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
Electric Cigarettes, Cyrus, Homeless, Chinese...Something offensive for everyone!
Do they have electric cigars, yet? It's my one vice, and people hate the smell, so I rarely smoke them anywhere. The deposits idea is brilliant. It reminded me of a riddle I remember our teacher gave us in 3rd grade (hi, Ms. Sylvestor, if you're out there). It went like this: If a homeless person got tired of bumming cigarettes from people, and found that for every five cigarette butts they find on the street, they can combine them to make one regular cigarette to smoke. So...if the homeless man finds 25 cigarette butts on the ground, how many cigarettes does he get to enjoy for the day? (cue Jeopardy! theme music) The answer is NOT five, like everyone in the class thought. It would be six...because after he smoked the five cigarettes he had, there would be five more butts in which he could make one last cigarette with. (geez, and they always said that stuff you learned in school would never be used again!)— May 8, 2009 2:09 a.m.
The Death Pool and Dom DeLuise
Sorry, SD. I never answered your question. You asked why a sentence can't be a movie title. Well, basically, because it's just goofy. For example, the new teen comedy Adventureland. The title says it all. It didn't need to be "Billy Gets a Job at Adventureland." Back to School. Perfect. It didn't need to be "Bobby Goes Back to School With His Son." Don't get me wrong, I have seen some sentences that were movie titles that worked; or that I just liked for whatever reason. But, I feel the same way with band names. I dig that band from Texas "...And you Will Know us by the Trail of Dead." But that's just a stupid band name. I'm sorry. That Fiona Apple CD, that had the title that was 85 words, that everyone just calls by the first three words "the pawn...something or other.... There's Something About Mary....would've been better as "Something About Mary." or "Finding Mary." I know the movie poster was great, though. Until it got censored (her hair was sticking straight up in the original, from the "hair gel").— May 8, 2009 1:35 a.m.
What's your least favorite commercial?
I'm confused. How do I remind you of Ron? Ron Perlman, maybe. Ron Silver, more so. But Ron Popeil??? There's been a commercial on the radio for the last few days. It's a beer spot that deals with that guy they say is the coolest person on the planet. They do print ads with him, too. These commercials talk about how Cinco de Mayo parties he throws sometimes run two days long (or something like that). Well, they list all these reasons why he's cool. One thing they say is "Lucha Libres remove their masks out of respect, when he walks by." My girlfriend pointed out (and how she knows this, I have no clue), that that form of wrestling is called 'Lucha Libre', but you call the wrestlers "luchadores". And that made me wonder, how much research do they do when they write a commercial? It doesn't seem hard now, with Google and everything else. I remember a clever Pepsi or Coke commercial that first aired during the Super Bowl. The delivery driver of one soda, tried to sneak a can of the other one at a liquor store. All the cans fell to the floor and gave it away. The only problem is...the sound effect they used was of empty aluminum cans (maybe I just noticed that from my days in radio when we were always working with various sound effects).— May 8, 2009 1:25 a.m.
The Death Pool and Dom DeLuise
Yeah, I sort of felt the same way with Dom. As you got older, you realized he wasn't all that funny. But people loved him.— May 7, 2009 9:38 a.m.
What's your least favorite commercial?
You guys are mentioning commercials I've never seen. But, for late night, I always feel a bit sad for the old musicians that are doing the Time-Life series of classic 50s or 60s songs. It's like...well, if it's Air Supply, they deserve to be a couch peddling crappy music. But I've seen super talented folks like John Sebastian, Graham Nash, and other great songwriters doing those. Even Who singer Roger Daltrey at one time. My mom was telling me about a commercial a few days ago, and I saw it last night. It had something to do with these chickens, and how some companies make them look bigger by pumping water into them (I probably got that all completely wrong, but just go with me). They ask if it looks natural, and a nurse turns around and says how it does, but she's had these horrible botox type of injections and bad face lift. It's great (the only thing that would've made it better was if it was Cher as the nurse).— May 7, 2009 1:45 a.m.
The Death Pool and Dom DeLuise
I never watched the Golden Girls. I think one time it was on, and the laugh track annoyed the crap out of me. Something about an old lady saying something that was remotely cute, and hearing uproarious laughter... They tried that same type of formula by casting one of those gals in a Stallone movie. Some title like "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot!" Again, another sentence. And sentences have no business being in movie titles. I don't care if they are adopted from books. I did like the original movie title for "It Could Happen to You" (how generic and lame is that?) It was "Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million." I also liked the movie, but didn't care for the title of: Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice.— May 6, 2009 4:50 p.m.
None
Speaking of bands doing commercials, you know those (I believe they're beer commercials), where the deep voice over says a line, and someone sings "real men of genius"...well, that singer is the former singer of Survivor (Eye of the Tiger). But, Survivor tours without that singer, and even does commercials without him. They did a funny one where they followed a guy to the office (after first meeting him in the elevator, while their instruments), and singing a theme song based on his name. I thought those were clever, but my friend hated them.— May 6, 2009 4:31 p.m.
In the News...
UPDATE on Miss California: She might be forced to give up her crown, since she took semi-nude photos when she was 17, and they've surfaced. She said that shouldn't hurt her, as she was auditioning for Victoria's Secret to become a model. Well, the rules for pagaents are you couldn't do nude or semi nude photos previous (and in the past, people have lost crowns for similar things). She sounds like a real good Christian; breast implants and nude photos. But gays shouldn't marry. Nice.— May 6, 2009 9:02 a.m.
The Movie Blog
You guys are getting all, like, smart and stuff.— May 6, 2009 8:59 a.m.
Have You Heard the News? There's Good Rockin' Tonight
I think "chickenfoot" is a slang expression for the peace sign. To me, a band with Tommy Lee, Gilby, and Newsted isn't "super". It's heavy metal guys. On the subject of metal...great documentary called: Anvil! Go see it. It's good. (boy, those double-bass drums metal bands use are annoying)— May 6, 2009 8:57 a.m.