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pixel_vision

Going Rogue

02.25.10 - 8:08 pm | sfbg |
(0)

By Robyn Johnson

The second decade of the millennium has ushered in some upheavals, and whether they’re for the better or worse it’s hard to say. Tea Partiers are the new Republicans. Doughnuts are the new cupcakes. And now, beer is the new wine.

I recently attended the increasingly popular SF Beer Week, specifically the “A Taste of the Rogue Nation” event at the Rogue Ale Pub House, featuring a delightful cornucopia of their popular brews. Beer sommelier Sheana Davis of the Epicurean Connection elevated the status of the tasting from a mere beer bust to a frou-frou gourmet gathering with her artfully chosen pairings of artisan cheeses and chocolates. Although a little under a dozen samples were served, the following are the highlights -- and what I could mostly remember to take notes on after several drinks. (Like true beer badasses, we did not expectorate.) Read more »

politics

How the UC regents avoided a PR mess with Bill Clinton

02.25.10 - 7:47 pm | Rebecca Bowe |
(0)


Things were calm and peaceful outside San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel, perched high atop a windy hill on Mason Street, as dark shiny vehicles rolled up to the stately entrance and well-dressed patrons filed in on the evening of Feb. 24. They were there to hear former President Bill Clinton deliver a speech titled “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: Building a Better World,” as a benefit for the American Himalayan Foundation. Read more »

politics

Who cares about San Francisco's (black and brown) prisoners?

02.25.10 - 6:00 pm | Sarah Phelan |
(0)

I knew Sup. Chris Daly was going to get slammed for his Feb. 23 vote against placing a $412 million earthquake-safety bond measure on the June ballot. I knew it when I heard him say the following: ''I care more about the people at the jail, the people who are there involuntarily, if we have a seismic incident, then I do about the rest of the people at 850 Bryant."Read more »

pixel_vision

No pixels, please -- we're plastic

02.25.10 - 4:50 pm | Amber Schadewald |
(0)

Film and prints, like dinosaur bones and fossilized treasures, seem like ancient artifacts blown to the wayside in our digital age. We lost the mystery in photography when we introduced the point and shoot, erasing not only the physical labor but the ugly smiles, blinky eyes, and embarrassing angles. Where are the mistakes? The light leaks and fuzz on the lens? They’re making a comeback.

Obscure, eerie, and beautifully whimsical images galore will be on display starting Fri/26  at the RayKo Photo Center, as part of the third annual Plastic Camera Show.

Read more »

video

"Gonna Find Boyfriends Today" -- Myles Cooper USA

02.25.10 - 2:27 pm | Johnny Ray Huston |
(0)
See video

What's as inspiring as Myles Cooper's 2010 anthem "Gonna Find Boyfriends Today"? The video for "Gonna Find Boyfriends Today," directed by another San Francisco talent, Skye Thorstenson. It's true. SF is home to singing strawberries, dancing cupcakes, Mr. Peanuts, cherubic choirs, floating hearts and flaming hearts. Find yourself a cutie and watch it.

pixel_vision

Brother Theodore hallucinates on tap water

02.25.10 - 2:03 pm | Johnny Ray Huston |
(0)

In honor of the Brother Theodore documentary screening tonite (Thu/25) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the time is ripe -- as ripe as rancid pork -- to dig into a YouTube treasure trove. Read more »

politics

Ethics for political consultants?

02.25.10 - 1:41 pm | Tim Redmond |
(1)

I got an email from Garry South today. He's the guy who used to run Gavin Newsom's campaign for governor. Now he's turned on his previous client. And he's sent out a message to political reporters explaining why Newsom -- the guy he was pushing for governor of California -- is actually a worthless hack.

Here's the mail:

Read more »

politics

Muni cuts spark popular backlash

02.25.10 - 1:36 pm | Steven T. Jones |
(2)

Tomorrow’s big showdown over the latest round of Muni service cuts and fare hikes seems to be galvanizing transit supporters and giving birth to a rejuvenated progressive advocacy effort, including a new transit riders union led by noted alternative transportation advocate Dave Snyder. And that hearing is just a prelude to a taxi medallion privatization plan that will be heard in the afternoon and another big Muni budget blowout on Tuesday.Read more »

bruce

PG&E alert: Join the campaign to fight the PG&E's Prop 16 attack on public power and community choice aggregation

02.25.10 - 1:22 pm | Bruce Brugmann |
(2)

Erik Brooks, a stalwart in the clean energy and public power campaigns, flashes the the following list of sites that you can link to, join and share to help fight PG&E's Prop 16 attack on public power and community choice aggregation (CCA.)  He writes, "Please join and share/post them so that we can light up California with a million points of opposition to the attack." Read more »

sexsf

Kevin Killian's sex is unpretty

02.25.10 - 12:03 pm | Juliette Tang |
(0)

IMPOSSIBLE PRINCESS

By Kevin Killian

(City Lights)

Author Kevin Killian's relationship to sex is too complicated to be pinpointed as merely "homoerotic," but homoerotic encounters are a frequent occurrence throughout the stories in Impossible Princess, Killian's latest collection of gay short fiction.

Killian's stories are full of nervous energy. The pace of his writing is jerky and striated, and events change and adjust so suddenly that Killian's words read as if short of breath. The panting quality of the work is, in terms of form, utilized most effectively in the writer's vivid and ominously perceptive descriptions of sex. These sexual encounters are often baffling.

Read more »

noise

Snap Sounds: ApSci

02.25.10 - 11:48 am | Kimberly Chun |
(0)

APSCI

Best Crisis Ever

(Quannum Projects)

Kudos go out for the NYC-Australian ApSci for not so much keeping it real but plenty surreal. The hip-hop-electro duo takes it further out on their second Quannum full-length -- and into a motor-mouthed, frantic future.

Read more »

politics

SF officials tap corporate cash

02.25.10 - 11:36 am | Steven T. Jones |
(1)

San Francisco’s $500 campaign contribution limit makes it tough for rich individuals and corporations to curry favor with local politicians, right? Well, not really. Actually, politicians can still tap wealthy interests for tens of thousands of dollars for their special events and pet projects, as long as they fill out a form called “Payments Made at the Behest of an Elected Officer” within 30 days.Read more »

pixel_vision

The clue master takes it down to Chinatown

02.25.10 - 7:34 am | Caitlin Donohue |
(2)

It was a casual question to end a brief interview with SF Treasure Hunts clue master Jayson Wechter. “What’s something about San Francisco’s history that most people who live in the city don’t know about?” “Hmm, let’s see,” Wechter begins, whose Chinese New Year hunt this weekend (Sat/27) is his mostly highly attended event of the year. Before I can apologize for putting him on the spot, he starts reeling off the following:

1. The CIA used a house on Telegraph Hill in the 1950s to perform unauthorized LSD trials on men they hired prostitutes to bring home from bars.

2. The bay used to come all the way up to Montgomery Street on the east side of the city before it was filled in. Land being in such short supply back then, dud ships were converted to hotels, saloons and warehouse space.

3. William Tecumseh Sherman was a banker in SF before the Civil War.

Read more »

politics

The progressive communist conspiracy

02.24.10 - 7:44 pm | Tim Redmond |
(5)

This city's seen such heated discussions about what the word "progressive" means, it's fun to watch Glenn Beck proclaim that progressives are a disease facing America, really just Communists who don't have guns.

Read more »

noise

Live Shots: K.Flay, Bottom of the Hill, 02/21/2010

02.24.10 - 4:55 pm | Ben Hopfer |
(3)

After braving crummy weather and the odd timing of her Sunday night show, I finally got to see my new favorite female rapper K.Flay live. To be honest, K.Flay a San Franciscan by way of Illinois, is way more than just a rapper. She makes her own beats, mash-ups, and plays guitar, in addition to rocking a mic and a party.

Read more »