Photograph of investigation at Times Square recruiting center by kerfuffle & zeitgeist on Flickr Gothamist found that an explosive set off outside the Times Square army recruiting center may be similar to five past bombings in New York City.Seattlest worried when severed right feet and bottles of rat poison started washing up on local beaches.Shanghaiist was surprised by Bjork's rooting for Tibetan independence at her concert (see video), and the political fallout has only......

Offices in Capitol Hill received a manila envelope with a letter claiming responsibility for today's bombing of a landmark military recruiting station in Times Square, NYC. Our parent site, Gothamist, tells us that "WNBC reports that the letters, which arrived today, included a photo of the Army recruiting center 'before it was bombed and...the words 'We did it.'" Which group is claiming responsibility, exactly, remains to be known. According to the AP, Senator Dianne......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

Photograph of memorial outside Heath Ledger's NYC apartment Gothamist learned that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment, cause of death unknown so far (but apparently the masseuse who found him called Mary-Kate Olsen before 911).Bostonist considered sending a link about the Super Bowl, but damn! The New Kids are reuniting!Although Sylvester Stallone is a native of New York City, his Rocky character lets many Philadelphians consider him a native son......

Festishizing that "authentic, old-school New York experience," Adam Fisher moved to NYC to frolic with hipsters, sing selections from Rent, or snap his fingers to the jazzy beats along with the other bohemian artists when he moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn. Unfortunately, his time there was a bit too real. Severely beaten and mugged of $28 while at the Morgan Avenue L subway station, Fisher hightails it back to his hometown, San Francisco. In his......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. Cloverfield, the new JJ Abrams movie where a skyscraper-sized monster descends upon New York City. In theaters on 1/18. SF Dish, where AMEX cardmembers can dish about restaurants. Stylized Sculpture, at the Asian Art Museum. Hoovers, where you can find company information for free. Busted Tees, they're having a nostalgia sale - 12 shirts for $12 each. If you're interested in......

Torontoist discovered their city's most ridiculous holiday lights setup, with 80,000 lights and two––two!––synchronized music routines. Naturally, they snagged a video. Chicago tragically loses one of its most recognizable neighborhood icons, the pigeon man of Lincoln Square. LAPD leaves body in car at crash scene, then tows it. Massachusetts plus mullet equals PR mayhem. Londonist sleeps in a Haunted plague pit. UC Berkeley students strip naked and race through campus, NSFW floppiness ensues. Phillyist......

San Francisco's musical offerings were bountiful Wednesday night ranging from Film School to Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings to The Thermals. It seems, though, that most of you made the correct choice: Vampire Weekend. Now we don't doubt that the other shows weren't amazing -- we were pretty miffed that there were so many choices on one night -- but clearly if you are anybody then you were wearing a blue pin-striped shirt, dark......

If you've noticed a gazillion error messages in SFist comments over the last few days, you're not alone -- our technology team way over in the far off of New York City is working to fix the problem as we speak, as it's affecting the entire -ist Network. We appreciate your patience while they implement a solution as quickly as possible. In the meantime, please don't repost your comments. Even if you do get......

-- Cinewhores Present Midnight Cowboy (1970): Although tame by today's smut-filled standards -- oh, you heard right! -- Midnight Cowboy has the distinction of being the only X-rated film to have ever snagged the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film -- about the friendship between Joe, a rookie New York City hustler, and Ratso, a terminally-ill New Yorker -- is prefaced by a reading by queer author Kirk Read. (Oh, and Sylvia......

Tonight, for one night only, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be featuring two sneak previews of Dirty Country, a highly entertaining documentary about the underground world of raunchy music, directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, founders and hosts of the Found Footage Festival, which sold out four shows at the Red Vic last month. Dirty Country, which won the Audience Award at this year's South By Southwest, is part of Yerba......

And speaking of New York, The Front Steps has a battle brewing over whether to live in New York City or San Francisco. (Naturally, we choose more modern SF. While we heart NY with its thin pizzas, tall and aggressive men, supposed sparkling conversation, and phenomenal buildings, California, as they used to say, totally shreds. And, as we've mentioned before, anything east of [the] 5 freeway petrifies us.) It's a strange debate, one that......

-- Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers: Not only does this "Basie-esque" outfit perform lush jazz and blues tunes, but the chanteuse is pretty funny in between songs. Check them out tonight at 7 p.m. at the Top of the Mark, InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, One Nob Hill, (999 California); $10. -- Joan Rivers Theatre Project: Though you're sure to hear even more about her pendulous, sagging breasts, her new project is......

Hey, all you singles in San Francisco/Oakland, looks like you live in the right place. Our fair city was tops in Forbes 7th Annual Best Cities for Singles Report....

Beloved Jennine from The Coveted writes here about how this year’s San Francisco Fashion Week denied her and other bloggers precious invitations to cover the event or (worse) any of its VIP, open-bar parties. Enough to drop your coke bullet into the toilet, right?! Anyway, this isn’t all that astounding seeing as how SF Fashion Week is notorious for being a tad behind the times (New York City all but begs such bloggers as......

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......

Coming in at a respectable number two, Forbes Magazine named San Francisco the second best spot to park your yuppie ass. As if you didn’t already know that. (Although we’re puzzled at the hair-pulling about this reality by many in SF; liberal/progressive and yuppie lifestyles are not mutually exclusive. Not by the longest shot.) Forbes based their survey on factors such as “tracking where graduates from top universities relocated to after colleges…locations of the......

-- Writers With Drinks not only boasts an awesome substance-abuse party, but overlaps it with readings from some of your favorite local and national (that is to say, usually New York City- or LA-based) scribes and novelists. Who knew writers like to drink? But brace yourselves for tonight's edition: an "honest" look at the (dying? dead? necessary?) state of print publishing. Such inky icons as Ben Fong-Torres (from Rolling Stone), Lynn Peril (publisher of......

The cherished Scott Beale brought to our attention the following bit of, well, awesomeness. We know, we know -- we’re no longer supposed to fall for ultra-annoying viral marketing bullshit. And producer JJ Abrams finally lost us. (Heh. Yeah. Sorry.) And, no, we have yet to see The Transformers, for which this clip is said film's trailer. But we're tired of doing the dance, so we give in, modern marketing scheme. And after several viewings,......

According to an article on PC World, Yahoo's mapping product is undergoing some improvements. The company is switching from a third-party data provider to an in-house platform that it hopes will prove more accurate, scalable, and user friendly--including better print-outs. Of note to us, visitors to Yahoo Maps, supposedly starting today, will have access to more detailed renditions of neighborhoods and buildings in New York City and San Francisco. ...

It's time for American Football Spectacular's capsule reviews of the 2007 NFL Draft. Adventure, excitement,measureables!...

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....

Last Wednesday, we told you our quick take on Juno Baby's line of educational entertainment products for kids (the long and short: cute, cool, and engaging). Adam Adleman, one of the founders of Juno Baby, took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer some questions: ...

Not one to be one-upped in the banning department, California is now considering a ban on trans fats just like New York, Philadelphia and Denmark (Yes the entire country. Those Scandinavians are such goody-two-shoes.) Some cities in California have already taken it upon themselves to ban trans fats including –yes- America’s first Trans Fat Free City, our own Tiburon, California. Sure, the annual income of Tiburon residents is probably equal to a small country’s GNP, but at least they’re doing good with all their money and bay view homes. ...

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly....

Busses of all sorts have us in a tizzy these days. Got Milk? With our MUNI wait? That seems so 1993 and wrong! When we think of the smells of baked cookies, we feel a combo of anticipation, hunger, happiness, and youthful delight. Of course, that's assuming the doughy, chocolatey smells come from a real kitchen (preferably our own) and are not competing with cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, urine, barf, or rancid food....

Cultural Learnings of Blogosphere for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of -Ist-a-verse Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings......

We'll tell you about two shows that have little in common except perhaps six degrees of separation....

Maybe everyone's just happy that our server seems back on the job (more or less -- sorry for the confusion, contest entrants), but we're glad to see all the lively conversations going on in the comments this week. Whether you're following the Tour de France, heckling or supporting Chris Daly, discussing art, keeping your culinary cool, or demonstrating your West Coast stickball pride, we're enjoying reading all of it. What really got you guys going......

Video geeks are descending on San Francisco this weekend for Vloggercon 2006 (or 'video blogger conference' if you're not a fan of tech neologisms). It was inspired by Webzine and the original Vloggercon in New York City last year. The daytime events at the Swedish American Hall are booked solid, but tonight there will be a "Meet the Vloggers" event at the Apple Store which is open to the public (likely followed by drinks......