A roundup of perspectives and opinions I’ve come across:
• The city will pay $24 million to build a new fire station, not to increase emergency coverage of downtown, but just to move a fire engine and its crew less than a mile to the west. It’s not the Fire Department’s fault, says commenter Chris Brewster.
The FD does not control whether money comes first for staff that they think is needed or first for buildings they think is needed. As a government staffer, you plan for the future and use the funding sources that materialize to realize those plans. You learn that sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot, in this case, redevelopment money burning a hole in the pockets of those concerned it may be taken away.
For his part, commenter John Gage blames the business community and its political friends.
The real agenda of the business community is displayed perfectly here. They want to build parks, libraries, fire stations, etc., because it means money for developers. They don’t care if the city has money to mow the grass at a new park, hire lifeguards for pools, buy books for libraries, hire staff to unlock gyms and bathrooms, or staff fire stations.
• The San Diego State Aztec’s 74-67 loss to UConn in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament has a lot of folks disappointed and feeling blue. But in the comments on the Union-Tribune’s story about the game, user “SportsFanInThe619” remembers the fun we had as we watched and rooted.
Those who say San Diego is not a sports town are dead wrong. Just give us a team we can get excited about, like the 1994 Chargers, the 1984 and 1998 Padres, even Park View Little League and, of course, the 2010-11 SDSU Aztecs. Thank you to the Aztecs for pulling our community together and giving us something to cheer about together.
The Union-Tribune compiled a list of tweets, upbeat and downbeat, about the game and its outcome.
• Writing from Afghanistan, Gretel Kovach of the Union-Tribune marvels at the relationship between American Marines and the girls there.
As a woman journalist who works with Marines in combat, I find a bit of delicious irony in the fact that infantry grunts — that macho testosterone-fueled bunch of trained killers — are on the front lines of this campaign to teach the daughters of Afghanistan to read.
She also says that “If the Marines don’t stop giving these girls so much candy, there will not be a woman left in Helmand province in 20 years who has any teeth.”
• Beth Accomando, film critic for KPBS, really didn’t like the movie “Sucker Punch.” I mean, really didn’t like it.
There is absolutely nothing that engages you about the film. You don’t care about the characters. The dialogue is trite and laughable. The action isn’t even up to the caliber of a video game. And (director Zack) Snyder doesn’t even know how to make his attractive cast look sexy.
The plot involves an institutionalized young woman, Baby Doll, who fantasizes that she and her fellow female inmates are “kick-ass fighters going out on missions that will ultimately lead to their escape and freedom.”
“If that sounds like a plot, don’t be fooled,” Accomando says. “The film is as flimsy as the Japanese schoolgirl dress Baby Doll wears.” It’s so bad, she says, “that the Director’s Guild should revoke Snyder’s membership and he should never be allowed to direct again.”
He’s a hollow shell of a director who’s completely shot his wad and has nothing left to give because he never had any vision of creativity of his own to begin with.
Accomando isn’t the only one who thinks the move stinks. Review-aggregator Metacritic gives it a 37% approval rating and Rotten Tomatoes gives it 22%.
Items quoted here may be lightly edited for spelling, grammar, or style (such as using proper capitalization, removing extra exclamation marks, or fixing obvious typos). Send comments you’d like to have included here to Grant Barrett, engagement editor for voiceofsandiego.org: grant@voiceofsandiego.org or (619) 550-5666 or @grantbarrett on Twitter.
‘Trite and Laughable’ and Other Opinions
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A roundup of perspectives and opinions I’ve come across:
• The city will pay $24 million to build a new fire station, not to increase emergency coverage of downtown, but just to move a fire engine and its crew less than a mile to the west. It’s not the Fire Department’s fault, says commenter Chris Brewster.
For his part, commenter John Gage blames the business community and its political friends.
• The San Diego State Aztec’s 74-67 loss to UConn in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament has a lot of folks disappointed and feeling blue. But in the comments on the Union-Tribune’s story about the game, user “SportsFanInThe619” remembers the fun we had as we watched and rooted.
The Union-Tribune compiled a list of tweets, upbeat and downbeat, about the game and its outcome.
• Writing from Afghanistan, Gretel Kovach of the Union-Tribune marvels at the relationship between American Marines and the girls there.
She also says that “If the Marines don’t stop giving these girls so much candy, there will not be a woman left in Helmand province in 20 years who has any teeth.”
• Beth Accomando, film critic for KPBS, really didn’t like the movie “Sucker Punch.” I mean, really didn’t like it.
The plot involves an institutionalized young woman, Baby Doll, who fantasizes that she and her fellow female inmates are “kick-ass fighters going out on missions that will ultimately lead to their escape and freedom.”
“If that sounds like a plot, don’t be fooled,” Accomando says. “The film is as flimsy as the Japanese schoolgirl dress Baby Doll wears.” It’s so bad, she says, “that the Director’s Guild should revoke Snyder’s membership and he should never be allowed to direct again.”
Accomando isn’t the only one who thinks the move stinks. Review-aggregator Metacritic gives it a 37% approval rating and Rotten Tomatoes gives it 22%.
Items quoted here may be lightly edited for spelling, grammar, or style (such as using proper capitalization, removing extra exclamation marks, or fixing obvious typos). Send comments you’d like to have included here to Grant Barrett, engagement editor for voiceofsandiego.org: grant@voiceofsandiego.org or (619) 550-5666 or @grantbarrett on Twitter.