Month: August 2008

State Fair – Closing Weekend!

Ah, how time flies. This year, the California State Fair had a shorter run than in past years, so we’ve had to pack in our allotment of free concerts, fried food and big fun into only two weeks. As usual, the Fair closes after Labor Day, so make the most of the weekend if you are in town!

There are a few more attractions that I wanted to point out in case you have not had a chance to catch them.

Arial plants a wet one on TracyThe Sea Lion Encounter gives you the chance to play with, take a photo with, and get kissed by a California Sea Lion. All proceeds are for charity, so go take the rare opportunity to smell a little fishy, but in a good way. This exhibit is next to the track, where thoroughbred racing continues all weekend.

The Stars of the Peking Acrobats show is just damn cool. Don’t miss their breathtaking stunts.

Continue reading “State Fair – Closing Weekend!”

Corporate Carnies

It appears to the casual observer that the carnies at this year’s State Fair are a little cleaner than in past years. To the sharp-eyed snark hound, however, it is an obvious sea change in the modern carnival solutions industry.

That’s right. The midway has gone corporate.

All games, rides, and straight-toothed carnies are now provided for the California State Fair by the Ray Cammack Shows corporation or RCS. Take a look around the midway and you’ll see the RCS logo emblazoned on every skee-ball, pop-a-shot, and shoot-the-water-in-the-clown’s-mouth game. Continue reading “Corporate Carnies”

Our picks for 2008 News & Review Readers’ Choice

As promised, our collective picks for some of the categories in this year’s Readers Choice awards. Make sure to vote online today or tomorrow. I had the date wrong last week, voting ends tomorrow. In addition to the below, we would appreciate your votes for Best blog, Best blogger (pick your favorite), and Best Sacramento Web site.

Food & Drink
Best restaurant: Maritime Seafood & Grill
Best soups: la bonne soupe
Best Thai: Thai Cottage
Best Wine Bar: 58 degrees & Holding
Best small plates: Formoli’s Bistro
Best BBQ: Big Joe’s BBQ (if you dolts vote for Texas West I’m going to come over to your house and give you a spice rub where the sun don’t shine (if you know what I mean))

Continue reading “Our picks for 2008 News & Review Readers’ Choice”

Frequent Caller Bassil Works Out The Kinks

RunnerGirl is in training for both her “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” taping in New York AND a 100 miler (within days of each other — which gives her an iron-clad excuse if the 100 miler doesn’t work out as planned.) Throw in a demanding career and a nice dose of volunteer work, and RunnerGirl can get a little tense.

She is currently hooked on this season’s “Project Runway” and has taken on contestant Suede’s affectation of speaking in the third person. OK, it has already gotten old — I will stop. Someone tell Suede to do the same thing, please. And don’t think we’re NOT going to Mood fabrics while we’re in NYC. Holla at your boy. Make it work. Continue reading “Frequent Caller Bassil Works Out The Kinks”

“Breakfast At Tiffany’s” invades, thousands flee

Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Russia caught a break this weekend in its quest to start World War Three (Four?) when it was eclipsed by the most important news story to hit Sacramento in decades: Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Racist?

The Bee’s Stephen Magagnini sure made the most of having to work the weekend.

Continue reading ““Breakfast At Tiffany’s” invades, thousands flee”

Reminder: Vote for Best of Sac

awardIf you’re looking for something to do this weekend, why not take 10 minutes and enter the voting booth for the News & Review’s Best of Sacramento 2008. More than one opportunity to vote for your favorite, ahem, website/blog/blogger.

Voting ends September 5 and the winners are announced September 25. This year, we are planning to announce our picks in many of the fine categories. We’ll do that next week. So if having to come up with your own original thoughts is too hard, and you’d rather let us tell you what to think, then sit where you are and stare at your computer until then and we’ll take care of you.

Akebono- Beyond Category

I knew we had reached sushi saturation point in this town when we officially had more sushi restaurants than lobbyists. Sushi joints have become so ubiquitous that you’re liable to run into one even if you’re standing still. With so many choices, it not only becomes difficult to ferret out the good establishments from the bad, it also becomes difficult to actually differentiate good from bad. When you think about it, there are really three types of sushi restaurants: 1. Traditional (we really don’t have any of these in Sacramento), 2. Party sushi (e.g. Mikuni, Tokyo Fro’s, etc.), 3. Neighborhood sushi joints (the no frills sushi joint in your neighborhood and everyone else’s).

Where then do I categorize Akebono? It’s definitely not traditional what with its arm-long list of rolls and creative sauces. It’s definitely not party what with its relaxed vibe and decidedly unglamorous location. And it’s definitely not just another neighborhood sushi joint due to its exceptional non-sushi menu and its rather extraordinary sushi offerings.

To hell with labels. Akebono is simply incredible. Continue reading “Akebono- Beyond Category”

Stickie’s Report on Big Fun – Part 1

I’ve got a lot of random thoughts after the first weekend of the California State Fair, so forgive me if they are a little haphazard.

It appears that the organizers this year had two goals, which I think are both blue ribbon ideas and successes in their implementation:
1) More public participation
2) Be more funny

If you check out the free Official Program included in every Sacramento News and Review (another stellar idea), you’ll see that there are a lot of audience-involved competitions, including the Fair’s Karaoke Championship on 8/30, the Rock Band (as in the video game) Stage, and the State Fair Star talent contest, among more than a dozen others.

You’ll also see more comedy around the park. Funny attractions range from the educational (Sparx Sound Effects Show, one of the many Hollywood-themed attractions) to the wacky (the Traveling Game Show is hysterical) to the just plain weird (check out the creepy singing robot at the SMUD exhibit). And, as usual, Jeremy the Juggler is back, who I think is damn funny and super-talented, calling him a “kids” attraction is a little insulting, in my opinion. Weird Al also made his second appearance in a row, let’s hope he comes back next year. If you weren’t there, you simply have no clue how great his show is.

Now on to the Booze!
Continue reading “Stickie’s Report on Big Fun – Part 1”