Oasis

Your choices in San Francisco hotels are overwhelming. The prices can be too. So during our staff visit to the City by the Bay, we looked for reasonably priced hotels that had charm, location or both. We came back with 14 ideas on places to bed down. It's not a complete list, but it is eclectic, like the city itself. Mystic Hotel. This property, which opened in April, stands on a tunnel-adjacent block of Stockton Street that you'll never see on a picture postcard, yet it has style, as do the Burritt Tavern bar and restaurant downstairs.

Near the junction of the 405 and 101 freeways, in the green space below the Sepulveda Dam, is a haven for many species of winged wildlife. Nearby are a hidden Japanese garden, an archery range and a string of cricket pitches. -- 1. Depart from the parking area, near a building that houses restrooms and a wildlife education center, at the end of a long lane bordered by cricket lawns where men in white bat and bowl in the English tradition. -- 2. From this lakeside viewing area, you might see a great blue heron, snowy egret, black-necked stilt, Canada goose or enormous American white pelican floating, flying or wading nearby.

'Last Call at the Oasis' MPAA rating: PG-13 for some disturbing content and brief strong language Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Playing: At Landmark, West Los Angeles

John Lennon got verbally crucified in 1966 for declaring that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Now, Noel Gallagher has topped that by asserting that God is a fan of Oasis. Noel, the former lead songwriter of the Beatles-obsessed band from Manchester, told Britain's the Sun newspaper that he already had his sales pitch ready to persuade St. Peter to open the pearly gates when he arrived in the afterlife. "I'd say, 'You've heard "Don't Look Back in Anger"?' and they'd say, 'Of course.' I'd say, 'Look, it's me, let us in. I can play you a tune.

Within the medina (old city) of Marrakech, Morocco, is an oasis of calm called Café Arabe. It used to be a riad , which is the Moroccan equivalent of a B&B. There are three levels to this café, but the must-see is the rooftop bar. Go there at sunset and experience something you will never forget. I stumbled upon Café Arabe by accident, and it was my favorite part of Marrakech. Café Arabe, 184 Rue Mouassine, Marrakech; http://www.cafearabe.com Lauren Linett Los Angeles

One of music's most famous family feuds is headed for the courts. Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said Friday he was suing his estranged brother and former bandmate, Noel, for saying his hangover forced the rumbustious Brit rockers to cancel a concert. Bad blood between the brothers has made headlines ever since Oasis burst to fame in 1994 with debut album "Definitely Maybe. " When Noel left the band in 2009 he said it was because he couldn't work "a day longer" with his brother.

John Lennon got verbally crucified in 1966 for declaring that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Now, Noel Gallagher has topped that by asserting that God is a fan of Oasis. Noel, the former lead songwriter of the Beatles-obsessed band from Manchester, told Britain's the Sun newspaper that he already had his sales pitch ready to persuade St. Peter to open the pearly gates when he arrived in the afterlife. "I'd say, 'You've heard "Don't Look Back in Anger"?' and they'd say, 'Of course.' I'd say, 'Look, it's me, let us in. I can play you a tune.

This was not my first cruise, but it was my first on Royal Caribbean. Some RC regulars grumbled that the company has cut back. There were no bedtime chocolates on pillows, and there's a $3.95 charge for room service between midnight and 5 a.m. (This was done to curtail waste, one of the food staff members said. "People were ordering stuff they didn't eat.") In the bars, there were no complimentary hors d'oeuvres, only peanuts -- if you were lucky. Other passengers said they had to scrounge for a shower cap, and still others thought the service was slow.

When Oasis of the Seas is sailing at capacity, the food staff will prepare about 35,000 meals a day, from pizza and burgers to the $75 multicourse dinner at the exclusive Chef's Table. And executive chef Ivo Jahn, 39, oversees the ship's 24 dining venues and the 235 cooks and five executive sous chefs who make the magic happen. As Jahn and I toured the vast stainless-steel main galley, we passed heaping trays of pasta and potatoes, giant bags of onions, big bins of peppers, lettuce, mushrooms and carrots, boxes of melons.

However creepy Hollywood Boulevard became over the past so many tawdry years, it offered one sure cultural oasis in Book City ("Closing the Book on a Landmark," Dec. 10). How sad to learn that this wonderful literary depot is being forced out of the neighborhood by the very redevelopers whose motive, I thought, is to return a semblance of legitimacy to the street and replace all the last vestiges of riffraff with a higher quality of civic life. I fear another mindless CityWalk. Give me culture with sleaze over no culture at all. DAVID LEWIS Piedmont

Sure, you could go to the beach again. Or you could turn your back on the Pacific and head instead for a desert land of date shakes and camel races, jumbo windmills and creationist dinosaurs, native palms and gay parties, mountain views and midcentury buildings. We'll get to those details later, but by now you know we're talking about the Coachella Valley. It's about 110 miles from Los Angeles City Hall to Palm Springs -- a few miles longer than the drive to downtown Santa Barbara, a few miles shorter than the drive to downtown San Diego.

Bill Diffendale's grandparents used to come here at the turn of the century, when the only access to Breezy Point was via boat and when most visitors pitched tents in the sand. Diffendale's father met his mother here in the 1950s. Years later, Diffendale met his wife here, and like earlier generations, he embraced the community of narrow lanes and bungalows painted the colors of the sea: green, blue and stormy gray. His neighbor Mary Bosch met her husband here. Scott Winik's wife came here as an infant.

If you want to say that Jessica Yu burst onto the film scene in 1993 with her short "Sour Death Balls," you'd be almost literally right. The film is almost 10 minutes of people trying to handle the disgusting confection. Yu's work wins accolades, including a short-documentary Oscar for "Breathing Lessons," about a writer who spent most of his life in an iron lung. Now she's brought her California chops to bear on"Last Call at the Oasis," a feature-length documentary on water waste, water quality and water manipulation not just here - where more than half of our drinkable public water goes to water lawns and plants outside our homes - but the whole, not-so-wet world over.

'Last Call at the Oasis' MPAA rating: PG-13 for some disturbing content and brief strong language Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Playing: At Landmark, West Los Angeles

"Last Call at the Oasis" is a playful title for a film that couldn't be more deadly serious. A thorough examination of the epic crises threatening the world's water supply, crises that few people are paying attention to, this documentary tells you to be afraid, very afraid. Because the water situation is so dire, it has been examined before, in a well-received earlier documentary called "Flow. " But several factors combine to make "Last Call" stand out from the crowd, not the least of it being the surprising artistry with which it's been made.

Nobody walks in L.A.? Ridiculous! A gentle, flat walk in an urban setting, this is an East L.A. oasis in the midst of historic Boyle Heights, filled with old city history and fine downtown views. It's a popular weekend destination for local families for Saturday strolling or Sunday picnicking. THE STATS Distance: 2.5 miles Duration: 1 hour Difficulty: 2 (out of 5) Transit details: Metro Gold Line, Mariachi Plaza stop. Metro bus No. 620, Local No. 30. Free street parking.

If you want to say that Jessica Yu burst onto the film scene in 1993 with her short "Sour Death Balls," you'd be almost literally right. The film is almost 10 minutes of people trying to handle the disgusting confection. Yu's work wins accolades, including a short-documentary Oscar for "Breathing Lessons," about a writer who spent most of his life in an iron lung. Now she's brought her California chops to bear on"Last Call at the Oasis," a feature-length documentary on water waste, water quality and water manipulation not just here - where more than half of our drinkable public water goes to water lawns and plants outside our homes - but the whole, not-so-wet world over.

* "The only reason to beli e ve in rock 'n' roll in 1994 . . . ." * "What the world has been waiting for . . . ." * From those quotes, you'd think the British music press was writing about a band that's changing the face of rock, right? Not really. It's just Oasis, another perfectly gratifying but fairly mediocre pop outfit with fab sunglasses and mod hairdos. This kind of hype is a tradition.

MUSIC Noel Gallagher is front and center, both live and on his solo debut, "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. " Not as memorable as Oasis' best anthems in the '90s, or as nasally rock-ready as his brother's latest incarnation, Beady Eye, the album hovers within a melodic good-to-average middle ground. If Liam hones the Stones, Noel reworks later-era Kinks, forgoing guitar theatrics for the inclusion of strings, horns and a chorus. The album encircles themes of love, melancholy and aging.

"No one told me Neil Young recorded here!" Noel Gallagher exclaimed, standing amid stuffed polar bears and ornate Italianate antiques in the grand room of the Paramour. The Silver Lake mansion is where Young made "Le Noise," and it's where Gallagher shot his music video in August for "If I Had a Gun…," the first U.S. single off his solo debut, "High Flying Birds," released Tuesday. Gallagher is both an apt pupil of rock history and a part of it: He rose to fame in the '90s as the guitarist and songwriter for Oasis, penning hits like "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" that transformed the Britpop group from Manchester, England, into superstars, selling more than 70 million albums worldwide.