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Call Off Your Old Tired Eth-- Oh, For A Golden Shower I Charge $250, Baby

Brock Keeling — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:40:24 GMT

The Mayor shot down the legislation. saying that "legalization of prostitution would be a terrible mistake," because of...bad stuff happening around security gates, or security cameras, or something like that. He does mention that reducing police concentration on tricking would "further the prospects that that will continue." A valid possibility. But Jake McGoldrick's argument claims just the opposite will happens. Another valid possibility.

Obviously it's a complicated issue (with sexy results!) Overly complicated City Hall politicking aside, we're not exactly sure why Newsom isn't down for a reduced police effort when it comes to ho'ing; it's not going anywhere anytime soon. But ultimately, being soft on whoredom doesn't look good on the Gav's record. In case, you know, he has plans for any future campaigning outside the left-leaning Bay Area. Hard, as always, is always best when it comes to any sexually-laced issue. [rimshot]

(Oh, and speaking of the Examiner article cited above, did you know that there's a Middle Polk neighborhood? You did? Well, we didn't.)

New Tunes Tuesday #13

Spencer Williams — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:45:00 GMT

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar.

Trying to decide what to feature this week was rough. Our choices were slim to none, ranging from the Wu Tang Clan to Bow Wow/Omarion; we just weren't feeling it. Then, we were checking one of our favorite blogs, Stereogum and we came across Vampire Weekend's new song, "I Stand Corrected." We got all excited since we're still reeling from last week's entertaining concert but after listening to the new track, we weren't impressed and considered it a bit dull (see above).

This week there aren't any stand-outs or even anything that should be featured. A few Christmas singles were released - most notably, Katharine McPhee's "O Come All Ye Faithful," and Maroon 5's "Happy Xmas (War is Over"). But, even those singles were unfortunately unimpressive and ultimately boring.

The only fun thing that came out of today's music industry was iTune's "Best Of" lists: Best of 2007 - Top Sellers, Best of 2007 - TV, and the most interesting, Best of 2007 - Editor's [Music] Choice which was broken down into "Best Albums", "Best Songs" and "Best New Artists".

Take the jump to check out the lists...

Video Games Live 2008

Spencer Williams — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:50:00 GMT

Now that we have that out of the way, gaming has become a huge part of culture and has even affected the music industry. Video Games Live 2008 merges the music and gaming industry together to create an entire evening of gaming music performed by a full orchestra with projected video footage, synchronized lighting, and on-stage interactive segments with the audience. The performance will be on Friday, February 22, 2008.

It will feature songs from:
Halo 3
BioShock
Starcraft II (exclusive preview!)
World of Warcraft
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
Conan
Chrono Cross
Final Fantasy
Castlevania

For a full press release, go here. Tickets for Video Games Live 2008 go on sale on Saturday, December 8th at 10am at www.livenation.com, ticketmaster outlets or charge by phone at 415-421-TIXS or 408-998-TIXS. Tickets are $65.00, $47.50 and $38.50 for reserved seating plus applicable charges (whatever that means).

SFist Photo: Testing Toys for Lead at Union Square

Jim — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:00:48 GMT

Would the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approve of today's event? Has this federal watchdog been co-opted by industry? Is the Center for Environmental Health a "bounty hunter" practicing "legal blackmail"? What about lead that's in most of the lipstick available for sale these days? You might put that right on your skin every day of course.

Think about that when you click to make the jump. See Bob's Big Boy getting irradiated plus plus an example of a toy that failed.

Week Around the -Ists

Brock Keeling — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:06:52 GMT

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits to his then-mistress (now wife) were billed to obscure city agencies - and how his wife used the NYPD like a taxi service. And on a final note, the New York Public Library faced some people (mostly Republicans) upset over an exhibit that includes mugshots of George Bush and his administration.

Big announcement for LAist this week: Editor Tony Pierce will be moving over to the LA Times to run all their blogs. Congratulations Mr. Pierce -- the -ist community is so proud! Other big news in Los Angeles came in the form of the unfortunate shooting of Rodney King (he's okay though). In books, dog whisperer Cesar Millan presented his book by signing only, disappointing some fans waiting to hear what he had to say and in the fine arts, they saw the most offensive Christmas show. They also found that Hollywood industry parties are a bust, that sex is safer in a Nevada brothel than on a Valley porn set and that G4TV's Olivia Munn is as wicked cool as we all hoped she would be. And what's December without the Best of 2007 lists? DJs from KCRW start it off.

Phillyist got some family dirt but survived it with the aid of a little wine. They also checked out a great model train display, saw green, and brightened some kids' holiday seasons.

Week Around the -Ists

Brock Keeling — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:00:00 GMT

This past week, Phillyist got a little naughty, snapped a few pictures of Bigfoot (or maybe it was just a skinny bear...), and sized up the Sixers (the short version? Maybe next year).

As the California wildfires calmed, LAist focused in on Halloween. They visited parties of all sorts and took pictures all over including celebrations in WeHo, the Hollywood Hills, in Museums (very fun costumes) and of course, with the Porn Industry. And remember Charlie Manson? Find out what's up with his children now. In sports, the big news is Joe Torre as the new Dodgers manager. And in Hollywood, the big news is the writers strike. Also, check out interviews with Richard M. Sherman (he wrote the score to Mary Poppins) and musician Joe Henry.

Conde Nast Traveller Says We SF Rules

Brock Keeling — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:45:29 GMT

Conde Nast Traveller Says We SF Rules">

Yay.

Sure, the only-in-SF tourism industry is an important part of our economy, or whatever. And not that we're complaining -- we have won the top spot for 17 of the past 18 years -- but these types of accolades make us feel that much closer to living in a sterile museum, not our home.

Catching Up with Former KTVU Anchor Leslie Griffith

Jim — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:36:15 GMT

(Don't go looking for this somewhat mean-spirited article online kids - it's been electronically dissappeared. Or rather, it does not appear where one would expect to find it on the any of the Internets. It must be tough to read an article like that when you are used to coverage like this)

So, then there was this whole Leslie Griffith Watch thing, and then she left the station. But not after expressing some disillusionment with the state of the broadcast news industry, as ably recorded by the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club.

O.K. then. But now it's "balls to the wall time" for her fellow Texan Dan Rather, so she penned a rousing column that got picked up on the Huffington Post. Details after the jump

Bluepulse CEO Ben Keighran Brings Us Out Of The Stone Age

SFist Jer — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:29:31 GMT

Bluepulse, which recently acquired $6 million in funding, is all about mobility: it's a phone-based social network of more than 2 million people in 150 countries. It's accessed via software on your phone that allows, amongst other things, messaging, video/picture sharing, and Internet content. We weren't sure what separates it from the variety of social networking apps out there, but Keighran himself cleared it up in an e-mail interview -- and answered some other questions as well.

1) You work in Silicon Valley yet live in San Francisco. Why's the valley good for Bluepulse, but the city's good for Ben?
The Bluepulse team is mainly engineers right now but we also need to attract great business people. We felt that by setting the company up in San Mateo, we would be able to attract people living in the South Bay, which seems to be more the engineering folk, as well as people from San Francisco, which seems to be more often than not, business people. So far it’s been a great decision for us to set up shop in San Mateo.

I personally chose to live in San Francisco because I am very much a city guy. In Australia, I grew up in the city of Sydney and it is just the sort of lifestyle that I enjoy. Culturally San Francisco is really similar to Sydney and San Francisco has the added benefit that lots of people are in the technology industry and therefore there are lots of people I have things in common with. I love San Francisco and have started calling it home. But I haven’t lost my Australian accent…yet.

The deal with bluepulse vs. other social networking and who it's meant for after the jump

Ignatz Award Nomination For SFist Favorite 'Minty' Lewis' P.S. Comics

SFist Jer — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:45:31 GMT

Even though he defected to Los Angeles, we were tickled when local fave Keith Knight took home a Harvey Award. Now another Bay Area sequential artist is up for a prestigious comics industry award. Melanie "Minty" Lewis was nominated for an Ignatz Award for her P.S. Comics #3, a book we bought at this years' Alternative Press Expo and totally loved.

The winners will be named at the Small Press Expo (SPX), a Bethesda, MD-based event taking place in October. According to the event's Web site :

"The Ignatz Awards, named for the character in the classic comic strip Krazy Kat by George Herriman, is a festival prize that recognizes outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. The ballot is created by a panel of five cartoonists and is then voted on by the attendees at the event. This offers a unique reflection of the views the professionals and their fans."

Lewis admitted to us that she's "up against some strong contenders." Well, true, but even if she doesn't win, we're hoping this'll give her mini-comics -- and storytelling skills -- a much deserved publicity boost. Good luck!

Lewis and her "Fruit Pals"; photo by SFist Jer from Alternative Press Expo '07

We Have a Weiner!

Jon — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:10:17 GMT

So why Brooklyn? Well, it's a little bit of a non-sequitor and we like non sequiturs. Also, because baseball is about tradition and the passing of baseball lore from father to son and SFist's father grew up a fan of Dem Bums, going to games with his father at Ebbets Field. As a result, SFist spent much of their childhood hearing stories about the Duke, Pee Wee, and Preacher Roe (God, whatever happened to all those awesome baseball names?). It also reminds people that while a veritable cottage industry has grown up memorializing the Brooklyn Dodgers, the same doesn’t exist about the moving of the Giants from the Polo Grounds. The Dodgers and Peter O'Malley are still cursed to this day in Brooklyn for breaking everyone in one of the five boroughs' hearts. The name, then, is a constant reminder of the Dodgers Original Sin, their Scarlet A as it were. And finally, it's because it's the name of one of Posh & Beck's kids. Whatever that's worth.

So congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who played. Oh, and Beat LA!

Inauspicious Virgin Flight For New Branson Venture

SFist Jer — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:33:39 GMT

Oh, sweet irony.

Citing reasons to get into the airline game, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin fame said, "the American airline industry is abysmal."

That may be true, sir, but it looks like not even Sir Richard's new venture is immune to, you know, reality.

Very first flight = delayed.

The flight, coming from New York, was supposed to arrive at SFO simultaneously with a flight from Los Angeles in a big, staged scene on twin runways. Always a flair for the dramatic with this guy.

We're not superstitious, but if we were we might think this an unfortunate beginning to a venture.

Today is launch day for Virgin America Airlines, which will call SFO its home base and try to compete on the basis of low fares and high service.

Bottled Water Mad At Mayor

Brock Keeling — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:25:31 GMT

Many believe that what it takes to produce, distribute, and recycle water bottles is wasteful when you think about all that fine drinking water that’s there for the taking from Hetch Hetchy. Joe Doss ...

Kangaroo-Based Shoes (and More) Banned...for Now

Brock Keeling — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:22:38 GMT

Viva (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) filed the suit against the makers of the aggressively-colored sports shoes, claiming that they "oppose kangaroo products because...hunters mistakenly shoot endangered species" while going after the little hoppers. All of this just so your little twerp can score a goal and bring a Saturday morning victory to the Yellow Jackets! How bad you must feel.

Anyway, what with all of this controversy, we suddenly feel that we simply must have something with kangaroo skin hanging in our closet come fall season. Huh.

Cartoon kangaroo by Brian Lemay.

'In Vino Veritas' -- And Sometimes Other Stuff: SFist Alum Writes About 'Fruit Wine'

SFist Jer — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:32:54 GMT

Derrick Schneider has an excellent food-focused blog called "Obsession With Food." He also wrote for SFist regularly for quite a long time, most notably his still-popular SFist in the Kitchen series.

So of course we were very pleased to see that he wrote an article appearing in the Wine Section of today's Chron. He writes all about "fruit wine," or wine made with fruit other than grapes.

We personally tried some "fruit wine" a number of years ago -- pineapple wine, a sickeningly-sweet concoction peddled to visitors in Hawaii. The article addresses those with our experience straight away, saying "fruit wine has never captured any foodie fans, perhaps because so many are off-balance and overly sweet. The best have a refreshing and intense fruit flavor and a low alcohol level that begs to be enjoyed on a hot summer day on a picnic blanket or a deck table."

Well, Derrick, when you put it like that . . . it sounds like we may not have had the best example of a non-grape wine. He continues with the history behind fruit wine, what the industry for it is like today, and some of the reasons it hasn't quite taken off -- technical (sugar levels, different enzymes than grapes), legal (vintage dating's not allowed), and other (many consumers had bad experiences; there's a lack of books or other reference on technique).

The piece finishes out with a list of some of the options available to consumers in specialty stores. We're thinking "rhubarb" sounds enticing. We'll definitely give fruit wine another shot.

Mostly because of this well-written article. And that's the truth. Nice job, Derrick!