It seems that Disney is putting more eggs into the digital animation basket here in the Bay Area: they're setting up a studio in our neighbors to the north, Novato. Teaming with director Robert Zemeckis (the genius behind Back to the Future and now the Angelina Jolie animated nudie flick, Beowulf), the pair is forming ImageMovers Digital—a digital animation studio focused on the "Is that really animation or isn't it?" type of filmmaking. Disney......

Last week, the Washington "Moonie" Times wrote a story saying that, in effect, that Nancy Pelosi requested that the Air Force provide her flights to and from Washington whenever she actually deigns to come home to the City by the Bay. The story is potentially embarrassing to Pelosi as it plays on the caricature of her being shrewish bitch who requests military planes while our brave sons and daughters are dying to fight the war on terror even though Iraq has nothing to do with it and even Republicans wish the war would end but they're still going to stop non-binding resolutions to stop it. Or something like that. As these things tend to happen, the story got out into the Republican echo chamber and you know what happens whenever that occurs-- the press has to cover it like it's an important story. Also, so called blabber mouths in politics and cable news spout it off like it's the unbridled truth without actually investigating it. ...

These sniper attacks never make us feel very secure, even if it is only paintball -- over the last month, 10 people (and a dog) have been hit by paintballs throughout the City of Berkeley. No one's been seriously hurt yet, but some people's clothes were damaged, some people almost got in car accidents, and one kid was hit in the cheek (the reports are silent as to the state of the dog.) It's like......

After making more flip-flops than an Indonesian child-labor sweatshop, the Environmentalist-in-Chief finally decided to spend his Earth Day Eve and morning at Dick Cheney's favorite disclosed location, Meadowood Resort in St. Helena. Although nobody's exactly sure why W made the last-minute call to go Napa, mountain biking might have had something to do with it.

The perpetually well rested Bush spent Friday night in one of Meadowood's $4,000 a night suites, then motorcaded over to Las Posadas State Forest in Angwin Saturday morning for a 65-minute mountain bike ride of unreported distance.

The ride, which Bush made with his SS entourage, the vaunted Travis Air Force Base cycling team, and AP writer Scott Lindlaw, was part of a carefully scripted Earth Day itinerary meant to highlight Bush's concern for the environment and sustainable fuels. Unfortunately for the Earth and everyone who lives on it, Bush is more Soylent Green than Greenpeace.

Wow, we're kind of embarrassed to admit that when we first read this article about how "the Chronicle" exposed a major security breach on the President's Air Force One, we automatically assumed it was the Houston Chronicle. But no! It's our very own hometown rag! Sorry we doubted! So the Chron (our Chron, not the Bozeman (MT) Chronicle) was poking around online last week and found a webpage online that listed all of Air Force One's secret security defenses -- and, for good measure, also listed exactly where you'd need to send a bomb to blow up the plane's oxygen tank. Yikes! (Before you morbid types go clicking, the Chron decided not to publish the actual url of the page; the link we have is just to the news article itself.) The Chron promptly notified the White House and Andrews Air Base (where Air Force One is based), but, troublingly, no one ever took the webpage down. They notified them again before they ran the original story on Saturday, but the page wasn't removed from public access until Monday. Anonymous sources at the Pentagon report that the higher-ups aren't too happy about the mix-up either. They're rethinking their web-based policies now. Good job, Chron! Sorry we thought you were someone else. Picture of Air Force One over Mount Rushmore ...

Saturday, January 28, marks the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger's explosion. SFist can't help but think of the ill-fated tenth mission every time we pass Onizuka Air Force Station down in Sunnyvale. We're not the only space groupies with the anniversary on our minds: the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland will feature a special memorial presentation all day, and screen the movie To Be an Astronaut at 11:30 am and......

Frankly, we sometimes find it hard to sign off on that whole Tough Guy motif that so many comic books shoot for. Yes, a surly squint, trusty sidearm, and simple machismo are familiar hero-ingredients, but after a while it can be a bit numbing and silly. Which is why we were pleased that Isotope Comics pointed us to The Annotated Mantooth, by Matt Fraction, Andy Kuhn, and Tim Fisher, in which the alpha-male dialogue is......

Ooooh-weeeee-ooooooh! The Air Force is dismissing panicky claims from residents in the area that they saw some weird spooky lights over the cross on Mount Davidson last night. People across the state and folks in Nevada all reported seeing something ......weird. One SF resident described the flashes in the sky as "a series of solid lights that appeared to be hovering. When viewed through binoculars, the lights appeared to vibrate." All Air Force bases say there were no flights scheduled that would have caused that effect. Hmmmm. Hey, let us know if you see people suddenly disappearing today, okay? Clearly the folks we hang out with aren't going to be going anywhere if it's the Rapture, so we can't use them as a gauge for anything. ...

Bay Area crime roundup...

Special Tuesday afternoon edition. It's an exciting time for football fans, as the NFL preseason was wrapped up and the college season got off and running. In case you were busy at the beach, out of town or catching up on chores, EssEffist will be here to second guess coaches and players at the beginning of each week with a wrap-up of the weekend in pigskin. The much-hyped Cal Bears opened the season strong, rolling over Air Force 56 to 14. They're currently ranked 13th in the coaches poll and some early season wins could get them into the top ten in short order. EssEffist would like to point out that if you have to lose a game, Cal, lose it early - it's the end of season polls that count. Stanford, currently unranked, trounced the hapless San Jose State Spartans 43 to 3. Ouch. Turns out the Spartans lost six players to Academic decertification just one day before the game. EssEffist didn't even know that the Spartans were good enough to bother cheating. The 49ers managed to preserve their win-free preseason by losing to the Chargers 31-15 at home. If the 49ers were to move to LA (and, presumably, change their name), now would sure be the time to do it. They might have sullied their record with a win if two of three touchdown passes would have counted - instead, all three were discounted due to penalties, and EssEffist thinks the receivers coach wishes he still had T.O. around to blame. They gear up for the Falcons next Sunday. The Raiders squeaked past the Rams 28-24 over in Oakland, finishing the meaningless games at three and one, with all three of their quarterbacks making appearances. It looks like the starting job will go to Rich Gannon next Sunday in Pittsburg even though Kerry Collins has looked strong as a field leader....