon graduation in 1995, but the paper did reprint some of his collegiate Easter Island-based cartoons, and later, his Mudflap Girls series. He has been at the paper ever since, in a variety of capacities: feature writer, wine columnist, church reviewer, restaurant critic, television columnist, editor at large, and now, film critic. Plus some other stuff under various pseudonyms.
He is the author of a couple of books (Swimming with Scapulars, Surfing with Mel), and his essays have appeared in places like The Awl, FirstThings.com, and Doublethink. In his spare time, he likes to write movie pitches and country songs.
Articles by Matthew Lickona
Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior
Who thought marijuana law would be a thing?
“Legalize it, don’t criticize it,” went the old Peter Tosh song. It sounds so simple — until you remember that “legalize” means bringing in the law, and the law is never simple. For the law, …
October 17, 2024
Gonzo Report: Ben Folds takes requests via paper airplane at UCSD
On September 19, piano rocker Ben Folds brought his Paper Airplane Request Tour to the Epstein Family Amphitheater on the UCSD campus. The hook: write your request, sail it onto the stage, and if Folds …
October 10, 2024
San Diego Reader Best of 2024
Thanks for noticingLost Abbey finds a new wayAnderson’s apogeesAntique modernHeavenly hall undergroundMounting MadraParent-friendly playgroundThe van man canPeaceful, eaze-y feeling
October 2, 2024
Timken museum among best in world
This summer, a friend gave me a copy of Daniel Gross and Tyler Cowan’s book Talent (maybe he thought it would help). He also suggested I listen to Cowan’s podcast, Conversations with Tyler. I started …
October 2, 2024
Gonzo Report: The Mavericks make music you can dance to
The lights of a thousand electronic slot machines flash and glow in the cavernous entrance hall of Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center. The games have names like Buffalo Gold, Treasure Ball, and Dragon …
August 15, 2024
Part Time Lover’s Soft Spoken combines sweet and smoky
“I don’t often notice my surroundings, but I like wood,” says my daughter as we take a seat at the bar inside Part Time Lover. “It makes it feel like a place where people actually …
August 8, 2024
A 70-mile walk on San Diego beaches and other ways we'd spend our summer vacation
A walk on the (whole) beachA San Diego summer, with all the time in the world, brings up one challenge I’ve tried before and failed to complete: walking our entire 70-mile stretch of Pacific Ocean …
May 1, 2024
San Diego sidewalk sitters keep from shivering
How Do You Keep Warm at Night? If you think of the homeless at all — aside from how to avoid them or that daily mini-moral crisis as to whether to give them spare change …
December 16, 2023