On Tuesday, a promising new social media thingamajig will go live in San Francisco, one that set you and several of your followers or friends up on a date. It's called Grouper and it works like this: Grouper is an invite-only social club pairing up two groups of three friends (3 guys and 3 girls, or 3 guys and 3 guys, etc.) from Facebook, and sets them up for drinks at a venue around the city. They use a criteria of age, sexual orientation, educational background, and careers to screen potential matches, and the pairing can take anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks to configure. Furthermore, you should totally do this! Summer is coming and you could use more friends. And maybe even a lover. more ›

(By D. Hanousek) After changing park benches three times over the weekend, I realized that I have a confession to make. I don’t want to be your friend. Sure, we both have kids and we both live in the city. And, whaddya know, our kids like to play in playgrounds, too. But, check it out: any communication beyond a nod or a friendly smile "hello" is not necessary. In fact, if I may be candid, it's simply unwelcome. more ›

Oh, this is just plain mean. A woman had her passenger and friend carjack her while driving in the Mission late last night near the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Shotwell streets. "The victim, an 18-year-old woman, is friends with the suspect and the pair were driving in the woman's car, a 2005 gold Chevrolet Malibu," reports SF Appeal. "When the woman pulled over during the argument, the suspect forced her out of the vehicle and into the street, then got into the driver's seat and drove away." more ›

Good news! Tito, Twinkle Toes and Sage have all found good hoomes. And the SPCA, we're told, saw a spike in visitors over the last two weeks due in part to "Adoptable Pets Of The Week." That, and because SFist readers are all kinds of awesome. Thanks, guys. more ›

We interrupt your holiday frivolity, wild binge drinking, and high stress levels to bring you the following event: more ›

Seems like all our friends are getting sick with that weird cold/flu that's going around town -- what with the cold weather and pre-holiday stress, we guess we're not too surprised about it, but still. more ›

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure? more ›

A photo of the FiDi at night with holiday lighting more ›

We were in the Upper Haight last night, walking with friends along the street to the Magnolia for a late-ish dinner. We walked past a small group of punk-ish kids sitting on the street with a "give us some money [insert ironic saying here]" sign. They were talking with a guy who was standing there with a beautiful husky dog on a leash. We'll repeat - that dog was gorgeous. more ›

Sorry for the day late post, but it was a hectic weekend, and we just couldn't bear having to recount the tragedy that was this week's "Project Runway" without at least one good night's sleep behind us. more ›

It seems the world of dating has moved beyond breaking up on post-its into the new world of breaking up via Facebook status. That's rough. Breakups are hard enough to go through without spreading the news in front of all your virtual friends. more ›

SFist interviews Brian Regan more ›

Well, this certainly rocks. Gina Pell, Internet-y type and founder of Splendora, just started a brand spanking new non-profit, Care Through Action. And their first event, happening next Wednesday, is a fundraiser for Darfur victims. The benefit will be held at Frisson (mmm!), and there will be an exhibition of photographs by noted photographer, Alissa Everett. And sure, a few of you might find the dinner a bit on the pricey side (at $200 -- not bad at all, really), but the cocktail reception that follows is a scant $25 (the price of a cab ride from the O.R. to downtown SF!) Plus, all proceeds (after costs) will go to Friends of the World Food Program, which will benefit suffering peeps in Darfur. more ›

After reading this, we were fit to be tied. more ›

Yup, "the Paris of the West". It's a phrase that's been liberally applied to our fair city, perhaps most notably when the mayor of the Paris of, um, "France", arrived in San Francisco last November to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our "Sister Cities" agreement. more ›

Monica Lewinsky's interest level in working for SF city government just went up a notch, as the SF Board of Supes overwhelmingly voted down Chris Daly's proposal to ban office affairs between supervisors and supervisees. (No, not affairs with supervisors like Chris Daly is a supervisor, affairs with supervisors like your boss. We could probably get a proposition on the ballot barring affairs between the San Francisco Supervisors and their constituents, though -- because, come on, ew.) more ›

So are we! more ›

This is the story behind the best egg nog--and the best egg nog traditions to accompany it. more ›

Intimated by Martha Stewart? Of course you are. But Apartment Therapy has a nice round up of Thanksgiving Table settings they found on Flickr. These are worth browsing for some last minute inspiration. more ›

Many, many people want to know just what, pray tell, goes on inside the mind of Barry Bonds. Or maybe just a handful do. Who's to say? And much like the fog-laced hills of San Francisco, he is a complicated man of mystery. Or perhaps he's just a greedy, self-centered prick. (Deep down, who isn't? And remember, some people strongly defend the guy, like ESPN's Jemele Hill did just today.) Again, who's to say?... more ›

After paying up last year for disclosure violations, Senator Carole Migden is once again under investigation for not disclosing or itemizing credit card charges that total $397,000. According to the LA Times, she faces $60,000 in administrative fines if she's in breach, our Miss Migden has investigators looking all up in her credit card charging for over the past seven years. Yikes. The main cause of concern for not keeping tidy books is that... more ›

Tonight, for one night only, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be featuring two sneak previews of Dirty Country, a highly entertaining documentary about the underground world of raunchy music, directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, founders and hosts of the Found Footage Festival, which sold out four shows at the Red Vic last month. Dirty Country, which won the Audience Award at this year's South By Southwest, is part of Yerba... more ›

The gentlemen at Valleywag have footage of this week's all-YouTube episode of Oprah. (Et tu, Oprah?) Steve Chen and Chad Hurley tell the now famous story about their company's conception. It seems, according to them, that during a SF dinner party at Chen's "friends filmed each other with videocameras (!), and then realized the videos were hard to share." Then like magic -- poof! -- YouTube came about, turning a voyeuristic dinner host into a multigazillionaire. more ›

SFist interviews local band Social Studies. They rock. more ›

Three boys -- possibly ruining their lives at the wee ages of 15, 16, and 17 -- were arrested yesterday, all of then booked on suspicion of murder. The fuzz believes that the three of them were among the five boys who tried robbing a group of friends hanging out at Washington Park in Alameda, killing one of them. "One of the assailants fired several shots in the air and then shot Ichinkhorloo in... more ›

Today, a little before noon, a suicide attempt occurred at Hastings Law School. We received the information via our Contribute section (which, by all means, do) and from Introducing Ashley. (Aw) She reports that a "female student had attempted to jump from the 21st floor. Luckily, her friends and local police were able to talk her back inside." more ›

If you remember way back last week, 15-year-old Ichinkhorloo Bayarsaikhan was shot and killed at Washington Park during a botched robbery attempt while kicking it with some friends. The group of boys responsible for her shooting escaped on a bus, but now it seems that some or all of them have been caught. We'll update in the arrests when we know more. more ›

"Let us be careful, my darling Dianne. My wife has killed former lovers and friends in the past who have betrayed her. I cannot bear to think what she'll do to you. We must keep this a secret. Between you and me. Us." more ›

Last night at Washington Park in Alameda, a 15-year-old girl was shot and killed in a robbery. According to the the Chron, "the girl was with about 10 friends when five or six teenage boys whom they didn't recognize approached them." One of the guys in the approaching gaggle shot five shots into the air, and then one in her back. She was pronounced dead at Highland Hospital in Oakland. No arrests have been made in connection with her murder. (Don't they draw the bridges, or something like that, when a serious crime happens on the island?) more ›

SFist interviews Bobby of Monster Bobby who is opening for the Pipettes tonight' at Bimbo's more ›