Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Treacherous Bodies
Oh, I quite agree that researching a subject is pretty important. For example, there is genuine criticism regarding the exhibits John Brizzolara is describing. There is NO requirement for "proof of donation" for the current exhibition under discussion, and it is very clear that many of the exhibits are in fact executed prisoners. In fact, there is very little oversight at all. I'll leave aside the dehumanizing aspects of this sort of thing, and the fact that at least once, the exhibits were poorly prepared and "leaked" during an exhibition. As for von Hagens, he may have indeed received consent for some of his creations, which are not educational but sensationalistic (example: a man carrying his own skin). The same cannot be so easily said for his exhibitions of the bodies of children and fetuses, where informed consent is...ah...not so easily obtained. But don't take my word for it. Wikipedia, for all of its faults, is a good place to start. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BODIES..._The_Exhibi…— February 12, 2008 3:07 p.m.
Treacherous Bodies
Hi Johnnie B. Glad to see your column. The exhibit you describe is deeply creepy. Some of the exhibits like the one you describe have been constructed from the bodies of criminals executed in China. There is a metaphor in there somewhere. As for the whys and hows of Fate, I can only quote Spider Robinson (wreathed in cannibis smoke): God is an iron. He commits ironies. Thinking of you, my friend. Remembering your foray into Country Western music....— February 6, 2008 7:49 p.m.
Lewis Black
Hi JB: Lewis Black rocks the house. If you get a chance go to YouTube and access his righteous fury about the hypocrisy of movie stars lecturing regular people about Earth Day. Favorite line? When he rolls tape of Matt Damon telling us how to save energy, and saying "If your house is anything like mine..." Lewis says "Stop." The tape freezes. Lewis continues. "It isn't. It's a lot smaller. And it doesn't have an Affleck shaped dent in the couch." Gold.— January 30, 2008 5:08 p.m.
The Mayflower
The real question, as always, is what do they have in their medicine cabinets? It's a weird microcosm of reality: multiple bottles of Pepto-Bismol, all 1/3 full. I'm sorry about the rules. I'm sure the mantra is that it is all for "your own good," but that is not true, generally speaking, nor is good regardless. BBQs forever---and heal up that ankle soon.— January 23, 2008 3:28 p.m.
I look happy in that home movie, and that was long before I learned to fake happiness.
Very fancy new website. John, I hope you will recognize me, as I have known you for a long time indeed, and cannot use my usual pseudonym. I once altered a voice mail message left on your answering machine in ways that amused you no end.— January 22, 2008 5 p.m.