Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com     Last night I saw the incredible sci-fi movie "District 9" at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland (and the line for it was out of the door and around the building). Without giving too much away (and that's a matter of opinion) for those who've not seen it, the movie produced by Peter Jackson (of Lord of The Rings and King Kong ) and directed by Neil Blomkamp, concerns a giant alien spaceship that has parked itself over Johannesburg, South Africa. Over the course of the last 28 years - over a generation - over one million aliens, called the derogatory name "Prawns", were placed in an area of the city called "District 9", and that zone became a giant slum. Some say District 9 is the best science fiction movie of 2009 if not the best one ever made. That question will be the focus of my poll below, but let's focus on the movie more b...

I just went around Oakland to really get out of the house, which means heading to places like Luka's, Cafe Van Kleef, and other venues. It's to socialize -- some of my best blog story tips have come in this way. But it's also to support the local businesses. In this case, the crowds generated by the successful appearance of Green Day at the Fox went away and downtown Oakland and the Lake was largely full of locals. So I dropped into The Alley really to get a copy of their menu, and then walked over to a drinkery called Smitty's two doors away. I've decided that I'm not comfortable with Smitty's at all. Sorry but some of the clientele look like they're going to take hostages! Hey, I'm serious -- some rough-looking folks hang there and they seem proud of the way they look where I'm heading for the hills! Not that I would not help raise money for an event there, but geez. I've had it with this "We're Oakland and so it's ...

If you remember a year ago in November, I went out with my video camera and talked to two groups: SF Women in Black and SF Voice for Israel. If you shop at the Oakland Farmers Market, you remember a man carrying a large Israeli flag in front of the Grand Lake Theater. That man was Dan Kilman. This is that video series: Part One: Part Two Well, the person in the video with the beard is one I came to call a friend; this a key part of Oakland culture, died recently. He supposedly died from falling down an elevator shaft after trying to climb out of a car stuck between floors. According to the website for "SF Voice for Israel" and where Dan was an active member, Kilman was found dead on December 1st at the bottom of an elevator shaft in a building located at 55 New Montgomery Street in San Francisco called the Sharon Building.   But some think fowl-play in the form of a hate crime had been committed. Red County reports that Kilman had been assaulted ...

preparing to dig in , originally uploaded by evanyevany . Camino On Grand - Evany's Take On The New Restaurant I happened to drive by a new restaurant called Camino on Grand Avenue, and much farther up the way than any eatery before it. Indeed, it was an accidental pass as I was driving back home with my Mom as passenger who was visiting from Georgia. I have to admit, it's a large and inviting look of a venue from the outside, and so I decided to look up some information on it online and found Evany's take. Now, I don't know her but it seems she lives in the 'hood. But she gives a great review of the place in her blog diary. Here's part of it: For those who share my fear of the “popping eyeball” sensation some cherry-related deserts offer, I can assure you that this is a sweet you can order without risk of off-putting mouth sensations! For that crumble was all sticky and gooey, and not at all pop. Another word to the wise: Don’t miss the jet-propelled ai...

Since the new Whole Foods opened on 27th and Harrison, it seemed to me that there were fewer people at the Lake Merritt Farmers Market. On Saturday, I decided to take camera in hand and ask the vendors for their views. What I learned is that overall vendors feel it's too early to tell, but off camera two people said "Yes." But two others, also off camera, said it may be a seasonal development. One other person said that the Whole Foods was too far away to have an impact on the Farmers Market.