Professional influencer Kim Kardashian West is parlaying her newfound passion for prison reform into a new career, and she's apparently planning on taking the California bar exam without going to law school.

The Chronicle picked up the story from an interview Kardashian West did in the May issue of Vogue in which she claims she's been studying criminal law on her own, and she's doing a legal apprenticeship with Oakland-based criminal justice reform organization #cut50.

#cut50 issued a statement to the Chronicle saying, "We are excited to work with Kim as she she pursues her apprenticeship. Like everyone on our team, she cares deeply about people negatively impacted by the criminal justice system."

You may recall that Kardashian West, along with CNN's Van Jones, helped advocate last year for the release of a 63-year-old Alabama inmate, Alice Marie Johnson, who had served 32 years in jail for a non-violent drug offense. Jones tells Vogue that Kardashian West was indispensable in easing President Trump's fears about issuing a pardon for Johnson, raving that he watched her "unleash the most effective, emotionally intelligent intervention that I’ve ever seen in American politics."

Flash forward some months, and she now tells Vogue that after a bit of reading, "crim law I can do in my sleep." "Took my first test, I got a 100," she says. "Super easy for me. The reading is what really gets me. It’s so time-consuming."

Kardashian West does not have a college degree — she took some classes at a community college before dropping out — but that actually isn't a requirement for becoming a lawyer in California. All one technically has to do is "read the law" and pass the bar exam. And Kardashian West says she's planning to take the bar herself in three years. First she'll be taking what's known as the "baby bar" exam this summer, after which, if she passes, she'll get the green light from the state to go forward with her studies. "The concepts I grasp in two seconds," Kardashian West brags.

Meanwhile, this is the same interview in which Kardashian West reveals that husband Kanye West made her cry by tossing out hundreds of pairs of her shoes when they first got together. And, addressing Kanye's reported mental health issues, she says, "I think we’re in a pretty good place with it now... For him, being on medication is not really an option, because it just changes who he is. Traveling a lot does set it off, so he doesn’t travel as much as he used to. But honestly, I never want to speak for him, because I am not in his mind."

Photo: Eva Rinaldi/Wikimedia

pic.twitter.com/Hvo0i1ZmMf

— Troops Respecter™ (@D2_Derpinator) November 12, 2015

Guy Fieri at a Warriors game — what's not to love? The reality TV chef's outsized personality seems at first glance a great fit for the high-energy environment of a NBA game. But when you start to look a little deeper, a little longer, things begin to take a turn for the unsettling.

These days the host of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives seems to be known more for his anti-semitism/homophobia, insanely awful Times Square restaurant, and the fact that a 17-year-old cat burglar stole his $200,000 bright yellow Lamborghini than any culinary accomplishments.

However, perhaps the moment is right for the beleaguered chef to turn it all around and leverage that star power into his next big media venture: future Warriors mascot.

Related: Warriors' Owner, Fiancée, Did Naughty Bedtime Stuff With NBA Trophy

sammy: Great day today in San Francisco with the @shots team @justinbieber @ryanbutler 💻📲🌉 pic.twitter.com/7QLpDSXCqr

— JustinBieberCrew.com (@JBCrewdotcom) February 12, 2015

Canadian wild child Justin Bieber is in San Francisco visiting his startup because he's just a cool tech bro like the rest of us. Yep, Biebs threw like a million dollars at an app when it became fashionable to do so, and it looks like he just remembered and decided to pop in for a checkup.

Above is our guy at his company, a little place called Shots. What's Shots, you ask with feigned interest? It's a selfie app.

The Chronicle has also detailed the 20-year-old's eating habits, reporting that his party dined on "three rib eye steaks, two burgers, sides of fries and a shrimp cocktail." Big dude was hungry, it would seem, after a shopping trip to the Apple Store.

Related: Brace For Traffic Trauma: President Obama Hits SF Again Tonight

Previously: Justin Bieber Is Coming To Oakland

Academy Award-winning actor turned sellout turned meme Nicholas Cage has inspired one local would-be curator to do a whole show around him. As the Weekly is reporting, "DJ and event planner" Ezra Croft was inspired to create a group show around the actor, which is taking place April 12 at Balancoire in the Mission.

As you can guess from reading the exclamation-point-heavy website for the event , it's more of an excuse for a theme party, all built around art inspired by the man who turned out great performances in Moonstruck, Raising Arizona, and Leaving Las Vegas before becoming the victim of the Hollywood machine in the National Treasure and Ghost Rider franchises. "This event will have a bar!" It promises. Also: "really awesome music" and "It will also be one of San Franciso's most interesting and off the wall art expositions, EVER!"

They are currently taking submissions.

Plan accordingly.

[SF Weekly]
[NicholasCageIsGod]

As San Francisco guiltily enjoys another week of clear, sunny skies, the city is also basking in a continued wave of Hollywood attention with the start of yet another on-location film, this time with the promise of Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgard sightings around town.

The movie in question is Diary of a Teenage Girl, and is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner. Here's a description of the book, courtesy of Publisher's Weekly:

Gloeckner's latest, a combination of comics and prose, follows the sexual misadventures and coming-of-age of Minnie Goetze, a troubled teenager very much reminiscent of Gloeckner, as she stumbles toward adulthood in 1970s San Francisco. Minnie's diary details the loss of her virginity to Monroe, her mother's less than devoted boyfriend. She falls in love with him, though he continues to sleep with Minnie's self-absorbed, drunken mother. A hellish adolescence follows: Minnie's kicked out of various schools, has promiscuous sex and ends up on the streets, strung out and obsessed with a young lesbian who pimps her out for more drugs.

Goodness gracious. We can only assume that Wiig will play the part of the "self-absorbed, drunken mother," a departure from her well-known comedic roles, and that Skarsgard will play her wayward boyfriend (see above photo of tall-in-real-life Skarsgard with some sky blue shorts shorts). The role of Minnie will be played by 21-year-old British actress Bel Powley.

The movie joins HBO's new show Looking as yet another opportunity to catch cameras around town, as well as to track celebrity sightings at your favorite local restaurants (we sure hope Wiig and Skarsgard like eating out and being ogled at/approached by strangers).

Update: We've been informed that local drag star Peaches Christ has also landed a part in the film. Playing a drag queen, obviously.

[Variety]

Jamal Trulove, a one-time reality TV walk-on who was convicted in 2010 for the murder of a man in San Francisco, may still get his freedom back following an appellate court decision this week overturning his conviction.

We're getting to the point in the history of reality television that there's a catalog of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of relatively short-lived flashes in the pan that we've already completely forgotten about, no matter how much hype and magazine/blog coverage they might have gotten at the time. Take, for example, VH1's I Love New York. Remember that turd? Anyway, one of its "stars" who was in fact only on single episode as a rejected suitor for buxom Tiffany "New York" Pollard, turned out to be wanted for murder in San Francisco not long after his episode aired. That was Trulove, and he was an aspiring rapper living in L.A. at the time the episode of I Love New York 2 was shot in July 2007.

Three weeks after shooting the show, Trulove was suspected of killing 26-year-old Seu Kuka in the Sunnydale housing project in Visitacion Valley. Trulove was later apprehended in Seaside in 2008. Only one eyewitness, who saw Kuka's shooting from her apartment window, came forward in Trulove's trial, and prosecutors argued that she was the only one of about 25 witnesses on the street who came forward because of threats of retaliation. She was later put in witness protection, but Trulove's attorney argued on appeal that the prosecution never showed evidence that such threats existed, and that mentioning them in closing arguments had unfairly influenced the jury. A three-judge panel at the state Court of Appeals on Monday agreed, and now Trulove may face a retrial.

Currently, Trulove is serving a sentence of 50 years to life. His attorney now says he has five witnesses who can say that Trulove was not the shooter.

As for Tiffany Pollard, no one's much heard from her since 2009, when VH1 aired their last minute of her fifteen minutes with the show New York Goes to Work. But she's got a Twitter account (thank god, right?) and she's still coasting on her Flavor of Love/I Love New York fame by doing club appearances in Pomona, and the like.

[BCN/Appeal]
[Fugitive.com]

Previously: Reality TV Character Accused Of SF Murder

A+E Networks has decided to put Phil Robertson on indefinite filming hiatus from his insanely popular reality show after his lame-duck remarks about LGBT folks hit newsstands and web browsers today.

In a statement released to Variety late Wednesday, A+E Networks (which owns the A&E channel) wrote:

"We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty. His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community.”

Earlier today, A&E gave Robertson a little extra rope to trap himself with when they allowed their 14-million-viewer star to respond to critics, saying: "I myself am a product of the '60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

Although the duck commander has been placed into time out, it is unclear at the moment whether the show itself will come to a halt or if filming will continue with the rest of his family, who earlier admitted they don't stray too far from the flock.

Previously: 'Duck Dynasty' Kingpin Says Homosexuality Is Like Bestiality
[Variety]

Bay Area ride sharing service Lyft has apparently hit the mainstream, attracting the notice of late night's Conan O'Brien, who enlisted pint-sized comedian Kevin Hart and the multi-talented Ice Cube to assemble on a Los Angeles street corner and test out the app.

What follows loosely approximates most of our experiences with Lyft, including stops at the liquor store and a Wendy's drive-through as well as awkward conversations with the group's Lyft driver du jour, Anthony, who plays the situation off pretty well considering. Along the way, Ice Cube campaigns repeatedly for a weed stop, Kevin Hart asks, "What's with the mustache, homie?" and Conan is just really, really white. Observe:

Ice Cube: "Is this your own personal car? How do you feel about people getting in and ... just funking it up?"
Conan: "Have you ever had to hose the interior of the car down afterwards?"
Anthony: "There was one time where one gentleman vomited in the car, so I did have to ..."
Conan: "Who's sitting in that seat?"
"You are, sir."

Classic Lyft.

The next time you're frustrated standing on the tourist-packed corner of Powell and Geary, take solace knowing you're in the same spot Tippi Hedren crossed in Hitchcock's The Birds. In fact, the next time you're wondering about what the spot you're standing in looked like during a famous movie scene, just look at your phone.

The new Scenepast iPhone app allows users to search for a city and year, see a pic from an old movie scene shot in the area, and then compare it to how the spot looks today. Not only does the app work of films but also TV. (Fingers crossed for Too Close for Comfort scenes!)

(Fun fact: Though not a classic San Francisco movie, my personal favorite shot-in-SF scene comes from All About Eve. The scene where Margo Channing enters the theater, pre-"Princess Fire and Music" rant, is actually the Curran at 445 Geary. Now you know.)

And now, an art video from Ari Fitz, cast member on the upcoming final season of The Real World (which, if you haven't heard, will be set in San Francisco). The PR person who sent SFist this video dared, "Try to watch this without vomiting or masturbating."

Oh dear.

Fitz herself describes the video thusly:

"It's rare that I'll explain my work, especially for something strange like the Gastronomy series. What I will say is Gastronomy is an experiment on your expectations. Your expectations of what love, what family, what film should be. Even more so, it's an experiment on your reaction to failed expectations."

But will Gastronomy rank up there with "Blue," Real World: Hawaii Kaia's flawed yet ultimately redemptive poetic masterpiece? You decide:

[FITZ]

Now that you're done with Thanksgiving, we present to you Christmas. Awesome, vulgar, merry, horrific, pepperminty and beautiful Christmas. It's the holiday everyone has to pretend to hate, but still secretly loves in a twisted, emotionally abusive way. Besides, who in their right mind doesn't adore a day that involves tons of little white lights? No one, that's who. And with that, we urge you to check out Tuesday night's Christmas tree lighting in the FiDi. That girl that sings that song will be there. Will you?

Former 49ers legend Ronnie Lott and current 49ers Marcus Lattimore and Alex Boone, as well as openly Canadian songstress Carly Rae Jepsen, whose song “Call Me Maybe” prompted 758931214352 parody videos that your mom thought were just "so funny and so clever," will be at 555 California at 5 p.m.

Oh, last year's tree lighting at 555 California featured Robin Thicke, well before he simulated sex with Miley Cyrus at the VMAs and before most, if not all, of us knew all about his reportedly large penis.

See you there.

In other news, the ice skating rink in Union Square is open. Do check it out! SFist editor Brock Keeling and associate editor Andrew Dalton were there during a staff outing last week. It was glorious. Whose magic-on-ice form reigned supreme? You make the call: