Characters such as Manny, the school slut, Paige, the pig-faced "mean girl," and Marco, the Latino gay resonate with tweens and adults alike. One of the most unforgettable Degrassi characters is Rick, who is Season 3 beats his chubby, plus-size-model (she has a very cute face) girlfriend Terri, putting her in a coma, and subsequently in Season 4 brings a gun to school, shoots and paralyzes the star basketball player (who is black), and in the end is killed by his own gun.

Does anyone else find it at all creepy that the Rick (picture 1) looks an awful lot like the kid who yesterday went on a shooting spree in an Omaha mall (picture 2)?

It sure gives us the heeby jeebies.

Watch Degrassi on The N or Your TV20.

-- 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.

-- Jeff Garlin: Jeff from Curb Your Enthusiasm! We heart you ever so! And your total bitch of a wife! (On the show, that is.) He does stand-up tonight along with Rick Overton and Marc Herson at 8 p.m. at Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Columbus; $20.

-- Tre Vasquez and Entre Músicos: Latino hip hopper and Cumbia/hip hop band perform and help host an open-mike night starting at 7:30 p.m. at Galeria de la Raza, 2857 - 24th Street; $5.

Lez Zepplin image: Rolling Stone

's not quite a horror movie. It's more reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Friday the 13th, 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!

Wilmer Valderrama plays the lead character with Joel Moore as the a slightly annoying best friend (read Xander) and Angie Cepeda as the hottie girlfriend whose love keeps Muerto from crossing over to the dark side. The film is based on the comic series written and drawn by Javier Hernandez, "El Muerto, The Aztec Zombie", about a young man who dies on his way to a Dia De Los Muertos party and is resurrected as the Aztec God of Death and Destiny. Somehow true love turns him into a kind of super hero instead, albeit one who has to sleep in the cemetery and steal women's makeup in order to walk the streets.

Though the special effects were a little wimpy, there were a number of genuinely creepy parts, the highlight of which was the villain played by Billy Drago who looked like a cross between Brian Eno and Gandalf the wizard. Now that's seriously scary.

Garden of Deadly Delights
Head over to the Conservatory of Flowers to feast your eyes on a greenhouse full of carnivorous plants! Chomp! opens today and runs through Nov 4.

The Red Party
A socialist themed party with Cold War decor set to minimalist funky house music? We don't even know what that means, but we're there! May Day Party at 1015 with SF's own Mike Relm and Evil 9 on the turntables. Buy tickets before 7pm tonight and only pay $15 cover. 1015 Folsom, SF.

Saturday, May 5
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in style!
Wine Auction
Get your booze on before hitting the streets to party at The 31st Annual Wine Auction at the Westin St. Francis. Come for the opportunity to bid on 75 silent auction items and 50 live auction items with prices ranging from $100 to $75,000. Fancy! Black tie affair starts at 7:30, with a three-course dinner by Michael Mina.
Wine Auction, 335 Powell Street

Alternate Soundtrack City Tours
Cinco de Mayo @ SoEX Bring your boom boxes (or rent one!) and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Cinco De Mayo festival with a musical soundtrack from local musicians as you follow a map that helps you explore the many ways that the Mission celebrates its Mexican and Latino heritage. Southern
Exposure, 2901 Mission St. @ 25th Street, SF.

Sunday, May 6
How Weird!
Dig out your fur boots, sequined top and hot pink hair extension for this year's How Weird Street Faire! And feel good while you get down -- all seven dance stages will be run on bio-diesel this year and the faire will be almost zero waste! This year's event runs from 11 am to
5, so get there early. How Weird, Howard Street, between 11th and 12th Streets.

By SFist Jenna

Oh, what's become of our good old-fashioned hard-hearted conservative Republicans? What's next, long hair? Berets? Drapes and doilies? Irish cuisine?

The Davis College Republicans are sponsoring some sort of symbolic art-game today (Tuesday) at 12:30 out on the quad, wherever the hell that is. They're calling it "Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag," and here's the ingenious twist that'll earn 'em an A in their semiotics seminar: "Illegal Immigrants team will vastly outnumber the INS team, and every 10 minutes the Illegals caught will be granted amnesty and set free."

Overlook the imperfections of the metaphor (it's not like INS races across the border to claim Mexican flags), and it's actually kind of a funny joke, in the "tell it privately amongst close friends who'll know you're just kidding around" sort of way. It is also astronomically lame that they are making such a big show of it, in an Adam Felberian "hey look at me I'm pretending to laugh at a mildly amusing joke REALLY REALLY LOUD so everyone in earshot knows that I got it" sort of way.

All this would be a perfect opportunity for the Davis community to focus their rolling scornful gaze upon the DCRs. The only way they could possibly avoid looking like boring, embarrassing chumps is if some even MORE humorless organization decides to sniff and whine and moan. Oh, wait:

"Dear Chicana/o Latino/a Students," begins the email, "How ironic that they have chosen to play this 'game' during La Raza Cultural Days and on May 1st, the day of the worker and of the Immigrant. MEChA and many many other student organizations that feel this is a horrible mockery of everything that immigrants have done for this country, will be holding a peaceful counter- protest to show that what they think is 'funny' is totally unacceptable. On behalf of MEChA, I invite you to join us in solidarity. Gracias."

Oh dear. MEChA, we don't know who you are exactly, but let's assume for now that you are a group of collegiate Gundams. Please oh please oh please do not squander your giant robotic talons by frownishly protesting these Republican fruitcakes. No no -- instead, you must join in their game. Play along. Have a good time. And then, just when everyone's actually getting into the fun and enjoying the camaraderie: walk away, leaving behind a game that is so top-heavy that it cannot possibly survive the loss of your services.

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 until 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

So, we were surprised a couple of Monday mornings ago to see what seemed to be a hipster oasis that sprouted up over night on 24th St near Bryant. It's a spacious venue with very cool vintage, modern furniture accessorized by perfectly complementary, abstract art. It’s so in-your-face cool that we wondered whether it was a furniture store or a café. Then we vaguely thought, "Well, that would be silly if it’s a café because it’s directly across the street from another new café."

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the place does indeed serve coffee and that it’s a coffee lounge. And its name is Sugarlump. It's puzzling as to why they set up shop in this particular neighborhood. For one, the sterile, modern/kitsch style of the place seems more appropriate for Hayes Valley or SoMa, and two, Bryant isn't exactly the most central part of the Mission, like Valencia or Mission Streets are. Most people who frequent the area live right around there, which would make it a challenge to fill that large of a space on a regular basis, especially when there's a more established joint right across the street.

SFist Leanne, contributing

I just got home. It took an hour and a half for the sheriff's deputy to come pick up the ballots and supplies. This was long after the parking operations guy had come by in his little vehicle and collected the voting machine memory card and printout of the final totals. The sheriff's deputy said he wants that job next year.

As I had suspected, the end of the election was the most eventful part of the day, and after a couple of gulps of whiskey straight from the bottle, I think I have the energy to blog about it right now...

The place was hopping from 5pm on, and everyone seemed genuinely excited about voting. There was one guy in particular who was loudly teaching his 6(ish)-year-old daughter about the voting process. There was something witty he said as they were inserting his ballots into
the "Eagle" machine when she lunged for the bag of candy, but I'm too tired to remember. It was so cleverly related to democracy and the voting process and about how her rights did not extend to candy-eating (since she'd most likely had her fill from Halloween), and it was witty enough to make me not totally annoyed by him anymore.

Speaking of the "Eagle," I had meant to write about how that thing makes noises that range from a weed-whacker to a paper-shedder to the beloved '80s Asteroids arcade game. And for the record, not a single person used the new "AutoMark" machine that marks (but doesn't count) ballots for people who "might need assistance." Rumor has it that each machine costs $10,000!

Note to future pollworkers: Vote before the election or vote early in the day. Not while huddled in the dark at 7pm on your break and on the verge of angry tears because you got called out by your kind of bitchy high school-aged clerk. (I voted late in the day--by absentee-- because I had to wait for my friend who is a public policy masters student to get her slate of endorsements sent out this morning. Plus, I was busy writing this blog on my breaks! Priorities!)

After my dinner break this evening, I stopped near Precita Park to get some coffee on the way back to the polls. This was obviously a bad decision since I had gotten completely lost every time I tried to return to the elusive voting location, on top of the bad decision to get a double soy cappuccino when I usually only drink soy au laits. My stomach was in knots after about 1/4 of the way through.

I had hiked all the way up the hill and then down again when I realized I had gone the wrong direction, away from the polling place. I was late and sweaty, and I kid you not, my glasses were steamed up (it was freaking humid out today). Then, like angels sent from heaven, came a really cool, old school, emerald green, Bronco-type, lowrider truck that was transporting a boisterous family of Latino adults. The driver asked if I knew where the polls were. When I said
it was way back up the hill and that was where I was trying to go, they told me to hop in. I have never been so in love with a family of boisterous strangers before!

Today has been a very "only in San Francisco" sort of day, and I look forward to the next election.

No, we're just joking about that.

To get everyone started, here's a few questions we'd like asked:

- What's up with all the hair on Suri Cruise?
- Both of you accuse the other of being tools of the special interest yet one would do whatever the business community says to do and the other the unions. What's the difference?
- That guy on the stage with Arnie...who is he again?
- Really, what's up with Suri Cruise's hair?
- If black blood mixed with latino blood is "hot" what would that make black/Asian? Or mixing Latino and Native American? Latino and Finnish?
- Considering both of your backgrounds and affiliations, how do we know you're serious about improving the environment? After all, it's hard to believe you when one drives a Hummer and is backed by the business lobby and the other by Developers and made millions in Real Estate?
- Seriously, is Suri wearing a baby toupee or what?
- Whose milkshake would bring more boys to the yard?

What would you ask?

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!

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 crimes in those areas considered gang-related too? And you know, what about those Nortenos and Surenos -- what's 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 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?

Hey, the party's not till Monday, so check out some crazy characters hitting SF stages this weekend. Sure, go ahead and dress up: They've got bandits, Hollywood stars, a boy that looks like a bat (the animal, in case you were actually watching the World Series and got confused), and of course, the Halloween staple Judy Garland herself.

at Intersection for the Arts
Long before gentrification was the Mission District's biggest crime story, a Latino Bonnie and Clyde made headlines, robbing bars and nightclubs until they were caught. Words of advice: Cabs are ineffective getaway cars. San Francisco playwright Octavio Solis departs radically from his brutally poetic work to immortalize the couple in this new musical comedy. Yeah, we can't quite imagine a musical comedy on Intersection for the Arts' stage either, but damn are we looking forward to it. With some of resident company Campo Santo's best actors, live music composed by Beth Custer and movement by the astounding Erika Chong Shuch, this musical is our best bet for the week. What's more, Intersection hosts a Ballad of Pancho & Lucy Bar Crawl on November 9, which sold out so fast they added new dates: November 6, 13 and 20. Drink in some of the Mission's best ungentrified bars and enjoy the show. Reserve soon because shows at Intersection always sell out.
Playing October 26 through November 21