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
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
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
Cook Like a Chef — but Fast
Wow, Naomi. I'm gonna have to raise my bacon consumption just to keep up. Thanks!— June 5, 2009 12:22 a.m.
Chapel of Happiness on Broadway too noisy for neighbors
Rip me off with a ballpark Give me corporate pork Buy me a Mayor and Council seat After the vote our team always gets beat 'Cause it's fraud, fraud, fraud economics Taxpayers lose it's a shame Still it's one, two, three billion gone From this big shell game!— June 2, 2009 4:40 a.m.
After the fall
Please, a2z, there's a big difference between implied and exercised powers. For all Ahnold's faults, he's not going to declare martial law and build fortresses in our schools. Wonder who wrote that alarmist letter. (Stationary is easily spoofed to make something look official.) Bonnie, on the other hand, does have her eyes on higher positions in the government apparatus, and considering her disappointing performance here in San Diego...I hope she's disappointed. We should be educating others about how she has overlooked serious political malfeasance, while simultaneously acting less than fair in her refusal to seriously investigate police abuses of authority during her tenure. San Diego is famous for corruption now. Who has Bonnie brought to justice? Oh. Right. Medical marijuana providers. So, a2z, turn your considerable investigative and writing talents to more local and pressing matters. Such as how the city and county can reform itself so that it actually does the job without so much waste and abuse. Best, Fred— June 2, 2009 4:35 a.m.
Phil Spector and the Police (not a new band, new criminals)
Josh, those "reality" shows are rarely based on reality. The day-to-day reality is that cops, over-muscled, on a hair trigger, infested with an "us-vs-them" world view, are so wacked out on roids that they'll use any pretext to escalate situations. Instead of improving law enforcement, defusing situations, making us all safer, they willingly break laws, make situations worse, and seriously degrade public safety by destroying trust in the law. So your response is cute. But it's clearly not serious. If you want to laugh about this issue, go ahead. But you cannot then claim that you give a rats azz about justice or law enforcement...you just like to see people beaten up by thugs in uniform. I'm predicting right now that it's only a matter of time before this issue becomes public. Do you want to be the journalist who breaks the story, or are you content to just comment in your blog while someone else gets the front cover? Please, take this seriously. It's a time-bomb, not a joke, Josh. Cops on roids kill. Everyone's looking the other way right now. Will you have the courage to break that habit? Best, fred— June 1, 2009 5:02 a.m.
Cook Like a Chef — but Fast
I want to read more about bacon fat and how to use it in the kitchen. When I was little, I remember my granny always saved it in a jar by the stove. I was told that was to avoid clogging the drains. Now I know the real reason was to re-use it in cooking. Please tell us more. (Naomi, heckuva trick that slime-ball PR flack from the highly-subsidized corn industry pulled. He's paid with OUR tax dollars to tell us that corn syrup is good food...what a disgusting worm. Some people have no pride.)— June 1, 2009 4:44 a.m.
Phil Spector and the Police (not a new band, new criminals)
Good to see you getting the other side of police behavior. They don't test cops for steroids in San Diego. They test for other drugs, randomly, but not roids. There might be an induction test that covers steroids during the POST academy, but otherwise, to the best of what I've been able to dig up, nothing for the rank and file. Check it out. The major source of roids is Mexico. Is it really plausible that right here on the border we have NO officers using steroids? When a quick Google search shows other departments around the country with officers showing serious steroid abuse? Really? Especially when they don't test here...(and please don't take a PR flack's word for it, keep asking). The city can't afford the expensive steroid tests, and only use the standard weed, coke, meth, and opiates "whiz quiz". Then go take some pictures of a couple of our hulking finest, upper arms puffed up to the size of normal guy's thighs, and ask yourself the obvious questions. If it ends up as a cover story, you owe me a beer. Best, Fred— May 31, 2009 1:45 p.m.
Chapel of Happiness on Broadway too noisy for neighbors
Spliff is not "typical"...he's a very "special" kinda fellow. Yet he is entertaining, in moderation. And, Spliff, my good buddy, I do use my real name...so I guess while I am also behind a keyboard, I'm not hiding. I don't use a pseudonym on this site. And I've written some pretty harsh stuff about people far more powerful than you. For example, I have repeatedly called John Moores a crook. Using my real name. To his face, once, in council chambers, while Jack McGrory stood by. I sang, for the public record: "Rip me off with a ball park Give me corporate pork Buy me a Mayor and council seat After the vote our team always gets beat" Maybe you saw me on TV? Most San Diegans (now, finally) agree that we were screwed. I was one of the few spreading the word, when everyone else was cheering for bulshyt economic stupidity. Examine the public record, as documented by Matt Potter, Don Bauder, Voice of San Diego, et al., and I think you'll agree these bastards have messed up San Diego big time. I've never hesitated to call them out. I hope they sue me, the f*ktards. I'd love to see them in court. You, Spliff, do add to the character and vitality of our discussion. I welcome our continued banter. But let's not waste time calling each other names that don't happen to be accurate. Brown nose is really out. Come up with a new one, something more creative...or maybe we could team up and take on some real threats to our community. Instead, let's focus on the jerks who make San Diego a worse place, including invasive and aggressive religious organizations, which ought to be regulated and taxed like any other social club. For example, a marijuana growing cooperative ought to face similar regulations to a church...don't you agree, Spliff? And baseball and football teams ought to face similar regulations as strip clubs. After all, young men using their bodies to entertain dudes drinking beer at the stadium, aren't really that different from young women using their bodies to entertain dudes drinking beer at Platinum...heh? Let's get creative, Spliff. Propose some public policy. Write it up to 500-1000 words. Submit it to the Reader in your inimitable style. They might take it and print it... Best, Fred Williams (who is easy to find)— May 31, 2009 1:34 p.m.
A Picture's Worth 1,000 Words
I hate the cliche, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Are we so graphically biased in our epistemological outlook on the world? I prefer a thousand words to one lousy picture a lot of the time. (Unless, of course, it's a pretty woman scantily clad and attractively posed, then I'll take the picture most of the time.) Sure, a picture can tell a story. Yet words frequently tell better stories, painting images in the mind more valuable than the fleeting snapshot that deserves only a few seconds of attention. Brilliant ideas painted with words endure. Now to be fair, not any thousand words is better than a picture. I even suspect that these words, written under the influence of three Czech beers, are worth less than most. Still, in respect for Orwell and his writing advice, I register my protest at this overused cliche (which is redundant, and I'm obviously ignoring George's admonition to brevity) about pictures being worth a thousand words. Best, Fred (who's enjoying Prague)— May 29, 2009 11:05 a.m.
Idiotic Football Players
Spliff has mastered the art of internet invective, with those devastating three punctuation mark endings, his logic is impossible to refute. Literally. So I be rightin like him now!!! Azz we rips da maskes offa da faces of stupidity to expoze da racism all around we be all righteous with fired up indignation and shyt!!! Coz me an my brotha Spliff, we ringing down the changes for all you european whites who be oppressen and worshipin Amerikkka capitulsm. He be speaking on what he knowing!!! Now ya'll wanna make some beef, we be hangin down at 202 C Street with our buddy Jerry the Sand-man, and Benny "Huevos". Dat punk azz Joshb too wimpy come down and face our bold cru. But we be waitin on him.— May 29, 2009 1:17 a.m.
The Gathering Place Church
In the beginning, man created God...— May 26, 2009 5:40 a.m.