This week there's a recommendation every night at a different venue - talk about a great week of music. Starting with Monday, MGMT, the super-hyped duo from Brooklyn, will be playing Bottom of the Hill. MGMT is: Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, two psychic pilgrims whose paths first intersected in the green pastures of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, circa 2002. After a post-college "existential crisis" they decided to create their masterpiece, Oracular Spectacular, released last week. (Check out the video, here.) more ›

• Paul Auster: Sure, metafictionist Auster wrote the screenplays to Smoke, Blue in the Face, and The Brooklyn Follies, but he also penned the phenomenal collection of PoMo detective-fiction tales, The New York Trilogy, his best work to date. Auster appears live with San Francisco International Film Festival Director Graham Leggat after a screening of his latest film, for this evening.
• Françoise Hardy's Birthday Party: Bardot a Go Go presents a tribute to French singer, actress and astrologer, Françoise Hardy. The Barbary Coasters and Helene Renaut cover her songs, while DJ Brother Grimm spins tasty French pop. Doors open at 8p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $8.
• Ask a Scientist: Yes, yes, we always feature this event, but that's because a) tonight's topic is language, and b) we love it ever so. Come on down and ask this month's guest, Terry Deacon, all of your pressing questions about linguistics and language. Goes from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Axis Cafe; free.

Festishizing that "authentic, old-school New York experience," Adam Fisher moved to NYC to frolic with hipsters, sing selections from Rent, or snap his fingers to the jazzy beats along with the other bohemian artists when he moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn. Unfortunately, his time there was a bit too real. Severely beaten and mugged of $28 while at the Morgan Avenue L subway station, Fisher hightails it back to his hometown, San Francisco. In his jarring piece for New York Magazine ("The Bleeding Edge"), he goes into graphic detail and explains his move back West. more ›

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It really is all about the other side of Market Street now. more ›

Ever think of starting your own crafty business? Want to meet a bunch of people who have, including a local author who wrote a book on the topic? Or maybe you just want to surround yourself with booze and cute people? Whatever your flavor, head downtown to 111 Minna tomorrow night for the book-launch party of Craft, Inc. by Meg Mateo Ilasco. The party is being hosted by Rare Device, a hip housewares store in Brooklyn, which will open its doors on Market Street at the end of the month. more ›

Okay, there's a very troubling article in today's New York Times about a road trip with Laura Albert (reg. req'd.). more ›

We're about a week late to this, but our All Star panel of SFist judges (consisting of David Hasslehoff, Allan Colmes, and the Drama Prairie Dog from YouTube fame) have come up with a winner of our "Rename Dodger Stadium Contest"—Brooklyn, by arblatt. This was actually a hard decision because “guest” posted two of our favorite entries, “Chavez Latrine” and “Hell” and as we don't know whom "guest" is, we can't give them anything. So congrats, arblatt, for not just your spiffy answer, but for actually following the rules more ›

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. More problems with the construction at Hunters' Point (this time: asbestos). Chris Daly is on it. A construction worker falls off the Golden Gate Bridge and his employer avoids liability because they used the wrong legal name on the OSHA citations it received. Send all legal paperwork to FSist, everyone! More taxi permit shadiness. Man vs. Wild -- who cares if he stayed in a hotel, he drank water from elephant dung. KUSF! Some bands playing this week. Cover article: Photography in SF. The Guardian doesn't hate the new Mission Italian joint Farina. And an Iranian filmmaker retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive. more ›

Holy Cow, Bat Segundo! What do you mean you moved to Brooklyn?!? A podcast that's truly fun, quirky, and valuable for fans of literature, this pseudonymously produced program made its home base here in San Francisco until only a few months ago. We were thrilled to come across the show's recent interview with one of our boyhood idols, Mr. Berkeley Breathed (of Bloom County, Outland, and Opus fame); when we contacted the show's proprietor to give him his deserved praise for landing such an interview, he informed us of his relocation. Alas. more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. more ›

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. more ›

Over the weekend, photographer Matt Cohen went to the Roller Derby to see the SF Bay Bombers vs Brooklyn Red Devils last weekend. These are the totally cool photos of the event. more ›

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. more ›

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. more ›

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. more ›

It was a show of nonstop manic glee, as cuddle-pop indie couple-duo Matt & Kim returned to San Francisco to play Noise Pop at the Bottom of the Hill Thursday night. So much love! more ›

Quick -- which one of those pictures above is of Valencia Street in SF and which is of Williamsburg in Brooklyn? more ›

SFist interviews JL Aronson, director of Danielson: A Family Movie more ›

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro. Gary Singh infiltrates a ladies' drinking circle, while Chuck Reed goes drinking with the Merc News. Do note, Gavin Newsom, that Reed only drank two bottled waters the entire night. Cover article: Making Redwood City fun again (land use edition). Italian food in Los Gatos. Lemon trees in winter. Women chanters. A review of the Justin Timberlake show. And the Straight Dope: are the magnetic poles going to flip? more ›

Happy Holidays! Chances are, you're reading this the day after Christmas, back at your day job after all-too-short a holiday, and the last thing you want from us is stuff about the holidays. But that's just too bad. Because, see, here in the Ist-A-Verse, we do things ahead of time. It might be December 26 for you, but that's what you get for not checking your Favorite Local Blog on Christmas Eve. more ›

It's been a few months since we raved about Ratatat and gave away their CD, so we figure it's time again to extol their greatness. Like we said last time, RATATAT's music is so melodic, varied and compelling that it makes vocals and lyrics seem superfluous. The Brooklyn duo expertly mixes snakey synth lines with sneering guitar, cello, sleigh bells and samples like the appropriately primal roar in "Wildcat". File under: Things That Make You Go "ROWR!" more ›

The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one. -Bostonist discussed two big state issues-- what sort of math constitutes a marriage and what kind of alcohol can be sold in most grocery stores. And the politically minded Curt Schilling went on "Jeopardy!". more ›

We're not crazy about instrumental music (in case you haven't noticed) so we're especially impressed when an artist can break through our predilections. RATATAT's music is so melodic, varied and compelling that it makes vocals and lyrics seem superfluous. The Brooklyn duo expertly mixes snakey synth lines with sneering guitar, cello, sleigh bells and samples like the appropriately primal roar in "Wildcat". It's a little early to tell, but RATATAT's Classics just might make it on to SFist's Best of '06 list. File under: Things That Make You Go "ROWR!" more ›

SFist interviews John Ringhofer of Half-handed cloud on the Asthmatic Kitty label more ›

Geez, the SF Public Library's site is sloooow today. We might not have the patience to make any online reserves, and might have to head straight to one of our fine local independent bookstores. Yes, folks, it's that kind of day. more ›

We've never had much occasion to use MapMuse, an interest-based interactive mapping service. That is, until we saw that now they're mapping independent bookstores and book clubs. We think that this is pretty damned neat. Between that and the SFPL's online reserve system, we might not ever have to brave Barnes and Noble again! more ›

Starting this Saturday, the Oakland Museum of California is hosting an exhibition from the Baseball Hall of Fame, called Baseball As America, displaying the history of America's game. The show's been traveling across the country since 2002, and features, among other things: Shoeless Joe Jackson's shoes, a baseball from the first baseball game ever, Babe Ruth's bat, Jackie Robinson's 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, and a Bay Area-specific section chock full of Giants and A's goodness, curated by the Oakland Museum of California. Sure, you grumble, it's all about fetishing objects at the expense of the actual experience of playing some ball -- but dang, who doesn't want to see Shoeless Joe Jackson's shoes??? The show runs until January 22, 2006; get your tickets here. At a minimum, you should totally be able to buy all the birthday presents for your dad/brother/best man that you'll ever need at the exhibition store. Picture of PA world series scoreboard from the Baseball as America webpage, from the Field Museum more ›