Conan - SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports

Video Games Live 2008

Spencer Williams — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:50:00 GMT

Now that we have that out of the way, gaming has become a huge part of culture and has even affected the music industry. Video Games Live 2008 merges the music and gaming industry together to create an entire evening of gaming music performed by a full orchestra with projected video footage, synchronized lighting, and on-stage interactive segments with the audience. The performance will be on Friday, February 22, 2008.

It will feature songs from:
Halo 3
BioShock
Starcraft II (exclusive preview!)
World of Warcraft
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
Conan
Chrono Cross
Final Fantasy
Castlevania

For a full press release, go here. Tickets for Video Games Live 2008 go on sale on Saturday, December 8th at 10am at www.livenation.com, ticketmaster outlets or charge by phone at 415-421-TIXS or 408-998-TIXS. Tickets are $65.00, $47.50 and $38.50 for reserved seating plus applicable charges (whatever that means).

SFist Interview: Mike Birbiglia

emily — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:00:25 GMT

Here at SFist we like to think of ourselves as givers. We give. You take. Again and again. So here you go, we're doing our part. We've got a pair of tickets for you to check out Mike Birbiglia at Cobb's on the eve of Halloween (yes, Tuesday, the 30th).

Mike is one very funny guy-- and nice enough to do a SFist interview. Which makes us feel pretty good since he's a regular on Letterman and Conan. So yes, we're in a good place right now, being a giver, and talking to the Stars. If only we could figure out what to be for Halloween...

Feeling Lucky? Enter by noon on Monday.

What's your take on the comedy scene in the Bay Area?
San Francisco has enough great comedians. It was a tough city to break into they don’t really need imports. Let’s just say there may be more creative people in the Bay Area than in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Is that a place?

Any advice to aspiring comedians?
Don’t be afraid to spend $80 on gas to make $50 to perform. And keep telling yourself that it’s going better than it is.

What makes a joke funny?
I think a grain of truth posed in a way the audience has never considered. Also, bananas and farts and the word “snausages” are very funny.

Is there anything that is not funny?
Well, in many instances comedy and humor are really devices for coping. In my life I’ve laughed at funerals, and with sick relatives in the hospital. We laugh to keep from crying. I believe that’s from Langston Hughes. Or Abrahams Lincoln. But you can credit “Mike Birbiglia.”

SFist Photo: Quintin Mecke's Odds of Victory

Jim — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:57:43 GMT

First, check out the line on Conan O'Brien, Tom Brady and famous local Sean Penn. Now check out Quintin's.

Surprised?

Arnold Turns 60

Brock Keeling — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:09:15 GMT

California Governor, Leo, mad fondler, and kindergarten cop Arnold Schwarzenegger turns a still-sexy 60-years-old today. The Grandpanator will spend the big day dealing with the state budget (giggle) and quite possibly getting some sweet Shriver love later this evening. But Carla Marinucci has the Gov’s five birthday wishes right here.

Happy birthday, Conan.

3 Questions For Comic Book Challenge Contestants

SFist Jer — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:00:13 GMT

A few of those contestants are from right here in the Bay Area. Kevin Buckley is the writer on this project and an artist in his own right, though Marcus Thiele, his collaborator, is the artist on their pitch: "The Strange and Many Eyes of Dr. LeFaux." The short version: "As a young man, Roger LeFaux loses his eyes in a deal with a demon to see his late wife one last time; 30 years later, LeFaux, now a professor, fights the forces of darkness with the help of his two graduate assistants and a startling array of magical jewel eyes."

Kevin and Marcus took a few minutes to talk about their art and living in the Bay Area. As a bonus, after the jump check out a a sort of "guitar hero/sci-fi/death metal apocolypse/Ragnarok" rendition of the pair by Marcus -- sweet!

1) So, it's obvious you're interested in sequential storytelling. What was the genesis of this interest -- and what are your goals? What other artistic endeavors have you undertaken?

Kevin: The first comic book I remember reading was a Marvel Tales: Spider-Man comic. I don't remember what issue it was, but it blew my mind. I’ve wanted to make comics ever since. I always thought I wanted to draw comics. Maybe I still do, but it seems that literally the second I decided I should focus on writing as a career it just kind of took off. I had a weird couple of days after graduating from school where I got my first pro writing gig and then heard that we got into the Comic Book Challenge pretty much in the same week. I’m currently working on a graphic novel project and in the process of updating my website kevinbuckleystudios.com with new artwork and stories.

Marcus: I think I probably just never grew out of the comic strips and illustrated stories I was exposed to as a kid -- just the simple thrill of being able to open a book and actually "watch" the characters interact and explore their worlds. I have been able to participate in a number of wonderfully surreal artistic endeavors the past few years -- from John Hodgman's "700 Hoboes Project" (www.e-hobo.com) to, at one point, selling a painting of mine to Conan O'Brien, but my real love is definitely comics, the *ahem* alchemy of text and image.

Life in San Francisco and an obsession with Indian/Pakistani food, after the jump. Oh, and epic art!

San Francisco World News - Tonight!

Rain Jokinen — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:45:40 GMT

In other local TV news items that have managed to make their way into our In Box, this Saturday, NBC 11 is airing a documentary called "Dreams to Dust: Americans Interned," which follows some local Japanese survivors of the World War II internment camps and their families as they travel back to Manzanar. The special airs at 7 p.m on Saturday. Check the NBC 11 Web site later tonight for more about the program.

Political Junkie: Conan O'Brien's Newsom Jokes!

rita — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:30:19 GMT

Do you guys think it's true that Gavin Newsom refused to do anything with Conan O'Brien when Conan was in town last week because his feelings were hurt by Conan's jokes about him? If so, that is so lame! (Also, you can just scratch SFist off the Gavin Newsom party invite list right now.)

So the official story is that Mayor Newsom didn't show up for NBC's Conan celebration day last Wednesday because Newsom was "accidentally overbooked" and was doing an interview on SportsCenter about Barry Bonds instead. Oh, . Who cares what Newsom has to say about Barry Bonds. Do they call Michael Bloomberg for a comment on Wang Chien-Ming's hamstring? Was Gavin just calling up like every single TV show that tapes on Wednesday afternoons to overbook himself? "Ladies! I'll totally host The View!" (Though Elisabeth Hasselbeck does kind of seem like his type, doesn't she?)

Anyhow, so thoughtful readers were kind enough to send to us all the Gavin Newsom jokes Conan told, which are after the jump. Every day is Conan O'Brien Day at SFist!

We've been dying for a chance to use this picture from Gavin Newsom's reelection Flickr site. Feel free to Photoshop that marquee and send it back to us if you're so inclined!

come on

Conan the Triumphant

Rain Jokinen — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:45:31 GMT

Conan O'Brien's week in San Francisco came to a close today with his final taping at the Orpheum Theater, and the line to get in reached from the front of the theater, all the way down to the scary Carl's Jr., and then across the street and back up again so that those in the front of the line could wave to those at the end of the line across the street. We're not sure if everyone got in, but we did, which means we got to see both the opening and closing night's shows.

Today's show, which featured guests Snoop Dogg and Tom Waits, had a crowd even more manic than Monday's, with a lot more homemade signs, wacky hats, and tossing of objects onto the stage (including a beach ball and some underwear). Thankfully, the crowd wasn't too obnoxious; a request from the warm-up, pre-show guy to please not shout out the name of your home town because no one cares, seems to have worked, although there were still those who felt any moment of quiet needs to be filled with some kind of "shout-out." (Note to those guys: It doesn't.) It was kind of amusing to see Tom Waits perform to a crowd who didn't pay to see him. At least half the people around us had a look of, "What. The. Hell. Is this?" on their faces as he performed a song from his new album, complete with dust-raising foot stomping (watch tonight to see what we mean).

Gavin was once again a no-show--we kind of had hopes he'd make a last minute appearance on the show to at least quell rumors that he was pissed off about Conan's jokes. There were some surprise guests (we won't spoil the surprise) and another off-site video gag, (but we still think his visit to Lucas headquarters was the best of the bunch). As for the week as a whole, the episode with Lucas and Chris Isaak was probably our favorite, while Robin Williams night was ruined by the presence of Robin Williams. We think Conan did a good job of recognizing both the awesomeness and ridiculousness of our fair City, and it made us appreciate him a bit more. We can't wait until he takes over for Leno (because seriously, would anyone have been excited about Leno coming to town?).

Conan in SF

Jon — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:00:13 GMT

On Monday's show, Conan did a little video bit where he spent the day traveling around the city showing off the city's sites. We looked and looked and looked for it but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, today, we found a version of it on YouTube.

Come on YouTuber's, it's been days before this video aired!

Anyways, it's in two parts. The part we posted, the second part, is probably the better part of the two as it features a special guest appearance (several, actually). If you want to see the first part, which is also good, click here.

Surprisingly, Gavin is in neither as for whatever reason, he appears to be too busy to do anything Conan related this week. One wonders if perhaps Conan's jokes at his expense ('the Mayor sent me a bouquet of flowers and when I thanked him, he said it was for my wife...") didn't go over to well at City Hall.

SFist Goes to Conan O'Brien

Jon — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:24:06 GMT

Now here's the thing we discovered about the filming of a talk show-- there's a lot of standing around. A lot. The show isn't filmed continuously and then edited to make it look like there's a commercial break; they film it with breaks as if there are commercial breaks. During that time, the band plays, a few crewmembers take the stage, and a makeup person or director talks to Conan. A few times Conan turned to the crowd and tried to get the crowd to cheer, but for the most part, everyone just stood around.

Actually, Conan probably spends more time standing around than actually performing. If you include all the times Conan just came out to introduce somebody and the one video segment they ran, the amount of work Conan did during that hour was, what? Ten? Fifteen minutes? Not a bad days worth of work.

Not that we didn't have fun or it wasn't a great experience because it was, it was just something we were surprised about. We were so into it and there was so much standing around that we didn’t want to see it end when it did. We would have loved two hours of show or a comedy routine from Conan or sneak peaks at what he was going to do for the next couple of nights, but that was it.

Wait, we did say it was fun. The reasons why after the jump

Conan O'Brien Ticket Giveaway in S.F.

Jim — Tue, 01 May 2007 09:48:13 GMT

Adorable local newsbabe Laura Garcia-Cannon emcee'd a free VIP ticket drawing for the 50 or so people who showed up at 848 Battery yesterday morning. A good time was had by all in attendance. Two of the entrants debated whether the cardboard cutout, seen here staring plaintively into the camera, revealed a pants tent and, if so, whether the awkward-looking "bunch up" was arranged intentionally.

There will be more drawings this week, including a Special San Francisco Event on Wednesday, May 2nd. Another debate among the crowd was whether Conan would make a lunchtime appearance at the Event in S.F. on Wednesday. It's a little convoluted, so be sure to read the details carefully here. See you there!

Conan the Conquerer

Rain Jokinen — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:00:08 GMT

Did you get your tickets?

We are speaking, of course, about free tickets to "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" which will be taping a week of shows at the Orpheum Theater starting on Monday. So, seriously, did you get tickets? And if so, can you take us with you?

Actually, we will be going to one show, on Monday, when the guests will include Dana Carvey and the Arctic Monkeys. But man, we'd sure love to go to to Wednesday's show, which will feature Chris Isaak, George Lucas and Will Arnett. Or even better, Friday's, with Snoop Dogg and Tom Waits!

If you didn't get tickets, there's still some hope, although it might involve leaving your house.

Conan O'Brien Coming to San Francisco, Hopes For Appearance By Horny Manatee Rise

Rain Jokinen — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:40:48 GMT

What kind of San Francisco-centric guests would you like to see on the show, aside from the obvious Gavin and Jen pairing? When Letterman came to town way back in 1996 we were lucky enough to win some tickets, but for the life of us, we can't remember who the guests were that night, aside from Jeremiah Tower, and we only remember that because everyone in the audience got to sample some of his food...

We're Moving On Up

Jon — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:30:34 GMT

But that's all about to change because the idea of moving the California primary up to February is becoming more and more of a done deal.The reason is because for politicians in the state, supporters made it an offer nobody could refuse. Essentially they'll put a measure stretching out term limits so all the legislators now don't have to be worried about being termed out. Or those that are about to be termed out can get all of their reelection cards in order and run this year. There's enough time between February and June to get something together for the primaries.

The deal is so sweet that Arnie is throwing in his redistricting measure for good measure and everybody is so gaga over the whole term limit thing that they don't even care what Arnie's up to. Hell, Arnie could wear make it so that he's allowed to wear his costume from Conan the Barbarian and be served by scantily clad women wearing sheet metal and the legislature wouldn't care.

And speaking of Arnie, there's an extra benefit to him. Rumors are flying that the reason he's in favor of it is because that term limit thing applies to him too. It's entirely possible he could use these laws to his benefit and run for a third time. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

You want to know what's scary about all of this? According to MSNBC this morning, if California moves their primary to February, Iowa and New Hampshire might move theirs up to late 2007. Which means we'll have to move our primary up to get closer to Iowa and New Hampshire which will make them move theirs up earlier and the next thing you know, we'll be voting all of this in June.

The Mysterious, Scientific, and Theatrical Adventures of the Superfisters

Matt Baume — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 12:49:18 GMT

And then there's "Frank Ironwine," by Warren Ellis and Carla Speed McNeil. Warren certainly does seem to like writing about gritty, flawed characters who have nothing left to lose and are willing to place everything on the line, which is exactly what the titular hero of the series does. A raging drunk and a brilliant forensic detective, Frank Ironwine spends half of his time employing his incredible deductive powers to solve crime, and the other half drinking himself literally into a dumpster. Wheeeee. He's accompanied by a naive, by-the-books rookie who's got a lot to learn, but who stands her ground and dishes out the guff just as unflinchingly as the hero. It is mandatory that these two characters be placed together, due to the terms established at the Stockholm Convention for the Use of Stock Characters.