SFist interviews artist Misako Inaoka...

Things are hopping on Friday nights at the de Young...

Gavin Newsom began his second term as mayor of San Francisco this morning ...

Pedaling through Golden Gate Park the other day, we noticed the conspicuous absence of the giant purple half-head that has graced a lawn near the deYoung for a few months. We had all kinds of mean things to say about the head (adolescent pseudo-profundity, like something constructed for a Led Zeppelin album cover), but on the other hand, we smoked enough pot in high school to think, hey, awesome, a giant half-buried purple head with a 1000-yard stare!...

The violent melodrama characterizing the recent murder of a journalist investigating "Your Black Muslim Bakery" has conjured the entire Bay Area history of political violence into our memories. Dan White, James P. Casey, David S. Terry... the list is long and impressive. The anniversary of one of our bloodier favorites is coming up this Thursday -- it's hard to believe that a mere 128 years have passed since the editor of the San Francisco......

Hiroshi Sugimoto's show of giant photos at the de Young leaves S.F. soon...

Photo of a red fox in Golden Gate Park...

Yes, that's genuine North China Leopard fur on display over in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. These big cats are now so rare that the museum is mostly where you see 'em. The new exhibition Nan Kempner: American Chic at the de Young Museum is proving popular. You've probably missed the vintage couture sale of part of her wardrobe in New York but you can still see the best stuff of the original social X-ray......

its a big weekend folks! here's where to jumpstart your Pridealicious weekend: Still don't have a date to the tomorrow's Dyke March? Find the perfect lady at Fairy Butch! Speed dating at 8pm, followed by an erotic cabaret & dance party. $10-$20 sliding scale entry fee. at the Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. Head over the Fat City (used to be Studio Z) for Cockblock, queer dance party. Shake it like a polaroid picture......

Friday night at the de Young never looked so good! Get a sneak peek into the closet of Nan Kempner, San Francisco native turned famous New York socialite as part of an upcoming exhibition. Drink, socialize and check out the galleries, which stay open until 8:45. Also - fashion lecture at 7pm by Harold Koda, curator-in-charge of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Authors on Film - Always wondered what goes......

Here's what on tonight around the city - assuming you survive the Zombie Mob Invasion... Carnaval weekend in SF jumps off at the Great American Music Hall, with Sila and the Afro Funk Experience. Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Funk, Afro-Latin beats get the party going right, starting at 10 pm. Tickets are $18, 859 O'Farrell Street, SF. Emerging San Francisco fashion designs show off their wares at the De Young tonight.Designers Jasmin Zorlu, Gregory Sovik, Antonio Luna,......

This weekend is gonna be ginormous, with Bay to Breakers,the Maker Faire, the Prince and Bjork shows - so dive right on in with tonight's top picks: Party with Viv! and celebrate the Jolika Collection at the de Young. Experience the art of the Polynesian islands, from 5-8:45. Sample Kiwi wines from 6-8pm and stay to check out a live dance performance by a professional Maori dance company at 8. The Vivienne Westwood exhibit......

SFist Jenna enjoys leather seats, lots of legroom, and DirecTV for every passenger! Also -- those Teddy Bears are awesome. Don't feel like taking advantage of free first Tuesdays at the MOMA, De Young, Yerba Buena, Legion of Honor, Conservatory of Flowers or Asian Art Museum? Try these on for size. Bargain Alert! Wino Tuesdays: Head over to Levende Lounge for half-priced bottles of wine with dinner, 5-11pm with downtempo house with resident DJs.......

Our most sincere thank-yous to Socialite Rank for posting this photo of Victoria Traina. The first word that comes to mind is something our good friend passed along to us, from the New York Times Style magazine: ...

Some organization we've never heard of and could probably care the less about, the American Institute of Architects, put together a list of the Top 25 Bestest Buildings in San Francisco. Look for attendant show on VH-1 featuring snarky comments from Hal Sparks, Ian Michael Black, and Rachel Harris. ...

Tonight, there's music, Vivienne Westwood clothes, and film, for ten smackers? Or free if you are a museum member. Oh-la-la! Party with Viv (her work, she will be there in spirit only) at the de Young's exhibition spanning 36 years of her fashions. At 7 p.m., the film South Bank Show will screen. Corset lovers can admire and even try on some get ups created by Art Institute of SF students. de Young Museum,......

Socialite Rank awarded Victoria Traina "Chic of the Week" for the Christian Lacroix Haute Couture dress she wore to the opening of the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the de Young Museum. She also made Vogue's 10 Best Dressed this week on Style.com. Congrats, bitch! ...

We here at the SFist are big fans of all things fist-y, and when we heard about the De Young’s latest acquisition, appropriately titled Fist, we had to go see what it was all about. In short, the bronze sculpture by Surrealist artist Enrico Donati has to be about the fugliest thing we’ve ever seen. It’s big and green and has two very creepy glass eyes attached to it in a way that makes the......

The SFist offices are jazzed about the season finale of Project Runway tonight. Some of that is because this season was pretty lame compared to last, so we're just happy it's coming to a close and we can move on and forget. What we think would liven it all up would be better challenges, like this one: Take a box of donated thrift store clothes and make something beautiful out of them. Oh snap!......

When SFist Jackson announced, "Hey, I saw your BFF Dede today", we went scarlet (we don't wear green) with envy. When do we get OUR Dede Wilsey sighting? Taunting our jealousy, Jackson sent us this: In a black raincoat and brown Timberland boots, Dede Wilsey and squire looked bored and even a little uncomfortable while checking out the selection at Tsar Nicoulai Caviar in the Ferry Plaza on Sunday. Note to Dede -- kohl eyes......

If we didn't think calling in sick Thursday and Friday would attract unwanted attention, we'd totally do it so we could take in all the screenings at the Tribute to Leacock and Pennebaker festival running March 2−5 the Castro and the de Young Museum’s Koret Auditorium. Sure, we've seen a lot of these movies before, but never on the big screen. And the best part of all this -- all shows before 7:30 are......

Josh Wolf captures the one, the only Frank Chu on tape. Listen and learn, people. Harder to capture is reclusive local author Laura Albert JT LeRoy. Also at large is the motherf**ker who vandalized Farmer John's coastside teepee. A former Seattle Chief of Police writes a column in the LA Times about legalization. Split the difference and we arrive at San Francisco's general opinion. Speaking of libertarians, Cal Berkeley's Republican rag the California Patriot......

We have mixed emotions about Diane B. "Dede" Wilsey's pet cause, the new M. H. de Young Memorial Museum building. For years the antics surrounding that concourse -- museums moving, buildings being torn down, garages built -- have provided pages and pages of entertainment in the local press. More recently, the unfinished structure loomed darkly over John F. Kennedy drive like an aircraft carrier that somehow made it inland from Ocean Beach (and we're......

Let's take a look behind the scenes at the Gastronomique production studio. The question that we get all the time (email us your questions, comments, or suggestions here, btw, we want your input) is: how do you pick the places that you review? Well, that's easy: we read the free weeklies, and if a restaurant advertises with "grand opening" and "take 10% off your meal with this coupon," we are in. Consider Thai Chef,......