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Posts published in December 2009

McSweeny’s Eulogy for Newspapers

A curious invention hit the streets of SF yesterday: The San Francisco Panorama, a one-day only, 320-page, $5-on-the-street broadsheet, created by the folks at McSweeny's. That's 112 pages of news, sports, food and comics; 96…

Mainstream Media Madness

The mainstream media is to “progressive” Mendocino County what liberal bias is to Fox News—a favorite punching bag, an omnipresent boogie man who manipulates, digests and excretes a pile of propaganda. It's a critique that…

Food news from another land: The Chinese garlic bubble

This story, from NPR's All Things Considered, about a Chinese "garlic bubble"  reads like a children's tale: Peasants in China's countryside fill their garages to overflowing with garlic. With swine flu fears running high—and a…

Crime Statistics & Wine Sediment

Drawing any conclusions from the state's Department of Justice statistics for Mendocino County and its semi-comparable neighboring counties requires the skills of an experienced and slightly inebriated tasseographer or oenomancer and an empty glass of…

The Spicy Hot Oil of the Gods

  Sometimes I discover a new cooking technique—a little trick, long-established but new to me—and it feels like I’ve landed on a new continent, where colors are twice as brilliant and my tongue possesses double…

The Exhilaration of Being Shot At Unsuccessfully

The famous and also infamous director Werner Herzog is giving seminars for aspiring filmmakers (which the Rand Corp. pegs at 75% of the U.S. popu lation). Included in the curriculum is: “…the art of lockpicking.…

Letters to the Editor 12/2/2009

SENIORS ON BOARD! Dear Community Members, During this special time of year, we ask that you consider supporting the Anderson Valley Senior Cen­ter. Our needs are many. The Anderson Valley Senior Center is busier than…

Off The Record 12/2/2009

TRAVEL ADVISORY: The Heeser bathrooms in downtown Mendocino have been closed. They proba­bly aren't dank enough, but whatever the reason the Heeser tombs been replaced by a coed Port-A-Potty which, in the words of a…

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