Due to a "horrendous stretch of the season" where the Oakland A's lost nine straight games, team manager Bob Geren was fired today. "Geren's season took a turn for the worst last month when then closer Brian Fuentes criticized his manager for a lack of communication and inconsistent handling of the bullpen," reports the Chron. "The team's former closer, Huston Street, piled on, telling The Chronicle that Geren was one of the worst people he had encountered in the world of sports." more ›

Former A's great Jose Canseco went from a Madonna-dating star to rat-fink bastard within a few years. "Ever since the more caliente half of the Bash Brothers blew his baseball stake on bad business decisions and two messy divorces, the man's done everything he could think of to raise a little green," notes East Bay Express' Chris Thompson. more ›

After pitching a perfect game on Sunday, everything's coming up sunshine and Santa Claus for Dallas Braden. First, he'll be doing the top-10 list on The Late Show tonight. Be sure to tune in at 11:30 p.m. to check it out. more ›

We’ll admit, we’ve been aloof to the A’s and this season’s American League West proceedings, what with the Athletics getting ready to juke their hometown for Fremont. But oh baby, do we have a new reason to root for the A’s to engage in some serious divisional ass-whooping. more ›

Thanks, CUIP-SF, for sending the following clip our way. Walter (AKA singing guy at the Board of Supervisor meetings) has returned, folks. As we mentioned yesterday, he was reported to have made a lauded return to the meetings, singing a parody of the theme song to Aaron Peskin. But while talking about SF Weekly's recent cover story about the Board of Supe prez, he also croons a bit of the Burt Bacharach's awesome breakup song "One Less Bell." more ›

As most of you know, we here at SFist are staunch vertical-growth advocates. In addition to One Rincon Hill being visible from SFist headquarters, we have also had the pleasure of watching the mushroom tip of BLŪ sprout above SOMA/Rincon Hill overt the last few months. While unsure of whether or not it was the next St. Regis or SOMA Grand, we've been dying for some time to sneak a peak at its insides. more ›

Hey, you know those awful flatscreen maps in the subways? The ones with the confusing station names and the pixelated Alcatel diagrams that look like a screengrab from an Atari 2600? Don't get too accustomed to them, because Muni and NextBus are working on something better. It'll take a few weeks -- at least -- but eventually, they'll be replaced by nicer, prettier, more accurate, data. Hooray! That only took, what, a billion fucking years? more ›

hen we last wrote about the San Jose Sharks, we were wondering where the hell captain Patrick Marleau's game went. It looks like he found it around the trade deadline (more on that below), and has been on a pretty decent stretch since then. As have the Sharks. more ›

Out of a twinge of sympathy from our withered-up blogger heart, we've been trying to leave poor planning dept. chief John Rahaim's bed-burning boyfriend Lance Farber (mugshot) alone (we had a YouTube clip of a Midnight Oil song all cued up and ready to go for our post, and then we felt too bad to do it) -- but we will pass along the tidbit from yesterday's Matier and Ross column, which explains: more ›

Well, it's been fun. The trailers, the megawatt celebrity sightings, the lights, the cameras, the not being invited to cast/crew parties -- SFist will miss it all. As most of you know, Gus Van Sant's biopic -- the story of assassinated San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights advocate, Harvey Milk -- started shooting in January. This past Sunday, the production came to an end. Alas. more ›

Bay Area filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King present Girls Rock! The Movie, a highly moving documentary about Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, a place for girls ages eight to eighteen to learn an instrument, form their own bands, write songs, make friends, and then perform in front of 700 people -- all in a week's time. The film is opening in seven cities today -- San Francisco, Berkeley, Portland, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle and will be opening in over thirty cities nationwide throughout this spring and summer. The filmmakers will be at all of the Embarcadero screenings today and tonight for Q&As, and Shane King will be there tomorrow at the 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. screenings. Check out this great interview with Arne and Shane over at Mental_Floss. more ›

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As if you needed further proof to confirm that Pisces are batshit insane, leap year babies cum serial killers Aileen Wuornos (who would have been 52) and Richard "the Night Stalker" Ramirez (who turns 48) both share a birthday today. Aw. more ›

Usually when a Presidential candidate announces his VP choice it's either to try and help him win some state or area that could help him win or to try and strengthen an apparent weakness. For example, Bill Clinton chose Al Gore to help him try and win the south. And in 2000, George Bush selected Dick Cheney to help alleviate concerns about his lack of experience and evilness. So with that, we announce that Ralph Nader's choice as his Vice President is our very own Matt Gonzalez. more ›

There was a press conference today at 11am with the Mayor and the head of Muni -- no major revelations, but here's the condensed Cliff's Notes version from our guy at the event: more ›

In January we mentioned a global Monopoly board game where you could vote on which cities you want on Hasbro's latest version of the popular board game, Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition. Fun, right? Well, not for some. Hasbro recently removed the country name "Israel" after "Jerusalem" when it received complaints from pro-Palestinian groups. And then, you guessed it, Hasbro received even more heat from people online who noticed the only city without a country was Jerusalem. more ›

Without providing an answer for firing San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal, the SFPUC officially sacked her this morning after a nine-minute closed door City Hall meeting. As part of her severance package, she will receive a delightful $400,000. The former city treasurer was asked to pack up and get the hell out last December as part of Newsom's second-term staff cuts. more ›

As many of you know, Bernie Ward, former Catholic priest and KGO 810 AM host, was fired from his job after the Feds hit him with charges of child pornography. Although he used the Pete Townsend defense that he was merely doing a little kiddie porn research, that doesn't seem to be the case. more ›

As mother used to tell us, "the smaller the font, the crazier the loon." And how. Frank Chu seems downright lucid compared to this gentleman, who over the years has called us every ungodly name in the book as we passed by him on Market Street. How about you? more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

• Lucas (1986), Say Anything (1989), My Bloody Valentine (1981): The first film has socially-retarded Corey Haim falling head over heels in love with a sensitive football player, Charlie Sheen, or something like that; Cameron Crowe's tale of teenage love and angst has John Cusack causing egregious noise pollution when he holds up a ghettoblaster pumping out a Peter Gabriel ballad; and the final film has a murderer in a small coal mining town killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day. They screen at 7:30 p.m., 9:45, and midnight, respectively, at the Castro Theatre; $6-9.
• Editors: Yeah, yeah. We screwed up. Again. The SSRIs are running low this week. Stupid shrink. Anyway, check out this English indie rock band along hipster favorites Hot Hot Heat and Louis XIV. Music starts at 8 p.m. at the Warfield; $23.
• The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's Love on Wheels: As SFist Jim mentioned before, tonight's Dating Game parody in Hayes Valley should be divine. Starts at 7 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; free for members of the SFBC ($10 for non-members).

Glorious, isn't it? more ›

As we enter Day 10 of the Lance Kiffin hostage situation. more ›

• Rainbow Skate: As if rollerskating couldn't get any gayer, Redwood Roller Rink has made Wednesday nights exclusive queer. So tonight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and even a smattering of straight folks come together to whirl around the rink. Starts at 8 p.m.; $7 covers both admission and skate rental.
• Benefit for the Metropolitan Arts and Technology's Drama Program: Help the kids won't you? Metropolitan High -- you know, that large school on Treat Street, targeting "communities with the greatest need" -- aim is to send every student to college. And the theater/drama department needs your help. Rock (and, dare we say, emo-sounding) local bands Union Trade, Aim Low Kid, and Audiophase perform for your listening pleasure. Doors open at 8 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $10 donation.
• Black, White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe (2007): '70s punk aesthetics are bandied about in this documentary focusing on the relationship between photo collector Sam Wagstaff, notorious photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and Patti Smith. Screens at 6:30 p.m., 8, 9:30 at the Roxie; $5-9.

Oh good. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. And if the thought of next Thursday's approaching fillet mignon-for-two-free evening doesn't make you want to slice open an artery followed by nap-time in the bathtub, then how about not making Nob Hill Gazette's annual Lucky 13th Annual Eligible's List? (Yes, yes, you and your hipster S.O. are too cool to celebrate a Hallmark holiday, clearly, but what a privileged thing to decide not to do. Wow, that was bitter. Anyway.) more ›

It's that time again. (We can't believe it's already Monday.) As usual, there is great music going on every night of the week so make sure you take the jump to see our daily recommendations. We've been counting down the days to see Sara Bareilles since we heard about this tour back in December. It's here. Finally. Bareilles will be opening for James Blunt in the VH1's "You Oughta Know" tour. There's no way you haven't heard of James Blunt - his single, "You're Beautiful" was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. This was the first time a Brit had been in the #1 spot since Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" in 1997. Clearly, everyone knows who James Blunt is. The real question is: Do you know who Sara Bareilles is? We've been spouting praise about this singer/songwriter since we saw her open for Aqualung almost a year ago. We knew she would be big; we just had a feeling. Now with "Love Song" on regular airplay on radio stations nationwide there's a reason she's opening for Blunt in the "You Oughta Know" tour. With high-powered vocals, Bareilles can out-sing most, if not all, of the music industries' pop stars. Not only do we love her rich yet effortless voice, but her clever music is indeed what pop music needs right now. We would never miss her concert and you shouldn't either. more ›

Just some random scribbling on a game that is still reverberating through our hungover, overstuffed brains.... more ›

The 12th Annual Tết Festival Ceremony occurred yesterday all around Little Saigon in San Francisco more ›

Bashing Gavin's plans to pay for his staff members (and lobbyists) from the MTA budget isn't just something us local folks can do. It's something everyone can do! Like a U.S. Senator. A Republican Senator. From Oklahoma. Wha? more ›

As if the DMV weren't annoying in and of itself, now you can add sexual molestation to the list of ways that the Department of Motor Vehicles makes your life miserable. (...and what's up with airline food, huh, folks?) Four women claiming that they were touched inappropriately by former DMV instructor Calvin Hoang Cat will split $450,000 in a lawsuit settlement with the state of California. According to CBS 5: more ›