TOC

COMMIE GIRL

118 Rebecca Schoenkopf goes to Mom's for Thanksgiving and jail for her brother's birthday. Face it, some people's lives are just more interesting.

THE COUNTY

10 R. Scott Moxley says a gay-bashing killer is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Gustavo Arellano reports that one of Governor Schwarzenegger's top donors is being sued for forcing a female employee to watch pornos, you know, just like Clarence Thomas. Celeste Kidd rides the Greyhound on Thanksgiving and lives. Theo Douglas makes friends at MetroPark and Valentino. And Alex Brant-Zawadzki-Starsky-Hutch says the libertarian Register is taking liberties with the facts when it comes to toll roads.

FEATURE

20 Nick Schou probes how a fatal traffic accident led to a major police scandal, and how the tragedy ultimately may have claimed another victim, Andrea Nelson, a young woman who may have been murdered because of what she told police.

MUSIC

31 Buddy Seigal says you wouldn't know it to look at him, but Link Wray was one of rock's greatest innovators. Ellen Griley loses her mind at a Gwen Stefani concert. Nadia Afghani rocks with the old folks at a Depeche Mode gig. Rex Reason gets jiggy with the Mighty Ducks DJ. And Chris Ziegler gets all whiny and obtuse—what we here in the office refer to as "Thursday"—with the always ignorable Get Out!

FILM

38 Matt Coker gasps for air as the claustrophobic Private brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict home. As Rent enjoys new success on film, Cole Akers wonders if the probable source-material author will ever get credit. Though Disney is using The Passion of the Christ's evangelical phone list to build support for The Chronicles of Narnia, Greg Stacy argues that the latest Harry Potter flick is more Christian.

THE ARTS

42 Amanda Vande Brake says if you must see one play this holiday season, Many Happy Returns is not that play. Joel Beers, on the other hand, is slayed by Blake . . . da Musical. It's okay; he's fine. Elizabeth Khuri is quite impressed with UC Irvine's graduate dance students' New Slate production. Cornel Bonca can't say enough about George Saunders' new book, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. And Mike Sonksen is similarly rhapsodic at the prospect of a Luis Rodriguez poetry reading.

FOOD

46 Gustavo Arellano reviews Mastro's Ocean Club, a Scottsdale-based chain, to curry favor with our new Arizona-based owners. Then he goes to the westest point of Orange County to dine at the River's End.