FRIDAY NOIR FICTION / "SOMEBODY FAMOUS"

SHORT STORY PREVIEW:       

“Somebody Famous” from Tough Love: Modern Noir Romances By Thomas Shess

 London, rain-slicked and anonymous. A man turns forty alone in a foreign city, carrying the quiet fatigue of an international reporter who has seen too many departure gates and too few reasons to stay anywhere very long. A last-minute concert ticket. 

A raw American voice tearing the ceiling off the Royal Albert Hall. And then, by accident or appetite, a late-night detour into the Playboy Club on Park Lane—velvet booths, cigarette smoke, champagne, and the hum of people pretending they aren’t lonely. 

 At a small table sits a woman who does not explain herself. What begins as flirtation becomes something more intimate and more dangerous: a shared meal at the Ritz, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, the unsettling thrill of being mistaken for ordinary when you are anything but. She is American. She is bored. She flies Concorde as casually as others take taxis. And she refuses—gently, almost kindly—to give her name. 

 “Somebody Famous” is a story about anonymity and desire, about the strange relief of being unknown, and the quiet ache that comes with recognition. It explores the collision between celebrity and privacy, youth and fatigue, glamour and the hunger for something unremarkable and human. In classic noir fashion, the night is brief, the connection electric, and the truth withheld just long enough to matter. 

 Tough Love continues the Cantina Psalms universe (Shess' first novel) with a collection of modern noir romances—stories where attraction is sharp, dialogue cuts close to the bone, and intimacy arrives without promises. These are not love stories with clean exits. They are encounters that linger, echo, and leave their mark. 

 Arriving early March 2026.  Internet bookstores.
 

E-Book Arrival: If you'd like a personal email notice of "Tough Love" landing in bookstores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble please contact author: Thomas.Shess @gmail.com

RETRO FILES / AMERICAN ROMANCE REMEMBERED

They are not posing here. That is the quiet miracle of these images. John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy are simply walking, talking, negotiating the small choreography that binds two people together in daily life. 

A sidewalk conversation. A half-finished thought. The shared pace that comes from knowing one another well enough to fall into step without trying. New York was their hometown not by birthright, but by choice. It was where anonymity could briefly outrun legacy, where love could be practiced in public without ceremony. 

They moved through the city the way couples do when they believe time is abundant. No urgency. No performance. Just the unspoken intimacy of errands, opinions exchanged, laughter deferred to the next block. 

JFK Jr carried the weight of history with uncommon grace, but here he looks unburdened. Carolyn, so often reduced to iconography, appears thoughtful, grounded, present. Together they project something rarer than glamour: normalcy earned and protected. Their bond reads not as spectacle, but as refuge. 

What makes these images ache is not what we lost, but what they were still building. They were learning each other in real time. Learning how to argue and reconcile. 

How to walk a city without being swallowed by it. How to be married amid expectation. 

Gone since July 16, 1998 but not frozen in tragedy. These photographs preserves them as they lived at their best: mid-sentence, mid-stride, fully alive to one another. 

A reminder on this St. Valentine's Day that love, even briefly held, so often leaves a permanent warmth in the world. 

THE FOODIST / ACE PAIRING / NEW RESTAURANTS BOOST NORTH PARK'S REP

RESTAURANT UPDATES / By Holden DeMayo, PillartoPost.org dining maven--For nearly two decades, North Park’s reputation rested on taps. You came for IPA, stayed for a second IPA, and ate whatever food was available nearby. This week, within a single crosswalk of each other, two restaurants opened that argue the neighborhood now expects a table instead of a barstool. 

For nearly two decades, North Park’s reputation rested on taps. You came for IPA, stayed for a second IPA, and ate whatever was available nearby. This week, within a single crosswalk of each other, two restaurants opened that argue the neighborhood now expects a table instead of a barstool. 

On February 9, Bacari North Park (pictured above) unlocked the long-dark former Urban Solace building at 3823 30th Street — a site many locals credit with igniting the area’s first modern dining boom back in the oughts. 

À L’ouest's major domo Brad Wise

Two days later, at the marquee corner of 30th and University, chef Brad Wise’s French brasserie À L’ouest debuted after nearly two years of anticipation and construction, filling one of the most closely watched restaurant vacancies in the district. Walk by and see what a $4.5 million investment looks like.

A L'ouest's team has brought life to a dead prime corner; a Dickensian flop house is gone.  New life exists where cockroaches ruled for two decades. For that alone Brad Wise--Lordy bless and keep you!

The openings feel coordinated even though they were not: Bacari arrives from Los Angeles with a style that sits somewhere between Venetian wine bar and California dinner party. The menu is structured around small plates meant to accumulate rather than courses meant to progress. Grilled flatbreads come layered with burrata and truffle honey or lamb ragu. Stone-fruit salads share the table with crispy branzino, roasted chicken, and short rib glazed to a lacquer. 

There is a persistent sweet-salt contrast running through the cooking — dates with bacon, strawberries with cheese, figs with prosciutto — designed less for culinary orthodoxy than for appetite momentum. Cocktails lean bright and citrus-driven, and the wine list is built for repetition: approachable bottles you order again without thinking. 

À L’ouest takes the opposite path: a modern French brasserie filtered through Southern California technique. Wise keeps a French backbone but bends rules, from deeply enriched onion soup to live-fire cooking and a late-night sensibility designed for drawn-out dinners rather than quick turnover. 

The restaurant pairing matters less as coincidence than as timing. North Park has added destination kitchens steadily over the past decade, yet the district still functioned socially as a crawl. These openings, side-by-side and deliberately ambitious in design, signal a shift in how operators see the neighborhood: not as nightlife overflow from downtown or Hillcrest, but as a primary dining market capable of supporting full-scale restaurants with investment-level buildouts and reservation books. 

One building resurrects the neighborhood’s first restaurant era. The other bets on its next one. Yes, North Park still pours beer. But now, increasingly, dinner comes first. 

North Park Major League Dining 

Bacari North Park 3823 30th Street 

Los Angeles hospitality group Bacari restored and reopened the former Urban Solace building in last week and brought its Venetian-style small-plates format: burrata flatbreads, branzino, pork belly, bright cocktails and repeatable wines creating an instant clubhouse built for lingering rather than turnover. Since 2026. 

À L’ouest 3002 University Avenue at 30th 

Chef Brad Wise’s modern French brasserie anchors the district’s main intersection with late-night dining, live-fire technique and classic dishes filtered through California product. A statement restaurant that treats North Park as a primary dining neighborhood. Since 2026.

Mabel’s Gone Fishing 3770 30th Street 

Basque-Spanish seafood bar whose oysters, conservas and cocktails proved diners would wait for a reservation restaurant, not just a tap list. One of the first places to normalize planned dinner nights in the neighborhood. Since 2022. 

Leila 30th Street corridor 

Consortium Holdings’ Persian-Middle Eastern room built as an immersive bazaar environment with breads, kebabs and perfumed rice dishes. Immediate demand turned it into one of the toughest reservations in San Diego--period.  Since 2024. 

Deckman’s North Park at 3131 University Avenue 

Michelin-starred Drew Deckman brought Baja-Med cooking from Valle de Guadalupe: wood fire, regional seafood and sustainability-driven sourcing. A chef-centric anchor linking San Diego dining with Baja’s modern culinary movement. Since 2024. 

The Lafayette Hotel Dining Complex 2223 El Cajon Boulevard 

Consortium Holdings’ restored 1946 landmark reintroduced grand dining rooms to the area, including Quixote and Lou Lou’s Supper Club, pulling special-occasion diners into the North Park orbit rather than downtown. Reopened: 2023. 

AND HERE IS PILLARTOPOST.ORG FAV [to date] IN NORTH PARK.

Finca: North Park Way and Grim Avenue

It's called Finca.

The corner of North Park Way and Grim finally behaves like an address instead of an intersection. At the base of the Nash apartments, Finca showed up like a whisper among friends--then those friends kept the secret to themselves.  Finca opened in 2024 by sommelier Dan Valerino, chef Joe Bower, and restaurateur Ricardo Dondisch, the restaurant skips the usual North Park reflex toward volume and goes straight to conversation. 

The menu leans Spanish through a Southern California pantry — conservas, vegetables with acid and smoke, seafood, charcuterie — plates meant to overlap and circle the table instead of march in courses. The wine list drives the experience, bottles chosen for time spent rather than tables turned. Which is exactly why it works here. A residential tower needs a dining room, not a spectacle. Finca gives the block a place residents drift downstairs to and neighbors walk toward on purpose. Not hype. Habit.

A ROSTER OF NEAR BY TRUST RESTAURANTS

Trust – Park Blvd, Hillcrest 

The original 2016 flagship that launched Wise’s restaurant group and effectively began the modern Hillcrest-North Park upscale dining corridor. 

Cardellino – Mission Hills Italian-leaning neighborhood restaurant, chef-driven but casual-elegant, draws the same diners circulating through North Park evenings. 

Fort Oak – Mission Hills (Presidio area) Live-fire cooking centerpiece; the prestige anchor of the group. 

Rare Society – University Heights (and others) Modern steakhouse; the closest “celebration dinner” room feeding North Park’s reservation culture. 

À L’ouest – 30th & University, North Park The group’s French brasserie and the clearest signal the district is now a true dining neighborhood. 

 The Wise Ox Butcher & Eatery – Utah & El Cajon Chef butcher shop, deli, pantry and prepared food counter supplying restaurant-level proteins and sandwiches. 

INSIDER NOTES FROM PILLARTOPOST.ORG'S iconic no-name dining reviewer.  Trust Restaurant Group’s high-end kitchens quietly extend into take-home dining through The Wise Ox Butcher & Eatery (Utah & El Cajon). Steaks, sausages and prepared items mirror restaurant sourcing — effectively fine-dining takeout disguised as a neighborhood butcher. Secret diner’s tip Yes — the high-end Trust kitchens quietly sell take-home food through The Wise Ox. You can walk out with the same sourcing and technique the dining rooms use: steaks, sausages, sauces, sides, and ready-to-cook cuts. It’s essentially restaurant take-out disguised as a neighborhood butcher shop. 

Plenty of parking space at 30th and North Park Way parking structure (entrance on 29th street)

DON'T BE A PARKING CHEAPO: North Park’s restaurant surge did not happen by accident. Yes, chefs like the density, the walkability, the proximity to the old craft-beer corridor and the mix of casual and ambitious dining already in place. But the explanation people politely skip over is simpler. 

Parking. 

Hillcrest would steal it tomorrow if it could. Back in the 1990s, North Park boosters pushed through a multi-level public garage within easy walking distance of the main restaurant strip. It was not glamorous urban planning, but it turned out to be decisive and fortuitus urban planning. An eight-story promise that gets you to the dinner table instead of circling the block a dozen times. If you're picking up the tab don't ruin by being a parking cheapo.  Tomorrow's Valentine's date does not deserbe a thirty-minute slog through alleys and red curbs looking for a freebie parking spot on Saturday night. 

A neighborhood does not become a reservation district if the first course is frustration. And let’s be honest. If someone is prepared to spend fifty dollars on a respectable steak and ten dollars to step out of the car and walk straight to the door that is not extravagance--it's called playing smart.  It is a small luxury that separates the men from the cheapos. 

AMERICANA / HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. LINCOLN

PillartoPost.org illustration by F. Stop Fitzgerald

 

AMERICANA / FEISTY POLITICAL CARTOONS

 F. Stop Fitzgerald via PillartoPost.org

EUROPA / WINTER IN GELSENIRCHEN, GERMANY

 

A man walks his dog past a snow covered-labyrinth
at a castlegarden in Gelsenirchen, Germany,
mid January, 2026.  Associated Press image
by Martin Meissner.  To solve the puzzle follow
most of the footprints; stay left at entry.

STATE OF THE WORLD / NEW POPE WARNS OF A WORLD LOSING RESTRAINT

In First Global Address, Pope Leo XIV Calls for restraint in an Age of Excess 

State of the World Address 

By, Pope Leo XIV Vatican City 

Brothers and sisters, 

We meet at a moment of great achievement and great danger. Never before has humanity possessed such knowledge, such power, or such speed. And never before has it appeared so uncertain about the ends toward which these gifts are directed. 

The world is not suffering from a lack of intelligence. It is suffering from a collapse of restraint, memory, and mercy. 

We know how to build. We know how to calculate. We know how to predict. What we are forgetting is how to limit ourselves, how to remember what has already failed us, and how to see one another not as obstacles, competitors, or abstractions, but as persons. 

Across nations and continents, war persists. Entire regions live beneath the shadow of violence that no longer shocks, no longer pauses, no longer asks permission of conscience. Modern conflict is increasingly conducted at a distance, through screens and systems, through weapons that separate action from consequence. 

When destruction is delivered remotely, conscience too often follows at a distance. 

Peace does not fail first on the battlefield. It fails in language, in imagination, and in the refusal to recognize the humanity of the other. Diplomacy collapses when humility disappears, and humility disappears when power forgets its limits. 

Economic life, too, reflects this forgetting. Markets have grown faster than moral frameworks. Wealth has multiplied while responsibility has thinned. Entire populations now live under the tyranny of precarity, uncertain of shelter, healthcare, or dignity, even as abundance accumulates elsewhere beyond accountability. 

An economy that treats human beings as variables rather than persons will eventually devour its own foundations. Prosperity detached from responsibility is not progress. It is delay. 

We must also speak honestly about technology. Innovation is not an enemy of faith or reason. But systems designed solely to optimize efficiency risk hollowing out judgment itself. Artificial intelligence can assist calculation, but it cannot assume moral responsibility. 

A machine may calculate. It cannot repent. 

When decision-making is surrendered to systems that cannot suffer, cannot love, and cannot be held accountable, humanity diminishes itself. Tools must remain tools. They must never become masters. 

The earth itself bears witness to our disorder. Climate change is not only an environmental crisis. It is a moral one. It reveals a broken relationship between humanity and creation, fueled by the illusion that extraction has no cost and growth has no boundary. 

The theology of endless consumption is a false gospel. Creation is not an inheritance to be exhausted, but a gift to be safeguarded. 

The Church, too, must examine itself. Faith cannot be reduced to spectacle, ideology, or tribal identity. When belief becomes a performance or a weapon, it ceases to heal and begins to divide. 

A Church that seeks applause will soon fear silence. And silence is where God most often speaks. 

Our age is loud, fast, and impatient. Yet the deepest human truths still require time, attention, and humility. We cannot shout our way to wisdom. We cannot automate virtue. We cannot outsource conscience. 

Still, I do not speak to you without hope. 

History has not ended. Moral repair remains possible. But it requires courage: the courage to accept limits, to tell the truth without cruelty, to govern without vanity, and to remember that power exists to serve life, not to dominate it. 

The future is not something we inherit. It is something we answer for. 

May we choose restraint over excess, responsibility over convenience, and mercy over indifference. And may we remember that the measure of our progress will not be speed or scale, but whether the human person remains at the center of our common life. 

Thank you. 

THE FIVE MOST CLUTCH PLAYS THAT PUT THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AND NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS INTO SUPER BOWL 2026.

CLUTCH PLAYS 2026

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS.

In order of brilliance and context. The NFC Seattle Seahawks' path to Super Bowl LX (2026) was defined by a record-breaking 14–3 regular season and a relentless postseason run led by NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba and quarterback Sam Darnold . 

These are the five most clutch plays that propelled them into the Super Bowl: 

1. Devon Witherspoon’s 4th-Down Red Zone Stop, above. 

 • Context: NFC Championship vs. Los Angeles Rams. 

• The Play: With 4:54 remaining in the fourth quarter and Seattle clinging to a 31–27 lead, the Rams reached the 6-yard line. On 4th-and-4, Devon Witherspoon broke up a pass intended for tight end Terrance Ferguson in the end zone. 

• Brilliance: This was the definitive "clutch" moment of the postseason. After the Rams had dominated time of possession on an 84-yard drive, Witherspoon’s lockdown coverage effectively saved the game and Seattle's Super Bowl aspirations. 

 2. Cooper Kupp’s "Corkscrew" 3rd-Down Conversion 

• Context: NFC Championship vs. Los Angeles Rams. • The Play: Facing a 3rd-and-7 with 3:11 left, Sam Darnold scrambled left and found Cooper Kupp, who made a "corkscrew" catch over his shoulder and dove for a 1st down. 

• Brilliance: Playing against his former team with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, Kupp's acrobatic catch allowed Seattle to bleed nearly the rest of the clock. Without this conversion, the Rams would have received the ball back with ample time to score. 

 

3. Rashid Shaheed’s 51-Yard "Deep Shot" 

 • Context: NFC Championship vs. Los Angeles Rams. • The Play: Early in the second quarter, Sam Darnold launched a deep 51-yard pass to mid-season trade acquisition Rashid Shaheed up the sideline. 

• Brilliance: This explosive play shifted the momentum of a tight game, proving that the Seahawks' offense could strike instantly despite the Rams' defensive pressure. It set up an early lead and forced the Rams to play from behind for most of the first half. 

 

4. Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 74-Yard Drive Capper 

 • Context: NFC Championship vs. Los Angeles Rams. • The Play: With just 54 seconds left in the first half, the Seahawks moved 74 yards in 34 seconds, culminating in a Jaxon Smith-Njigba touchdown reception in the end zone. 

• Brilliance: This play epitomized the "power pair" connection between Darnold and Smith-Njigba. Scoring just before the half silenced a Rams surge and gave Seattle a 17–13 lead and the psychological edge heading into the locker room. 

 

5. The Opening Kickoff 95-Yard Return 

• Context: NFC Divisional Round vs. San Francisco 49ers. • The Play: On the very first play of the Seahawks' postseason, Seattle returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. 

• Brilliance: This play "seized control" of the game immediately, setting the tone for a 41–6 blowout victory over their fierce rivals. It signaled to the rest of the NFC that the top-seeded Seahawks were a complete team across offense, defense, and special teams.  

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS. 

In order of brilliance and context. AFC's New England Patriots advanced to Super Bowl LX in February 2026 behind a historic defensive effort and the emergence of second-year quarterback Drake Maye. After a 4-13 season in 2024, the Patriots executed the greatest one-year turnaround in NFL history to reach the title game against the Seattle Seahawks. 

Below are the five most clutch plays from their AFC 2025–26 playoff run, ranked by their brilliance and context: 

1. The Snow Globe Scurry (AFC Championship), above. 

With the score tied 7-7 late in the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos, Drake Maye escaped a collapsing pocket in heavy snow to scramble for 28 yards, putting the Patriots in field goal range. This "ice-cold" run set up the game-winning score, securing a 10-7 victory in what were described as "impossible" weather conditions. 

2. Gonzalez’s "No-Fly" Interception (AFC Championship) 

In the same defensive slugfest, cornerback Christian Gonzalez made a leaping interception on a deep ball from Jarrett Stidham that appeared destined for a go-ahead touchdown. The turnover preserved the tie and shifted momentum back to New England's defense, which shut out the Broncos for the entire second half. 

3. The "Zombieland" Flea-Flicker (AFC Championship) 

In a game where offense was nearly non-existent, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels called a risky flea-flicker that resulted in a 31-yard loft from Maye to Mack Hollins. This play was the only significant offensive chunk of the game and provided the spark for New England's lone touchdown drive in Denver. 

4. Douglas’s Divisional Dagger (Divisional Round), above. 

Wide receiver DeMario Douglas ignited the "Zombieland" celebration craze after scoring the opening touchdown in the Patriots' 28-16 win over the Houston Texans. The score capped a high-pressure opening drive that settled the young team and established the offensive efficiency that defined their playoff run. 

5. Taylor’s Fingertip Block (AFC Championship), above. 

Defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III got his fingertips on a 45-yard field goal attempt by Broncos kicker Will Lutz, causing the ball to flutter wide. In a game decided by only three points (10-7), this special teams gem was the literal difference between a win and overtime.

SUNDAY REVIEW / EERIE URBAN GHOST FICTION WITH NO GHOST

THE BLACK CAB 

By Thomas Shess

She worked the night shift in the London office of an international news bureau, the kind of graveyard post where wire stories tiptoe in from every time zone. Her job was to edit the fillers — the small, odd dispatches that never made headlines but kept the pages from looking hollow. The big stories rarely passed through her hands.   

Every evening before heading upstairs to the bureau, she stopped at the small delicatessen next door — a paper cup of strong coffee, a sandwich, sometimes a sweet. A nod to routine. A signal to herself that she was entering the long quiet stretch when most of the city slept and the news world kept breathing without her.   

By four in the morning, the building was so still she could hear the elevator cables sigh. That was when she left her desk and wandered to the window overlooking the street eight floors below. For the past week, the same thing waited for her: fog or thin rain, the glow from Charing Cross Station — and something new: a black cab parked across the street in the exact same place.   

The first night she ignored it. The second night she noticed. By the fourth, she started expecting it.   

London was full of black cabs. Coincidence, she told herself. But each night, at roughly the same hour, there it sat, silent and patient, headlights off, facing the same direction.   

One night she became so absorbed in an unusually compelling story from Singapore that she forgot to check the window before shutting down her terminal. She slung her bag over her shoulder, reached the exit, and paused.   

She hadn’t looked.   

“Don’t start inventing patterns,” she murmured. “That’s how people go mad.”   She ignored the urge, smiled at the night guard, and stepped outside into a rare clear London sky. A small scattering of stars shone against the city’s orange glow. Instinct made her glance across the street.   

The cab was gone.   

Good, she thought. Enough spooky nonsense.  

At 4:15 a.m. sharp her bus arrived — always on time — filled with cleaners, bakers, and overnight workers beginning or ending their day. Five miles later, she stepped off near her flat, keys in one hand, her purse held tightly in her other. **   The next evening, just before her usual 7 p.m. walk to catch the bus back toward work, she opened the door to her flat and froze. Across the street — not toward the stop but in the opposite direction — a black cab was parked.   Same posture. Same silhouette.   

Probably nothing, she told herself. But something unsettled her. She avoided it and took her usual bus.   

Her shift that day unfolded quietly until her phone chimed with a message from New York — her supervisor.   

Good news.   

She was being offered a daytime reporting slot. Nine to five. Field stories, real stories. The sort of assignment she had assumed was out of reach on the night desk.   

Call tomorrow during Manhattan business hours, the message read.   

She lingered at the lobby desk sharing the news with the night guard. His warm reaction made her feel strangely buoyant — recognized, seen. She talked longer than she meant to, long enough to miss her usual bus.   

Rain began as she stepped outside. She could wait. She could take the Tube at Charing Cross.   

Or — she thought — treat herself to a driverless cab.   

She looked across the street.   

The black cab was there again. Same position. Still. Waiting.   

A chill crept across her shoulders.   

Silly, she told herself. It was a machine. No driver. No intention. Climb in the back, speak the destination, swipe the card. Simple. Safe.   

But her instinct whispered no.   

Instead she walked toward the Tube station, letting the light rain touch her face.   

Halfway down the block, a hand clamped around her arm.   

Before she could cry out, a heavy figure dragged her toward a narrow alley.   

“Don’t fight,” he growled. “You’ll get hurt.”   

Fear surged through her. She dropped her weight to the ground, twisting, trying to break free.   

A horn blasted — loud enough to rattle the bricks.   

The man flinched.   

Another blast. Longer.   

Headlights cut through the alley, high-beams glaring, unwavering, filling the darkness with harsh white light.   

The man cursed, released her, and sprinted into the night.   

Shaking, she rose slowly to her feet.   

At the alley mouth a vehicle idled, lights pointed toward her like a guardian’s stare. The horn went quiet.   

She stepped closer and looked through the windshield.   

No driver.   

The black cab waited, lights steady, engine low purring as though making sure she was all right.   

She whispered, “Thank you.”   

The cab blinked its running lights once.   

Then it pulled gently away into the rain. 

The End. 

Editor's Note:  If this story spoke to you, readers of PillartoPost may enjoy the author’s new collection Tough Love: Modern Noir Romances — twelve stories of desire, danger, and the unexpected tenderness that glows in the darker corners of cities. Available in print and ebook online book stores like BookBaby.com [https://store.bookbaby.com/]; Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Available in March, 2026, To receive notice of availability contact author Thomas.Shess@gmail.com 

We will send a free e-book to the 100th person requesting notification of "Tough Love."

Trivia answer from yesterday's PillartoPost.org Super Bowl post:  Washington Redskins defensive tackle Bill Brundige blocked the iconic 4th quarter field goal attempt.

AMERICANA / 5 UNFORGETTABLE SUPER BOWL MOMENTS

WORTH REMEMBERING. Green Bay Packers wide receiver Max McGee runs toward the end zone in Super Bowl I as the Packers defeated the Chiefs 35-10 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 15, 1967. John Biever image.

In case you forgot them. 

 GUEST BLOG / By PillartoPost.org's NostraThomas--These five iconic images represent some of the most dramatic moments in NFL history, spanning over 60 years of Super Bowl excellence. 

• Joe Namath’s "No. 1" Exit (Super Bowl III, 1969) 

--The Moment: After famously "guaranteeing" a victory during the week, Jets quarterback Joe Namath was photographed triumphantly trotting off the field wagging his index finger. 

--Context: On January 12, 1969, the New York Jets pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history, defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Colts 16–7. Image by NFL icon photographer John Bieler. 

• Don Shula’s Victory Ride (Super Bowl VII, 1973) 

--The Moment: Head coach Don Shula was hoisted onto the shoulders of his players for a victory lap across the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 

--Context: On January 14, 1973, the Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins 14–7 to complete a 17–0 record, which remains the only perfect season in NFL history. 

• Lynn Swann’s "Levitating Leap" (Super Bowl X, 1976) 

--The Moment: A stunning image captured Steelers receiver Lynn Swann horizontal in mid-air, making a 53-yard acrobatic "circus catch" while tumbling over Cowboys defender Mark Washington. 

--Context: Played on January 18, 1976, Swann’s performance (161 yards and a TD) earned him MVP honors as Pittsburgh won 21–17. 

• David Tyree’s Helmet Catch (Super Bowl XLII, 2008) 

--The Moment: Wide receiver David Tyree leaped to secure a pass from Eli Manning by pinning the football against the crown of his helmet while being draped by Rodney Harrison. 

--Context: On February 3, 2008, this miraculous 32-yard gain kept the Giants' final drive alive, eventually leading to a 17–14 upset that spoiled the Patriots' bid for a perfect season. 

• Malcolm Butler’s Goal-Line Interception (Super Bowl XLIX, 2015) 

--The Moment: Rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler was photographed jumping the route and snatching the ball at the goal line directly in front of Seahawks receiver Ricardo Lockette. 

--Context: With 20 seconds remaining on February 1, 2015, the Seahawks famously chose to pass from the 1-yard line instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch. Butler's pick sealed a 28–24 victory for the New England Patriots. 

 NFL'S MOST EMBARASSING SUPER BOWL PLAY 

• Garo’s Gaffe: The Failed Pass Attempt (Super Bowl VII, 1973) 

--The Moment: After his field goal attempt was blocked, Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian scrambled to pick up the loose ball. Instead of falling on it, he tried to throw a desperate forward pass. The ball slipped from his hand, and as he tried to bat it away, it went straight to Washington defender Mike Bass, who returned it 49 yards for a touchdown. 

--Context: On January 14, 1973, the Miami Dolphins were leading 14–0 and looking to secure a 17–0 shutout to match their 17–0 season. The play cut the lead to 14–7 with just over two minutes left, causing coach Don Shula to nearly have a "heart attack" on the sideline.

TRIVIA:  What Washington Redskins player blocked Garo Yepremian's 4th quarter field goal attempt?    Answer: Tomorrow's PillartoPost.org

COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / A COMFORTABLE OASIS IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT

California's Pepper Grind Coffee in El Centro makes a strong case for itself as a no-nonsense, quality-first, family-run coffee shop that suits everyone from regulars grabbing their morning cup to Interstate 8 travelers passing through on cross-desert routes. 

Pepper Grind offers well-crafted espresso drinks, smooth drip coffee, and iced specialties that stand up to the heat and hurry of the Imperial Valley--even on a Saturday morning when the valley is still sleepy. 

For those who like to take coffee black, the pour-over selection brings clarity to the cup with bright acidity and clean finish, a pleasant surprise in a region better known for sun and sand than specialty coffee. Seasonal cold brews and iced lattes are another highlight, ideal for the desert afternoons when the thermometer climbs and a cold coffee is more necessity than indulgence. 

Beyond the core drinks, Pepper Grind’s pastry case offers a small but satisfying selection of baked goods—croissants, scones, and muffins—that pair well with any coffee order. A practical bonus for your average traveler is the café’s to-go window, which makes it easy to grab a quality cup without leaving your vehicle. That’s especially handy for people on a schedule, whether they’re heading east on Interstate 8 toward the desert or west toward the coast. 

In a part of California where long drives are routine and good coffee can feel like an oasis, Pepper Grind Coffee serves both locals and wayfarers with equal competence. 

For anyone interested in a solid, honest brew in El Centro—whether settling in for a sit-down latte or swinging by the to-go window on a long road trip—it’s a stop worth finding.

The shop extends its service through the Pepper Grind Coffee mobile app, which allows customers to order ahead, pay via Apple Pay, and earn rewards. The app has a strong user rating, reflecting its ease of use and integration with the café’s service model. 

For added accessibility Pepper Grind Coffee features wheelchair-accessible entrances and parking, ensuring comfort and inclusivity for all guests. It is recognized as a key local coffee destination in El Centro’s growing independent café scene. 

FLICK FRIDAY / CINE SAN DIEGO

 

From Axios San Diego: If you didn't see this year's Academy Award-nominated films on the big screen, here's how you can stream them. Best Picture nominees:

 • "Sinners" on HBO Max 

• Bugonia" on Peacock 

• "F1" on Apple TV 

• "Frankenstein" on Netflix 

• "Train Dreams" on Netflix 

• "One Battle After Another" on HBO Max 

Fun fact: Scenes from One Battle the epic action thriller and comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio were filmed around San Diego County, including East Village, The Westgate Hotel, Otay Mesa and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. 

Colonel Lockjaw (actor Sean Penn) descends the stairs at the Westgate Hotel. Yes, the Westgate is in San Diego, but in the film it is set in Las Vegas. 

THE FOODIST / WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME WE DINED IN BRASILIA?

Sallva Bar e Ristorante, Brasilia.

When was the last time any of us spent time in the capital of Brazil? Not on Travel Advisor–style recommendation blogs, but in the actual city. Yet Brasília exists. It matters. It governs a continent-scale nation. And now we know it also has one genuinely excellent restaurant. Sallva Bar e Ristorante earns that distinction by doing something increasingly rare: it cooks with judgment. 

The kitchen operates in a Mediterranean framework, but the sensibility is unmistakably Brazilian in its respect for ingredient quality and proportion. 

Starters are restrained and confident. Fish carpaccio arrives clean and properly chilled, sliced thin, dressed with citrus and olive oil applied with a light hand. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is padded. Pasta anchors the menu and is handled correctly. Ravioli and tagliatelle arrive al dente, with fillings built around ricotta, greens, and seafood rather than weighty sauces. 

Duel of the giants: the amazing Crispy Shrimp
or the Polpettone alla Parmigiana?

The cooking shows discipline. Seasoning is precise. Sauces reduce rather than dominate. The plates feel considered, not assembled. Main courses continue that control. Fish is cooked accurately and finished simply. Meat, when present, functions as part of a composition rather than a blunt centerpiece. Garnishes are purposeful. There is no visual excess and no sense the kitchen is performing for a camera. Desserts follow the same philosophy. 

Speaking of dessert (above) a panna cotta or a properly structured tiramisu ends the meal without sugar overload or theatrics. The wine list supports the food, emphasizing balance and acidity over novelty. 

 What makes Sallva notable is not innovation or spectacle, but consistency. In a city better known for ministries than menus, it delivers thoughtful, serious cooking. 

Brasília may sit outside the usual culinary conversation, but this kitchen proves it deserves a place in it. 

Specialty of the house: filet and gnocchi: superb

Sallva Bar e Ristorante is located at Pontão do Lago Sul in Brasília on the shore of Lago Paranoá (above) , with outdoor seating and lake views that many visitors describe as part of the dining experience. It’s right on the waterfront at the Pontão, a popular leisure and restaurant area facing the lake.

Lago Paranoá itself is manmade. It was created in the late 1950s and early 1960s by damming the Paranoá River during the construction of Brasília to form an artificial lake. Today it stretches around the city, with a shoreline of about 80 kilometers and numerous residential, recreational, and dining spots along its banks.

RETRO FILES / AVOID THE TV SERIES "SILK" BETTER YET RUN AWAY.

Silk's Rupert-Penry Jones with co-lead Maxine Peak deserve better as do audiences.

Unfinished/unprofessional series ending gives audiences reason enough to yank Brit series off the airways. 

There is a particular kind of disappointment that comes not from mediocrity, but from betrayal. 

Silk earns that distinction. 

 Forgive us if we speak ill of the dead and the yank headline pun.  Reviewers are American. 

For three seasons, Silk [2011-2014] positioned itself as a serious, intelligent British legal drama. The writing was sharp. The performances—especially from Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones—were disciplined and persuasive. The show respected the audience’s intelligence, building long arcs about ambition, ethics, gender, and the quiet brutality of professional life at the Bar. 

It asked viewers to invest time, attention, and emotional capital. And then it simply walked off the stage.  There should be a warning at the beginning of the series.

The final episode is not merely unsatisfying; it is evasive. Threads carefully laid over years are left dangling. Character journeys are abandoned mid-stride. Conflicts that demanded resolution are shrugged off with a sense of haste that borders on contempt. 

It feels less like an ending than an evacuation—cast and creators departing before the bill comes due. This is not bold ambiguity or daring restraint. It is narrative abdication. Good drama may leave questions unanswered, but it does not leave its story unfinished. 

Silk does. 

And that failure stains what came before it. What makes the collapse sting is how avoidable it was. The series had all the tools to land properly: a seasoned cast, a literate audience, and a world already built. 

Instead, it chose to stop rather than conclude, confusing abruptness for sophistication. British television has long prided itself on strong endings, even when they are bleak. Silk breaks (no, it shames) that tradition, and not in a way worth defending. 

Viewers who stayed faithful deserved better. 

Maybe, even the actors. 

A series that once argued persuasively for integrity ends by abandoning its own. That is bad form—and a reminder that no matter how fine the cloth, it still has to be finished at the edges. 

Perhaps, some day--if anyone really cares, will there be an accounting as to what happened to "Silk?" Prime time actors like Maxine Peake and Rupert-Penry Jones were part of the abandonment.  They and series producers owe us an explanation since the series is still on the air.  

TUESDAY THINK PIECE / FANTASY OR REALITY ACCORDING TO FREDDIE MERCURY

“Is this the real life? 

Is this just fantasy?” 

That opening question in Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t a philosophical thesis so much as an emotional doorway. What Freddie Mercury was doing there was deliberately unsettling the listener. From the first breath, he puts us inside a mind that no longer trusts its own footing. 

“Reality” versus “fantasy” isn’t about metaphysics; it’s about psychological dislocation. The speaker feels detached from the normal rules of consequence, time, and identity. 

Several things are going on at once. 

First, confession. The lyric sounds like someone waking up after a shock, asking whether what’s happening can possibly be real. That primes the listener for guilt, fear, and emotional collapse. 

Second, theatrical framing. Freddie loved opera, and in opera the audience is often warned immediately that they’re entering an unreal space where emotions are heightened and logic bends. 

These lines say: suspend ordinary expectations. 

Third, denial and bargaining. The narrator is facing something unbearable. Questioning reality is a classic human reflex when responsibility or loss feels overwhelming. “If this is fantasy, maybe I can escape it.” Freddie himself repeatedly resisted literal interpretations of the song, and that’s important. He wasn’t writing a puzzle with a single solution. He was writing a mood piece about fragmentation: of self, of truth, of consequence. 

The lyric invites you into that fracture before the story even begins. So when he says “real life,” he doesn’t mean objective reality. He means emotional reality: the moment when you realize that what you’ve done, or what you are, can no longer be undone. 

It’s a brilliant hook because it asks the question we all ask at moments of reckoning, quietly or aloud: Is this really happening to me? And once that question is asked, the song owns you. 

AMERICANA / LOOK WHAT THE GROUND HOG LEFT US!

NOOOOOOOOO is right!