Oops. A lady who staged a faux hanging from the roof of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco today "to protest human rights abuses in Tibet" was taken to a hospital after she buckled and plummeted. Nyendak Wangden, 22, of SF suffered non-life-threatening injuries.She was whisked away to a local hospital for treatment. Protesters at the consulate, however, claim her rope was cut. Today's protest comes two days before the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies. more ›

A small protest was held at City Hall yesterday by 400-plus pissed off Tibetan immigrants, honoring the 49th anniversary of Tibet's uprising against China, but also San Francisco's hosting of the Olympic torch. Just a preface of what will happen in the city next month, San Francisco will be the focus of a major protest since it's the only US city hosting the Olympic torch relay in the 2008 Beijing games. more ›

Congressman Tom Lantos died this morning from esophageal cancer at the age of 80. He represented most of the Sunset, as well as a big chunk of San Mateo County. He was the only survivor of the Holocaust to be elected to Congress, and worked for years on human rights issues. That said, he ticked off quite a few people locally by supporting the Iraq war, although he had recently been pretty critical of the way things were going Over There. Before he died, he endorsed State Sen. Jackie Speier as his successor - no word yet on whether the Governator will decide to hold a special election (that would be our fourth of the year if he does) to replace him. more ›

Oh Lord. Is this for real? more ›

La Vie En Rose (the Embarcadero) is a full course, all four food groups, soup and cocktails, dinner of a film. (It screened at the SFIFF, and we loved it then too!) And if you haven’t had your fill by the end of Olivier Dahan’s homage to the great Parisian icon Edith Piaf (breathtakingly portrayed by Marion Cotillard), you can always watch it again. more ›

At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday the 21st, the Film Arts Foundation is presenting a documentary on twenty years of the SF Graffiti scene, called Piece by Piece. more ›

Dang it, another year has gone by and we still haven't won a genius grant. However, three folks in the area are pleased as punch, having gotten the legendary call out of nowhere that they've won half a million dollars for just doing whatever it was that they were doing anyways. more ›

The battle over lap dances in strip clubs moved to the Entertainment Commission last Friday as they held an often contentious, standing-room-only hearing on the issue. During the meeting, strippers, err "exotic dancers," testified in front of the commission to say that the proposed new rules, that calling for the ending of private rooms and booths and it's possible ending of lap dancing, could impede their ability to make money. In our minds, the testimony was given like something out of "Hot for Teacher" in which the moment the dancer got up to the podium, they tore their clothes off to reveal slinky lingerie underneath, but we have a feeling things didn't happen that way (BTW, while searching for the "Hot For Teacher" clip we also stumbled upon a bootleg video of VH doing it live in an outdoor concert in 1984 and it is awesome). Oh well. Also testifying in support of the legislation were local Bay Area rappers who claimed that no more lap dances in strip clubs would hurt their ability to "be gangsta." more ›

Looking for a good cause to support? Everyone's favorite Mission art house theater, the Roxie, is hosting a special benefit tomorrow night (Sunday July 30) to raise funds to restore their marquee. more ›

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If there's one thing we love more than passing along days-old links to non-stories, it's laughing and pointing at people on the internets getting all riled up at perceived assaults on their freedom of expression. more ›

Oooh, we hope Gavin starts jumping up and down on Bruce Pettit's City Desk Newshour couch next! Matier and Ross report that Gavin, a tireless warrior for nookie, eagerly accepted an invitation from his latest conquest, CSI Miami actress Sofia Milos, for a trip to LA. A stay at the Chateau Marmont -- where he could see Jessica Simpson, also canoodling while waiting for her divorce to become final; maybe some strolling down Melrose, and then a benefit dinner for the "Citizens' Commission for Human Rights." Sounds great, right? A little work, a lotta play! Whoot-whoot! Well. It turns out Sofia Milos is a very active Scientologist. And the innocuously-named Citizens Commission for Human Rights? A Scientology-funded organization that advocates against the use of psychiatric drugs. You remember, the group that went after post-partumly depressed Brooke Shields. Oh, we get it now! This'll be great for the mentally ill homeless population -- Care Not Lithium! (what is it with our town and the Scientology medical controversies, anyways?) Aides pointed this out to Newsom. (It's not like they hide it or anything -- their website says that Kurt Cobain died from psychiatric drug use. Funny, we always thought Kurt Cobain died from a gunshot wound to the head.) Newsom was like, whatevs, and went anyway. That guy is desperate for love! Unrelated, but amusing, picture of Globetrotter Gavin at last year's March Gladness tournament. more ›

We've got quite a diversity of recommendations this week - from the politically conscious, to the "sick and twisted", to the, well, sick and twisted and Russian. Check it out! more ›

Reacting to criticism that the State Department voted against letting two gay rights groups into a United Nations panel, the State Department issued a statement last Friday denying that the vote was due to any sort of anti-gay bias. Instead, they did it because of a concern over pedophilia. more ›

Rather than give up the act, the JT Leroy crew clings desperately to the blonde wig and sunglasses look at Sundance. Stephanie Tanner from Full House is recovering from a meth addiction, which Dave Coulier could drive anyone to. Thomas Hawk pens an open letter to the folks who don't want any pictures taken of the On the Road manuscript. And if you've ever wanted a DJ Q-Bert plushie, now's your chance to buy one. more ›

The San Francisco Human Rights Commission has finished its investigation into the Castro bar Badlands, and concludes that yup, Badlands really was discriminating against African-Americans (.pdf) at the door. The HRC found that Badlands and its owner, Les Natali, would enforce a dress code and require multiple forms of ID, but only when an African-American tried to get into the bar. Badlands also refused to hire African-Americans, though once the complaint was filed, they hired more diverse employees. The group And Castro For All (formerly known as Is Badlands Bad) has been spearheading the investigation, and is dedicated to addressing issues of discrimination within the LGBT community. Since Badlands is not a city contractor, the city can't do anything with the findings, though the alcoholic beverages commission (drinks) and the entertainment licensing commission (dancing) are looking into whether Badlands' permits should be pulled. And Castro For All is also calling for a Badlands boycott. Badlands and Natali, through their attorney, claim that the findings are false and not supported by evidence (though numerous people have submitted statements about the admission policies and hiring practices). Picture of Badlands from bobmeyers.com more ›

Hey, remember how we were just babbling about how Equality California gets stuff done for gay Californians, while The Human Rights Campaign mostly sits around hosting overpriced tea parties? Yeah, well, EqCa just announced that The California State Conference of the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League are supporting equal marriage rights here in CA. That'll make a huge difference later this month, when the state assembly considers AB 19. The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act is sponsored by EqCa, and was written by local dreamboat Mark Leno. It's a huge deal that these other major civil rights orgs are getting on board with this marriage equality thing -- the ADL in particular has a great record of getting huffy at homophobes. more ›

Would you like to come over to our place for dinner? You would? Hey, that's great. It'll be $195 per head, please. more ›

The event is being hosted by the amazingly productive Equality California - just look at their busy event calendar! Do these folks ever sleep? Which reminds us - just what's the local chapter of the Human Rights Campaign up to these days? Oh, look, according to their website, their only upcoming event is a monthly cocktail hour at slimey-trendy Lime. Huh. Do these folks ever...do...anything? We're starting to feel less guilty about not contributing to the HRC this year. more ›

Well, we can only hope that someone with an appropriately ethical track record will take the helm. Oh, what's that? Who's taking over? The former president of the RIAA? The woman who oversaw the start of lawsuits against filesharers? Oh. Never mind. more ›

roundup of the Bay Area weeklies more ›