We'll do the partying and/or dying, so you don't have to.

Homebound denizens of San Francisco, the Bay Area, and the world at large. Our editor, Brock, will be coming at you live from the Castro all night. We'll bring you live reportage of the costumes, "unsanctioned gaiety," Dachau-like police state, public urination, and/or absolutely nothing happening at all whatsoever. Stay tuned.

10:45 Update: That's it. We're done here, folks. If there's a shooting or a Cher spotting, you'll have to read about it tomorrow. The Castro's lukewarm vibe has worn thin. Now we're off to Polk Street for some action! No, not really. We're actually heading to the St. Regis for Bloody Marys. Jealous? Don't be.

Thanks for reading! Now go to bed.

10:35 Update: Hot-Dog-on-a-Stick Girl has and will forever be a cool costume.

10:30 Update: There's some sort of commotion going on at the Castro MUNI station. Looks like some sort of dance off.

Also, Hot Cookie is open and crowd-free. Wish they had a Jell-o shot to spare. Alas.

10:25 Update: Did we mention that it's a bit of a police state at Castro and Market? Because it is. Our Orange County senses are tingling. Hard.

10:20 Update: No booze to be sipped, as of now. Starting to get the shakes. God help us.

Jump to the past, if you dare. Mwah ha ha!

You may know this area, as it's right by the cable car turnaround we send all the tourists to, right by the San Francisco Shopping Center, and right by the Powell Street BART and MUNI stop. (And the Forever 21, of course.) Oh, that's not going to make our visitors love us.

About six shots were fired, the gunman fled in the car, and the would-be victim was hit in the ankle.

Update: Okay, here's what the Chron has. The victim was shot at Turk and Mason (about half a block away), he staggered down Market, and collapsed by one of those chess tables, dripping blood down the sidewalk. Cops showed up within two minutes, an ambulance within five, and this all happened around 2 p.m.

We gobble the various food sections up each Wednesday. Here are our favorite nibbles from today's offerings.

SF Chronicle: Loca! Locals eat local, on a budget of about $10 a day. For one week. We are happy they used Rob & Debbie Morse as two of their experiment "subjects": her I'm Mad and I Eat blog is a hoot, and he is also a smart cookie. Get your fill of churros, those delectable deep fried sweet thangs.

The ads are for Target and from what we gather, feature semi-naked women. Good thing they were specifically designed so BART operators won't be distracted. If the ads are a success, BART will add it to other trains in hopes it could generate around $120,000 a year.

It'll be interesting to see if this new style ad goes over better than the smelly cookie idea from a few months back. We can't imagine anyone protest these kind of ads, but this being, San Francisco, you never know.

We got this forwarded to us in e-mail recently and it's kind of funny. Who doesn't love busting on people from the East Bay.

Mattel recently announced the release of the improved limited-edition Barbie dolls for the East Bay market:

"Walnut Creek Barbie"
This princess Barbie is sold only at the Broadway Plaza Mall. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.

ANYWAYS, let's take a look at all the big picture stuff out there, starting with the rumor that DiFi wanted Gavin to resign. This morning, the rumor was completly denied by DiFi's people. As to Gavin's political future, it appears other potential gubernatorial 2010 candidates are singing "oh, happy day" now that Newsom is busy self-destructing all over the place. Then there's the Republicans trying to add gas to the flames and blaming it all on Nancy Pelosi (see what happens when you elect Democrats into power-- straight people get caught having sex with people of the opposite sex as opposed to people having sex with pages). The fact that the Chron is even reporting that info is driving SFist Cedric out of his kitchen to rant about it.

As for the reaction, my, aren't we all a cynical bunch? Everybody seems to be thinking this whole thing is more PR than anything else. Maybe it's because, as a commenter said, rehab is the new black. Articles however from PR experts saying that it's the right PR move probably doesn't help nor does Ted Haggard suddenly coming out of rehab to announce he is straight again help (you can make your own jokes in the comment section below-- we're going to stay out of it). We would like to repeat the fact that Gavin's drinking has been a pretty open secret these past couple of years so maybe, just maybe, he really does need help.

Let's see, what else is there? Oh, all this is making Ken Garcia cranky again but he's always cranky. The Chron has the typical Man on the Street interviews but we've heard from good sources that most of those are written in a bar because they're such cookie cutter jobs that they can just make them up. There's also the always fun and exciting Two Cents thing which Gavinwatch says reminds them of a similar bit in the Onion. Man, that's our favorite part of the Onion. Beyond Chron, of all sites, actually praises Gavin for doing what he did and wishes that Gavin's supporters were strong enough to talk to him earlier about his problems.

If you want to good recap of the stories out there, our beloved Eve has a good wrap up on SFGate.

What's your favorite thing about them?
Collaborating with fantastic illustrators and artists to give people worthy alternatives to the cookie-cutter commercial widgets that permeate our culture.

What's on your holiday wish list?
Please sir, may I have some more Peace on Earth. But until that comes, an Xbox 360 would be nice, but I’m still happy playing through Marvel Ultimate Alliance on a borrowed Playstation.

What are you giving this year?
Video games, anime, comics, colorful shirts, and books of course.

We gobble the various food sections up each Wednesday. We feel especially in touch with our inner Cookie Monster after all that reading, and you'll see why. These are our favorite tidbits from today's offerings:

SF Chronicle Amanda Gold recommends using seasonal spices in baked desserts, including cookies. We really want to try the dreamy looking and sounding lemon layer cake with cranberry lemon curd, ooh la la!. Gold is also all about the (vegetable) oil rather than the fried foods cooked in said oil. Kids of all ages, look to that oil for true Hanukkah meaning. Olivia Wu welcomes back Chilean Sea Bass, sort of. Watch it! The Monterey Bay Aquarium's gives the controversial fish a big fat "avoid", since it may not be truly sustainable, just yet. That designation is under review by the Aquarium, with new results by February.

Have the agency folks ever tried waiting for a 14 Mission or 45 Union bus, or even done that routine lately? Itís never, ever about comfort, but maybe thatís the ad folks point. Perhaps their line of thinking is that people are hungry while they wait to go home or to work, (or even better, shopping!) so letís give them a sensory memory to drive up milk sales? In the City's bus shelters, there are usually only three hard seats available-- if any at all-- and the seats flip our butt out as soon as we move. We arenít the only ones who find these seats to be highly uncomfortable. Weíve witnessed folks of all sizes and ages (including our relatives on a recent visit) scooting and frowning as they sit. The bus shelters get especially crowded if itís raining, but thatís about the only time we feel like crowding in one and checking out the graffiti, scratched surfaces, gum and trash on the streets, along with errant cigarette butts. Sure, folks may be open to relaxing a little while they mull their MUNI woes, but aromatherapy sponsored by the California Milk Processor Board is probably not going to comfort us just yet.

SFist Mary Ladd contributing