Thirty Years AgoVictorian melodrama, on the other hand, does not lie high on anybody’s list of significant art. It is not even a current art, one worth attacking in order to raise the quality of …

EMBREY NEWMAN REQUESTED THE REMOVAL OF HER PERSONAL INFORMATION. OK'D BY JIM HOLMAN ON 3/27/09.

Janeane WhiteSenior, Mount Miguel High School For Christmas I have no idea what movie I’d want because I love too many films. I would probably pick a scary movie even though it’s the holidays because …

Thirty Years AgoI was astounded (but somehow, not surprised) to read of the $3 million suit being filed against your paper by Ted Giannoulas, the KGB Chicken, over a personal ad that appeared a year …

Thirty Years AgoIn the incessant border skirmishes between illegal Mexican immigrants and the Border Patrol, a new battle has developed in the last few months. It’s the “rock chuckers” versus the phlegm-green Border Patrol vehicles, …

Thirty Years AgoI couldn’t help but smirk when reading about the Second Annual Eleanor’s Edibles Contest. If the first prize is dinner with Eleanor Widmer (Reader food critic), then is the second prize two dinners …

"Bumping rims" is when you meet somebody and you have a connection. So, I would say, “Oh my God, I met the lead singer from The Faint last night and we totally bumped rims.” It’s …

Thirty Years AgoSILHOUETTE, how about the little park by the ocean in La Jolla Sunday afternoon. Quiet Man. PYTHON FANS: Does anyone know the number of albums that MP has made? If so, how many? …

Thirty Years AgoSo why does a glance at the front page of the San Diego Union’s Flight 182 “memorial edition” elicit a shiver? “If my daughter got killed in that crash and some jerk newspaper …

“Hello? at home. drunk” said the text message I finally received at 9 p.m. I thought, What did I do wrong to turn this hopeful young relationship into late-night booty texts? Through many protracted therapy …

Beth AccomandoCurator, Film School Confidential, sdfcs.org Whether you are rejoicing or reeling from the election, here is a trio of films fit for any election year. Michael Ritchie’s The Candidate, with Robert Redford as a …

My slang word has a two-fold meaning. The first is the origin of how I came up with it. I work as a barista at a coffee place that isn’t Starbucks, and I started saying …

Thirty Years AgoThe final indignity, scratched by some nitwit on the exact spot where PSA Flight 182 crashed, is this: PSA 128. Leiserson, a photographer for Channel 8, and Fitzsimmons, a photographer for the Union/Tribune, …

These words must be said with enthusiasm. Geektastic is something you say to show pride in being a geek. Really, you can add “-tastic” and “-tacular” to any words to make them better. Dorktacular and …

Thirty Years AgoOn this hot morning in May, as I load up my old battered red backpack at the Inaja Memorial Picnic Ground and prepare to head off into the brush, there’s a cowboy sitting …

Thirty Years AgoI would like to reply to the letter “A Moron Lovely As A Tree,” October 5. First of all, you should pay no attention to such low-grade and unintelligent criticism. I think your …

Thirty Years AgoTO RELATIVES of PSA-Cessna crash: Do you want the truth, the facts? Write J.P., P.O. Box 9224, San Diego 92109. PHOENIX SUNSHINE: I’m male, 17, and interested. Would you like to see Styx? …

The Legendary Mighty Raw Tones Experience and Revue has been playing San Diego for over 30 years. The rock/blues band’s current lineup has been together “easily 20 years,” says Point Loma guitarist/surfboard-shaper Scat, who explains …

“Bikeroni” means urban biking, music, and art all combined together. It’s all about an experience that can’t be defined by what it really is; it’s what you make of it. I ride a road bike …

Thirty Years AgoThe lobby of the downtown library, normally not the scene of high drama, was the arena for some cops-and-robbers-style action last Wednesday at lunch time. When a young man (carrying a hidden copy …

Holly JonesCurator, San Diego Women’s Film Festival, sdwff.org Expired, by Cecilia Miniucchi, is one of those under-the-radar movies that went to DVD before even reaching a San Diego theater. Luckily, this impressive directorial debut will …

In the summer of 2001, shortly after graduating with a master’s in politics, I landed a one-year internship with the Congressional Hunger Center to study poverty and food banks in Phoenix, Arizona. I was young, …

I was living in Seattle [in 2005], across the street from the Space Needle...in the shadow of the Space Needle, really — no sunlight, and rain to boot; it made me want to sleep a …

Thirty Years AgoMy former colleague, Jonathan Saville, has the town abuzz with his “review” of Shange’s For Colored Girls. I found both the poetry and the stage production of Colored Girls to be ambitious, adventurous, …

The word of the day is “tragesty.” Pretty much because I can’t speak even basic English, a tragesty is something that is not only a tragedy, but a travesty as well. Such as when your …

Thirty Years AgoMany years before For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf appeared at San Diego’s Fox Theatre, a little black girl named Paulette Williams lived in Trenton, New Jersey. …

Thirty Years Ago FREDDIE FREAK. Didn’t you believe me when I said I met Eddie at Parkway Plaza? If I didn’t I got the next best thing. Eddie Freak. HECKLE JECKLE: Love to. Meet me …

My slang word comes from my quest to swear less. I know that it’s kind of an old word, but I say, “snap.” I say it whenever I’m surprised or shocked or exclaiming about something. …

Mary Lynn Price, Underwater Videographer One of the aspects of underwater imaging that most appeals to me is the rhythm and motion of the underwater world — it’s like music. Two DVDs that have really …

Thirty Years AgoMoving through the shadows along Fourth Avenue is a man who appears to be another holdover from last night’s revelry. But as he draws nearer, the yellow light from the Cabrillo Theater reveals …

Thirty Years AgoMao Tse-tung, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, will be dead exactly two years September 9. The only major confrontation the Mao Memorial Committee has had was with another communist group — the …

I use the word “booty“ for almost everything. I started saying it about six months ago. I think I heard a friend say it or something. I don’t remember. Anyway, I thought it sounded fun …

As a recovering stand-up comic, I have had the opportunity to open for many national acts. Sadly, this is more a reflection of a concert promoter’s frugality than an indication of my amazing comedic talents. …

Thirty Years Ago“I came across polyethylene foam in the 1960s,” he told me recently. “But it took a long time to turn it into something that could he used to ride waves. You could say …

Thirty Years Ago Josephine Scripps, probably the most eccentric living member of the Scripps clan, was coming out of the Natural History Museum one night when she spotted a garbage can of seashells discarded by …

She was breaking up with me for something that was not my fault, punishing me for something for which I had no control: a tragedy, an act of God. She had had a miscarriage. The …

Victor LarucciaManaging director and board member, San Diego Italian Film Festival The 2008 San Diego Italian Film Festival is dedicated to beloved artist Italo Scanga, who brought to San Diego and to his art the …

Thirty Years AgoThree weeks ago The Unhappy Gays — the 12th book written by Reverend Tim LaHaye, president of Christian Heritage College in El Cajon — was released in religious bookstores across the country. LaHaye, …

My slang word is “cinemuck,” which is the stuff on the ground of the movie theaters. All the popcorn and sodas and gross candy and stuff that sticks to your feet. Cinemuck is the word …

Thirty Years AgoLocal homeowners and their families know all about the prestige of living near the foot of Nautilus Street. Here is the spot where you catch the best waves — a spot out beyond …

Since I was “in between” apartments and sleeping on a friend’s couch, I was overjoyed when Steve, a regular at the restaurant I was waitressing at, offered me the sublet of his room for the …

Thirty Years AgoIn ironic contrast, I find the embarrassing effort at achieving intellectualism exhibited by Duncan Shepherd in his film reviews distasteful and a real turn-off. Now, I’m not putting down intellectuals.— LETTERS: “MUNDANE MOURNING,” …

I met Patti LaBelle after a concert in the late ’80s here in San Diego at the Sports Arena. She was playing with Luther Vandross. Her hair was mindblowing: it swept straight up and flared …

Thirty Years AgoEleanor Widmer’s article about Michael Copley was the most compelling reading to be seen in the Reader in many long months. My congratulations to her for taking a surprising (and apparently long overdue) …

My slang word is “sexlexia,” which is pretty much a word for those people that claim that they’re all that in the sack but really don’t know what they’re doing. And “twanky” means that something …

Thirty Years Ago Neddy Massaro’s jail is the best in San Diego. She lives on the tenth floor of the sleek Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal highrise at F and Union streets in downtown San …

Thirty Years AgoOne of the most fascinating aspects of interviewing Michael Copley is that despite his best efforts, there exist questions about his past which he has not thought of before, nor has he placed …

There are women out there who seem to really understand how dating works. They meet guys everywhere and go out all the time. When you ask them what they did over the weekend, they say, …

The word that I’m using is “right sized.” A lot of companies have been laying people off; you know, they’re using “right sized” so that you feel that [being laid off]’s a good thing. The …

Jung-Ho PakArtistic director/conductor, San Diego Chamber Orchestra 2001 is an example of how to execute a brilliant screenplay while still elevating the vision into a more profound work of art. Kubrick’s eye for combining steely …