Month: July 2007

Speaking of fact or fiction…

There is an interesting article on money.cnn.com about JetBlue’s new fall fare sale. Flights from Sacramento, CA to/from New York/JFK are priced at $149 each way and Sacramento to/from Long Beach are $49 each way. However, the detail that caught my eye was JetBlue’s announcement that they have been named…

“The Official Airline of Springfield” — the hometown city of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson — to celebrate the summer theatrical release of The Simpsons Movie.

Uh, uh, say what? This is an airline, right? That flies high in the air with hundreds of human beings on board? Oh wait, there’s more you say?

In honor of America’s favorite animated family of comedy, JetBlue also unveiled its first-ever specialty aircraft, christened “Woo-Hoo, JetBlue!” and featuring an image of Homer along with a permanent logo of its new Springfield status. To celebrate Fall travel, the low-fare airline is offering special sale fares for Springfielders and non-Springfielders across the country.

What’s next? Do I get a Bart Simpson Black Box toy with each round trip ticket purchased? Perhaps a Milhouse fuselage complete with air sickness bags?

Nuts to all that!

Fox has a “fake news” comedy show called “The 1/2 Hour News Hour.” Haven’t seen it, can’t comment on its laugh-generating ability. But the show’s companion Web site OfficialNewsAgency.com has a winner with a very funny spoof of the mandatory neutering legislation (for pets, gentlemen! for pets!) recently shelved in the state Senate. (Update: The site isn’t associated with the show. I got that idea from their About page, which I now see has been changed to clearly show that they’re making fun of the Fox show, for people like me who are too dopey to get it. Ha!)

The story is being circulated all over the Internets as true, which is what spoof writers live for:

A marble monument to service dogs, originally set to be displayed in Sacramento, California, may be on its way out of the golden state. The reason? The statue’s “manhood” is still intact.

Proponents of the recently-tabled state assembly bill AB-1634, the so-called “California Healthy Pets Act”, which would require that most of the state’s dogs and cats over the age of 6 months be sterilized, claim that placing the image of an intact male dog on public property is harmful and sends the wrong message to California pet owners.

“Its not an appropriate display, in a state that carries out three million euthanasias a year.” said Dan Nender, a 1634 supporter who filed suit in Sacramento Federal Court to have the monument altered.

Pressed about the number, since most reputable sources set that number at 400,000, Nender replied, “One is too many. Concentrate on the point I’m making, not the numbers.”

Pretty good stuff, and very believable if you followed any of the heated rhetoric on both sides of the issue. (Which I very much did, like, um, full-time for weeks.)

Best part of all:

“As California government officials […] will attest to, Sacramento is a testicle-free zone.”

Well, OK, so maybe it’s not all a spoof. We are talking about a town full of politicians, after all.

What’s Your Frequency, Jeffrey?

Jeffrey Callison is dead sexy!90.9 actually.  That’s where we’ll be tomorrow, August 1, between 2-3pm.  The Sac Rag will be featured on “Insight,” the local topics show hosted by Jeffrey Callison on KXJZ.  Keep an ear to your Filco and you might hear the dulcet tones of sac-eats and CoolDMZ mixing with the subtle Scottish brogue of the show’s host.  If you do miss it, check out the archive here.

Insight-90.9 KXJZ, 2-3pm

August- “The Writers of The Sac Rag”

…aaaaaaaaaaand We’re Back!

Sorry for the outage folks.  If you tried to connect to the ‘Rag this morning and were rudely turned away, we apologize.  No helping those pesky technical difficulties. 

Two media notes today:

1) The “Perfect Timing” award goes to “Sactown” magazine for featuring Natalie Gulbis, local LPGA golfer, on the cover of their most recent issue.  Despite her good looks and good game, Gulbis had never won an LPGA event as of printing.  Gulbis just won her first LPGA event yesterday in France.   Nice timing, guys.

2) Thanks to Sam McManis at the Bee for including CoolDMZ in his recent piece about local blogs.  Also, thanks to Jennifer at Sacatomato.com for her kind words.

Damn those mossies!

So I’m reading that four northern counties will undergo aerial spraying for West Nile virus beginning Monday and I couldn’t help but wonder how this came about so quickly.  Then I hop over to sacbee.com and check out an article about two new cases of West Nile being discovered this week.

From the Sac Bee article:

District officials were sharply criticized in 2005 when, during a West Nile epidemic, they began aerial spraying in Sacramento and Yolo counties with little public notice. As a result, the district initiated an intensive awareness campaign to publicize every facet of its mosquito control efforts.

From the News 10 article:

The decision follows Thursday’s announcement that two human cases of the virus have been detected in the county.

Now that’s an intense effort to publicize EVERY facet, huh?

Who Said the ‘Burbs Were Boring?

From the Bee article “Rancho Cordova officer shoots suspect during traffic stop”:

Martynov allegedly tried to run the officer over, Curran said. The police officer fired multiple shots at the car as it sped away, Curran said.

Martynov drove to Watt Avenue, where he headed north toward Arden Way. Once on Arden, he drove east toward Eastern Avenue, where a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy had placed a tack strip across the road, Curran said.

Thankfully, all police personnel came away uninjured.  Also, amazingly, the suspect did not, at any time, run into a building.

Why lie, Keith Lowell Jensen needs more exposure

Why lie, Keith Lowell Jensen needs a drinkAn early screening of local comedian and filmmaker Keith Lowell Jensen’s new feature-length documentary, “Why Lie? I Need A Drink,” based on his blog of the same name, is being presented tomorrow night at Fools Foundation. KLJ will be in attendance to answer your questions and will take your comments on the rough cut of his film. Chances are he won’t be wearing the banana costume for that.

Watt the Heck Is That?

In today’s Bee, the Arden/Carmichael section talks about the new “public art” that decorates the median of Watt Avenue from Butano to El Camino.  Apparently the artistic barrier (it’s really a fence to keep people from j-walking) shows the “symbols and images of the area’s past, present and future.”  This includes fish, birds, and a palm tree made from stone.  Two things stand out here: 1) There is one scene in the piece that shows a four-legged animal that Mrs. Eats and I have a debate going on about.  She says it’s a wolf, I say it’s a goat.  We may need your help with this.  2) Depressingly, the dedication will be held tomorrow in the Wal Mart parking lot, which may be a comment on the future of public art, or the weight given to current art, or the ridiculous gigantor-size of the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Poll Dancing

Hey there readers.  I know you were just as excited as I when you saw that this month’s issue of Sacramento Magazine featured a special reader’s poll on all the best places to eat.  After last year’s good showing for local restaurants, I’m sad to say that Sacramento Magazine readers have slipped a bit and are back to their chain-eating ways.  Here’s a few examples:  Best Chips & Salsa-Chevy’s, Best Brewpub-BJ’s, Best Burger-In ‘n’ Out.  Do I need to say that the region’s best chips and salsa are not at Chevy’s?  No, I don’t think so.  I would have voted (actually I did vote) for Caballo Blanco which is on the corner of Franklin and Fruitridge.  NOTE:  Keep your eyes out for a Sac Rag reader’s choice awards coming soon.

Oh, and one more thing: no matter what the Sac Mag readers think, Texas West BBQ is not the best BBQ in Sacramento.  Period.