Our 2012 Activities Issue, wherein Reader writers explore the elements of America's Finest — water, air, fire, land.

Some weeks ago in the murky AM hours of a drizzle infested day, I fled through a yellow/red light, accidently, in an undisclosed intersection found in North San Diego County. I knew I had committed …

A gas leak snarled lunchtime traffic in the Midway District on May 1. As police and fire department personnel blocked the area off, safety officials ordered brief evacuations of the Sports Arena Home Depot store …

Score one for the old school: Prima Donna, a five-piece from Los Angeles, may be the best garage band of all time, albeit 40 years after the fact. They started in 2003. What we call …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Urban Irving If it’s true that San Diego is America’s Biggest Small Town, then it is certainly fitting that our most famous …

‘I was inspired to write the song after seeing Ron Paul’s appearance on the Jay Leno show earlier this year,” says singer/songwriter Randy Lane, aka Ran Diego, of his recently recorded tune “Ode to Ron …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Up close with birds of prey Let’s face it, the closest most of us will ever get to a true bird of …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Underwater hockey Underwater hockey (sometimes called Octopush), has been around since 1954; it’s played in a couple of dozen countries. It involves, …

“Forget hipsters, let’s all hate on twee for a while,” read a recent headline on the website Brokelyn. The accompanying article was about Brooklyn’s “artisanal” food makers and the complicated emotions they evoke. (Sure, they …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School At Dr. Sketchy’s (held the third Saturday of every month at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest, 1271 University …

As Maggie, leader of an obscure cult in Sound of My Voice, Brit Marling has the radiant, unlined purity of a dream angel. Her beauty is so sexy but virginal, she could become a New …

Loads of cannoli for Guido.

San Diego is a unique and exciting city for many reasons, and the remarkably rare Torrey pine is near the top of that list. Most San Diego residents can probably tell you where to find …

“The Elvis video was a surprise to me and everyone,” says 20-year-old Sean Patrick Malone, whose YouTube cover of “Jailhouse Rock” has already racked up 1.8 million views since he uploaded it in mid-March. “Once …

I lifted my head and looked over my laptop to glare directly at the inharmonious cacophony of sniffling and snuffling. Jane wiped at her nose with the heel of her hand for the umpteenth time …

Tristan Prettyman and Jason Mraz were going to get married. And then he came up with a righteous reason not to. She’s laughing now, though.

Bicyclist Floyd Landis retires in shame and Lance Armstrong rides rich into the sunset? Is that fair?

Chad Deal went looking for a drink (not a fight!) in SD’s second-oldest bar.

No doubt it is better to be a young, pretty prostitute for moneyed Parisians than, say, an aging gutter slut in Tampico. But the human complications are not much reduced. Facing those complications in Elles, …

Birds, bees, cave-babies in the Stone Age. Also, answers pertaining to left-handedness and the so-called average American.

Necessary Meds I feel compelled to comment on a recent column, "Classic Barb Guy" (Diary of a Diva), and a subsequent entry in the letters column by Name Withheld, April 26, praising living without psychiatric …

When pastor Greg West talks about disciples, he’s not talking about “pew potatoes.”

I used to go the two miles with my aunt and a couple of her friends from church when they visited a small town graveyard The ladies would always wear stiff black shoes and I …

Last November, taxicab driver Joe Ciprian, 50, took a call from his dispatcher to pick up a passenger at UCSD hospital in Hillcrest. “I got there to find the security guard waving me down,” wrote …

The public relations team on the La Jolla campus of the University of California San Diego is widely regarded in the world of academic flackery as one of the best in the taxpayer-financed business. Every …

The trailer for The Raven made me fear that it would relate to Edgar Allan Poe about as much as a cement mixer does to Michelangelo. But the film is entertaining as author Poe (John …

Downtown potentates want taxpayers to provide a massive subsidy for a new Chargers stadium. If it ever happens (here’s hoping it doesn’t), the team and whatever governments are involved will draw up a contract. If …

La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs has contributed $10,000 to Taxpayers for Public Safety, a group that wants to abolish the death penalty, replacing it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. The politically …

Unshackled by the name “Oasis” and the tacky label “Britpop,” Gallagher senior hits the road to promote his first solo outing. At a surprisingly less than full house, Gallagher opens with a lithe, acoustic-y version …

Emily Blunt is so sanely appealing that her honest touches rescue parts of The Five-Year Engagement, but not the movie. What could? Director Nicholas Stoller wrote it with actor Jason Segel, who gave himself a …

Southern California airplane buffs and planespotters flock to Imperial Hill in El Segundo – a picturesque spot overlooking Los Angeles Int'l Airport. This windy overlook at the corner of E. Imperial Ave. and Sheldon St. …

If they ask, do you tell your kid Peter Pan isn’t real?

When the Art Institute of San Diego needed a guest with pro music experience to speak to one of their audio production classes on the subject of freelancing in the music business, they tapped Bill …