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Mexican craft breweries you should seek out now
The BCB tasting room in Tijuana has an extensive lineup of California and Baja California craft beers.
(Union-Tribune file photo)
On this side of the border, excellent beers from Tijuana's Insurgente are often available at the Bottlecraft shops in Little Italy and North Park, plus the Puesto restaurants downtown and in La Jolla. Ensenada's Aguamala can be found at Sprouts, Bottlecraft, Clem's, the Puesto restaurants and other locations. Baja Brewing Co., based in San Jose del Cabo, has landed its beers in the Whole Foods in Hillcrest.
However, Baja California's incredible craft beer resurgence is on full display in Tijuana. At the Playas de Tijuana Calimax supermarket, I fell in love with Rámuri's imperial stout, Odin. In the twisty walkways of Plaza Fiesta in the Rio district, there are about a dozen tasting rooms. My favorite: Border Psycho.
For a one-stop overview, try the BCB tasting room (Orizaba 3003E5 in Colonia Neidhard). Its 42 beers on tap dispense local beers from both sides of the border.
Crime Against Beermanity
Last week's news brought a reminder about two facts of life:
1. Thieves will be tempted by anything of value, and
2. Beer is valuable.
The Oceanside Police Department reported the arrest of Nathaniel Maynard, a Hemet man who is the suspect behind 20 burglaries in San Diego and Riverside counties. The victims were all family businesses, including restaurants and breweries — hence the suspect's nomme de crime, the Brewery Bandit.
Actually, the PD listed only one brewery among the victims of the March-July spree, Temecula's Wiens. But there were others.
"Most people didn't post or promote it," said Mike McCague, one of the owners of Vista's Twisted Horn, which makes mead and cider. "We'd heard that so many were being hit, we figured it was really a matter of time before it happened to us."
In fact, a burglar broke into Twisted Horn a month ago, scooping up cash and branded T-shirts. Not taken: any alcohol.
Unfortunately, beer makes regular appearances on the nation's crime blotters for years. Often, it's a six-pack or case that's pilfered, but the beery equivalent of the Great Jewel Heist came 10 years ago in Tampa. There, criminals hijacked two semi-trucks loaded with beer. While both vehicles were quickly recovered, the trailers went missing, complete with their contents: 37,260 bottles and cans of Modelo Especial and Corona Extra.
Ch-Ch-Changes
Re-arranging the bookshelves last weekend put me in a David "Ch-Ch-Changes" Bowie frame of mind. Opening a copy of "San Diego's Top Brewers," a 2011 book, was like traveling to a long-lost world.
Of the 18 breweries profiled, two — Manzanita and Rock Bottom Gaslamp — are dead. A third, Lightning, has sold off equipment and scaled back production. A fourth, Ballast Point, was sold to a New York conglomerate. A fifth, Green Flash, was sold to investors after founders Lisa and Mike Hinkley over-extended the company.
As for the "Top Brewers," many — Yuseff Cherney, Sean Farrell, Garry Pitman, Chuck Silva, Jason Stockberger — have moved on. In the last eight years, San Diego's beer scene has expanded and we've gained top breweries like Societe, Thorn and Modern Times. But we've suffered some losses as well.
Kings of Beer
This year, rosé beers found their place in the summer sun. Once made only by a handful of Wine Country breweries — Silva Brewing in Paso Robles was a pioneer, with its terrific Pink Stuff — they're now flowing in from Belgium (Hoegaarden Rosée), Texas (Shiner Brewers Pride Rosé Pale Ale), Minnesota (Surly Rosé) and Colorado (Crooked Stave Sour Rosé).
Here in San Diego, Modern Times entered the rosé fray with a fresh entry in its line of fruit beers. Fruitlands: Rosé Edition (4.8 percent alcohol by volume) is a sparkling tart ale that is exceptionally juicy, yet still offers a dry finish. Modern Times used raspberries, cherries, lemons and, most notably, cranberries in this beer.
That may sound too Hawaiian Punchy, yet this Fruitlands is crisp and refreshing. It's also a limited edition, due to vanish by the end of August.
Words to Drink By
"Teddy couldn't remember the last time he'd had a beer. Their server had recommended a local IPA, and the first taste was so bitter he thought he should send it back. Now, the pint half gone, he'd revised his opinion. Somehow the bitterness had become almost pleasant. In his experience, bitterness had a tendency to do that." — from Richard Russo's "Chances Are..."
The latest novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Empire Falls," "Chances" was published last week.
Craft BeerEat | Drink Things To Do
Peter joined The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1984. A native Californian who grew up in Encinitas, Rowe is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He is past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former Fulbright scholar. He has won a few journalism awards, but would trade them all for a chance to avenge his 1994 "Jeopardy!" loss. Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons. At the U-T, Rowe writes profiles and features and is even paid to review beers, which hardly seems fair.


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The New Old: Not-So-Teenage Wasteland
by Phil Brown | August 7, 2012, 6:00 am
Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973) – These days it's hard to imagine a time when Martin Scorsese wasn't the most respected filmmaker in America and even harder to imagine that he once made movies that didn't star Leonardo DiCaprio. But back in 1973, he just was a little asthmatic film prodigy looking for a chance to prove it. He'd already directed a few award-winning shorts, one hyper-personal movie (Who's That Knocking At My Door), one piece of schlock for Roger Corman (Boxcar Bertha) and edited Woodstock, and yet he was still bouncing around LA begging for work and getting Rodney Dangerfield levels of respect. For years he'd dreamed of making a little, personal, violent flick about his old neighborhood that would allow him to show off everything he knew about filmmaking. When he finally scrambled together enough cash to do it the result was Mean Streets, a little low-budget fire cracker made so cheaply that he couldn't even afford to shoot most of it in New York, but yielded such impressive results that he sold it to Warner Brothers, pulled in ludicrously glowing reviews, and kicked off one of the great directorial careers overnight. Mean Streets would be remembered today for historical significance alone and thankfully it's aged well enough that it's not just a time capsule. It's the first genuine masterpiece from one of the greats.
Scorsese' s breakout movie is more of a collage of images of a time and place than anything with a guiding narrative. It tells the tale of a few Little Italy friends stumbling awkwardly into adulthood. One is a local loan shark who specializes in failed deals named Michael (Richard Romanus) and another is a seedy bar owner with a love of exotic cats named Tony (David Proval). The main characters are Charlie (Harvey Keitel) a deeply guilty Catholic struggling to reconcile his spiritual life with his debt collecting job for his connected uncle and Johnny Boy (Robert DeNiro) the neighborhood nutcase who dodges debts, blows up mail boxes for fun, and fires guns from roof tops just for the sake of it. Charlie and Johnny Boy were childhood friends and that bond becomes strained over their criminal ties and Charlie's relationship with Johnny's cousin. Mean Streets almost feels like the beginning of a gangster trilogy for Scorsese that continued through Goodfellas and Casino. Each film inched up the ladder of the mafia's hierarchy with the first chapter following loosely connected kids essentially playing gangster roles unaware of the lethal consequences.
More than anything else, the film remains fascinating today for capturing three major talents at the moment they were recognized. Keitel is heartbreakingly conflicted in the central role, a nice guy stuck in a world with no room for nice guys, who cracks under guilt and pressure. DeNiro is at his most rambunctious and psychotic, playing a character who shits on anyone in sight for fun with an ever decreasing life expectancy. The performance earned him his Oscar-winning role as young Don Corleone in The Godfather Part 2, but in many ways Johnny Boy is the more impressive creation. An irrepressible wiseass and anarchist whose idiotic authority-bashing behavior may earned him respect as a kid, but costs him his life when the stakes left the school yard. Yet, the star of the show has to be Scorsese, who emerges as a fully formed stylist here. His sumptuous, expressive cinematography is already in full force as well as his skill with matching evocative images to source music (DeNiro entering a bar backed by The Rolling Stones remains one of the most striking moments of the director's entire career). Equally assured are his ear for naturalistic dialogue and his gift with coaxing out improvised performances (a dialogue exchange between Keitel and DeNiro in the back of a bar early on was an instant classic). Compared to the slickly directed Scorsese films that would follow, Mean Streets can feel crude at times. Low budget seams can be seen in the occasionally wobbly shot, awkwardly edited improv, tinny sound recording, or unintentional jump cut. Thankfully these flaws only add to the cinema verite feel and are clearly something the director corrected immediately in his next film.
The occasionally wonky low-fi aesthetic of Mean Streets is more noticeable than ever in Warner Brothers' new Blu-ray. Dangling lights and undercranked exposures stand out amongst what is mostly a stunning hi-def transfer. Some may be irritated by this, but for me revealing just what a rushed and by-the-seat-of-Scorsese's-pants production this flick was, feels charming and only makes the achievement more impressive. The disc's special features are ported over from the previous DVD and are short n' sweet. First up is a revealing commentary by Scorsese with a few minor additions from collaborators. He opens the track by announcing that he considers Mean Streets to be less a movie than a summary of his life to that point and continues to spill out details about the highly personal production. The track sadly doesn't cover the entire film, but it's well worth a listen. Next up is a vintage featurette from the film's release showing Scorsese visiting his old neighborhood and friends that's interesting (if only for how visibly uncomfortable Scorsese seems with the whole affair), but far too brief and a theatrical trailer that prove Warner Brothers had no clue how to market the movie back in 1973. Sadly that's it, which is a shame since Scorsese' unreleased documentary about his parents Italianamerican was always conceived as a companion piece and should have been included. Ah well, at least Mean Streets is finally available on Blu-ray in a more-than-worthy technical presentation. If you've never seen it before, I'm deeply jealous. You're about to experience one of the most underrated films of Hollywood's artistic gold rush of the 1970s.
The Inbetweeners: The Complete First Season (2008) – One of the sad requirements of British comedy finding it's way to North America is that it often involves a crap US remake. With MTV about to launch a shameless rehash of The Inbetweeners mot likely to disappoint and die a slow death, the original series has finally gotten a North American DVD release. In the pantheon of British comedy, this tale of sex obsessed teenagers engaging in all forms of humiliation doesn't exactly rank with high points like The Office. Yet judged out of in the shallow pool of teen-focused shock comedy, it's far better written, performed, and observed than should be expected. The title refers to kids caught in-between the world of geeks and cool kids, which immediately draws comparisons to Freaks And Geeks. Don't expect this to be as painfully honest as that show though. Nope, while there is a sense of realism this is more of a raunch and stomach-ache comedy that has a laugh count just high enough to work.
The Freaks and Geeks comparison does at least hold up to the main characters, who are a painfully awkward lot more suited to grow up and join the cast of Peep Show than Saved By The Bell: The College Years. Created by veteran Brit-com writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show clearly comes from a personal place. With four characters each playing a distinct high school type (Simon Bird's Will is the slightly geeky everyman, James Buckly's Jay is the requisite bullshitter, Blake Harrison's Neil is the group's moron, and Joe Thomas' Simon is the most normal one, guaranteeing him extra embarrassment for spending time with the weirdos), the show has plenty of recognizable entry points for the writers to hang their cringe comedy. The standard teen tropes of first girlfriends, first cars, and bad jobs are all used, filled with plenty of destruction and naughty language to keep the kids happy. The writers have a strong enough sense of adolescence to make older viewers nostalgic and slip in jokes about inadvertently mocking the disabled or public nudity to ensure there's plenty of offensive material to keep non-teens happy.
At times The Inbetweeners can pander to the target audience by relying too heavily on slang-as-humor or grating pop montages, but when the writers are at their best those crutches disappear (which I somehow I don't see that being true of the US version since that's the American sitcom's stock-in-tade). There's no sense in trying to misrepresent the series as being searing satire or insightful drama/comedy. Nope, this is a show designed to make you laugh at the word "bellend" and projectile vomiting and does it damn well. The characters are just well enough defined and performed to raise the material above YTV programming with swears and that's really all you need in a teen sex comedy. This is probably one of the best examples of the genre in recent years, for whatever that's worth.
The DVD comes along with all of the special features from the British edition including a nice making of doc focused on creators Beesley and Morris, the usual deleted scenes/outtakes collection, overlapping joke-fest commentaries on four episodes, and video diaries from the cast that eventually degenerate into Jackass style stunts egged on by each other and the creators. Overall, a fantastic set for a hilarious TV series that might not be the represent the most ambitious or intelligent comedy coming out of the UK, but is certainly one of the funniest recent Brit-coms. If this DVD is successful enough we may even get a theatrical release of the movie that broke records at the UK box office last year. So, please pick up a copy and before we all start ignoring MTV remake. We don't want to encourage that sort of thing, no do we?
The Last Days of Disco (Whit Stillman, 1998) – Whit Stillman wasn't just one of the directors who helped kick off the 90s indie filmmaking movement with his hyper-articulate snob-comedies; when that brief era of low budget freedom died he was also the biggest casualty. Stilman was never suited to transition into light Hollywood fair or a career as a faceless rewrite artist. His deliberately old-fashioned character comedies were too personal and specific. When he couldn't continue making them on his terms, he simply disappeared. In 1998, The Last Days of Disco seemed like business as usual for Stillman, released a midst a flurry of 70s period pieces like Boogie Nights (yay!) and 54 (yikes!). In hindsight, it has become something of an unexpected swansong for the director who would disappear from filmmaking after its release for 13 long and painful, neo-Lubitsch lacking years. Looking back on it now, the film is probably the most accessible on his resume and the one hurt most by his excesses as a filmmaker, and now with it getting a long overdue re-release from Criterion, the movie ripe for rediscovery. It no longer seems like the bland talky cousin to the late 90s cinematic tales of 70s excess, but a delightful little social comedy about the birth of yuppies, the death of disco, and how to be (or not to be) an insufferable prick in your late 20s.
90s 'It Girl' Chloe Sevigny stars as a young, nebbish book editor living in a crap New York apartment who heads out to discos on the weekend looking for either love or just someone to grind with for a night. She's doesn't really have a personality suited to that world, but she's been dragged into it thanks to her passive aggressive bitchy friend perfectly played by a young (and almost unfairly attractive) Kate Beckinsale. Beckinsale's character is a classic Stillman creation. She's a manipulative, cold, privileged narcissist who surrounds herself not with friends, but people who she can mock and use to make herself superior. In anyone else's film, the character would be insufferable. In a Stillman movie, she's a hysterical comedic creation who the writer lets speak free from any sense of self-consciousness, left open to deriding audience laughter. You'd hate all of his characters were they not so uniquely charismatic. Like all projects by the writer/director, the pleasures lie entirely in seeing the characters interact and reveal far more about their damaged little lives than they realize.
Your enjoyment of a Stillman flick comes down to your appreciation of his carefully constructed and subtly mocked social types. The dialogue is unnatural, but so well written and performed that it hardly matters. You just have to appreciate flippant lines like "I'm not an addict, I'm a habitual user" or ironic pop culture and literary analysis that both mocks and perfectly mimics post collegiate debates/intellectual masturbation. Last Days of Disco is probably an ideal Stillman entry point since it retains all of those qualities (as well as the occasional stilted line reading and alienating socially abhorrent characters), while also tapping into universal themes about struggling to find that first place in the world after college that don't always enter into the director's privileged social-climbing milieu. Make no mistake, his movies aren't for everyone and his dialogue will either sound thrillingly stylized or gratingly indulgent depending on your appreciation for such things.
Criterion's new Blu-ray looks shockingly good for a low budget effort, filled with glossy New York photography. It's also a dialogue driven character piece though, so the high-def upgrade isn't exactly necessary if you already have the Criterion DVD with all the same special features. The disc also contains a flippant and enjoyable commentary from Stillman, Sevigny, and Stillman regular, and now sadly semi-retired Chris Eigeman that's packed with memories, observations, and ribbing between friends. Stillman even unexpectedly and amusingly acknowledges the snobbish nature of the movie with good humor. Also included are a few fun, but understandably deleted scenes, a vintage and all too brief making-of doc, an audio recording of Stillman's more autobiographical novelization, production stills, and a trailer. A great package for Stillman fans as well as a perfect entry point to find out if you love or loathe the surprisingly influential dialogue-driven filmmaker.
Check out our interview with Whit Stillman about his latest effort Damsels in Distress here!
Metroplois (Whit Stillman, 1990) – Going back even further, Whit Stillman's debut Metropolitan was kind of like the high brow Clerks of the early 90s indie film scene. It's also a zero-budget debut about aimless self-obsessed 20-somethings endlessly analyzing their lives and cultural minutia with a knack for verbally decimating each other. The difference is that Stillman's world is that of wealthy overeducated Manhattanites searching for the next social gathering to define their lives rather than Jersey slackers with more intelligence than cash or ambition. Stillman is equally enamored with dialogue above action, his influences were just more routed in classic comedies. Metropolitan feels like the movie Ernst Lubitsch or Preston Sturges may have made in the Jim Jarmusch area and that tone was so unique at the time that the film proved to be a modest hit that scored an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. That success would be unthinkable now, Stillman was just lucky enough to have his debut released during a time when there was still a theatrical audience for such material. Stillman's influence can be felt today in the work of directors like Wes Anderson or Noah Baumbach who riffed on his style of deadpan comedy amongst pseudo-intellectuals, but there's nothing quite like the writer/director's tone and he never quite topped his debut, even in more polished and entertaining follow ups.
The world of Metropolitan is that of privileged early 20s children of wealth who with college now behind them spend their time waiting for debutant balls and ritzy social gatherings to define their lives through appearance. They speak like characters from Jane Austen, yet it feels very much like a put on. They are kids playing at being sophisticates because it feels like how they should be living. Even though they meet in high-minded gatherings, they inevitably spend their evenings playing childish truth games or merely picking away at their fragile egos. The movie follows Tom Townsend (Edward Clements) as he enters this society as an outsider from a lower-middle class home. His closest friend in the group is Nick (Stillman's reigning MVP Christopher Eigeman) who mercilessly mocks the cult while simultaneously being unable to exist outside of it. Like all of Stillman's work, some of the dialogue can feel overwritten and some of the actors have trouble wrapping their tongues around it, but for the most part Metropolitan holds together well. It remains his best movie because despite the how specific and foreign the environment can feel at times, the themes of youthful alienation and class struggle are universal and an easy means to discover this world. It's also damn funny and mocks the silly society of manners and their useless rules in case I haven't made that clear. You will laugh, I promise.
Criterion's new Blu-ray gives Metropolitan the best technical presentation the film has ever received, but given the low-budget 16mm origins it can only look so good. The transfer is faithful and the low-fi aesthetic combined with a highbrow world was always part of what made the movie so intriguing. Special features are carried over entirely from the old Criterion DVD, but at least they are strong, featuring ten minutes of outtakes, strange footage of alternate casting (including possibly the most unexpected Lloyd Kaufman cameo in film history), the trailer, and a fantastic commentary with Stillman, Eigeman, Taylor Nichols, and editor Christopher Tellefsen who cleary share a collective nostalgia trip. A film for anyone who loves classic, sophisticated, dialogue-driven Hollywood comedies and 90s Sundance hits. Sure, that's not a wide audience, but those people will love it.
Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch 1986) – Jim Jarmusch has been one of the most reliable oddball outsider voices in American movies for almost 30 years. He's so committed to remaining independent from any form of filmmaking system that he actually insists on personally owning the negative to his movies and sells only for distribution. That militantly strict filmmaking code ensures that idle years will pass between projects while he struggles to make that magic deal every time. On the plus side, it means he's in charge of home video rights and tends to favor the folks at Criterion for their sweet, sweet reverential ways. Criterion has also been so kind as to start transferring his movies into the HD world and their latest Blu-ray release is Jarmusch's underrated second feature Down By Law. He was an indie darling when he made the film with the shot-on-loose-ends Stranger Than Paradise having earned him praise worldwide. Any follow up would have been met by hungry naysayers anxious to announce failure. Down By Law was fairly well received when it was released, but looking back now the film looks like it's easily one of his finest outings that never really got the recognition it deserved.
As standard for any Jarmusch flick, the plot is minimal. Tom Waits plays a DJ down on his luck that's booted out of his house by his girlfriend and ends up talked into a stupid job by a seedy hood that lands him in prison. Early Jarmusch collaborator and New York fixture John Lurie plays a pimp with ambitions that also lead him in the slammer. The pair are uneasy cellmates that turn into a trio when an Italian tourist played by the one and only Roberto Benigni (never better than when applying his manic energy to a lethargic Jarmusch movie) joins them in their cell. They all bicker, form a friendship, escape, and then wander the bayou. That's pretty well it, but this filmmaker's movies aren't typically about big stories. The man who described his first feature as "The Honeymooners directed by Ozu" is more interested in throwing actors defined by strong personalities together and watching them bounce off each other while soaking up atmosphere of evocative American landscapes and music through artful cinematography. Down By Law plays to all the filmmaker's strengths.
Waits, Lurie, and Benigni are a hilarious combination of personalities, almost like an arty Three Stooges for hipsters (back before that became a dirty word wrapped in tight jeans) who could have easily gone on to be a recurring comedy team. Jarmusch teams with ace cinematographer Robby Muller for the first time and the monochrome black and white images of a decaying New Orleans they created are simply astounding. There's a sadness to the visual language that clashes and mingles with the comedic performances in a fascinating way. Throw in a Jazz score by Lurie and songs by Waits and you've got yourself one hell of a slice of entertainment for the art film inclined. Criterion's technical presentation is pretty mind blowing, offering depth and clarity that the film may not have even received in its theatrical release. In a film this stylized, that's reason enough to buy the disc. That's a good thing too because all of the special features are left over from their decade old DVD. Granted, it's an exhaustive set of interviews, music videos, Q&As, and phone conversations between Jarmusch and the cast that would be impossible to top, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unless you despise the arty comedy of Jim Jarmusch, this thing is a must buy.
Blake Harrison • blu-ray • Chloe Sevigny • Christopher Eigman • Damon Beesley • Down by Law • DVD • Edward Clements • film • Harvey Keitel • Iain Morris • James Buckly • Jim Jarmusch • Joe Thomas • John Lurie • Kate Beckinsale • Martin Scorsese • Mean Streets • Metropolitan • reviews • Robert DeNiro • Roberto Benigni • Simon Bord • The Inbetweener • The Last Days of Disco • The New Old • Tom Waits • Whit Stillman
CHOOSE YOUR BIRTHDAY BOY:
Our look at the Fiio M15 Flagship DAP/DAC, as well as a fond look back at the many devices that led up to this technological wonder:
https://thatshelf.com/fiio-m15-unboxing-and-a-look-back-at-portable-music-players
@FiiO_official #FiiO
10 Pop Culture References from Ready Player One That You May Have Missed (SPOILERS)
Horoscopics: Top 10 Aries Season Movies
comPOSERS Episode 95: The Social Network
Clapboard Jungle Review: Can't Knock the Hustle
Spoiled Rotten 123: Revisiting V for Vendetta
This week, the boys revisit the days of social media's infancy, when men rowed boats and women were objects to be rated on a website. Join us as we discuss 2010's The Social Network and its unique score by Trent "Nine Inch Nails" Reznor and Atticus "Works With Trent A Lot" Ross.

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52 Weeks of Pizza: Playland downtown is among San Antonio's best pizza restaurants, worth a drive
Grocery delivery war: Kroger vs. H-E-B
Food // Pizza
Chuck Blount, Staff writer
Nov. 12, 2020 Updated: Nov. 13, 2020 9 a.m.
Playland has creative names for the pizzas, such as this one called Is There A Problem Here, which has kale, sausage, pepperoni, honey and three different types of cheese.
Chuck Blount /StaffShow MoreShow Less
A build-your-own Playland pizza with mushrooms and anchovies.
The interior space at Playland is open and bright with clear views of Houston Street, the bar and the open kitchen.
Chuck Blount /Staff file photoShow MoreShow Less
The Flavor and Fear pizza at Playland has spicy peppers, salami and olives.
The menu at Playland
Rating: Worth a drive
San Antonio residents love to flock downtown for the epic Christmas light displays, parades, festivals the obligatory trips to the Alamo or a cruise on the river to satiate those out-of-town guests. But with the opening of Playland in 2018 at the corner of Houston and Presa streets, we can add gourmet pizza to the list of reasons to head downtown.
Named after the former Playland Park off Broadway, it's one of three downtown restaurant properties from the duo of Andrew Goodman and chef Stefan Bowers in a portfolio that also includes Rebelle and Battalion. All their restaurants have made regular appearances in the Express-News "Top 100 Dining & Drinks" guide.
And while Rebelle and Battalion lean more toward fine dining, Playland is all about fun and experimentation. Bowers wanted to do pizza, so he's doing pizza.
California-style sourdough crusts fired up in a wood oven that weighs as much a truck are the anchor to the menu. They won't win any beauty contests, loaded with dough bubbles and a look that could be mistaken for intentionally burnt, but they are some of the best in the city.
On ExpressNews.com: 52 Weeks of Pizza: Catalano's Pizzeria restaurant in Cibolo offers awesome stuffed pie
Call ahead and plan for surprises. The pizza menu changes regularly and lunch service comes and goes (currently unavailable), but the toppings and sauces always taste farmers-market fresh and there's always a full bar with craft cocktails and daily happy hour specials.
Chuck Blount /Staff file photo
Best pizza: I didn't expect the pizza with kale on it to be the winner, but anything is possible in 2020. Humorously named Is There A Problem Here ($20.25 for a 13-inch), the pizza's mounds of crisped kale chips covered the blend of three cheeses like a coat of armor and absorbed the juices from the tender chunks of Italian sausage that had the right amount of salt and spice. No problem here; we're good.
On ExpressNews.com: 52 Weeks of Pizza: Capparelli's on Main restaurant is comfortable with pizza excess
The Guilt Trip pizza at Playland has slivers of zucchini mixed in with the pepperoni and a spicy tomato sauce.
Chuck Blount /Staff
Other pizzas: The Guilt Trip ($20.25 for a 13-inch) looked like the middle of a poker pot, loaded with thick slices of pepperoni all crispy and curled up to hold in the pools of flavor. The zesty tomato sauce had subtle hints of heat, and the addition of zucchini was another Playland curve ball that makes you feel better about going in for that third slice.
Flavor And Fear ($20.25 for a 13-inch), went down a more traditional road, sticking with a formula of sliced jalapeño heat and salami. At first I thought they forgot the marinated olives, but later discovered the genius of embedding them under the three-cheese blend, providing a nice, briny pop. Charcuterie meats pizza..
Anchioves can be a gamble, but here they paid off when I included them with roasted mushrooms as $2 toppings for the build-your-own pie (starting at $16.50 for a 13-inch). The fishy flavor wasn't overpowering, and they bolstered the taste of the red sauce and cheese.
Location: 400 E. Houston St., 210-908-9362, playlandsa.com
Hours: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays
Takeout/delivery: Yes/Yes through multiple third-party vendors
Chuck Blount is a food writer and columnist covering all things grilled and smoked in the San Antonio area. Find his Chuck's Food Shack columns on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.comTo read more from Chuck, become a subscriber. cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver
Chuck Blount
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Chuck Blount is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience at the San Antonio Express-News, and a tenure split between writing and editing about food, drinks, poker and sports, where he was part of the team that covered four of the five Spurs' NBA championships. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa.


Director duo Lionel Hirlé & Grégory Ohrel (Greg & Lio) created this video for Paris-based musician, Jain. Even though I've seen pretty much all of these camera tricks done in other videos before the playful vibe makes it a fun watch. Watch "Come" below.


While not always top of mind, making sure your life insurance benefits will go to your intended beneficiaries is very important. Having an up-to-date beneficiary designation will help ensure prompt payment of life insurance benefits upon your death.
Your life insurance beneficiaries can be added or changed in IowaBenefits any time during the year and as many times as you wish.
The Standard Life Insurance Company's "Things to Consider When Completing A Beneficiary Designation for Life Insurance" and "Beneficiary Designation Frequently Asked Questions" are available on the Life Insurance Beneficiaries webpage.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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UGC 1382 è una galassia a spirale del tipo a bassa luminosità superficiale (LSB galaxy), situata nella costellazione della Balena alla distanza di circa 250 milioni di anni luce dalla Terra.

Ritenuta alla sua scoperta una galassia ellittica, grazie agli strumenti del telescopio spaziale Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), combinando i dati ottenuti nella regione dell'ottico e dell'ultravioletto sono stati identificati prima i bracci tipici delle galassie a spirale e poi le sue enormi dimensioni, tali da primeggiare con Malin 1.

Le galassie a bassa luminosità superficiale hanno una struttura costituita da due componenti: un disco galattico ad elevata luminosità superficiale circondato da un più esteso disco di idrogeno (HI) a bassa luminosità superficiale. Nella galassia UGC 1382 il disco interno ha un raggio effettivo di circa 38 kiloparsec, mentre quello di idrogeno ha un raggio di 110 kiloparsec.

La massa stellare complessiva è stimata in 8 x 1010 masse solari. Inoltre tutto il sistema si trova in un massiccio alone di materia oscura di almeno 2 x 1012 masse solari.
UGC 1382 si trova in una posizione piuttosto isolata e si ritiene che, grazie a questa condizione, abbia mantenuto le sue caratteristiche sostanzialmente immutate nel tempo. All'accrescimento del disco a bassa luminosità superficiale hanno probabilmente contribuito galassie nane a bassa luminosità superficiale ricche di gas.

Note

Collegamenti esterni

Galassie a spirale
Galassie a bassa luminosità superficiale
01382

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La bandera del Vietnam del Sud va ser inspirada, originalment, per l'emperador Thành Thái, el 1890, essent recuperada per Lê Văn Đệ i adoptada per l'emperador Bảo Đại, el 1948. Va ser la bandera de l'antic estat del Vietnam (les zones controlades pels francesos tant al nord com al sud del país), entre 1949 i 1955, i més tard de la República del Vietnam (Vietnam del Sud), fins al 1975, any de la caiguda de Saigon. La bandera està formada per un camo groc i tres barres horitzontals vermelles, que pots significar la unió en sang del nord, el centre i el sud del Vietnam, així com pot voler representar el símbol del "sud" (és a dir, el sud de la Xina; Viet Nam vol dir això mateix), en bagua daoista.

Actualment encara és utilitzada per molts immigrants vietnamites en d'altres països, molts dels quals (Viet Kieu) van abandonar el país a finals de la dècada de 1970 i principis de 1980, els quals consideren la bandera actual com la representativa del règim comunista del qual van fugir. Des del juny de 2002, als Estats Units, com a múnim 13 governs estatals, set comtats i 85 ciutats de 20 estats diferents han reconegut la bandera groga com l'herència vietnamita i la bandera de la llibertat. Al Vietnam s'han produït intents de repartit la bandera, accions que han estat perseguides com "propaganda contra el Govern de la República Socialista del Vietnam".

Construcció i dimensions

Colors
Els models Pantone, RGB i HTML s'han extret a patir dels codis de color HTML indicats a la plantilla de construcció.

Orígens
En el transcurs del regnat de l'emperador Gia Long (1802–1820), la bandera groga també va ser utilitzada com a símbol de l'imperi del Vietnam. Així, es va mantenir com la bandera de l'emperador quan la cort de Hue es va convertir en un protectorat francès.

El 1890, l'emperador Thành Thái va emetre un decret on adoptava la bandera groga amb les tres franges vermelles, per primer cop, com la bandera nacional (Đại Nam (bandera nacional) 1890-1920). Algunes veus opinen que aquesta bandera, coneguda com la Bandera groga, per abreujar, és la primera bandera nacional autèntica del poble vietnamita, i que reflecteix l'aspiració i les esperances del poble, no només els emperadors, per la independència i la unificació de la nació vietnamita. El significat i el disseny de la bandera de Thành Thái i la de l'artista Lê Văn Đệ són gairebé els mateixos; fons daurat amb tres barres horitzontals vermelles al centre representant les 3 regions culturals i geogràfiques del Vietnam: el nord, el centre i el sud, però la bandera de Thành Thái té les franges més clares i més amples.

Banderes històriques

Vegeu també
 Bandera del Vietnam
 Medalla del Servei al Vietnam

Referències

Vietnam
Vietnam


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'Jesus Christ Superstar' at the Lyric Opera:
Toto, I think we've rocked on from 'Carousel'
Submitted by Nancy Malitz on May 1, 2018 – 5:20 pm
Review: "Jesus Christ Superstar," by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago through May 20. ★★★
It has been coming on for a while, the increasing élan with which the Lyric Opera of Chicago presents its springtime musical productions. This year's outsize rock opera, "Jesus Christ Superstar," launches with the shock and the thrill of a revolution underway, as dozens of young men and women in their athletic prime charge down the aisles and leap joyfully onto the klieg-lit stage.
The din is already more than the wait-for-it crescendos in your typical Wagner or Verdi operas that grace the Lyric Opera stage, their romantic-era European trappings nobly intact. But vibrations to the very marrow of the bone are essential to the experience of this rock interpretation of the agony of Christ, portrayed by composer Andrew Lloyd-Webber and lyricist Tim Rice as the leader of an ecstatic youth movement of such overwhelming momentum that the old guard feels its existence threatened.
The frenetic choreography by Drew McOnie for 39 ensemble members – who pretty much never stop moving – is a primary force of energy throughout this show about Jesus' last hours among his adorers and betrayers, as told in staged scenes around songs from the legendary rock concept album.
At nearly 50 years old, the Webber-Rice album's herky-jerky storyline is an honored tradition. But the struggles and concerns of the disciple Judas, who is tormented over Jesus' increasingly impolitic ways; the Jewish high priest Caiaphus, who fears all Jews will be made to suffer if Jesus is not crushed; and Pilate, the administrative chief of Judea, who tries to avoid being the executioner, emerge as particularly vivid cameos in this production staged by Timothy Sheader. The savvy British director is a veteran of many shows at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London, including "Jesus Christ Superstar," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Peter Pan." He knows how to think big.
Lyric's opera productions – even those in English – are routinely presented these days with captions, in a nod to the present reality that not all visitors know the stories of "Traviata" and "Siegfried" and "Don Giovanni" by heart. For those unacquainted with the original 1970 "Jesus Christ Superstar" recording or one of its many West End, Broadway and tour adaptations – even those who missed the live April concert on NBC – the lack of captions will provide a lesson in what opera newbies once faced. Many in the crowd could have sung along with this show. But the truth is that, as in most rock concerts, the music was so loud the lyrics were generally unintelligible.
Heath Saunders, as Jesus, accompanied himself on guitar and presented an inward, brooding figure well aware of his imminent fate, as he did on NBC. Yet this Jesus was also the sun around which the entire cast and chorus, nearly 50 strong, circled in dizzying orbit. As the disciples lined up alongside their master in a freeze-frame homage to Da Vinci's Renaissance painting of the Last Supper, the crowd in the auditorium applauded in delight.
But generally the show was absent ancient trappings in its exuberant fast forward to the muscular style and glittery look of today's enormous rock festivals and stadium shows. Drenched in guilty silver, Judas' own hands betray him. And 90 pounds of golden confetti showers Herod's subjects spectacularly at every show, according to Lyric's own numbers.
In a strong cast overall, Jo Lampert gave an exquisite portrayal of Jesus' companion Mary, whose assurance that "Everything's Alright," when it clearly seemed not, was a musical balm. Michael Cunio, as Judea's ruler Pilate, came across as a savvy leader who was well aware of the irony of his predicament in being forced to act; and Ryan Shaw, as Judas, brought the dismay of a loyal right-hand man who was losing his boss' ear.
There was a time when Lyric's general director Anthony Freud spoke carefully about the kinds of musicals the opera company would contemplate bringing in to anchor the opera company's spring season – a real acoustical orchestra in the pit, etc. – in its desire to maintain a thread of continuity from the mainstream operatic tradition. To the extent that the Lyric's opera orchestra voluptuously augmented the rock rhythm section of this score, one could argue that the thread still exists, if tenuously.
This "Jesus Christ Superstar" is certainly operatic in its grandiose theatrical setting, and its dramatic values are strong, even if its deafening sound has nothing to do with grand opera's traditional acoustical profile. The lyric theater continues to evolve, with implications that the Lyric Opera of Chicago has clearly noted.
The ambition of this "Jesus Christ Superstar" production also points up the trimmed-back nature of many touring Broadway shows by comparison, and the company's welcome emphasis on sophisticated choreography augurs well for next year's May show, the dance-rich Bernstein-Sondheim "West Side Story."
Performance location, dates and times: Go to TheatreInChicago.com
Performance location, dates and times: Go to Theatre in Chicago
Director Timothy Sheader on the look and feel of the production: View it at Youtube.com
Learn more about the opera: Go to LyricOpera.org
Tags: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Drew McOnie, Heath Saunders, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jo Lampert, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Michael Cunio, Ryan Shaw, Tim Rice
Famous trouser roles folded away, opera star von Stade channels a queen of Egypt (Texas)
'Balm in Gilead' at Griffin: In one desolate corner of society, hope has a fresh face and short life
Role Playing: James Ridge thrives in cold skin of Shakespeare's smiling serpent, Richard III


Last week, after leaving the office I stopped off to get some gas - and as I was leaving the parking lot my car stalled out on me! A little miffed...ok, really not happy about this I called a guy I used to go to school with (he sells cars) and told him how much I thought my car was worth, how much I owe, how much I would be willing to put down and asked him to find me something to trade my car in on. My car is only a few years old and has a LOT of miles on it (what can I say, it's my mobile office!!) so I know I owe alot more than what it's worth and I was ok with that. My husband and I went to the car lot to pick something out and went in so we could discuss the terms, payment, etc. Of course, as in all car buying scenarios I've ever been involved in - they bring out the "sales manager". He makes friends with us and goes into this long story about his girlfriend that had a 350Z that she was way upside down on and then tells us that while he is not "advising" this, only "suggesting" it.... his suggestion is that we just take my car back to the dealer and drop it off... What???? Seriously? That's your suggestion... Ok, I'm not actually saying this out loud - but this is what is going on in my head.. He tells me that it would really only hurt my credit for about a year and that I would have no trouble buying a car now or in the future.... At this point I tell him this is not even an option for us... He says well, it might become an option if something big goes wrong with the car and that we should just go home and think about it.. I am amazed at this point!! I then go on to tell him that I know for a fact this would hurt us much longer than a year and that we will not at any point consider this - that even if the car breaks down and I have to show clients on a bicycle we will continue to pay our payment for the sake of our credit - and not to mention the obligation we took on 3 years ago when we so happily signed on to pay this note.
I understand that alot of people are in a situation right now where they have to choose between feeding a family or paying their car payments, mortgages, etc -- but for a business to "suggest" that this is the option we should take to alleviate our temporary situation just appalls me. I have been thinking about this alot lately, and there was a time when I was younger that I might have thought this "sales manager" knew what he was talking about and taken his "advice" - thank goodness I'm old enough and well, I like to think - smart enough, to know this only benefits the car company and not me. They get to sell a car - and I get to walk away with my credit ruined!
The point behind this blog is to let buyer's and seller's out there know - whether when you are looking for a car or making a real estate purchase - use a professional you can trust to give you sound "suggestions" and make sure to use your own best judgement when someone else is giving you advice. If it sounds a bit fishy to you - it probably is! Use your noggin people, these sort of "mistakes" will haunt you for a very long time to come!
If you're looking for an honest agent to help you with your next home sale or purchase - think of me -- and don't worry- I won't suggest any of that crazy nonsense!


text:
Q: Spark broadcast/serialize error I've created a CLI driver for a Spark version of a Mahout job called "item similarity" with several tests that all work fine on local[4] Spark standalone. The code even reads and writes to clustered HDFS. But switching to clustered Spark has a problem that seems tied to a broadcast and/or serialization.
The code uses HashBiMap, which is a Guava Java thing. There are two of these created for every Mahout drm (a distributed matrix), for bi-directional row and column ID lookup. They are created once and then broadcast for access everywhere.
When I run this on clustered Spark I get the following error. At one point we were using HashMaps and they seemed to work on the cluster. So I suspect something about the HashBiMap is causing the problem. I'm also suspicious that it may have to do with serialization in the broadcast. Here is a snippet of code and the error.
 // create BiMaps for bi-directional lookup of ID by either Mahout ID or external ID
 // broadcast them for access in distributed processes, so they are not recalculated in every task.
 // rowIDDictionary is a HashBiMap[String, Int]
 val rowIDDictionary = asOrderedDictionary(rowIDs) // this creates the HashBiMap in a non-dsitributed manner
 val rowIDDictionary_bcast = mc.broadcast(rowIDDictionary)

 val columnIDDictionary = asOrderedDictionary(columnIDs)) // this creates the HashBiMap in a non-dsitributed manner
 val columnIDDictionary_bcast = mc.broadcast(columnIDDictionary)

 val indexedInteractions =
   interactions.map { case (rowID, columnID) =>   //<<<<<<<<<<< this is the stage being submitted before the error
     val rowIndex = rowIDDictionary_bcast.value.get(rowID).get
     val columnIndex = columnIDDictionary_bcast.value.get(columnID).get

     rowIndex -> columnIndex
   }

The error seems to happen in executing interactions.map when accessing the _bcast vals. Any idea where to start looking for this?
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.DAGScheduler: Submitting Stage 9 (MappedRDD[17] at map at TextDelimitedReaderWriter.scala:83), which has no missing parents
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.DAGScheduler: Submitting 2 missing tasks from Stage 9 (MappedRDD[17] at map at TextDelimitedReaderWriter.scala:83)
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.TaskSchedulerImpl: Adding task set 9.0 with 2 tasks
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.TaskSetManager: Starting task 9.0:0 as TID 16 on executor 0: occam4 (PROCESS_LOCAL)
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.TaskSetManager: Serialized task 9.0:0 as 2418 bytes in 0 ms
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.TaskSetManager: Starting task 9.0:1 as TID 17 on executor 0: occam4 (PROCESS_LOCAL)
14/06/26 11:23:36 INFO scheduler.TaskSetManager: Serialized task 9.0:1 as 2440 bytes in 0 ms
14/06/26 11:23:36 WARN scheduler.TaskSetManager: Lost TID 16 (task 9.0:0)
14/06/26 11:23:36 WARN scheduler.TaskSetManager: Loss was due to java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.google.common.collect.HashBiMap.seekByKey(HashBiMap.java:180)
    at com.google.common.collect.HashBiMap.put(HashBiMap.java:230)
    at com.google.common.collect.HashBiMap.put(HashBiMap.java:218)
    at com.esotericsoftware.kryo.serializers.MapSerializer.read(MapSerializer.java:135)
    at com.esotericsoftware.kryo.serializers.MapSerializer.read(MapSerializer.java:17)
    at com.esotericsoftware.kryo.Kryo.readClassAndObject(Kryo.java:729)
    at org.apache.spark.serializer.KryoDeserializationStream.readObject(KryoSerializer.scala:102)
    at org.apache.spark.broadcast.HttpBroadcast$.read(HttpBroadcast.scala:165)
    at org.apache.spark.broadcast.HttpBroadcast.readObject(HttpBroadcast.scala:56)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at java.io.ObjectStreamClass.invokeReadObject(ObjectStreamClass.java:969)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(ObjectInputStream.java:1871)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1775)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1327)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.defaultReadFields(ObjectInputStream.java:1969)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(ObjectInputStream.java:1893)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1775)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1327)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.defaultReadFields(ObjectInputStream.java:1969)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(ObjectInputStream.java:1893)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1775)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1327)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(ObjectInputStream.java:349)
    at org.apache.spark.serializer.JavaDeserializationStream.readObject(JavaSerializer.scala:40)
    at org.apache.spark.scheduler.ShuffleMapTask$.deserializeInfo(ShuffleMapTask.scala:69)
    at org.apache.spark.scheduler.ShuffleMapTask.readExternal(ShuffleMapTask.scala:138)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readExternalData(ObjectInputStream.java:1814)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1773)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1327)
    at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(ObjectInputStream.java:349)
    at org.apache.spark.serializer.JavaDeserializationStream.readObject(JavaSerializer.scala:40)
    at org.apache.spark.serializer.JavaSerializerInstance.deserialize(JavaSerializer.scala:62)
    at org.apache.spark.executor.Executor$TaskRunner$$anonfun$run$1.apply$mcV$sp(Executor.scala:193)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil$$anon$1.run(SparkHadoopUtil.scala:42)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil$$anon$1.run(SparkHadoopUtil.scala:41)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at javax.security.auth.Subject.doAs(Subject.java:396)
    at         org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation.doAs(UserGroupInformation.java:1190)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil.runAsUser(SparkHadoopUtil.scala:41)
    at org.apache.spark.executor.Executor$TaskRunner.run(Executor.scala:176)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:895)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:918)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

A: It looks like you are using kryo serialization, are you using this in your local tests as well?
You may wish to explicitly register the class kryo to use Java serilization if kryo serialization for HashBiMap doesn't succeed.

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