OB Rag

Documentary? Comedy? Satire? Hoax?

It’s tough to pigeonhole Exit Through The Gift Shop, currently playing at Landmark Theaters in Hillcrest. The film is directed by UK street art superstar Bansky and tells the story of his rise to fame — though it does so indirectly.

Exit’s purported focus is amateur filmmaker Thierry Guetta, an absent-minded Frenchman and associate of Banksy’s who speaks in comically accented English and decides to become a superstar street artist himself.

by Michael Chen/ Channel 10 News

The five cameras were installed in response to a street robbery and vicious sexual assault case in 2006 that left city and community leaders outraged. It cost $100,000 to install the cameras, which are put up at Belmont Park and South Mission Beach.

But after several years of watching, police have stopped monitoring those cameras.

by Pat Flannery

I went to a strong-mayor forum (Prop D) last night at the San Diego County Health Complex sponsored by Common Cause and Empower San Diego, with guest speakers Donna Frye and Carl DeMaio. It was well attended, informal, with lots of great comments and questions. Carl and Donna are a great double act and the crowd loved it.

For me, what emerged was a pointed reminder of the continuous struggle between a secretive privileged elite and the rest of us. Carl DeMaio, who by temperament should identify with the forgotten masses, seems to yearn for acceptance by San Diego’s ruling elite. It will never happen. Those of us who have lived here long enough know that San Diego is an elitist closed shop.

Editor: Our OB Rag blogger, Mary Mann, took off for Bangkok, Thailand a few weeks ago, in the midst of turmoil roiling that country. Here is her first post from that beautiful but troubled land.

“Are you ok? We heard about the explosions in Bangkok. I’m worried about you.”

Thus read a portion of an email from my mom, which I read in an internet cafe off of Koh San Road on my first day in this sweltering, smiling country.

As I drove down Newport Avenue with a nearly empty gas tank, I considered my options. I usually buy my gas from the station at the corner of Newport and Sunset Cliffs, as ARCO is usually the cheapest big name brand around. I held my breath – what should I do? ARCO is owned by British Petroleum (BP). BP is responsible for this huge oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico – “the volcano of oil” spewing forth possibly as much as 200,000 gallons of crude every day.

Michael Chen, a Channel 10 News reporter, has a brand, new piece that he is broadcasting tonight about the surveillance cameras in and around the beach. His report has a new slant on the fact that the City of San Diego plans to install up to 16 cameras around Mission Bay and including one on the OB Pier.

Chen came out to OB today (5/5/10) and interviewed Frank Gormlie about the cameras. Gormlie has written about the “creep of Big Brother” and has taken a strong stance against the cameras.

But we cannot divulge the content of Chen’s report until after tonight. His report should be either at 6pm or 7pm this evening on Channel 10.

What’s the answer? SeaWorld may know.

A SeaWorld rescue squad was called out to OB this morning (May 5) to capture a baby sea lion that had wandered onto Abbott Street during the early hours of the morning.

As a police officer tried to steer it back towards the ocean, it crawled underneath his car. A SeaWorld net captured the pup.

Locals cheered. Local media was all over the story. It was the big tip of the day.

As always, local photographer Jim Grant was also all over it. These are his pics.

ALL LINKS INSIDE

* “Terriers” Filming at Hodad’s All Day Tuesday May 4th
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* Rally for “No More Cuts In Education” on Saturday, May 8th
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* Heathens’ Fundraiser Set for May 15th
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* Don Truesdail CD-Release Party a Success
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* Olive Tree Market Opens Beer and Wine Tasting Room
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* Voice of San Diego Holding School Board Candidate Forum – May 20th
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by David Helvarg

Less than six months ago environmentalists were celebrating President Obama’s commitment to our public seas as they went to work in support of his proposed National Ocean Policy.

Of course that was before the president endorsed offshore-oil drilling.

His call for expanded fossil-fuel development on the Outer Continental Shelf at the end of March came less than a month before the catastrophic explosion of a deepwater oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico leased to BP. That April 20 Deepwater Horizon disaster left 11 oil workers missing and presumed dead and 17 injured, then burned for two days before sinking in almost mile-deep water, setting off what turns out to be something like a 200,000-gallon-a-day oil leak that’s quickly covered a large part of the gulf and is affecting the Louisiana coastline.

by Shane Finneran / Exclusive to OB Rag /

About 75 demonstrators calling for the legalization of marijuana marched on the Pacific Beach boardwalk between Crystal Pier and Belmont Park on May 1. Participants spoke on a megaphone and carried signs with messages such as “Respect State Law,” “Prohibition Empowers Drug Lords,” and “Marijuana Is Better Than Alcohol.”

The two-hour march, which began at 11am, was organized by the Southern California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and a San Diego marijuana dispensary. SoCal NORML director Craig Beresh led the group in chants encouraging the legalization and taxation of marijuana.

I have technically been a Phish fan since my early teens, when a dreadlocked summer camp counselor played the song “Fee” each morning to rouse a cadre of young adolescents from their slumber and get them ready for the day.

My devotion grew over the years, and by now I consider myself a Phish “head”. At this stage in my fan arc, I wholeheartedly believe that what keeps me coming back for more is the community built between the band and it’s fans.

On Friday night (April 30th) at the Hazard Center Ultrastar Theatre, there was a love fest going …

Three thousand marchers descended on the Federal Building in downtown San Diego, today, May 1st, in protest of the new immigration law passed by the State of Arizona. They had at first rallied in Chicano Park, and then paraded over to the other side of downtown.

Already in front of the Federal Building was an estimated 150 counter-demonstrators, waving anti-immigrant signs,and making noise. About another hundred folks, supportive of the marchers, were on the opposite side of the street.