'Dexter' season premier delivers

After disappointing season premiers from "House" and "Grey's Anatomy," I was happily satisfied with the opening episode of "Dexter."

For anyone who hasn't seen it, "Dexter" is a Showtime series about a serial killer in Miami who lives by a moral code. I started watching the series when my sister rented it from Netflix after its first season. I walked in on one of the episodes were Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is dismembering a body and my only question to my sister was "What the hell are you watching?" But to my surprise the show grew on me and is now on of my favorites.

Michael C. Hall is genius as the serial killer who works as a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department who only kills other murderers. As with many hour-long dramas on cable, there is the main story of Dexter getting away with murder on a regular basis, but each season has its own unique story arc around the department's search for a killer. The first season starts with the search for the ice truck killer, a man who lets his victims of all their blood and wraps up the body parts for discovery; then there is a drug dealer suspected of murdering the brother of a the D.A. Unlike some shows, the story arc each season isn't just a distraction but serves to reveal more about Dexter.

The cast is rounded out with Julie Benz as Dexter's girlfriend Rita Bennett, Jennifer Carpenter (who is Hall's real-life wife) as his police officer sister Debra and a few other characters. There are also a mix of guest actors each season, including Jimmy Smits as the D.A. last year and John Lithgow in a new role this year.

The show has its own tension built in as viewers watch to see if Dexter's luck will finally run out - will he finally make a misstep? But the best thing about it is that Hall makes a serial killer look like one of the good guys.

Not to give away too much about the premier for anyone who hasn't watched it yet, but this season promises to have more challenges for Dexter as he tries to balance being a good father and husband with work and, uh, is "hobby." John Lithgow also promises to be a seriously deranged serial killer. It should be a good season.

Photo courtesy of Showtime

Michael C. Hall as Dexter with some of the cast from Season One.

A few bad movies

When you watch a lot of movies like I do - I saw 30+ movies in the theater last year - the chances of seeing a few bad movies is high. It's kind of a sacrifice I am willing to make for the weekly movie column.

On average, I would estimate that I see maybe six movies a year that are great, a dozen that are at least entertaining and the rest are sort of unmemorable or mediocre. But there are some movies that are so bad, I feel compelled to save other people from spending any money or time to watch them.

That was the case with "All About Steve," which I saw a few weeks ago. The romantic comedy lacks both the romance and the comedy. The characters were annoying and the plot was weak at best. "All About Steve" deserved its spot on Rotten Tomatoes list of the 100 worst movies of the decade. The movie review Web site but the list together last week and I thought I'd check to see what movies made the cut.

Some of the movies on the list were no surprise to me. "Glitter," with Mariah Carey and "Broken Bridges" with Toby Keith prove that movies with singers who can't act probably shouldn't be made. I skipped them both. I never saw "The Hottie and the Nottie" with Paris Hilton, but again movies with celebrities that can't act probably aren't very good. Also, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2" was not a surprise. I can't believe there is more than one movie with talking babies.

Of the 100 movies that made the list, I have seen 18 of them. I agree that some of those movies deserved to be listed. Two Hilary Duff movies made the cut. "Materials Girl" starred Duff and her sister Haylie as rich sisters who have to learn to fend for themselves when their father dies. It was short on plot and totally predictable. The second, "The Perfect Man" stars Duff with Heather Locklear. It is about a desperate single mom of two who always goes for loser guys so her teen daughter decides to make up the perfect man.

Another of my least favorite movies that made the list is "Because I Said So." That movie makes my own personal list of worst movies. It stars Mandy Moore and Diane Keaton as a daughter-mother pair who have a dysfunctional relationship. The mother is an overbearing, patronizing witch who thinks her 20-something daughter is over the hill since she is single. Every character in the movie is annoying.

There are a few movies I think should have made the list that didn't. I really disliked "The Ugly Truth," with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler and "Taken," with Harrison Ford.

But then I am sure there are a lot of bad movies that have been made in the last 10 years. They couldn't all make the list. Check out Rotten Tomatoes to avoid some of the worst.

I can't blog - I'm busy watching TV

So after a few weeks with nothing to watch but "Ace of Cakes" and animal planet shows, the fall season has started again in full force.

That means there are Tivoed episodes of all my old standbys including Top Chef, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Law and Order: SVU, Dexter, House and So You Think You Can Dance. I usually ignore new shows until they've been on long enough to hear the buzz - then I can catch up by watching past episodes online or just rent the first season - but this year I'm already hooked on Glee and I think Modern Family might be another must watch show.

ABC's Modern Family first aired last week. It is created by Steven Levitan (who wrote for "Just Shoot Me,") and Christopher Lloyd. The show is about three families - one a traditional mom and dad with three kids; an older man remarried to a younger wife who has a 'tween son; and a gay couple who adopts a baby from Vietnam. The mystery of the first episode is that viewers don't know how the families are connected. Judging from the first episode, which stars Ed O'neill, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell and Jesse Tyler Fergusun, it promises to be a funny series.

The show uses the same technique of "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" having the characters do confessionals to the camera. It is laugh-out-loud funny so I am looking to see if it keeps its momentum.

And of course, things will only get worse once I get to new shows "Three Rivers" and "FlashForward." I'm almost hoping those aren't any good or I might have to remove some other standbys from my viewing rotation, such as "Ugly Betty" or "30 Rock."

Actually, I'd never stop watching "30 Rock" because that show makes me laugh even when I just catch a glimpse of an old rerun. But truth be told, I am kind of over "House" and "Grey's Anatomy," especially after they both aired two-hour long season premieres that failed to impress me. I guess I just feel kind of invested in those shows since I've watched them so long - it's like trying to break off an old friendship when you realize you don't really have anything in common.

I am sure some of these shows will get filtered out of the viewing rotation in the coming weeks, or relegated to weekend viewer to make room for more blogging. Until then, I've got a half-dozen backlogged episodes to get to.

iTunes rocks...er sucks...well it depends

I have a love-hate relationship with iTunes, which makes my log-ins to the iTunes store infrequent, at best.

First, every time I open up iTunes it prompts me to download a new version. If I do that it inevitably takes at least half an hour to install the new software. And then since we have multiple users on our laptop with different iTunes accounts, we have to reinstall the software for EVERY user.

My most recent visit to the store was fueled by two weeks of listening to country music on the radio. There were a few songs I liked and wanted to listen to without the hassle of radio commercials and the fuzz that comes on all the stations in San Benito County.

On one hand I really like that with iTunes I was able to get the latest Taylor Swift album, the soundtrack to "Bandslam," and a few other random songs. How else but with iTunes would a playlist exist that includes Kanye West, Taylor Swift, David Bowie, Wilco, Darius Rucker and Kenny Chesney?

But the thing I now hate about iTunes is that Apple has implemented its new price structure so that all songs are no longer 99 cents each. Of course, most of the songs I wanted to buy over the weekend were $1.29. In fact, that is the main reason I ended up buying the entire Taylor Swift album "Fearless." I wanted five of the songs and at $1.29 each, I figured I might as well pay $11.99 for the entire album. I guess that's what the record companies probably want.

At any rate, I am enjoying my random mix in my recently added playlist. Most of the Swift songs I didn't know are growing on me, and I am really enjoying the "Bandslam" album.


It will still probably be awhile before I log in again since at 99 cents I was choosy about what I'd buy, so I will have to pick my downloads even more carefully now.

Barbecue brisket takes patience

I cooked a brisket last Sunday. I've never cooked one before so it was quite an experiment for me. I don't usually cook read meat, and I don't smoke things. When it comes to steaks and brisket, I'd rather leave it up to a good restaurant. But I came across the brisket on a trip to Nob Hill (recipes available on the Nob Hill Web site.) It came complete with a recipe for homemade barbecue sauce and for smoking the meat so I bought it on a whim.

The only thing I've ever smoked before was a 10-lb. turkey for Thanksgiving one year. It was smoked with rosemary, not wood chips, and a coworker cooked one at work for an article in the paper so I watched first hand. The recipe was well detailed.

I had no plans on Sunday so it seemed a perfect time to soak some wood chips and cook a piece of meat on the grill for two-to-four hours. And there's the rub. The recipe came with instructions to smoke the meat over indirect heat for one to two hours - with no instructions on temperature. I settled on smoking the meat for one and a half hours, turning the meat twice and adding extra hickory wood chips every half hour.

Then the instructions called for moving the meat to a metal roasting pan, with a cup of beer, covered tightly in foil and then cooked for another one to two hours. With the inexact instructions, I wasn't sure how long to cook the meat. We put it on the grill around 1:30 p.m. and pulled it off about 5 p.m. The meat rested for a while and when I cut into it, it had a perfect pink smoke line but was a little overcooked. The meat still tasted delicious with a homemade barbecue sauce and a simple rub of pepper, paprika, salt and sugar.

Movies pit humanity against technology

An obscure animated film that opened on 9/9/09 came in second at the box office during its opening weekend. The film, "9," is directed by a filmmaker who has only worked on short films before, including a 2005 story about a rag doll that fights a monster. Shane Acker worked with screenwriter Pamela Pettler to adapt the earlier story into a feature-length film - though at 79 minutes it barely makes the cut.

The crowd at the theater can probably be attributed to the fact that Tim Burton's name was used to promote the movie. He is one of several producers listed in the credits, but the movie definitely feels like a Burton film from the opening sequence.

Acker's world is a dark and dreary one, not unlike the world of Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" or the place in which Edward Scissorhands is brought to life, away from the bright-colored suburbs. In fact, the opening scene of "9" when a man is sewing together a rag doll is very similar to a scene in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" when the rag doll Sally sews her legs and arms back on.

The world in "9" is a post-apocalyptic one in which humanity has destroyed itself through technology. A narrator tells viewers that man's pursuit of technology has turned against humankind. The movie starts as a white-haired man sews up a rag doll and paints the number 9 on its back. The man is dead by the time the rag doll wakes up. It can move on its own and seems to be able to think on its own - it even appears to have a conscience, or a soul. As the rag doll, which looks like it is made of burlap and mechanical parts, wanders out of the building the sights of a destroyed world can be seen. There are pieces of cars, wrecked buildings, and from time to time, a glimpse of a dead human.

It is a dark movie, and probably too scary for younger children, though there were quite a few in the theater.

As the rag doll 9 wanders out, he discovers another rag doll with a number 2 on its back. 2 (voiced by Martin Landau) helps 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) by installing a voice box in him. 2 is an inventor, and it appears there are others like him out there. But before 9 can get to the bottom of things, the pair is attacked by a monster that can best be described as a robotic cat. It carries off 2, and a trinket 9 found in the scientist's office. 9 is injured, but another rag doll finds him and brings him to an old church that is used as a sanctuary.

There are a total of nine rag dolls, and 9 was the last to be created. Part of the mystery of the movie is why no more or no less. In the church 1 (voiced by Christopher Plummer) has taken on the role of leader. Each rag doll seems to have a unique personality. One of the dolls serves as the muscle, another seems to have lost its mind, and four of the nine are missing, including the recently captured 2. Those remaining are content to stay inside the church to hide from the robotic monster. But 9 feels responsible for the monster carrying off 2 and he persuades 5 (voiced by John C. Reilly) to go with him on a rescue mission. Along the way, they find out more about the truth of their creation and their missing compatriots.

The basic concept of the movie is not a new one. It is an idea that was wrestled with in 2001's "Artifical Intelligence: AI," directed by Steven Speilberg. In it, David (Haley Joel Osment) is a robotic boy who comes into the home of a family when their biological son is dying. Like Pinocchio, David longs to be a real boy, but no matter how much he seems to feel human emotions he is not accepted as a human.

The idea of machines turning on their makers is also the key to "Blade Runner," a 1982 sci-fi film based on a story by Philip K. Dick. Harrison Ford starred as Rick Deckard, a blade runner, who is charged with tracking down robot-type creatures, known as replicants in the film. The movie is set in 2019, in a bleak version of the future that is now just 10 years away. The main question in the film is whether the replicants deserve the same rights as humans, and if something non-human can somehow have the essence of what makes us human. In the film, Deckard finds himself questioning his orders after he gets to know one of the female replicants.

Though "9" is dark, it ends on a hopeful note, and for anyone who enjoys the odd creations in Burton films, Acker creates nine rag dolls that are worth a watch.

Not another high school musical

I knew "Bandslam" was going to be a good movie from the opening sequences. The main character, Will Burton (Gaelan Connell), has a room full of indie rock band posters, including one for the U2 Unforgettable Fire Tour - which happens to be my very favorite U2 album. That was enough to make me like Will from the start.

"Bandslam" is a movie that kind of came out under the radar. It has been out in theaters for weeks and opened in Gilroy this week for three showings a day. Gaelan Connell is a new comer to the screen, but he encapsulates the awkward, yet passionate Will Burton perfectly.

Will Burton is a dorky high school 16-year-old who doesn't fit in at his Cleaveland high school. When things are at their worst, he writes e-mails to David Bowie, though the pen pal relationship is one sided.

The movie, directed and written by Todd Graff (and co-written by Josh Cagan), is definitely not a teen movie in the line of "High School Musical." The cast does, however, include two actresses who got their start in Disney movies or TV shows - Vanessa Hudgens and Alyson Michalka - and plenty of singing.

Will's life changes when his mom Karen (played by Lisa Kudrow) takes a job in New Jersey. There Will has a chance to start his life with a clean slate and somehow he catches the eye of blond senior, Charlotte (Michalka). Soon Will's obsession with indie music, dating back to Bowie and the Clash to the present bands that are taking the world by storm, is an asset. Charlotte and two of her friends are in a band and they want Will's help. The trio of misfits wants to take on the golden boys of the school at a statewide battle of the bands.

The thing that makes the movie better than, say a "High School Musical," is that these teens have problems that are a little more real. It's not just about a football jock and A student who really want to be in the school play. The motivation of the characters is revealed slowly throughout, like why Will was bullied at his old school and why Charlotte would befriend someone like Will in the first place.

"Bandslam" has plenty of funny and heartfelt moments - it's a bit like Fox's new show "Glee," but with a little less edge and a little more sweetness. The movie is definitely worth a watch, and the soundtrack is pretty good, too.

Stuff the ballot box

It's that time of year again. The Pinnacle Awards voting is under way - and this year the voting is exclusively online.

Most papers have some kind of what we call in the industry a "best of" contest. Basically we pick a bunch of categories and ask readers to write in what they think are the best of the best - best pizza, best sandwich, best chiropractor.

We re-started the Pinnacle Awards in 2007, after a few-year hiatus, and for the first year the editorial staff came up with a mix of categories. You can probably tell that from categories such as "best beach within 60 miles," "best place to make out" and "best way to get dangerous" - the dangerous category being a shout out to local skydiving and Hollister Hills.

As the lead tallier of the votes the first year, I quickly learned that all is fair in love, war and best of contests. We had bundles of newspapers go missing off our dock, just to have 25 copies show up, completed in the same handwriting. Some businesses kept a stack handy in their offices, lobbies or restaurants so that readers could vote for them. Business owners would drop off stacks of ballots that they collected at their stores. It was a pain in the butt to tally up all the votes - imagine an excel spread sheet 1,000 rows long. But it was exciting to see the numbers change as the voting went on. Some categories had a clear winner from the start, while others were neck and neck until the end.


When the results were in, we hailed the winners in the paper and columnist Dan Fitch picked his own best of categories in a very funny parody of the awards.


Last year, when we offered paper ballots and online voting, we tripled the submissions. I crunched numbers for hours and hours. I even enlisted a friend to write a program that would quickly sort the online submissions to make it easier to deal with the data. Finally we had the results of more than 600 ballots.


In our 2008 special section, we highlighted some of the winners and even selected our staff picks. We couldn't choose just one best burger, but The Elegant Touch won hands down for best cookie in the county.


This year some of the categories have changed - the advertisers picked 'em so out went some of our favorites such as "best beach" and "best place to make out." But the Pinnacle Awards is sure to be another fun edition at the end of October - though I am not sure what it will look like since I am in charge of designing it this year instead of just writing and editing it.


Voting is under way through Oct. 4 and we encourage readers to vote early and often. After all, they decide the fate of the winners. Will Round Table Pizza remain the top dog for the third year running? Will Progresso's Tamale Parlor hold on to its title as best Mexican? And of course, the coveted best burger slot has a few more competitors this year with the 19th Hole and Relax! Grillin' and Chillin', along with old standby's Maverick's, Running Rooster, A&W and more.

Glee-full Wednesdays

Last week after I read a surprisingly depressing book, I said I needed to find something to make me laugh.

I found it in "Glee." It's a new hour-long comedy on Fox Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. Usually when I watch a new show it takes a few episodes for it to grow on me, but "Glee" had my attention at episode one.

The main reason I wanted to watch the show is Jane Lynch who has had minor roles in more movies and television shows than I can mention. She is best in kooky, off the mark characters like the ones she played in Christopher Guest's "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." Her role in "Glee" as cheer coach Sue Sylvester is a perfect fit.

Another stand out is Jayma Mays, who plays a guidance counselor who might be a little bit misguided about her own life. She starred as Betty's competition for Henry in "Ugly Betty" for a couple seasons, but her vulnerable role as Emma suits her better than the scheming ex-girlfriend role, especially with her wide-open doll eyes.

Of course, the main plot of the story is that Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is trying to make glee club into something cool, with no budget, little talent and a wife who wants him to give up teaching altogether. His group so far is made up of an overacheiver (Lea Michele), a football star (Cory Monteith), as well as actors Kevin McHale, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley and Jenna Ushkowitz.

As with most high school shows, there are the same clique cliches - the cheerleaders, the football players, the nerds - but it's just funnier than most high school series. One of the things I love about the show so far is that some of the laughs are understated. You really have to listen to the dialogue to catch it all.

Hopefully this is a show that will last past the first season because it's pretty funny. Oh yeah, and the last episode brought back some memories of junior high with Bel Biv DeVoe and Color Me Badd renditions.

A rough bit of rejection

I guess it was bound to happen, but I never thought it would happen to me. I got rejected on Facebook. That's right. I sent a friends request to someone and got turned down. It was a first, and I have to admit, I was a little taken aback.

Rejection stings no matter what the circumstance. And its one of those things in life that is impossible to avoid - unless you chose to live as a hermit, in which case the rejection is still there, it's just self-induced.

In my life so far, I've been rejected by two universities. I was accepted to all the undergrad schools to which I applied except for the West Coast stand in for an Ivy League, Stanford. But the truth is, Stanford was my fifth choice at best so it didn't really matter. Northwestern University also turned me down for its graduate program in magazine journalism. I had my heart set on it, but pep talks from coworkers and friends quickly helped me to see the benefits of going to the University of Southern California - namely no snow in the winters.


I've been rejected for jobs by a handful of prospective employers, including a coffeeshop, a prep school and a local newspaper. But again, things turned out for the best when I landed at the Weekend Pinnacle with a publisher who was willing to coach me and who saw my potential long before I did.

Of course, like most people, I've been rejected in love a time or two, or dozen. Some of the rejections have been crystal clear as with the guy who opted to have another beer rather than walk me to my car at 1 a.m. Other times, it was a little murkier, like my grad school crush who called me three times a week to find out what our homework assignments were and talked with me for hours on the phone, and even held my hand once, briefly on the way home from a bar.

I have to admit that I've done my share of rejecting - the colleges that accepted me that I turned down, for starters. And the men whose advances I've spurned. I've even turned down quite a few job applicants in my time.

The thing with rejection is that in hindsight, it always works out for the best.

But I guess that is what perplexes me about the Facebook friends request rejection. I can't imagine a time I will look back and think it was for the best. In the scheme of things, Facebook is such a small thing, but that is perhaps what makes the rejection sting a little. After all, someone doesn't like me enough to be online acquaintances with me.

Once I got over the initial shock of the rejection, I did what any normal person would do. I sent out another friends request to an old grad school friend and within hours I got the message that we are now friends. After all, if there is one thing I've learned about rejection it's to get back up and try again. Someone's bound to say yes sooner or later.

Local talent

In my few years as a reporter in San Benito and Gilroy, I've had the chance to read books by local authors, see performances by local playwriters and listen to songs by local musicians. Few people know that San Juan has a theater group with a decades-long history and connections with a Hollywood filmmaker - it's called El Teatro Campesino. Or that a Hollister dancer from West Coast Dance FX participated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few years ago. Or that a Hollister kid made it to the Vegas tryouts of "So You Think You Can Dance."

These small towns are surprisingly full of talent, be it performing, visual, musical or literary arts.

Back in August I had a chance to talk to a young musician who is probably just at the beginning of her career. Cally Nunes graduated from San Benito High School last spring and her goal for this fall is just to get as many gigs as she can. Though I haven't heard her sing live, I have listened to her songs on myspace and watched one of her videos on YouTube. And I hope to see her perform in person soon.

Her music has a country edge to it, but has more mature themes than other teenager singers, such as Taylor Swift. For anyone who wants to hear Cally live, she will be singing at the Mars Hill Coffe House in Hollister, on Sixth and San Benito Street, Sept. 19, at 9 p.m. She will also be singing at the Farmers Market in downtown Hollister for the next three Wednesdays, starting tomorrow. See her local gigs while you can because if Cally has her way, she'll be Nashville bound soon enough.

A Rising Star

Cally Nunes knew she wanted to be a musician when she was a 5-year-old living in Oklahoma.

"My first vivid memory is of when I was 5 and a song came on the radio, 'Shut Up and Kiss Me,'" she said. "I don't remember who it was by, but it was country and I knew then there was nothing else I wanted to do."

The song was a pop country one by Mary Chapin Carpenter, and the artist is one of many who has influenced Nunes, now 18.

A 2009 graduate of San Benito High School, she's like a lot of kids her age. She is short, with a small frame and shock of dark hair that is sometimes curly, sometimes straight. She looks as comfortable in jeans and sneakers as in a pair of cowboy boots. She isn't sure what she wants to do this fall, except find a job.

"I made a lot of plans, but life is crazy," she said, adding that her father was moving out of the area. "I'm just trying to get a job."

She's taking a semester off school, but plans to enroll at a local community college next spring.

Unlike other kids her age, though, Nunes has posted her first album online for sale at sites such as Nimbit.com and Cdbaby.com. The album, "Sadly Wrong," will soon be on iTunes. She has a MySpace music page, where a few of her songs can be played. The album contains five original songs by Nunes, and five songs by other writers that she selected with the help of a music developer.

Read the full story here.

Photo courtesy of Pinnacle file photos

Cally Nunes rehearses a few songs in August at Mars Hill Coffee House in Hollister.

A shoe story

Like most women, I love shoes. And like most women I have a closet full of sneakers, ballet flats, sandals and high heels. In fact, the shoes are also overflowing off a shoe rack in the living. But unlike most women, the majority of my shoes are ones that I bought, wore once, and then relegated to the "never wear again" pile.

I have a bit of an Achille's heel when it comes to shoes, and its something that took me a long time to discover. I've always had a hard time finding shoes that fit me. In fact, most of my life I stuck to sensible, boring shoes that fit because all the cute styles just seemed not to work on my feet. And when I bought the cute shoes, I might wear them once and then they'd render my toes numb or leave me in pain so that I'd never wear them again. Once in a while I got force a fit, as I did with an awesome pink and purple pair of Diesel sneakers I found a few years ago.

It was just a few years ago that I realized though my foot is a small woman's size 5 1/2 - sometimes a 6 - it is wide. That's a shoe size combination that is virtually missing from most department and shoe stores. But it is a discovery that made me realize if I search far and wide, I can actually have cute shoes that are comfortable and fashionable.

I was in heaven when I finally found sneakers that fit comfortably - the New Balance outlet in Gilroy is awesome because they have shoes in virtually every size and they are cheap.

Nowadays I turn to online shoes stores for my shopping needs. Endless Shoes is a favorite because I can search by my size and specific styles I might want.

Still, each time I search for shoes I generally turn up a half dozen that I like, and after ordering them - Endless Shoes offers free shipping and free return shipping - maybe two pair will work well.

I'd been wearing the same pair of burgundy heels almost every weekday for going on a year when things went south, prompting a recent shoe search.

The heels were perfect in the beginning - not too high, comfortable for walking a few blocks at work - and the color is subtle enough that they went with all my dress slacks, skirts or even with jeans. The back of the shoe had been slipping off my heels for months, since the leather had stretched out, but it was still manageable. But then the inside of the shoe tore along the instep and basically started poking my foot with every step I knew it was time to shop.

I started complaining about it at work and even inspired a column by my coworker about his wife's love of shoe shopping. I will probably never love shoe shopping, but I managed to find two pairs of shoes last week. I ordered five pair and sent back three including cute pair of wedge sandals that I was so tempted to keep, but in the end decided they wouldn't look so cute sitting on the shoe rack after I stopped wearing them because they hurt my feet.

I think I'll bet set for shoes for another year now, or at least until I have to start looking for shoes to go with bridesmaid dresses next May.

(Wo)man's best friend

I never thought I was a dog person. When ever I'd go over to someone else's place, a friend or a coworker or relative, and they had a dog, I'd cringe as it jumped up on me. I'd feel the urge to wash my hands as soon as a dog licked me and I couldn't stand slobber from the more salivatory types of dogs. Sure puppies were cute, but dogs just seemed messy and demanding. I always preferred my cat, who'd sleep next to me at night, and pretty much sleep all day, too.

After having a dog of my own for two and a half years, I have to admit my feelings have changed. My dog is Cassidy, and she's a 4-year-old mutt, part Shiba Inu, Keeshond and Staffordshire terrier, and who knows what else. She gives kisses on command, when we point a finger at our chin, and she knows lots of other tricks, such as shake, crawl, and even jumps through a hula hoop - all for treats, of course.

Just recently my mom nominated Cassidy for Cesar Millan's National Spokesdog competition. The competition is set up so the dogs get votes, but the votes cost $1 each, and the money goes to the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, which benefits shelter dogs across the country. Vote for Cassidy or add your own dog to the competition. After all, the money all goes for a good cause as my family learned in our journey with our shelter mutt.

I blame my sister for my transformation to a dog person, although maybe I am more of a Cassidy person. When my parents bought a house close to three years ago the first thing on my sister's agenda was to get a dog. We had a yard finally instead of a little patio, and no landlord to tell us we couldn't have pets. I said we should wait to get a dog since the three cats we had just went through a big change with the relocation. I thought they needed some time to settle in to the new place.

We moved to our current residence in January. And one day on the way home from San Jose, I jokingly suggested we should stop at the animal shelter in San Martin. My sister and my mom said it was a great idea. So we went in and looked at the dogs. The shelter in San Martin services unincorporated Santa Clara County and dogs picked up as strays from some of the police departments, and there are always a mix of chihuahuas and pit bulls, but often a lot of other mutts. I saw a shaggy red-haired dog that I liked, but my sister liked a black and tan terrier mix. We left after deciding to wait a while longer to get a dog.

The next day, though, I got a picture message on my phone of a dog and called my mom immediately. Turns out my sister and my mom had gone on their lunch hour to adopt the black and tan dog. It was early February and my mom had won a football pool. She used the money for the adoption fee. The dog was at home by the time I got off work and within weeks she was part of the family.

Not to say that it was easy. Cassidy, as my sister named her, was picked up as a stray. We didn't know anything about her history, but she came to us weighing 13 pounds with her hip bones sticking out, and her nipples leaking milk. She had a scar on her leg that looked very much like the remnants of an old dog bite. The shelter staff estimated that she was 2 years and one month old.

At first she was quiet and calm. She came to us housebroken and she knew basic commands such as sit. But within six weeks, her true personality had come out. She reacted agressively to people coming to the front door, our cats, people on bicycles, baby strollers and most especially, other dogs. She couldn't go to group classes because she'd go psycho as soon as she saw another dog, hackles up and nearly foaming at the mouth. It was a few months after we'd had Cassidy that we realized the commitment and work required with any dog, especially a shelter dog that probably hasn't been properly socialized.

It took three trainers and a year and a half of work before we found a trainer who taught us the tools to anticipate the things that will set Cassidy off, and the confidence to walk her without worrying about how she will react to other dogs. It still takes a lot of work, and alertness, and chicken treats, but we are now to the point where we've been able to take Cassidy to a beginning dog class and be in the same room with a dozen dogs and not have her go crazy.

It's been a long journey, but ulitimately it has been worth it - just to see Cassidy's wagging tail and get one of those kisses.

Photos by Melissa Flores

Cassidy on the day she came home to our house, all skin and bones.

Cassidy two years later, fattened up to a healthy 20-plus pounds and well-trained to do tricks on command.

A moment when the world stopped

In life, there are few moments when the world seems to stop and a collective memory starts to form.

In my own lifetime, there are two moments when this has happened - one a tragedy that shook the entire nation and the other a temblor that literally shook the greater Bay Area.

I was 11 when the Loma Prieta earthquake erupted at 5:04 p.m. on October 17. I was at my cousin's house, in a second-story apartment with my sister and a few cousins. The Kern Avenue apartment in Gilroy seemed to sway and the thing I remember most is that the quake seemed to last forever. I remember running to the doorway of the bathroom for the last few moments of the quake. My baby cousin slept through the 7.1 quake.

My dad was at work at Gilroy Foods and my mom worked for TG&Y, a Wal-mart type store that used to be on First Street in Gilroy. She was on the road home from a training in San Jose. It was a world before cell phones existed so we sat and waited until our parents showed up at the apartment to pick us up to know that they were okay.

Being a kid, I didn't pay much attention to the overall impact of the quake. I can't really remember the newscast from the weeks after. I can only remember my own personal tragedy. Our house was unscathed for the most part but my cat Biscuit, a white and black tuxedo cat who used to follow me and my sister around the neighborhood like a dog, never came home. He had disappear once before when he followed us trick or treating to another neighborhood, but he came back a few days later. I prayed and prayed like only a true believer can for Biscuit to come back home. He never did.

A dozen years later I'd become jaded enough that one warm September morning while I was walking from the fitness room at San Jose State University's student union to the locker room I glimpsed a newscast and thought, "Oh, another bombing."

It was only when I arrived in my office on Sept. 11, 2001 that I realized the magnitude of what was happening. I worked in the Dean's Office for one of the colleges on campus and I fielded calls all more from students and professors inquiring if they had to come to class given that the twin towers were falling. I just told them the campus had not been closed, but they would have to make the decision for themselves.

By noon the CSU chancellor had decided to close the campus. I was the building coordinator at the time, which meant I was responsible for clearing the building in an emergency. I was only 23, and looked like one of the students on campus. The Dean and one of the IT guys helped me clear out the classrooms and the offices, lending an air of authority to my quest. Most people left quickly and willingly. A few of the math and science professors hemmed and hawed about leaving their offices, but in an hour we had everyone out.

I don't remember why, but I'd driven into work that day rather than taking the train, which would have stranded me in the city until 4 p.m. The IT guy who lived in Hollister rode home with me and we listened to the radio all the way home. All we could say was how unbelievable it all was. I dropped him at the train station in Gilroy, where his car was parked, and went home to turn on CNN. Unlike when I was a kid, I watched the news nonstop, watching as the death toll rose and waiting for answers.

In some ways 9/11 led me to my life as a journalist. A few weeks after 9/11, a Philadelphia Inquirer photographer was sent to Afghanistan. A year later Peter Tobia was invited to SJSU for a School of Journalism alumni dinner. The Dean bought a table and at the last minute someone cancelled, and he invited me to go. Tobia talked about what it was like to be in Afghanistan directly after 9/11. Slide after slide of his photos showed abject poverty, heroin addiction and the aftermath of a country abandoned by the U.S. after the Cold War ended. I remember thinking if someone like Tobia hadn't gone to Afghanistan someone like me would never have seen those images.

It planted a seed in my head that journalists can do something great by telling the stories of people who don't have a voice. On my best days at work I do this. The other part of it for me is that we can give people hope, or at least that is something I try to do at my small community newspaper.

We launched a series today in commemoration of the coming 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. We have invited people to share their own personal memories with the Weekend Pinnacle, but we also have quite a few stories planned. The first week includes a look back at the immediate aftermath of the quake in San Benito, how building codes have changed and what makes San Benito the earthquake capital of the world. More coverage will include how emergency personnel responded in San Benito, how recent disasters have changed emergency planning and how individuals can get prepared, as well as a few other pieces. It is stories like this can change the world for the better in a little way.

A sobbing mess

I don't like when books, movies or TV shows catch me by surprise with a sudden tear jerker change of pace.

That happened to me last night as I was finishing up a book by Jennifer Weiner. The book is a sequel to one I already read "Good in Bed." The books fit squarely in the chick lit category and are not really all that great, but sometimes I want to read something other than "The New Yorker" at bedtime. These are books that don't take a lot of thought and they are usually amusing enough to get me through to the end.

But Weiner pulled a fast one on me when I got to the homestretch of "Certain Girls" last night. With less than 30 pages left to read - SPOILER ALERT - one of the main characters died. It came out of nowhere, and personally I don't think it did a whole lot to move the plot forward. I could have imagined other ways to do it.

I have to admit that I have a streak of sentimentality that is about a mile wide though I often hide it from others with my sarcastic streak. Let's just say there are certain country songs I can't listen to without getting teary eyed. That is one of the reasons I thought "Nights in Rodanthe" wasn't very good - it has a thoroughly depressing ending, but didn't draw one tear out of me.

I don't mind when I expect something sad to happen in a movie or a book, like "Beaches" or "Terms of Endearment" or "Bridge to Terabitha." I just don't like when I am caught off guard by it, like in the Disney Pixar movie "Up." Who expects to bawl at a cartoon?

For now, I will seek out some laughs to make up for the crying jag last night.

The 'Doctor' is in

For anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, I am a little bit of a TV and movie addict. It's not really my fault, I swear. I blame it on graduate school - and my mom. For Christmas during my first year of school, she gave me a Tivo and a subscription to the digital recording technology. I started watching way too much TV to avoid the things I should really be doing - like working on my thesis project or editing video for my broadcast class or reading the newspaper for my current events quizzes.

My friend and I had all night classes the second semester so the Tivo made it easy to watch all the shows we liked such as "The Simpsons," or "The O.C." or "Grey's Anatomy." Tivo is the main reason I started watching "Law and Order: SVU." I could tape half a dozen reruns on the USA channel and then have them for middays when I got tired of working on my assignments.

When I finished school and got a real 9-5 job again Tivo made it easy to watch shows that were on at anytime. I could tape Food Network shows during the day or the Oprah Show. I used to never watch anything that came on after 9 p.m. - I like to read before I go to sleep and occasionally I actually get up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym - but now plenty late-night shows are part of my viewing schedule. And best of all, I never, ever watch commercials.

More recently my family added a Roku player to our list of tech TV gadgets. The Roku player is a little box you plug into the TV and connect to the wireless network that allows users to instantly play movies from Netflix or rent movies from Amazon.com. Not all DVDs on Netflix are available for instant play, but there is a decent selection. The quality depends on the speed of the Internet so this option is probably best for those with high-speed connections.

After finishing off BBC America's "Being Human" in one weekend - it was only six episodes long - I decided to try out "Dr. Who." Another of my BBC America favorites, "Torchwood" was a spin off of "Dr. Who." I've only watched the first episode of the 2005 version - the original started in 1963 - and so far it has the same funny, but sarcastic edge as "Torchwood."

The show stars David Tennant as Dr. Who, a man who can travel through time and space. In the pilot, he saves Rose (Billie Piper) from a pack of moving mannequins. Some American TV watchers may know Piper from "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," which I've never seen. I know Piper from "Top of the Pops" because she had a hit song out while I was in Ireland 10 years ago and the guy I had a crush on watched the show just to ogle her.

I have to watch a few more episodes before I can make a definitive decision about the show, but I've already got three seaons waiting in the queue on the Roku player!

'All About Steve' not all that

I looked forward to seeing "All About Steve" all summer, but part of me knew it would probably disappoint me. But it had Sandra Bullock as a quirky lead, and I have liked the majority of her movies I've seen, and it had dreamy Bradley Cooper. As it turns out, my movie instincts were right and I did end up disappointed in the movie. Read more about it in the Weekend Pinnacle on Friday.

The movie had a loose plot with Bullock playing the quirky Mary Horowitz. Mary is a cruciverbalist - more simply someone who loves crossword puzzles - and she creates them for a local newspaper. But her life is turned upside down when she goes on a short blind date with Steve (Bradley Cooper), a cable news cameraman, who escapes the date by faking a call from work when Mary starts talking in sentences full of all the random crossword facts she knows. He leaves her with an off-the-cuff comment about how he wishes she could join him on the road. It's a guy response to keep from hurting a woman's feelings, as though sitting around and waiting for someone to call for weeks doesn't cause it's own hurt feelings.

The funniest thing in the movie, at least to me, is a bit where Mary creates a crossword puzzle entitled "All About Steve." Readers are pissed when they can't complete their weekly crossword because they don't know Steve. I know how serious newspaper readers take their crosswords as I've been subjected to the wrath of readers when production staff somehow messed it up. When I promised one woman we would re-run the correct crossword the next week, she told me she might not live that long.

But aside from a few funny moments, I found "All About Steve" less than charming. For movie-goers who want to see Sandra Bullock play a quirky, super smart woman, try "Love Potion No. 9." The movie came out in 1992 and is the first Sandra Bullock movie I ever saw. She stars in it with Tate Donavan. She is plays Diane Farrow, a biochemist who is focused on her work and very socially awkward, until her lab partner happens across a love potion that turns them both into a magnet for the opposite sex. The movie has plenty of funny moments, without all the over-the-top craziness of "All About Steve."

The last tastes of summer

Labor Day might nearly be over, but I am still enjoying the last tastes of summer. The thing I love most about summer is that I can find a way to incorporate tomatoes into almost any meal. We made bruschetta this weekend, with fresh-grown tomatoes and basil, a mix of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and paremsan cheese. I used those same ingredients to create a tomato cream sauce for some fresh pasta yesterday. Then those same tomatoes went into a fresh salsa that will be used for tomorrow night's meal of cowboy hash and eggs (it's a Rachael Ray recipe.)

I even sliced up some cherry tomatoes and avocadoes to add to a deli meat sandwich this afternoon, in between writing columns. A few fresh ingredients can turn a boring homemade sandwich into a great meal. And a few early girl tomatoes that were left over were used on some burgers we had for dinner tonight.

A few weeks from now, those homegrown tomatoes will be few and far between. We'll have to wait for another season for the taste of summer.

Visions of wedding cakes

I dreamt about wedding cakes last night. Luckily, I think yesterday's cake tasting for my cousin's wedding is the last one. We went to four places, including two places in San Jose that just focus on wedding cakes; a local wedding cake designer whose space doubles as a cupcake shop; and a bakery/deli that happens to do wedding cakes, too.

Though you might think the places that just focus on the wedding cakes would have the edge, I don't really think that is the case. At both places we went to that just do wedding cakes, we found the cake dry and the fillings not very flavorful. At those places, there were long lists of cake varieties and fillings, but pretty much everything is an "upgrade." So even if the base price for the cake is $500, by the end it goes up a few hundred dollars. Want fresh strawberries? That will be $1 a person, but for $25 per layer you can get strawberry gel. Hmmm, no thanks. I think these places focus more on the decorating than on the flavor. The cost was also $200-300 more than we were quoted at the two places that actually had good-tasting cakes.

There is something to be said for a smaller shop where the decorater and the baker are one in the same because I think they will strive for the best of both - a good-tasting and good-looking cake. My cousin has the final say on her cake, but I think we are looking at a three-layered cake with chocolate cake and kahlua hazelnut cream layer, a layer of French vanilla and strawberry buttercream, and a to-be-decided layer from the local bakery that delivers. As for the other bakery with the amazing buttercream made with pastry cream, my cousin couldn't find a place with a refrigerated that would deliver so it's kinda out of the runnings. My mom and I, however, do have plans to order a cake from that place for my cousin's bridal shower since we would easily be able to transport a smaller cake by car!

A monster of a trio

While watching the "Torchwood," I started watching a new BBC America series called "Being Human." In it George (Russell Tovey), Mitchell (Aidan Turner) and Annie (Lenora Crichlow) are housemates who each have a secret. George is a werewolf who transforms every full moon into an uncontrollable animal. Mitchell is a centuries-old vampire who has given up drinking blood. And Annie is the ghost who haunts their house.

Annie is stuck in the house that she lived in with her fiance Owen since she fell down the stairs and died. She is shocked when George and Mitchell can see her, but she soon discovers they aren't normal human beings. The three decide to live together and to fit in with the regular human world.

Unlike the HBO series "True Blood," which also incorporates vampires and other supernatural beings, this show is much better at mixing humor and suspense. "True Blood" tends to stay in the realm of weirdness, but the BBC evokes more of a range of emotions. The gore is kept to a minimum, and though some of the special effects are weak, the writing is pretty good and the storyline keeps me interested.

For anyone into monster movies, it's worth a watch.

The first home game

I went to the first home game of the season for my alma mater, Gilroy High School. Of course, I don't know anything about football. I just chat with my family and visit with people I run into, including former high school classmates. I just cheer along when everyone else in the crowd does, and watch for player No. 78.

No. 78 is my cousin and I'm told he's a pretty good player, though I couldn't really say why. He's a varsity starter this year, but had to sit out the first game due to an injury. I went to most of the games last year, but then he was JV so we'd get to the stadium around 5 p.m., buy a pepper steak sandwich for dinner (the GHS boosters make an amazing tri-tip sandwich) and watch the game.

The JV games were nice because they were earlier in the day, so it wasn't so cold. And they are less crowded since a lot of people show up just for the varsity game. But I guess I will have to invest some warmer outerwear because even in this week that had triple digit weather for several days, it got quite chilly by 8 p.m., when the game started. In fact, I gave up at half-time - and the Mustangs were up 30 to 0 against the Morgan Hill/Live Oak Acorns - and went home.


Things seem to have changed since I was in high school. Our dress code prohibited tank tops and shorts, but now that seems to be all the girls wear. And the comment I've gotten from teenage girls is that if you wear two tanks tops then it's not so slutty - regardless of how much cleavage is showing. But what gets me more is the skinny jean trend for boys. I just don't understand. Of course, today I tried to explain the hypercolor T-shirt trend to a coworker who is a decade older and I found myself just ending the conversation with "yeah, I guess now that I think about it T-shirts that change color with body heat were kind of a bad idea. Think about what our armpits looked like at the end of the day."

And the kids don't actually sit and watch the games anymore. They just walk back and forth between the bleachers and the snack bar or the bathroom, checking their cell phones and texting each other. They run into each other and scream and giggly and cheer as though they haven't seen each other in years when they probably last saw each other in fifth period. I am sure my friends and I were just like that, but I'm old enough that I've blocked it all out.

It's going to be a long football season of cold nights and fashion-forward teenagers.

Midweek dinner trial

I like to try out new recipes, and it is almost a necessity to come up with new things to write about for the food column I write for the Weekend Pinnacle.

I usually try to save new recipes for the weekend because it tends to take a little longer to make a dish the first time - and I have a tendency not to read all the way through a recipe and not get key ingredients. It's much easier to run to the grocery store on a weekend than during the week, especially on weeks when I don't get home until 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.

I decided to try a new meal this week when I saw a few minutes of Giada De Laurentiis' "Everyday Italian" while waiting for my cousin to arrive for cake tasting No. 3. De Laurentiis was cooking a chicken dish that incorporated fennel, one of my favorite vegetables, and cherry tomatoes, many of which have been ripening in my yard. It seemed like a good fit and a visit to the Food Network Web site revealed it only took an estimated 28 min. to make. Sounded perfect for a midweek meal.

I wrote down the ingredients without reading through the steps and planned it for tonight since I figured I could get off work early. Now the trouble started when I realized the recipe required me to set up three shallow dishes to dredge the chicken. No meal that requires that is going to be quick. Then I realized I'd bought shredded parmesan cheese instead of grated. I used it anyway for the breading, but it caused a little burning in the pan since the cheese was chunkier than it should have been.

My sous chef (my mom) wasn't home so I had to cook the chicken and put it in the oven to keep it warm, before I could start prep work on the veggies. Fennel just needs a rough chop, but try cutting 5 dozen cherry tomatoes in half quickly. It takes a while. But an hour later, we had crispy chicken that was tender in the middle and a creamy sauce made delicious with mascarpone cheese.

The meal got the seal of approval from everyone in the family so it will be added to the rotation, although maybe on nights when both my mom and I are home to prep. And I still have half a container of mascarpone cheese to use. Maybe another visit to the Food Network Web site will help me find a new recipe for it!

Happy Birthday, Internet

The Internet - that thing invented by Al Gore (or maybe not) - turns 40 today. I only know this because I was on the Internet this afternoon, logged into gmail when a friend sent me an instant message with a link to a video on the National Geographic Web site.

I wonder if the inventors four decades ago could foresee the ways in which their extraordinary discovery would change our lives and our world. I don't think I even imagined it in 1996 when I created my first Web site "Kahlua, Colin and Claremont" as a freshman in college, amazed that I could actually scan and post a photo to the Web when now I can post video in minutes.

I might have been a little slow to come to the Internet, compared to other peers my age - especially my really nerdy computer geek friends. When I was in high school, my family didn't have a computer in the house. Instead, I used a word processor my best friend dubbed Duncan. It worked just fine for school reports, or writing bad poetry as most teenage girls do. If I needed information for a school report, I went to the library and looked up information in this thing called an encyclopedia. No not, wikipedia, encyclopedia, a printed book where all the facts inside are actually reliable - at least as of the last publication.

I have definitely grown fond of the Internet, especially since it makes my job as a journalist so much easier. Though I've never worked as a reporter in an era without the Internet, I did work in a newsroom without much technology for the summer of '04. When I was an intern in South Africa, we had the Internet in my newsroom at the Cape Argus - on one computer that had to be shared with 30 other staff members. Needless to say, I became reacquainted with phone books, maps and just asking questions of the South African reporters on staff.

I do appreciate the easy access to information that is proffered up by the Internet, but I did recently read a Wall Street Journal piece (on the Internet, of course) about how the next generation of kids who are growing up with text messaging and social networking sites as their main form of communication might be losing the ability to pick up on nonverbal cues.

I took a semester class on nonverbal communication, and the subject fascinates me. There are all those things we do unconsciously that tell people how we are feeling - like our eyes dilating when we look at someone we find attractive (which they also do after a few drinks which can complicate things.) It would truly be a detriment to future relationships if an entire generation of kids is unable to read a real smile from a fake one or to tell when someone needs a little extra personal space.

While the Internet is invaluable to me as a journalist at the Weekend Pinnacle, with all the background information and phone numbers I can find in an instant, understanding those nonverbal cues can be just as important. It's why I always interview people in person when possible, rather than over the phone, and why I never conducted interviews via e-mail. I get so much more out of people when I meet with them eye to eye, perhaps because they see me, too, and can sense that I am sincerely interested in what they have to say (at least most of the time.)
So Happy Birthday, Internet, with all your pros and cons. And excuse me, while I go cook dinner with a recipe I downloaded off, what else, the Internet.

Wasted 'Nights'

There was nothing on TV last night, as often happens late in the summer before the fall seasons start and the summer ones finish up. I looked through all 300+ channels on our satellite (included about 50 each of sports and pay-per-view, which I never watch) and there was not one thing on I wanted to watch.

Generally, we have a back log of shows tivoed, but some how we had caught up. So I decided to watch "Nights in Rodanthe" since it was something I'd never seen. I thought it might be okay.

It wasn't. The movie stars Diane Lane as Adrienne Willis, a married mother of two who agrees to watch over a friend's bed and breakfast in Rodanthe for a weekend. She needs the time away to think anyway since her cheating husband (Christopher Meloni) has just asked to come back home. Of course, while she is at the bed and breakfast, her one guest is a doctor (Richard Gere) who is full of regret. Guess who is going to fall in love by the end of the movie?

Basically the movie is one two-hour long downer and it really isn't that entertaining. An hour in my mother said it was a really long movie and I pointed out it wasn't that long - it was just really boring.

From now on, I will stick to my philosophy of avoiding any movies based on books by Nicholas Sparks.