Monday Hit-and-Run with Nuns

If bullet points are good enough for Larry King, and Larry King is good enough for USA Today...then I lost the point I'm trying to make.

• How exciting for the Dodgers yesterday, another walk-off homer from Nomar (be sure to rhyme Nomar and homer when you read that), and a grandslam at that. Given the score was tied and they were at home and they're still behind the Pads for the NL West lead and the Phils for the Wild Card, the LA Times headline should have been "Too Much Too Late."

• I was going to say the Democrats are doomed in November given Jackass 2 is the number one film in the nation but then I realized most of the jackass-loving-folks going to that piece of celluloid (you can't really call it a movie) probably don't vote.

• Given Santa Barbara hasn't opened a good new restaurant in years, it is with much sadness I have to report how good Villa Creek is. In Paso Robles. This is just the sort of place SB needs--not too expensive, just the right friendly (a sommelier who asks, "What do we want to play with this evening?"), properly adventurous without any foam-flecked pretention, and downright delicious. I mean, SB can't support an upscale look at California cuisine that feels its Mexican/Spanish influences (and I don't mean garlic bread and jarred salsa)? And that wine list--syrah and grenache lead the way, at good prices, and the Villa Creek wines themselves are fruity, deep, and food-friendly.

• The rally to support the staff of the News-Press was a spirited event, particularly with Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, on hand. I'd never felt prouder to shout out a "si se puede!" than yesterday. It's also striking that someone was taking photos from one of the second floor News-Press offices, but there was no article or photo in the News-Press today about the rally. Gee, wonder what the pictures were for.

• Sticking with the wreck of the News-Press for a minute, it was also amazing to hear that the Nipper has decided to strike back at the latest arm of the vast international conspiracy against his ever getting that ring from Wendy and actually scoring a paycheck when she dumps him. A month or so ago 20 local clergy got together and tried to place an ad in the N-P asking for fairness and for the paper to treat its employees with some respect. They never even got a "no" and had to run their ad in the Independent. So now Arthur von Wiesenberger wrote back to the clergy and attacked them for trying to place the ad. (For a copy of the letter see the PDF Craig Smith posted from his blog.) All I can think of as advice to the Nipper is this old line from Mary Hartman: you can't beat a station wagon full of nuns.