Fleet Week kicked off in our eyes and ears yesterday as the Blue Angels took to the skies to practice for the weekend air show. (They will rehearse again today from noon until 4 p.m.) Here are some shots from Thursday's practice sessions. more ›

Before you head out to watch the Blue Angels tear up the skies this weekend for Fleet Week, the zippy hellions above will perform practice exercises on Thursday (from 1 to 5 p.m.) and Friday (from noon to 4:30). Expect loud rumblings and wooshing above while you're at work or at play. (Keep your cats and/or dogs indoors too, if you can help it, as the bombastic sounds tend to frighten them.) more ›

Street performers during Fleet Week. Photo by Σταύρος. more ›

A little airborne Viagra with your coffee, anyone? Here are a few shots from yesterday's practice aerial acrobatics. Fleet Week, for those of you who don't know, starts tomorrow. more ›

This was mentioned in Day Around the Bay, but it's so Inside Edition-y hot right now, we felt compelled to capture some of its momentum and give it its own post. Anyway, the above headline comes courtesy of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "That's the headline we'd be reading," says SFBG Editor Tim Redmond, "if one of the Navy stunt pilots had the same misfortune as the FA/18 pilot just did in San Diego." He goes on to point that this is something to think about come next year's Fleet Week air acrobatics. "If the supervisors decided not to invite the Navy precision flying team, they wouldn't come." Which: True. The tightness of those white Navy pants are exhilarating enough; however, others are livid that the crash is being used like this. But what say you? more ›

Photos from Fleet Week and what people are saying about the Navy and our Mayor more ›

Hey, everyone -- here are the semi-arbitrary Top 5 Comments of the Week. For this, our fourth week of doing it, we thought it'd be a swell idea to try it out in easy-to-access text form. See below for commenters whom SFist's editors thought raised the game, made us laugh, or were otherwise notable, and click through to read the actual comments as written. more ›

Last year, we wrote in praise of Fleet Week, mainly because of those nifty Blue Angels who do those stunts high on up in the sky. We might love them (well, not all of us) but other people don't like them primarily for the reason that they could be quite dangerous, especially when they fly over the city. But surely you jest, said supporters, those things never crash! Oh, but they do. more ›

If you happen to be walking down the street this week and hear this sonic boom over your head and the street rumble, it's not the Kin Jong Il finally launching one of his Dong Rockets, it's just that time of the year again, Fleet Week. This year featuring, once again, the Blue Angels. more ›

Like the band Semisonic says, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." So what new beginnings and other beginnings' ends did we see this week? Well, we ushered in the the atomic age, for one. And the end of the Bay Area's AL and NL baseball seasons. The man who made the doggie diner head has passed on. Fleet Week came and went. Say goodbye to tuna melts, Ross Mirkarimi! Say goodbye to dignity, Ron Chun! In new beginnings, though -- welcome to our ombudsman's new gig as our East Bay correspondent! And the Real World will be filming a new season in SF. Welcome to Daily Show stardom, Tom Ammiano! Welcome back, Keplers! And SFist Jackson introduces a new column -- the Bay Area Blog Pulse. Say goodbye to the old week -- say hello to the new. more ›

We sympathize with you. We too get completely freaked out whenever we hear the unexpected roar of jets passing over the City. We go into panic mode and run to the windows expecting the worst. But the key word there is "unexpected." For when we KNOW that the air is going to be filled with flashy jets, well, we get excited. Indeed, there are those of us who actually love the sounds of those powerful planes as they roar above--sometimes so close to our rooftops that we can see the pilots sleeping--uh, we mean waving. more ›

Here we are playing the old curmudgeon again -- but, seriously, we can't stand being buzzed by those super loud, super scary Blue Angels as they practice their feats of derring-do around the oversized office bulding we work in. Last year we were spared their scare tactics, as they didn't come around for Fleet Week. This year, it looks as though we'll be hiding under our desk again every time they thunder by, just like we did in 2003. more ›

If Columbus Day weekend's coming up, so is SF's tribute to the navy for Fleet Week! more ›

Blue Angels dis SF for Fleet Week. more ›