IT'S BEEN 25 years since the Bay Guardian ran its very first Superlist, in 1980, long before I made it to this coast, or out of fourth grade. But if I'd been a kid growing up in the Bay Area, I might have been psyched if my parents – Bay Guardian readers, no doubt – had clipped out that first list, a complete rundown of the Bay Area's public astrological observatories, and stuck it on the fridge for future Saturday-afternoon excursions. Even nine-year-olds like knowing what their options are.

Since 1980, sometimes weekly, sometimes more occasionally, we've published all sorts of Superlists (812, at last count), on subjects as far-flung as all-night restaurants, public craft nights, free tenants counseling, video arcades, Superfund sites where volunteers can help clean up (OK, that was for an April Fool's issue), and where to get the morning-after pill on Saturdays – as far-flung, in fact, as the possibilities for entertainment, sustenance, services, and random human enterprise on offer in the Bay Area. A couple years ago we decided that the Superlist concept – pick a topic, say, Cuban restaurants, and track down every last one for a pithy, annotated list – was deserving of a huge, annual blowout. In keeping with that new tradition, for the sake of the infused-vodka aficionados, the vegan ice-cream fans, anyone searching for a place to send his or her demo tape, and many more, we bring you the 2005 Superlist Issue.

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And speaking of supersize stuff, or rather, monstrosities ... here's what city editor Steven T. Jones has to say about cable monolith Comcast: "Aside from complaining about the rapidly escalating cost of cable television, most of us think of cable as a fairly benign form of escapism, a way to forget our day as we click through the channels. Yet as San Francisco prepares to renegotiate its franchise agreement with Comcast – and as our fair city plays host this weekend to a national conference of cable providers – it's a good time to look at the other side of cable. As Camille T. Taiara reports on page 12, Comcast is using your $50 a month to limit our avenues of democracy, cut back on consumer options, sue our cities, corrupt our political system, hinder public access to the airwaves, and bust our unions. Think about that the next time you flip through 80 channels of brain candy and wonder why you're paying for it."

Lynn Rapoport