By Caitlin Donohue

Paul Mooney made comedy what it is today. And if you didn’t already know, he’s ready to educate you on the subject. Mooney’s new memoir, Black is the New White (Simon Spotlight Entertainment), lays bare a life spent writing for the seminal auteurs of black comedy, all while keeping it real and making white people nervous. Young pups will recognize him as the prophet Negrodamus from The Chappelle Show, but Mooney, who used to put down riffs for his best friend, Richard Pryor, also has credits on Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, and Sanford and Son. Me and Mr. Mooney had a chat the other day in anticipation of his upcoming shows at Cobb's Comedy Club starting Thurs/5. He had some words of wisdom and, surprisingly, didn’t call me a honky once.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: You grew up a hambone dance champion in Oakland. Do you see any changes in the place since back when you were growing up there in the 50s and 60s?
Paul Mooney: Oh honey, has it changed. I can’t find my grandma’s house because of all the golf clubs and white folks these days.

SFBG: Are you stoked to be back in the Bay Area for your upcoming show?
PM: I love San Francisco. The Asians, the Latinos, they all love me. I love the people’s attitude, they’re educated and happy about being here. Everything will be legalized in San Francisco. Only last time some Asian girl tried to give me trouble because I said ‘chop chop’. Everybody says ‘chop chop,’ it means hurry! I said that’s a crock of shit, that’s someone looking for something. Sometimes people walk in [to my act], they think they can take it. It’s comedy. If you can’t take it, you don’t have a sense of humor, get out! If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Don’t cook!

Mooney was the writer behind the groundbreaking, racially charged 1975 Richard Pryor/Chevy Chase 'word association' skit on SNL

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Vi, 19th Street and Valencia

Tell us about your look: "This is casual Monday outfit."

Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

Members of the Farmer-Veteran Coalition will speak at Toby's Feed Farm

11/8 - Tanks to Tractors free farmers and veterans event

For a Sunday countryside excursion with purpose, Tanks to Tractors is a special event at Toby’s Feed Barn in Pt. Reyes Station, honoring veterans who have returned home to work on America’s farms. Veterans have incredible stories to share about what led them to this meaningful work post-service - work all the more needed as US farmers are retiring in droves. The wonderful Marin Organic with the Farmer Veteran Coalition put on this event with story telling from Amy Fairweather (Swords to Plowshares, Iraq Veteran Project Director), Nadia McCaffrey (Gold Star mother and founder, Patrick McCaffrey Foundation), Wendy Johnson (educator, author, co-founder of Green Gulch Garden), Michael O’Gorman (project director of Farmer Veteran Coalition), and others. On top of that, there's free light snacks and drink. A unique way to honor Veterans Day...
Sun/8; 5-7pm, free
Toby’s Feed Barn
11250 Highway One, Pt. Reyes Station
www.farmvetco.org
www.marinorganic.org

Decorate the dickens out of your cookies at One Market

11/7 - Make-A-Wish Gingerbread Wishes event at One Market

Venerable Make-A-Wish Foundation throws a cookie decorating party at One Market, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish. With striking Bay views before you, bring kids (both young and old) to the luncheon, with finger sandwiches and drinks served by One Market, where everyone works with their own cookie decorating kit designed by pastry chef, Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, including three Gingerbread Wishes cookies and embellishment goods like icing, sprinkles and candies. Decorating cookies was never sweeter.
Sat/7, 11am-1pm, $20
1 Market

415-777-5577
www.makewish.org

By Caitlin Donohue

So I’m sitting there chatting with some old school San Francisco anti-gentrification activists on the back patio of a Bernal Heights café and we’re excitedly leafing through a coffee table book. Wha-wha-whaat? Yes I know, anachronistic isn’t it?

This is the book (and please memorize the jpeg below because if you buy a "San Francisco" book this month/year/ever, it needs to be this one):

Great blue heads of people's art, coming soon to a coffee table near you

This is Mission Muralismo, a book edited by Annice Jacoby. Its got hundreds of pages of big, glossy photos of all the best of Mission street art sprinkled with thoughtful essays. Its contributors include Mission barrio luminaries like R.Crumb, Shepard Fairey, las Mujeres Muralistas, Neckface and Rigo.

Where does one purchase said volume, you ask? Well I just happen to know that the DeYoung is seizing upon the book’s release to kick off a yearlong program of events hooting and hollering about Mission neighborhood creativity (“a rising star on the global art map” says the museum. But then, they also say the dress code for the event is “Mission festive,” so I mean, whatever).

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Paula, 18th Street and Mission

Tell us about your look: "It's a clash of two cultures: Spain and rock! I just got back from a trip to Spain."

Photos by Rebecca Bowe

A few images from San Francisco's well-attended and festive celebration of Dia de los Muertos, on Nov. 2 in the Mission.

By Rita Felciano

Nol Simonse

For Nol Simonse, it all started with that most popular of all ballets and most common breeding place of American dance. The oldest of five children growing up in College Park, MD, Simonse had seen Baryshnikov in The Nutcracker on TV and “thought it awesome.” So he asked his parents whether he could do that. At age nine they enrolled him in a “tiny little ballet school above a pizza parlor. He’s still in touch with the teacher-owner.

Compulsory education was not exactly a good experience, particularly for a boy “who came out very early” and didn’t like to deal with linear logic: “As long as I could learn with a diorama, I was OK”. It took Simonse a while to find his own way of learning, through his body.

Nol Simonse, How Fortunate the Man With None

Janice Garrett, who had never seen Simonse dance, took a chance on him when she added male dancers to her heretofore all-female company for Ostinato in 2002. “He has worked out beautifully,” says Garrett. “What I admire is his ability to express what is deep inside. He has such humanity as both a person and a performer. In the studio, he is incredibly generous and brings his whole heart and mind to the creative process. He doesn’t need to be in control, and his sense of discovery is such that I can go wherever I want with him.”

The admiration is mutual. Simonse seems to be getting as much as giving in the artistic relationship, because Garrett manages to contextualize direction so it is not just technical but respects the dancer as a full person. “She told me once,” he remembers, “to push my lower ribs out, because being vulnerable doesn’t mean you are weak. She also once said that I had ‘emotional shoulders’.”

By Brandon Bussolini

Veronica De Jesus, It's a Battle, pen and marker on watercolor paper, 9" x 12", 2008

Sports and business figure heavily in the drawings of Veronica De Jesus. Her art doesn't have the broad shoulders or spectacles of an ex-jock like Matthew Barney, but the biggest pieces in De Jesus' recent solo show at Michael Rosenthal, "Do The Waive," were of sports players, and smaller drawings incorporate hand-drawn, hurt-looking corporate logos. Awkwardly caught mid-evasion, the extra leg on the football player captured in Breadwinner is a happy accident that makes the drawing equal parts action shot and portrait. San Francisco artist Colter Jacobsen shares De Jesus' attraction to drawing and memory, though the two have very distinct styles. When I ask him via e-mail what he takes away from his friend's art, he replies that in De Jesus's work, “there is really no erasure to a mark, even a mess-up, all the lines are additive."

Veronica De Jesus, Breadwinner, watercolor, ink, conte on paper, 72" x 36", 2008

Editors note: Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond has a bad 30-year addiction to mystery/crime/thriller books. He's decided that he might as well put this terrible habit to productive use by writing about these sometimes awful, sometimes entertaining and -- on rare occasion -- significant works of mass-market literature. Read his last installment here.

Rough Country
John Sandford
(Putnam, 388 pages $26.95)

By Tim Redmond

Let us stipulate: It's difficult for a male writer who specializes in straight male lead characters (and in this case, in a straight male lead character who spends a significant portion of his waking hours trying to get women into bed) to write a credible novel that centers around a lesbian resort. James Patterson, a white guy, has a wonderful black lead character named Alex Cross who works, perfectly, but that's the exception; most people screw up when they try to reach like that.

And at the beginning of Rough Country, I had to wonder. I love John Sandford, but after the first chapter...well, you've got a straight girl getting hot watching lesbian lip-lock, you've got sordid lesbian drama that turns into a lesbian bar fight, you've got a weird business going on with really young men working at the women-only resort who may be on-the-side fuck-candy for bisexual girls (or may be underage hotties fucking older women for money)...and a little too much talk about "rug munchers."

But by the middle of the book, it's pretty clear that this is not just a great Sandford novel, but a wonderful portrayal of a fictional Northern Minnesota town where nobody gives a shit who fucks who. The owner of the resort is a respected local businessperson. The old straight guys who run bars and work as fishing guides treat the women just like any other (money-carrying) tourists. An old lady who's part of a horticultural preservation group wonders aloud why anyone would care about another person's sexuality, save for "a bunch of stuffy old men."

Bar reviewer Kristen Haney seeks to separate hipster wannabes from real-life dives in this weekly column. Check out her last installment here.

Almost hidden next to Bar Johnny’s, Cresta’s Twenty Two Eleven Club is a welcome dive in an area populated by lounges, wine bars and cafes. There’s no pretense, just kind-hearted bartenders, straightforward drinks and regulars who look like they’ve contributed to their fair share of empty alcohol bottles.

Cresta’s is the reason why the phrase “no frills” was invented. You basically have a choice of one of the few bar stools lined up across the narrow bar, or you can try and snag one of the two tables in the back. The décor is bare bones, and a solitary tiny T.V quietly flickers a broadcast of whatever local sports team happens to be playing. The clock, always set at 10:40 (in homage to the bar’s address and name), can be disconcerting if you don’t have your own timepiece.

On my visit, the amicable bartender, outfitted with a leg brace after a recent injury, thumped around the bar without letting it hinder her bartending or general demeanor.

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Irma, Washington Square Park

Tell us about your look: This skirt is '50s style and the top is from a thrift store. These shoes are Coach, but I got them from Crossroads."

By Cheryl Eddy

Still from Maggots and Men

“It was schoolboys sitting in the classroom, having daydreams,” Cary Cronenwett explains, describing Phineas Slipped, his 2003 debut as a director. “The classroom was in video, and the daydreams that the boys had were little Super 8 [films]. It was bullies, and bullies being bullied, and it was sexy and violent and stuff like that.”

Five years in the making -- including time spent studying filmmaking at City College of San Francisco with director of photography Ilona Berger -- Cronenwett's follow-up effort Maggots and Men was first seen by Bay Area audiences as a short film (“sort of an overgrown trailer,” as Cronenwett calls it)

trailer for Maggots and Men

Maggots and Men | MySpace Video

“The structure of the film is kind of expandable and contractable. It’s broken up into discrete stories, or segments. More of those could be added, or taken away,” Cronenwett says. “I did the same thing with my first film: the idea was to get three quarters of the way through it, and then see what’s needed. I always wanted to lean towards the side of making it shorter and really dense. But I also thought, we’ll see how it works out and maybe it needs to become longer.”

By Megan Gordon

This week I’m going to make a bold statement: pie just may be the new cupcake. A friend recently got married in Nashville at an old, Southern plantation. They hung lanterns, had big communal tables with homemade barbeque, made their musical guests jam together as a wedding gift — and had pie instead of wedding cake. Of course, Julie’s wedding is no indicator of current trends. But in San Francisco, we do slices of old-fashioned pie showing up on restaurant menus across the city, not to mention the Bike Basket Pie lady.

So what’s the draw? Pie is certainly nothing new. And my favorite, banana cream pie, has been around for ages. One New York Times article traces the history of the beloved pie, citing an early example that appeared in a 1901 cookbook, calling for sliced bananas and powdered sugar plopped into a pie shell, baked and topped with whipped cream. And in 1951, banana cream pie was voted the favorite dessert of the U.S. Armed services.

by Caitlin Donohue

It’s that time! Monthly Rumpus time! This coming Monday, The Rumpus, a go-to website for procrasting at work in a literate manner, is teaming up once again with Wholphin to bring us a big, author-y romp around. I just saw ‘Where The Wild Things’ are, so I know that 'rumpus' means jumping up on things and wrestling. Wear comfortable pants.

Given a choice of wrestling partner at this month’s “Hate To Be Alone” rumpus, I would most certainly opt for young Chelsea Martin of Oakland, who has a new poetry tome out, Everything Was Fine Until Whatever (Future Tense). Martin's poems veer from the touchingly personal (from her video entitled Let’s Get Deeply Moved: “I want to die quietly in my sleep in the back room at work with liquor bottles all around and concrete evidence I was trying to steal the fax machine,”) to philosophy (“I had a thought the other day. It wasn’t a thought actually, it was more like a burrito. I had a really good burrito.”)

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Jacob, Grant and Union

Tell us about your look: "I found this hat at a bar and I'm wearing my belt to the side because it's too big."

By Jana Hsu

The San Francisco Film Society's French Cinema Now series screened Oct. 29-Nov. 4 in San Francisco.

Axelle Ropert’s The Wolberg Family poses all the existential fly flap of post-modern family life wrought with a full spectrum of visual vignettes surrounding the topic of irreconcilable differences between the all-too-assuming, brutish father Simon (Francois Damiens) and his newly menopausal spouse, Marianne (Valerie Benguigui).

The story unfolds in a rather well-put together way, without railing off into obscurity. Charming bohemian uncle Alexandre (Serge Bozon) lives in a small redwood cabin adjacent to the main house; he shares an endearing relationship with the couple’s two children, Benjamin (Valentin Vigourt) and Delphine (Leopoldine Serre). One arresting segment depicts a winsome game between Alexandre and Benjamin in the cabin: uncle and nephew race each other in a foot trounce of hopping alternating feet over the threshold of an open door. The elder figure, who serves as a near messianic shaman for the young impressionable lad, explains to the small boy that the line right outside the door represents the “real world,” and the one right inside is the “dream world” -- causing the little boy to grow increasingly frantic at having to stop the hopping by choosing which world he’d rather land on.

50 Cent: man, rapper, actor, multi-gunshot wound survivor, Eminem pal, Ja Rule foe, G-Unit mastermind, sneaker designer, video game character, Vitamin Water pusher, weight-lifting enthusiast, philanthropist, condom endorser, memoirist, novelist, occupier of mansions, bajillionaire, father, and probably several more descriptors his Wikipedia entry has left off due to sheer hyphenate overload. (Can you blame 'em?) Fiddy's new album, Before I Self Destruct (Aftermath/Interscope/Shady), drops Nov 16 -- but the man who seemingly never sleeps has yet another project underway:

Bang! Bang! Power in a bottle.

Yep -- look out Diddy and Usher, 'cause "Power by fifty cent" is crashing the hip-hop fragrance market. According to the press release, Power "captures the icon's unparalleled confidence, street savvy, and limitless power." Notes include lemon leaves, black pepper, and Artemisia (kinda sage-y), plus dark woods, coriander, nutmeg, patchouli, musk, and oak moss. In other words, this is probably not the perfume your Juicy Couture-loving little sister wants for Christmas.

We sampled the scent here at the office. (My favorite reaction: "Hmm. Smells like the '90s.") Get a whiff for yourself --- and meet the man with all the Power -- Tues/10 at Macy's. 50 Cent be on hand to greet and take pictures with fragrance customers from 5-7pm in Union Square.

By Matt Sussman

Take one look at Luke Butler’s “Leaders of Men” series, and the "walk softly, but carry a big stick" jokes would seem to write themselves. But Butler's aim is less satirical. And while they humorously resonate with the recent eroticization of the body politic (think of those shirtless pics of Obama swimming or Putin fishing), Butler's jarring juxtapositions are strangely generous, offering that most sheltered, scripted, and paranoid of creatures --the politician -- the chance to literally let it all hang out, by providing the likes of Nixon and Ford with what Mother Nature never gave them.

Luke Butler, Batman and Robin, collage, 2008

"It was no big deal to show Saddam Hussein being hung to death, but if his cock had popped out that would have been a real crisis," Butler explains, expounding on our culture's double standard towards depictions of violence versus male nudity. "It's such an awful contradiction. My collages don't solve this problem but run into it head on."

That problem, at the larger level, would be the restrictions on what is permissible to show (erections, but then again, only metonymically) versus what must be hidden (real emotional vulnerability) that regulate normative displays of masculinity. Whether telegraphing a quivering, emotional inner life or proudly waving around their throbbing members, Butler's leaders of men aren't afraid to cry out with their cocks out. In a way, they are distant relations of Mike Kuchar's paintings of gay heartthrobs, lovingly described by Eileen Myles as "pushing through fountains of testosterone."

Luke Butler, Encounter, acrylic on canvas, 2009

In one of Butler’s “Enterprise” canvases, Star Trek’s Captain Kirk lies supine, as a large, Yeti-like creature hovers above him. It's safe to guess that within the context of the episode Kirk was in danger, and suspense came from whether or not he would rouse in time to save himself. And yet, in Butler's canvas, what comes across is tenderness. Kirk's facial expression and body language seem to anticipate a lover rather than a threat, echoing innumerable art historical precedents of Cupid approaching Psyche as she slumbers, or even depictions of the Annunciation. He is free to boldly go where no man has gone before.

By Cheryl Eddy

Russell Blackwood as the Empress of Colma in Hypnodrome Head Trips

If you dare! Venture down a dark, spooky stretch of Tenth Street to the Hypnodrome, home of San Francisco’s Thrillpeddlers. Before the show even starts, you’ll notice one or two or ten wonderful oddities. Like, what’s that head doing in that box behind the bar? (It’s a “cephalic vivarium,” a prop from a past production, Hypnodrome Head Trips.) What’s the story with that old-timey player piano? (It’s a family heirloom belonging to Thrillpeddlers director Russell Blackwood.) And yikes -- is that box seat on the far right decorated to look like a padded cell? (Yes.)

Of course, this instant intrigue is exactly what Blackwood -- who founded the company in 1991 with childhood pal Daniel Zilber -- wants his audiences to feel. Thrillpeddlers are America’s preeminent producer of plays from the Grand Guignol, the infamous Parisian theater that peddled thrills (if you will) from 1897-1962.

“To get to the Grand Guignol, you would take the Metro to Montemartre, and walk past brothels and the Moulin Rouge, and turn down this dead-end alley to the [theater] at the very end. Going there was a whole experience on its own,” Blackwood explains. “I knew that [the Hypnodrome is] not in the best neighborhood here. But that's part of the unusual experience, just getting to our theater.”

The company has had the Hypnodrome, which seats 45, for five years. One defining characteristic is the array of “shock boxes” that line the theater’s last row. Blackwood’s father, who is the Thrillpeddler’s set designer, recently redesigned the boxes to incorporate a variety of themes (Egyptian tomb, heaven and hell, the above-mentioned padded cell, etc.) Each box is tricked out with devices designed to lend an extra-sensational experience, with “spandex panels, compressed air, all kinds of glow-in-the-dark things, vibrator pads, and several different buzzers,” Blackwood discloses with devilish joy.

Still from Thrillpeddlers' Titus Andronicus, 2006

There’s history involved here, and it goes back further than William Castle. “The Grand Guignol and many other Parisian theaters had private boxes with grillwork fronts, so you could see out, but you had to really look in to see in. The Grand Guignol was the last Parisian theater to still have those in the 1960s,” Blackwood says. “The idea of there being a theater where a housewife could have a midday tryst with a lover was just too charming for me. So all of the boxes have curtains that close, and as long as it’s brighter onstage than it is in the box, we can’t see in, but they can see out. And we have had things go on!”

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Janice, Columbus and Union

Tell us about your look: "It's a combo of Nordstrom's and Chico's. My style is comfortable and sleek."

Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

Digging into some Food for Thought

11/11-11/23 of the Mission's best restaurants participate in "Food for Thought" to help Mission grads get to college
Do nothing but eat out at one of your favorite Mission restaurants this Wednesday night and you'll be helping some of the neediest Mission high school grads get to college. With 23 of the 'hood's best restaurants participating, a portion of all dinner sales (restaurants have committed anywhere from 25-100% of that night's sales) go to Food for Thought. In it for the long haul, Food for Thought offers, among other things, tutoring centers for elementary school kids, academic support groups in junior high, and college prep programs for high school students, working with them through each phase of schooling. There's even raffle prizes at each restaurant, like a trip for two to Mexico. You don't have to be told twice to eat out at Range, Mission Beach Cafe, Little Star Pizza, or Bar Bambino, do you?
11/11 regular hours at 23 Mission restaurants
List of participating restaurants: www.missiongraduates.org/foodforthought

-------------

A Luce interior

11/11 - Luce celebrates its Michelin Star with the Frescobaldi family
It's an honor for a chef to receive a Michelin star, especially a French chef like our own Dominique Crenn at Luce in the Intercontinental Hotel (she's also on this season of The Next Iron Chef). Luce celebrates in a big way by cooking a 6-course Tuscan feast, Inspirations of Tuscany, with Marchesi de' Frescobaldi's wine estates' executive chef, Donatella Zampoli. Frescobaldi, the legendary Italian family who even traded their wines with Michelangelo back in the day, will, naturally, be pairing their wines with dinner. Not only is this a rare, special night, but $10 of every 6-course dinner benefits CUESA, so the focus remains local as it is international. Courses include Thomas Family Farms potato gnocchi with bone marrow and lobster paired with a glass of 2006 Attems Cicinis, or sweetbread and beef tongue with potato espuma (foam to you), slow cooked egg and pancetta jus partnered with a 2005 Nipozzano Riserva Chianti Classico. Can't make it out Wednesday? The party rolls on all month until November 21, with a 4-course Michelin Star prix-fixe menu available any night for $60 per person.
$75; $30 for wine pairings
11/11 - make a reservation during regular hours, 5-11pm
888 Howard Street
415-616-6566
www.lucewinerestaurant.com

By Kimberly Chun

Just what are these courageous souls queuing up for on a late Monday night on Powell Street, right outside GameStop? The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game, that's what. Looks like the first-person shooter is indeed locked and loaded and poised to become one of the biggest- and fastest-selling games in history (though this string of dudes - and they were mostly dudes - was shorter than the crowd bunked down for, say, PS2.

By Kimberly Chun

It's been months, but I'm still reeling from the loss of the Built by Wendy boutique on 20th Street. Yeah, yeah, I know - who could afford any of those cute lil' indie-rocker outfits? A gal can dream...

But now a few doors down from the old space, a fab mutant lovely has moved in: Bianca Starr. The brand new girl on the block - all of six weeks old - combines Painted Bird thrifty cool with a major dollop of Krystle Carrington '80s glam. The store motto: "A women's boutique where you leave your inhibitions at the door."

Lighting bolt-emblazoned heels, jewel-tone silky frocks, Ferragamo pumps with baby pyramid heels, and the works, all with a distinctively Reagan-era club-kid edge. And the vintage wares are rather reasonably priced to boot - so all those pennies saved with the loss of Built by Wendy can go straight to Starr. Zoom.

BIANCA STARR
3552 20th St., SF
(415) 341-1020
www.biancastarr.com

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Joel, Powell and Ellis

Tell us about your look: "I'm going to work. This outfit is very laid back cuz of the weather today."

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Linda, Union and Stockton

Tell us about your look: "My belt and boots go together."

Photos and text by Ariel Soto

"Luxury Items" at ODC, starring Monique Jenkinson (aka female drag goddess Fauxnique, is a sparkling and often very funny and touching performance piece that explores the idea that beautiful objects have to show their worth. I spoke with Monique about her performance and she described it as the artist's process of creating beauty through an imposed vow of poverty. The artist's dilemma is to make things of priceless value, while struggling against the brutality of the profession, creating a socially conscious and frustrated aesthete. The character in the show is based more on Monique than Fauxnique, but drag is present and alive nonetheless. Monique told me that her performance is like an essay, using maps, video and movement to create each and every decadent story. Her complex and riveting vision is part of what snagged her a Guardian GOLDIE award this year. Monique says that "Luxury Items" will be repeated in February, so be on the look out!

The Guardian's Adam Michon snapped these shots of the Best dress of the Bay 09, fashioned entirely out of this year's Best of the Bay covers at Urbanity in Berkeley -- winner of "Best Place to Sell the Clothes Off Your Back." Truly, we are flattered! Better yet, it would look great on us! Anybody got a pair of bubblegum-pink pumps?

Urbanity
1887 Solano, Berk.
(510) 524-7467
www.shopurbanity.com

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Maris and Trip the dog, Washington Square Park

Tell us about your look: "I just moved here and I'm living out of my car right now. This was the outfit I found in my car this morning."

By Spencer Young

Detail from collage by Bjorn Copeland at Jack Hanley Gallery. All photos by Spencer Young.

Black Dice member and visual artist Bjorn Copeland is currently showing a collage of found objects at Jack Hanley Gallery. “Hope It Works” is akin to the nauseating aesthetic of electronic collagists Paper Rad and Dan Deacon. The origins of this aesthetic are typically culled from the prepubescent technologies and pop culture of the 1980s and 1990s: cassette tapes, VCRs, CDs, TV, Nintendo, workout machines, leotards, too much hairspray, you name it. It’s nauseating because the color palette of this era was of a disastrous, fluorescent variety; the kind that disseminated through flashing TV sets across America, inducing both seizures and vomit the color of neon rainbows -- a scenario that each of these artists’ music videos tries to hyperactively reenact.

Black Dice, “Kokomo”

Paper Rad, “the peace tape” (music by Extreme Animals)

Dan Deacon, “Ultimate Reality” (video by Jimmy Joe Roche)

While there are interesting differences between each video (Roche’s video at least is more paced, abstract, and artsy), all of them are equivalent to a 14-year-old spending his entire Saturday afternoon stuck in a frenzied, yet lazy, feedback loop of sugary cereals, TV, video games, and masturbation. And while this is hilarious and nostalgic for some (myself included), there are only so many times you can watch these videos before your brain goes numb -- just as there are only so many bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch you can eat before you black out and so much repetitive A and B/ Up and Down button tapping your thumb can take before it blisters and so many hasty, non-lubricated jo sessions you can carry through before your penis falls off.

Bar reviewer Kristen Haney seeks to separate hipster wannabes from real-life dives in this weekly column. Check out her last installment here.

Mondays, frequently described as manic or met with a response of expletives, are seldom associated with happy thoughts of relaxation and general joviality. But it doesn’t have to be like that. A number of bars are doing their best to help you banish that beginning of the week gloom and give Mondays a better name. These are the best dives to grab a drink at the start of your week, when that first workday has you already asking, “is it Friday yet?”

The Saloon

This bar is older than dirt and looks the part. It may smell like piss, but no one will notice you reek of hangover from your previous weekend of debauchery, and neither will you after a few of their stiff drinks. If you can bear to part with your dear old friend Abe, hand over $5 on Mondays to drink away your blues to the sound of the blues and jazz band that plays.

1232 Grant, SF.
(415) 989-7666

Pop’s Bar

Let the bright neon glow of the sign outside transfix your eyeballs as your feet carry you into Pop’s for free Monday-night bacon. No, really. After bringing home the bacon, you can enjoy some real fried pork fat for free. You can even take your new bacon friend over to the graffiti covered photo booth and ham it up for a few snapshots. Just make sure to avoid the judgmental looks of the other patrons, who’d rather discuss sustainability and Bukowski poems with their pork pals.

2800 24th St, SF
(415) 401-7677

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Megan, Stockton and Green

Tell us about your look: "It's all Louis Vuitton and I'm loving leggings right now!"

Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.

Come drink up at Heaven's Dog

Heaven's Dog $5 drinks during November
There's only a couple weeks left to sip Heaven's Dog's cocktails for a mere $5. Any regular knows this is a steal for artisan, high-quality cocktails from a revolving list of specials... it could be Satan's Whiskers (a gin, sweet and dry vermouth, orange concoction) or a Tiger's Milk No. II (Spanish brandy, rum, sugar, cream, and nutmeg). By the way, it's still worth coming at full price.
Through Dec. 1, 4:30-6:30pm, Mon-Fri
1160 Mission, SF
415-863-6008
www.heavensdog.com

A view from St. George's

11/21 - St. George Spirits Holiday Open House “A Winter Wonderland” - prom wear recommended!
Pull out your crazy, cheesy prom wear for a holiday open house at our beloved local distillery, St. George. If you've ever been to a St. George party, you know they're a crazy bunch who rock out with attitude, music and world class spirits... all in a former naval air station hangar. With live music by John Clarke and Farewell Typewriter, take in distillation demos, photo booth, cocktail sipping and food from many of La Cocina's best (like Estrellitas Snacks, Botanas Felicitas, Kika’s Treats, Neo Cocoa), as well as El Huarache Loco, Pacific Fine Foods, Gelateria Naia and Recchiuti Confections. St. George does one better with a Cali Party Bus, transporting people for free from West Oakland Bart station 12:30-5pm (to and from the distillery every half hour), with stops at the Alameda Ferry Terminal around 1:30 and 4:05pm.
1-6pm
$40 advance/$50 at door
2601 Monarch, Alameda
510-864-0635
www.stgeorgespirits.com

A course from Chef Axelrod

11/22 - Navarro Winery Harvest Dinner
California Table Sunday Supper throws a Sunday Supper Series from Chefs Liz Bills and Melissa Axelrod (who's dinners I wrote about in an August The Perfect Spot issue), this time teaming with Sarah Bennett of Anderson Valley’s Navarro winery. Celebrating the end of harvest season with five to six Navarro wines (including some new releases) and a five-course meal from Bills and Axelrod. Yes, it's a 'pop-up dinner', warm, communal and unique, like a friend's dinner party but held in a Mexican cantina down a charming FiDi alley. The menu includes risotto cooked in a parmesan broth with Bellwether Farms Crescenza & wild mushrooms, slow-roasted leg of Sonoma lamb rubbed with lavender and honey, and a pine nut tart with baked apple ice cream.
11/22, 5pm, $85 (all inclusive)
Mercedes Hair of the Dog Cantina, 653 Commercial, SF
http://californiatable.net/events/index.html
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/88196

By Louis Peitzman

When it comes to the actors in the Twilight franchise, Kellan Lutz puts it best: “We didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into.”

Not pictured: Kellan Lutz or Ashley Greene.

To be fair, Lutz — who plays beefcake vampire Emmett Cullen — was referring to the change in directors between films. After Catherine Hardwicke’s succinctly titled Twilight (2008), Chris Weitz took over for — brace yourself — The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

“We didn’t know, switching directors, if they were going to embrace us,” co-star Ashley Greene elaborates.

But Lutz’ comment could be applied to Twilight as a whole. This is a series that has consistently defied expectations, from the absurdly popular books to the fandom of the film series. When I participated in a recent roundtable interview with Lutz and Greene, both noted that they’re not exactly the stars of New Moon. Still, they’re part of the Twilight machine and thus, just as likely to get mauled by fans wearing plastic fangs.

By Caitlin Donohue

I make it a point to spend quailty time with my bike- you know, the daily commute/traffic battles, satisfying slogs up to Alamo Square Park, maybe an ill-advised wobble back from happy hour every now and then. But no matter how much qt they get with their parents, kids still need social time with their peer group.

Andrew Taylor, host of the SF BIke Expo's dirt jump competition, gets high on the prettest darn bike I've ever seen

So because I love her, I’m making a play date for my bike with the San Francisco Bike Expo. The day-long event will be jam packed with kids that ride their bikes even more than I do- there’s a BMX stunt competition and a mountain bike dirt jump contest that seeks to replicate the pants-wetting good times of Evil Knievel’s Cow Palace appearance nearly 40 years ago. Plus, there will be a track stand show down, which is awesome if you’ve never seen a guy on a fixed gear stop for a traffic light (possible).

By Cheryl Eddy

Twilight perfume: smells like money.

OF COURSE YOU DO!
There are plenty of logical forces at work here (Nordstrom, where many teenage girls happen to shop, is unleashing an entire New Moon-inspired clothing line.) But this vampire business is too hugely profitable to obey the laws of logic. Without further ado, I present the top three most inane tie-ins for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. (Know more? Do tell in the comments!!)

1) Burger King's New Moon campaign offers up such delights as the "Fan Pack," which, with the purchase of a "six-pack BK Burger Shots Value Meal" offers "collectible cards featuring stunning imagery from the film." They'll also be putting out a limited-edition New Moon version of their (famous?) cardboard crown. So what if vampires don't...eat?

2) The Volvo commercial. So cringeworthy. Please enjoy at your own risk.

3) Twilight Barbies. (With realistic vacant-face Bella and sparkly-skin Edward!)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens Fri/20, like, everywhere.

Editors note: Bay Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond has a bad 30-year addiction to mystery/crime/thriller books. He's decided that he might as well put this terrible habit to productive use by writing about these sometimes awful, sometimes entertaining and -- on rare occasion -- significant works of mass-market literature. Read his last installment here.

Nine Dragons
Michael Connelly
Little, Brow;, 374 pages, $27.99)

By Tim Redmond

Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly's fictional detective, is the best continuing-series character in the genre (well, there's Spenser, but he's a special case). Bosch lives in L.A., where he's a cop. He's a little bit tortured -- what can you say about a guy named Bosch whose dad thought it would be funny to name him Hieronymous? -- but not so bent that it takes over the storyline.

And there's always a good storyline. Connelly, a former newspaper reporter, knows how to work the real world into top-fight fiction, and his books give you a great feel both for the seedy side of Los Angeles and the world of a police detective. He doesn't glorify cops -- they come with plenty of warts, and some of them are sleazebags and some are thugs and some are crooks. And he doesn't make violence seem anything but ugly, pathetic and painful.

Nine Dragons takes on a scene that Connelly doesn't know that well -- Chinese gangs and the Hong Kong underworld -- but instead of pretending to be an expert, he works his learning curve into his hero's head. Bosch, after all these years, has never quite recovered from his time as a tunnel rat in Vietnam, and is painfully nervous that his attitude toward Asians remains colored by that experience. From the first chapter, he's having trouble with his partner, Detective Chu, someone he desperately needs but can't entirely trust.

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Renee, Stockton and Green

Tell us about your look: "My style is very individual. It's Paris/Boho."

Want to make one of the psychedelic concotions we mention in this week's dine column? You'll need Sandy Moriarty's recipe for 10x cannabutter below.

What you'll need:

1 lb. Grade AA butter
4 oz. green leaf cannabis trimmings
water
1 large stockpot

Instructions:

Place all the ingredients into the pot and fill with water. Place on the stove and bring to a boil; the boiling temperature should be 212-degrees.

Boil the mixture for 3 to 4 hours. At this point, the trichomes will melt off the leaf material and cling to the lipids in the butter. Cook this mixture until the liquid is evaporated. The cooked down cannabis leaves should resemble spinach, while the butter is a beautiful amber color with a nutty-taste. There should be no excess liquid.

Now, separate the mixture by pouring it through a strainer over another pot. The “spinach” mixture should collect in the strainer while the amber liquid drains into the pot. Press the green leaves until all the moisture has been drained. Next, put the leaf mixture into cheesecloth and wring it out over the pot of liquid.

Refrigerate the amber liquid overnight. The butter will rise to the top and become firm again. Scoop the butter from the top, and voila! – your cannabutter is ready to use in any of your favorite recipes as a butter or oil substitute. Keep the remaining amber liquid to cook with, as it will contain residual THC. Use it in sauces or to boil noodles – the sky’s the limit.

By Caitlin Donohue

Villagers of war-ravaged Laos bathing on the river Nam Ou. All photos by Ariel Soto

“I was in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, surrounded by incredibly friendly, honest and beautiful people and I found myself wanting to cry almost everyday,” wrote Guardian blog photographer Ariel Soto of her time spent in the small landlocked country of Laos (see her beautiful photo essay of the trip here.

Now, I’m also not saying you’re a bad person. Far from it, in fact. But in all honesty, what have you done for Laos lately? That was the question that a few young Laotian-Americans asked themselves and the result was the Jai Lao (“Lao Heart”) Foundation. The group provides supplies and financial support to both their homeland and Laotians living here in the US. Soto is helping to organize a Jai Lao Thanksgiving party that I promise you will be the most fun you’ve ever had while supporting your Laotian brothers and sisters.

A spread like this at 111 Minna and it's for a good cause? Total win-win.

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Pat, Vallejo and Stockton

Tell us about your look: "I bought this coat at Bloomingdale's two years ago on sale."

By Rachel Sadon

Street-food vendor Murat Celebi-Ariner, owner of the Amuse Bouche cart and a beloved local figure in the Mission, was deported last week back to his native France, but you still have one last chance this Saturday to sample his wares and support his family.

The mini-muffin whiz was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Oct. 28 for overstaying the 90 day Visa Waiver Program. Though recently married to an American citizen, Murat failed to file for Adjustment of Status. After his detention, the couple filed for deferred action and belatedly applied for a green card, while locals united in support. However, their requests were denied and Celebi-Ariner flew back to France on Nov. 12.

His wife, Pelin, will be joining him and recently sent out an e-mail announcing a moving-out sale. She writes:

Dear Friends, Home is where the heart is. Thus, this home must change hands, along with everything in it. This Saturday from 10am to 2pm, stop in to browse our moving out sale and have some complimentary muffins and chai. We will even have Amuse Bouche memorabilia for sale ;)

3269 22nd St. #1
between Mission and Valencia

see you then,
Pelin

The popular proprietor was an early participant in the growing food cart scene and could be found around the neighborhood selling a variety of tarts, quiches, and pita pockets. For one dollar Murat would provide you with “the ultimate recession buster breakfast” – chai and a mini-muffin – alongside a sign with the sage advice to “make your mouth happy.”

Au revoir Murat… good luck charming the French with your tasty treats.

By Caitlin Donohue

Look how stoked these Berkeley kids are on their badass school garden program- now where is SF's?

As San Francisco public schools struggle to keep their salad bars stocked with a few local and organic options, Berkeley kids are benefiting from their town’s legendary reputation for sustainable grubbing.

Alice Waters, doyenne of natural food living and Californian cuisine, adopted Martin Luther King, Jr. middle school all the way back in 1994 and since then has helped to implement a school garden program that I dare say puts a lot of commercial produce growing operations to shame.

The Edible Schoolyard stands on an acre of ground adjacent to King school and plays host to such a variety of organic food that it could supply… well, an Alice Waters’ restaurant for one thing. They’ve got a cavalcade of trees bearing everything from olives to apples, a tea garden, oyster, shiitake and portabello mushrooms, amaranth, quinoa, egg laying fowl, berries and veggies of all stripes. They also have a cider press, a nifty composting system and even a rainwater catchment program set up that saves 200 gallons of water per inch of rain.

Students get the chance to learn all about creating a sustainable food system through a three year schedule of classes that teaches them everything from composting to cooking. The garden also offers community classes on similar subjects (next up: backyard mushroom cultivation!

Restaurantuer Alice Waters keeps Berkeley's King middle school kids up on their quinoa fix

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today's Look: Natalie, Powell and Ellis

Tell us about your look: "I like baggy clothes. It's all about comfort."

By Megan Gordon

I already have my favorite neighborhood spots for coffee and the occasional sandwich. Done. Once I find something good, I rarely stray -- kind of like driving routes or apartments. Since I’ve been working in Potrero Hill a few days a week, my spots are Farley’s for a darn strong latte and Hazel’s for great breakfast burritos and huge turkey sandwiches.

But driving in this morning, I spotted something new on the horizon: Pinkie’s Bakery.

Pinkie’s isn’t new to San Francisco. Owner Cheryl Burr’s been baking in her wholesale space for years now, supplying delicious bread to local restaurants, and decadent baked goods to farmer’s markets. But what is new is Pinkie’s as a retail space. Burr opened the doors yesterday, November 19, along with close friend Chris Beerman from Bento 415.