E to the Dizzo, J to the Ew-wo -- not guilty, we gots to feel him! Ed Jew, in an American flag tie, appeared in state criminal court today and pled not guilty to the charges of lying about his residency, but not before waving at and hugging members of a 100-deep cheering crowd outside the courthouse. Just to remind, today's hearing was just on the charges that DA Kamala Harris filed -- the......

We have to admit to becoming positively stoked about all the All Star Festivities these days, especially as tonight is the big Home Run Derby. Local sports talk radio is all over it, ESPN is here, Fox has been promoting the hell out of it, and Jay Z is even throwing a party for it (and hey, Hovah, if you happen to be reading this and want to help hype it by having an on the spot reporter, just drop us a line). And we're not the only ones excited-- reports say that the All Star Game is bringing the city big bucks. ...

Here's some good news for all you iPod owners (which would probably be all of you), Apple is finally close to an agreement with the Beatles to sell Beatles tunes on iTunes. And yes, that would indeed rock....

She's going out like Jay-Z, Michael Jordan, and Stephen King -- after her erstwhile "retirement," former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's coming back in the game. The former Justice is (.pdf) sitting by special designation on the Ninth Circuit appellate federal court in San Francisco this week. She was on the bench today and will be there again on Friday. O'Connor's doing a tour of the country -- she also recently sat on the......

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa......

Every Asian-American music listener has that list of Asian-American stars they whip out at a moment's notice: Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, the half-Japanese violinist (of course he's a violinist) from Yellowcard, Karen O, Jay-Z, and Amerie .... but how nice to have the option to find others. The Asian American Film Festival's Directions In Sound show tomorrow night features four local Asian-American indie rock bands to get to know: From Monuments to Masses (post-punk), Whysall Lane (intricately crafted), Love Like Fire (dreamy Britpop), and solo singer Mike Park (no description, but probably singer-songwritery, you know?). The show starts at 9 (doors at 8) at Cafe Du Nord tomorrow night. Tickets $10 -- but act fast, the show's selling out. ...

SFist interviews XLR8R editor Tomas Palermo...

So we have a cousin. No, this is not some coy way of referring to the newest -ist site, Austinist(welcome!), we're talking about our actual cousin. Anyways, our cousin plays this game whenever we watch videos, called "spot the Asian." There's always one (but no more than one) Asian hip-hop dancer in any given video, for instance. Hapas Jay-Z and Foxy Brown count for half a point. And there's always Chad Hugo, or the Linkin Park DJ, or the kid who plays violin for Yellowcard.... yeah, it's kind of slim pickings on mainstream MTV -- which is why the Asian-Am Film Fest's Music Video Asia program is so key! Every year, the Asian-Am film fest selects a number of music videos featuring bands from Asia, bands with Asian-American members, and Asian video directors and production crews. (Yes, Chinese-American Joseph Kahn directed the Britney Spears Toxic video, but no, he was not featured this year.) Plus, we're always psyched every year to go to this show -- come on, watching music videos is our favorite thing to do in the world! This year's video selections ranged the map. Thoughtfully collected by program curator Chi-hui Yang, they included local SF Asian-American indie musicians, breakthrough British dance artist M.I.A., some excellently head-bobbing hip-hop from across the country and the globe, a metal band, Filipino emo, a huge array of music from Japan, and a Hives-like Swedish band with an Asian lead singer. Brief reviews after the jump....

How did we miss this last week? Mixing two offenses recently made popular by Minnie Driver (actors playing the role of "earnest singer-songwriter") and Shawn Colvin (artists appearing on "Oprah" to divulge details about personal struggles in the same week their new CD comes out), Robert Downey Jr. came out with his debut album The Futurist last Tuesday. That was the same day of his "Oprah" appearance, for anyone who's counting. Music is all......

SFist interviews XLR8R editor Tomas Palermo...