The SF Int'l Film Festival isn't just about great national and international movies -- they've got music events, gala events, talks about the state of cinema, an online presence through SF360.com, and -- what we stopped by to see this afternoon -- a series of panels about the state of cinema today. more ›

The crowd at the Kabuki Theater on Friday night had more hip-hoppers than usual, as SF Int'l Asian-American Film Fest attendees eagerly lined up three-deep for the sold-out showing of No Sleep Til Shanghai, a documentary following Chinese-American rapper Jin Au-Yeung's 2-week 8-city tour of Asia. The excitement reached a fever pitch in the pre-screening intros, with eager Asian-American MCs shouting out "Holla!" as Jin himself called in on the producer's cell phone to say hi. "There's probably a lot of Asians there, right? So TURN OFF YOUR CAMCORDERS!" Best part: everyone laughed.... but no one actually turned their camcorder off. Jin is a Queens-based rapper who stormed into battle dominance on 106th and Park with his quick rhymes and sharp racial analysis -- he's often been called the Asian Eminem, though to Jin's credit, he seems profoundly uncomfortable with that title. Jin was then signed to the Ruff Ryders label, and released his first album, "The Rest Is History" in 2004. In support of that album, he went on an 8-city 2 week tour of Asia, camera crew in tow. It was his first time in Asia (other than Hong Kong). After the jump, Jin meets some lovely Asian ladies, freestyles in Cantonese and Mandarin, and does an awful lot of interviews. Picture from No Sleep Til Shanghai more ›

In case of Wednesday, this car will be unoccupied. Tonight! The group NetSquared is holding its monthly get-together at Varnish Art Gallery at 77 Natoma Street (at 2nd). NetSquared's mission is effecting social change through the Internet, and tonight's topic is how blogs can save the world (really!). 6-8 p.m., free admission, RSVP required. Thursday: We are so psyched for the Asian-American Film Fest this year! We're (seriously) thinking about taking the whole week of March 16-23 off from work! Help kick off the festivities at their launch party, running from 9-12 at 111 Minna. Music from DJ AJAX from NRG 92.7 and they'll be showing film clips. Oooh, show something from Chinese Restaurants!! $5 admission, free for Center for Asian-American Media members. and Friday: The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra is dedicated to free performances of chamber music for the public. Tonight's theme: "Valentines to a Cello." Acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz will be performing an unaccompanied Bach suite (you know, the famous ones, like Yo-Yo Ma played on the West Wing) and one of Schoenberg's last tonal pieces before he went all serialist screeek-schronk-schreek on us. Free! more ›

We're getting ready for Valentine's Day! Take your pick: sex parties, the South Bay, the Dating Game, theater, or the gift that keeps on giving, fennel. We're also in full-fledged festival mode: IndieFest, the Korean-American Film Fest (check out our interview with Korean auteur Kang Je-gyu -- thanks, contributor Mihi!), WonderCon. Lots and lots and lots and lots of movie reviews! And we hope you had a nice time at our two Dalva parties -- it's always great to see you. Welcome to our new column, Whines And Dines, which covers SF from the dog's eye view. SFist Jeremy is proud to announce the winner of our online 7x7 poll, "I will take and maybe read a free 7x7" at 30%. "Earth First should punish 7x7 for wasting trees" came in third, at 27%. It was a week of police brutality by the Chron, and Chron brutality by the police. Cab fares and real estate are both going up -- and lumber is falling down. Plus -- news flash! SF hates Bush. (We are loving the "rename Bush Street" movement a well-meaning someone has launched.) Plus -- Mavericks ruled. more ›

A friendly crowd greeted Filipino filmmaker Steven Mallorca at the San Francisco screening of his labor of love, Slow Jam King -- about three rows of seats were reserved for his family and friends, various members of the film's crew, and other people affiliated with the movie, and the rest of the seats rapidly sold out with people interested in small indie comedy film, Filipino country music aficionados, and people eagerly waiting outside in the suddenly-cold weather in the rush line. (Can't SFIAAF let them wait someplace a little warmer?) Slow Jam King was written, directed, and produced by Mallorca (and exec produced by John Woo), and Mallorca also wrote almost all the songs on the soundtrack too. Dang, a quadruple threat! The movie's main focus is a young depressed Filipino-American named JoJo, the former salutatorian of his high school who's dropped out of college for the aspirational hiphopper pimp lifestyle, in an attempt to win the heart of a Filipina girl in the neighborhood, who's already dating the neighborhood gangbanger. The gangbanger gives JoJo a hot gun, at which point JoJo carjacks Vance, a country-music-loving perfume salesman from Tennessee, and ropes his African-American friend DeVaun into a road trip to Nashville. Take a trip to the South, after the jump. more ›