Category: Media

By Jake Peterson / The Reader / Aug. 20, 2026

End of the 8 is a sitcom that follows a rock band around Ocean Beach, spotlighting the neighborhood’s eclectic vibe. For those who didn’t catch the pilot episode on YouTube last year, the show climaxed with the End of the 8 band (imagine if Spinal Tap and Grateful Dead birthed a surfer love child) playing to packed house at Winstons. The shots of the crowd featured a who’s who of Obeacians, and this was no accident. Highlighting the real-life characters and scenery of Ocean Beach was one of the main objectives of show creator Daniel M. Dyer.

Since then, excitement has been building around the show. Over the past year, the pilot made wound through the indie film circuit and even made it through the first round of Cannes Film Festival. It scored six nominations and won a couple of awards: Best Web/TV Pilot at the Los Angeles Film Awards and Best Ensemble Cast at the Independent Shorts Awards.

Now the moment is approaching for Episode 2. “There’s a lot of new characters,” Dyer says. “We’re anchored in the same cast, but also expanding the scale of the whole world of OB. There’s a lot more female-focused characters, too. If people can like the characters, or at least like to laugh at them — or with them — you’ve got something. That’s what matters.”

Good news! After just one week of fundraising, the Rag has exceeded our goal by $3,000! Our goal was $3,500 but we’ve now reached over $6,600 in donations from readers, friends and supporters.

This means the Rag can continue the quality and quantity of our writings and reports. We can keep our lights on. This is crucial because the country is about to enter one of the most turbulent periods in modern history. Donald Trump is gearing up to unleash a multi-level attack on our November elections — and this is no time for the Rag to go silent.

by Ernie McCray

The words,
“Be excellent to each other out there,”
that I read on a Facebook post recently
really struck a chord with me,
especially considering
how too many of us
treat each other these days
on social media,
attacking a fellow human being’s very person
rather than challenge
a specific point-of-view intellectually,
the very opposite
of treating someone
the way you want to be treated.

Change Begins With ME Overpass Alliance Marks One Year of Weekly Bridge Activism For 52 weeks,

Change Begins With ME volunteers have returned to the bridge with changing messages and one enduring call: Pay attention. Stay engaged. Vote.

On Monday, August 10, 2026, Change Begins With ME (CBWM) will celebrate the one-year anniversary of its Overpass Alliance, marking 52 weeks of sustained grassroots activism above San Diego freeways.

Since August 11, 2025, volunteers have gathered every week at the I-5 overpass at Clairemont Drive, holding large-scale banners and handmade signs addressing some of the most consequential issues facing our country and communities.  Each week, those messages are seen by thousands of passing drivers—and thousands of potential voters—giving CBWM’s Overpass Alliance a unique opportunity to reach people where they are.

The messages change from week to week, responding to current events and issues ranging from democracy and immigration to civil rights, government accountability and the rule of law. One of our messages was picked up by Congressman Mike Levin on Instagram, taking it viral with Meidas Touch and Occupy Democrats!

San Diego Police Have Recently Issued 18 Misdemeanor Citations and 300 Warnings at Sunset Cliffs 

By Omari Fleming / 7SanDiego / August 4, 2026

A cascade of cliff-jumpers continues to catapult themselves off Sunset Cliffs, a week and a half after two high-profile rescues. One case involved a 17-year-old who jumped and crashed on the cliffs. The other involved a man who fell trying to climb the cliffs.

Law enforcement has made it abundantly clear — cliff jumping is illegal.

San Diego police and lifeguards said they have increased patrols in light of the recent issues.

NBC San Diego crews witnessed lifeguards in boats using bullhorns to try and get jumpers off the cliffs on Tuesday, Aug. 4. A crew was also stationed in one of their trucks, parked off the cliffs, trying to dissuade illegal activity.

San Diego police said they handed out over 300 warnings and 18 misdemeanor citations to would-be jumpers. But people who take the plunge say that won’t do the trick.

By Judi Curry

I think I began watching Jackie and Shadow’s eagle nest and their offspring about 5 years ago. They are fascinating to watch and the learning styles are so similar for each set of baby birds.  It is so uplifting – or has been until Jackie became so ill.  One has to give so much credit to the group working to save her.

But I am not here to write about Jackie and Shadow.  No…I am here to introduce “Mutt and Jeff” to Pt. Loma.  Well….sort of because many of you know them already.  I am not sure what their “given” names are, but over here – my house – we named them Mutt and Jeff.  Let me tell you about them.

One week ago today we didn’t know they existed.  Sure, we hear them, particularly at 2-3:00 am every morning.  They have a nest in a tree nearby, and almost without exception you can see the adults sitting on the electric pole in the alley to the south of my house.  And if you can’t see them you sure as hell can hear them!

Last week I heard a person living here YELLING at my German Shephard – Charlie – in such a loud voice I was sure that Charlie must have done something terrible wrong.  I went outside to see what the ruckus was as fast as this old lady can move and found that roommate Amber was yelling at Charlie because she had her paw on this large bird and was not letting the bird get up.  (We think that maybe Charlie was getting ready to have a large snack but fortunately Amber was there at the right time and managed to get Charlie away from the large black and while bird with the most beautiful wings that looked like they had been drawn by an artist!

Amber and I watched the bird, and it looked like it might have been injured because it could not fly.  We later thought it might have been a fledgling that had fallen out of the next and was just learning to fly.

Hailed by legendary film critic Roger Ebert as best film of the year and the ninth-best overall film of the 2000s.

By Kendra Syrdal / Parade / July 6, 2026

Based on writer and director Cameron Crowe’s real-life experiences as a teenage writer for Rolling Stone, the movie Almost Famous has become a cult classic sensation since its release in 2000.

When Crowe was just 16 years old, he spent three weeks touring with The Allman Brothers Band and interviewing its members as well as the road crew. Because Crowe was younger than many of the journalists, he was more inclined to interview the hard rock bands that his older colleagues didn’t yet understand. Because of this, he landed interviews with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, and Eric Clapton.

This is what would serve as the inspiration and backbone for Almost Famous.

Crowe used many different points of reference when he created Stillwater, the fictional band, for the movie. According to Greg Allman’s 2012 memoir, My Cross to Bear, many of the moments and aspects of the film are taken from Crowe’s time spent with the band for the 1973 Rolling Stone cover feature. The movie was shot over the course of just 92 days, around San Diego, Ca. on Ocean Beach and Sunset Cliffs.

The soundtrack for Almost Famous has been lauded as one of the best compilations of music made for a movie, with some even considering it the best of all time. In 2001, it took home the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

By Kate Callen

In the news profession, journalists are supposed to be fired for breaching ethical standards. They are not supposed to be fired for upholding them.

Terence Shepherd is suing his former employer, KPBS, for doing just that. In a lawsuit filed in May in Superior Court, Shepherd, who was KPBS News Director from August 2021 until September 2025, alleges he was terminated for wanting to comply with rules set down by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The incident in question was KPBS Reporter Alexander Nguyen’s TV news report of a September 17 event at Encinitas City Hall protesting the tactics of U.S. Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE).

The lawsuit states, “Shepherd became aware that [Nguyen] had apparently staged a protest scene about which KPBS was reporting. One of the protesters that [he] staged behind the live shot [carried] a placard that prominently displayed ‘FUCK ICE.’”

Believing that a display of the word “FUCK” would violate FCC rules governing broadcast content, Shepherd alerted KPBS Chief Content Officer Nancy Worlie. He wanted to audit Nguyen’s past work. Worlie “vehemently disagreed” and said that Shepherd was “grossly overreacting.” Soon after, he was fired.

By Jillian Butler

As technology advances, it is injected into the educational curriculum for children. Naturally, many parents have questions, concerns, and convictions. A national coalition of parents and educators called Schools Beyond Screens is advocating for research and evidence-based guidelines to be put in place for educational technology.

Ocean Beach mother, lawyer, and administrative judge, Angelika Oliver, is one of the parents leading the fight in San Diego, and there’s at least one other woman from OB involved. Below is an interview with her, conducted via email.

1) I have read up a little bit on your background and why you got involved with Schools Beyond Screens. Please tell me in your own words why you got involved in the movement.

My initial concern was screen and internet use at home. I believed that if we could agree as a community to limit our kids’ access to devices and the internet, we could help safeguard childhood. This thinking came largely from The Anxious Generation, the idea that kids need more supervision online and less in the real world, so they can take on independent tasks, explore freely, and develop grit and resilience.

But then I realized even if we limit screens at home, kids are on them too much at school. At first, I hoped our school site would respond to what parents clearly wanted and make changes at our elementary school. When I kept hearing that Chromebook use couldn’t be addressed at the school level and would have to be decided at the district level, I felt obligated to push for change there.

By Shawn Styles / CBS8 / June 4, 2026

San Diego’s coastal beauty offers endless opportunities for photographers, but capturing the perfect shot often comes down to timing, preparation, and a bit of luck. Local photographer Jim Grant knows that balance well.

Grant gained national recognition in 2024 when his image of a rare “Green Flash” sunset earned the grand prize in the American Meteorological Society’s annual photo competition. The photo featured a sailboat perfectly aligned within the glowing sun as a green flash shimmered above it.

“It was a shot of the green flash, setting sun with the green flash on top with a sailboat right in the middle of the sun,” Grant said.

The award-winning image was not entirely accidental. Grant had been tracking weather patterns and positioning himself between Ocean Beach Pier and the Mission Bay channel, where evening boat traffic increases the chances of capturing a dynamic foreground.

“If I can get at least a good sunset, the sailboat in the image was strictly a bonus,” he explained. “I was just there at the right place at the right time.”