First off, we are not gamers. Our Mom decided, at a very young age, that gaming was evil and for the lazy. (Wtf! Right?) We've tried several times to get into it but it seems now that everyone can kick our ass. We hate losing, so we refrain to play but really it's all our Mom's fault. Damn you, parents. Now that we have that out of the way, gaming has become a huge......

Walking on stage dressed in school boy suits, that would suggest that these five band members are in Harry Potter's entourage, we suddenly knew we were in for something special. The colors of their suits, black and white, did not match with their in-your-face, loud, rock-star sound. Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn), the drummer, took the stage first. With his face, but mostly his eyes (Tyra Banks would be proud), Dangerous would look at different spots......

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Standouts: 1. Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Vol 1 & 2: The juxtaposition of fire and water is felt on these two separate EP's that Thrice entitles, "The Alchemy Index." Thrice's investigation into nature doesn't stop with Volumes I & II - they'll continue on with Volumes III & IV in Spring of 2008. Pushing their musical boundaries, Volume I......

Here's todays sports news...

KGO7's Dan Noyes has it that cocaine-and-booze-free Ruby Tourk has already written two chapters of a hopefully-soon-to-be-published self-help book, which will detail her “‘hitting rock bottom with Newsom after 20 years of alcoholism and coke use.’” As you remember, while married to Gavin Newsom’s former campaign manager and best buddy, Alex Tourk, Ruby was also Newsom’s party pit-stop for a spell. (And there’s the most darling Facebook picture of her tapping away at her......

SFist Wendy skips Harry Potter for the SF Jewish Film Fest! Who woulda thought. . . . we weren’t the only ones not completely immersed in isolation with the final Harry Potter book this weekend... although we did see a couple books neatly tucked under the seats at the Castro Theater on Saturday at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. If you weren’t there, well, then you missed out on a couple of good romantic......

Here's todays sports news...

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Photo of costumed teens posing happily with their new books. These guys were great. They'd never heard of SFist before, so we skipped the questions about Ed Jew and recent shenanigans on the J-Church. We hate lines and we shy away from new things -- we're definitely a second- or third-generation adopter for tech, and a wait-for-the-paperback guy for books. But we guess this Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows turned things sideways. We......

-- 4.2 tremor slightly moves the Bay Area, donuts. [Chron, Yahoo, Examiner, FCJ] -- Ron Russell on Chron business writer David Lazarus' new LA Times gig. [The Snitch] -- One Rincon Hill tops off. [KGO] -- Cal swim coach/Olympic gold medalist gets job back, $3.5 million in gender-discrimination lawsuit. [Chron] -- Antioch police accused of racism. [Courage Campaign] -- Final Harry Potter installment arrives tomorrow; controversy surrounding spoilers today. [Valleywag] -- Seagulls still reigning......

Photo of Harry Potter translations at the Main Public...

Here's todays sports news...

Photos of the Harry Potter's Knight Bus in Civic Center...

OK, we didn't actually attend the premier last night. But we were at the Metreon to check out the travesty of The Transformers, and we were right next to the line for the midnight showing of the 3-D IMAX Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As you can see above, it was a mob scene....

Just in case you think baseball is the only thing going on in this city right now, it most certainly is not. The latest Harry Potter franchise will hit you soon and hard. And we thought it would be imperative to point out an alternative and Potter-related event for the kiddies -- especially for your little blessings who, say, can't catch a ball, if you know what we're saying. Anyway, check it: The purple......

Part of the flock of our famous red-masked parakeets flying above Telegraph Hill. By now, we're sure that you've heard of the San Francisco Board of Supervisor's vote to ban feeding these very cute wild parrots in Ferry Park and everywhere else in the city. It was national news last week. What you might have missed over the weekend was Chronicle photographer Frederic Larson's short video that really shows what it's like see these animals......

Pick your poison -- it's either flyering for Gavin Newsom or going to the Progressive Convention this afternoon. If politics isn't your game, here's some other options for today and tonight: --The Manga show's opened at the Asian Art Museum! Featuring the art of Astroboy! Check out the blog, and check out the show. 200 Larkin Street, $12, 10-5. --Bring a radio and come to a Southern Exposure artists' walking/radio broadcast narrative tour of 20th......

"I love that word 'relationship'. Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship. A relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that." - Hugh Grant, as Prime Minister, in Love Actually ...

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. ...

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not just tooting our horn when we say we think SFist summed up the whole thing better than anyone: Holy Crap!!!!! ...

In your Non-Gavin news.... -About 500 people walked around the city counting Homeless people last night. -Mirkarimi doesn't want any more liquor stores to open up in Lower Haight. -Caltrans to send transportation bond money to rural areas and less money our way. -Boy who was first thought of as a suspect, then a victim of recent shootings at the Hayward BART station, now under arrest for assault and gun charges. -Berkeley is about to......

Two small plane crashes -- one into a tank of raw sewage in Gilroy, and another onto Highway 4 in Contra Costa County. The Highway 4 crash involved a pilot who misjudged the location of the landing runway in the low cloud cover Thursday, and tied up traffic for miles. They're still investigating the Gilroy crash; investigators got a later start because they had to drain and disinfect the tank before it was safe to......

Attempting to recall who it was that said obsession wasn't cute, SFist Nico, your Barrespondent-on-the-scene, gets his answer tenfold this week. Knowing very little about why people obsess over the things they do, this tongue-thick reporter believes the owl isn't a bad choice when you come right down to it. We've always had a bit of thing for the wide-eyed, rat-eating, bird of prey. Maybe it's because of the old Tootsie Roll Pop mascot (three......

Okay, let's get the premise of this band over quickly, and with a minimum of references to Hufflepuff badgers and flying Bludger balls -- the band Harry and the Potters is made up of two brothers, one of whom calls himself Harry Year 7 and the other of whom is Harry Year 4. They write original songs all based on the Harry Potter universe, like "Save Ginny Weasley From Dean Thomas," "The Missing Arm of......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express. The man who invented the suction-cup Garfield was defrauded by a friend. A civilly-disobedient city of Walnut Creek refuses to sign a California state loyalty oath, and can't get paid. Cover article: Michael Savage. The title "Savage Hate" is pretty good. Cat show this weekend. SF Jewish Film Fest. I Like Eating satisfies as always, at the second brewpub in California, and the new food critic checks out......

Folks, you've just gotta learn to let it go: today's fourth-runner-up in the Great SFist Blotter Crime News Gathering (i.e., a frantic search of all the area news sites to find something interesting and not too morbid for your Tuesday or Friday am light reading) was the man found mysteriously dead at home. As it started out, Donald Frailey, a 66-year-old man in Woodside, had called 911 yesterday to report a beating and carjacking. When the cops raced to his house, he was already dead. However, he had no blood or bruising on his body. Weird! We were like, "OMG, this is just like the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! He was Avada Kedavraed! Lord You-Know-Who walks the earth again!" Then we found the story about the San Mateo woman with Alzheimers and put her in today's blotter instead. So later this morning, the Woodside cops announce that they've figured it out. Turns out Frailey had been involved in a road rage incident earlier that morning. A guy driving behind him (who he knew) was trying to pass him on Skyline Blvd., and Frailey kept speeding up. After the other driver cut in front, he claims Frailey then tailgated him. They pulled over, words were exchanged, and then the other driver grabbed Frailey's keys and threw them in the bushes. The electrician hasn't been charged with any crime (yet). The police think Frailey must have then walked the three miles home, and suffered a heart attack from the stress. Poignantly, the cops found a spare car key underneath the chair on which they found Frailey's body slumped. Well, on the bright side, at least it's not Lord You-Know-Who. Picture from Autobytel.com...

Oh man we're psyched about the holiday weekend, which begins for us in about 10 minutes! We have a few online reserves to pick up (can you believe that we haven't read the new Harry Potter yet?), and some recently purchased (from our fine local independent bookstores, of course) books beckon. How about you? Any plans to read over the holidays? Let us know in the comments! SFist Jer is back to reading his......

Sure, we're interested in the new Harry Potter, but are anxious about going to see it in the theater, for the reasons SFist Jon and our wonderful commenters laid out here. Have you gone to see it already? How was the crowd? Any tips or insights you have would be welcomed in the comments. Even for those of us living Potter-free there are still a lot of interesting options this weekend. For example, the......

So often, when folks ask us what we're reading, we want to respond "The Internet". Seriously, we read online all damn day, it's amazing we are able to squeeze in words on paper, too! We can marry our love of the internet and books with the San Francisco Public Library's online reserve system, but it's also nice to get out there int he mix and thumb through the offerings at one of our fine......

Our heart sank when we saw that we were number 664 on the online reserve list for the new Harry Potter, so we were especially happy to receive Jon's detailed (and blessedly spoiler-free) assessment of the book. We told ourselves that we wouldn't break down and buy it (though if we did we would do so at one of our fine local independent bookstores) Until then, we've reserved Jeremy's pick below, which is already......