1) Not putting the new Neo Mnemonic movie, “Street Things” on the front page of the Ticket section. Rather than pimp a movie that once again has felt the wrath of Carla Meyer, the editorial staff wisely chose to feature a Second Saturday piece on the Ticket cover. Good choice. And as for Meyer’s review of “Street Wife”: not having seen the movie, I can’t comment on much more than to say that th review, as always, was well written and cogent, even though she subtly lauded Reeve’s and panned my hero, James Ellroy. Normally I’d be fuming about that pairing, but it’s too lovely a day to fume.

2) Giving the A’s just as much page as the Giants. Even though both teams won yesterday, the Bee resisted the temptation (a temptation to which the Bee usually succumbs) to splash a rather pedestrian Giants’ victory all over the sports section while relegating the A’s’ to the back pages. No doubt, the fact that either team has won a game, not to mention three games in a row, is something to celebrate. These are two teams that were described as respectively the worst opening day team ever seen (Giants), and a scrappy bunch of minor leaguers who might have a few thrilling victories amid a sea of shellackings (A’s (and yes, I used the word “Shellackings”)). So it’s nice to see the teams get equal billing on the marquee.

These days when I visit the East Sac Trader Joe’s–which no matter how crowded it is, always seems to have a staff to patron ratio of about 1:1–I notice that the cashiers are very friendly. Like, serial killer friendly. I assume this is company policy. Saturday night, after a long tiring day of yard projects and kid-wrangling, I was asked by the young cashier whether I had any plans. Nothing much, I said, just going to watch a movie with the wife. “Oh really? What movie do you have?” At this point I was too tired to think of way to avoid telling him what movie, and then since it was an obscure low-budget science fiction flick (”Primer“–which by the way was kinda interesting, and at 68 minutes is worth your time, but your wife will haaate it.), I found myself having to give him a plot summary and genre explanation of this movie which I had not seen. Too bad I hadn’t just rented “Caddyshack” or something…

This is not the first such encounter. Continue reading “Nice goes all wrong at TJs” »

I’m sitting in a room on the 21st floor of the Omni in San Diego, looking down into PetCo Park, where the Padres are playing the Giants. I can tell every time Bonds makes an appearance — the boos rock the ballpark and practically vibrate the foundation of the hotel (which has a four-floor skywalk into the park).

Why am I not at the game? Three tickets, four people (late entry to our party), so I opted to stay “home” and get some work done. (The Omni has to be one of the most efficient business hotel chains around, totally dedicated to helping you get everything you want done, from hooking to fast, flawlessw WiFi in every room to getting your 14-year-old niece some tourist options to get her out of your hair for a while. Oh, and great handmade chips!)

Sounds like the seventh-inning stretch down there now …
Continue reading “Downtown stadiums” »

There are enough A’s and Giants fans in Sacramento that they can be considered fair game for a post, right? That question was purely rhetorical. Here’s what prompted me to bring my beloved Gigantes de beisbol into the mix: In this offseason, after the failed experiment bringing 40 year old Moises Alou into the outfield with 42 year old Barry Bonds (no, I didn’t check), it would have been a mildly amusing joke to wonder aloud, “what’s next, bring in like Steve Finley or something?” Well… You gotta be freakin kidding me.