More Lodi terrorist questions

I am very confused by today’s front page Bee article about the Lodi terrorists. See if you can help me.

A different Hamid Hayat than the one interviewed by the FBI in June – more self-assured, knowledgeable of terrorist training camps and with outspoken anti-American views – emerges from the transcripts of hours of secretly recorded conversations he had in 2003 with an undercover FBI informant.

During the videotaped interview on June 4 and 5, the 23-year-old Hayat . . . confessed to attending a terrorist training camp there in 2003. He appears on the video as weak-willed, very unsure of himself, scared of violence and somewhat confused.

Which is the different one? The self-assured one, or the weak-willed one? Both seem to have been recorded in June, one in 2003 and one in an unspecified year. Do I have to have a timeline to read this story? Am I just not parsing it correctly?

A Russian and a Ukrainian walk into an arena…

The Kings were involved in another trade today, sending Brian Skinner to Portland for Vitaly Potapenko and Sergei Monia.

Skinner, you remember, used to get playing time last season. Potapenko was a highly-touted Ukrainian big man in 1996, when he was picked 12th overall by the pre-LeBron Cleveland franchise. Now, Potapenko is just a big Russian man. He was benched earlier this season by Seattle coach Bob HIll for being overweight and out of shape.

Monia is a Russian rookie swingman who doesn’t look entirely different from a mid-1990s Devin Sawa. He hasn’t played much in the States, though he starred for Russia’s top club team for several years. He ain’t Andrei Kirilenko, but then again, who is? He needs to learn how to shoot before he can help the Kings do anything.

So, anyone want to suggest some fine Eastern European fare around Sacramento for our new neighbors? (Because you know the first thing Vitaly and Sergei are doing after learning about the trade is cruising to The Sac Rag.)

Go retro at Market Square

By now we’ve all seen that UA Market Square is going retro with “Top Gun” and now “The Goonies.” In case the list wasn’t readily available I thought I’d pass it along, courtesy of the same alert reader who got us all excited about ice skating again…

2/16 – Top Gun
2/23 – The Goonies
3/2 – Army of Darkness
3/9 – The Big Lebowski
3/16 – The Fifth Element
3/30 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
4/6 – Back to the Future
4/13 – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
4/20 – The Godfather
5/4 – Spaceballs
5/11 – Scarface

I’d like to open up the comments box on this entry for answers to the following question: “What retro movie would it take for you to actually consider seeing a movie at UA Market Square?” For me it’s a double feature: “Baron von Munchausen” b/w “The Dark Crystal”…

Fish & Chips-Streets of London

OK, so I’m not exactly a “regular” at Streets of London, but I do go there about once a week, especially for the Sunday Night Pub Quiz. I’ve never been a huge fan of the food, but would be remiss if I didn’t at least give their Fish & Chips a try on my latest food hunt for the best Fish & Chips in Sacramento.

Well, I’ll have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The fish was excellent, very flaky and tasty, breaded just right and fried to perfection. The tartar sauce was good by me, being a mix of mayonnaise mixed with mayonnaise mixed with stone ground mustard mixed with more mayonnaise. The chips, however, were a disappointment, a bit soggy, a bit burnt, a bit unappealing. Oh yeah, and did I mention that we also destroyed Edie Lambert and her trivia group there last week. Looks like I’m branching out from trouncing sports personalities to just demeaning local media personalities. Paul & Jen, want to get back in the spotlight? BRING IT ON!

Streets of London, 18th & J Sacramento
Food*** Ambience**** Service***

What the frijole is going on at Taco Loco?

I know I’m not the only one who loves Taco Loco. But am I the only one who doesn’t love it as much anymore? (I’m speaking specifically of the Jay street location–I haven’t tried either of the others.) There seems to have been an ownership change–web searches of all the usual suspects are turning up nothing. The wacky decor is gone, the menu is the same, the bar is the same, some of the wait staff are the same, and there is this cocky young manager/chef type who seems to be above taking orders or not have time for it or something.

This is all acceptable. The new hip decor is well done, and the few familiar faces make it easy to stomach the new ones. But the burrito I just had (the Al Pastor) was not as good as it should have been/used to be. Same basic recipe, but a little cooler and a little milder, and most importantly about 60% the size of an Al Pastor of yesteryear or, more precisely, yester-October. What’s going on? And then to add insult to injury they seem to have managed to keep the franchise name, recipes and menu but they’ve lost the branded soda cups! This is more than I can take!! At least they are still a Coca-Cola shop…

More CBS13 squawking…

CBS13’s newsgathering/presentation has been a frequent topic of converation here on the Sac Rag (so much so that I think they should have their own category). The ability of these people to present news is unparalleled, and not in a good way. Check out these Pulitzer Prize-quality articles on their website, for example:

“Chaos At Sacramento Bar After Shooting”

Or:

“HIV-AIDS Patient Information Stolen In Sacramento”

Thanks, CBS13. More and more, I’m impressed with your online journalistic prowess. You just might be the worst in local news, and that’s saying a lot.

Who knew there was such a thing?

CSUS nursing major Nicole Honaker was recently crowned Miss Sacramento County (I say recently because there is no mention of the date in the article. Somebody won’t be winning Miss Junior Reporter!) Lest you think an academic-minded woman should be shamed by participating in such an event, you’ll be happy to know that during the swimsuit competition contestants are merely to walk past the judges, not to pose or even stop on the stage. At a certain point can we just get rid of that category? What’s next, you just show them a swimsuit you bought? Anyway, congrats Miss Honaker. Maybe next year we’ll do a Miss Sac Rag…