By Brian Lafferty

May 9, 2011 (San Diego) – In my review of Thor, I wrote that X-Men (2000) established the Marvel comic book movie formula commonplace in the last decade. It couldn’t have done it without this week’s Netflix Streaming Pick of the Week. That movie is Superman (1978), the prototype for the modern superhero movie.

By Walter Davis

May 8, 2011 (San Diego)--The rise in nationalism surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden is curious to me. It demonstrates just how easy it is to put out a story and have Americans believe it. In all of the discussions showing the history of September 11, none of the news casters have said anything about Tower Seven falling without being hit. They point to bin Laden and people accept that as truth. They accept his death as truth even with no body and a story that changes moment by moment.

By Brian Lafferty

April 29, 2011 (San Diego) – The great sportswriter Grantland Rice said, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Queen to Play purports to be a film about a housewife in a mid-life crisis and stale marriage who finds happiness through chess. It then ends in a Big Game. The movie fails on both counts.

Nothing but the Truth!
 

Action Violates Seventh Amendment to US Bill of Rights

By Will Power

April 28, 2011 (San Diego)--In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise examined by any Court of the United States, than according to the common law.

The US Supreme Court ruled this week (on a straight party-line 5-Republicans and Four Democrats) that corporations can avoid class-action suits by demanding consumers waive their constitutional rights and use Arbitration procedures instead. In what clearly is unconstitutional, the Bill of Rights is superseded by the Contract Law, America's Sacred Cow. What were the Justices thinking?

By Brian Lafferty

April 25, 2011 (San Diego) – Growing up I have witnessed firsthand a revolution in movie watching. My family went from having a VCR to a DVD player to a Blu-Ray Disc player in a span of twenty-five years. We went from renting movies from Blockbuster and Hollywood Video to Netflix.

a column written for the East County Magazine

“Your guide to financial planning & socially responsible investing”

By Judith L. Seid, CFP ®, President, Blue Summit Wealth Management

Planners seek ouster of wind farm's project manager 

A column written for East County Magazine

By Billie Jo Jannen

April 16, 2011 (Boulevard)--The manager of Enel Green Power Jewel Valley made the claim that the Boulevard Planning Group scares her--and that she’s not going back without law enforcement protection.

By Brian Lafferty

April 16, 2011 (San Diego) – Carancho is not a good film, nor is it a bad film. It tells a decent story in dire need of pep and zip. It stars two appealing actors in Ricardo Darín and Martina Gusman but they are trapped in a movie that suffers from terminal perfunctoriness.

Plus pointers on where to get a prom dress at a bargain rate or free

By Nancy Clement

Nothing but the Truth!

April 7, 2011 (San Diego) -- Ecologists have been saying for years that continued buildup of radioactive waste with no safe storage would haunt us. They also reminded us nuclear reactors are vulnerable to earthquakes and terrorist attacks.

Now albacore tuna, the tasty white-meat fish so beloved of afternoon sandwiches and tuna salads, are showing up with high levels off radiation from the Japanese tsunami.

By Brian Lafferty

April 1, 2011 (San Diego) – The Music Never Stopped is a classic example of a good movie that could have been greater. The movie has an interesting premise but that’s all it is. It does some stuff with this premise but not as much as I wanted. I was never bored, and in the end I liked it, but I wish it could have done a lot more with the subject.

Someone once said, “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”

By Sharon Courmousis

By Brian Lafferty

March 27, 2011 (San Diego) – I’ve seen movies that begin full speed and with ambition but collapse under their own weight. On the other end of the spectrum, there have been movies that try to be extremely low-key but eventually implode for the same reason. A Somewhat Gentle Man goes for the mundane and something in me kept anticipating a collapse. When it became apparent three-quarters of the way through that this wouldn’t happen, I sat back and enjoyed.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS AND GROWTH

By Rama Beerfas

March 1, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – This is a QR code:
 

You’ve probably seen them on postal packages, in print ads and catalogs, even on an iPad commercial; but do you know what a QR code is and how it can benefit your business?

A QR (Quick Response) code is a two-dimensional matrix barcode that can be decoded (“read”) by smartphones that have a QR decoder app installed. Created in Japan by a subsidiary of Toyota in 1994, these codes have been commonly used there and in Europe for over ten years for a variety of purposes. In 2010, they started appearing in the US in marketing applications.