glenn x

The Onion is so damn funny. They've outdone themselves this time. Check out this satire. Freaking hilarious.

Glenn Beck has emerged as the white Malcolm X. Whereas Malcom X embraced militant black separatism, Beck marries a stridently emotional style with political views that wouldn’t have been out of place at a 1950s Elks Lodge event. But like Malcolm X, Beck terrifies mainstream liberals, who see something sinister in his inexplicable ways. And just as Malcolm X mellowed in his old age, embracing a more traditional interpretation of Islam shortly before his death, Beck seems to be self-consciously moving past the politicized anger that defined his program for much of the past two years towards a heavy emphasis on spiritual uplift for his people.

Ha, ha, ha. White Malcom X, that's...what's that? You're telling me that's not the Onion? It's a real column on a "real" website? KILL ME NOW.

your next president

Amid all the shit Obama takes from liberals, it would behoove them to remember what the alternative looks like.I bring you Tim Pawlenty, GOP golden boy, and John McLaughlin's wet dream:

Reproductive rights groups chastised Gov. Tim Pawlenty Monday for refusing federal money for comprehensive sex education in exchange for abstinence-education funds that will cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars. Advocates say Pawlenty’s decision to opt for the more expensive — and controversial — program arises from his presidential ambitions and not the best interests of the state.

GWB all over again. Just put your head in the sand and convince yourself that teenagers don't have sex. Not saying that absolves Obama from all criticism, but you may want to remember how bad things were pre-Obama.

scared of (dark) people

jon cougar concentration camp / the kids (campground)

I'm pretty sure this is rare, but don't quote me boy, cuz I ain't said shit. Jon Cougar Concentration Camp you probably know all about, but Chula Vista's The Kids are a little more obscure. I don't really know anything about them, but knowing the inbred nature of the San Diego scene, I'm going to assume all members went on to play a vital role in said scene and were in about 20 different bands each. Also "Shotdown" is the best song you've never heard of the past month.

1. JCCC - Not That Easy
2. JCCC - Crimson [King Wheelie]
3. K - Fuckin' Destroy
4. K - Shotdown

DL 'JCCC / KIDS'

the waterworld of white self-pity

Sometimes, I really like Hitchens.

What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up believing that there is no appreciation for our veterans and our armed forces and that without a noisy speech from Sarah Palin, their sacrifice would be scorned? It's not unfair to say that such grievances are purely and simply imaginary, which in turn leads one to ask what the real ones can be.

 

post-acid

you're welcome, ladies

drunk? no, off-duty mime, practicing

[barstool.ma]

the kittens will have their say

cavity - wounded (1998 no!

You know what I hate? When I begin to truly appreciate a band long after they've disbanded. Sigh. Like everything they ever did, this Cavity 7" is crushing.

Thanks to See The World Through Sunken Eyes for the rip.

1. Wounded
2. Human Abjection
3. Untitled
4. Shutdown (Annihilation Man) [Germs]

DL 'WOUNDED'

new bomb turks / devil dogs (1993 helter skelter)

New Bomb Turks doing a medley of Devil DOg's songs, and the DD's doing a NBT song.

Thanks to Too Short A Life for the quality rip.

1. NBT: Dogs On 45 Medley (Rock City USA, Action, Backstage, Rock City USA)
2. DD: Tattooed Apathetic Boys

DL 'NBT/DD' 

espresso nazi

So I guess when it comes to coffee, Giogio Milos is Il Duce. There have been recent articles at The Atlantic, and now this one at Salon, describing how Milos is horrified by what passes for espresso in America. I'm a bit of a coffee snob myself (Wifey would chuckle at the "bit of" part), but this guy has made me see the light, in the opposite way.

"A good cup of espresso has to be balanced between sour, bitter, and sweet,"

No, it really doesn't. It just needs to taste good to whoever is drinking it. Most of the time, the people drinking it are not those whose entire lives revolve around the proper notes of fucking coffee.

"Fifty percent of the result of a good espresso is in the hands of the barista. And if consumers can't recognize that, we lose." 

It's your fault, customer. How dare you enjoy that inferior espresso! Civilization? Ha!

It's amazing that these words are about to be typed by me, who's know to be : If someone likes something, let them like it. Just leave it be. Don't shit on their parade. Relax.

So actually, maybe I should thank Milos. Because until his ridiculous attitude towards coffee opened my eyes, I was (and probably always will be) that guy. You know the guy. You're a moron if you eat a steak at anything above medium rare. Same for hamburgers. You ordered a Frappachino so you are an idiot. You like Little Caesars pizza. I don't wanna be that guy anymore.

But before I change my ways, I want to offer my deepest apologies to you, Milos. Sometimes I use more than 8.5 grams of espresso. Mainly because I have no idea what 8.5 grams of espresso looks like. And I have no idea if my Saeco heats the water to exactly 200 degrees. Extraction times vary depending on how awake I was when tamping. I'M DOING IT ALL WRONG. Yet somehow, miraculously, I really like the result. Praise be.

(Irony alert: As I was writing this blog, I was having conversations telling people who liked Inception that Inception sucked, and people who liked Tosh 2.0 that Tosh 2.0 sucked, so uh, never mind)

casa de pico

One of my biggest pet peeves with San Diegans is their obsession with shitty Mexican restaurants. You live in San Diego! There's awesome Mexican food everywhere! So why do you keep telling out-of-towners to go to Old Town Mexican Cafe, Cafe Coyote, etc (btw, if you're from out of town, dining-wise, stay away from Old Town). Casa De Pico is one of those restaurants. It actually used to be in Old Town, but now it's in La Mesa. So why would I go there? Well, it's close to where I live, and, more importantly, they have Entertainment coupons. It's also slightly better than OTMC and its ilk.

I got the Chicken Mole Enchiladas. Nothing mind-blowing, but they were pretty good. Rice and beans were pretty blah. Oh, here's something I did. For reasons I can't quite comprehend, I thought that the pepper on top of the enchilada was a pepperocini? Why would I think a Mexican place would have a pepperocini on their food? Anyways, I ate it, and lo and behold, it was not a pepperocini. I do not know what exact type of chile it was, but it took about three glasses of water to balance out my mistake.

If you do find yourself at a tourist trap Mexican restaurant, here's some advice. Never go with the salsa they bring out. It's meant for the gringo-est of gringos. No heat at all, and very watery. I'm sure someone from Iowa (no offense) would be thrilled, but it's really not good. You have to ask if they have any house salsa that is hotter. Then they'll bring out the real stuff. To Casa De Pico's credit, theirs is pretty darn hot and tasty. Look at those seeds!

I'd probably never go if I didn't have a coupon, but I did have a coupon, so I went. That's the M.O. of a cheap bastard.

boredom in the mobile home in nowhere usa

bombs of death / acrid (1997 no idea)

Bombs Of Death were a short-lived hardcore supergroup featuring Hirax Max of Spazz, Dylan of Struggle, and Steve Heritage of Assuck. It's a fucking evil couple of minutes. Acrid was also rad, and featured members of The Swarm, Grade, Left For Dead, and Cursed.

Props to Lost In Sabbath for the great quality rip.

1. BOD - Germination
2. BOD - Blank Expression, Inward Destruction
3. A- Elementary
4. A - Boiling Blood
5. A - Love Is No Part Of This Song 

DL 'B.O.D. / ACRID'

happy to oblige

wait, it's about actual boats?

Cancel my subscription!

parasites / beatnik termites - split (1995 just add water)

Truth be told, I'm a little agnostic when it comes to the Parasites. But I really like the Beatnik Termites. And among a boatload of great BT songs, it is of my humble opinion that this 45-second ripper is their best.

1. Parastites - I Almost Loved You
2. Beatnik Termites - I Don't Wanna Be Bad

DL 'PARASITES / BEATNIK TERMITES'

another probe 7" with a girl on the cover [charles bronson, fuckface, your mother, plaight, yogurt] (1996 probe)

What can I possibly say about this record to do it justice? Nothing. Just be glad I spared you the back cover of the record. Aesop as Buffalo Bill? Yipes.

1. Fuckface - Big Pile Of Cocaine
2. Charles Bronson - Annual Martyr To Your Social Life
3. Plaight - Unititled
4. Your Mother - I'm So Happy
5. Yogurt - Gravity
6. Yogurt - Tracy, CA 

DL 'ANOTHER PROBE 7'

yeah, that's about right

[i'mvotingteaparty]

luna grille

Luna Grill is in the same complex as Costco and Ikea in Mission Valley, San Diego. Love me some shwerma (or as they call it, "Beef Tenderloin Kabob Wrap", so I had to cheggidout. Was it good? Yes. Was it great? No. In a town where Mama's Bakery actually exists, would I return? Maybe, if I didn't have the time to head to Mama's. Their menu looks pretty swell, though, so actually a return is likely, as I have an Ikea/Costco addiction.

the noise machine

People are pissed. At Obama. For many, many reasons. Some valid. Most stupid. But I wonder, do they really know (or care) why they are pissed? And would people really be pissed if they weren't told to be pissed?

Case in point: Obama and the Boy Scouts.

So Obama didn't go to the Boy Scout Jamboree. Big freaking whoop. But a lot of people thought that this was some capitol offense (see what I did there, linguists?). Why would anyone get worked up over something this inconsequential?

Fox News took the following line of attack:

Obama is the first sitting president since George Bush, Sr. to miss the Boy Scout Jamboree, and he went on The View instead. 

Someone I know soon said:

Obama is the first sitting president since George Bush, Sr. to miss the Boy Scout Jamboree, and he went on The View instead.

Like a freaking Forget Me Not. We could talk about the absurdity of making an argument that three presidents comprise some sort of long-standing American tradition, but that's not my point. The point is that most "independent thinking" Republicans are really just squawking parrots getting outraged at whatever minor incident their overlords at Fox tell them to get outraged about. It happens on TV all the time. I'm used to that. But seeing people I know and respect do the same thing is really kind of scary.

teenage kicks bonus 7" [fighters, 88 fingers louie, bollweevils, geezers, hiddys, squirtgun] (1995 custodial)

This was the bonus 7" that came with the Teenage Kiks 10" on Custodial Records. Except for The Hiddys, it's a Chicago-fest. The obvious question is why they didn't just make this a 12" and fit all the songs on it. I can't answer that. In any case, in 1997 Liberation Records re-issued the 10", the 7"', and added some of their own bands.

1. The Fighters - Home Is Where The Heart Is
2. The Hiddys - Kids In America
3. Bollweevils - New Dreams [Naked Raygun]
4. The Geezers - We Are The Geezers
5. Squirtgun - Firecracker
6. 88 Fingers Louie - Song X

DL 'BONUS'

ford's filling station

So me and Wifey were watching some sandwich making contest on Food Network, and the winner was Ben Ford, who runs Ford's Filling Station in Culver City. All his sandwiches looked amazing, so since we would be passing through L.A. on the way to a high school reunion, we decided to check it out.

We both ordered the Tortilla Soup.

It was okay, but in no way justified the 8 freaking dollars per bowl. In fact, what it reminded me of was Trader Joe's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper soup, which you can pick up for a few bucks per box.

Being a sucker for anything with blue cheese and caramelized onions, I had to go with the Pub Burger (sorry for the horrendous pictures; outside + camera phone).



Again, it was okay. Not worth $15. The blue cheese/onion burger I recently had at Luc's Bistro in Poway was much, much better. Wifey disagreed. She liked this one way better than Luc's. She's wrong. Sorry, baby. The onion rings were spectacular, though. You could take a bite without pulling the entire onion out of its deep-fried-batter tube. Wifey had the fries, which were very In-N-Out-ish (i.e. awesome).

Total bill for a couple burgers and soup was over $50, which is a little ridiculous. It wouldn't be ridiculous if the food was something special, but it wasn't. It was merely good.

brouhaha comp [jawbreaker, cringer, monsula, nuisance] (1990 piggy wiggly)

Razors Never Die

I think it's safe to say that this can be filed in the "must have" department. One of Jawbreaker's best songs, Cringer doing Monsula, Monsula doing Cringer (who did Winnie-The-Pooh), and Nuisance. Later reissued on Broken Rekids.

1. Jawbreaker - Caroline
2. Monsula - Cottleston Pie
3. Nuisance - Dragonfly
4. Cringer - Razors 

DL 'BROUHAHA'

is chris denorfia sXe?

Exhibit A:

New slogan for the '10 Padres: Breaking Down The Walls.

voodoo glow skuls - dogpile (1993 dr. strange)

I always hated the 'geek band mafia' aspect of Voodoo Glow Skulls, and the whole Hickey episode exposed them as meatheads, but I am not going to deny that I dig all the pre-Epitaph stuff, because I really do dig it. So don't kick my ass, Frank.

So download this, and you can be like this guy:

1. Dogpile
2. Can't Happen Here
3. C-School

DL 'DOGPILE' 

las cuatro milpas

I've probably heard more good things about Las Cuatro Milpas than any other taco shop in town, so it's kind of surprising that my first visit was Friday.

It's a real stripped down place. Just a counter, a really sparse menu, and sort of a Soup Nazi vibe. Like, I honestly didn't know where to order or what my choices were. I was scared of getting banned, come back one year, next! 

So I ordered a pork burrito. Yes, the menu said pork. Not carnitas. The burrito was pretty straightforward. Pork, cotija cheese, and a little bit of lettuce. Normally lettuce in a burrito is a cardinal sin for me, but in this case, there was a minimal amount included just for a little texture, so I was fine. As a whole, the burrito was just okay. But the tortilla was really good.

And the hot sauce was excellent. I was a little scared of it, to tell you the truth. Lots of seeds, a sinister red color, and a little sheen of oil on top. It wasn't as hot as I was expecting, but it was hot, and very good.

I also heard a lot about their beans with chorizo, so I got some of that, too, because I am a disgusting pig. Also very good, but not as good as the beans with longaniza that my best friend's mother-in-law makes.

All in all, I liked Las Cuatros Milpas, and will most likely return. It'll take a few more visits before I can decide whether the hype is justified. So far I'm leaning towards "not really", but maybe the rolled tacos will change that.

the lookouts - iv (1991 lookout!)

The Lookouts became famous more for their alumni (Larry Livermore, Tre Cool, and at least on this release, Billie Joe Armstrong) than their music. But the music is pretty good as well.

1. Story
2. Dying
3. Agape
4. Out My Door 

DL'IV'

grotesque

simple answers to simple questions II: electric bugaloo

Chad Ochocinco asks:

Cuz he's white. Duh.

boris the sprinkler - male model (1994 bulge)

Boris The Sprinkler do an Undertones cover, twice no less, and  a couple of originals. Wacky.

1. Male Model
2. Male Model II
3. Superball Eyes
4. Ejector Seat

DL 'MALE MODEL'

simple answers to simple questions

Atrios asks:

Does it really make sense to keep a bunch of 70-year-olds behind bars? 

Yes, if they are horrible people who have done horrible things.

This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.

refudiation

[ttdb]

inception is a donald duck remake

Seriously.

inception

Review, part one:

Review, part two:

I liked it better a few months ago when it was called Shutter Island. 

Review, part three, random thoughts (spoilers, kinda):

• Seriously, wtf was that? Good lord, a hot mess. I will get this out of the way right now, Christopher Nolan is the most overrated writer in Hollywood. 
• So you make a "smart" movie, one that gets my brain cramping due to the complexity, but when you actually start to apply this level of thought towards details, things make no sense at all. You can't have it both ways, expect me to think really, really hard and then time suspend disbelief at the same time. 
• Example: When you die in a dream, you wake up. Okay, fine. I fully accept that. But then Saito gets shot in the heart. But he doesn't die. But it is a life threatening wound. In a dream. Like, his dream self has an actual functioning circulatory system that knows how much blood he can loose before he dies, so to kill him, you can't just shoot him, you have to shoot him in the right spot. His circulatory system follows real life science, even though nothing else does. Dude bleeds out (but with hardly any blood) for like two hours. In a dream.  
• So, note: if you get cut in a dream, be sure to disinfect that shit or you may get gangrene. 
• Also, for a bunch of dreams, none of this seemed very dreamlike. 
• Why did nobody have a test at the end of the school year, but they skipped classes and didn't study and are now freaking the fuck out over? Why did no one go to school without pants? 
• Any logical roadblocks seemed to have an easy improvised answer built right in. "What if the sedative is too strong?" "Oh, don't worry, this super special magic formula I've created will fix that." Oh, how convenient. 
• The dream inside a dream inside a dream, you know, in the snow? I think I played that level in Return To Castle Wolfenstein. Or maybe it was SiN. Or No One Lives Forever. Sniper rifles? That shit was based straight off of a first person shooter. 
• Also, all of the "defenders" need to go to a dream shooting range because they all suck really, really bad. About a billion shots fired and you hit one freaking guy? 
• Don't get me wrong, the movie looked great. The fighting in zero gravity? Awesome. But the story behind it was just a disaster. 
• I felt the same way about The Dark Knight. Awesome visuals with an incoherent plot behind it. 
• I like how only one guy has the ability to change his appearance in dreams. At least in my dreams, pretty much everyone has that ability and uses it regularly. 
• All of this dreaming and dream theft is based around....corporate espionage? You're using this power to navigate peoples dreams on CEO's? Where are the evil Russian masterminds? There must be someone who wants to rule the world. Hell, Nolan should have at least brought back the Joker for this. 
• In that same vein, the whole time I'm rooting against Cillian Murphy's character. Only after the movie did I realize, wait, that guy did nothing wrong! He was innocent! I'm supposed to feel bad for Ken Watanabe's impoverished character, who only has enough money to buy whole airlines on a whim?
• So, DiCaprio was an American married to a French woman. So, who the hell was Michael Cain supposed to be the father of?
• How the hell did Saito clear the murder charges? Really, one phone call? Who's the evil mastermind now?  
• Seriously, the girl who makes the mazes is named Ariadne? Very subtle. I'm surprised DiCaprio's character wasn't named Theseus.  
• The movie is open to interpretation, and is pretty much choose your own ending. I don't mind that concept, but here, it's open to a little too much interpretation. Hell, you could figure out a way to make this a parable a parable for the OJ Simpson trial, and I'm not sure I would be able to disagree.  
• I really did high hopes for Inception, based on the trailer and all I've heard. But really, it was just kinda stupid, packaged and marketed as smart.  

does not compute

Saw this van in the Linda Vista area yesterday. Have been racking my brain since then trying to come up with an innocuous meaning for "goat boinking". So far, I've come up blank.  

If someone understands some hidden meaning behind this sticker, let me know. It's creeping me out. 

I was going to make a Mickey Kaus joke, but then remembered the Edwards stuff turned out to be true.