Subject: Absolut Vodka

• NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL 2007: OPENING NIGHT

  Never trust Moviefone's directions. As an OC noob, I actually expected to get the correct map to Edwards Island Theaters, but the step-by-step instructions left me in the middle of Newport Beach before giving up. Fortunately, I found the Lido Theater, and the owner was more than happy to give me directions for a small fee of $25 that he waived (just for me, I'm sure). So I made it to the theater well on time -- though a rather odd planning quirk of the festival meant that the will-call desk an

  April 21, 2007

• SATURDAY AT THE NEWPORT BEACH FILM FEST

  2:30 p.m.: Arrive at Fashion Island, having gotten the proper directions this time, and only had to make one drastic, corrective U-turn. Find the courtesy lounge. Marvel at the array of free brownies and donuts. Despair that there is no free booze...and considering the lounge closes at 6, there probably won't be. 2:45 p.m.: Have lunch at Wahoo's Fish Tacos -- "wet" burrito with green sauce. Register severe disappointment when said sauce turns out to be made not from green chilies, but some kind

  April 22, 2007

• NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL 2007: THE ARTFUSION EXPERIMENT

  The best place to drink heavily at Fashion Island is...Red Robin. Unexpected, right? But a Jack-and-Diet there will run you $4.79 plus tax, and it comes in a full-size glass. Don't ask why the price is so strangely to-the-penny; just enjoy the fact that it's a cocktail cheaper than many beers. Other cocktails are similarly good value; a rather picky diner specified the ingredients he wanted in a Zombie, and ended up paying just $6, slices of fruit and all. But then he left half of it behind. I'

  April 24, 2007

• Salty, Dawg

  So I'm at The Block the other day for an exciting double-feature of Eastern Promises (pretty good) and Shoot 'Em Up (outstanding) with a break in between for appletinis made with Absolut Pears, and this woman walks up to me asking me something blablabla, D.C. I say, "What?" "Have you ever heard of the Dead Sea?" Of course I have. I even got a bar of soap for Christmas a couple years back made with mud from there. "Come this way. For 15 seconds." I didn't really want to, but you never know. A

  October 1, 2007

• NBFF: Opening Night

  Rumor had it that the Newport Beach Film Festival was looking for a high-profile opening night movie that failed to finally come through, so instead the festival kicked off with SHERMAN'S WAY, which is not to be confused with the Ross McElwee documentary SHERMAN'S MARCH -- their only common factor is that I don't like either one of them. So no way was I going to actually watch the movie again: the only thing worse than sitting through a movie you don't like is sitting through it again after it

  April 25, 2008

• Valentine's Day Massacre

  February 25, 1999

• Grub Guide

  July 13, 2006

• Grub Guide

  July 20, 2006

• Valhalla on Earth

  December 14, 2000

• [¡Ask a Mexican!®] Is It Racist to Call a Mexican Working at a Coffee Shop a 'Beaner'?

  April 17, 2008

• Apocalypse Now

  May 9, 2002

• Grub Guide

  Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide
  

  August 9, 2007

• Grub Guide

  August 2, 2007

• Hello, Dolly!

  October 21, 1999

• Film Fests Are a Beach

  Some highlights from the past few days of the Newport Beach Film Festival

  May 3, 2007

• Grub Guide

  July 6, 2006

• grub guide

  August 16, 2007

• Grub Guide

  February 1, 2007

• Grub Guide

  January 18, 2007

• Grub Guide

  January 11, 2007

• Grub Guide

  January 4, 2007

• Grub Guide

  December 21, 2006

• Grub Guide

  December 14, 2006

• Grub Guide

  November 23, 2006

• Grub Guide

  November 16, 2006

• Grub Guide

  November 9, 2006

• Grub Guide

  November 2, 2006

• Grub Guide

  October 26, 2006

• Grub Guide

  October 12, 2006

• Grub Guide

  October 5, 2006

• New Kid in Town

  August 3, 2006

• Grub Guide

  May 4, 2006

• Commie Girl

  April 27, 2006

• What I Miss About Drinking

  March 9, 2006

• How I Spent My thanksgiving Vacation

  December 1, 2005

• Capitol Punishment

  How Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped worrying and learned to love selling out to special interests

  June 2, 2005

• This Week In Small-City Dining

  September 9, 2004

• Poor Pitiful Pearl

  June 17, 2004

• Kids These Days

  May 27, 2004

• Eight Days

  April 8, 2004

• Mommy Not Know!

  October 16, 2003

• Eat the Cheese!

  March 6, 2003

• Letter from Coachella

  May 9, 2002

• Yoove Gott a Frend in Gee-zus

  August 17, 2000

• Sunset Beach

  September 27, 2001

• Spinning on Spins Punk Memoirs

  April 26, 2001

• Guilty Pleasures

  October 28, 1999

• Summer Beach & Beer Guide

  June 3, 1999

• Newport Beach Film Fest: Halftime Report

  UPDATED WITH EYEWITNESS REPORT ON DJ MOM PANTS!Johnny Cash, the revenge-minded father of a dead teen porn star, Bijou Phillips, Julius Shulman, Kelly Lynch, "Kevin" from The Office, Vilmos Zsigmond and a sour-faced Kristen Scott Thomas. No, these are not my ideal players in the perfect poker game but just some figures who have rocked my world so far at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which has reached the halfway point and continues through Thursday. Friday began with a bout of deja vu all over

  April 27, 2009

• Newport Beach Film Fest Opens With Flick, Vodka, Hot Porn Action!

  Photos by Bleu Cotton The scene at Fashion Island.The 10th Newport Beach Film Festival opened Thursday night at Edwards "Big Newport" with "celebrity" arrivals, flashing cameras and my exclusive red-carpet interview with Oscar-nominated film composer Marc Shaiman of Hairspray! and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut fame. Marc Shaiman on the red carpetME [seconds after a festival official pushed me in front of Shaiman and ordered an interview]: So, uh, what are you doing here?SHA

  April 24, 2009