San Diego Reader

Stories | Remote Control King

Donde esta el Wampeer?

Donde esta el Wampeer?

Nobody's ever asked the question "What if a vampire and a zombie were trapped together in a sealed room?" Until now. You see, here at stately Underpants Manor we're gigglingly wealthy, curious, and a little weird. ...

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Ollie Ewok

Ollie Ewok

I look like the most reviled creature on Earth, and I’ll tell you what it is: an Ewok. If you don’t hate Ewoks, you’re not paying attention. And don’t give me that “you said ‘the ...

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The Holiday Edition

The Holiday Edition

Here at Tablecloth Cape Studios we strive to stay ahead of the competition. While other news outlets blather on about sunscreen, we’re going to stuff stale bread up a turkey’s chute and call it the ...

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John Holmes Mysteries

John Holmes Mysteries

The two most embarrassing elements of my existence are (1) I enjoy girl folk music, and (2) I occasionally wake up, still drunk from the ... More Comments (2)

Al-Qaeda built my coffeemaker

Al-Qaeda built my coffeemaker

Its internal workings comprise several kludgy elements. Inside it are: the wiring of a movie time bomb that forces my coffeemaker to count down from ... More Post a comment

Go Away, History!

Go Away, History!

“Que mas?” the girl said, swishing her black hair over her ear. "Que mas?" She turned from me, held her arms above her head, and ... More Comments (4)

Stop! Drop! And Roll!

Stop! Drop! And Roll!

All through elementary school, my classmates and I were treated to instructions, both live and on VHS tape, detailing what we should do if we ... More Comments (2)

Goodbye, Ol' Girl

Goodbye, Ol' Girl

Like an elderly pet, my television shows signs of physical and mental decline. And not one of those throwaway pets like a county-fair goldfish; no, ... More Comments (7)

Super Why?

Super Why?

The city is a procrustean bed for man’s wildness. His heart and eyes disfavor straight line and timidity. Children know this. Set a child down ... More Comments (6)

Dance, Monkey Boy, Dance!

Dance, Monkey Boy, Dance!

Kim Cattrall is a vampire. By night, Kim Cattrall feeds on Hooters girls innocently making out with each other in the parking lot. I haven’t ... More Comments (2)

Chimp People

Chimp People

Some people look like chimpanzees, and that’s the truth of it. I’m not being mean or hurtful. You’ve seen that person who looks like a ... More Comments (3)

A Letter to My Neighbors

A Letter to My Neighbors

Dear Poor People Who Live Next Door to Me, I am dreadfully sorry to bother you, but could you be a little quieter, please. Propping ... More Post a comment

Seinfeld Meets Garfield

Seinfeld Meets Garfield

Conversation between Garfield and Seinfeld Seinfeld: Hey there, Garfield. Looks like you’re having a tough weekend. Didn’t know you liked the sauce so much. Garfield: ... More Comment (1)

The Drunken Clowns of Vegas

The Drunken Clowns of Vegas

If you’re a complete debauchery amateur, Vegas is racy. Other than that it’s about as provocative as birthday cake. Considering my 20s, gambling, booze, drugs, ... More Post a comment

The Underpants Tablecloth-Caped Avenger

The Underpants Tablecloth-Caped Avenger

Hold on to your butts, kids! Here comes another installment of...The Underpants Tablecloth-Caped Avenger! Disguised as my nebbish alter ego, Johan Awesome, I patrolled an ... More Comments (3)

An Open Letter to American Babies

An Open Letter to American Babies

An Open Letter to All American Babies:You were born in the United States. You are a human being, so therefore you have the right to ... More Comments (2)

Where the Hell's My Hot Sauce?

Where the Hell's My Hot Sauce?

The question was, Where the hell is my hot sauce? As with so many little mysteries in my life, the answer is, I’m retarded. Situated ... More Comments (2)

Hair Lip

Hair Lip

— May 1, 2000 Not only was I late for work, but my car’s booster engine fouled up. It didn’t explode or anything, it streamed ... More Post a comment

Quick, Who's My Favorite Ninja Turtle?

Quick, Who's My Favorite Ninja Turtle?

Bleakness rent my spirit. For days I pinched the bridge of my nose and squinted. I pushed at the inside corner of my eyes until ... More Post a comment

The Statistics Issue

The Statistics Issue

Crowded on the shelf and partially hidden by other books, the bright yellow spine of the stupidest book ever glared out to me, The Complete ... More Post a comment

Almost a Boy Scout

Almost a Boy Scout

For a long time, the only development project in my neighborhood belonged to a swarm of wasps building a papery hive in the corner of ... More Post a comment

America's Sweatiest Fatties

America's Sweatiest Fatties

This is true. I know my reputation for oddball fiction and addled fantasy damages my credibility, but I swear, this is true. A spider and ... More Post a comment

Queen of the Southern Mines

Queen of the Southern Mines

My dad still lives in our hometown of Sonora. Folks call the area different things, depending on what they want to sell you. It’s “God’s ... More Comments (2)

How the Nightly News Should Be

How the Nightly News Should Be

How the Nightly News Should Be: Today, billions of people survived. Of our species, less than one percent was killed, raped, or burglarized. So, don’t ... More Post a comment

Gangland Ollie

Gangland Ollie

I live above a liquor store in City Heights. The store’s sign stands out in the neighborhood, as it’s the only one in English. Across ... More Comments (2)

The Ass Beating List

The Ass Beating List

There’s that old sentiment that the world would be monumentally better off if a list of people received a hefty ass beating. You know what ... More Comment (1)

How We've Started to Suck

How We've Started to Suck

In Esztergom, Hungary, I saw for the first time in my life a dioramic representation of how human beings have managed to overthrow nature and ... More Comments (4)

Nemesis Ad

Nemesis Ad

My Personal Ad on an Internet Dating Site: This isn’t for dating. I’m not making this profile to get dates. This profile is to audition ... More Comments (2)

Interview with a Billboard

Interview with a Billboard

I Interview the Billboard Down the Street Me: Hey, how’s it going? Billboard: Not bad. It’s been rainy, but I usually get good sun, just ... More Post a comment

Lost

Lost

All anybody really wants is to be naked. Well, there are other things that one might want, but “nude” sits — on a towel, one ... More Comments (3)

Kazoo Hero

Kazoo Hero

They may not do it this way down here, but in my little town in the hills, kids slept outside when the weather was right. ... More Post a comment

Hungarian Plumbing

Hungarian Plumbing

Hungarian plumbers are all great fans of M.C. Escher, I’ve deduced. They don’t just see the artist’s creative works as pleasing concepts but more as ... More Comment (1)

TiVo for the New Year

TiVo for the New Year

Wow. 2008 can choke on it. First day, I was shot in the butt with a BB gun. I’m not kidding. Some little terrorist with ... More Post a comment

Tonight on the News

Tonight on the News

Ron and I were eating a sugary scone and talking about our plans to pork up over the coming holidays. I had decidedly given up, ... More Post a comment

Honest Abe, Pro Wrestler

Honest Abe, Pro Wrestler

Abraham Lincoln was born on May 6, 1954, to a poor family of Central California date farmers. Baby Abraham came out bald as a spoon ... More Post a comment

Time Machine Clothes Dryer

Time Machine Clothes Dryer

Two years ago, around this time, I built a time machine from a Dynamo clothes dryer and sent an orange housecat to the past. To ... More Post a comment

Christmas Colors

Christmas Colors

At ten years old I was in a serious Lawrence of Arabia phase. For Christmas I drew out what I wanted in crayon and left ... More Post a comment

Honk if You Hate Christmas

Honk if You Hate Christmas

Christmas gargles mule, and let me tell you why. It's not religion or my lack of it. Everyone has a deal. Your deal is what ... More Post a comment

I.M. Blues

I.M. Blues

Startling me from sleep, my clunky phone lit up and buzzed on the nightstand. Ding ding! Brrrr! I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, fumbled ... More Post a comment

Red Eye

Red Eye

A red-eye flight, six miles above the black icy Atlantic, winging toward Greenland is the quintessential setting to make a pillow fort and work on ... More Post a comment

List

List

"Here," my girlfriend said and handed me a sheet of paper. "Read this." "All right." I cleared my throat and snapped the paper twice for ... More Post a comment

Thrift Shop Lady

Thrift Shop Lady

There are few things as vile as a thrift-shop lady. They're drawn to the mothball air like a mummy to its crypt, and they exist ... More Post a comment

Workin' for the Man

Workin' for the Man

Pandalike, I remain uninterested in much except rolling on my large furry back, grappling with my own feet, and gnawing on things. There existed a ... More Post a comment

Veiny Blue Cheese

Veiny Blue Cheese

There's a type of person who likes veiny blue cheese. Hunks of it, with raucous funky ribbons that smell like abandoned gym socks and taste ... More Post a comment

Turning Viennese

Turning Viennese

Austria is not Mexico. That's the slogan Ron and I devised after our third day in Vienna. The whole slogan goes, "Hey, settle down, man. ... More Post a comment

General Lee, G.I. Joe, Transformers

General Lee, G.I. Joe, Transformers

The girl, whom I had never met before, shoved a black, oblong box at me, hard into my stomach, and I wheezed when it crammed ... More Post a comment

The Reader's Eye on Television

The Reader's Eye on Television

Oh, they love to tell you they're in a wheelchair, don't they? This one screamed it. "I see you're in a wheelchair, sir." I said, ... More Post a comment

The Reader's Eye on Television

There's a trick to those stinky nicotine patches. You've got to attach them to the tender flesh at the zenith of the ribcage curve to ... More Post a comment

The Reader's Eye on Television

My dentist looked at me as though he knew a secret, as if he knew something about my underpants and extra-virgin olive oil. He twisted ... More Post a comment

The Reader's Eye on Television

That woman in Howard the Duck did it with him, and he was a duck, and that's weird and sad, but it's not why the ... More Post a comment

The Reader's Eye on Television

Mean people's rice pilaf is a terrible disgrace. At Kaiser Vanduzer's Brathaus and World War One Memorial, get the wiener sandwich and wheat beer, but ... More Post a comment

The Reader's Eye on Television

Tiki people are a disgusting, wild, terrified group. This weekend at the tiki convention I witnessed the grossest of base, amoral misbehavior by adults. It ... More Post a comment

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