Degrassi: The Next Generation is known for it accurate, yet sometimes vanilla portrayal of North American teenage life. Topics such as date rape, teen pregnancy, school violence, and inevitable cocaine abuse by wayward rockers are all fair game on this Canadian after-school-special-like teenage sitcom. more ›

-- Lez Zeppelin and Dolorata: Lesbian-y Led Zepplin cover band and indie-rock band perform in SOMA. Doors open at 8 p.m. at Slim's, 333 - 11th Street (at Folsom); $18. more ›

, only instead of a perky blonde in lipstick and a crop top we've got a Latino antihero in permanent day of the dead makeup and a mariachi suit. Replace the vampires with Aztec demons, change Sunnydale to East L.A. and you're all set! more ›

1833 Page St., SF. more ›

Oh, what's become of our good old-fashioned hard-hearted conservative Republicans? more ›

We've told you about Pet Noir here before, the comic anthology published by Manic D Press featuring an impressive list of local talent. If you still haven't picked up a copy get yourself down to the San Francisco Public Library tonight for a slide show and an enlightening, lively discussion about pets, comics, true crime, and much more. The event will feature many of the fine comic artists who contirbuted to the book, including, editor/artist Shannon O’Leary, John Isaacson, MariNaomi, Lark Pien, Trevor Alixopulos, Damien Jay, Peter Conrad, and Melanie Lewis. The fun goes from 6:30-7:45pm and will be held in the Latino room at the Main Library. Best of all it's free, so you can use your cash to buy a book, or dog food. Main Library is at 100 Larkin Street (@ Grove, Lower Level) 415-557-4400 more ›

Now that we've made Muni safe for the handicapped, who's next? Why, children and families, of course; there's no reason they shouldn't suffer like the rest of us. Thanks to a tipster, we've just caught wind of some hush-hush meetings that, despite being nearly totally unannounced, are open to the public. On the agenda: making Muni more friendly for families, kids, and caregivers. So if that's your thing, swing by the brainstorming session with the MTA on Monday, March 5 (whoops, that was a week ago -- thanks again for the heads-up, Muni) and Saturday, March 17, from 10:30am to 12:30 at the Main Library in Hispanic/Latino Room A&B. more ›

We love how warm and unpretentious the 24th and Bryant area is. We especially love the harmonious balance between the hipster and Latino cultures which is threatening to become less and less harmonious due to the construction of various sets of condominiums in the area. Each business has its own distinct personality that enhances the overall vibe of the neighborhood, and that's the way we like it. more ›

During election day, SFist will be running a Diary of a Poll Worker by friend of SFist Leeanne. This was written about the night before the election. Check in later as we continue to see what life is like on the other side of elections more ›

--The US Attorney's office is going to monitor the SF elections, like we're East Timor or Florida or something. more ›

-St. Boniface Catholic Church in the Tenderloin is having a money crunch which could affect it's ability to handle the homeless. -Cabbie is found shot to death in the Richmond Annex more ›

We're hitting the Main branch of the SF Public Library (100 Larkin Street) for Central America on a Shoestring, a talk by Lonely Planet's commissioning editor Greg Benchwick. more ›

It has been decided that the Governator and Phil Angelides are going to have an actual real live debate on October 7. But instead of a bunch of boring reporters asking boring questions that nobody cares about, they're going to do it all interactive like and are soliciting questions from us, Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Smith-Public. So if you want to ask a question, just go to this here site and ask away. The California Broadcasting Association will then go through them and decide which questions will be asked with cash prizes being given out to the winning questions! No, we're just joking about that. more ›

--Love the San Jose public library -- just don't the San Jose public library. more ›

It's our column about the District 6 election! This week's episode: Everybody Hates The Numbers. more ›

Leave work early today for the Northern California Book Awards! It's all happening at the Main Library (100 Larkin Street), starting with a 5 p.m. book signing and reception with many of the nominated authors in the Latino/Hispanic Room. The awards ceremony starts at 6 in the Koret Auditorium. Admission for the event is free. more ›

By our count, The new head of Muni has been in office about 7 weeks, but so far the most interesting thing we've heard from him is his letter to employees, in which he states: more ›

We love those Food Network cookoff challenges! Make a birthday cake for Elvis! Decorate the best gingerbread house! Who can make the tallest ice/pastry sculpture? So we can't wait for Food Network's coverage of the mothership of food contesting -- the biennial $1,000,000 Pillsbury Bake-Off. So Pillsbury picks 100 contestants every two years, to compete in categories like "Wake Up To Breakfast," and "Brand New You" (healthful recipes), and "Dinner Made Simple," among others. The recipes must include at least two designated Pillsbury products, such as Yoplait, El Paso salsa, and Pop-Secret popcorn, among many others. One lucky winner walks away with a million dollars; and other $10,000 prizes will be awarded, including most dairy, and best Latino-influenced. The Bay Area has traditionally done pretty well in the bake-off -- the most famous bake-off winner was the Tunnel of Fudge chocolate bundt cake, made by a San Franciscan, and the first male winner of the contest was from Redwood City (with a macadamia torte). This year, the Bay Area's sending six representatives, including a very pregnant Mountain View cook (making spinach wonton crisps), a 48-year-old San Francisco male painter who's been entering the bakeoff since he was 10 (deviled crab and cheese rolls), and acclaimed food contestor Roxanne Chan from Albany, with a tomato-corn recipe. (Also, a shrimp and rice salad from Windsor, a taco steak pasta from Monterey, and bear claws from San Jose.) The bakeoff takes place from March 19-22 in Orlando, Florida. Go Bay Area cooks! And contestants, you're all just lucky SFist Derrick didn't enter this year -- he'd totally clean your kitchen-timer clocks! more ›

Last week's winner, the new tabloid-style redesigned Bay Guardian. Pool of blood! Murders! Headless Body In Topless Bar! All for their 40th anniversary. Looks good -- but this type is hard to read. Various outrages in our city. And man, we thought this "Wade versus Redmond" ad on page 17 for the Third Street Gym referred to Tim Redmond. The redesign's throwing off our skim-o-tron! Cover: The SFPD ignoring Asian-American gang stabbings in the Tenderloin. And Sonic Reducer declined to go to a party with a Fleetwood Mac cover band featuring Joanna Newsom as Stevie Nicks!?!!?!??! (Well, it was raining pretty hard last week....) Making a triumphant return, the San Jose Metro!. Second Amendment advocates in San Jose use Chris Daly's own Prop H to get the right to bear arms into the state Constitution. Please, no more propositions! Haven't we learned from our mistakes of the past? Cover article: excellent Chinese subregional food in Milpitas (Darda rules). Why do alternative-rock listeners have to go all anti-Latino about the switchover at 104.9? And SFist Eve's horoscope: she should expand her spiritual life. After the jump, the two New Times publications (the Weekly and the EBX). more ›

Give Gavin Newsom a shiny red apple! In an interview with this month's San Francisco Magazine (in blatant disregard of another interview with the Gavman in 7x7, which was optimistically labeled "exclusive"), the mayor told the reporter, "You know, five years in a row I have increased test scores. No. 1 urban school district in the state of California." As the wags at the Chron have pointed out, was Gavin sneaking into classrooms to go over the times-7 tables when no one was looking? And how exactly was he increasing test scores in those first three years when he was serving on the Board of Supes? Folks at the SF Unified School District (which runs the schools and is independent of City Hall) are all agiggle over the statement, with the president of the teacher's union saying, "I'm glad that he wants to take credit for the work that the teachers and paraprofessionals (classroom aides) have done," and saying that they'll be sure to charge Newsom union dues next year. Superintendant Arlene Ackerman, who really was running the schools, said the comment seemed strange. And in any event, Eric Mar on the school board says that Newsom shouldn't be bragging about the schools in any event, given that Latino and African-American kids seem to be falling behind, and the trend of resegregation within the district. To be fair, everyone in the district did say that Newsom really has done a lot for the schools since taking office, and the test scores in SF are rising steadily -- in fact, the SF average score is now 745 (with 800 considered excellent), outscoring LA (649), Sacto (688), and San Diego (726). Still, though -- we totally want to be in Mr. Newsom's homeroom class! Okay, the picture has nothing to do with schools, but look at Gavin with Mario! We found the picture on a blog. more ›

Wednesday, you're doing a heck of a job! Tonight: Satisfy your craving for Germanic food and drink at Schroeder's, while also learning more about the development plans for Piers 27-31 with San Francisco for Democracy, a spinoff group from the 2004 Howard Dean campaign. The local Sierra Club and a rep for an anti-development citizens' group will speak; the corporation trying to develop the property cancelled at the last minute. Mmmm, sauerkraut. Thursday: Events listing fave Michelle Tea is at it again -- she's hosting a reading of underground and emerging writers in conjunction with the Gay and Lesbian Center at the Public Library. Authors Regie Cabico, Kaui Hemings, Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz, and Horehound Stillpoint will be reading. 5-8 pm in the Latino/Hispanic Room at the Main Library. In the same area, Cindy Sheehan is reading too, at Clean Well-Lighted at 7 p.m. and Friday: The DeYoung Museum sponsors events on Friday nights! This week, Egyptian belly dancing performances! The dancers of the Al Masri Restaurant on Balboa and 42nd will perform a dance history of the raqs sharki dance from antiquity to today. 6:45 and 7:45, free with museum admission. The Egyptian Consul General will be present as well. more ›

Well, the 2005 body count in SF is now up to 92 after a man was found strangled to death in a SoMA hotel, making this the worst year in SF for murders in ten years. In response, Chief of Police Heather Fong held a press conference the other day to address people's concerns. Chief Fong seemed somewhat defensive, at one point blaming the uptick in murders over the last three months on the nice weather we've been having. "If it’s always nice out, people start drinking, there are arguments and violence ensues," she said. See, it's the Bush Administration's fault for not adopting the Kyoto Protocol! Fong did note that black-on-black gang violence is down 35% this year, but murders in the Western Addition and the Mission are up sharply from last year (The Western Addition had 20 this year and 6 last, and the Mission had 13 as opposed to 4). Aren't at least some of the murders in those areas considered gang-related too? And you know, what about those Nortenos and Surenos -- what going on with the Latino gangs? And intriguingly, our city controller's calculated that for each murder, the city loses about $38,000 (in police and medical expenses). No wonder no one can afford a house these days. The Ex also has a totally and completely fascinating connect-the-dots map of all the murders this year in SF. (.pdf only, but worth the download wait.) Our only quibble -- we thought the first murder of the year took place at Fisherman's Wharf: where's that one? more ›

Hey, the party's not till Monday, so check out some crazy characters hitting SF stages this weekend. more ›

Last Wednesday, word got out about a class-action suit being brought by Gonzalez & Leigh on behalf of employees at the Courtyard Marriott in San Francisco Superior Court. Originally filed September 23rd, the recently amended complaint alleges that Marriott has failed to comply with the San Francisco Minimum Wage Ordinance since it was enacted on February 23rd, 2004. Further, it's alleged that the ordinance itself wasn't posted for employees and that one employee, Joseph Aubrey, was retaliated against for bringing the matter to the attention of management. more ›

A drunken truck driver in Pacific Heights killed a cabbie and one of his passengers Sunday night. The trucker had been running stop signs and red lights all around Russian Heights, and had grazed a guy at Polk and Washington, without stopping. The hit-and-run victim was following the truck driver and saw him run head-on into a Yellow Cab at Broadway and Webster. The cab driver and the passenger in the front seat were killed; the two passengers in the back were taken to the hospital. The cab driver was a union organizer trying to get health benefits for other drivers, and the passenger was a senior at Duke who had gone to Indonesia to help out after the tsunami. Well, if you went to see A History of Violence, you might have at least been prepared -- moviegoers exiting the Jack London movie theater in Oakland last week were greeted by a hail of gunfire, as two rival Latino gangs shot out their differences outside the movie house. Moviegoers hid in the bathrooms as the gunshots shattered the glass doors, and one angry San Franciscan said, "Given that I live in San Francisco, I'd say there's a pretty good chance we'll skip the Jack London cinema from now on. There's a perfectly good movie theater in Emeryville.'' What, the Metreon's not good enough for you either? And a gay male cruising site has sued Paypal, because the online money collection service won't let them collect donations through their site for Katrina victims, citing their rule against using Paypal for sex-related businesses. CFS.com (Cruising for Sex.com; we assume it's NSFW) says it has two employees who have relatives affected by Katrina and had collected between $1500-2000 before Paypal pulled the plug. more ›

Sneaking in at the very end of Cinco de Mayo, we want to remind you about the Mexican Museum. It's their 30th anniversary this year and they're also gearing up to begin construction on a new, permanent, fancy home in Yerba Buena. Much of their current fundraising goes towards their capital campaign for this new building and they're approaching the $34 they'll need. more ›

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's day and Spring Break is upon us. What better time to discuss local Latino TV programming? more ›

It's been an action-packed week for the Bay Area movie world, hasn't it? Last Tuesday saw the triumph of all that was right in the world...HA! OK, not really. But it did see success in three battles when it came to Bay Area cinema. First was the failure of Proposition L. If you don't recall SFist Jon's deft description of this prop: more ›

Party for a good cause on Valencia on Sunday. more ›