“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”

Weekend events – SF Outside Lands Festival

Jeff Tweedy
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco

Also known as the most rockinest way to blow $700. The lineup is totally insane… Radiohead, Beck, Wilco, Tom Petty, Jack Johnson for the big names. Broken Social Scene, Cold War Kids, Drive-By Truckers, M. Ward, The Walkmen. Norcal will be represented too, with Cake, Mother Hips and Jackie Greene. Looks like Sean Hayes is going to be there too, I wonder if he’s going to do “Just Jack!”*

No artist has ever played at night in Golden Gate Park before. Radiohead will be the first!

Crazy. Thom and the boys will be playing a 2 hour show on Friday at 8 at the Polo Fields, after Beck rocks the house at Lindley Meadow.

*This joke provided by Stickie

Enjoying the Fair for Less

Spend less dough getting into the fair so you have more to spend on the fried dough inside! Here are some ways that the State Fair folks are saving you money this year:

Today is Tuesday, so that means all children 12 and younger get in for free, and those carnival rides will cost you just $1 each today.I LOVE POPPY This applies to next Tuesday, too.

Today, August 19th, is First Responders Day, so all First Responders (in our out of uniform) with proper identification gain free admission. (OK, so I have a First Responder card from my CPR/AED/First Aid/Bloodborne Pathogens certification — would that get me in? They mean firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, and the like, right?) Continue reading “Enjoying the Fair for Less”

Bee’s teacher database sidesteps privacy issue

Kudos to the Sac Bee for its newest salary database on all of the state’s teachers. “See how well your school district pays its teachers.” Not “See how much your kid’s teacher makes.” The tool allows you to look up district average salaries and other data, and compare salaries across districts in a region or across the state. A useful tool without any of the privacy issues. This should be the model for all of the Bee’s salary databases.

I do think it is interesting that the spin has been spun somewhat on this one… “Are teachers in your area making what they deserve?” That sentiment is absent from Melanie Sill’s editorial on the backlash to the State worker pay database. Back then it was all about doing a public service, giving us information about worker compensation because “state spending [is] under pressure.” Now, it’s all about making sure your kid’s teacher is getting a good paycheck? Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but I sense that the Bee is making some much needed course corrections here.