Starting this week, as we all know by now, Palme d'Or-winning writer/directer Gus Van Sant starts filming Milk on our pretty yet smelly streets. But Gustave needs your help, folks. On Monday night, Feb. 4, and Friday night, Feb. 8, he will require you use your thespionic skills during several march reenactments. If you go here and register, you will be used. All ages, races and genders are just dandy; however, you must be......

You know how the Bay Bridge is going to be closed on this Labor Day weekend? And how that means there'll be fewer car-trips into San Francisco? A reasonable person might assume that that'll mean an increased demand for public transit -- but Muni's response to that is, "reasonable people? What on Earth are those?" Not only is Muni not adjusting service levels to accommodate the bridge closure, they're actually reducing service levels on......

On Monday in Modesto, a 10-year-old boy was caught a tad off guard when a hunk of ice the size of a bowling ball crashed through the roof and hit him on the head. The poor little guy was probably scared out of his mind. All nine people inside the house (Was there a party we were not invited to?) fled when the ice came through the living room ceiling. A hole in the roof......

Springing forth from SF's thigh, a new power couple is born: Savage Jew. Wednesday, Ed Jew appeared on hyperbolic grandpa/genius performance artist Michael Savage's show, The Savage Nation. Jew discussed why left-leaning views also deserve First Amendment protection and his decision to vote against Sandoval's proposed resolution to get Savage to use his inside voice. Along with his attorney Steven Gruel, Jew also blathered on about his own legal woes. (Maybe you've heard about......

On Monday, three people are each making their respective 500th open-water swim to Alcatraz and back. Swimming's hard! And the water's cold! And they won't be wearing wet suits. But these three guys have obviously had few problems doing it again and again, and each have significant open-water swimming accomplishments to boast of....

Ed Jew! How we've missed you. After getting back from China, the first thing Tapioca Ed did was give only Chinese-speaking members of the media a tour of the place he calls his Sunset home. Man, our relatives were right that we would regret not having gone to Chinese school as a child. Thank goodness the Chron got those pieces translated! The Chinese newspaper Sing Tao reported that the Sunset house appeared "sparsely decorated and......

On Monday's show, Conan did a little video bit where he spent the day traveling around the city showing off the city's sites. We looked and looked and looked for it but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, today, we found a version of it on YouTube. Come on YouTuber's, it's been days before this video aired! ...

We've got two contests this week, one to celebrate over a decade of experimentation and the other to to support some stalwart locals. Giveaway #1! On Monday and Tuesday, Blonde Redhead make their gorgeous art rock at Bimbo's with openers Annuals. Annuals weave intricate melodies with ambitious sounds while still giving you hooks to hold onto (and remind us a little of the wonderful Aloha in the meantime.) One winner will get a pair of......

Let's face it, in the peloton of American spectator sports, cycling got cracked off the back on the first climb out of town and is just now working its way back into the rear of the pack. Even with eight straight years of Americans winning the Tour de France, the biggest event in the cycling world, cycling has only the most tenuous of holds on the American consciousness. O'er the pond, the Europeans have more than a century of rich road racing history and cultural lore out front making a passionate pace.

One of the problems is that American race promoters and fans haven't quite figured out how to wrest maximum entertainment value out of a professional cycling race. Organizers of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California (TOC) understood this issue and came up with a great solution: circuit laps to finish the stages. Brilliant.

Ho' boy. Somebody better call FEMA. Fire up the buses and make sure that the Oracle has plenty of cots and bottled water, because there could be a CAT5 disaster looming in the Warriors future.

Last night at the Oracle, the team was able to withstand the Sacramento Kings, 126-113, in a game that the hometown hoopsters controlled from the opening minutes, but there's storm clouds brewing. Ironically, last year's killer storm, Hurricane Artest, was in the house to remind the Warriors about decision making. It was ironic, because the Warriors again find themselves toying with the idea of voluntarily welcoming an NBA bad boy into the fold even as their team chemistry seems to be taking on a little water.

We're doing our part for the SFist Holiday Gift Guide this month as well, by bringing you some extra special music giveaways. Barsuk Records is home to a lot of amazing artists, including San Francisco's own John Vanderslice. One of their newest signings is Portland's Menomena, a trio who manage to blend post-rock and pop in a deliciously haunting manner. Download the title track of their newest EP "wet and rusting" and see them......

What a stinking dog of a putrid rotting corpse of a disgusting disgrace of an abomination of a disgrace of a debacle of a sham of a fraud of a spectacle of a sham of an embarrassment. Or something like that. How else to describe the Warriors recent sleepwalk through Texas.

On Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs spanked the tribe like a teenager's monkey, 129-89; just 24 hours later, the Houston Rockets piled on and beat the living tar out of them, 118-90 -- neither game was as close as the scores would indicate.

We had a great week of music last week, starting on Thursday night when Live 105's Madden invited us to join him on air. Along with SFists MattyMatt and Jon we talked for a half hour about local music, Muni and of course Gavin's hair. Madden was a friendly and gracious host and we thank him for inviting us! On Monday night Cursive packed The Fillmore for a straightforward set of songs from their new......

Local hotels are all smiles as they prepare for cable news talking heads to storm the city en masse as our local politicians have put us in the cross hairs again. And what did they do to bring this upon us again? Go after a bunch of fresh-faced kids. Well, Jesus loving fresh-faced kids, the one's who were here over the weekend for their "Battle Cry for a Generation” shindig. We here those rallies were hookup city. ...

On Monday night, the War-droops begin a three-game home stand. It couldn't come at a better time....

Some people are sooo thin skinned. Like our Governor. A bunch of tree hugging Austrian hippies got all huffy because Arnie executed some dude and now the Governator is all pissed. On Monday, he faxed the Mayor of Graz (what? He couldn't get the Mayor's e-mail address?) and asked that his name be taken off a stadium that was named in his honor. He also asked that his name no longer be used in the promotion of Graz and returned his "Ring of Honor" that the city bestowed on him in 1999. About the ring, Arnie said in his fax: now that "official Graz appears to no longer accept me as one of their own, this ring has lost its meaning and value to me. It is already in the mail.” Oh, snap! ...

Just like we said at the end of the 2005 season: the A's need pitching in '06. On Monday, Billy Beane surprised baseball insiders by putting on shoes with laces and signing free agent starter Esteban Loaiza (whose last name we're going to have to learn to spell, like the whole Harden-Haren thing wasn't bad enough) to a 3-year, $21 million contract. Though Loaiza's agent, Joe Boggs, expected the A's to get out of the......

Over the last week in Oakland, shops have been laid waste, a store has burned to the ground, and a controversial religious organization has been implicated but denied its involvement. While our headline could be all too common, our personal experience makes the recent crimes all the more troubling. According to the Oakland Tribune, last Wednesday, a number of men in black suits, white shirts and bow ties vandalized two liquor stores in West......

It looks like the Giants craptastic season has claimed some more people-- at KNBR. In light of KNBR's sport talk show host Larry Krueger's statements last week about the Giants being made up of "brain-dead Caribbean hitters" KNBR fired Krueger as well as long time program director Bob Agnew and the morning show producer Tony Rhein. As they say, it's not the crime but the cover-up and in this case, it's not the crime but the joking about it afterwards that did them all in. On Monday, Felipe appeared on ESPN’s "Outside the Lines" and referred to Krueger as a "messenger of Satan." In response, KNBR’s morning show aired snippets of Alou's Satan comments and parodied it with references to the Satan on "South Park." An interesting reference considering Satan is mainly depicted as wracked with inner turmoil due to a dysfunctional relationship with his boyfriend Saddam Hussein. In firing Krueger, Agnew, and Rhein, KNBR issued a statement saying that their jokes "demonstrated an utter lack of regard for the sensitivity of the issues involved and a premeditated intent to ridicule Felipe Alou's commentary." In other words, if you're trying to appear all contrite and apologetic over an offensive comment, don't make light of the person you've offended. ...

On Monday, local activists submitted the 15,000 signatures needed to put the measure "College Not Combat" onto the ballots in November. The "groundbreaking" resolution calls for San Francisco schools and colleges to forbid military recruiters from talking to students and possibly convincing them to exercise their freedom of choice by choosing the military. Anti-War activists are claiming that part of the reason for the initiative is that in facing low recruitment numbers, the military has resorted to lying and bullying people into joining. Which is a bit on the cheesy side. On the other hand, our college promised us a fulfilling career and high paying jobs and, well, now we write blurbs for SFist during lunch break as the only way to get any creative fulfillment. ...

This might get us in a bit of trouble, but we actually like the Chron's token conservative columnist Debra Saunders. Yes, we don't usually agree with her, but we like the fact that she has the intellectual integrity to call foul on her own side when she disagrees with them. Frankly, our political discourse would be a whole lot better if pundits didn't just repeat the party line. Every once in awhile, however, Debra grabs......

Previously, on SFist: Giants fans got to attend a home opener. On Monday night in Oakland, it was Kirk Saarloos (1-1, 5.59 and still looking like a solid fifth starter) giving up six runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. Going into the game, the A's sat at three wins and three losses after series against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, and we'll take that. For now. The promising new and/or young players have so far......

Our live music picks for the week of 3/10-3/16. Whether you long to discover new artists, or your hanker for the music you grew up with, San Francisco's venues have something special in store for you this week. If you don't have tickets to see Slint's sold out reunion shows tonight or tomorrow, why not check out some new music? The Futureheads bring their British buzz to Slim's tonight. Their cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds......

It looks like one of the Bay Area's penny-pinching owners is about to sell. And no, it's not the one everyone wishes it were. On Monday, it was reported that A's owners Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman are willing to sell ownership of the A's to Lew Wolff, an LA developer with huge connections to the Bay Area, especially San Jose. Rumors have been flying around for months that this was going to happen but......

Where SFist seeks to unsettle and dismay its loyal readers by relaying news of woe, randomly collected from a variety of news sources for the period of this week....