Month: March 2007

Athletics 11, River Cats 10 (3/29/07)

When you’re CoolDMZ, you frequently don’t have to create the snark, the snark just finds you. In order to be seated last night at Raley Field, we had to displace none other than CBS13’s Arran Andersen, who was perched in our spot for his 10 p.m. segment on the game. Why he wasn’t in the press box is anyone’s guess–even a blogger can get a press pass these days. Also we sat near the family of last-minute A’s starter Dallas Braden. That was a real treat, his grandma was there and everything. They were a bit too enthusiastic for me (“awwwing” real loud for every foul ball with 2 strikes, etc.) but what a great Sacramento night.

The action was good. Those A’s look pretty strong, and obviously the River Cats needed to get the starters out of the game to mount a comeback, but you still have to put the bat on the ball to score those runs. Here’s to a good season for both teams!

Rey Azteca: A Rey of Mexican Sunshine

One of the great things about living in California is the never-ending string of Mexican restaurants dotting the landscape, like a rope of glittering pearls winding through the hills and valleys from San Diego to Crescent City.  OK, maybe I’m glorifying it a little bit here.  Let’s just say that it’s a great thing to be able to look in your Entertainment book, grab a coupon and head out to a Mexican place you’ve never been to and have a fantastic meal.  Monday night’s discovery was Rey Azteca on Fair Oaks Blvd in Carmichael.  Wedged between a gas station and a scrapbooking store, Rey Azteca (literally translated “Esquire Grill”) doesn’t exactly inspire confidence upon first inspection.  Murals cover the front walls, including a Latino State of Liberty and a scene of ancient Aztec glory.

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Blog roundup – 3/29/07

Heckasac wonders whether SacPD is doing enough to stop drunk driving in midtown, though I think she probably unfairly places blame on suburbanites. Of course it’s general, it’s a generalization.

Nick from FFT started a River Cats blog with his brother. Which makes me think two things: My brother and I should totally start a blog, and I am stoked for the A’s-Cats game tonight! Photos tomorrow for sure, and hopefully, hopefully, one of me mugging with Mike Piazza.

Ziller wants Hibbert in purple.

Make sure to register for Midtown Grid’s Free Lunch Fridays.

Paul’s Long Run

Even if the only time you listen to Y92 is when you’re at the dentist office, you probably know who Paul Robins is — the morning DJ and former longtime on-air partner of Phil Cowan, comprising the duo Paul & Phil (AKA “The Nicest Guys in Radio.”)

Less than an hour ago, Paul left his morning drive studio to start on his 92.5 mile run around the Sacramento area to raise funds to purchase new vans for Atkinson Youth Services. He will return to his studio by 7am tomorrow to finish up tomorrow morning’s show. If he needs to be pushed in a wheelchair to get there, he will donate $5,000 out of his own pocket. He is committed to making it the entire way under his own power.
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California considers banning lead bullets

We’ve banned lead paint. Lead dishes. Lead cookware. Lead pencils. Lead candy. Lead medicine (it’s a traditional Mexican cure for diarrhea).

But we still have lead bullets.

California might be moving towards a ban on the use of lead in bullets due to new studies on the effects of lead on endangered species, particularly the California Condor, the largest terrestrial bird in the United States.

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Long hair: not just for hippies!

Even hair fashion has a local angle… Bee fashion writer Leigh Grogan covers the recent trend of longer hair being acceptable for women of all ages. Which personally I think is a triumph of the human spirit on par with “Babe” the talking pig or The Astronaut Farmer. At first I laughed to see Celine Dion, Gwynneth, Demi Moore (still alive), Nicole Kidman, and then Christina Mendonsa, but I suppose she does have the most fabulous hair among the local celebrity set. Although I was always partial to John Alston, though not in that way…

NicoleMendonsa

Holla at your board!

Lately we’ve been getting a lot of “I don’t know where to put this” comments, from document dumping to appointment TV spoilers, so I’ve decided to dust off an old idea and reintroduce The Rag Board, a community forum. This time it’s powered by bbPress, a robust forum software built by the WordPress people.

Sign up today and start posting. Feel free to send me ideas for new Forums, though the 3 existing ones should give us enough fuel for a while. I’m making a goal of 30 discussions going by the end of April. Have fun!

Smosh win YouTube award

As a further sign of how out of touch I am with the YouTube generation, I learned about this from none other than Christina Mendonsa. Local YTers Smosh have won a coveted YouTube award for Best Comedy video of 2006. I’m happy for the two, but I can’t believe more than 4 people thought this was the funniest thing they’d seen in 2006 on YouTube. Video after the jump.

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Fabulous!

Today is the second annual Queer Youth Advocacy Day at the State Capitol.  “Representatives from the more than 600 Gay Student Alliances (which are at 45% of public high schools), and other youth under the age of 24, are meeting in Sacramento to lobby for Senate Bill 777 (Kuehl).”  This bill will standardize the anti-discrimination policies in all schools receiving public funds to give all students equal protection from harassment, bullying and discrimination.

The students attended a lobbying training at the Crest Theater before meeting with legislators this afternoon.  A handful of protesters were on hand to inform the youth than they were sinners, but were scared off by the inclement weather (maybe God was trying to tell them something about tolerance, loving thy neighbor, and casting the first stone).

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The Union Pacific Food Hall

I just got back from Los Angeles yesterday and returned to our fair city with an appreciation for good urban planning.  I’ve been to several California cities in the last few months in fact, and I can say that Sacramento is much farther along in its trendy “dowtown revitilization” project than most of the others.  Nowhere is this more evident than in downtown LA.  For those of you that haven’t ventured to downtown LA recently, you’re missing a goldmine of an opportunity to see some of this country’s seediest homeless people along with one of the surest and slowest transformations of an American city.  The plodding gentrification of the downtown area is slow, true, but also relentless, transforming historical buildings and retaining some sense of SoCal history.  Instead of the “out with the old, in with the new” mentality so prevalent in LA,  planners are seizing this opportunity to do it right, mixing old and new in a symbiotic fusion.  The best example I can see of this attitude is at the Grand Central Market, an alomst open-air food haven that mixes spice sellers and fish mongers with kitchens and food stands, dishing out counter and street food from all over the globe.

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