Blogs

Blogs, Books, Dean Weissmann presents, Featured February 16, 2023

Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 29: ‘Pie in the Sky at Peace Camp’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/.) Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/) Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE The convention hits full stride as Tyger embarks on guerilla protest. He spends a lot of time with convention protesters and reveals all the counter-culture events pertaining to the gathering. Much time is spent at the…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Opinion January 28, 2023

Ate a purple M&M, woke up in bed with Tucker Carlson

Let me start off by saying that the real purpose of the GOP’s performative nonsense is to distract people from what they’re really up to, namely advocating for the wealthy and expressing disdain for whomever they’ve deemed to be the “other” at the moment. Yes, we shouldn’t stand for the “anti-woke” nonsense currently in vogue, but keeping your eyes on the prize (winning elections) should…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Del Mar/Solana Beach/Encinitas/Carlsbad, Entertainment/Arts, Media, Opinion, Rancho Santa Fe January 6, 2023

‘Married at First Sight?’ If you must, reality TV show shoots at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe this week.

Lights, camera, weirdness. “Married at First Sight,” the Lifetime Channel reality TV show matching total strangers in unholy matrimony upon first meeting, shoots its brand of unreal magic through Feb. 5 at the ultra-exclusive Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. Check it out. If they’ll let you. They threw me off the set for having the audacity to walk up the Inn’s primrose path, lingering for…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, San Marcos January 2, 2023

Where are the twin oaks of Twin Oaks?

Organic growing guru Scott Murray, a Vista resident, had a searing question — the kind of question that cuts to the core of a certain sense of community. Driving around Twin Oaks, he said, “Where are the twin oaks of Twin Oaks?” I’ve driven around Twin Oaks a lot. But it never occurred to me that the area at the northeast corner of San Marcos…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Dean Weissmann presents, Featured December 26, 2022

Ray Bong, S. Creamcheese, ‘Competitive Non-Drinking’

About a dozen years ago, my friend Suzy Creamcheese and I discovered the most brutal sporting concept known to the human race, we call it “Competitive Non-Drinking”.  At that time, I smugly informed him that I had made a great achievement– I had gone for two weeks, 14 whole days, without taking a drink of alcohol.  He nonchalantly replied that it had been 20 days…

Blogs, Books, Dean Weissmann presents, Featured December 25, 2022

Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 1: ‘Good Morning, New Orleans’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ CHAPTER ONE On Christmas Day 1987, Tyger Williams, video artist, discovers a classified ad for an insurance investigator which he answers. On New Year’s Day, he burns the “box of troubles” at the abandoned 1984 World’s Fair site…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Dean Weissmann presents, Entertainment, Entertainment/Arts December 24, 2022

Ebenezer Scrooge just needs better PR

Ebenezer Scrooge could have used a better PR agent; the poor, dear misunderstood gentleman. Scrooge’s problem was bad publicity, the cynical media. However, I admire the poor sap, and not just because he is so darn cute. You’ve heard all the stories. Scrooge was the guy who (allegedly) messed with good old Bob Cratchit’s Christmas. And don’t even start on Tiny Tim. Bah, humbug. People…

Blogs, History, North County, San Diego, The World November 28, 2022

San Diego North County Japanese-Americans recall World War II internments

In San Diego County, which had a population of 2,076 Japanese-Americans in 1940, families were sent to Poston, 12 miles south of Parker, Ariz. Poston was one of 10 internment camps created during World War II after an executive order authorized the Secretary of War to designate specific areas as military zones and excluded certain people from living in them. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Opinion, San Marcos November 21, 2022

Bowling over a San Marcos story

Was it me? Or was it the dart store? Whatever it was, every time I thought of going to the dart store, it was closed. My grand plan was to get a dart, throw it at a map of the greater San Marcos sphere of influence and produce a column based on the people at the place where the dart landed. This was an homage,…

Biotech/Tech, Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Media, Opinion November 13, 2022

Why quit Twitter when you can stick around for a train wreck

I have no intention of quitting Twitter, the social media site that I’ve dutifully scrolled through nearly every day since I joined in 2009. I intend to stick around and watch this train wreck happen. The sight of Elon Musk getting his comeuppance will be at least as entertaining as the dozen or so accounts the algorithm masters in Twitterland have decided to send my…