Somehow, we thought San Francisco would be the first one to sport these dispensers, but LA has beat us to the punch: two marijuana vending machines will be available for use starting Monday at different locations.

Yes, Mary Jane is now available via vending machine, but just how many hoops will you have to jump through to get at her? First, you must have a medical marijuana prescription. Next, you will need to be fingerprinted before purchasing a pre-paid credit card with your dosage imprinted upon it. Once you have the credit card in hand, you can enter the "standalone room" that is "protected by round-the-clock security guards." Then you can run home in glee at having paid for weed. from. a. vending. machine.

This is a well-timed advertisement for the vending machines, we suppose, given that the California Supreme Court has ruled that medical marijuana users can now be fired from their jobs if tested positive for the drug. In case you don't want to be seen entering your dispensary of choice by your boss, perhaps you can go for a late-night run for your pot strain of choice (OG Cush or Grandaddy Purple, according to Thrillist). If you move to LA, that is.

It nice to see that the farming and ranching traditions of Livermore's past live on to this day. You see, seven men were nabbed this past Sunday in connection with a cockfighting ring on the 4000 block of North Livermore Avenue. Ick.

Busted while a fowl fight was in progress, officers arrested three gentlemen from Alameda, two blokes from Livermore, one from San Jose, and another from Las Vegas. Police officers also uncovered "300 gamecocks being used or prepared for use in cockfights" as well as 150 gamecocks and hens in an unincorporated part of Livermore. All of the birds, it seems, are worth up to $500,000. Wow.

Authorities are in the process of finding "sustainable homes" for the poor little birds.

Once considered acceptable in the US--even our founding papas George Washington and Thomas Jefferson used participated in the sport--cockfighting is now banned in all states except for Louisiana. Britney Spears' home state will officially outlaw cockfighting in August of this year.

There was no sign of Mark "Cutback" Davis or Bob "Jungle Death" Gerard in the waves off Pillar Point on Saturday, but 24 of the world's ballsiest surfers were there to test their mettle against the huge, angry swell that is the Mavericks break. When the foam cleared and the judges' scorecards were tallied, it was 24-year-old Greg Long from San Clemente, SoCal that ended up taking home the title of Mavericks Big Wave champion for 2008.

Missing in action last year because of unfavorable conditions, the Mavericks Big Wave Surf Contest went off Saturday without a hitch. The "Super of Bowl of Surfing," Mavericks is a unique event in that there is no set date for the event -- it is totally dependent on the whims of Mother Nature. Each year between January (now December) and March, a small clutch of the world's premier big wave surfers sit nervously by the phone waiting to be notified that the contest is on. Once promoters announce the contest, invited surfers and alternates have only 24 hours to get to tiny Princeton-by-the-Sea, California for the big event.

Now, at Sfist we use the collective and most sacred "we", but this time, this is strictly mine. I invented the list. (Tomorrow, check out what the rest of the Sfist staff picks as their top album of 2007.) It seems that I always have some sort of emotional connection to my favorite music. These artists bring back specific moments and memories from 2007 that might have been forgotten without these incredible albums.

This list covers the artists that I found provocative and interesting throughout 2007. Obviously yours will be different, so let us know what your favorite album of 2007 was. Here's my top 15:

Check out the list, after the jump...

Kenneth Ryan, Prop Master of the San Francisco Ballet has undergone and SFist interview below. As a San Francisco native he’s got all kinds of good tips about the city. As someone who has been involved with the ballet for over two decades, he’s got some very cool insights into the background of the production.

Most difficult prop you've ever had to come up with?
The one that the designer doesn’t really know what they want. Once they’ve made that decision, my crew and I can make anything.

Coolest prop in the Nutcracker?
The settee where Clara sleeps. It’s an electric wheelchair that’s been stripped down to the drive wheels and batteries. It is operated by remote control.

Favorite ballet?
Nutcracker. It has been a part of my Christmas for the last 24 years. It is the introduction to ballet for so many people. It’s seeing what I do through the eyes of a child filled with wonder and amazement. Many of the younger dancers get opportunities to dance roles that allow them to stretch their abilities. It’s a fun time of year.

How did you become a prop master?
My boss retired and I applied and was given the job.
Peter Divine, my high school director, taught me the love of theatre and it never left. No special training. It’s mostly organization skills and common sense along with a crew that can make anything you need.

Something that most people don't notice/ appreciate your art that they really should.
The magic starts at 8 o’clock in the morning and goes until 11 o’clock at night. You need to pour your heart into it to create the magic.

Although her contract ends in 2009, former SF Mayoral candidate and current San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal might get the ax, according to Cecilia M. Vega over at the Chronicle. Her removal could kickoff a bloodbath of staff cuts by Newsom. And although her dismissal would need approval by committee, this seems like a done deal. According to the article:

Leal received a telephone call Friday evening from Newsom's chief of staff saying her services won't be needed in his second term, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday. The call prompted Leal and the administration to begin talking about whether she will stay.

Yikes.

Once Newsom's ingénue (more or less) for spearheading efforts to cull energy in the San Francisco Bay, she also yearned for more "publicly owned sources of energy," a sentiment that went against the agendas of other members of the PUC. She heard the informal news of her probable canning while can-canning over in Paris this week at a French-sponsored water conference. She has no comment at this time.

After Newsom's famous request for open letters of resignation earlier, this seems like a start to his pruning process. The article goes on to say that Leal "has never been a true team player with the Newsom camp." So...watch your necks, Newsom naysayers.

The legendary Cafe Flore might find its way to the obit page of the B.A.R. soon. Why? Because if it doesn't "get permission to have the option to serve food 24 hrs a day, to have the option to have amplified entertainment to allow a background DJ," or to get the chance to serve booze until 2 am, the place might zip up and never call again according to SaveCafeFlore.

Noes!

Look, Cafe Flore is fantastic. Once place to go to "buy your drugs and then head over to Twin Peaks all night and get fucked up" during the 1970s--according to one elderly, anonymous gay--it's since mellowed out considerably. Now, you will find bookish boys covertly husband-hunting while pretending to work on their dissertations or screenplays. And sometimes a sprinkling of lesbians to taste.

Many accuse NIMBYs in the neighborhood (i.e., cranky old homos) for the Castro losing its seedy bars and overall "cache as an LGBT neighborhood." But that's only part of the reason, really. Castro bars and social outlets have died because it's far too easy to cruise for sex from the comfort of your own bedroom, basking in the warm glow of the computer screen. (Will l'Internet stop at nothing?!) Homosexual men in the Castro went out to nightclubs and bars to get laid; community-building, hanging out with buddies, doing bumps in the bathroom, and hurling cruel but clever bon mots always came in at a distant second. If Cafe Flore wants to remain open, flourishing in the fertile SF nightlife scene, they should work around that... somehow. The powerful convenience of online sex is the reality nowadays.

Still, Cafe Flore is gorgeous and drenched with sunlight. Plus, the bathroom is a private one. Its aesthetics alone are reason enough for it to remain open. Do you want it to stay open? Find out how after the jump!

UPDATE: Oh man! How could we have missed this one? There's also going to be a Falun Gong march! We're sick and tired of trying to figure out whether we want to make fun of the pro-FG crowd or the anti-FG crowd -- oh, they're oppressed; but wait, their leader said nasty things about gays; and then there's that weird Epoch Times newspaper that they're involved with -- so we leave the thankless task of making Gong Show jokes to you, our tasteful commenters.

Once again, a bored city casts its gaze to Muni, the cultural arbiter of our time. What's up this weekend? A festival for dead people, and a marathon. Well, a half-marathon, at least. That means that runners are only allowed to use one of their feet.

Anyway, eleven eighteen bus lines are afflicted this weekend. Fun!

But wait, there's more: they're closing 18th Ave and 25th Ave. Not for any events that we can figure out ... so it's probably just because. Details after the jump!

As some readers have already pointed out, Saturday's collision of death at Dolores Park should prove interesting. With a bevy of corpses available for you to express yourselves, which one will you choose?

In addition to the "Thriller" dance record-breaking attempt at Dolores Park, Saturday's Antiwar march, starting at Civic Center at 11 a.m., will end up smack-dab at the same recreational area. Once there, the "Fall Out Against the War" marchers (another worldwide event happening on the same day) will stage a (symbolic) die-in "to bring home the 2 million Iraqis who have died, the 500,000 who are now refugees, and the nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers who have died for an occupation that only benefits weapons manufacturers and oil corporations."

That's a lot of dead bodies scattered around DP this Saturday. Mind your step.


"Thriller" rehearsal image: btobin's flick stream; die-in pic: Glenn Beck

Hey, remember that Question Time thingy? You know, that non-binding measure that voters passed which called for Gavin to appear in front of the Board of Supes and answer questions thrown his way while the rest of us get to kick back and watch the fun? Well, if you remember, Gavin kind of refused to do it and instead staged fake Question Time, "Town Hall" meetings throughout the city and wound up killing any sort of conflict over the issue by basically boring everyone to death. Even the chickens got bored and stopped attending.

So the supporters of Question Time, mainly Chris Daly, are trying to get a new measure passed, Prop E, which states that Gavin absolutely, positively has to show up-- no buts. In response, Gavin is rasing money from supporters to fight the measure on the ballot. Call them the No-E coalition, although they're calling themselves the "Let’s Really Work Together Coalition.” Or, for you kids out there, the-- "Let's Totally Work Together, For Reals, Coalition." Gavin has lately been going to Pacific Heights and raising money with his peeps to beat back Prop E. Lately, he went to a fund raiser at Dede Wilsey's home to get some of the $100,000 to $150,000 those in the know say he'll need to raise. And wouldn't it be great to have the kind of money that you can just throw around willy-nilly like that to beat back some totally silly ballot measure? Isn't there anything else they could throw money to? Where's Bono when you need him?

Once enough money is raised, the campaign, as they say, "is on." Gavin's people are going to play the Daly card and say an No-E vote is a vote against Daly. As for Daly, he's pretty much whatever about the whole thing and points out that it's a simple measure and that since it passed last time with 56% of the vote, he's sure it'll pass again.