You could sense the excitement yesterday morning when an email went out from our fearless leader, Chip, informing us that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, would be visiting The Tribune for a meeting with our editorial board.

The email went out around an hour and a half before Arnie was scheduled to arrive. No time to run home to get my copy of T2 – Judgment Day to have him sign it, and certainly not enough time to “set up live streaming video” as my boss, Sergio suggested. And it’s just as well I didn’t set it up – read on.

We decided that a good compromise to streaming video would be to have Larissa use our “shiny new camcorder” to videotape the meeting and edit it down to some highlights before posting it to the Website. Before that though, Larissa took some video of the protesters outside the building, and managed to get some shots of Arnie arriving at the Tribune office.

Not being on the editorial board, because I am a low-level peon, I didn’t get to meet him. I did, however, see him enter the building wearing a beige suit which was disappointingly less intimidating than the biker leathers and sunglasses, or partially uncovered endoskeleton in which I am accustomed to seeing him attired. He strode purposefully and directly from the main entrance to the conference room, waving and smiling. He muttered something indecipherable amid some half-hearted applause, entered the conference room and was then gone from sight.

Soon after that, Larissa left the conference room having been forcibly ejected by Arnie and his goons. OK, so maybe “forcibly ejected” isn’t the right phrase, but it sounds more interesting than “asked politely to leave”, doesn’t it? And perhaps “goons” might get me into trouble, so we’ll call them “security”, you know what I mean though. So, apparently when a movie star becomes a politician, they no longer want to have cameras pointed at them. Sadly then, we didn’t get to use the “shiny new camcorder” to videotape the meeting.

I will, however, work on figuring out a way to have live streaming video on the Website, just so we’re ready for the next time the T-800 visits us. I suppose in the meantime, I can set it up so that you guys can just watch me write code all day long. That’d be exciting, right?

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Hasta la vista, shiny new camcorder

You could sense the excitement yesterday morning when an email went out from our fearless leader, Chip, informing us that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, would be visiting The Tribune for a meeting with our editorial board.
The email went out around an hour and a half before Arnie was scheduled to arrive. No time to run home to get my copy of T2 – Judgment Day to have him sign it, and certainly not enough time to “set up live streaming video” as my boss, Sergio suggested. And it’s just as well I didn’t set it up – read on.
We decided that a good compromise to streaming video would be to have Larissa use our “shiny new camcorder” to videotape the meeting and edit it down to some highlights before posting it to the Website. Before that though, Larissa took some video of the protesters outside the […]

Original post by danny

Music That Packs a Punch (Paul Thorn)

In Paul Thorn’s house hangs a photo of Thorn going head-to-head with legendary pugilist Roberto Duran. But while he has photos of him punching Duran available (including the one on the left here), he chose to hang one of Duran punching him.
Needless to say, Thorn, now a singer/songwriter, has a lot of respect for Duran.
His boxing career long gone, Thorn now concentrates on making music and art.
Here’s more of my interview with Thorn, which didn’t make it in today’s Ticket story:
A lot of your music has been covered – Toby Keith, Billy Ray Cyrus and Sawyer Brown.
Yeah, mostly in the country world because I live close to Nashville and I go to Nashville a lot. I don’t set out to be a songwriter for anybody. But my CDs are circulated pretty good in Nashville, and they’re not in some of the other areas of the country. So […]

Original post by Pat

The Other Tribune Foils Rival in Major League Smackdown

Okay, so we’re not affiliated in any way with the Chicago Tribune (which, you may have heard, is a slightly bigger paper). But I’ve got to give a big pat on the back to the Windy City’s biggest daily for a major dupe on its rival, the Chicago Sun-Times.
The poor Sun-Times has always lived in the shadow of the Tribune, though in some ways they’re a scrappier paper (and they have Roger Ebert.) But the folks at the Sun-Times have to be red-faced this week.
A few weeks ago, the Sun-Times launched an anti-Tribune contest for who could create the best video about Sam Zell, owner of the Tribune, who has threatened to sell naming rights to the beloved Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs. (When Zell bought the Tribune Co., the Cubs and Wrigley were included in the deal.) For a while, the Sun-Times has rightly ripped Zell for wanting […]

Original post by Pat

Is it safe?

“It takes a brave man to admit he’s a coward,” someone once said.
Okay, so maybe I just made that up. But someone could have said it. After all, there’s plenty of things to fear out there – alligators in the sewers, falling satellites, the clown from “It.” And most of all, dentists.
It seems like every time I go for a cleaning, I spend the entire time clutching the arms of the chair, thinking about that scene from “Marathon Man” where Lawrence Oliver digs into Dustin Hoffman’s teeth, saying, “Is it safe?” over and over. (By the way, I think dentists are a little sensitive about that movie, so I recommend you don’t bring it up – especially if he or she happens to have a drill.)
At least things have gotten a little better for me. At one time my fear was so bad, I didn’t see a […]

Original post by Pat

For a while now, our reporting staff have been producing videos to accompany stories when appropriate, but until last week, they’ve always had to do so with either woefully substandard or mind-bogglingly technical equipment. That’s all changed now, because Sally managed to get them a shiny new digital camcorder.

After a couple of false starts, in which Larissa’s computer kept crashing, we managed to produce the first video using this camera, and so far it seems to be successful. If things work out the way we hope they will, then our reporters should be able to produce videos to accompany their stories more often.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t written an incredibly witty and entertaining blog post about Larissa and my trip to the Pismo Police Department, it’s because we haven’t gone yet. I’m beginning to suspect that maybe Larissa has something to hide, because all I’ve heard from her is that the chief is “out this week”. I think that’s a thinly veiled way of saying “we can’t go because I am wanted in connection with several unsolved murders/bank robberies/jay walking incidents”. Time will tell.

All last week, I was working on a new and (hopefully) much improved winery listing, which should allow us to provide more details about the wineries as well as information on events to be held there. I think I’m getting close to being done, so we should be releasing that in the next week or so.

A couple of weeks ago, a reader left a comment on the community site complaining about the Flash content on sanluisobispo.com taking too long to load. I’ve spent some time looking at this and we may have a solution. It’ll take a bit of testing to make sure it works correctly, but we should be able to make the Flash content load after the rest of the page, making the actual content load much faster.

We’ve just put a new Grudge Match on the community site in which we’re pitting the awesome Hannibal Lecter against the not-quite-as-awesome John Doe from Seven. This might be a closer match than the last one in which Poison took a pounding from Def Leppard.

Finally, congratulations to my sister (although she probably won’t read this because she doesn’t find my banal, sarcastic commentary entertaining), who gave birth to my nephew, Archie, on Easter Sunday. We’re all proud of you.

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Our shiny new camcorder

For a while now, our reporting staff have been producing videos to accompany stories when appropriate, but until last week, they’ve always had to do so with either woefully substandard or mind-bogglingly technical equipment. That’s all changed now, because Sally managed to get them a shiny new digital camcorder.
After a couple of false starts, in which Larissa’s computer kept crashing, we managed to produce the first video using this camera, and so far it seems to be successful. If things work out the way we hope they will, then our reporters should be able to produce videos to accompany their stories more often.
If you’re wondering why I haven’t written an incredibly witty and entertaining blog post about Larissa and my trip to the Pismo Police Department, it’s because we haven’t gone yet. I’m beginning to suspect that maybe Larissa has something to hide, because all I’ve heard […]

Original post by danny

Not just whistling Dixie (Whistling songs that rock)

This morning, I was sitting at my desk, whistling a Dramarama song no one’s ever heard of, when a co-worker said, “Pat, were you just whistling?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah. It just sounded like an old man whistle.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, the comment conjured images of me sitting on a porch whittling a stick while whistling some old Bing Crosby tune. On the other hand, those old guys could whistle pretty well, and I’ve always prided myself on being a superior whistler.
In fact, if there was ever a need for session whistlers in LA, I’d be all over it.
But there’s not. Which is too bad because whistling – in this humble whistler’s opinion – can really add charm to a song.
Do you feel a list coming on?
Here are my top ten songs with whistling in them. Let me know if […]

Original post by Pat

Miss movies? Move on

The 14th annual San Luis Obispo International Film Festival is over.
Peter Fonda strode off stage Saturday night. The final credits of the final film flickered on Sunday afternoon. Executive director Wendy Eidson packed up the festival office earlier this week.
Only 363 days until the next film festival? What’s a movielover to do?
For those who crave thoughtful cinema, there’s HopeDance FiLMs, an ongoing, enlightening series of movies and events.
The journey starts tonight with “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” a look at farmer/actor/activist John Peterson.
That film will be screened at 7 p.m. at the San Luis Obispo City Library, 995 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. A $5 donation is encouraged.
On Thursday, HopeDance FiLMs will screen “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s controversial documentary about the American health care system, as a fundraiser for Health Care for All.
Learn more at a question-and-answer series featuring representatives of Health Care for All. That free screening is […]

Original post by Sarah

Brolin’s coming but Madsen’s a no show at SLO film fest

This just in:
Michael Madsen can’t make it to the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival this weekend.
Due to “personal issues,” the actor best known for his roles in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill” will have to skip his scheduled appearances on Saturday and Sunday, Executive Director Wendy Eidson announced this morning.
However, organizers will screen two of Madsen’s films: the boxing drama “Strength and Honor” (noon, Saturday, Downtown Centre Cinemas) and “Through Your Eyes,” a documentary about deaf-blind triplets (4 p.m., Sunday, Palm Theatre).
“No Country for Old Men” star Josh Brolin is still scheduled to appear this afternoon at a screening of his short film “X.”
The movie, Brolin’s directorial debut, co-stars his daughter, Eden Brolin, and features music by his son, Trevor.
Vincent Riverside stars as a guilt-ridden, escaped inmate searching for his murdered wife’s body.
Meet Brolin and get insights from SLO County’s former native son […]

Original post by Pat