Tartine: European Bistro on Coronado's Coast

I got a text from one of my best friends, Sarah, this morning a bit after 7 AM. My alarm had gone off but I was doing what we call goooing in bed (i.e. rolling around in bed, in and out of sleep, with little intention or desire to wake up). All she had to do was put the word "Coffee" in her text and I was at Tartine on First and Orange (right across the street from the Ferry Landing on Coronado Island) in no time. Only four of the many tables were taken, the place was serene with great soft lighting and seating indoor and out. There was a huge case of the most delicious pastries and baked goods you've ever seen and all your favorite coffee drinks, exotic and classic, ready for your ordering. I always choose salty over sweet so I went with a Spinach and Tomato slice of quiche and a drip coffee. Sarah sat down to join me and I dug in.


Right off the bat: Best Quiche of My Life. I don't even SUPER like quiche but I've had it a lot. It looks like pizza...sometimes I get confused...BUT this slice made me a believer. Two reasons: It had equal parts of delicious gruyere cheese and egg and the crust was exceptional. Somehow they made a thick, dense crust flaky? I dunno, but I tore right through it and I'm a person weary of eggs, especially coupled with morning grogginess and only into the first 1/4 of my coffee. I also loved the fruit salad that came alongside. I work right under the Coronado bridge so I got to hang out and enjoy the view of the harbor skyline and wake up without being late for work. Tartine is open for three meals a day and features tasty Euro Cafe items ranging from an assortment of paninis to Roasted Duckling! Whether it's for coffee and creme brulee in the morning or Curry Chicken Salad and Steak at night, Tartine is a great place to dine alone or with friends any time of the day. Say HEY! to Sarah if she's working there :)

Almost Famous Outdoor Showing at Stone Brewery

I just saw the Dr. Dog/Delta Spirit show at The Casbah has sold ut. BUMMER, why do I always wait too long to buy tickets? If your shut out like our crew check out Almost Famous at the beautiful Stone Brewery. Yes, it's all the way in Escondido BUT this place is really cool, has great food and beer of course, free prizes and is showing not only one of the best movies EVER but a cool Academy Award Wining short called I Met The Walrus. Check it Out!!

Another Reason to Read: Free Food

In observance of National Library Card Sign-up month, just show your library card from any public library in San Diego at any San Diego Area Chipotle on Tuesday, September 16th and you'll receive a free burrito, bowl, order of tacos, or salad. DONE!!! I might hit a few of these today and stock up for lunch and dinner tomorrow. Ahhh being poor in your 20's...GO GET A CARD AND READ AND EAT GRATIS!!

Jose Gonzalez covers "Heartbeat" in a Sony Bravia Commercial

This is an oldy but goody, not only is this commercial for the Sony Bravia television visually magnificent, both irie and sober, but the song backing it is equally as breathtaking: Jose Gonzalez doing a gorgeous cover of top notch song "Heartbeats" by fellow Swedish musician buddies, The Knife. The video was made by shooting over 250,000 brightly-colored rubber balls (real, not computer-generated) from a cannon down a San Francisco street and then slowing it all down. Perfect mix of visual and sonic bliss.



The advertisement was made by Danish photographer Nicolai Fuglsig.

House Down Side Up German A

Pictured is an upside down house built in Trassenheide, Germany. The house belongs to an entrepreneur from Poland and is part of the project, "The World Upside Down." The house was built to enable an alternative view on everyday life. The building is expected to open its doors for visitors in the upcoming week.

AHH! Scarier than 9-11!!

Yeah yeah yeah, we all know most of Hollywood is liberal and loves to spout off about their political views. But watch this clip of Matt Damon as he compares Palin's VP ticket to a really bad Disney movie. Pretty scary and possibly true.

Also, just food for thought on only ONE WEEK of dirt on Palin:

--Anti-Women's Right to Choose
--Pro- Death Penalty
--Anti-Sex Education (Has a pregnant 17 year old daughter FYI)
--Believes in a Young Earth
--Voted for Creationism to be taught in school
--Used taxpayer money 300 times in one year (Claimed it was for a “traveling per Diem”, which she sat on her stupid hockey mom ass in her own home)
--Fired a Public Safety Commissioner who refused to fire her sisters ex-husband, a state trooper
--Son has been accused of cocaine and OxyContin abuse
--Less than 2 years of governance experience
--Was mayor of the meth capitol of Alaska.
--This meth haven has only about 9,000 people (Chula Vista has17,3556 People)

IS THIS FUCKING REALITY?

9-11

Even Google didn't jazz up its main page for what my planner has pre-labled as "Patriot Day"?! True or False: There was a violent coup de etat in Chile on September 11, 1973 that the Nixon Administration spent over 6 million dollars to support? True. It kicked off a horrific dictatorship in Chile that lasted till 1990 resulting in thousands of exiled citizens, arrests, torture and death. BELIEVE that our government will, has and DOES take lives to carry out its agenda.

ter·ror·ism [ter-uh-riz-uhm]–noun
1.the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.

Start Reading Again, It's So Rare It's Almost Ironic

All the books you could ever want FOR FREE. The library blows my mind, there are books on everything. I haven't been in forever because I ran up quite a tab in late returns, BUT, I want to start reading regularly again, and buying books costs as much as paying off my debt to San Diego. Leave your suggestions for great reads on the comment board. Confederacy of Dunces, Pride and Prejudice and The Poisonwood Bible are some of my favorites. And OF COURSE non-fiction books rule. The library also has live music and shows some awesome films both super current mainstream ones and cult classic greats.
Official SD Library Site

Review: Fringe Series Premier

With Alias, LOST, and Cloverfield in the can, it seems that mystery master J.J. Abrams can do no wrong. Save maybe annoying some fans with his "solve one mystery, create 3 more" signature story-telling style.

So when Abrams approached Fox for his new sci-fi series "Fringe", they jumped at the chance to be a part of the much-deserved hype.



The series premier finds our hard-shouldered faithful heroine, FBI special agent Olivia Dunham set to unravel a terribly odd case of a flesh-devouring virus aboard a 747. The set-up is simple: she's in love with her partner Agent Scott who catches the insane flu and immediately becomes transparent and on the verge of death.

With just a moment's use of her awesome FBI "google" search, she's found "fringe" doctor and scientist John Noble--a questionable doc from the 70's who's been (unduly?) hidden away in a mental institute for the past 17 years. Dunham must find the doc's estranged son--a sarcastic-as-usual Joshua Jackson (aka Pacey Whitter from Dawson's Creek)--in order to get the loon released and working once again to help save her man.

So what types of weird science might we find throughout the season? In one scene Dunham tells us that the Doc had secretly studied "invisibility, re-animation, mind control" amongst other controversial methods. In one scene, one of the leads even experiments with LSD. Awesome.

From Lost, we have tall, dark and overall scary-as-shit actor Lance Reddick who plays the no-bull head of the special investigation unit. I was pretty stoned when I watched this, but for a minute I could have sworn that this show was just a tool by which to integrate LOST-with its almost visceral mysteries and conundrums- yet even more into our collective consciousness, awaiting the time in 2012 when we're finally told the Truth. Not only about the Island, but reality itself.

Either way--whether great new weekly show or master tool of revelation--Fringe has made its way into my heart in a mere 80 minutes. Abrams has promised that the show will be easier to follow, allowing addicted viewers to tune in each week and follow a large mythology, or casual viewers to watch here and there and still get an interesting story by the end of the hour. Just like the classic and one of my old time favorites, The X Files.

*Sidenote: During the show, when Phillip Broyles shows Olivia Dunham a folder of incidents around the world, Sri Lanka was a location amongst it, with the Lost Dharma logo located on the bottom right corner of the photo (possibly a card).

Fringe airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox
Official Website

Straight Up Scenster Missed Connection

Live Wire, caught my fire - w4m
Reply to: pers-833422054@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-09-08, 8:57PM

You, man, skinny jeans, rat tail, bandana, holding a tall can of pbr, tapping foot by the juke box, tattoos, and easy on the eyes. Me, woman, platinum blonde hair with a blue stripe in back, tall, skinny, cut off shorts, tank top, and eyeing you. outside you let me borrow your lighter. we struck up a conversation about our fixies. i still want to cut your hair.

* Location: Live Wire
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Lee "Scratch" Perry Live at The Belly Up 9.2.2008

I've been super excited about this one for a long time. I love reggae, dub is my FAVORITE, and Scratch Perry happens to be one of the most legendary reggae artists of all time both in performing and producing. Influencing the music of Jamaican greats such as The Maytals and The Wailers, he also produced ground breaking work for biggies like The Clash and Linda McCartney. Far from being retired, Lee "Scratch" Perry is currently working on a new album, due out in 2009, and produced by "the king of party music" and television personality Andrew W.K. Read more about the man they call The Upsetter and impress the crowd at your next smoke session.

Alarming Craigslist Add

Dissolution of Marriage - m4w

Reply to: pers-818921627@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-08-29, 5:14PM

This is Bryan C. Pittman and I am looking for Beverlee E. Palmer in San Diego, CA... Guess what, we are still married. Please contact me so we can dissolve the marriage.

Location: Austin, Texas
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

HOUSE PARTY AUGUST 30TH!!!

VENA CAVA CD RELEASE PARTY!!!!
Wear All Black Because Summer Had Died

Rats: the new Dogs

No other animal on earth has been as wrongfully stereotyped as the rat. Countless films, books, TV shows and old wives' tales have painted the small furry rodents as intentionally mischievous, filthy, disease-carrying animals intent on frightening even the strongest of manly men.

Now while the part about "disease carrying" is true, per se, its only because the fleas on street and sewer rats were responsible for the majority of the bubonic plague that killed ¼ of the population during the 14th century. On the bright side, this plague brought about a time of renaissance and prosperity that ushered in the work of Michangelo, Da Vinci and Shakespeare. Go rats!

Disease spreading aside, rats make wonderful, friendly and very warm pets. Below are the reasons to consider a little guy before getting a dog or cat.

-Rats are smarter than dogs. They are naturally inquisitive and love to both create and solve puzzles. Must be why they're used in medical research so much.

-Rats are very clean. You need to keep their cage clean, of course, in order to make sure they always smell nice. However, rats are very concerned with hygiene and even like to keep their cages organized. Most will find one spot in their cage for feces.

-Rats are friendly and enjoy human interaction. Within a few days of owning a rat, you will notice that they enjoy being held, cuddled and paid attention to. With a bit of cheese, you can get your new pet to do just about anything.

-Rats don't require a lot of money or space. You can buy a pet for around $5, the cage and accessories for about $30-40. Other than that, rats are happy to just run around your living room or small area. While you're home, of course.

There you have it! Consider one of these small, furry friends before you jump into the huge responsibility of getting a dog.

Coffee House Review: Ken Coffee

Kensington Coffee Company

4141 Adams Ave

(619) 280-9114

I bet you know where the best coffee place in San Diego is. We all do, and they are most likely all in different locations. You like the one where the coffee is as hot as the earth’s core, she likes the one where you get a cookie alongside your cappuccino, he likes the one where the people watching is the best. Just because you already pledge allegiance to a coffee house doesn’t mean you can’t branch out. I myself, don’t have a particular favorite but I’m ready to call somewhere home. Working in an office has got me so hooked on coffee that I definitely need it on weekends now but I just won’t break down and get a coffee maker, that’s for people with coffee addictions and right now, I just have a habit ok? I can quit anytime I want. OK???? 

I had to pick up some free Del Mar Fair tickets I scored off a blog contest in Kensington and decided I might as well try a place out there, something new. Me and a friend decided on Kensington Coffee Company for coffee and breakfast. I’d like to admit here: it was 3 pm. This is a tough time for people who can’t quite yet make that difficult, deep question that usually follows a rough night and a half day of hangover time. It’s the glorious moment you realize you can hold food down again:

Should I eat breakfast or lunch????

Go to Kensington Coffee, they’ve got a diverse menu of both and the prices are so good you can get a BLT AND an omelet if you wanted to.

They have delicious classic items you’d expect from any coffee shop like bagel, pastries, fruit bowls and juices but they are also a full functioning café. The menu boasts items like breakfast bagels and chicken quesadillas to awesome sounding salads and sandwiches like the Tuscan Chicken. My friend ordered the chicken quesadilla and it was loaded with well spiced shredded chicken and perfectly melted cheese in a flaky tortilla. This was a big ass thing, seriously, the super nice cook even came outside to warn her he’d made it so big that he might need to cook it longer. Turns out it was bomb and it came with a side of grapes to munch on. Unfortunately all I could stomach at the hour was a house coffee which left me in a much better mood and with an excuse to come back. And I’d like to announce: the coffee is damn good. Atmosphere wise it’s spacious and sunny with lots of different types of people hanging out on ample couches and tables. There is outdoor seating also which is great for smugly glancing over at all the shameless Starbucks Squares right across the street. Even at 3 pm on a Saturday Ken Coffee was hopping so I bet things can get pretty crowded in there at peak times. The staff is polite and in good spirits, awesome, hard to find these days it seems. And like I said before, all this comes with pretty inexpensive prices ($4-$7 range!) which justifies the drive over if your neighborhood is a bit far away like mine.

Damn Flamingos, what happened to you??

You used to be so cool in the 80's...

Now your glories been reduced to tacky yard kitsch and hideous sequin covered tourist blouses from Miami Beach....

SCARLET SYMPHONY TO RAGE INSANE NEW VENUE

Local Favorite's Scarlet Symphony turn a Mission Valley Warehouse Into an Inferno this Saturday. Somewere Loud is not to be missed!! Bedford Grove is blazing up shows of 2000+ and Drop Joy is a Seattle Band with a black girl offering up insane guitar licks. Oh yea, and the DJ is the percussionist from The Black Eyed Peas. Hey the price is right, it's close and all you can drink till any time you want in the morning? DO IT!!! Come out and party with us!!!

Live Beyond Your Means With Ease

By using: Community Magazines Dowtown/Uptown Coupons
I’m broke but I insist on living beyond my means. I cook at home quite often but if I want to eat out, I’m gonna fucking eat out. Forget fast food, I’m over it and the whole scene stinks, both figuratively and literally speaking. That’s why I adore and always keep nearby, The Downtown Magazine. This magazine sized, glossy, good looking book of coupons has basically every nice restaurant you can’t afford but really want to try, and now you can because most of it is buy one get one free or better.

We had one that took 25% off of our bill! And it’s not just downtown snooty joint’s, there are some of your favorites, some hole in the walls and the variety of cuisine is enough to make your head spin. Take a chance on a restaurant you’ve never been to and enjoy paying only a little over half of what you would have. There are adds for other services, like lipo and dog walking, but the main event is all the great deals on gourmet meals. I magically get mine free in the mail every three months but check out the website for places to pick them up if you don’t. Café Carpe Diem and The Postal Place in Hillcrest are some of the places by my house that have them. Uptown Magazine is for you folks, in, well, Uptown, not sure where the best pick up place is there. See you out dining! Nobody has to know youre crossing your fingers hoping your paycheck cleared☺

If Your iTunes is boring the hell out of you: Pandora

Check out Pandora Radio if you’re itching for new music. It’s really cool, you type in any song or artist you like and their system starts matching up songs or artists based on hundreds of musical attributes they’ve been studying for years. This is more complex than matching up just genres like other personal web radio stations. Read the excerpt below taken from the Pandora Radio website describing “The Music Genome Project”:

“On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever. Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.”

BOMB. What’s awesome is that as I’m listening I’m finding other bands and songs I’m into. I have to keep a list by my computer to write down the names of some bands and songs I want to downloaded or check out their entire album. See for yourself, it’s free and easy. Pandora.com.

Summer Radiohead Tour Guide

Usually I’d post a summer concert guide, but since there are so many potential ways to see the most awesome band in the world, I thought they deserved it. Below you’ll find a simple and easy way to decide which show you should attend (or just go to all 3, like me).


August 22-Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco CA

Yay: Tickets are only about $85 and you’ll not only catch Thom rocking Golden Gate park for the very first live music show after dark, but also get a glimpse of new Beck material, the groovy awesomeness that is Manu Chao, local, overbooked heros Cold War Kids, stoney Steel Pulse, plus Black Keys, Black Mountain and a host of others. And all this is just on Friday.

Nay: It IS a festival. You’ve been warned

Setlist foreshadowing: A good festival mix. Im sure In Rainbows will be the focus, which is quite dandy in my book. Expect dreamy anthems like “My Iron Lung”, “Fake Plastic Trees”, “Subterranean Homesick Alien” and “Lucky”. Ok, maybe Im just dreaming.



August 24 and 25: Hollywood Bowl


Yay: Probably the best all around venue in the world. Every seat is amazing, you can bring food and alcohol in, you’re under the stars and listening to Johhny Greenwood lull you to never never land. This one’s pretty much ‘Yay’ all around. Tickets are sold out and going for about $300 a pop. But would you rather fix your radiator or change your life?

Nay: The “Hollywood” types can be interspersed with the die-hard fans at the Bowl. We once sat next to the most vapid couple on earth, who discussed celebrity gossip in the 2nd row of a Sigur Ros show. Take your chances and don’t be afraid to tell those wankers to shut it.

Setlist Foreshadowing: We’ve got 3rd row seats, so it better be every goddamn melody to ever come out of these boys. Including Tom’s solo album and Greenwood’s score to “There Will Be Blood”. At least 5 songs from OK Computer.

August 27th: Cricket (?) Wireless Ampitheatre

Yay: Its closer than LA and SF.

Nay: Kinda everything else. I only bought lawn seats for this one cause if there’s anything 10 years of San Diego crowds have taught me, its that they’re a collective bunch of cell-phone using, bro-loving douche bags that don’t know how to STFU and enjoy a real concert.

Setlist Foreshadowing: Hopefully something nice and even. Its toward the end of their tour, so I would not expect fireworks at this one. Wait a tick, its Radiohead. Just go. Maybe they’ll piss off newbies and play only “Pablo Honey” songs and B-sides.