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
Police Officer Shootings
Oh mel...you're the ass. Probably another CityBeat staffer, doing what they all seem to do. Go onto websites, knock the Reader, and don't own up to who they are (although, this is one website that isn't paying you for your post; so, we appreciate your participation for free. I understand it's probably not the norm). Nacho, that's a very good point. One of the things I hate most about Bill O'Reilly, is that he tries to play this "I'm middle of the road. I'm fair and balanced. I just don't like spin. I'm not a Republican." And, guess what? I'll bet CityBeat hates that (and him), too. Yet they don't own up to what they're all about. A CityBeat writer just sent me an email, that they have a link about me being a racist, or that the Reader supports racism. It's typical of what they do. They won't post that they support cop killing, or disrespect of authority. How can I be racist? My 9th, 17th, and 23rd best friends right now are black (that 9th just barely cracked the top 10!) drew: there are too many holes (or incomplete facts) for me to believe your story is true. Sorry, I just can't. Unless you can give more details. But I doubt you can, or will. When a report is filed, the idea that they'd come over and beat you up a week later, sorry. It doesn't pass the smell test. A few African-Americans I play basketball with...others that I worked with, always tried to play this card with me. And, their stories never checked out. They'd admit to lying and making things up. Or, they'd fail to leave out that the car hadn't been registered in 5 years and that's why the cop was hassling him (not because of his color, as he initially told a group of us). Come on everyone, let's cheer up. My current blog is on candy bars. Yummy!— April 21, 2009 12:17 a.m.
Commercials and Candy Bars
I didn't know you when you lived out here, did I? Or, are you just saying that you've mentioned you live in Washington before. It's hard for me to remember who said what in previous blogs. Sorry 'bout that. As you can see from yesterdays blog, it gets difficult ; - )— April 21, 2009 12:03 a.m.
Police Officer Shootings
Sorry. In my mind I combined applaud and appalled, but you knew what I meant. card: I actually didn't want a war with CityBeat. I just get furious reading all these negative things about cops or anyone that isn't sympathetic to their causes, in their paper. I just read in the Union-Tribune this morning, that a 19 and 16-year old were arrested in Escondido. They were pulled over by a cop and shot him in the face with a pellet gun. Will we see a story from CityBeat on this? Nope. Because the officer showed restraint, made the arrest, without firing his weapon. But that doesn't go with what they're all about. They'll look for the story where a cop makes a mistake. Or, had the cops shot and killed these kids and it turned out they were great students, CityBeat would be asking that police review the policies on shooting teenagers or something. It just gets tiring. But my bigger fear is that idiot slacker types will read crap like that and think that's the way the world is. It's why so many ding bats think 9/11 was a conspiracy by the Bush administration (a view I would almost bet most CityBeat writers shares). As for saying CityBeat has too much time on their hands, that's hardly a fair statement. They're responding to what I wrote about their paper. Nothing wrong with that. It's what I do when a friend of mine informs me some website somewhere is knocking the Reader. Which leads me to answering (sort of), Davids request. At this time I don't wish to explain what I meant regarding websites and the negative things posted about the Reader. Everyone that reads these posts, will realize a couple things because of me being vague on the subject. First, that you guys are thorough in your research when writing stories for your publication. As long as they fit your liberal leaning stance on the issues. But, when it comes to negative things written about the Reader on various websites, they will now wonder who it is posting that. And they have to consider that it might be coming from the competition (for lack of a better word)— April 20, 2009 6 p.m.
Celebrity Idiots -- The Jamie Fox and Hulk Hogan Edition
Okay, that "under your belt" line was hysterical. And, I agree with the above post. I know 22 words in Spanish, tops. And, as you can read from other posters on here, I barely even know English (at least when it comes to writing properly).— April 20, 2009 5:37 p.m.
Big Bottoms
I didn't see that movie, as it got horrible reviews. But a similar scene was done in two other movies. In BURN AFTER READING, John Malkovich didn't pick up the cheese that Swindon had asked him to. And the dinner party was 30 minutes away from starting. And, in The Break-up, Vince Vaughn didn't do any preparations for dinner guests, and couldn't even pick up the lemons that were requested of him. But, an even more telling movie scene, regarding "younger mothers", and something that scares me a bit...the scene in the very underrated Mean Girls. Amy Phoeler plays a mom that is younger, and tries a little too hard to be a "friend" to her daughter than a mom. So, she offers them alcohol. She wants to put on make-up with them, and gossip about boys. That's hardly a good way to raise children either.— April 20, 2009 5:23 p.m.
Commercials and Candy Bars
Wait a second. Stop the presses! (wait...we can't say that anymore....Uh, stop the...computer files). Breyer's chocolate cookie dough. Holy cow (pun intended). Please tell me which store carries it. Cardig, over the years, you and I seem to agree about 85% of the time. But this is one of the 15%. I absolutely love those small amounts of ice cream. It's just enough to satisfy, without the guilty feeling. I would eat those pints, all in one sitting. And feel guilty as hell (until the next day, when I ate another one). Sometimes I could be satisfy with eating just half, and the next day the rest of it. But, those $1 tubs are the perfect size. I love them. The tiny, idiotic spoons they give you with them suck, though.— April 20, 2009 5:05 p.m.
Big Bottoms
Well, those are all great points. Which is EXACTLY why I said (I believe) in my original post, that I didn't say anything, as it's an airplane and they have no choice. Although, I do get angry in theatres and restaurants, as I should be able to enjoy the experience without a screaming kid. I went off when Tom Cruise commented on postpartum depression, for those very reasons you mention. He's an idiot. I think women have the bulk of crap in society, when it comes to the kids. I remember, in fact, playing Scrabble at a friends house and his wife came home with groceries. She had one child from a previous marriage, and they had a child together. As she's taking the groceries out of the bag...oh, first, I said "Do you need help with those?" (meaning from the car into the house). She said no, although I'm not sure why my friend didn't insist himself, and help her. Our game could wait. He then started knocking what she bought saying "Why that brand name cereal, it's more expensive?!" She explained they had kids spending the night, and wanted more options for them. After about the third comment, I said "Dude, if you're going to knock your wifes grocery skills, why don't you go out and buy the groceries?" He didn't respond. I will say, though, that you touched on something. I would never say the woman shouldn't have kids, for the reasons written here. BUT, I would say that if they didn't realize all the ramifications of having kids. So many people in their early 20s kids married, have kids, and then realize it's a tough gig (more so for the woman, I'll be the first to admit that). I worked with a DJ at Rock 105 named Shanon Leder. Her and her husband were always asked "why aren't you having kids?" She told me once "Because I want to go out and party, see concerts, and have fun." Not the choice I would make, but it was hers. At least she had thought it thru.— April 20, 2009 2:42 p.m.
Big Bottoms
Oops! Typo. Obviously, I meant "bet"...as I'm not in the habit of bedding babies. The original/working title I had for the Soccer Mom story was "Parents Gone Wild."— April 20, 2009 2:05 p.m.
Police Officer Shootings
Well, to respond to canon first...I enjoyed your column on the Octomom. I enjoy most of your columns, as I told you. But like the Octomom, you are exploiting your kid by putting pictures of him on your website. Why do that? What's the point of it? And, when someone attacks me personally, or my boss, I'll respond any damn way I want, no matter what it sounds like. You've gone on and on about me learning how to write and taking classes. So, I'll tell you to take some parenting classes. Because, you're probably going to raise your kid to fear the police, or disobey them. And in the long run, it could cause some serious harm for him to grow up thinking "the man" is out to get him. And that's truely what is sad. Not some comments that I may have said to get under your skin in a personal email. I love the fact that people adopt children. Why would I be against that? I just adopted a dog from the shelter. It's great giving kids (or animals) a nice home. Nacho: the biggest misconception is people thinking they know WHY people become cops. Everyone thinks it's guys that have a chip on their shoulder, or they want to bully people. The simple fact is, there are LOTS of reasons why people become cops. Just like the many firemen I've played basketball with (for some reason, lots of firefighters show up at the gym for hoops). Often times, they've chosen that profession just because. They aren't even sure why. Some finished military service, and felt like that was one of the only options available to them. Most cops I've met have been jerks. Maybe it's because I ran a red light, or was speeding. But when people think it's because of race, or because they just want to cover up their crimes, I have a problem with that and I'll defend those cops. David: for a magazine that seems to pride itself on its extensive and thorough research and obsession with my spelling of states, you need to consult a lawyer. Nothing I said is grounds for legal action (wow, now it sounds like you're the one flailing). Kelly: You saying I'm a class act for attacking something of a personal nature...you still haven't explained why the Reader gets brought up in your attacks (side note: I like to mangle the ellipsis as much as I do the comma). If Jim works on a Catholic publication, why not attack that and leave the Reader name out? Oh wait, I think I know the answer. You're under the misguided belief that all of our advertisers will read it, freak out, and stop buying ads; since they'd surely be appauld by his stance on something like, say, Prop 8. Although, I'm assuming the majority felt like him on the issue, as we saw how that went (much to my dismay, as I feel any two people should have the right to marry).— April 20, 2009 1:52 p.m.
Police Officer Shootings
One last thing Aaryn...it's funny that you don't prefer me to send a PERSONAL EMAIL with an attack on CityBeat staff, yet I've read at least 25 times, in the last 5 years, personal attacks on the publisher of the Reader. And those aren't emails to my boss. They are things written in CityBeat, for all (132 people that pick it up) to read.— April 20, 2009 10:49 a.m.