Cover Story
The democratization of filmmaking
A good story, willing actors, ingenuity, technical know-how, and $1,500 can go a long way these days. Just ask Ben Chiu, an Avila Beach-based filmmaker who wrote, produced, shot, and directed MindScans, a feature-length film based on a story by noted science fiction author Steven L. Kent. The film will open at Galaxy Theatres of…
Wallace retires as South County Sanitation District administrator
John Wallace, who played a dual role—administrator of the South County Sanitation District and president of its contracted engineering firm—announced on Feb. 20 his retirement from his part-time employment with the district. He has served for nearly 28 years. Following a brief opening by board member and Arroyo Grande Mayor Tony Ferrara, Wallace took the…
Public ire grounds school closure
Ed. note: This article was changed on Feb. 21 to fix an error that occurred when it was uploaded to the internet. A popular accelerated elementary school program will remain open for now, but with limited enrollment in the coming year. That was the temporary cost-saving action taken by the board of the San Luis…
Would your life make an interesting movie?
Margit Olson retired teacher Yes. … My father was a former prisoner of war for the United States. I grew up in Germany after the war and there was lots of poverty. Then I came to the U.S. and everyone is so rich. Chris Skiff Manse on Marsh owner Yes it would. I’ve adopted two…
Raising the bar!
During a recent visit to the spectacular estate of Daou Vineyards, perched high above Paso Robles atop Daou Mountain, winemaker Daniel Daou provided me a glimpse of the not-very-distant future for our North County wine region. Not only is Daou (pronounced Dow) striving to realize his dream of making cabernet blends equal to the finest…
Rodney Strong 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
I enjoyed this bold red’s forward fruit flavors of blackberries, plums, and wild boysenberry aromas and flavors. It’s beautifully layered with a touch of dark chocolate and nuances of spice. While its soft tannins make it drinkable on its own, it’s a great choice for the table with a ribeye steak, roast pork, rack of…
Bishop’s Peak 2011 Sauvignon Blanc
This friendly, delicious white is just the ticket as an aperitif, and a delightful food companion. It opens with bright fruity notes of citrus that are nicely balanced by notes of ripe melon and nuances of herbs and earth, and is a good choice for roasted poultry, prawn quesadillas with guacamole, pork chile verde, or…
The things I cannot change
It’s been a rough couple of food years for me. If you haven’t heard, in November 2012, Hostess decided that the Twinkie was no longer the invaluable, preservative-laden sugar log America had come to love and depend on. They stopped making them here in the states (but thank God our knit cap, Canada, still produces…
CLUBS – 2/21
Goin’ South … BRANCH ST. DELI: 203 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande, 489-9099. Live music Fri. from 5:30-8:30 p.m. THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Road in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the Pismo…
And the winner is …
It may not be as big as the Super Bowl, but for some of us, the Academy Awards is another national holiday. This Sunday, Feb. 24, starting at 4 p.m., the 85th Academy Awards with host Seth MacFarlane will be broadcast on ABC, and all across America and beyond, house parties, bars, and in my…
On a mission
A really good musician can make her instrument take on a life of its own. The thing becomes a living, breathing creature and the musician seems to just be holding on for dear life. That’s what I think when I see Brynn Albanese play, anyway. Of course, so far I’ve only seen her perform with…
Watered down
The latest musical to hit the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre, titled Watergate and Other Solid Gold Hits! is not, artistically speaking, a successful show. The play’s musical selections are far too ambitious for its abilities. The storyline is garbled, the dialogue unnatural and painfully cliché. The dancers are out of sync but don’t really…
Broken flowers
Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s debut novel The Language of Flowers is daringly, stubbornly, shamelessly romantic. And like its central character—the damaged, mistrustful Victoria Jones—you can try to resist its lovely overtures, but only for so long. Set in San Francisco, The Language of Flowers, the Cuesta College Book of the Year, follows the young Victoria, a foster…
Sad new world
I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s a crisis afoot. Schools closing! Librarians losing their jobs! Think of the children! (You have to imagine that I’m bellowing this at you, and that I don’t have to break off every few seconds to cough as a result of what my doctor is calling my “spray…
Whither jazz?
As usual, this year’s Grammy program featured pop, rock, folk, and country music with mostly vocalists. It would be much more interesting for a large number of people to have presented some instrumental music, including jazz and modern big band jazz. I recall one year when two Grammy awards went to Wynton Marsalis (trumpet) for…
And now a grinder?
I live in Los Osos, on a fixed income, as many of my neighbors do. I have long feared the costs associated with the sewer. I called local contractors to give estimates on what it would take to decommission my septic system and hook-up. I knew what it was going to cost. I planned for…
By his own words, Obama is a failure of a president
As a senator, Obama voted no on raising the debt ceiling stating raising the debt ceiling is a failure of leadership by the president. As president, Obama wants exclusive rights to raise the debt ceiling. As a presidential candidate, Obama stated the $400 billion deficit and $4 trillion increase in the debt by Bush was…
Here’s the difference Obama makes
Now that everyone’s had a chance to experience Obama’s Alinsky Rules For Radicals up close and personal for the past four years, surely even those on the left are beginning to suspect their gold-plated celebrity president has become tarnished and corroded. Even though their beliefs are based on faulty assumptions, flawed reasoning, or misplaced compassion,…
Keep presidents to two terms
There is a proposed new law that has not been passed by our Congress (U.S. House of Representatives, Senate) called H. J. RES 15 that will allow a future president of the United States to serve more than two terms by doing away with the 22nd Amendment. I am against repealing that amendment, because it…
Yes, today’s drivers are terrible
I could have written the Jerry James four-part cartoon (Feb. 14). The fourth part is a pet peeve of mine: people getting on the freeway at ridiculously slow speeds. They must have missed the Shell Oil informational movie I saw in the ’50s. It indicated that the proper way to get on the freeway is…
Avoid flat lining
In response to Roberta Fonzi’s concern about the word Atascadero being “hard to read” in the newly suggested logo (“Welcome to the Heart of the Central Coast,” Feb. 14), I ask, “Where were you when the Chamber of Commerce put up the freeway welcome sign as you approach the city from the north?” You can…
Robert Densham
NEW TIMES Describe what it’s like. DENSHAM I sit among the orchestra, and they become very accustomed to my presence, so I can sit in one of their chairs and I can get an experience similar to that of the player. My drawing becomes more animated according to the music. NEW TIMES How did you…
The fish rots from the head down
It seems like yesterday there were thousands of protesters at Wall Street. Why were they protesting? Some said Wall Street’s greed, corruption, the wars; some even said the protesters want some handouts! But lo and behold there are not so obvious reasons! Two words: indentured servitude. Or debt slavery. What!? That’s absurd! Well let’s take…
A Glimpse of recovery
It happens to the best of us: We sprain our ankle playing a recreational game of basketball, tear a ligament going all out at the gym, or have back pain catch up with us as punishment from years of sitting in front of our computers. What doesn’t always happen is the correct treatment; after a…
Cougars & Mustangs
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy; and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of…
Oil and water
You’ve heard the old western proverb before, especially if you live in California: “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.” Santa Barbara County Supervisor Doreen Farr’s district covers a lot of water—nearly the county’s entire coastline. On Feb. 12, Farr traveled inland to testify in Sacramento before a joint committee hearing on hydraulic…
A pipe dream becomes reality
A contractor bidding war in Nipomo is coming. The board of directors for the Nipomo Community Services District voted 4-1 on Feb. 13 to approve a $14.1-million financial plan for the first phase of an inter-tie pipeline to bring water from Santa Maria to the thirsty community. Funding for the project will come from a…
Corrections
• A recent article (“A love affair with antiquity,” Feb. 14) incorrectly cited the ethnicity of a woman named Aspasia, the live-in lover of Pericles, the Athenian general referenced in the piece. She was in fact from Miletus, a Greek city-state in present-day Turkey. • An article regarding board member Debbie Peterson’s call for an…
Cuesta accreditation status is (mostly) resolved
It may not have been double-secret probation, but Cuesta College has been operating under serious scrutiny since 2010, when it was first put on, well, accreditation probation. Representatives from the school announced Feb. 14 that Cuesta will keep its accreditation after a year-long scare with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The organization…
Coastal to cut librarians, counselors
On Feb. 19, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District started the process of eliminating 28 full-time staff positions to meet the district’s $6 million budget deficit. The cuts include all of its certified teacher-librarians and 11 elementary and secondary school counselors. Preliminary layoff notices will go out to affected employees before March 15. The…
Morro Bay and Cayucos: Let’s stay together
It was like that uncomfortable conversation we overheard as children, when our parents’ relationship hit a rough patch and, despite high tensions, they eventually agreed to stick it out for the better good. That was the gist of the Morro Bay and Cayucos Sanitation District Joint Powers Agreement meeting on Feb. 14—yes, Valentine’s Day—where both…
Stabbing defendant wants alleged victims to take the stand
A 22-year-old Vallejo man accused of stabbing another man during a late-night altercation in downtown SLO in January 2012 rejected a final plea offer by the District Attorney’s Office, and it seems the case will now be heading before jurors in mid-March. At a Feb. 19 discovery hearing that would be Austin Sarna’s second-to-last court…
Report: California would be OK without Diablo Canyon
A report released by the agency tasked with managing and operating the state’s power grid found that Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant isn’t essential to keeping California’s electricity flowing, prompting county officials to begin envisioning a future without the plant’s economic and energy-related benefits. On Feb. 1, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) released its…
