FEATURE
Grand Mall Santa
Sarah Bennett learns the way of the shopping center St. Nick from the Jimmy Buffett-lovin’ Keith Dobbins.

NEWS
Why Can’t We Be Friends?
Contract negotiations—and the issue of who’s eligible for health insurance—divide Long Beach Yacht Club and its employees, Theo Douglas reports. Also, Katie Couric in Vector Control, Criminy!, Breakwater Breakdown and I, Fink.

MUSIC
The Visionaries
Chris Ziegler checks in with the Visionaries’ Key Kool on the eve of the Anti-Xmas show and finds the Sharar brothers ready for a holiday hootenanny at Alex’s, and Ken Capobianco aligns the Wu-Tang’s 8 Diagrams with Ghostface Killah’s The Big Doe Rehab.

ART
Robots! They’re Just Like Us! at Siren
Rebecca Schoenkopf  admires the human attributes of some artificially intelligent paintings, down on Fourth Street. And Ellen Griley finds the adorable-ness Chad Eaton’s Abe Lincolns.

FOOD+DRINK
Oaxaca Mío
Steve Irsay heads deep into mole. Plus, Jim Hall on the reluctant appeal of Miller Chill and the always-appealing Yellow Submarine Roll at Sushi Studio. And Blottery!

DEPT. OF COMMERCE
Shades of Afrika
Jim Hall reports the pressure of downtown development. And a barrel of monkeys in Buy Curious.

FINE PRINT
Gerry’s Barber Shop
Kevin Ferguson chats up Gerry Paules, who waxes quixotic about Daylight Savings Time.

FILM
We review Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.