Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's only English-language paper. Gothamist believed that a writer who wanted pre-gentrified gritty New York and ended up getting beaten up during a mugging learned his lesson.DCist followed Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. Council to New Hampshire,......

Another public display of commemorative prose, folks. What with this plus the animals trying to escape from the zoo, you'd think the end is nigh, a big earthquake is on its way, or Aunt Flo has come for an extended visit. While mincing down Third Street to AT&T Park to catch some tasty waves, we came across the most darling bouquet of fresh flowers, above, lying on the sidewalk. While trying to steal them, we......

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

Without a doubt, we think that every Australian in San Francisco was at Bottom of the Hill last Wednesday to rock it out with Australia's hit band, Eskimo Joe. We speculated when we first walked in but weren't positive - the "background" music was too loud to actually positively i.d. an accent. Halfway through the show the lead singer, Kavyen Temperley, asked for all the Australians in the house to scream. We were the only......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

In light of it being Halloween, we thought instead of candy, we would give out two tickets to another concert. This week has been full of giveaways (see here and here), so why not more? This time, it's two tickets to see Tunng, a London-based experimental/folk/electronic band, at Bottom of the Hill on Monday, November 5th. The press release says that, "If you're into rustic acoustic-based folk, kitchen sink experimentalism, delicate electronics and pop......

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

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

"Help me. I've been shot," cried a Tenderloin hotel desk clerk who received life-threatening injuries after getting shot before 2:30 a.m. this morning. James Talley, 20, and London Shaw, 19, of San Francisco, along with two others minors, were arrested today in connection with the robbery and shooting in the Tenderloin. One of the suspects, according to Bay City News, "was carrying a gun and wearing a black shirt with a white skeleton print."......

Good news for students of the struggle of the proletariat: even if you don't have time to read Marx, there are alternatives. Like Paul Krugman, Harpers, Howard Zin, Noam Chomsky, the Guardian of London -- and even our very own home-grown SF Bay Guardian. This reading list is the result of a conversation that started innocently enough on the SFBG's blogs, in a post about homelessness in Golden Gate Park and, tangentially, the Spanish......

Someone told us a story of a famous pianist who believed in bringing culture to the people, and went to a factory in Italy to give a lecture in front of a piano. He started to talk about Schoenberg, and after a few minutes, a voice rose from the audience: "Shut up, and play!" Ok, he said, and sat down at the piano, playing the Schoenberg piece. The voice rose again: "Rather, talk!" András......

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Standouts: 1. Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails Red Wine (w/ Bonus DVD): Hands down, one of the best CD's of 2007. Eskimo Joe released "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" as their debut single in the US in August. Their CD already went quadruple platinum in Australia (it was released in 2006). The quiet application of the piano combined with the melodramatic......

Thank goodness the Department of Homeland Security's on top of all the threats to American freedom -- the New York Times today profiles Nalini Ghuman (at right), a British musicologist and assistant professor at Mills College who hasn't been able to get back to Oakland to teach her classes and work on her book about composer Edward Elgar, because Immigration and Customs refuses to let her back in the country. Ghuman is a British citizen......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

What does SF Opera music director Donald Runnicles do when he's not conducting Wagner at the War Memorial Opera House? He's conducting Wagner in London. What does SF Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas do when he's not conducting Mahler at Davies Symphony Hall? You guessed it: he's conducting Mahler in London. We knew that addicts to Mahler or Wagner existed. But to think that they live in our own backyard? Well, that's just spooky.......

-- Madcat Women's International Film Festival -- Frame by Frame: Experimental film festival's night focusing on animation, claymation, and digital shorts all directed by women. Starts at 8:30 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission; $7-$20. -- "Fashion Rewind: Play It. Make It. Wear It.": Art Institute of California-San Francisco students create original fashions with the two themes in mind: recycled materials and music icons. So...we have no idea what to expect. But you will......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

Proud son of the East Bay and noted environmental activist James Hetfield was held at a London airport upon arriving before Metallica's performance at the Live Earth concert. Apparently, airport authorities pulled him aside because with his new double pronged beard, he looked too Taliban-y. ...

We told you a few weeks ago about Platinum Studios' "American Idol"-style contest for comic creators, through which the winners will get a "multimedia development and publishing deal" based on their concept. At that time, we spoke to local guys Kevin Buckley and Marcus Thiele about their entry. We've just talked to another local writer/artist team with an entry in the Top 50: Navin Prasad and Chris Weiermiller....

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

When not fending off rumors that he's been horking lines, Gavin has lately been running around proposing ideas to fix Muni, spurred on by the latest SPUR report and the Transit Effectiveness Project. ...

As you know, here at SFist, we love stealing other peoples' ideas. And we've found that it's even easier to do when the idea belongs to our siblings! So we're pleased to inaugurate "Touch Up SF," a semi-regular feature in which we invite you, the reader, to Photoshop your way to fame by constructing your own SF-centric versions what journalists like to call a "photo montage." The attached image was created in timely response......

SFist interviews Dan Smith from the Noisettes and gives away tickets and a drumhead...

Sex is good for you. So is wine. Oh, and chocolate. We think most of know this on an instinctual level, but it's nice when a bunch of experts agree. Of course, the Taste 3 conference is attended by chefs, sommeliers, vintners, and others associated with finer dining, so it only makes sense that the crowd was told stuff they pretty much wanted to hear....