Why kill brain cells on eggnog and turkey-tinis when you can just turn on VH1 and catch a local or two on “America’s Most Smartest Model.”

Grass Valley native VJ is still in the running, while Sacramentan Jesse has already been sent home. Some may remember Slavco (also already sent packing) from VH1’s “Kept” from 2004.

Thankfully, I’ve only caught one full episode, so there’s still hope for a full recovery. The one redeeming quality of this show is that it is co-hosted by the wry Ben Stein; although, I’d love to see guest appearances by Tyra, Miss Jay, Benny Ninja — and just for kicks, Michael Kors and Tim Gunn (just keep Padma away, por favor.)

This controversy over free publications makes me think of ripping down someone else’s “Vote for me!” student council campaign sign and replacing it with your own:

A Natomas media rivalry has turned ugly, with owners of two local publications each claiming the other has stolen stacks of the competitor’s periodicals from the rack.

In one case, Natomas Journal publisher Will Craig was caught on surveillance tape in August picking up a stack of N Magazines from the South Natomas Community Center, replacing them with his own newspaper and dumping the rival publication in an outside recycling bin…

Craig said he simply was sending a message to the people connected with N Magazine because he believes they have been stripping his racks for 21 months.

I understand, only remotely, that it’s important to the publishers to tell advertisers what their circulation is and where their publication is offered; however, doesn’t getting rid of the rival’s rag artificially increase the number of publications being taken?

At least he’s recycling them.

We’re at the point here at the Sac Rag that we don’t even bother reporting on “normal” crashes involving a vehicle and a living room (unless it’s a two-fer, of course), but this one is different. While Sacramento isn’t making a name for itself on any “best place to…” list, it does continue to bring its “A” game in this arena.

Sacramento police say around 9:20 p.m. one of its officers and the driver of a Honda crashed into one another on Village Star Drive and Franklin Boulevard. The impact sent the Honda into the living room of a nearby home.

Wow, huh? I wonder what happened. High speed pursuit? Drunk driver? Man, what could it have been? I must read on…

Police say there are no indications that speed or alcohol lead to the crash.

Oh, ok, Police, sure that’s enough for me. I’ll move on now.

I’m wondering what other people think about the Bee’s stirring article yesterday on “wounds that have festered for some time between Sacramento’s gay community and members of the Slavic evangelical community,” brought to clearer light by the beating death on July 1 of Satender Singh at Lake Natoma.

But I think it’s irresponsible for the Bee to make the jump that the attackers are part of that church. The tragedy of Satender Singh’s death is a reality. The danger represented by the tensions between the gay community and anti-gay Slavic Christians is a reality. But the lone thread connecting those two stories is that the attackers spoke Russian.

One need only read the comments on the Bee’s article to see how quickly readers picked up on the Bee’s assumption that these attackers were motivated in any way by their church. Some commenters go so far as to advocate closing the nation’s borders to prevent entry by “these people.” The only reason such commenters think this has anything to do with Christians is because the Bee made that assumption.

I feel like this might only inflame those tensions by putting it in the minds of readers that all Russian-speaking Sacramentans are necessarily bigots. If it’s true that those bastards, when they are caught, were influenced by the church’s rhetoric, then we have a problem. But until that is known, isn’t it irresponsible to cast the net as wide as the Bee has done?

Three run-ins with idiots this weekend reminded me that our area has a real rudeness problem. I was asleep at the wheel earlier this summer when news arrived that area drivers are some of the worst in the country and I think our stupid and reckless driving can spill over into stupid and rude encounters. I was having trouble formulating this until I read TalkingPocket’s comment.

My favorite (i.e. least favorite) kind of rude idiot is the kind who is rude while in the giving or accepting of a favor. They come in two varieties: the rude favor acceptor and the rude favor giver. The rude favor acceptor usually comes in the form of a pedestrian who waves you on when you pull up to a Stop sign (usually clearly marked for cars with a red Octagonal sign). Dude, guy, buddy, I’m tryin to throw you a bone here.

Continue reading “A plea for niceness” »

The Bee reports today that the County has settled with a former inmate who was suing over neglect for a cut on his hand. Health care reform is all the rage these days, but something about this case tells me it’s not going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back…

Ricky Kirk, in jail on a spousal abuse charge in 2004, had cut the palm of his hand on his wife’s teeth while hitting her in the mouth.

Most have you have probably heard by now that Sacramento ranks #8 nationally for road rage.

As someone who spends a great deal of time on the road during the average workday, this comes as no surprise to me. People tailgate, switch lanes quickly, then gun it — only to end up at the same red light as the person they were trying to pass. I know with certainty that if I leave a safe distance between me and the car ahead of me, someone will cut me off to take that space. Continue reading “It’s all the rage” »

Sutter County officials are looking for Jeffery Thomas Carney (oh really, they used his middle name?) because he has reportedly been telling acquaintances that he is planning a shooting rampage that will “make Virginia Tech ‘look mild.’”

This is really scary. I hope they find the guy. If only there were some way to remove the fame aspect from the minds of these psychos. For example, you might be able to prevent that by not rushing out to print whatever deranged rantings they send you, NBC.

My mind is reeling that at no point was there anybody in whatever team put that crap on the air who had the good taste and/or an ounce of brains to put a halt to it. I hope the parents of the victims sue the crap out of NBC.

That’s the song the obnoxious person was singing at El Palmar about 15 minutes ago.

Even a regular margarita, chased by a banana margarita, did not lessen my annoyance for said person with the booming voice across the room. Not that I expect El Palmar to be a quiet haven, nor have I never not been on the receiving end of a public shushing, but where do we draw the line? Continue reading “Let’s get physical, physical” »

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.

Continue reading “Smosh win YouTube award” »