The police try to Occupy Oakland. The people have other ideas.

The neighborhood of 12th Street and Broadway is an easy bike ride from my apartment, one BART station north of my home station of Lake Merritt. Tonight, there were blocks of satellite trucks from the local stations, both those that broadcast in English and in Spanish.

The news is interested because yesterday in the wee small hours, the Oakland cops came in with tear gas to close down the campsite of Occupy Oakland, the area behind this fence, behind this handsome and well-behaved dog. As you can see, much of the grass turned brown. That will happen when you cover it for many days. I was there on Monday, the afternoon before the early morning crackdown. The place was clean and peaceful. There was no wafting scent of urine or herb. I hella (Heart) Oakland, but I will admit you can find those smells more often than you might like in many neighborhoods.

Not at the campsite on Monday. People were organizing to protect themselves. They were sharing food. They were playing chess. A peaceful assembly, not unlike that given to us as a right in our Constitution.

There were lots of signs. A woman was just finishing painting this one.

This father and son were nice enough to show both of these for my camera.

Yet another handsome and well-behaved dog, one of the definite themes I saw this evening.

And signs. Signs were a definite theme.

And a third theme. People ready for the fucking Oakland cops to show up again with tear gas.

I'm in this neighborhood at least once a week to pick up the headlines for the silly tabloid blog. I promise to bring my camera to keep track of the goings on.

Civilization is determined by how you treat your captives.

If you are going to see an indie film in the Bay Area, dollars to doughnuts you will go to a Landmark Theatres movie house like the Piedmont in Oakland. I saw Midnight In Paris there last week.

Good film, but I would like to know why not one single observant character from the 1920s, all visual artists or authors, didn't say to Owen Wilson "Dear God, man, what are you wearing? And why does it always look like you haven't shaved for precisely three days?"

I liked the film, but sadly Landmark has succumbed to the awful practice of unending commercials for anything and everything before the movie trailers. Yes, I know movie trailers are in fact commercials themselves, but those make sense to me. You are a movie goer who still shows up at theaters. Here are some movies playing theaters in the near future. I will also admit that I've seen trailers ever since forever, so I'm used to the custom.

So I also rented a movie on Warner Brothers video, Sucker Punch. It was better than I expected, but it was also slashed to pieces since its first release. I only know because there was some reference in a review I read to a scene not in the video version.

That is not the main point of this post. This movie was rented from Netflix and Warner Brothers video had a disclaimer that this was only for rental. So far, not a problem.

Then they bring on Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood in a PSA for film restoration. I like Marty and Clint. I'm happy to listen to them.

Then it's an ad for Blu-Ray on my obviously NOT Blu-Ray disc. I try to fast forward. I get the circle slash.

Then a preview. I try to fast forward. Again the circle slash.

I can't stop watching the goddamn previews.

Again and again and again and again.

There are at least four previews of movies and two ads for the Blu-Ray experience. Easily fifteen to twenty minutes of crap I can't stop.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

As Stan Lee might have written.



But let me end on a positive note. I also recently saw the last installment of the Harry Potter films. A very satisfying experience, the best end of a long series of movies in at least thirty years.

I may not be the perfect critic. I only read through the first four books.

Neville Longbottom! Who knew? (Well, people who read all seven books knew. It was a rhetorical question anyway.)

In any case, what I really wanted to say here in a completely positive end to an otherwise grumpy post, I still love the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland as much as I did when I went there to see Jason and the Argonauts lo those many moons ago.

And not just because Honor Blackman filling out that fabulous toga was the only giant woman I ever saw on the big screen when I was just a sprout.

Hmmmmmmm, giant Honor Blackman... hmmmmm, fabulous toga...

Sorry, lost my train of thought there for a second.

Before the trailers? The Grand Lake plays classical symphonic music at a volume that allows normal conversation.

It's like an oasis in a very nasty desert. Props to the management and keep up the good work.

Support your local.

A logo of an oak tree has been the official mark of Oakland since 1852, but a new store called Oaklandish has redesigned the the tree to have deeper roots. The Oaklandish clothing brand has been around for about ten years, and they just opened up a new store on 1440 Broadway in Oakland, about a block away from the 12th Street BART station's exit in front of DeLauer's, my go-to place for all the supermarket rags in one convenient location, always available on Thursdays when I need them.





I went into the store last Friday and bought a few buttons, promising myself I'd buy a shirt this Thursday when I made my DeLauer's run. I am now a proud owner of an Oaklandish BART t-shirt, an very cool design that is of absolutely no use if you are trying to find your way around the bay by train.

Hey, I already know the BART map. I bought this because it looks good.

If you are an East Bay person, stop on by the store and check out the stuff. It's a good local business and it deserves your patronage.

Justice in Oakland.

Chauncey Bailey was a reporter for the Oakland Post, a local independent newspaper. He was killed in August of 2007. Nearly four years later, an Oakland jury has Yusuf Bey IV, a sociopath who ran Your Black Muslim Bakery, of ordering his death when Bailey was looking into improprieties in the business.

This case took a hell of a long time to get in front of a jury, but thank Odin, Vishnu and the li'l baby Jeebus that it got in front of an Oakland jury. The last big public murder in my hometown was Omar Grant being killed by an incompetent BART cop. The trial went to Los Angeles, where an incompetent judge in a deeply corrupt town told all cops everywhere there was no need for them to be competent, even if their bungling might cost a citizen his life, especially if that citizen had a less than optimal skin color.

I hope the judge here throws the book at Bey IV and I hope the book is a very heavy one.

A great neighborhood bar and grill

Today and tomorrow, the quarterfinals of World Cup 2010 are being played. On the West Coast, this means a game for breakfast and a game for lunch. It's a great time for football fans, but for real fans, you don't want to watch the games alone. In my neighborhood, there is no better choice than La Estrellita bar and restaurant on the corner of East 12th Street and 5th Avenue. I haven't been a "regular" at a bar or restaurant in quite a while, and I have to give mad props to the folks at La Estrellita. They have made me feel more welcome as a patron than any place I have ever visited. The restaurant is open for breakfast and the owner Jose Macias is a fan, so the TV is always on when there's a game. Being Oakland, folks of every color and from every corner of the world come in the door of any place of business that puts out the welcome mat and really means it. I had breakfast this morning with the Gosh Darned Pater Familias and my sister Karlacita!, who was on her way from her home in Monterey to a visit to Ukiah to publicize her book. We watched the Dutch beat the Brazilians, and though it breaks my heart to say it, the better team won. I had my favorite, the chorizo con huevos, Dad had the pozole and Karla the hamon con papas y huevos. The food is good, the portions are generous and the atmosphere is sweet.

I came back for the lunchtime game, still full from breakfast but willing to have some liquid nourishment, just to keep body and soul together. A bigger crowd gathered at 11:30, including my tablemates Edwin and Juliet from Kenya, who for the day would claim to be from Ghana. Ghana came tantalizingly close to winning the game at the end of overtime when a well-deserved penalty kick slammed off the upper crossbar, only to lose on penalty kicks 4-2 after the 120 minutes ended. So now it's Uruguay vs. Netherlands in a semifinal on Tuesday, a game I will miss because of work.

If you are a soccer fan in Oakland, I heartily recommend La Estrellita for the World Cup games, and if you would just like some Mexican food or a drink during a sporting event, it's also an excellent choice. For generous portions, good food and good service, it's my favorite neighborhood bar and grill in Oakland.