Here's a roundup of sports news...

Now that donuts have made a return to Bay Area coffee houses--minus its exhausting Homer Simpsonesque, white-trash irony--you can find the preferable pastries at places like Ritual Coffee Roasters (vegan! and actually good!), Seattle's Best at Border's Books & Music (double-glazed), and even Starbucks (plasticky). With the return of the donut comes the return of the brewed coffee. At least, according to today's New York Times, which profiles the Blue Bottle Cafe, scheduled to......

Tickets, tickets, anyone want some tickets? We have two tickets to Friday's concert at Slim's featuring: Until June, Matt White and Melee. We've already told you that you don't want to be late to this show, because all three bands are equally as good. Until June, from sunny Phoenix, traveled to Los Angeles in hopes of a record deal. Obviously, at first, they got lost in the mix, but promised themselves that if they didn't......

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

We found Thomas Swick's traveling-abroad tips in this Sunday's Chronicle both cute and informative. But since we're stricken with a crippling fear of any existence east of (the) 5, we were left starving for a few answers as to why. Such as: -- In Japan, don't blow your nose. -- In Spain, don't pick up your paper napkin if you drop it at the bar. -- In Vatican City, don't correct the pope. (Impossible.)......

Sorry we're a little late putting up SFist Mihi's last SFJFF review! Judith Schaefer's movie, So Long Are You Young, screened at the Roda Theatre in Berkeley on Tuesday and when the lights went back up, the crowd of mostly senior citizens were on their feet wildly applauding the filmmaker. The gray-haired lady sitting in front of us was shouting, "your movie is a gift! It's a poem!" Shaefer's documentary is itself the story of......

SFist interviews Patrick Pentland from Sloan...

Hey, Folks, welcome to part two of our APE coverage. The Alternative Press Expo was this past weekend, and there was so much fun stuff we had to break our coverage into several tasty morsels. If you missed part one and want to read about some folks making with the funny, please feel free. In this post, we're focusing on some creators that combine a less obvious type of humor with some great art and a generally longer form of storytelling....

On second thought, we don't want to know. Picture courtesy of SFMike, who snapped this at the Cherry Blossom Festival's Beauty Queens parade outside City Hall today, where Newsom also celebrated the 50th anniversary of our sister city relationship with Osaka, Japan.......

Here's todays roundup of the news...

Well, whaddya know -- sorry for misrepresenting the accuracy of the SFWall gossip: Gavin Newsom is in fact going to Japan! According to press secretary Peter Ragone (so take it with a grain of salt), Newsom is leaving tomorrow and coming back on Tuesday -- hope he'll have a chance to catch cousin Joanna Newsom's Saturday Osaka show while he's there. Gavin's trip is occasioned by the 50th anniversary of San Francisco's sister city relationship......

Not only a blue tie alert, but it sounds like maybe the SFWall got Gavin and Joanna Newsom mixed up in their reports earlier this week that our mayor was in Japan -- SFist Jim confirms a sighting of Gavin Newsom in San Francisco today at a swearing-in ceremony. FYI: Joanna Newsom arrives in Nagoya, Japan today (it says Friday the 16th, but they have the international date line in their favor). And hey,......

While there's nothing big going on with the story, there is some more details coming out. Actually, there's a theme to all of this and that theme is frustration. The lawyers are frustrated that the three Marines are overseas and can't be questioned by the cops, Dan Noyes is frustrated that Kamala Harris won't answer any questions, the families of the singing group are frustrated no arrests have been made, and Ken Garcia is just plain frustrated....

...Gleegate is back.... Hey, you might be wondering, whatever happened to those nice young boys from Yale who got pummeled by a few townies for singing the National Anthem all acapella style? Well, the answer would be nothing yet. Other than our city making ourselves that much more of an embarrassment. ...

--The tap dancer at Powell and Market's hanging up his shoes. --Jerry Yang golfs with a 10 handicap. We have absolutely no idea what that means. Come back soon, SFist Jon! --Gay penguins in love. Awwwww. --Gavin Newsom's going to Japan for a week or so. SFist Jim notes that Gavin's cousin and indie rock star Joanna Newsom is going to be there at the exact same time. Family reunion, or mixup at the......

Lucky in the Loin SF legend, Mr. Lucky appears at The Clap doing a live reading of Weekend Hippie at a night of movies and performances at Aunt Charlie's Mini-Discotheque (133 Turk at Taylor). Movies by Dave (Dog) Swan, including the trailer for Shackgirl, which sounds like a cross between The Hills Have Eyes and Lolita, plus clips from Dog Swan's legendary cable access show from late 80's early 90's The Doghouse, which featured appearances......

It's January 1, and here are the best things from the last 365 days....

Well, the Powers that Be decided to actually give us two NFL games on TV this morning at once. That's the good news. The bad news is one features the Raiders and the other the Detroit Lions. Which means that someone, somewhere, thinks everyone here is so tied into who gets the #1 pick next year that everyone in the Bay Area wants to watch both teams at the same time. ...

Wow, there's a whole lot of benefits for worthy causes going on this weekend, as well as a head-spinning amount of other stuff to do: Friday that's tonight, and it's the kick-off for Creativity Explored's (3245 16th St. at Guerrero) Annual Holiday Art Sale, a bargain hunter’s paradise of original artwork by artists with developmental disabilities. And it’s all on sale for rock bottom prices – many items as low as $5. Creativity Explored......

Ever since the Examiner has been bought by religious arch-conservative Philip Anschutz, everyone has been waiting to see how the Examiner would fit it's publisher's political views into a free daily in the most liberal city in America. Sometimes they manage to do it (sort of) but every once in awhile, the veil is lifted as it were and the Examiner goes a little nutty. Like today. For their main editorial, they implore San Francisco to honor economist Milton Friedman. ...

You know how for all these years, people have been talking about having a bullet train that goes up one end of the state to another and make the commute from the Bay Area to LA that much easier? And you know how there's been talk about it but nary much in the way of action? Well, stay tuned for more talk. ...

We're positively reeling from anticipation of all the fun and excitement promised by this weekend's events. Not since we spent Halloween weekend in Las Vegas a few years back have we done so much reeling - though that was mostly due to our alcohol consumption and our difficulty finding an exit out of the New York New York casino. Tonight Hey, it's Halloween weekend, how about a creepy movie: Street Trash, described as "Eraserhead......

SFist Reader Caitlin poses the same question many of us have asked: "Why does Muni seem to have fewer (and, therefore, packed) buses running than scheduled?" And we're sure the problems Caitlin describes aren't restricted to the 43. Is there anyone who can help us understand why we all seem to be seeing fewer, more crowded buses? How hard can it be to figure out what the busy lines are? For weeks now, I've seen......

We return to the BNE graffiti story from a few days ago for a couple of reasons. First off is because the issue of whether graffiti is art or vandalism is still an issue in this city. But the main reason is because, well, it's an awesome story. See, there's this graffiti artist whose been putting the initials BNE in at least five cities throughout the world. In every way, shape, or fashion. Nobody knows who he is or even where is he (he's rumored to be in Japan right now) making him the Keyzer Soze of graffiti artists. ...

Last week's winner: The East Bay Express. What? No letters about Cody's? Fret not -- there's an article. (We had no idea the reason why there's no books on the shelves there now is because they were behind on their bills!) Also -- neighbors rat out neighbors for loud parties and for opening day-care centers. Cover: Fat acceptance movement (medical, civil rights, artistic, online). Good article, which makes the no fatties cartoon running later in......

What is it with Americans going oversees and losing in sports that should be ours? First it was our soccer team, then our basketball team, and now this-- Alameda's very own Craig "Hot Lixx Hulahan" Billmeier came in sixth at the Championship 2006 in Oulu, Finland Sept. 8. The first place winner was Japan's Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke who dazzled the audience with his air guitar prowess on Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (see the video above). ...

Remember the 2 seperate SFO-bound shipments of turkey chicks mishandled by Northwest Airlines? In both cases, the actions of Northwest cargo personel caused the death of thousands of young turkeys which were bound for a Fresno farm, intended to be raised for breeding or consumption. In a lucky turn for some, Orland-based Farm Sanctuary has adopted a number of the surviving chicks where they will live out the rest of lives free of the stress......

SFist interviews Leah Kramer of Craftster...

There's a subculture of women in Japan who go bonkers for dudes with the Ziggy Stardust look. Or at least that's what we concluded after we saw the West Coast premiere of The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief (GHSTOLT) at the Women's Building on Saturday. Those dudes have some freaking crazy hairdos! Imagine a mullet mated with a peacock and gave birth to a Las Vegas showgirl head-dress. Really we......

Some people cross dress, and some artists cross genres. ...