Restaurants' best dishes of 2011
I tossed and turned, my sleep interrupted with quandaries that whirled like a high-speed blender gnawing on a stubborn chunk of concrete. How could I select just five favorite dishes from 2011 when...
View ArticleBob Seger shows he’s still got the same soul
When Bob Seger sang "today's music ain't got the same soul" during his signature 1978 tune "Old Time Rock and Roll" early on Wednesday night at Staples Center, the lyric rang especially true. While...
View ArticleCollege football picks: January bowls
Completing the bowl predictions with the games from the first week of 2012.
View ArticleThe Watcher: The highs and lows of 2011 TV
For TV viewers, 2012 can't get here soon enough. The past year started out moderately well but soon devolved into a dry summer and a soggy fall. Good new shows were a rarity, and old shows just got...
View ArticleL.A. ready for more than the Rose Bowl
LOS ANGELES – Well, it's that time again, folks, two-minute warning of another glorious season, and here we are feeling our yearly pigskin hunger pangs. How is it possible that this market of millions,...
View ArticleNFL picks, Week 17: Hail Mary for SCE
It's all over but the pouting. After being thrashed by longtime Clippers fan Jim Crowell's 13-3 performance last week, the So-Called Expert trails by six games in the standings heading into the final...
View ArticleSLIDE SHOW: Top Irvine sports stories of 2011
It was another special year for sports in Irvine. In 2011, there were CIF championships and some close-calls for other teams going for the top prize. There were deaths of former athletes and a...
View ArticleCourt: State can put an end to local redevelopment agencies
Cities across California were sent reeling Thursday by a state Supreme Court ruling that could spell the end for about 400 local redevelopment agencies. The court ruled on the constitutionality of a...
View ArticleReview: Meet the $60,000 Hyundai Equus
Pssst: Wanna know how to get a $100,000 executive sedan for 40 percent off? Buy a Hyundai. More specifically, buy a Hyundai Equus. Go on, take a second to recompose yourself. If you have even a passing...
View ArticleBruins will stay busy with Illinois lineman
SAN FRANCISCO – When Illinois junior All-America defensive lineman Whitney Mercilus tried to lend a teammate a helping hand last spring he had no idea he wouldn't be getting all of it back. During a...
View ArticleLansner: 5 economic gifts I’d return
Business downturns create economic gifts. For opportunistic folks, the wealthy or simply lucky people, recessions or the like do offer fringe benefits. Of course, not all of these post-collapse perks...
View ArticleDucks Faceoffs 12/29/11
Ducks fans arrive at the Honda center to watch the Ducks/Vancouver game.
View ArticleUSC comeback falls short against Cal, 53-49
BERKELEY, Calif. - Allen Crabbe converted three free throws with 8.4 seconds left as California earned a hard-fought 53-49 victory over Southern California on Thursday night in the Pac-12 Conference...
View ArticleThe 10 best films of 2011
Human dramas dominated this year's movie releases, ranging from a husband struggling with his dying wife to a woman who disguises herself so she can work in a man's world. It was also a year of amazing...
View ArticleThe 10 worst movies of 2011
So many bad movies, so little space. This year's collection of stinkers proves Adam Sandler can be counted on to make at least one monumentally bad film, not all comic book movies are good and there...
View ArticleNuclear energy, 2011: ‘The year of Fukushima’
The tragedy at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dashed hopes for anuclear renaissance. In America, there has been bitter conflict at the highest levels of the Nuclear Regulatory...
View ArticlePolice ask for help in identifying woman
SANTA ANA – Santa Ana police are asking for the public's help identifying and finding the family of a woman who they said appears to be in her 70s and possibly has dementia. Officers were dispatched to...
View ArticleGreat Park New Year's celebration
Orange County Great Park’s Inaugural Family New Year’s Eve Celebration in Irvine, Saturday evening.
View ArticleRichard Callahan: A needed new economy trying to emerge
As we embark on 2012, with our economy struggling to find a direction and nothing but ineffective solutions offered by the Obama administration – which focuses primarily on an economy driven by...
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