caffeine attack

I am so excited that the comments have taken off in the last week or so. I hope that continues. I am excited about every fucking thing in the world right now because I drank two cups of Peet's and topped it off with a soda. I feel like my whole body is vibrating. This is actually rather unpleasant. I just heard an ominous rumbling in my bowels.

So, I am on a work trip until next tuesday. There may be no posts until then (unless Miller wants to do it), but I may be able to check my email, and, inspired by Heather, I have already emailed my interview questions to the next subject that I have in mind. Hopefully I will be able to post that over the weekend.

In case you were wondering, there is no Knock Knock show tonight (bummer). The listing on the undie list is wrong wrong wrong.

Oh yeah, the new SN&R contains a coupla letters regarding C.K.'s thing last week about why critics do what they do. Both seem to agree that bands should stop whining (or "whinging" as they would say in the comments on Dave Smiths blog). There is also a feature about the Ariel Pink show next thursday. I will most likely go to this but I haven't heard him yet except for one downloaded song that did nothing for me. But listening to stuff on my computer speakers at work is no test for whether I like it.

Out hud review

The new Out Hud got an 8 in Pitchfork today: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/o/out-hud/let-us-never-speak-of-it-again.shtml

I get paid tomorrow so I should be buying it soon.

And to milk the joke for a second time: N.E.R.D. is apparently not officially broken up. Their fan will be so stoked.

Stir it up

Hmm...I'm at a loss today so far as to what to write. I haven't been up to much lately. I feel the urge to just write something controversial so that people can slug it out in the comments and do my work for me. OK, here goes-Christina Mendonsa-not really a hottie. Or News 10 Tower-kind of an eyesore. No? That's not doin' it for ya? How about-Karate Party-best Sac band ever. The music thing seems to work.

Maybe I'll think of something later.

Oh yeah, and I know the Terri Schiavo thing has been beat to death, but here's an article that gives the neuroscience perspective: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7328639/

drunk post

There is a crazy article in the NY times magazine about so-called "exurbs", which, in my understanding are new cities that are springing up in places like Arizona that are all sprawling and strip-mally like suburbs, but they are not suburbs because they aren't based around any cities. These places sound like hell and they are intertwined with the rise of the megachurch. It is worth it to register for the NY Times online, if only for the food articles and the magazine. This exurb story reminded me of me and Graces foray into suburbia last friday to go to the giant galleria mall for the first time. We ate at a Cafe Bernardos in Roseville that had a bizarre patio. The whole area is just creepy stripmalls. The patio was basically set in the middle of a parking lot and it was enclosed by plastic and had tons of heat lamps and a really loud fountain to drown out the traffic noise. I felt really sorry for the people who live around there. This was the nicest outdoor eating experience they could hope for and it was lame. Actually, Sac doesn't have much good outdoor dining, but Miller has said that the patio at Aioli is the best, so maybe I will go there on a warm night. Also, whenever I am in the suburbs I trip out on how rich everyone looks. Where do these people work that pays them so much money? I don't get it.

On the food tip, the chowhound message board is having a lively debate about the adventurousness of Sacramento eaters. It stems from an article in the Bee in which a distinguished local chef said he was leaving Sac because everyone just wants fried calimari and no one would eat his stuffed pigs hooves or whatever. The article is linked on the message board. I find this argument somewhat irritating, even though I agree that it is lame when each restaurant has the same selection of fried, greasy appetizers with dippin' sauce. The reason I find it irritating is that people say "adventurous" when they mean "weird, exotic, and disgusting meats". I am adventurous in the sense that I like food heavily spiced and really spicy. Or new vegetables or fruits I've never heard of (like cardoons) or in new combinations. But just because I don't want to eat a gland does not mean I'm not "adventurous". If so, the folks on Fear Factor would be sophisticated eaters. There is also a weird branch on the message board where they talk about parking and how some suburban couple won't try the Waterboy cuz they're scared they won't find a parking space.

The grad student will be at the undisclosed remote location in two minutes. I'd better post this shit.

be nice

Woah. Blogger is fucked and I couldn't post all afternoon yesterday.

The comments are getting pretty heated. I'm staying out of the fray. It's starting to look like the Sac indie list down there. Speaking of the indie list, I sometimes hear about what's going on there and I think that maybe I should re-join, but I may have mentioned that I got burned pretty bad in the brief time I was on it and was really embarassed and mad. I didn't realize that if you stepped up and made a statement that you left yourself open to whatever mean thing anyone wanted to say about you. Specifically, and I may have posted this before, I can't remember if I did, but local writer and smart guy Dennis Yudt (who I recognize but have never met) responded to my first post by saying, "Welcome to the indie list. Now shut the fuck up." That did make me feel so welcome. It reminded me of high school. Back then I was afraid to stand up for myself because if I said anything, the other person would have no limits on the fucked-up shit they could say and they could hit me in my most vulnerable areas (figuratively, of course. Well, figuratively and literally, sometimes). I don't like this style of fighting. I think civility is a wonderful thing and that the internet, by rendering the communication indirect and somewhat faceless, makes it OK to just go off on somebody. I'm not the originator of this theory, obviously. Everyone knows this. Anyway, maybe I will re-join that list or the indie chick list. Is it worth it? I welcome your comments on this subject.

I listened to the Pearcy's on the NPR show yesterday and it was quite unexciting. They only got 15 minutes and Jeffrey Callison didn't take any callers. No mention of the skeletons in their closet.

Not much else to post so far. I keep forgetting to mention that I finally went back to the farmer's market at 6th and W on sunday, and plan to visit much more frequently. It's great! Not just boring old veggies, but Sac Baking Co. bread, fresh eggs, hand made cheese, olive oil, honey. In short, everything you could want to make a delicious post-market sunday breakfast. Check this out. If you're not an early riser it seems to go until at least 11:00 so drag your ass out of bed and get over there. Oh yeah, and it's cheap, too.

Feel the heat

Yikes! Things are heating up around here at Heckasac. But I can take it, as long as no one ever, ever says anything mean about me. Because I will cry. And even though I cry approximately 3.6 times every day it is still so sad when I cry. It almost makes me cry thinking about it.

The couple that is behind the whole soldier in effigy controversy will be on NPR on Insight with Jeffrey Callison today at 2:00. I may be able to listen, so I can report on it for those who can't. If you're really interested, you can probably listen to it off the Capital Public Radio website later today.

Christian Kiefer talks back

Jeez-I totally missed that Christian Kiefer did a late comment on a post I wrote awhile ago. Here it is, in case everyone else missed it:

I know I'm a bit behind the curve on this blog but let me make a couple of quick comments. As a music fan, the "intentions" of the band are mostly irrelevant. What isn't irrelevant is what the band is actually doing. Think about it this way: If I intended to write a brilliant novel but my skills only allowed to write a mediocre novel, does that mean a reviewer should write "Gee, this novel is brilliant" because the intentions were such? God, I hope not.As for the CD Roundup: You're right it was stupid. Sometimes these things seem like good ideas when you're writing them and then later you eat shit for it. It was a dark and stormy night, indeed.Miller: Let's talk about context. I'm not sure what you mean exactly, or how I'm missing the point. What I want to be is a good, critical writer, and I'm definitely interested in what you have to say. I may not agree with your criticisms of my criticism, but I'd like to understand where you're coming from.Heckasac: I've been lurking around your blog for a while and like it very much. Hope you don't mind that I've jumped on for a moment.

This reminded me that I meant to mention how Christian had a sizable write-up on Rock The Light in the News and Review this week: http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/current/clubber.asp
All the members of the band were quite pleased and said they felt he "got it". And I'm not just writing this because he gave me a compliment, I swear!

Happy Easter Baby Jesus!

I would LOVE to post any ratgrabbin' pictures. So email 'em to me if you want them up.

This may be a post of limited interest to some (which may not distinguish it from all my other posts). I read this creepy little two-pager in the NY times about a woman that is obsessed with her husband and talks about how she loves him much more than her kids and vice versa. It was so weird that I knew that someone on one of the gossip blogs I read would talk about it, and turns out it was written by the wife of the novelist Michael Chabon, of Kavalier and Klay fame. So, it that sounds even vaguely interesting to you, check it out. It's bizarre.

Let's see...what's up. In Davis today there is an insane migration of teenage Monarch butterflies. I'm not sure if this is happening in Sac, too. The air is filled.

Two firsts this weekend: I lost my virginity and had my first drink. J.K. that could have been my blog entry from about '93 (which would have made me 19, for the record). Back then, blogs were called diaries and you hid them under your bed. But seriously, painfully lame jokes aside-I went to a show at the Fool's foundation and took my first ride on the bike trail. I know, I know it's weird that I've never been on the bike trail before but in general I don't like to engage in any activity which will make me sweat. I make an exception for strenuous eating. The Bright Ideas sounded great, mostly because Miller had prepared me for it to be echoey, and it wasn't as echoey as I thought it would be. I guess there was a dance party there on friday night, so if anyone went, let me know how it was. I cut out before the other band. I shouldn't have done that. I heard they were good. The bike trail thing was earlier on saturday and should lead to a Spring of exploring the bike trails. It was great.

On Easter sunday I went to church and thought about how baby Jesus miraculously crawled out of that cave or wherever he was. Not really. I actually attended a performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera? operetta? thing at Sierra 2. A friends sister was in the cast. This friend tricked me by not telling me until we had 5 minutes to go in that the thing was 3 hours long. The opera started out really slowly and I was dreading sitting there all that time and contemplating cutting out at the intermission, but I stuck it out and it was pretty entertaining. I was very touched that there are people that love singing and performing so much that they will do it without being paid and in the spare time that they have after their regular job. It had a live orchestra, so that was cool, too.

Tree huggers

The Bee had a bunch of short opinion pieces and cartoons about the arena by their editorial staff yesterday. Nothing too exciting. I kind of skimmed them, but they all seemed pretty balanced with no Voison-style panic.

They have an article today about the Sacramento Tree Foundation calling for a concrete plan to increase the canopy of trees, mostly in outlying areas of Sac: http://sacbee.com/content/news/story/12635910p-13489734c.html
That's great that they're trying to get together a plan. I am thinking about donating to this organization. I know that trees downtown may not be an important issue on a global scale, but it's very important to me, and I worry that people are just taking the relatively old-growth downtown canopy for granted. I have read that there isn't enough money to maintain it properly and everyone has seen how many diseased trees are cut down and not replaced. On that note, I was reading my book "Sacramento, City of Trees" yesterday and learned that the trees that drop those seed pods that I call "monkey balls" (you know, the brown, prickly things that will make you fall if you're not lucky) are called London plane trees. I also learned that two cottonwoods near Sutter's fort are the oldest downtown trees, coming in at around 130 years old or so.

Weekend wrap up later. Maybe.

later skater

ugh. so groggy. will post later.

Petey wanna cracker?

I'm off tomorrow due to the wonders of working for the state. Tomorrow is parrot friday at Beer's books so head on over and say hi to Petey.

new out hud drops

outhud
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

Awww! Aren't they cute! Caroline's comment reminded me that the new Out Hud album came out this week, and tonevendor's website says they have both the CD and LP in stock. For a recent short BBC interview go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A3803474

hipsters, hipsters everywhere

Here's a little tip for you: if you call in an order for dine-in at Zelda's (it's always a good idea to call ahead because the pizzas take about 50 minutes to make and bake) and you get there and it's insanely crowded and you tell the only waitress you can flag down after waiting for 10 minutes for someone to notice that you're there that you will take it to go instead, make sure to keep inquiring about the status of your pizza, because they will let you sit there like a weiner forever and never tell you that your fucking pizza is done and is just sitting there getting cold. Just a tip.

Over the now cold, soggy pizza at the TOHTUL ETERNUHTY FEHST house (I'm only calling it this because I think it's funny that the noise dude downstairs has christened Mike Banana's house with this name) Grace, Mike Banana and I had an interesting discussion that brought up more questions than it answered. So I'm turning to you, my readers, to help me out. We were talking about the proliferation of kids that I will call "hipsters" for lack of a better term. We were trying to figure these super styley kids out, mostly just wondering what the hell kind of music they listen to and would any of us have any bands in common with them if we were to strike up a conversation. We came to a few tentative conclusions: 1) These kids do not seem very friendly or ever look like they are having a good time. They tend to be quite dour. 2) There are definitely some sub-groups going on in there, they're not all into the same thing. I posited that there is a sort of noise music type of kid, like the ones downstairs at theTOHTUL ETERNUHTY FEHST house. These kids seem nicer and a lot of them have beards. I kind of have a handle on some of the music they are into. Then there are the kids that Mike B. called the "fake New York techno-clash or whatever the fuck it is" kids. They are the ones that have expensive haircuts, jeans, and seem pretty unfriendly. What kind of bands do these kids like?

Of course, these are just generalizations. I know some younger people that are quite nice and don't fit into either of these groups. But there are so many of these new people that I occasionally see at shows or certain parties and I just can't figure them out. So hopefully somebody has some insight. There may be more subgroups that I don't know about, too.

I'm gonna feel like an idiot if no one comments and I will probably delete this post. So, even if you don't know, you can just make something up. Wild speculation is welcome.

can't think of heading

I'm pretty busy. I'll try to post around lunch.

Time wasters

If you have some work time to waste you should check this out before it gets taken down (which should happen momentarily): http://www.patriciaheatononline.com/xeobook/index.php?from=10&more=10&key=
This is Patricia Heaton's message board. She's the generic actress on Everybody Loves Raymond. She issued a statement speaking out against removing the feeding tube of Terry Shiavo and she is getting reamed on her message board.

Also, this interview with David Cross is pretty funny, although I haven't seen Arrested Development so I don't really get all the references:http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/culture/imterviews/david-cross-the-defamer-imterview-037022.php

continued...

slamson
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

Because our seats were better, we were seated by a lot of people who looked pretty rich. The little kid next to us would shrilly cry out "defense" every time the Trailblazers had the ball. So she said it approximately twenty trillion times, interspersed with talking to her mom on the cellphone walkie talkie. Awww, kids are so cute. The guys behind us had such choice quotes as "my car has a bumper sticker that says, "I think, therefore I am Republican", and were also heard making fun of the player on the Trailblazers named Ha Seung-Jin by saying it "have some gin". Hilarious.

A bunch more crap happened on the court, the Kings were doing great and then it was halftime. I was disappointed to find that the halftime show was dedicated to the Royal Court Dancers, so there was no Slamson, no trampoline, nothing. Just more of the crappy dancers doing the running man in sparkly shirts. There was half-hearted applause while each dancer was introduced. Republidork yelled "Woo" for one girl and said, "that's my girlfriend". There was some Slamson during the game, and I love the way he struts and points. I contemplated whether it would be funny or sad if my impending mental breakdown took the form of me hugging Slamson and refusing to let go. At least it would make the news.

The game resumed and there was more dribbling, shooting, etc. At one point a grotesque inflatable monstosity known as "Air Slamson" took to the court to entertain the fans. I refuse to believe that Slamson was really inside there. This Slamson had a giant head, kept making awkward freakish motions and pelvic thrusts, and at one point shot foam out if its (I think, I coudn't really see)armpit. Then it's bobble head collapsed into itself. I was repulsed. I can't believe that kids weren't crying all over the arena.

The Kings led the whole game by at least 8 points, so, predictably, with about five minutes left, at least half the arena started to exit. YOU PEOPLE THAT LEAVE EARLY SUCK. You don't deserve your tickets. Have some respect for the players. I know the parking situation is bad, but it's part of attending a game. We left right after the game and it took us about ten minutes to get out of the lot. That's not too bad. This behavior led me to conclude that for a lot of the people there, the main reason they want to attend a game is to wear their Kings gear, eat a King dog and get a fleeting sense of triumph for beating the traffic out of the arena. That leads me to the hottie phenomenon. There are all these women at the games who like to dress in tight, breast revealing clothing and parade up and down the aisles every five minutes. Ladies, are you really this starved for attention? Do you like it when 10 year olds and grandpas look at your chest?

So, that was my game review. Hope all the technical basketball jargon didn't throw you off.

To be continued.....

I went to the King's game last night. It was really fun. This is the second game I've been to, but the first where I've had seats in the lower level and it really makes a difference. I don't have very good "sports eyes" (meaning I can't usually follow what's going on), so watching it from the upper deck was more like watching it on TV and I kept spacing out.

The Kings kicked ass on the trailblazers. I developed a game-length crush on Trailblazers player Joel Przybilla, and D.P. and I argued about his ethnicity after the game, but when I looked him up today, not only could I not find out his ethnicity, I saw a close-up photo and my crush faded. He seemed like kind of a baby, anyway, he threw a couple of mini-tantrums during the game.

To start at the beginning, D.B. had some sort of extra special parking pass that seemed to promise that there would be a special lot just for us and we would be whisked past the lines of traffic. Instead, we drove around and around the arena fruitlessly searching for the lot in the utter chaos that is the Arco Arena parking lot. It was seriously like driving in Tijuana, which I've done, so I know what I'm talking about. Of course there were some jokes cracked about how the lack of signage is just another indication that we need a new arena and that the Maloofs investigated it and found that the current signage absolutely can't be fixed.

We finally found the spot and D.P. and I headed (shit I keep getting busted on the net but I have to write this-see how much I risk for my faithful readers? God I have had so much Peet's coffee I feel like I just did a line) straight to the concession stand for King dogs. This was my dinner, so I thought the big dog would do the trick. This dog was about two inches more more dog than I wanted. I'm a six inch dog kind of girl. The game started, lots of action occurred, none of which I can relate because I tend to forget sports stuff, but it was exciting at the time.

This sucks! I have to go work but I'll continue the post later.

All I can say is...

yeahright
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

yeah right. Check out http://www.sactowers.com/
and be sure to turn your speakers up to hear the soothing tones of fuckjazz (man that looks dirty when you write it, but somehow it's not as dirty to say).

go kings.

I'm busy today. I'm going to the Kings game tonight so maybe I'll write about that tomorrow.

Hott coffee

My god I'm gonna have to start going to Naked Lounge again because you just can't find sexiness like this at Peet's: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/mis/64708449.html
A Bowl of Soul AND a beaver shot for under five bucks? It's a bargain.

Spawn of Willis

rumer
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

So, on with the weekend wrap up...

On saturday, I took my first (probably first of many) trips to Stockton to go to thrift stores and eat. Ella was good enough to provide me with a guide of where to do both. If anyone's interested, I can email it to you. The thrift stores were mobbed on a saturday, which was the only unpleasant thing. And I mean MOBBED, like half hour lines to check out. We started out at Superior Thrift, which, sadly, didn't really live up to it's name but I got a couple of neat little things, like a tiny speckled pot that will be good for a tiny cactus. I am really bad at picking out clothes at thrift stores and usually rely on other people to find stuff for me. Charles totally scored at this store and got lots of clothes. We then headed to Manny's, which I'm guessing is a Stockton institution with two locations and quite a crowd. This place is great. They have a sign posted that says they use free range beef and chicken, and it's a nice cross between a burger stand and something slightly Marin-county-ish. I got a fried chicken sandwich and a side of Portuguese beans. The bun was phenomenal, which leads me to think their hamburgers might just be the best. I only get a hamburger craving about one a month, but next time I get one, I will probably try to plan a trip here. Grace got fried chicken and thought it was great. Everyone was happy. After eating we started walking towards downtown because it looked intriguing and we ended up at Hubba Hubba antiques, which I recalled Ella mentioning from the email. This place is pretty pricey but they have tons of Bauer pottery and McCoy pottery, etc. I contemplated dropping twenty or so, but decided on a bright yellow saucer for five and vowed to come back when I have more discretionary cash. We continued walking down (I think) Pacific towards some giant houses we saw. I was amazed to find houses that equal or surpass the houses in the fab 40's. Some of them are really English Cottage-y, but giant, and with these crazy, rippling, wooden shingle roofs that call to mind the shire. We walked for quite a while, and then headed back to the car and went to a thrift store called the Outlet on our way back towards 99. This place was the one that was insane inside, but they had some good records and I got a few items of clothing. All in all, a fun day.

The fun continued later that night at the Fox and Goose, where Carquinez Straits and the Cassidys were playing. I must confess that I was pretty drunk, due to my pre-show trip to Brew It Up and a pre-party at my house that involved watching the Laura Nyro footage from the Monterey Pop festival. So I kinda started babbling to everyone and didn't really pay attention to the bands. I feel like I said some stupid things, but I'm trying not to think about it. There was an insane hail storm during the show, and I cut out during the Cassidy's set to battle with the Bergman movie until I fell asleep.

I saw the movie Hostage on sunday out of my love for Willis, and he didn't let me down, but the movie did. I kept trying to mentally teleport myself out of the theater to alleviate my boredom. The producers obviously shot their budget on getting Willis, so they could not afford any other stars, unless you count Willis' weird looking daughter as a star. She looks like one of those pictures you can get at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk where you can see what kind of baby you and your friend will make by photographically melding your faces. She has the giant Willis jaw with the tiny Demi Moore features scrunched into the middle of her face.

Then, last night, I went to the Waterboy again (I know, it's extravagant, but I am trying to cheer myself up and I ate before we went so that I would only want to order 1 thing). I could not recapture the magical experience that I had the week before last because I ordered leg of lamb but it should have been called "Lamb and Salt Explosion!". Like an idiot I hesitated to send it back. The lamb was great, but wherever it came in contact with the salt sauce it was burning me with extreme saltiness. I actually got a sore throat later. D.P. and Grace got the salt, er I mean, crab risotto and they exclaimed about the amount of crab in the dish but lamented the salty flavor. I finally told the server about it when she was clearing away our dishes and she said I should have told her right away and they could have fixed it. Then she offered to buy me dessert but I felt embarassed and declined. I should have just ordered the sweetbreads.

This just in from Pitchfork

According to Pitchfork, N.E.R.D. has broken up. Their fan will be so sad.

Weekend wrap up with a schmaltzy ending

I have a lot of work to do today, and a lot to blog, so I may have to do some of it from the undisclosed remote location later today. But I'll get started...

The weekend kicked off with a bang with the Rock The Light, Dungeons and Drag Queens, SLA show on friday night. Rock The Light rocked everyone's socks off with all that you could ask for in a band: mustaches and simulated anal sex. I didn't check the rest of the bands because I am like that, but I did go home early and watch hour 56 of the Ingmar Bergman movie that I battled against all weekend. Ah, the gloomy Swedes, how I love them. I finally vanquished this movie (Fanny and Alexander) last night and it was great. One person that didn't go home early was Heckamax. He partied on into the night with D & DQ and Jerry Perry and did whatever it took (heh heh) to get Rock the Light a cover spot on Alive and Kicking. That's right, as I blog this our hometown boys are preparing to bowl with local legend Jerry Perry. Many hilarious scenarios for this interview were discussed, including Charles wearing a "local music magazines still suck" t-shirt for the cover photo.

Another worthy band who is getting some local press is Knock Knock, who are going to have an interview in SN&R soon. Come to think of it, heckamax is in this band, too. I wonder how he manages to uh, persuade, people to give his bands so much press? Perhaps he invites them back to his room to listen to Journey and watch him lift weights. Knock Knock conducted their interview with E.S. at Cafe Melange, which has become the breakfast spot for the beautiful people. Just yesterday this bustling cafe fed members of The Feeling, Rock the Light, Baby Grand, and a genuine celebrity sighting, Ailene Voison, sportswriter for the Bee. She was trying to go icognito, with sunglasses on even though it was overcast but I spotted her and my table began to loudly harumph about our opposition to an arena. She took her food to go and quickly scuttled outside.

I should go do some work but I'll continue the weekend wrap-up later. Right now I'd just like to add a little aside:

It's no secret that I've been feeling like shit lately. I can't hide my feelings at all, which, although it causes me no end of trouble in my daily life (blurting out inappropriate things, crying at work, etc., in fact I'm tearing up right now), I like to think of as a good quality because you always know where you stand with me. I'd like to thank all my friends, who have been so amazingly supportive that I can't believe my good fortune. You guys have been the only thing keeping me (semi)sane and you're the best. I'll even say so best, because in this case it's true.

friday night. hooray.

The Plantation gets a write-up in today's Bee: http://www.sacticket.com/nightlife/story/12578311p-13432973c.html
I didn't know that they moved it because the old place caught on fire. I also didn't know that the new one has a dancefloor upstairs.

Tonight there are competing shows, with the Four Eyes opening at the Swillery and Rock the Light opening (I think) at Old Tired Dive. I am supposed to be on the guest list at the latter, so I will be going to that.

Hella harshed

This is how bored I am: I am reading the Vice record reviews. They hella harshed on Sacto bands, namely Out Hud and Hella. Would that be a good tongue twister? Out Hud got a 2 but Hella got a 0. They said if Out Hud didn't have a female vocalist it would have gotten a 7. Weird. I've never heard anyone say they didn't like the Out Hud vocals.

are you bored?

This interview with Larry David is SO FUNNY. I think it is anyway.
http://www.kennykramer.com/LarryDavidInt.html

I've been looking so long at these pictures of dudes

I'm probably totally behind, and I'm sure everyone's already seen this, but if not, here's a link to Allan Wilson's photo blog: http://theschnauzer.blogspot.com/ If you like schnauzers, check it out.

leprechuans

Happy St. Patty's day. Maybe today I will start a fight because that's the kind of mood I'm in. Have you ever checked out the Sacto's top 25 website? Here's a link (I just figured out how to do that linking thing yesterday). I tried to join it when I saw the four eyes site was on there but I couldn't figure out how to insert their little website graphic into my template. So I gave up. But there are some other sites that profess to be about Sacramento and they are horrible. Here are two: http://www.sactosaurus.com/ and http://www.sacramentolifestyle.com/ This is the sixth most popular site: http://www.cursetheconscious.com/ I can't understand the point of it and it doesn't seem to be about Sacramento. One of the top sites is retrocrush, which is fun to read. I read the whole interview with the actress who played Nellie on little house on the prairie on a slow day at work. A good Sacto site that isn't on the top 25 is cockeyed.com.

Christian Kiefer has an article in the SN&R today justifying his bad reviews. Well, not justifying how poorly written they are, just the fact that he sometimes gives negative reviews. I do find this refreshing, and a nice change from the hyperventilating of Alive and Kicking where every band is the best band ever! Perhaps one of my musician friends with an axe to grind can explain his or her beef with C.K. I've heard it explained that it's not so much that he is sometimes negative, it's that his criticisms and comparisons often aren't valid. Anyone? I know one example is his recent "local CD round-up" type column which just rambled on without reviewing any of the CDs and told how he tossed each one against the wall after listening to it for only a few moments. It was completely pointless and confusing. I can't find that in the archives to link.

movie crap

kinski
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

Oh God. I just read that Lars Von Trier is making another movie set in imaginary America.

Here's a description: Manderlay," the second film in a trilogy called "USA - Land of Opportunities." It is a story of slavery set in the 1930s American South starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Willem Dafoe and Danny Glover Release is expected this year.

Slavery in the 1930's? I'm sure he'll have an interesting take on this theme. The reason I read about this (Nicola, if you are reading this, you may want to avert your eyes here) is because he had (humanely) slaughtered a donkey on the set, which caused John C. Reilly to leave the production, but now because of pressure he has decided to leave that scene out of the movie.

Speaking of movies, because I am not that knowledgeable about arty films, I have recently seen my first few Werner Herzog movies, and I am in love. He is the best. Klaus Kinski is also the best. Notice I did not say "so best" because I think that's too cutesy. I was not going to post this entry with a picture but then I found that picture and I had to. Here's a quote from him that I had to write down when I read it: "I am like a wild animal born in captivity, in a zoo. But where a beast would have claws, I have talent,"

Kiss me, I'm Irish

Another letter came into the heckasac mailbag:

hey heckasac,

i'm trying to find a decent bar to go to for st patty's day. do you have any recommendations?

Something you may not know about me is that I am half Irish. I like to pretend I'm all Jew because, well I just feel more like a Jew. But I do blame my Irish half for my lack of the Jewish hardbody that comes from my mom's side (you may laugh, but they are all built like a brick house). On my dad's side, my aunts are all pasty and have boobs that hang down past their waists. I'm sure they're nice, though! I just don't know them very well. Anyway, I digress. I would guess that the Bonn Lair might be a nice place to spend the evening of St. Patty's day. I have been in Old Sac on St Patty's day before (to watch Nar, I believe), and it seemed to be even lamer on St. Patty's day than it is all the other days of the year (although you might get to participate in a riot or some looting, so that could be fun). So if anyone has any suggestions for this young lassie, please add them to the comments.

missed connection

I would feel bad making fun of this MC if I didn't think that the person who wrote it will never know:
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/mis/63788814.html

Tool jacket? shorts? curvy sideburns? spontaneous rapping?

So sad

craptastic
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

This craptastically magnificent graphic accompanies a story in the Bee today about ex-Kings who are failing to thrive in their new environments. Of course, we all know about Doug Christie's mental breakdown, but poor Scott Pollard is a nobody in Indiana, too. The story contains this funny typo,
"They reminisce about the glory days, recanting what, for many, were the best years of their careers."

Uh, I think you mean "recounting". Wake up, editor. This reminds me of the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm that I watched last night in which Larry is responsible for writing a last-minute obit for his wife's aunt, and they print it with a typo that says "beloved cunt" instead of "beloved aunt" and Larry gets totally busted.

not today

I took friday off work and I am going to take today off blogging. Check back tomorrow.

Ratgrabbin' 2: Undead rat

Man, blogsopt is jacked today again.

I went to Andy Nguyens again last night and got a crepe filled with bean sprouts and onions and other stuff and it was my favorite dish so far. They are still suffering from the bad and confused service, though. It wasn't that crowded, so I don't understand why. I ordered the fake beef chow fun and it contained only one tiny sliver of fake beef, but tons of that fried tofu they put in everything. It also inexplicably had one tiny piece of fake fish that tasted like a real fish cake! I got a really good Vietnamese pale ale for three bucks. It was not the beer I had ordered (as I said, they are still confused) but it tasted good so I was happy.

A friend who teaches high school clued me in to some of the new local high school slang. You say someone is "game stupid" if they're a dumb fuck. I forgot to ask him what a slumper is. Maybe when my new cali mix CD "slump and grind" arrives I will be able to figure it out. He also said that local teens are obsessed with the rumor that Ciara is or used to be a man.

The studly dudes at the gentleman's club were recently on the wrong end of a dead rat. Two of them had to invent a ratgrabbin' device and safety wear, while one filmed the ordeal. Expect the film, entitled "Ratgrabbin" to be in limited release soon. If you need any help disposing of dead rats, possums and the like give them a call.

blah

The Bee has a story about how some people think it's discrimination that that McClatchey teacher is facing 3 years in prison: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/crime/story/12538005p-13393356c.html
Apparently, some male teachers caught locally doing the same thing got around 6 months. She told the cops she was in love with the kid! I guess in Massachusetts, 16 is the age of consent, so maybe when she gets out she could move there.

Tonight I'm going to see the Futureheads, and tomorrow I'm taking the day off and having lunch at Chez Panisse!

Did anyone go to the Hella show? Was it pandemonium?

Other people's reviews

For those of you who are interested, and have seen the movie (cuz it gives away the plot twist), check out this review by a guy who writes on Ebert's web page: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050304/EDITOR/50304001

He articulates my complaints exactly, in a more eloquent way than I could have put it.

And, I don't know if any of you have read this, but today on the black table website there is a little blurb review about this article that was in the most recent New Yorker that was insufferable, and this review bags on it:

"THE BEARDS" BY JONATHAN LETHAM: Did anyone else read this long, deep gaze into the very fibers of Jonathan Lethem's navel lint and wonder why on earth it was getting published in The New Yorker, much less in a forthcoming book? Dear Jonathan L: Next time you want to take a boring-ass meander down memory lane, giving shout-outs to your formative literary, musical and cinematic influences along the way (all the while affecting faux-shame at how pretentious you, um, used to be), just write about it on your blog like everyone else does. OK?? Jonathan Lethem's self-aggrandizing ways -- F. Jonathan Safran Foer's completely unrelated, yet similarly obnoxious self-aggrandizing ways -- F. Caring way too much about literary Jonathans' self-aggrandizing ways -- F squared -- Emily Gould

Another damn review

The comments are acting up today.

The Waterboy was fantastic. When we arrived and looked at the menu I realized I had made a serious miscalculation taking a vegetarian there for his birthday, because this must be the meatiest menu in town. There was only one vegetarian entree! I ordered a glass of the house white to start off and it was really good. Only 5.50 a glass for the house white or red. That's cheaper than the cheapest wine at Bernardo (I think), which is the shitty Paragary brand wine. I got a salad that had smoked trout and cannelini beans with capers, roasted peppers, fennel, aioli and avocado. I can't remember all this, but the menu is on the web, so I'm referring to that. The presentation was gorgeous. It was so pretty! And delicious, although the cannelini beans were really, really firm, but maybe that's just how they are. The birthday Slav got a mixed green salad with sherry vinaigrette. Some of the greens were really bitter and I couldn't identify them. The vinaigrette was creamy. This salad was just ok. None of the entrees sounded good to me (it was still really hot last night, so I didn't want pork chops or anything like that), so it took me forever to decide, and I settled on the dungeness crab risotto with leeks, tomato, and saffron. This was supposed to be a small first course, but they will bump up the quantity and price to make it an entree. I declined, because I wasn't starving. The salad and risotto were plenty of food, so I was glad I didn't get more. The risotto was one of the best things I've ever tasted. There were big chunks of crab and the risotto was creamy and delicious. The Slav and I both thought he was ordering a vegetable and pasta dish because I saw the word "sformato" and assumed it was pasta. The official description was " Sformato of Parmesan and Organic Spinach, Steamed Asparagus, Roasted Beets & Black Trumpet Mushrooms" Turns out that sformato is a kind of souffle, in this case made with eggs and cheese and spinach. It was green and very light. The slav loved it. He had been apprehensive about the beets, but he liked them in the dish. For dessert we split an apple-pecan crostada
with caramel and honey ice cream. This arrived hot from the oven with the ice cream melting on top and the crust can't really be described with words. At least not by me, because I only know a few words.

For a full disclosure of the price, for those of you who are considering a visit, with drinks for both of us and all the food I described, it was 72 bucks total. Steep, but it was so good I felt like it was worth it. I mean, to put it in perspective, just the night before, Mike and I had dropped 30 bucks at El Amigo for just two beers and two entrees and it was terrible.

The Hella show is tonight? Will I go? Probably not. Maybe. I don't know.

Oh yeah, and to the Lipstick Queen who yelled "see you in Hell" at me last night when I was on my bike, you are so cool. Really. I mean that. So awesome. So, so awesome.

foodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfoodfood

God! Another post about food. Grace and I were contemplating how obsessed we are with food and she pointed out that it exactly coincides with working full time. When I was a student I was either studying, hence not thinking about food (can you use hence like this? who knows), or I was doing something fun, like reading or watching a movie. Now for about 8 hours I do something that is occasionally very absorbing mentally, but often not, or at least leaves me enough attention to be thinking about other stuff. "Other stuff" being mostly food. I am tired of thinking about food. It's great and all, but give it a rest, hypothalamus! I think that's the part that controls hunger, I'm not even sure although there's a giant book sitting right next to me that would answer that question.

Which leads me to my post: Tonight, I'm eating at the Waterboy (for a certain special Slav's birthday), so I can post a review tomorrow and the very exciting news I just discovered is that Sandra Dee's has a fried chicken special on thursday. As I said, this item was the only thing missing from their menu, so I'll have to go back on a thursday.

Now I'm going to try very hard to think about something not food related for the next 30 minutes before I leave. Like that ice-cold Staropramn beer that's waiting in my fridge for me to get home. I can almost hear it whispering sweet nothings to me in Czech.

El Amigo? No!

This weather is hecka tight. First day in I don't know how long that I haven't worn any jacket or sweatshirt or anything to work. Speaking of jackets, guess what's not hecka tight? The movie the Jacket. My first clue was that they couldn't think of any title scarier than the Jacket. This movie is a piece of shit.

I ate at a restaurant called El Amigo last night right next to Corti Bros. Mike begged me not to savage the place in print. I'm sure the owners are nice and all that, so I won't. Let's just say that El Amigo is not your friend. Speaking of Corti's, does anyone else agree with me that their specialty sandwiches (the kind with names like "michelangelo" where the ingredients are all picked out for you) are not that good? Am I just ordering the wrong ones? Why do I keep getting tricked again and again? The eggplant one is good, but they were out of that so I got a crappy one.

I guess Doug Christie is back and OK. I was getting worried. I was about to call Jackie and make sure he wasn't slitting his wrists or something. To add insult to injury, there's an article in the Bee today about how great it was to trade Christie. And how it is suddenly looking like it was a good move to trade Webber for....what again? just because he is not getting along in Phillie. But he was getting along here, so how does that make sense?

Ask Heckasac

motherfuckingmerlin!
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

I received a query today in the Heckasac mailbag:

Dear Heckasac,

Lately I have been interested in Arthurian Legend and was wondering if there is any movie you would recommend to satisfy my curiousity. Some of my interests include glitter and nudity if that helps.Thank you in advance for your recommendation.

Do I have a recommendation? Boy do I ever.

But don't take my word for it, listen to the review of Mr. Phil Hepfinger, who gave this story eight stars! (yes, 8 stars) at IMDB.com

"I have seen the movie Excalibur many times, and I believe it is an excellant movie. Many people say that it was cheezy looking (Yes, Excalibur the sword does get a tad flexible at points.) However, was not The Day the Earth Stood Still cheezy too, yet it is one of the greatest movies of all times, most people agree. And if anyone tries to down the movie by claiming it was not true to the legends, I have read many Arthurian texts, and the legend is not true to the legends. John Boorman picked through the haystack, and found his needle. Another excellant thing about this movie is for the most part, the acting is underscored. Not like in many modern movies, I believe Nicol Williamson, Helen Mirren, all the actors from the round table, and Mrs. Boorman did excellant jobs. The only complaints I had were so minor they practically do not exist. So go, see the movie, and be swept away.

You indeed will be swept away by this remarkable movie. As this poster on the IMDB message board was by the performance of Merlin:

I don't remember the actor's name, and it's been many years since I last watched Excalibur. But I have seen it probably more than 20 times over the past 15 years, and the only character that fascinates me EVERY time is, of course, Merlin. Everything about him is extraordinary: that thing he wears on his head, the cloak, the staff, the words of the spell of creation and the way he says them... The idea of him being in total harmony with nature and its forces ("the dragon's breath"). He is the bridge between the world of man and the world of magic, between the new and the ancient. And of course I adore the way the actor plays Merlin's character. When I was a kid, I really thought he WAS the real Merlin the magician!

What do you mean "when I was a kid"? Rush out to rent this movie today. Do not hesitate!

We here at Heckasac welcome reader questions, especially those involving nudity and glitter.

Mikuni=diarrhea

Mikuni gave me vicious diarrhea. Too much information? I'll spare you the details, but I think telling you-all is a public service cuz this place sucks. This is the second time I've been to this particular location. The other time was on a weeknight (I believe that that review is somewhere in these blog archives). I remember I hated all the shouting from the sushi dudes and the general ambiance, but I thought the food was good. This time I went on a friday night at peak dinner time. There were people packed against the windows and spilling out into the street. I was with a large party (this was a work dinner), so we were ushered to a corner booth that had its own flat-screen tv. Maybe someday each individual diner will have their own flatscreen tv. What if you developed a flat screen tv that you could eat off of! That would be perfect. At least the high walls of the booth cut out some of the din. I ordered some new-style roll that has deep fried shrimp, grilled eel, and spicy tuna. It is very difficult to find any roll at Mikuni that does not contain deep-fried shrimp. I would have been happy with something that just had eel and avo but they all have like five things. I guess I should have custom ordered. Then I ordered my old standby that I always order at Nishiki. The zig-zag hand roll. This is one of the recipes that the Nishiki guy stole from Mikunis. At Nishiki, the quality would vary according to the chef, but it was always pretty fucking good, if not completely delicious. (when I got the right chef). It's a blend of fried soft shell crab, avo, a little bit of the mayo stuff, and green onion in a soy wrap. The price at Mikuni was more than I'm used to at Nishiki (6.25!), but I ordered it anyway because I thought I could count on it to be good. Wrong wrong wrong.

The food arrived. What is the most important component of sushi? Most people would argue that it's the rice. It's the base flavor, it's something every piece of sushi contains. The rice in every piece I tried was horrid. Mushy and warm. Warm! All the sushi was warm. The zig zag roll looked like diarrhea (a portent of things to come) it was a runny brown, rather than the usual green color (from the avo) with flecks of darker green from the onion. I used copious amounts a sake to wash the mess down and ended up quite drunk and rambling to a busser (whom I knew) about how nasty the food was. He said, "why, because it's all covered with mustard, mayonaisse, and cream cheese?". My lab adjourned to the Flame, and over drinks, everyone agreed that the food was subpar. Within a couple of hours, there was a rumbling in my belly. For the next 24 hours, my intestines served merely as a brief conduit for the food that was rushing through at top speed.

Due to my hypochondria and fear of the big C, I consider myself practically a medical doctor, so the next day I assessed my symptoms and prescribed a Nationwide hamburger. It was fucking delicious, as always. While it didn't make me feel any better, it did lift my spirits. While there I overheard one of the cooks rhapsodizing about the double burger, and it was nice that he can still get so excited about the food there because he's worked there for years. The last two times I was there they were playing Wings greatest hits, and ELOs greatest hits, respectively, which just adds to the splendor of this little place.

WetNWild-Kirk

WetNWild-Kirk
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

Here's my favorite photo that I found when I photo-montaged the word "kirk". So obviously photoshopped, yet so hot.

best thing ever

Oh my god I just found the best thing ever for the next ten minutes: http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage%2Da%2Dgoogle/
you can enter a google image search term and it makes a montage. it's better than it sounds. go now! warning, though you can't control whether the pictures are safe for work

Food Friday

Even though I miss the mural, Andy Nguyen's does look way better inside. Classy. The crowd was completely different than it used to be. There was this one party of twentysomethings with tattoos, etc. that really made it seem like I was in SF or something. The menu has embarassing names for stuff (like "Everlasting Goodness Salad" and crap like that) but every single thing seemed intriguing. This was a great feeling, because there are so many types of meat that I'm either not fond of or that I eat only rarely because they are unhealthy that on any given menu I only want to order about 1/3 of the items. The place was packed and the wait staff was overtaxed and perhaps not used to this much business, so we had three different people serving us and our appetizer order of imitation shrimp toasts got lost in the shuffle. Too bad. This seems like a french-influenced dish (due to the bread involved) so I wanted to try it. We settled on a fake chicken spicy lemon grass dish, asparagus and black mushrooms, and a tofu and veggies with spicy peanut sauce. The dishes were all beautiful when they arrived. They have nice square white plates that beautifully frame the glossy sauces and crisp, brightly-colored vegetables. The asparagus was done perfectly, just slightly steamed and bias-sliced, and the black mushrooms (I didn't catch the type) were delicious. The peanut sauce dish was my least favorite, it was just so-so. My favorite was the fake chicken. It seemed more like fake beef, it had that appearance and texture. It was salty and tasty. We devoured our servings, which are not large enough to have leftovers, but are perfectly portioned at one dish per person. They have a million things that sounded great. I want to try all the different fake meats and fish, and the soup, and fucking everything! Although this is not the kind of revitalization is not what the mayor has in mind, this kind of shit is what Sac needs. Oh yeah, as far as prices go, I'd say it's probably a buck or two more per dish than it used to be (like 7.50 per entree), and you won't get a massive pile of food to take home, but it is definitely worth it.

I have gone food crazy lately (and my bank account reflects that). Next week I am going to both the Waterboy and Chez Panisse!

No show

Well, the undie list came through with the info. Not only is Errase Errata not playing tonight, but there is no fuck fridays tonight due to a leaky roof.

I have an Andy Nguyen's review but I may have to wait awhile until I have time to post it.

Doug, are you OK?

I'm worried about Doug Christie. This doesn't sound healthy:

"Doug is distraught," Jackie offered. "He's still not over the trade, and it's not even the basketball part of it. It's the feel of Sacramento, the fans, the community. Sometimes he gets so down ... we have a farewell video that the Kings gave us before we left, and I'll find him sitting there watching it, and he gets all choked up. I'll tell him, 'Doug, you have to stop.' But everything was so special there. The one good thing is that we'll be out there on March 15."

I was gonna joke about this article: http://sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12500927p-13356438c.html
But then they told about how his 4 year old misses Slamson and I didn't have the heart.

News and Review still loves the true love

This article on the family that owns Andy Nguyen's in the News and Review almost made me cry: http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-03-03/eat.asp
I might even go there tonight.

Also the 15 minutes section in the back profiles that guy who is always sculpting in his parking garage booth at the Downtown Plaza: http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-03-03/fifteen.asp
I love that guy. Once he was sculpting an aardvark.

So these articles were great. However, their music articles blew as usual, there was no little item on the Erase Errata show (this band is not my particular cup of tea but I think they are popular enough to warrant a little blurb), ditto for the Hella show, and there was a big feature on that weird Bodytribe gym which I believe to be a sort of hangout for the ex-True Love crew (correct me if I'm wrong), which would explain why it got written.

china up, u.s. down

I find it hilarious that in response to a U.S. report on their human rights abuses, China has turned around and issued a report on the U.S. human rights abuses, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Snap!

Erase Errata is playing at fuck fridays this friday if you're into that.

Did anyone see Allen Maxwell on the news last night? He said he got interviewed about Arnie and I was curious to see if it made the cut.

The Bee has an article on the revitalization of the R st. corridor: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12500837p-13356412c.html

I guess it's not realistic for me to wish that civic leaders would just view the abandoned Crystal Ice factory as picturesque and a good canvas for local graffiti artists (who actually put up some cool tags on there occasionally).

Bored, so posting

This is a very weird platonic craigslist listing, no?
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/stp/60356910.html
I like how she emphasizes that she knows reno VERY well.

rants and raves

Local celebrity dweeb Marcus Allen gets a funny rant today about his behavior at last nights Duran Duran concert at the Memorial on craiglist: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rnr/61988677.html
Mikuni was packed to the flat screen TVs last night because of that show. People there are other sushi restaurants in this town that are as good or better! Why must you all behave like sheep?

And a rave says that Duran Duran still has their mojo after all these years.

Andy Nguyens

I just read on the Left Me blog that Andy Nguyens has reopened as an all-vegetarian place. That is so cool, but I'm upset that they painted over their fabulour bird mural. I'll have to try it soon. I want to try the fake meat stuff.

Sandra Dee's reigns supreme

Upcoming shows: Hella is playing next wednesday for 2 bucks. This show will be crazy crowded and it's in a basement. Fire hazard? Yes. I still may go just out of curiousity because I've never heard Hella. And for 2 bucks, the price is right.

Deerhoof will be playing in Davis next month. They're pretty fun to watch. I will probably go. Of course, the Fiery Furnaces show is next month and I can't wait. That EP is so good!

Mike had to coerce me to eat at Sandra Dee's last night. I had been there once, when it first opened, about two years ago and it was sub-par. Last time I went, the place was pretty empty, the service was unprofessional, and the whole place had the stink of failure. It's completely different now. The place was full on a tuesday night with couples and families. The service was good, and the food was the fucking bomb! Sorry, Plantation, Sandra Dee's is way better and quite a bit cheaper, too. I started out with a Red Stripe, because every other beer on the menu was gross, but I quickly remembered that Red Stripe is gross, too. I don't care if it's from Jamaica (is that how you spell it? that looks weird), it still tastes like MGD. Everything on the menu sounded great, but I picked a BBQ chicken sandwich and a side of corn, for a price of (I think) 5.99. Mike got a "wing thing" dinner because he had wanted fried chicken, but most of their meat is barbecued and the fried wings are the only fried chicken on the menu. The food took quite a while but I never mind that and they had a sixers game on. My "sandwich" was actually a pile of shredded meat and sauce on a hot dog bun. The chicken was moist and delicious and I because I had chosen the hotter sauce, spicy as hell. The corn was pretty good, but it came from a can or the freezer which freaked me out. Mike got a white-hot pile of fried wings (I burned my finger on one) with sides of BBQ baked beans and mac and cheese for 9.99. The mac and cheese tasted of both garlic and jalapenos. It was tasty, but I think the Plantation may edge them out slightly in this category. Mike really liked the beans but I thought they were just so-so. But it's all about the meat and both of ours was great. Every single table around us was ordering the ribs, so I think I should try that next time although I haven't eaten a rib in years. The family of four next to us got complete rib dinners including two sides and then ordered 4 sides or ribs as dessert! The BBQ pork sandwich also sounds intriguing, as do the deep-fried oysters, which they offer as a dinner or for 1.50 each. And the catfish. And all the other sides like hush puppies and potato salad. I wish I could go right now. As we were leaving Mike was already asking when we could go back.

I also saw Constantine, which as Natalie said, is not as bad as you think it will be. It's entertaining.

Public enemy number 1

scalia
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

I was looking for a picture of Antonin Scalia and I found this doctored one, which was more fitting to his true nature. So, so evil. He of course was opposed to banning execution of people who committed their crime as juveniles. So he wants to execute children. And, true to form, in his dissent, he denied the Constitution as a living document and called for it to be strictly interpreted as it was written. And now he wants to make it legal to display the ten commandments on government property. If Bush gets another guy like this in there, everything is fucked.

Speaking of fucked, one of the firemen in the "sex romp" now says he regrets it: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/ongoing/sfd/story/12495899p-13351586c.html
If there's one thing I've learned about sex romps, it's that you should never be sorry. Going public is a pretty weak attempt to keep his job. He is saying he shouldn't be fired because he confessed, but he didn't confess until days after he was confronted about it. Sadly, this article contains no juicy details about who put what where and for how long and how hard.

Jeez, what is it with Sac and sex these days? Must be the smell of the jizz trees wafting throught the air. There's another sex scandal, with a McClatchey student teacher who was banging her 16 year old student in the parking lot of the high school while her two year old was in the car!http://sacbee.com/content/news/story/12491129p-13346898c.html

That is horrible. Someone we know dated this woman when they were both 16. I can't disclose his identity but needless to say, he's stunned.

And in another sad story, which seems particularly poignant to me because I went to an aggie high school, and I know how kids love their farm animals (and as I think I mentioned when I went to the Dixon May Fair, they put glitter on their pigs for show), some show pigs that kids at Luther Burbank were raising were killed, probably by pit bulls: http://sacbee.com/content/news/story/12491138p-13346902c.html

If you don't know, Luther Burbank is a rough school in a bad area, and the teacher said the kids were "devastated". So sad.

real good post

You know something I hate/love about the internet? The way you can styberstalk exes, enemies, etc. Don't pretend you don't do it! Strike that, I just hate it but I'm compelled to do it every once in a while (at a healthy level, stop looking at me like that!).

I think I need to find some more adjectives for my food reviews. Adjectives besides "good" and "real, real good". I hate alot of the words associated with food reviews, though, so it'll be real real hard to write a real good review.

What a moron

dumbass
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

There are too many good quotes in this article to pick one: http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/12491165p-13346916c.html

I think I'll cut and paste the whole thing for those of you with no account, but it may do weird things to the font:

Erase the face
Cyclist David Clinger confronts a painful ultimatum from his team: Lose the tattoo or forget about racing
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, March 1, 2005
When the Bay Area-based Webcor professional cycling team signed David Clinger to a contract late last year, team officials believed they were landing one of the most gifted road racers in North America, a powerhouse of a rider who would build upon the team's successes in 2004.
They got that - and then some.

When the 27-year-old Clinger showed up at the team's training camp recently, the former teammate of Lance Armstrong's and a one-time cycling wunderkind was sporting a face-and-scalp tattoo. Team officials were so startled, they took one look and sent Clinger packing.

"It's certainly outside what anybody's expectations would be," said Frank Scioscia, one of the team's managers. "People are scratching their heads. It's hard not to."


Concerned that the shocking tattoo, patterned after the Maori warriors of New Zealand, could bring negative attention to the team's numerous sponsors, Scioscia and other team officials eventually gave Clinger an ultimatum: Remove the tattoo or find another team.
The team's primary sponsor is Webcor Builders, which describes itself as one of the nation's leading general contractors. Smaller sponsors range from PowerBar and Nike Cycling to a number of building industry companies, according to the team's Web site.

"There have been sponsors who expressed that it doesn't quite fit with what they want to be associated with, but no one has raked us over the coals," Scioscia said.

Clinger was in Sacramento recently to be fitted for a new bicycle at the UC Davis Sports Performance Program. There, he created a buzz among several other cyclists, including amateur masters champion Peter Allen.

At the clinic, Allen was shaking his head and saying, "Why would somebody do something like that?" Only days later, the controversy erupted within the Webcor team.

Asked about his reaction, Allen said, "My concern was not so much as a cyclist but as a professional working in an industry. How's he going to go from cycling to blending into society and getting a real job?"

The tattoo hardly allows Clinger to blend in. While some might fancy the tribal symbols heavily inked on his skin, others might liken them to a tire tread plastered onto his face and neck.

Reached at his parents' house in Southern California, Clinger said he was still hoping to salvage his season, which was to begin in earnest in the next couple of weeks and last through the summer.

Against his fiancée's wishes, he decided to get the tattoo while in Argentina, where she is from. He paid $150, inspired by photos he saw in a book about Maori warriors. He conceded he knows little about the actual Maori tribe and has never visited the South Pacific, though he says he respects the Polynesian culture.

"I knew the team might not like it, but I went ahead and did it anyway," Clinger said. "I wouldn't think they would fire me."

Team officials haven't actually fired him, but Clinger said he has been told he will not race until he takes steps to have the tattoo removed. With laser treatments every few weeks, the process will be painful and expensive and could take many months to complete.

Clinger said it could cost as much as $10,000 to remove the ink from his face. He plans to grow his hair back to cover his scalp. He had the first laser procedure at a clinic near his parents' home. His mother, he said, is urging him to remove the tattoo.

During a 40-minute telephone interview, Clinger said he got the tattoo not so much for the appearance but for the acupuncture effect of the tattoo needles on his face, where his muscles were tense and needed to be loosened.

Clinger, who last year raced for the highly regarded Italian-based Domina Vacanze team, said, "I was having new experiences throughout the world. I read about this stuff in a book why they did it and what they did. Well, I didn't read it, but I saw the pictures. It's like anything else, if you want to do it, you do it no matter what."

He said the 20-hour, two-day procedure was painful but that it made him mentally tougher to handle the rigors of professional bike racing.

Vivid tattoos are nothing new to sports, especially in professional basketball, in which athletes such as Dennis Rodman and Allen Iverson sport elaborate tattoos for all to see.

Kim Forrest, who with her husband, "Wild Bill" Hill, have become known as the unofficial tattoo artists of the Kings, said she tries to talk people out of getting a facial tattoo, even if it means losing business.

"In our shop, there are certain tattoos we will not do. One of them is tattoos on the face," said Forrest, of Wild Bill's Tattoo in Roseville. "Most of the people who come in and want it done are younger, and we know that later on they are going to regret it."

Forrest added that facial tattoos are still very rare and that "we tell people all the time that we won't even hire someone with a tattoo on the face. We have a lot of housewives and professional people come into the shop, and I think a lot of them would be scared to get a tattoo from someone like that."

Clinger said he hadn't really considered how his facial tattoo would limit his options in the future. But he's willing to change if it means keeping his job as a bike racer.

Asked why he would get such a drastic tattoo and then agree to remove it so soon afterward, Clinger said: "I'm pretty mellow. I just hang out. I do what I do to get my bike racing done. ... It's the company that promotes this team, and if this is how they want to spend their money, then I will do what they want."

Emil Tanghetti, a Sacramento dermatologist who specializes in tattoo removal, said a large facial tattoo could take a year or more to remove and that the procedures are painful, akin to a rubber band snapping on the face five to 10 times per second.

Though he has not seen Clinger's tattoo, Tanghetti said the cyclist could serve as an example to youth - of what not to do.

"Sometimes, the way you feel at a particular time in your life is only there for a very short time," he said. "Sometimes, these things literally brand you."

Russell Hamby, a Sacramento-based pro who has raced against Clinger, said he understands why Webcor sought to distance itself from the tattoo. Hamby, whose team's main sponsors are Kodak Gallery and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., can often be spotted training in Sacramento wearing the team's jersey and shorts.

He describes pro cyclists as "moving billboards" who have an image to uphold.

"If he wants to further his career as a pro cyclist, this was not the way to do it," Hamby said.

As for the Webcor cycling team, Clinger's fate is still undecided. Scioscia said Clinger may be allowed to race while going through the laser treatments, or he might be sidelined until the tattoo is gone from his face.

Clinger continues to train in Southern California, often riding for five to six hours at a time, turning heads wherever he pedals

everybody wang chung tonight

I'm stuck in the remote location again, so I probably won't write much. I would like to recommend the movie "to live and die in l.a." as one of the eightiest of all eighties movies. it has a soundtrack by wang chung. the nanny from frasier has a brief cameo with no dialogue as a plump lesbian that leads me to wonder if she's had some work done. it's pretty bad, but entertaining, and there is a bad-ass car chase. that's all i have to say. i can't check the bee for news of anything and students are interrupting me every 10 seconds, so see ya later.