A little white lie

As I've shared before, I am one of the few people I know who really enjoys movie trailers when I go to the movie. This Sunday when I saw an early showing at "The Time Traveler's Wife," which will be reviewed in The Weekend Pinnacle on Friday, I filed away every preview as a movie I want to see. I wondered briefly if the number of trailers that sparked my interest might correlate to how much I like the feature film. At least in this case, it did not.

One of the trailers I saw this weekend is for a movie that I am looking quite forward to seeing called "The Invention of Lying." The movie is about a world in which lying does not exist. Think about it. There would be no calling in sick when you really just want to play hookey; no telling friends that you think their boyfriend is great when you really think he's an asshole; no holding in what you really think about the boss you hate - even in front of the boss.

The movie is directed and written by Ricky Gervais (who I find quite entertaining) and Matthew Robinson, with Gervais in the lead role of Mark. Mark lives in this world without lying, when he suddenly discovers he has the ability to twist the truth. And since lying doesn't exist, everyone else in the world takes him at face value. The list of celebrities in the movie is long, which sometimes can be the downfall of a movie. But hopefully in this one the cast stands up to the challenge. Some of the actors involved include Jennifer Garner, who plays Mark's love interest, Jason Bateman, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, just to name a half dozen.


Of course, it is a world that would never exist. Anyone who has been around small kids knows how early the impulse to lie sets in, whether it is a tall tale they tell to entertain themselves or something to avoid the consequences of bad behavior. I have a cousin, who as a kindergartener, went to school and told her teacher that her mother only fed her pancakes and let all the grown-ups eat first while the kids had to sit around and wait. It never happened, but she was convincing enough that the teacher called home to check on it.

I've also seen kids as young as three lie about something even though they know a parent or teacher has seen them do something bad, like a hit a classmate or take a toy from another child. The conversation that follows usually goes:
Teacher/parent: Why did you hit him?
Kid: I didn't.
Teacher/parent: I just saw you hit him.
Kid: I didn't.


It's hard not to think lying is something that is hard-wired in the human brain. And if I said I never lied, well, you know that would be a lie. But I try to keep it to the little white lies that make life a little easier, like "sure that sounds like a great story idea, boss. I'll get right on it," or "I'd love to wear an ankle length, halter top bridesmaids dress," or "yeah your new (unemployed, pothead) boyfriend seems great." A world with a few little white lies is probably a happier one to live in.

The final slice - or maybe not

Yesterday we went to Capitola for what I thought would be the final cake tasting for my cousin's wedding. We already had a good feeling about the local bakery - and we knew this place doesn't deliver to San Jose, where the wedding will be next May - so we were going into it thinking we probably wouldn't go with this bakery.

Then we tasted the buttercream frosting at Gayle's Bakery on Bay Avenue. For anyone who hasn't made buttercream, it is basically made with lots of butter, lots of sugar and whatever flavoring you want to add. I've made it a few times and it is hard to get the balance between creaminess and sweetness right, without going too far.

The buttercream at Gayle's - which can be tasted any day of the week since they sell cake by the slice in their bakery/deli - is almost like eating whipped cream. The secret seems to be the use of pasty cream, which I've never heard of before. It works wonders for a topping that complements any flavor of cake and filling without overwhelming it.

We tried a devil's food cake, vanilla genoise, hazelnut and a lemon cake, with a variety of fillings. All of that didn't really matter once we tried the butter cream and we were sold. The only problem is they don't deliver outside of Santa Cruz County - and a wedding cake is not something we want to entrust to a cousin or friend of family for a two-hour drive across curvy mountain roads.

My cousin vowed to look into refrigerated delivery trucks, so she is still up in the air. Last word from her is that she wants to try out a couple other places in San Jose because now she knows how good a wedding cake can taste. So it looks like one more weekend, at least, will be taken up with wedding duties.

Photo by Melissa Flores
A slice of mocha cake with vanilla buttercream frosting from Gayle's Bakery in Capitola.

Tomatoes finally flourish

When I moved to the house I live in now on Birdsong Street the thing I was looking forward to most was a backyard that gets full sun. Since I turned 15, I've lived in townhomes, dorm rooms or apartments with nothing more than patios overshawdowed by other buildings. I futiley tried container gardening, but as anyone who knows me knows, I don't really have a green thumb.

I figured when we moved to our new place, where we've been for two and a half years now that the large amount of sunlight might be enough to make things flourish. The first summer at the house I tried to grow a variety of vegetables from seedlings and then transplant them in the yard. They all died, but it was still early enough in the season to buy some transplants at local nurseries. We had our fill of early girl and cherry tomatoes for the summer. That year I discovered a couple of recipes that have become regular favorites - like one with freshly chopped tomatoes and shredded basil tossed in bowtie pasta with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese. It's delicious and perfect for hot summer nights when we don't want to do too much cooking.

Last summer bruschetta was the hit. We made it half a dozen times and I got requests for it from friends who wanted me to bring it for parties.

This summer, our plants got a slow start due to the mild temperatures early in the summer. It is just in the last couple weeks that we've started to get a good batch off our plants. Luckily the farmers market in Hollister is just through the alley from my office on Wednesdays so I've been able to get beefsteaks and heirlooms to boost our supply. Last weekend I tried out a gazpacho recipe, a Spanish dish that is made with pureed tomatoes and vegetables. Since it is chilled, it's also a great summer meal. For the recipe, visit the Weekend Pinnacle life section.

Photo by Melissa Flores

Gazpacho is made with pureed tomatoes, chipotle and corn.

Cake tasting No. 2

We went to a local bakery for the second of three cake tastings for my cousin's wedding. The plus of a local bakery is that we made it to the tasting on time since it was only five minutes from home. The minus - it's a small shop so they only do cake tastings on weekend nights. That meant eating lots of sweet cake on an empty stomach.

My cousin did the consultation a week ago where she discussed cake design, possible flavors and number of guests. My responsibility as maid of honor tonight was just to try cake. The best part of a small shop is that the cakes were baked fresh for us. We had a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and a kahlua hazelnut ganache filling. The cake was moist, almost like a homemade cake and the filling had just the right balance of the two flavors. We also tried a french vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and a raspberry cream filling.

All of the ingredients at this bakery are made fresh on site. The raspberry filling, the baker told us, is made by pureeing and straining raspberries, boiling them down to concentrate the flavor and then mixing it with buttercream. The result is a creamy texture that tastes like fresh raspberries, without the seeds. We also tried a caramel and a strawberry filling, and the strawberry tasted just like eating a fresh strawberry!

My mom said it best when she said after the first place we kind of wondered if to have a beautiful cake you have to sacrifice the flavor. Turns out maybe both are possible.

One more cake tasting to go - and even if the cake is a bust, the place has awesome sandwiches and a dessert called "pot o' chocolate."

Photo by Melissa Flores

Chocolate cake with Kahlua hazelnut filling, strawberry filling

Can 'The Colony' mimick a post-apocalyptic world?

For some reason human beings are a little bit obsessed with the end of the world. There are plenty of books about it from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" - which I haven't gotten around to reading yet - to Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents." Movies about it abound, too, including the upcoming "2012," based on the Mayan belief that the world will end in that year.

So I guess it was just a matter of time before someone got around to making a reality TV show about the end of the world. How is that possible, you might ask? Well, they got a bunch of people and set them up in a situation based on what the show creators think the end of the world might look like. Basically, it's set up in a skid-row warehouse district in Los Angles. For anyone whose seen this part of the city, it doesn't take much imagination to picture it as it will look after some kind of apocalypse since it kinda looks like that already.

I've only seen a couple episodes of Discovery Channel's "The Colony," but I wonder how real the actions of the people involved in the project really are. The people involved come from a variety of backgrounds - engineers, nurses, a machinist. There are no journalists so I guess my skill set won't be useful in forming an alliance after the world ends.

On the episodes that I've seen, the colonists create a running shower with water from the Los Angeles River - a river that I have never known to contain water, but maybe after the world ends it will revert back to a riparian habitat - and they make a washing machine. They neglect to properly secure their compound. Some hooligans get in and steal their food. They do, however, realize the need for a renewable source of energy and they scavenge for solar panels to create their own power source.

Somehow I think if there were really a global catastrophe of some sort, clean clothes might be the least of the worries. It will be interesting to see how the ten weeks play out. New episodes air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.

A Sedaris fix and some insight

I needed a David Sedaris fix and I got one in the latest issue of "The New Yorker." I am actually backlogged on the magazine, which I read pretty much cover to cover. For anyone who hasn't read it, it is a throwback to the magazines of old, with articles of long word count and not many pictures. I try to read them in order so whatever current events are covered don't get too outdating. But when the issue came last week I saw Sedaris on the table of contents and I rotated it to the top of the pile.

I can't remember what made me pick up my first David Sedaris book, but I bought "Me Talk Pretty One Day" at Barnes and Noble. The personal essays were so laugh-out-loud funny I was hooked on him. I liked him enough that when he stopped by the Flint Center for a reading I had to see him. While in line for a book signing, I overheard his conversation with a young couple in front of me that led me to believe his humor isn't just manufactured for his writing, but he genuinely is a funny and witty guy.

I was pleasantly suprised when I started reading "The New Yorker" (which I started only after I was accepted to grad school and a professor told me to make it part of my summer reading list) and found that I could get a fix in between Sedaris' book publications.

The most recent piece by Sedaris is not only funny, but also offered some insight. He writes about a trip to Australia and how a friend took them around to the outback. The friend explained to them a metaphor about life as a stove that has four burners - one represents friends, one family, one health and one work. The friend told Sedaris that to be successful, a person has to turn off one burner. To be truly successful, they have to turn off two.

It seems like an apt description of my life lately since for the last year I feel like work has taken over. I stopped hanging out with friends. I stopped going to the gym for six months. Probably the only reason the family burner didn't go out is because I live with them. I told a colleague about the theory and he said he could relate - his friends and health burner were out just like mine.

Luckily, I don't mind being just mildy successful and the last month I have started getting back to the gym and have been making more of an effort to see old friends, and maybe make some new ones.

Thanks to Sedaris at least I know I am not the only one who struggles to find a balance.

The foreign film blackhole

I saw "Ponyo" over the weekend, the new animated feature by Japanese screenwriter/director Hayao Miyazaki. The movie was out more than a year ago in Japan, and made it to the United States after Disney picked it up for distribution. For more on "Ponyo," which I enjoyed, visit The Weekend Pinnacle on Friday.

Film distribution is an interesting business since many films get made overseas, but they don't always make it to the U.S. I've had the chance to see a few foreign films either while I was overseas or as bootlegs smuggled in from Asia - and a few of these never saw the light of day in America. The thing is, they need to find an American distributor - and for that, the film company has to persuade viewers that an American audience will actually pay to see the movie.

That was the case with one of my favorite movies, a Korean romantic comedy called "My Sassy Girl." I saw the movie because a friend got it from a friend who got it will traveling overseas. The DVD played just fine here and had English subtitles, but good luck trying to find it on Netflix or Amazon. It is a very funny movie about a 20-something guy who is kinda wasting away his life when he happens to meet a beautiful drunk girl on the subway. The girl keeps following him around and bossing him around, until he starts to fall for her. American audiences can see a watered-down version of the movie with Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford in the lead roles.

While I was studying in South Africa in 2004, I saw a movie, "Forgiveness." It was one of the most emotionally-charged movies I've ever seen and yet it has never been shown in the United States. The movie stars all South African actors, including Arnold Vosloo, who has starred in "The Mummy" movies and other mainstream American movies. The movie is about an ex-cop who wants to ask the family of a man he killed in the name of apartheid for forgiveness. The thing that makes the movie is the actors who play the family, Quanita Adams, Christo Davids and Zane Meas. The movie is probably best watched by those who understand the history of South Africa, including apartheid, and the truth and reconciliation commission that happened after it was abolished. So I guess I can see why it never made the migration to American theaters.

It's a shame that some foreign films have never been distributed, but I check in every once in a while to see if they are on Netflix.

'Torchwood' team fights more aliens in summer series

In July, the creators of "Torchwood" aired a five-day miniseries instead of a regular season of the BBC sci-fi show. I just got around to watching it this weekend.

The show has aired on BBC America for three seasons (it's available on DVD), and I started watching it from the beginning. I happened across a preview for it while watching "So Graham Norton," a very hilarious talk show with a very hilarious Irish host. The series premiere of the sci-fi show starts out with a bang as Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), a Welsh policewoman, somehow gets in the middle as Torchwood personnel are tracking down an alien life form. That's what Torchwood is all about - a secret Britsh government force that keeps aliens in check. It is based in Cardiff, in Wales, where Torchwood staff explain their is a rift in the space/time continuum. I just recently learned that Capt. Jack was a character on the British show "Dr. Who," which I've never watched.

The team is led by Capt. Jack Harkness(John Barrowman), an American with a mysterious history. Also on board are Dr. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), and computer expert Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori). Oh yeah, and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), who mostly makes coffee for the first season. Soon Gwen is recruited onto the team. The first season is mostly the team running around chasing aliens - and making out with lots and lots of people. Pretty much everyone makes out with everyone else at some point.

The Welsh accents are hard to understand so I often watched it with captions, and it took me a while to get over the large gap between Myles front teeth. But soon enough, I was a regular watcher.

Season two explained more about how each of the members where brought into Torchwood, and viewers learn a bit more about Jack. It also goes into more depth about Gwen's relationship with her fiancee Rhys (Kai Owens). But by the end, the team is fractured and the last episode seems like it could be the end of the series.

I was surprised when I saw a commercial for the miniseries. For five days, BBC America aired an hour and fifteen minute episode. Torchwood is left with three members standing as an alien life form begins to speak through all the children in the world. Torchwood needs to find out what is going on and how to stop the alien life force.

The first three episodes of the miniseries kept me on the edge of my seat. Especially good is Paul Copley who plays an old man who narrowly escaped abduction by aliens as a young child in 1965. He is the only adult whom is used as a communication piece by the aliens, and the Torchwood staff try to find out way. But their enemies aren't limited to just aliens - for reasons that are explained as the episodes go on, other government officials are out to get them, too.

Episode four lagged a bit, but episode five picked up speed as more and more people begin to realize what is going on and fight it. The end of the miniseries again seems as though it could be the end of the season, so we'll have to wait and see if it comes back again.

Movie maestro made teen films with staying power

When I told my co-worker I was going to be writing about John Hughes, the filmmaker who died at the beginning of the month, he said, "Ah. The director of my generation." The co-worker is a decade older than me and yet I still feel like Hughes was the director of my generation, too. After all, I don't know many people my age who haven't seen "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" or "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

For more on my favorite Hughes' films, read my column in the Weekend Pinnacle here.

Easy as cake

Today I continued my duties as maid of honor with the first of three cake tastings and the second of three gift registries.

You'd think tasting cake would be, well, a piece of cake. But so far it hasn't been so easy. We tried to go to a place that advertises free cake tastings once a month - but they canceled twice because they had too many cakes to decorate. Then my cousin, the bride to be, called another local place only to have the cake decorator say she doesn't really do wedding cakes except for friends and family - despite the elaborate Web site she had promoting her services.

But we finally had our first tasting this morning in Santa Clara at 11 a.m. As always, my cousin was running late. When it became clear we weren't going to make it on time, I called the bakery to say we would be a few minutes late, and the person who answered said she hoped we made it soon because she had a noon appointment. Of course, the bakery is in the middle of this industrial part of town and it has a VERY small sign. We missed it the first time around and ended up having to cross Lawrence Expressway to turn around. Then we had to cross it again to go back towards the bakery and still couldn't find it. About the third time around, I spotted the small sign and we got there 10 minutes late.

But as it turns out, someone else had shown up unannounced to order a bridal shower cake and the cake consultant used the time to help them. We were able to taste and peruse the designs while she finished up.

We tried five cakes - a rum-soaked tiramisu with mascarpone cheese, chocolate with chocolate mousse, carrot cake with cream cheese, red velvet with cream cheese and a poppyseed with lemon curd. I personally loved the tiramisu and the poppyseed. We also tried some of the other fillings available, including a delicious strawberry preserve and a mocha truffle.

I learned a lot about wedding cakes this morning. Fondant is very expensive. Decorators charge for each tier that they decorate. Delivery is extra. Now that I know the ballpark figure for a cake to serve 125 people, I do feel a little guilty for the piece of cake I took at a friend's wedding a couple years ago and misplaced due to having had a bit too much champagne. I probably wasted $10 of cake.

The joke of the day is that at the wedding, my mom, who is paying for the cake, will be going around the reception hall making sure no one wastes the cake.

We have two more tastings to go, but one thing is for sure. I will not be buying a bridal shower cake from any of these places - I think I'll go with a cheap sheet cake from Costco!

The Facebook Facade

I had the rough workings of a post on Facebook rambling around in my head when I came across this CNN article yesterday, I swear. Ask my co-worker - I mentioned it to him on Monday. I probably wouldn't have happened across this article at all except I was using someone else's computer who happens to have CNN set as the homepage. The article basically breaks down Facebook users into 12 categories of annoyingness. I can think of at least one person on my list of 90 friends who fits into each category - some fit into more than one - and now I am paranoid that I might fit into some myself.

Am I the shameless self-promoter, as I have been posting links to my food and movie columns from the Weekend Pinnacle and links to this blog? I only started doing it at the request of friends who wanted a reminder when the columns go live. Am I the lurker since everytime I add a new friend, I check out their friends list to see if we might have mutual acquaintances.

I know which of the 12 annoying habits is my biggest pet peeve - let's just say my editor's eye is always open.

The thing that gets me about Facebook is not the top 12 grievances, but more that it creates this weird world of relationships that never quite materializes. Sure, I know when former coworkers are having a bad day, or if a friend had dinner out at a fancy Nashville restaurant over the weekend. I can check up on a crush discreetly to see if his status is still listed as single and I can chat for a few minutes with a friend from Ireland when our time zones meet at a convenient moment.

But looking over my list of 90 friends - not counting people I am related to or who work in my office - I have only seen two of those people in person in the last three months. Sure there are a lot of people who live out of the state or far enough away that regular visits are unexpected. But sometimes it feels like Facebook creates a false sense of intimacy. After all, I don't have to see people in real life if I can just check their status everyday and send a comment every once in a while.

I have to say I am a traditionalist, so I think it's time for me to step away from Facebook a bit and get back to interacting in the real world.

But for now, I have to log onto Facebook because I've got some crops on Farmville that need harvesting.

U2 breaks the humdrum of Thursday

I went to a U2 concert at 1 p.m. today - well, kind of. The concert was actually in Sheffield, Scotland. I was in my office in Hollister. But thanks to the wonders of livestream webcasts, I listened along with all those British fans while uploading stories/photos to the Internet and prepping InDesign pages for next week's paper.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am a colossal U2 fan. I talk about it a lot. I just love them. I have piles of their CDs. I've seen every concert that has come to Bay Area since Popmart in 1997. I have posters up in my room, like a teenage girl. I try to see everything they are involved in, even when it is really crappy movies like "The Million Dollar Hotel."

You get the hint. So when I got an e-mail from U2.com, to which I subscribe, this morning that I could log on and listen to the concert, of course I wanted to listen. I wasn't sure if it would work since the computer equipment in my office doesn't always perform well - I actually have to use three different computers a week because not one has all the stuff I need to get my job done. But at 1 p.m., I logged on to U2.com to see if it would work. The site, of course, was overloaded by fans from everywhere trying to log on at once. I gave up and went back to it fifteen minutes later, and soon I was listen to "No Line on the Horizon" as if I were part of the crowd.

With my headphones on, it sounded so much better than just listening to the CD because it included Bono's ramblings, the sound of the crowd and a little bit of that energy I always feel at a live U2 show. They played a few songs from the new album. I have to say the songs sound much better live than they do on the album, which I found a little flat compared to their past few albums. They played past hits such as "One" and "Beautiful Day," and even some songs from my favorite album, "Unforgettable Fire."

I listened to most of the concert, with a few disruptions to answer the phone or handle a customer who came into the office - and of course, a few times there was silence while the site was "buffering."

Unlike an in-person contest, there were a few moments when I was confused about what was going on. I walked away to pick up something off the printer and when I came back someone with a South African accent was talking. I believe it was Archbishop Desmond Tutu talking about apartheid and anti-retroviral medication.

I even listend a bit after the concert ended to the local radio deejays - the local stations broadcasted the show live - and some of the fans who called in to share their thoughts. The fans were certainly more diehardthan me. One man has seen the band live eight times - on the current tour! I can't wait until I get to see them live myself in October!

For now, at least it was a nice break from a regular, boring Thursday. Maybe U2 can broadcast a concert for me every Thursday.

Photo by Melissa Flores

One of the posters up in my room.

Future dims for observatory

The state budget cuts continue to reveal themselves, and this week, I learned that all three of the state parks in the Gavilan sector where I live are likely to be shuttered. That includes Fremont Peak, the first place the American flag was planted in California and the home of the Fremont Peak Observatory. Though the official list of state parks, beaches, reserves and historical sites won't be released to the public until Labor Day weekend, the future doesn't look bright for the places in San Benito and south Santa Clara counties. Other sites likely to close include Henry Coe Park in Morgan Hill and the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. See Friday's Weekend Pinnacle for the full story.

Members of the Fremont Peak Observatory Association are hoping to change what seems to be an inevitable closure by inviting public leaders - and anyone who wants to see the park stay open - to a meeting Saturday, Aug. 22, at 5 p.m.

According to association members, Fremont Peak is the best place for astronomers within a 100 miles due to what they describe as the still coastal air that sweeps over into the valley. It is also high enough that low-lying fog covers up some of the city lights. And, of course, being in rural San Juan valley there are a lot less city lights to start.

Three years ago I had a chance to go up to the peak for a story. While most people might not want to spend a Saturday night working, I relished the chance to go up to the peak and check out the Challenger telescope. I brought along a photographer and a friend, and we stayed long after I was done asking questions of the association members for my story. I've stargazed in a few places, and aside from Kruger National Park in South Africa - about the most remote place I've ever been in the world - Fremont Peak offers the best view I've seen of the night sky. And that view may be gone forever if the park is closed as association members have said they would have to dismantle the telescope for security reasons.

San Juan State Historic Park, also in danger, has a special place in my memory as well. Like most fourth-graders in the region, I remember well my field trip to the San Juan Mission, the Plaza Hotel, and the stables when I was a kid. It was a step back into California history, and that, too, may be gone for future generations.

Though it may be too late, the California State Parks Foundation is trying to gather support through a "Save Our State Parks" event where they are trying to get as many people as possible to visit a state park.

If there is a state park near where you live, now would be a good time to visit...next month might be too late.

The Dating Game

When it comes to dating, I could never claim to be an expert. In fact, I don't think I've been on a date - at least not one where both parties where aware it was a date - since I was in graduate school. Sure there were a few instances in the gray area of "hanging out," one in which a guy offered not to go to law school if I wanted to date him and another where I asked a guy at 1 a.m. if he would walk me to my car and he said, "No, I think I'm going to have another beer." Needless to say, those things didn't work out so well.

A friend of a friend, however, may be a certified expert on dating when she completes a project she's undertaken in her spare time. After a break up, she decided to go on 50 dates with men from 50 different countries. She started a blog in June so I am just catching up on the entries since I heard about it over the weekend. So far she details what prompted her to start her project, how she is gathering her dating partners, and most interesting are the recaps of the actual dates.

My own experience with international men is limited to crushes on a few foreign exchange students in high school, and of course, the lovely Irish boys I knew in Coleraine. For the most part, I have enough trouble communicating with men who speak the same language as me, so I wish this blogger luck with her foreign-born dates.

I can't imagine that I will ever go on a total of 50 dates in my entire life - the whole idea seems like it would require a heck of a lot of energy - but I do admire her for putting herself out there.

Dinner and a show

I meet up with a couple of college friends - and their friends and family - for dinner and a show in San Francisco this weekend.

The first time I saw a real theater production - not including the Ronald McDonald theater program my mom used to take me to when I was little - I was 14 and a freshman in high school. My French teacher planned a trip to see "Les Miserables" in the city.

My friends and I all showed up in jeans, sneakers and hoodie sweatshirts to the consternation of the upperclassmen attending the show. They were all dressed in slacks and button-down shirts. Despite our fashion faux pas, it was the first of many theater experiences for me, and I was glad to expand them this weekend.

My friends and I saw "Beach Blanket Babylon," which somehow I had heard about in passing though I had never actually realized what it was about. In my head it was filed away as a musical set in the '60s with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, perhaps because of the 1960s film "Beach Blanket Bingo." Or perhaps because Funicello did make an appearance in "Babylon" during one of their anniversary shows.

The show is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and creator and producer Steve Silver made a short video that is shown to audiences about the inception of the play. He says it is meant to be entertaining escapism to get people away from "all the bad things newspapers report on." As a journalist I cringed a little, but I get it. Even I was a little depressed after the series my paper ran on budget cuts last week.

"Babylon" has a loose storyline that can be easily adapted to fill in for any pop culture references, current events or popular songs - and it is full of crazy, oversized wigs. Snow White is searching for her prince and she searches for him through a montage of different skits that are prompted by some aspect of what she wants in a man. She says she might want a politician, and that kicks off a piece that includes characters dressed as Obama, Palin, McCain, Hilary and Bill Clinton. They even updated the show with a reference to Hilary's not-so-subtle snap at a press conference in Africa a couple weeks ago about how she is Secretary of State, not her husband.

My favorite scene in the movie is a parody of "One Day More" from "Les Miserables," in which the politicians again take the scene, and sing about the economy and the tanked housing market. It was great because I know the play "Les Mis" really well and their rendition was spot on - except that the lyrics were totally different.

For dinner we headed to a restaurant that my friend chose based on two criteria - it was close to the theater and could accomodate a large party. We ended up at Mangarosa, a restaurant that dubs itself a fusion of Italian and Brazilian cuisine. From my viewpoint, most of it was very Italian. Some of the diners skipped the show and met up at the restaurant, and as they were running a few minutes late we had plenty of time to peruse the menu. It include a healthy serving of salads and appetizers, and I opted for a plate of hand-battered artichoke hearts with aioli while others tried pastries stuffed with beef, cheese

and chicken, and a crab dip.

The main courses ranged from meaty dishes such as lamp chops, osso bucco and short ribs to pasta dishes such as raviolis stuffed with ricotta, parmesan and goat cheese or a risotto with shitake mushrooms and chicken in pesto sauce. It is the first time I've ever seen my favorite cheese, teleme cheese, on a restraurant menu so I give the chef chops for that. There were some vegetarian options, but some of the seafood options may be misleading to less knowledgeable diners. One person in the party considered the scallops with speck, treviso and calvados butter even though the only ingredient he knew was the main one. He said he figured speck was an herb or a vegetable of some sort since those would be the two most likely candidates. Turns out speck is actually a type of cured ham, almost like prosciutto. But no need to worry since the diner was not a vegetarian, and actually skipped the scallops in favor of lamp chops.

I ordered the shiitake mushroom and chicken pesto risotto as my entree and it was rich and creamy, as a risotto should be. Others at the table said they enjoyed their meals. I sampled the raviolis and they were tasty, though the sauce was a bit bland.

The main thing to recommend the restaurant is that they easily accomodated a party of 17 in a area set off from the main dining room. The waitress was patient as members of the party arrived. She was fairly prompt with filing the wine glasses, and the group was allowed to leisurely enjoy the food and company.

Photos by Melissa Flores

From top: A friend stands outside the Fugazi Theater with a bust of 'Beach Blanket Babylon' creator Steve Silver

Appetizer special, hand-battered artichoke hearts with aioli sauce from Mangarosa.

Warm spinach salad with goat cheese, pears and carmelized onions.

Focaccio bread.

Shiitake mushroom and chicken pesto risotto.

Tender soft beef short ribs in red bell pepper sauce.

New Hayao Miyazaki film opens

Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animator who I've read is thought of as Japan's Walt Disney, had a new film open in the United States yesterday. It was one of the movies that came out under the radar for me, though I have been a fan of Miyazaki's work for years.

The movie is "Ponyo" and it is about a little boy who discovers a magical gold fish in the ocean near his home. According to the companion site for the movie, it is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid." The goldfish longs to become a girl, and soon does, to the alarm of other sea creatures who want her back. Presented by Disney, the American release has characters voiced by Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson and more.

From the trailer, the movie has the look and feel of other Miyazaki movies. He tends to create places where small children discover a magical world around them. Though "Sprited Away" is perhaps his best known film since it had a wide release in the U.S. and won an Oscar, my favorite of his films is "My neighbor Totoro." Miyazaki's movies are often sweet and heartbreaking at the same time and "Totoro" is the perfect example. The movie follows Satsuke and her younger sister Mei as they move to the country with their father while their mother is in the hospital with a prolonged illness. The children discover a creature living in the woods near their home, a giant named Totoro who looks a bit like a cross beteween a cat, a panda bear and a rabbit - basically unlike any animal around. Totoro helps the children cope with missing their mother and their worries that she will not live.

Other Miyazaki movies to see include "Howl's Moving Castle," which is about a young woman who is cursed by a witch so that she appears old to everyone who sees her. The young woman befriends a wizard named Howl in hopes that he will lift the curse. Another is "Castle in the Sky," in which a boy meets a girl who seems to have fallen from the sky. The girl engages him to help her find her home while battling pirates and government agents. Of course, "Spirited Away" is always with a look. It is about a young girl who is unhappy about her family's move to a new city when she stumbles on a world full of spirits that entrances her parents. She has to find a way to free them, and herself, before the spirits hurt them.

I can't wait to see "Ponyo," though I don't think I will be able to fit it in this weekend. It will definitely be a top priority for next week.

Photo courtesy of flickr.com. Hayao Miyazaki is a well known animated filmmaker in Japan who won an Oscar in 2004.

Summertime TV

There was a time when TV stations took the summer off and left the airwaves to a wasteland of reruns. One summer when I was in graduate school, I remember Tivo-ing a few episodes of "Law and Order: SVU" daily and catching up on six seasons in just three months. There was nothing else on, after all.

In recent years, however, two things have happened. The networks have started using the summer and mid-winter months as a chance to try out new series. Some of the shows that started from May through Aug. on the major networks include "Mental" on Fox, "Merlin" and "The Philanthropist" on NBC, and "The Superstars" on ABC. I watched the two NBC shows and can see why they were relegated to the summer line up. "Merlin" seems like only a show fantasy fans - as in wizards and stuff - w0uld enjoy and "The Philanthropist" is told in such a disjointed way that I've never been able to get into it.

The other thing that has happened is that stations that used to just run syndicated reruns of the shows that used to be on the networks are now developing their own shows. One summer show that came out two years ago and unfortunately ended after two seasons was "The Riches" on FX. It was about a family of grifters who happened upon the identity of a very rich family. Starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, the show gave me something to look forward to on TV once a week.

This summer there are also some summer series I hope make it onto the fall line up. A couple of the shows I've liked so far are on TNT. The first is "HawthoRNe," which stars Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Vartan. The show is about Hawthorne (Smith), who is a head nurse in an ER and a single mom of a teenage daughter. The latest drama on the show is budget cuts and layoffs at the hospital - imagine that. I first watched this because I have a thing for Vartan ever since he was in "Never Been Kissed." But so far Smith carries the show. Maybe I just like that I can relate to her attempts to hold everything inside and be strong while she is at work only to crumple a bit at the end of the day in her car when all the stress hits her.

Another show I've watched a few times is "Leverage." Timothy Hutton helms this show that is about a group of con artists who use their talent to help the aggrieved. Think the type of people who would help all those who lost money with Bernie Madoff. Recent episodes include them getting back money for a clinic that was swindle by a Madoff-like guy and another one was about helping a man get his reputation back. So far my favorite part of the show is seeing a different side to Gina Bellman who played Wacky Jane in the hilarious British series "Couplings." Bellman was seriously funny in "Couplings," but she seems to pull off the serious role she has in "Leverage."

The last show that has caught my attention is one about two FBI agents who get sent all over America to investigate supernatural phenomena - one who is a believer and one who is a skeptic. No, it's not a remake of "X-Files." It's the new series on the Syfy channel "Warehouse 13." The show is a little hokey with the agents searching down "artifacts" that have special powers and need to be stored in a secret warehouse owned by the U.S. government. There is nothing alien here - these items are all supposed to be from some point in the past from anywhere in the world that just happen to have special powers. Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClinktock) is the agent with something of a sixth sense while Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) is the skeptic. The two agents are new to the warehouse program, but they have some guidance from Artie (Saul Rubinek), who helps them from their homebase.

The fall season is still a month or so away, but I'll keep Tivo-ing these shows in the meantime.

Photo from http://www.tnt.tv/series/hawthorne/photos/?oid=47220-47225. Jada Pinkett Smith stars as Nurse Hathrowne in TNT's new series "HawthoRNe."

A movie and food for thought

"Julie & Julia," the Nora Ephron film that opened Aug. 14, is a rare thing. It is a movie that seems to have won the hearts of both critics and viewers - at least the viewers in my circle of friends. I know of half a dozen people who saw the movie on its opening weekend and all came out with positive reviews. My own movie review will be available in the Weekend Pinnacle Friday afternoon.

A few months ago, after early trailers of the movie had started playing, a co-worker asked me if I was going to see it. His words were, "It seems like a movie you would like." Perhaps he thought I would like it because I write both a movie column and a food column, and more recently a blog.

The movie "Julia & Julia" is based on a book by Julie Powell, which is originally based on a blog by Julie Powell in which Powell writes about her experiences trying to cook all of the recipes in Child's first cookbook in one year. That's 524 recipes for anyone who doesn't know. Screenwriter/director Nora Ephron weaves Powells exploits with a story about Julia and Paul Child while they live in France, based on a book written by Julia and her nephew Alex Prud'homme. The time encompasses Child's time at culinary school, offering cooking classes and the many years she worked on a cookbook.

I think what I personally liked about the movie is that it shows what a universal thing cooking and food can be. The scenes where Julie invites friends over for a meal reminded me that I missed my annual summer cook-out with friends this year. And there were moments in the movie when I filed away some of the meals with a note to look up the recipes for future meals.

I would guess that most viewers of the movie will have tried at least one of the many meals that are traisped across the screen in the movie - some may have even tried to make them at home. And some will have seen a meal that has a deeper meaning for them.

For me it was the infamous beef bourguignon that triggered a memory. I still remember the first time I tried it. I was a senior in high school and a friend had invited me over to her family's house for dinner. For some reason I don't remember what we did that day - did we watch TV, did we hang out in the yard? - but I've always remembered the meal. Her mother made a pot of beef bourguignon and it was like nothing I'd ever eaten before. Sure, I'd had beef stew before, but it was nothing compared to the complex flavors of the herbs that had simmered for hours with the meat and vegetables. It was an intimate moment, to be eating dinner at a friend's house with her parents and brother at the table, when we had never spent time outside of school before. Though I was young, the time it took to prepare that stew was not lost on me. Her mother thought I was a good influence on her, with my AP classes and plans for college. I think that meal was offering of hope for the future - of her education, of our friendship. The friend died before she turned 16 and I don't eat beef bouruignon for the memories it conjures up.

The point, I guess, is that food is something that connects us all, in tragedies and in happiness, and I think that is what people are responding to when they like the movie.

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep star as Paul and Julia Child in the recently released "Julie & Julia."

A future in jeopardy

California, which is known for having the strongest higher education systems in the nation, may no longer be at the top of the heap. As I report in the Weekend Pinnacle on Friday, the recent budget cuts have hit all three arms of the college educational system. Gavilan College, the local community college, announced in May it would eliminate 20 percent of their summer school programs and 10 percent of its fall offerings, as reported here.

Now that a budget has been approved - weeks after the June deadline, as always - the University of California and the California State University systems have both announced their preliminary plans to deal with the cuts. The plans include furloughs for employees and cutting enrollments. The CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed wrote in a press release that they have never had to deal with such a severe cut in one year before.

The CSUs alone plan to reduce enrollment by 32,000 students next year.

The cuts to education are likely to have long-term consequences, as less state students will have access to higher education. Only time will tell what kind of drastic effects the cuts will have in the future.

iPod brings back music memories

The other day when I was driving home I had my iPod playing on random and "Boys Don't Cry" by the Cure came on. It's one of the songs I can't listen to without singing along. I hadn't heard it in a while, but it's one of those songs I love from when my junior high years. Of course, the CD came out in 1980 when I was only two. The "Wish" abum, however, came out in 1992 when I was in junior. My friends and I fell in love with the Cure while watching the "Friday I'm in Love" video on MTV.

Back in the day before iPods, YouTube and MySpace music sites, I'd head up to Streelight Records in Campbell in search of all the CDs of my favorite artists, including a dozen Cure cds that are stored in a binder in the garage. Streetlight was awesome because they sold used CDs for super cheap, and often had hard-to-find albums such as the Passengers, a experimental album U2 released under a psuedonym. I sometimes miss the click-clack of searching through used CDs for a find instead of listening to 30 second clips through iTunes.

I used to think of my road trips to and from Los Angeles while I was in graduate school and college as a five-to-six CD drive. I got really good at changing CDs with one hand and not taking my eyes off the road - at least not for very long. I always had at least 30 CDs in the car for variety.

But when my sister gave me an iPod mini in sherbert green for Christmas one year, the way I listen to music changed forever. I'm now on my third iPod, again a gift from my sister, and I love the option to create playlists even though mine probably only make sense to me. I've got the pop/punk list, klamath man, rap/dance and nearly every U2 song ever recorded. But mostly I like the chance to play the songs on random so every once in a while I get surprised by an old favorite.

This morning it was songs from the Nirvana "Nevermind" album that came out when I was in junior high. The lyrics don't really make sense, and at the time it didn't matter to my friends and I. It just mattered that it was loud, and it was music our parents couldn't understand. The songs bring me instantly back to slumber parties with pizza and cheeseballs and headbanging late at night until our necks hurt the next morning. Only an iPod can collect that many musical memories at once.

I love movie trailers

While most people skip through the trailers at the beginning of DVDs, I watch them. The same goes for the ones in the theater. I always make sure that I get to the theater early enough to watch all of the previews. If I don't, it somehow ruins the whole trip to the movie for me.

When the trailers start rolling, I put every future movie into one of three categories - I must see it, you couldn't pay me to see that and maye if it was playing nearby as a matinee I might see it. You could say the trailers are background research for future movie columns. While it sounds fun, writing a movie column can be a lot of work. I added up the movies I saw in the theater for 2008 and it totaled more than 30. That's more than one movie every two weeks. Crazy.

The good thing is that even when a movie isn't a hit for me, at least I leave the theater with something to which I can look forward. The last three weeks I saw "The Ugly Truth," and "Funny People," which I reviewed in the Pinnacle and didn't like, and "Julie and Julia," which will be reviewed Aug. 14.

The one thing I got out of all those visits to the theater is a list of must-see and maybe-see films. Here are a few of the ones that caught my attention.

Gamer - This is a sci-fi thriller about a video game in which players control the actions of real human beings who are prisoners sentenced to death. Not generally my type of movie, but it stars Michael C. Hall who is awesome in "Dexter." Gerard Butler and Alison Lohman are also in it, and the storyline reminds me of the short story "The Most Dangerous Game." This is one of those maybe for a matinee movie.

Zombieland - Okay, who doesn't love a campy zombie movie, especially when it is a horror comedy? This one stars Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg as gun-toting zombie fighters. This is a must see,but I do have some worries that it will never be able to live up to "Shaun of the Dead."

2012 - This is another apocalypse movie from the director of "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," Roland Emmerich. It is based on a Mayan belief that the world will end in December 2012, and to the chagrin of all the nonbelievers things really start falling apart then. From the trailer it looks as though U.S. government has secretly planned for this, but only the lucky will get safe passage out of the disaster. The movie stars a bunch of people including Thandie Newton, John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover and more. This is a couldn't pay me to see it movie.

Couple retreat - Parts of this trailer about a group of married friends who go on a couple's retreat looked pretty funny, but movies like this sometimes give all the laughs in the previews. The two reasons I might see it are Kristen Bell who played the ever-sarcastic girl detective Veronica Mars and Vince Vaughn who is just funny. This is a maybe.

The next two movies are both based on books I really enjoyed, and generally I go to see movies that are based on books I really enjoy, and then I am disappointed because the movie never tells the entire story.

The Lovely Bones - This is a tear jerker of a story about a young teen girl who is murdered, and whose family can't get over her death. In the movie, Susie is caught between this world and the next, as somewhat of a ghost who haunts her family. It is a heartbreaking story, but beautiful in the way author Alice Sebold tells it. Hopefully with the acting powerhouses of Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and others the movie will stand up to the book.

The Time Traveler's Wife - When I heard this book by Audrey Niffenegger was being adapted into a movie, I wondered how it would work. The story is a circuitious one of a man who travels through time, but with no control over it. He is not a scientist, but just someone born with a mutation that makes his molecules travel back and forth through time. He knows his future before it happens, and he revisits his past. The big concerns is how the filmmakers will deal with Henry's (Eric Bana) disappearances on screen, and also whether Bana and Rachel McAdams can carry a movie on their own.

Maid of honor duties start

My duties as maid of honor started today. My cousin, who is engaged to get married next May, asked me to be her maid of honor a week after her finace popped the question on Valentine's Day. She asked me because she figured I wouldn't try to plan my own dream wedding instead of what she wanted, like some of her friends might.

And she's right, mostly because I don't have a dream wedding since I've never put much thought into that kind of thing.

So far, my work as maid of honor has been easy. I got some wedding planning books and passed those on to my cousin. And I scheduled cake tastings twice at a local bakery that advertises hosting free cake tastings one Saturday a month - each time it was canceled because the cake decorator was "too busy."

So this week when my cousin called up and asked if I wanted to help her set up her bridal registry, I said sure, thinking that I might feel like we had accomplished something on a very long to-do list. I keep thinking of the wedding as a year away, but the countdown is actually now down to nine months.

Our plan for the day including hitting Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond, and either Target or Wal-mart to give guests three different price points from which to choose. We actually didn't make it to the mall until after noon, by the time we included gab time with my mom, a stop at Starbucks on the way, and a stop at the Macy's benefit makeup counter - which at Valley Fair Mall is actually on the opposite side of the mall from the Macy's home store.

Now registering for a wedding seems like it would be simple. Just take the scanner, and point and shoot at everything you could possibly want. But as it turns out, it is a lot more time-consuming than we had both anticipated. There was a lot of browsing through two stories of housewares and bedding. And my cousin was hestitant to put on any items that were too high priced. In the end the highest-priced item was an artisan kitchen aid mixer in almond cream. Other items included a panini maker, a rice cooker, a vegetable steamer, bath towels and plenty of kitchen accessories.

I've told my cousin that any of her kitchen appliances she gets and doesn't use within the first six months after her wedding become mine by default. I also tried to persuade her to put a $129 ice cream maker on the list for me, but she said no.

After two hours of wandering the store - and avoiding the china and crystal sections of the store where everything was super pricey - we had more than two dozen items on the list. We headed to P.F. Chang's for a late afternoon lunch and decided to call it a day. Bed, bath and beyond, and Target or Wal-mart will have to wait for another day.

Scrumptious eats

Food Network started a new show for the summer season called, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." The half-hour show consists of network stars, chefs and other foodies sharing their best of the best in the category of the day. So far the themes have included barbecue, bacon, pizza and a few others.

I've been taking notes for a few places that are actually within driving distance of me, like Nopa in San Francisco where I was supposed to dine in a week but my friends couldn't get reservations. The RSVPs open one month in advance, and this time booked up in less than two hours. It was featured on the bacon episode for a flatbread pizza.

Though these places have never been featured on the Food Network, I know a few eateries that make my best thing I ever ate list. It starts with the pastrami pizza at My Pizza in Morgan Hill. The pizza parlor is a little hole in the wall place in a shopping center along the back roads to San Jose. The center is mostly filled with little Mexican shops, and the pizza place is easy to miss. Now I know a pastrami pizza sounds bizarre, but for some reason it works. The crust is a thick, chewy one with herbs cooked in. Then there is a mayo sauce, thick layers of mozzarella cheese, pastrami, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, mustard and diced pepperocinos. It's an amazing mix of flavors, but for those who are less adventerous there is also the standard pepperoni, combo and other varieties that taste anything like standard pizza.

Another of the best things I ever ate is also in Morgan Hill and is something I discovered a few months ago. The Cupcake Shop in Morgan Hill has a little storefont on Monterey Road, but their cupcakes pack in big flavor. The Amardillo, their name for a red velvet cupcake is the moistest, best-tasting cupcake I've ever had. Delicious. The shop has a dozen flavors that are in regular rotation, and each day they come up with a new flavor. Some of the experimentations include a rootbeer float cupcake, a banana split cupcake and a pumpkin spice.

I can't get enough of these places, so luckily they are a 20 minute drive from my house or I would be tempted a lot more often.

Swag worth noting

Celebrities get all the good swag. Actually, that was one of the themes in "Funny People," which will be reviewed in the Weekend Pinnacle tomorrow. The main character George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a jaded multi-millionaire comic who has just been given a terminal diagnosis. He befriends - in the loosest sense of the word - Ira Wright, an aspiring comedian, and hires him to write jokes, give all his stuff to charity and talk him to sleep at night.

In one of the scenes, George shows Ira all the things he's been given through the years. There are cars, sneakers, movie posters and plenty of other things. It is all stuff he doesn't need, but that Ira would be enthralled to have.

I've always said swag should be saved for people like me, not those who can afford it. Of course, in my line of work as a journalist, we really aren't supposed to accept gifts from sources. But I guess we have our own brand of swag as people try to persuade us into giving them positive press.

I've gotten a press pass for a film festival, free passes to Cirque du Soleil's "Kooza," and occasionally movies, CDs or books to review. The rule of thumb is that I only take tickets for shows I will review, and the movies, CDs and books are returned to the owner, or kept in the office for some future donation to charity.

But aside from the typical stuff, through the years, I've had some pretty weird things handed off in the places where I've worked. In South Africa, a man submitted to "The Cape Argus" his schizophrenic ramblings about being the son of James Dean. Major problems with the theory included the fact that the man was born in South Africa, a country to which Dean had never traveled, and he was born several years after the movie star died.

At "L.A. Parent," a free monthly parenting magazine, books, movies and children's toys were sent on a regular basis to the Burbank office. But when the Chinese film "Infernal Affairs" (which was later adapted into Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning "The Departed") showed up in the mail slot I was confused, to say the least. I don't think a review of it would have fit in between the stories about children's birthday parties and Little League.

Here at the Pinnacle, we've received stranger things than that. The top two to make the list are tobacco mints and Vaporwater.

The mints came in two separate boxes under different brand names - "Ariva" and "Stonewall." There was no difference between the mints, according to a photographer who offered to try them out, but we figured it was a marketing thing and "Stonewall" was meant for the manly man, "Ariva" for the fairer sex. He said he got a little buzz off them, but mostly it upset his stomach.

The Arizona Vaporwater showed up in a heavy, cardboard box in two 1-liter water bottles. Now the word "vapor" reminds me of vapor rub and chest congestion, but apparently this water is electrolyte infused with calcium, magnesium and potassium. Again, one of the men in my office volunteered to try it out and said, "It just tastes like water." It's always been my policy not to partake if I am not going to write about it so I refrained from both those items. There is still a bottle of Vaporwater in the mini-fridge, emergency rations, I suppose.

Other items of note include books to review, DVDs, calendars, note cards, wine bottles, hats, backpacks and even, once, a pair of thong underwear. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

I have to say the best thing I ever got in the line of duty were homemade egg rolls. My photogrpaher and I went to the home of a little boy who had participated in a prestigious young scholars program. His grandfather made us snacks while we talked to the kids, and they were fresh out of the fryer when we were done. My photographer ate only six, saying he didn't want to make a pig of himself. It was too late.

I hope the kids keep being high acheivers, and maybe we'll get another chance to taste those egg rolls. Until then I'll hope for some free passes for the latest Cirque du Soleil tour that will be visiting next February. And if they do show up, I'll be sure to write all about it!

Photo courtesy of Olivier Samson Arcand - The Chinese Chairs is one of several acts in "Kooza."

CARS program more for conspicious consumers than clunkers

This Friday might be the last day for car owners to take advantage of a stimulus program dubbed "cars for clunkers." The program is supposed to do two things - get people to by a new car in this down economy by offering them $3,500 to $4,500 to put down on a new car when they trade in a clunker, and second to get high-mileage vehicles off the roadways.

The program would better be called "Cash for conspicious consumers."

I've been in the market for a new car for about a year now. I keep saying that once I get $5,000 saved up for a down payment, I'm trading in my 1997 Saturn SL2 for something new. But since my current car keeps breaking down, or other financial crises hit, its been hard to get to my savings target.

So when I heard about the federal program I thought it would be a great chance to boost my own down payment savings. That was until my mother checked out the Web site, and clicked on the MPG rating link. A few quick clicks, and it was revealed that my car does not qualify as a clunker. My dad's car, a 1987 Honda, also doesn't qualify. Both vehicles exceed the maximum mpg rating required to trade in a car through the CARS program.

For the heck of it, I checked to see if my first car, a 1987 Nissan Sentra my parents bought for me when it was already 10 years old, might qualify. Even the Sentra came in above the mpg rating required. And I am really sure that car is a clunker since it went where cars go to die more than five years ago.

The only vehicles that qualify for the program are the gas-guzzlers that get less than 18 mpg - or more specifically, SUVS, minivans and trucks.

People like me who bought sensible sedans will just need to keep saving. On the bright side, at least I know my car isn't as a bad a polluter as others.

Food Network Star finale a surprise

I thought I knew who had won the Next Food Network Star just a week after the first episode of the competition aired. It wasn't because one of the competitors stood out, but I stumbled across some insider information.

I just happened to be at the Great American Food and Music Fest at Shoreline (read more about it here.) I was standing in line at the Pink's Hot Dog stand (I think it was going on hour two of the wait in line) and Jeffrey Saad walked past me. I told my mom that the guy with the hair from the Next Food Network Star had just walked by. She knew immediately who I meant. Jeffrey was walking with some other Food Network stars and executives. He later introduced Bobby Flay for a demonstration and Bobby said he couldn't say too much, but that Jeffrey was a hard worker.

Now even though the Food Network Star episodes started airing in June, I am sure they were filmed long before. It seemed a foregone conclusion after seeing Jeffrey at the festival that he would win the top prize, or at least be in the finale. I watched most of this season assuming he would come out on top with his cooking without borders idea. Every time he won a challenge, his eventual win seemed inevitable. He seemed more together, and mostly a better cook than all the other contestants. And his personality didn't get on my nerves.

So tonight when Jeffrey and Melissa, a stay-at-home mom, competed with a pilot demo, I thought Jeffrey had it in the bag. He cooked a steak sandwich with some ingredient from North Africa called harissa. Melissa shared a four-step chicken recipe that can be used with a variety of different ingredients.

When it comes down to it, I have to admit I'd be more likely to cook Melissa's dish than Jeffrey's. In fact, I am not sure where I would even find harissa at a local store. And maybe in the end that is what cemented the decision for the judges. Melissa won and will start filming her show immediately. Hopefully, it doesn't take her away from the four children she has under the age of four too much.

And maybe the powers that be can find a place for Jeffrey on the network as they did with last year's runner-up Adam Gertler, who has his own show called "Will Work For Food." I could totally see Jeffrey traveling the world and introducing people to knew ingredients in their native land.

Avoiding the words of other reviewers

Since I write a movie column for my weekly paper, I try really hard not to notice what other people are saying about a film before I see it. This means avoiding the entertainment page on the L.A. Times Web site, skipping the movie reviews in the New Yorker (which is generally easy since I am a few months backlogged on them) and never, ever watching reviews on TV.

The goal is that when I watch a movie, I won't be doing it with any preconceived ideas, and also it saves me from anyone ever accusing me of copying someone else's ideas since I do my best to write my columns in a bubble.

I don't know if other movie reviewers do the same thing - any of them around Los Angeles have the opportunity to watch screenings of the films and meet with the filmmakers long before the movies are released so they write before all the reviews are published. But since I sort of stumbled into this column at the paper because I like movies, and studied film as an undergraduate, I don't really have the opportunity of heading to Los Angeles for those screeners every week (our travel budget at the paper keeps me mostly within the city limits of Hollister.)

I do, however, read movie reviews on a regular basis after I've seen a movie and written about it. It is reassuring when my take on a movie is similar to movie critics who have been doing this for years - they just usually write what I want to express in a better way than I can.

This weekend I have plans to see either "Away We Go," which has been out for more than a month, but just came to Morgan Hill for two showings a day, or I might see "Funny People." The problem is I made the mistake of visiting the Los Angeles Times this week and saw a headline that implies "Funny People" might not be so hot. This was reiterated by a family member who saw a similar headline on another Web site.

So it will be one or the other...and the decision might just come down to which film plays at the most convenient time.