It is almost precisely equidistant, like the fulcrum of a scale or lever, between two imposing monuments to San Diego's vanity, its corruption, its detachment, and the city's characteristic insistence that All Is Well, America; …

Pat Robertson, the TV evangelist, got me thinking. Another sign of the apocalypse possibly, but there it is. I saw him on The 700 Club this morning after a channel-flipping moment of desperation born of …

Del Toro never lets his special effects take over to the same extent as in his Hollywood movies.

Baja! Cooking on the Edge by Deborah M. Schneider. Photographs by Maren Caruso. Rodale, 2006, 274 pages, $27.95 FROM THE DUST JACKET: Chef Deborah Schneider first saw Baja in the '80s and fell in love …

I was invited to over 70 Halloween parties this year. For New Year's Eve -- none. It would be a night that I'd have to earn the title "crasher." A friend gave me the scoop …

Thirty Years Ago These, then, are my top ten movies of 1976, in order of ever more mixed feelings: Claude Sautet's Vincent, Francois, Paul, and the Others, Arturo Ripstein's The Castle of Purity, Hugo Fregonese's …

The north-to-south Bluewater Traverse route takes you through the heart of southwestern Riverside County's San Mateo Canyon Wilderness by way of old roads and primitive trails. You can do it quickly as a long day …

How few of his friends' houses would a man choose to be at when he is sick. -- Samuel Johnson I stabbed a chunk of potato salad with my fork and brought it to my …

My little sister Nancy is turning 30 this year, and she's planning a grand bash at a swanky club in Manhattan. Unfortunately, big sis Eve won't be able to attend. But that's not going to …

Josie grew up in the Oakland, California of the '30s. As part of her training, after college she went on to earn her teaching certificate. Since then, she has spent her entire adult life teaching …

Title: Here in the Bonny Glen Around this time of year, I get inquiries about my picture book, Hanna's Christmas. Since you can't find a copy on Amazon this year, I thought I'd post about …

"A prayer before worship," read the screen at the front of the tidy church, its oak-and-white simplicity spruced up with poinsettias, garland, wreaths, and Christmas trees outfitted with gold and white ornaments fashioned along Christian …

Wet Dragon Cloudblaster If you'll just take a minute to read over my brief profile on the left-hand side of my online blog, you'll discover that "malfunctioning technology" is listed under "Peeves." That's because my …

'W e moved all the bathrooms around, broke through a lot of walls so we could combine all the buildings, and built a staircase to the adjacent building on Girard," says Erika Torri, executive director …

"It's easy to believe that there are a lot of unaccounted-for vineyards in the region."

The Five Stages of Grief as They Pertain to Spilling Beer On My Cable Box and Only Receiving the Asian Channel Denial This should clear right up. I'll try flipping channels. Using the "up" and …

"I've been a fan of Jimmy Gnecco since Distorted Lullabies, the first Ours album," says local singer/songwriter Simeon Flick, who caught Gnecco's solo House of Blues performance in December. "Jimmy, about three quarters of the …

"I just got a call from the agent who has MC Lars ["Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock"]," says promoter Sulo King. "They were going to book him at 'Canes, but they decided to put …

The Box will stand second to no one in getting game-ready for Sunday's Chargers/Patriots contest. This is the best playoff match-up to date and is required viewing for sports enthusiasts. But, let's not take our …

FM 94.9 DJ Tim Pyles is teaming up with producer Alan Sanderson (Weezer/Rolling Stones) for a series of live-in-the-studio recordings. Inspired by the late BBC DJ John Peel's legendary music showcase "The Peel Sessions," this …

'The show was a who's who of the early- to mid-'90s local music scene," says Jason Bang, whose public-access TV program Leche: The Musical aired on Oceanside's KOCT from early 1993 through early 1995. Each …

San Diego--based three-piece bill was recently named one of Rolling Stone magazine's top 25 MySpace bands. "Basically, a friend sent us a message telling us [about it]," says Riyadh Drebika, the band's manager. "All we …

The North Atlantic, an explosive math-rock trio from Michigan that formed at Kalamazoo College in 1999 (and migrated to SD within a year), offered this Gerald R. Ford obit on their MySpace bulletin: "...Ford is …

"They want to tear it down and build 22 condos," says Danny Salzhand of the 101 Artists' Colony studio near Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The venue, which hosts one or two all-age shows a month, …

"I was in our rehearsal studio in L.A. [in 1993]," says Encinitas drummer Jon Dette. "I happened to be playing Testament songs one day. Testament drummer John Tempesta hears me playing. He opens the door …

Robert Nardelli is corporate America's new symbol of wretched excess. He resigned under pressure last week after refusing to take a cut in his bonus. He had been making more than $10 million a year …

If you think volunteer advisory boards are rubber stamps for San Diego's municipal shenanigans, meet attorney Bob Ottilie. As a member of the Park and Recreation Board, Ottilie has lately been causing heartburn in at …

When David Copley isn't busy shedding reporters and other employees who worked for his late mother's rapidly shrinking newspaper chain, he can be found on the gentle Mediterranean waters off Nice and Antibes, between Monte …

Fallout continues over the prospective sell-off of the Copley newspapers in the Midwest. In Peoria, Illinois, home of the Journal Star, the Peoria Newspaper Guild, which represents reporters and photographers at the paper, has set …

Mike Aguirre and his brother Gary aren't the only locals to receive recent write-ups in the New York Times. Dave Cummings, a 66-year-old porn star from University City, was featured in a year-end story headlined …

"Ricky's is as near as you'll get to what the founding fathers ate."

I found Zen purely by serendipity when I was looking for something else, which is exactly the way that followers of Zen Buddhism are supposed to find enlightenment. One evening, I ventured out to the …