-- Madcat Women's International Film Festival -- Frame by Frame: Experimental film festival's night focusing on animation, claymation, and digital shorts all directed by women. Starts at 8:30 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission; $7-$20. -- "Fashion Rewind: Play It. Make It. Wear It.": Art Institute of California-San Francisco students create original fashions with the two themes in mind: recycled materials and music icons. So...we have no idea what to expect. But you will......

SFist interviews Artis Mark Mulroney...

Tonight, there's music, Vivienne Westwood clothes, and film, for ten smackers? Or free if you are a museum member. Oh-la-la! Party with Viv (her work, she will be there in spirit only) at the de Young's exhibition spanning 36 years of her fashions. At 7 p.m., the film South Bank Show will screen. Corset lovers can admire and even try on some get ups created by Art Institute of SF students. de Young Museum,......

It's another East Bay/West Bay collision! After months of Sampling Oakland, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St. at 3rd) sets its sights on Berkeley's Kala (rhymes with ta-dah) Art Institute for an exhibition entitled, Cultivating Creativity: In Residence at Kala. Vampiric gesture or reflection of an "ongoing commitment to celebrating local arts organizations," no matter, check out the work of current and past Kala-affiliated artists working in printmaking, digital media, photography......

-Arnie is now officially our Governor for the next four years. -Arnie also raised a whop-load of money....

-Oakland's New Year's Resolution? Less homicides. -The Governator has to miss parts of his own party due to his broken leg....

We're not going to miss a rare opportunity to see Stalker (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky (director of the original Solaris), screening tonight at the SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut St.) for free. This influential Russian film has many elements associated with Russian literature - epic length, existential ennui, depressing locales. A brief plot synopsis: Two disenchanted intellectuals wish to explore the Zone, a mysterious region at the center of which a room, said to offer......

Tonight October is SF Open Studios month, where art enthusiasts and wine and cheese chasers can traipse around the city and visit the studios of San Francisco artists and sign up on their mailing lists or buy their work. Tonight there are preview receptions featuring numerous artists at Belcher Studios and Gallery (69 Belcher, near Market, Church, 14th St.) and at Art Explosion Studios in two locations - 744 Alabama St. (between 19th &......

Two films about the Middle East involving food: "AnTEAcipation" screens at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St. @ 3rd) as part of the SF World Music Festival. This documentary takes a gradual, personal approach to the role of tea growing on the Laz people of Turkey. The 8pm screening is preceded by a lecture on the Laz that starts at 7pm. "Border Café (Café Transit)" is an Iranian film about a......

We were most impressed by the San Francisco Art Institute’s MFA Vernissage held Friday night in the Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason, where the show will continue to hang until May 28th. Talk about Pomp and Circumstance! Festooned with regal ceiling banners directing us to each artist’s custom-built exhibition space (the work of MFA graduate Michael Zheng, we found out), the grand hall allowed for ease of movement and a bit of welcome autonomy......

SFist interview artist Casey Jex Smith...

Okay, we've had a week to get over ourselves for the SF Weekly Best Blog thing, we're back to normal now. Last week's winner, the East Bay Express. Trippy Slow Wave dream comic! They could make a movie outta that! Bottom Feeder: Operation Rescue's at it again in Rockridge. Cover article: viral marketing in Emeryville with Internet scavenger hunts. Event of the week: Girlstock! With Von Iva! Performance (B)ART. Search the EBX food listings for organic. UK grime is overrated. And Savage Love: STDs (isn't that the band with Scott Weiland?). The Guardian: Tim Redmond says stem cells development will oppress. Hey, have you thought about public power this week? A frightening ad in the front section entitled "The Evolution of the Marina Woman" (so much flowy hair!) -- we think maybe the target demographic of the Bay Guardian is not the audience that SF Optics is aiming for. SF is anti-bike. SFist is ambivalent. Annalee Newitz on the Real ID act. The sex columnist with a letter about a lady who loves her parrot (fake? real? you decide!). And the cover article: movies by that guy who got kicked out of the SF Art Institute for making disturbing movies. Come up with a phrase for the female version of "cock block," and the pick of the week, after the jump! ...

Excuse us for missing the boat last month. We were still in the frozen north, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have cribbed our tips from Fecal Face like we do every week. Our friend Lisa Dent (who gets back to us when we leave her messages, thank you very much -- hence the adoring coverage. Also, like us, she's a young upstart in town) is showing San Francisco Art Institute alum Robin Ward's Otherkin.......

Killer ocean views and Diego Rivera? Sounds like a dreamy vacation in Mexico, no? Well, actually no. Climb up the hill above Bimbo's 365 Club to the San Francisco Art Institute, and you'll find the magic combo. For free. What gives? In 1931 Diego painted a mural in the the building that houses the Art Institute. If you can stop gaping at the mural (which domintates an entire wall of the space) you can also......