Chain, chain, chain…

04.15.08 - 11:17 am | Molly Freedenberg |

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According to intern Ailene Sankur, sometimes a girl just needs a subpar, average meal at a crappy chain restaurant.

I have a confession to make: sometimes, I need to go to a chain restaurant. I know, I know, I live in a gourmand’s paradise. And yes, I love to support family-owned small Indian, Turkish, and Mexican joints. I hate corporations, hate cheesiness, hate tchotchkes and flair. But sometimes, I just need to go into my happy suburban place. Read more »

From bar to book: Life Long Press turns backroom literary readings into published work

04.14.08 - 11:37 am | Marke B. |

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By Ailene Sankur

Valyntina Grenier is no stranger to poetry. By her undergrad senior year at U.C. Berkeley, she had already put together two chapbooks and now she's in the second year of an M.F.A. in Poetry at St. Mary’s College of California.

She is also no stranger to bars: she works as a bartender at Lanesplitter () in Oakland. Read more »

Taxes -- with a bang!

04.11.08 - 2:41 pm | Marke B. |

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By Justin Juul

Tax season is here, and math is hard. That's why you need to get on the Math Bus. Read more »

Lit: A Nowtopian Q&A with Chris Carlsson

04.08.08 - 6:43 pm | Johnny Ray Huston |

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By Erick Lyle

Chris Carlsson, one of the founders of Critical Mass, has long been one of San Francisco’s most notable utopian tinkerers. Through projects like his magazine Processed World and his radical archive Shaping San Francisco, he has devoted much unpaid labor to investigating lost people’s history and to imagine possibilities for a better world. Read more »

Cork that krunk juice, Lil Jon

04.04.08 - 8:51 am | Marke B. |

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By Justin Juul

Call me crazy, but I'm a beer man. Liquor's okay too, but wine? Wine has got to go. I absolutely cannot stand the stuff. In fact, there's only one thing I hate more than wine and that's wine snobs. Now, this may sound funny coming from a man who serves expensive wine every night at a fancy boutique in North Beach, but come on! Get over it rich dudes. Wine is rotten grape juice and that's it. There are no hints of currant or raspberry in there. Read more »

'Battlestar Galactica''s season-opening salvo whirls by like a black-out trip to Earth

04.03.08 - 8:31 pm | Music Blogger |

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First: what an amazingly over-the-top press kit housing season four's opening episode. The disk came tucked in the rear pocket of a framed, numbered print of the Battlestar Galactica cast in Last Supper mode. Quite a souvenir for the trophy room - the first episode of the series' fourth and final season airs Friday, April 4. Read more »

Indie silkscreen revelations

04.02.08 - 2:31 pm | Marke B. |

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By Vanessa Carr

Independent music and DIY culture can come like flashes of hope through the dark days of teenage dorkdom. For me, it was Bikini Kill's first album on tape.

The revelation: something better is out there. Read more »

It's not you, it's your books

04.02.08 - 11:39 am | Molly Freedenberg |

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By Ailene Sankur

A friend forwarded me this New York Times blog post on literary deal-breakers: the idea of the book on the shelf of the person you’re dating that would make you say, “You know what? Read more »

lloyd dangle

04.01.08 - 5:43 pm | Music Blogger |

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Just a note you let you know I'm doing a Troubletown event at Cody's books on April 22. Please come, and cover it intensely in your newspaper (press release attached). 2008 is my 20th anniversary in the Guardian! Cough, cough, wheeze. Oh yes, I am a trilobite.

Your pal,
Lloyd Dangle

Bad Voodoo tonight

04.01.08 - 9:11 am | Tim Redmond |

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Editors note: Award-winning reporter and former KTVU news anchor Leslie Griffith sent us this dispatch.

By Leslie Griffith

Tonight you can watch the mother lode of reality shows. It’s called “Bad Voodoo War,” and it airs on PBS’ Frontline. “Bad Voodoo War” is the story of a platoon of 30 soldiers in Iraq armed with both military might and camcorders. Read more »