It's almost Academy Awards® time and whether or not the writers will still be on strike, it seems that each year the movies are less and less relevant to the show itself. Between the Valentino dresses, Armani suits and pregger rumors, we feel Oscar® (or at least media coverage) has lost its focus. Enter Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International and their Indie Movie-loving glory: they're teaming to showcase this year's Academy Award nominated short......

-- Aimee Mann's Second Annual Christmas Show: Paul F. Tompkins, Sean Hayes, Chuck Prophet, and Morgan Murphy join the delightfully blond songstress for a night of holiday warm fuzzies. Because X-Mas is coming and there's no way around it, come catch this wonderful singer/songwriter during the, um, recording-a-holiday-album period of her career. Show starts at 8 p.m. at Bimbo's 365; $35.50. -- Margot at the Wedding: Fantastic movie. Just great. And whatever. It totally......

The International Animation Festival starts tonight, kids. And speaking of them, don't bring yours to tomorrow night's wonderfully smut-filled orgy of animated shorts, Top Drawers. What's more, one lucky soul will get a free pair of tickets to tomorrow night's screening. You will have the chance to see such "playful, sexy shorts" as Signe Baumane's Teat Beat of Sex and Kelly Sears's Drift. So, the fifth person to send us an email to editor......

Hey, wanna see The Ten? No, not the LA freeway, a movie of ten short films illustrating each of the Ten Commandments, featuring such of-the-moment actors as Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd (yay!), Adam Brody (pictured above; we have no idea what commandment it illustrates but the picture's funny), and The Daily Show's Rob Corddry, among many, many others, and directed by the guy who directed Wet Hot American Summer. Well, you can if you......

Wednesday nights at the Beauty Bar features Hip-hop and Dancehall at "Flavor in Ya Ear." Come for the music, stay for the $2 Cuervo shots and $3 rum-and-cokes, and leave nauseous. 'Indie' more your thang? It's DIY DJ night, "Indie Circus," at the Hush Hush -- bring a CD or an iPod and spend fifteen minutes looking for something besides the Bloc Party and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah that everyone else also thought......

SFist welcomes some new members of the family -- in English and in French (anybody want to contribute in Mandarin?). Oh, and Rehab the Crab! This is what happens when you introduce a conservative political columnist to postmodern critical theory. Though we admit, even we have a few pet conspiracy theories. Gerardo Sandoval owes Duane Baughman $15,000 -- a little more than a month's pay if he were the Assessor Recorder and made as......

Today is Bastille day, the anniversary of the French revolution of 1789 and France's 4th of July. Except in San Francisco, where it is Embarcadero Center Cinema Day, as declared by the mayor. Thanks for nothing, Gavin, next time you guys have a revolution, Lafayette will stay home. Anyhow, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate: Parisist has opened for business this week, and in all likelyhood, Lance Armstrong will finish today's Tour de France......

No word yet on if they'll be suspending mail delivery or if we don't have to go to work tomorrow, but July 14, 2005 has been declared "Embarcadero Center Cinema" Day in San Francisco by your Mayor Gavin Newsom. The theater is turning 10 years old (appropriate gifts for this age might include a Choose Your Own Adventure book or a science set) this year (hence the holiday), and for only 15 bucks you......