If you're a fan of "Project Runway" you probably know that season four premieres tonight on Bravo at 10 p.m. (And if you're not a fan, what is wrong with you!) We'd be watching not matter what, but we are doubly excited about this season because there are two--TWO!--designers from San Francisco competing this time around. First off is Chris March who once worked on "Beach Blanket Babylon" as their "wig master," and now works......

Almost 20 years after the death of graffiti artist turned art star, Jean Michel Basquiat, we have a new documentary about graffiti in the art world, Next: A Primer on Urban Painting screens at Mezzanine (444 Jessie St. near 5th) courtesy of SF360 Film+Club. Directed by Pablo Aravena, the film combines cinema vérité of artists in action and interviews with painters, journalists, collectors, sociologists, DJ's, art critics and others. There will be a live......

You know it's hard out here for a Wednesday..... Tonight: Jump out your own window for this one -- the new Defenestration Journal is throwing itself a launch party with the debut of its first issue. Defenestration Journal features art, fiction, and poetry from SF women, and the launch party will feature readings, drink specials, and a performance by burlesque cheerleader troupe the Cock-Ts. It's free at the Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell (x Van Ness), 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday: The Alliance Francaise (sorry, SFist Ced, we don't know how to code a cedilla in HTML) is screening selections from the 7-hour silent film Les Vampires, with live musical accompaniment. You know, the silent movie with the famous Irma Vep! $7 Alliance members, $10 for everyone else. Movie starts at 7 p.m, at the Alliance (1345 Bush St, between Polk and Larkin). and Friday: Stop by the California College of the Arts for tonight's Small Press Traffic poetry reading: Poets Kazim Ali and Mark Wallace will read their new works. Ali is described as uniting "Near Eastern traditions" with "painterly minimalism" in his work, and Wallace is described as "John Hawkes dreaming of Paul Bowles having a gothic nightmare." Free to CCA students, $5-10 sliding scale, 7:30 p.m. at CCA, 1111 Eighth Street (between 16th and Wisconsin). Picture of what we think is issue 1 of the Defenestration Journal...

Don't blame us -- we voted for Wednesday! Tonight: We already told you -- go check out a free performance of Alan Fletcher's choral piece in celebration of same-sex marriages, No More To Hide, at City Hall at noon today. Stick around the Civic Center until the evening, and you can check out a preview screening of "Seoul Train" at the Main Library, a documentary about North Koreans trying to escape their country. Thursday: Bring a film noir pout to Cabaret Verdalet's 1940s Hollywood-themed vaudeville/burlesque show at the DNA Lounge. Show goes from 9 p.m.-2 a.m., and vintage and flashy attire is encouraged ($15 advance/$20 door). Alternately, check out host Ali Wong and other Asian-American comics at Hi Comedy, described as "classy high comedy for your butthole," at the Dark Room on Mission between 18th and 19th Street. Doors 7:30, $10. Friday: Is it just us or does Christmas start coming earlier and earlier each year? Get a head start on the pre-Thanksgiving crowds at the California College of the Arts' PlaySpace art bazaar! Artists from CCA's various MFA programs will sell their works (paintings, jewelry, drawings, and maybe even some nifty knitted things), all for under $50. All money goes to support the gallery. Free food and drink; sale goes from 6-10 on the 2nd floor of CCA, at 1111 8th Street (at 16th Street and Wisconsin. Isn't it weird that 8th Street and 16th Street cross?) ...

Is this chicken what I have, or Wednesdays? Tonight!: The SF Cinematheque is featuring an evening of experimental film called "How to Philosophize With a Flicker." Their website describes it: "Less of a 'how-to' manual than a hall of mirrors, these works move beyond the True, the Beautiful, and the Good to pose their questions with a flicker, wrestling with the world of appearances and searching out subjective spaces rather than smashing them to smithereens." We have absolutely no idea what that means but it sounds like there'll be some cool-looking movies! The flickering starts at 8, at the California College of the Arts. Thursday: it's go go go! The Exploratorium presents "Executive Order 9066," a show by puppet troupe Lunatique Fantastique about the Japanese-Americans internment camps in World War II, as envisioned through found household items. The description warns that children under 13 may need parental guidance. 8 p.m. in the McBean Theater. SFist Jeremy also wants us to remind you to go check out Joshua Wolf Shenk at Cody's SF tonight, who'll be reading from "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness," which you may remember him discussing just the other day! If those options are too heavy for you, there's also the Bay Guardian's 2005 Goldies Award party at 12 Galaxies starting at 9, celebrating Outstanding Local Discoveries in art and music. Two Gallants is playing, and the $10 door donation goes to the Bay Guardian Community Fund and Katrina relief. And Friday: Remember when people used to rant about sex on paper and not on the Internet? Lisa Suckdog Carver does. Throw it back to the early 90s and Sassy Magazine's "zine of the month" column as Lisa reads from her new memoir, "Drugs Are Nice," at 7:30 at Modern Times. ...

As an incoming student to California College of the Arts' grad program, we hopped on the chance to meet and greet while scoping out the competition, by infiltrating CCA's MFA Thesis Show opening this past Friday night. We arrived at CCA just as the party of merry revelers swelled to near explosive proportions. Wading through the throes of young, beautiful art kids squealing with accomplishment (relief!) and air kissing one another with abandon, we......

It's that "two buck chuck" time ofthe month again -- it comes around so fast, sometimes we forget. Start your night at the California College of the Arts, where there are three shows listed on the calendar, a film show and even a fashion show which our roommate told us about but we can't find a link to. Go check out some hot young artists (we were at the open studios on Sunday, and......

Roundup of openings on the first Thursday of every month....