AltWeeklies Wire
Minnesota Independent: Thanks for Helping Elect Obama, You're Firednew

Jane Kirtley, a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota, says the post-election layoffs could be akin to Macy's laying off temporary workers after Christmas. However, she says, the memo lends credibility to a more sinister interpretation.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Erin Carlyle |
11-19-2008 |
Media
The Origins of Biodynamic Wine Are Steeped in the Occult and Bad Sciencenew

Biodynamic wines' sign is ascending -- even if no one involved in making or selling them wants to volunteer information about the severed cows' heads or a bevy of other animal and vegetable preparations that read like a shopping list for Shakespeare's three weird sisters.
SF Weekly |
Joe Eskenazi |
11-19-2008 |
Food+Drink
Absent Arch Loves That Dirty Basement Soundnew
The band's new album combines polished folk and lo-fi charm.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Andrea Swensson |
11-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
How Berkeley's Mayer Laboratories Won the Battle of the Thin Condomsnew

Kimono condoms has gone against the grain, marketing its condoms as being so thin and silky that they're practically not there. By doing so, the company appeals not only to women, but also to a different side of male vanity.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
11-19-2008 |
Business & Labor
Scoping Out the Wild World of Blog Darlings Vivian Girlsnew
Since their self-titled debut sold out its original 500-copy run on Mauled by Tigers in just 10 days earlier this year -- it has since been reissued by In the Red -- the attention has snowballed around their rather meek undertaking to, as Kickball Katy said, "sound like the Wipers."
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Michael Harkin |
11-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Vivian Girls
Leslie Carol Roberts Insists We Can All be Antarcticansnew
"I was tired of coffee-table books and BBC documentaries that showed Antarctica as this haunted, blue ice world -- that insisted Antarctica was 'not of this world,'" says Roberts, who teaches at California College of the Arts.
East Bay Express |
Anneli Rufus |
11-19-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Election '08: San Diego's Greens Are Blue (And They're Blaming Ralph Nader)new
While Nov. 4 yielded a mixed bag for the GOP and the Dems, it provided nothing but a great big sack of rotten potatoes for just about every other political persuasion. Here, as elsewhere in the nation, adherents of the boutique parties saw their candidates routed on nearly every front. And no party performed so poorly in San Diego County as the Green Party.
San Diego CityBeat |
David Silva |
11-19-2008 |
Politics
Forget Lieberman -- The Dems Should Boot John Dingellnew
The octogenarian Democratic Congress member from Michigan whom the netroots should really be after; he's the guy who should be ousted from his post chair of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
San Diego CityBeat |
Editorial |
11-19-2008 |
Commentary
'Slumdog Millionaire' is a Wealth of Richesnew
Along with its depictions of horrendous poverty, underage prostitution, child abuse and savage dehumanization of the developing world, it's also a terrific, feel-good film, an audience pleaser that offers a smidgen of hope in a world that's rapidly spiraling down the bowl.
San Diego CityBeat |
Anders Wright |
11-19-2008 |
Reviews
'President' is Easily Murs' Best Release to Datenew
Released a year behind schedule but at a timely moment nonetheless, Murs for President retains the qualities of backpacker hip-hop, despite its new Warner Bros. patina.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
11-19-2008 |
Reviews
Los Rakas Puts a New Spin on Barrio Hip-Hopnew
The group's forthcoming mixtape, La Tanda del Bus, takes its name from the "Diablo Rojo" buses in Panama, which are known for their splashy paintjobs and for the dancehall mixes that bump on their stereos. A follow-up to 2006's Panabay Twist, it's a distinctly Latino spin on the "yellow bus" motif that's been ubiquitous in Bay Area hip-hop.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
11-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Label Them All You Want, but Yeasayer Aren't Sunshiny Happy Peoplenew
While bands like MGMT (the poster boys of the new psychedelic movement) garner rave reviews for being poppy and unthreatening, Yeasayer's debut album, last year's All Hour Cymbals, plays out like an unbalanced career retrospective.
San Diego CityBeat |
Seth Combs |
11-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer
San Diego Nonprofit Coalition Helps Parolees Avoid Returning to Prisonnew
Called "Coming Home to Stay," the program touches on every possible aspect of a returning prisoner's life -- what it takes, step-by-step, to help someone successfully transition from prison to the outside world, from pre-release to post-release to several years out.
San Diego CityBeat |
Kelly Davis |
11-19-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Joyce Carol Oates is a Disciplined Scribenew
Speculation about Oates' jaw-dropping productivity swirls around her: She writes in a trance. She's a recluse. She never revises. But, in fact, her recipe is simple: She writes every single day.
San Diego CityBeat |
Barbara Davenport |
11-19-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Does Paying $20 for a Bottle of Wine Make Sense in Today's Economy?new
Virginia wine has a lot going for it. Still, for some people, it can't compete with lower-priced wine from places like Chile, Argentina and especially Australia.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
11-19-2008 |
Food+Drink