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Become a Music Geek Using Four Simple Steps

By: Liz OhanesianI'm not going to begrudge anyone for not knowing who Coachella headliners The Stone Roses are. The simple fact is that their first album, (the only one that really matters), came out in 1989. If you're in college now, you most likely weren't even born then. Plus, The Stone Roses wer ... More >>

Buns N Rice: The Chosun Ones

[Hole In the Wall] This Costa Mesa deli is slowly introducing office drones to Korean cuisine

10 Punk Albums to Listen to Before You Die

Coming up with 10 punk albums to listen to before you die is a lot harder than you'd think. For starters, it's a morbid thought, which makes you start asking yourself why in the hell you're thinking about punk albums when you're only gonna die, so who cares? Second, the best material of many (if n ... More >>

Canyonites Gear Up for Legal Fight Over Board of Supervisors' Approval of 65 New Homes

Stymied in their efforts to get the Orange County Board of Supervisors to reject a 65-home project into the rural canyons just northwest of Cook's Corner, canyonites are turning to the last place they can think of to stop what they believe to be a forever quality-of-life-changing development:The cou ... More >>

My American Heart

Glass House

5 Things to Fear on Friday the 13th Besides Nomophobia

T-Mobile is hawking phone insurance this Friday the 13th by pointing to the "fear and anxiety" some people apparently experience when separated from their cell phones.There is even, according to the company's PR monkeys, a name for this, "Nomophobia," which must be "real" because--I swear to God, t ... More >>

Insert [You Sunk My 'Battleship'] Joke Here

Because every generation needs an 'Armageddon'

No Wikipedia Today: Celebs Weigh In On the Internet Blackout

Google​Millions of sites are protesting the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, two bills that purport to censor the Web and, according to Google, "impose harmful regulations on American business." Internet users acros ... More >>

Five "Hate Radio" Lines from KFI AM 640 Hosts

​Thursday, the National Hispanic Media Coalition released a report titled, "American Hate Radio: How a Powerful Outlet for Democratic Discourse Has Deteriorated into Hate, Racism and Extremism." Included are complaints listeners filed with the FCC and, sure enough, LA-based and OC-heard KFI AM 6 ... More >>

Wannabe by the Spice Girls is Now 15 Years Old--and What the Hell Does Zigazigahhh REALLY Mean?

​Happy birthday, "Wannabe!" You are now officially making me feel really, really old. Here's the history of the song as per Wikipedia:  "Wannabe" was written in 30 minutes--mainly because the group had already written parts of the song beforehand--in what member Melanie Brown describes as a ... More >>

Five Popular Working-Class Foodstuffs That'll Never Become Hipster Trends or Foodie Fads

Betcha there'll never be a tamale pie truck...​Cupcakes are on their way out, pies are supposedly in--but it seems Orange County's going to go through a Summer of Doughnut. M & M Donuts over in Anaheim have hundreds of Yelp reviews (!), all over a simple blueberry donut, a fried thing studded ... More >>

How Many Ways To Kill a Cadbury Creme Egg?

Wikimedia Commons​Your Stick-A-Fork bloggers were plotting an Easter post featuring Marshmallow Peeps. You know, some variation on a Peep-y diorama, but fresher and funnier than before. We tossed around some ideas, but we English majors couldn't transfer the ideas to the Art majors in time for the ... More >>

Jelly Bean Resembling Future Queen of England Kate Middleton Found!

Wikimedia Commons​Life is trying to tell us something when the Rorschach test is found in our food.Reported Thursday by The Telegraph, accountant Wesley Hosie discovered a jelly bean with an uncanny resemblance to princess-to-be Kate Middleton while sharing a jar from The Jelly Bean Factory. It ma ... More >>

CSS

The Glass House

The Governator is Back--With a New TV Series

Nate Mandos/Wikimedia Commons​So maybe that whole stint in politics didn't work out quite as well as planned. Former Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's used to reading lines, has decided that his next project will be a TV show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, details of the secret series ... More >>

Five Words That Signify a Foodstuff in One Latin American Country, But a Crude Term for 'Vagina' in Another

Flickr user neoliminalStarbucks' original logo: Perhaps the most-graphic American corporate example of vagina-as-sweet-food EVER​Ya gotta love Latinos. Even though we share the same language (except for those retrograde Brazilians and pinche indios), regional variations lead to more than a few sni ... More >>

Acclaim Technical Services of Huntington Beach Must Shell Out More Than $230,000 to Fort Irwin Workers

​Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, a Huntington Beach company and two government contractors must pay $1,060,554 in back wages to about 885 employees at Fort Irwin, near Death Valley National Park.The share for Acclaim Technical Services is $234,311 to 177 employees.

Six Most Anticipated Albums of 2011

Christopher Victorio/OC WeeklyRadiohead at the Henry Fonda Theater on Jan. 25, 2010​Last year looked like it might be bleak in terms of truly great albums, but a few artists (Beach House, the National, Yeasayer, Kanye West) managed to produce some future classics in 2010. And now that we've turned ... More >>

Add Another Lawsuit to the List for Oil Company Operating in Brea

Ted SoquiPalm trees burst into flames in nearby Yorba Linda. To see more images from the 2008 devastation, click here.​The flames of Brea's 2008 landfill fire (which you may remember eventually contributed to the Freeway Complex Fire) may have been long extinguished but the problems of BreitBurn M ... More >>

Steve Martin Puts on His Mouse Ears

Photo by David Shankbone/Wikipedia Commons​Steve Martin was born in Waco, Texas, moved with his family first to Inglewood, California, and then Garden Grove. He attended Garden Grove High School, took drama and poetry classes at Santa Ana College and applied to Cal State Long Beach hoping to major ... More >>

Doesn't Make Spidey Sense: What Happened to Legitimate Theater?

Wikipedia​This week's edition of Orange Curtains has nothing to do with Orange County theater. Which is why it has everything to do with Orange County theater... It will be several years before Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark AKA "steaming pile of actor crippling shit," will debut on an Orange Count ... More >>

Disneyland Stops Housing POTUS-Pardoned Turkey

Wikipedia CommonsObama pardons last year's lucky bird, "Courage." ​They've got a mouse and a duck. Starting this year, Disneyland no longer needs a turkey.  The theme park will stop putting out the welcome mat for the National Thanksgiving Turkey and its understudy, the two lucky birds se ... More >>

Eibar Coffee in Santa Ana Finally Open

Wikimedia CommonsPhoto of Eibar's namesake town...​Okay, I'm late to this story, but still beat the Orange County Register and those crazy Yelp kids, so the scoop: downtown SanTana now has another coffee shop to give the venerable Gypsy Den a challenge in the name of Eibar Coffee.

Five Foods to Eat on Día de los Muertos

Flickr user mcalderon​As October slides into November, Americans obsess over Hallowe'en, but to Mexicans and Central Americans, it's time for Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Families go to cemeteries to spruce up and decorate the graves of their loved ones and entertain them with musi ... More >>

Five Episode Arcs for Trent Reznor's Upcoming Sci-Fi Show

​As reported earlier, Trent Reznor is adapting the Nine Inch Nails concept album Year Zero as a science fiction television show for HBO and BBC.Released in 2007, Year Zero was created by Trent and Co. as a rallying cry against both the Bush administration and the overall fucked-up state of the wor ... More >>

Come On Pilgrim: Eight Comic Book Musical Acts That Are Ready for the Big Screen

​Besides San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest comic book event to happen this week has been the release of the sixth and final volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's musical-video game-romantic epic, Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour.(Oh, and you might've heard that the series is getting the big-screen treatment fr ... More >>

May Gray, June Gloom, July ... Oh, Why?

​Perhaps you noticed over the July 4 holiday that the "May Gray" that gave way to "June Gloom" still had not disappeared. Maybe that wetness in the driveway this morning--six days into sizzling season--had you freaked out, too.Fear not, Dallas Raines: the National Weather Service (NWS) confirms Or ... More >>

Bai Ling, Muslim Punks, Black Star Canyon's Warlock Among 15 Newport Beach Film Festival Highlights

Here are 15 things I'm looking forward to at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which kicks off tonight and continues through April 29. These are based on preview screenings, festival descriptions and even less-informed nonsense.Ling-Bai.blogspot.com​1) Bai Ling on the red carpet tonight. Years ago, ... More >>

10 Reasons God Hates California

​Considering Sunday's 7.2 earthquake just south of California's border with Mexico, the 4.1 shaker six miles southwest of Malibu and assorted aftershocks felt up and down the state as this is banged out with fingers crossed, it's obvious God is peeved at something. Before Pat Robertston, Wiley Dra ... More >>

The Like: Don't Hate

[Mental Notes] Also, Sublime With Rome to Roam, Thom Yorke Makes Peace

Gustavo Arellano Related to Jessica Alba!

Taken from Wikipedia lest we pay the papparazzi...​I get the strangest, most beautiful letters regarding my book, Orange County: A Personal History, and I probably got the best one yet last week from a middle-aged lady who lives in the San Gabriel Valley. She had long heard me on the Orange County ... More >>

Giant Tuna Sells For Record Price in Japan Auction; But How Does It Compare to Other Expensive Foods?

Getty ImagesThere were some big headlines about the sale of a giant bluefin tuna at the Tsukiji fish market in Japan yesterday.  The 513 pound fish was sold to the highest bidder for $177,000. A princely sum indeed, no doubt fetching the price as stocks of the fish in the wild are thoug ... More >>

Dave Eggers to be Honored in Anaheim for Sensitivity to Muslims

By David Shankbone/Wikipedia CommonsDave Eggers at the 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival.​A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers will be presented the 2009 "Courage in Media" award at the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' 13th annual banq ... More >>

Historical, Ping-Pongy Fun At South Coast Plaza This Weekend

​Am I the only one who thought, upon first hearing that there'd be a ping-pong tournament at South Coast Plaza this weekend as part of the mega-mall's "festival celebrating Chinese culture," that the whole thing sounded a little... racist?I mean, you (a racist) would expect those people to play ga ... More >>

In Light of Braff: Five Bizarre Internet Hoaxes

Flickr user Thor Arvid​The world thought  Scrubs actor Zach Braff was dead yesterday for a few hours--suicide, they said. Turns out, it was just a Scrubs fan that had created a faker CNN page in 2007 that somehow resurfaced. In an age where someone's Wikipedia page is edited spookily quick to ... More >>

Five Regrettable Music/Video Game Moments

​Motörhead are currently on tour (including a stop at the House of Blues in Anaheim), they also play a role in upcoming action/adventure game Brütal Legend, out next week on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (we got a chance to play it at Comic-Con this year, it's a fun, straight-forward beat 'em up wi ... More >>

Five Songs About Technology Gone Horribly Awry

Flickr user NMFinFan​Between the "sexting" phenomenon and underage kids letting the world know via tweet what public place they had sex at last night, we're not sure if we're getting old and grumpy or the rest of you are just getting dumber and dumber. We're going to opt for the latter. And we're ... More >>

Eight Questions with Katon W. De Pena of Hirax

Hirax with Katon De Pena, third from right.​Interviewing Hirax singer Katon W. De Pena is sort of a waste of time. You see, journalists (me) are supposed to find news and then announce said news to readers (you). But I shit you not when I say that everyone knows De Pena and De Pena knows everyone. ... More >>

Sex, Crimes and Videotape

Wikipedia Commons​Imagine being 16-year-old Jane Doe from the "Haidl Three" gang-rape case. First, you discover three guys knocked you out with gin, sprawled your unconscious body on a pool table and garage sofa and then shoved a Snapple bottle, a lit cigarette, an apple-juice can, a pool stick an ... More >>

Kanye West/Lady Gaga Tour Now Officially Official

S. Affandi, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.​After a good amount of speculation due to a lack of official announcements and tour dates disappearing from the Internets, the Kanye West and Lady Gaga "Fame Kills" tour is on for realsies, following press releases from Live Nation this morning.

Warrant

The Galaxy Concert Theatre

Five Great Finds at Irvine Farmers Market

​Yes, I know about the fresh corn and the hummus, not to mention the sausages, but these five things were new to me when I visited on Saturday. The results were mixed, but it's always useful to expand the horizons. Pluots. There's a stand featuring nothing but this fruit (give or take some renegad ... More >>

Tuesday, July 21 Is Free Pastry Day At Starbucks

Or make that "Free Pastry Morning", seeing as you have to get there before 10.30 a.m.You also have to buy a beverage--and take along a coupon (CLICK HERE)--but it's still a freebie, right?This outburst of generosity is apparently to celebrate the fact that the coffee chain's baked goods are now free ... More >>

The Growlers Ready 'Couples Vol. 8,' Release Show

In terms of maintaining a prolific pace, Ryan Adams ain't got shit on Costa Mesa's the Growlers, who last year released a 25-song record cheekily called Greatest Hits, and have subsequently released multiple volumes of their Couples series, each with two to seven songs on them.The band explaining th ... More >>

[¡Ask a Mexican!] The Great Brown South Meets the Great White North

Video Savant: The Verve's "Slide Away" & "All in the Mind"

Back before they had to add “the” to their name, before they hit it big with “Bitter Sweet Symphony” (and drew the litigious attention of the Rolling Stones' former manager [Allen Klein, biggest asshole in the history of the entertainment industry] for a crucial sample in it), before lead si ... More >>

Video Savant: Kraftwerk's “Ruckzuck”

Piss and Fluoride; one, two knockout combo for dental health

Orange County scored an article in the New York Times today on the planned November 30 unveiling of its glorious world’s largest plant devoted to "purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies." For decades, water agencies all over the country have purified sewer water and dumped it b ... More >>

Grails' Burning Off Impurities

Curb Your Cynicism is a recurring blogtastic feature in which the music editor pithily enthuses about new releases and reissues he thinks will enhance your life and erode your cynicism about the state of music, circa now. Grails Burning Off Impurities (Temporary Residence) Release date: May 1, 200 ... More >>

Boombaps

KRS-One