She Likes to Watch

Fill up at any gas station from Paso Robles to Nipomo and you may suffer from sticker shock.

Prices at the pump now run an average of four bucks a gallon, which means hard times for anyone who depends on wheels for work or errands. (Yours truly, for instance.)

That’s $40 to take little Johnny to swim practice. Fifty clams to stop for groceries. Sixty smackers to pick up Fifi from the vet’s. And that’s if you drive a compact.

At a comparably cheap gas station in Santa Maria, I overheard one man complaining that it took $100 to fill the tank of his ’60s-era boat of an automobile.

A hundred greenbacks! Zowie!

Soaring gas prices can only mean one thing: Time to trade my oil-burning laptop for one of them new-fangled ‘lectric models.

All kidding aside, however, our current oil shortage is a serious problem.

That’s why Central Coast moviegoers should check out two upcoming screenings of documentaries that focus on “the oil issue.”

“Megadisasters: Oil Apocalypse,” which screens Friday, looks at the potential crisis facing the world when we run out of oil — and the solutions that could save us.

With the History Channel documentary, organizers will also screen an animated short film, “Post Oil Man.”

The screening, sponsored by HopeDance magazine, will be followed by a discussion with local activist Zachary Stowasser, professional musician Cindy Dixon, environmentalist Jim Cole and HopeDance publisher Bob Banner.

See “Oil Apocalypse” at 7 p.m. Friday at the San Luis Obispo library, 995 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. A $5 donation is suggested.

On Tuesday, May 6, the documentary “GasHole” examines the history of oil and the future of alternative fuels.
Narrated by Peter Gallagher (he of the enormous eyebrows), “GasHole” features interviews with U.S. Department of Energy officials, congressional leaders, users and producers of alternative fuels, and others.

Filmmakers Scott Roberts and Jeremy Wagener will be present at two screenings to answer questions.

Watch “GasHole” on Tuesday at the Palm Theatre at 817 Palm St., San Luis Obispo’s first-and-only solar-powered movie theater. The movie screens at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.

Tickets are $7.50, $5 for kids and seniors. (Tuesdays are also “KCPR Night,” so mention the Cal Poly radio station or wear a KCPR T-shirt and you’ll get a buck off.)