The same day that the world learned that her husband the former Governator had fathered a child with an employee, Maria Shriver hopped over to Chicago to appear on one of Oprah Winfrey's last shows, in blue sequins. The appearance was clearly scheduled long before Shriver knew her husband's philandering was going to be a huge national headline yesterday, and as the AP reports, the topic didn't really come up. more ›

We feel for District Attorney Kamala Harris today. Whenever something delightful happens to us, something bad occurs. You know, to even things out. (It's the way balance is kept in the universe, our paranoia explained to us.) Take, for example, Harris' most recent coup: landing on Oprah's "2010 O Power List," alongside Julia Roberts, Teresa King, Diane Sawyer, Jane Lynch, and Viola Davis. more ›

Oprah bans local TV hopeful, fears the developmentally disabled. more ›

Current TV journalist Laura Ling, who was arrested in North Korea for (accidentally?) crossing the border, will appear on Oprah today. Among other things, according to Gawker who already saw the show (damned time zones!), Ling will chat about not being able to take a proper shower and stinking up the place. Ick. Why would one ever admit to such a thing? more ›

With coverage on Oprah, followed by countless other media stories on the Third World-ish homeless camp, Sacramento's 'Tent Camp' will officially close over the next few weeks. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who's clearly freaked out by this kind of attention, plans to shut it down and move its residents to nearby shelters. The Oakland Tribune says, "With foreclosure rates in the Sacramento region among the highest in the nation, the ragtag camp has been depicted as a symbol of the economic meltdown — people who'd lost their homes and were suddenly pitching tents along a riverbed." more ›

Dozens and dozens of mansions in Montecito & Santa Barbara went up in flames last night. There is no ETA for containment of the massive fire, which started a little before 6 p.m. lat night. It has since spread to about 2,500 acres (i.e., around four miles) by early Friday morning. Christopher Lloyd's home has been torched to the ground. But Oprah Winfrey's home remains untouched. We repeat: Oprah Winfrey's home is still standing. You can breathe now. (CBS 5) more ›

Thomas Beatie, the with-child transgender male who stole the nation's heart on Oprah with his good looks and big baby beer gut, gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday. We repeat, the pregnant dude gave birth! That is all. more ›

The Bay Area is rife with celebrities right now. Oprah spoke at Stanford’s graduation. Beckham is playing soccer and selling underwear. Got any good stories or pix? Do share! Who needs the paparazzi when we’ve got SFist readers? more ›

Have you read Living Oprah, the greatest thing in the world, ever? Penned by a 35-year-old writer, performer, and artist living in Chicago--who doesn't give her name--for one year she will be living her life according to Oprah's edicts. Because Oprah Winfrey, as we all know by now, is Christ reborn. more ›

more ›

Speaking of Oprah, the fellow Aquarian just received American sculptor Daniel Edwards' chin-scratching touch. (You know, the celeb-loving guy who created that Britney-gives-birth sculpture?) Anyway, Edwards says his "piece pays homage to the closest thing America has to a living deity," hence its resemblance to the coffin of Egypt's Tutankhamun (King Tut!) more ›

• "Static and squat," declares John King on the new residential tower, Soma Grand. And it only gets worse, beautifully so. [SFGate]
• Have a sumptuous yet refreshing woodchuck, raccoon, or squirrel recipe? Send it to Endless Summer and you could win a "guest blogging post." [Endless Simmer]
• Fashion on the 5-Fulton dazzles. [Nature abhors a vacuum]

Barack's new SF HQ opens more ›

Back in October, we featured Josh Groban in our holiday section of New Tunes Tuesday. We suggested that it would be "perfectly Grobanized - gorgeous string accompaniments, long high notes, huge endings, orchestral arrangements, different languages and of course several collaborations..." It seems that everyone needed to be Grobanized this Christmas season especially after Oprah Winfrey's suggestion that Noel is "the one Christmas CD every family should have." Since then, Josh Groban's Noel has become the #1 best-selling album of the year just passing High School Musical 2 and Daughtry. more ›

The gentlemen at Valleywag have footage of this week's all-YouTube episode of Oprah. (Et tu, Oprah?) Steve Chen and Chad Hurley tell the now famous story about their company's conception. It seems, according to them, that during a SF dinner party at Chen's "friends filmed each other with videocameras (!), and then realized the videos were hard to share." Then like magic -- poof! -- YouTube came about, turning a voyeuristic dinner host into a multigazillionaire. more ›

Let's remember that Halloween also exists outside of the Castro. (It's not all about you, Castro denizens.) No, it's true. If you don't believe us, check out the many, many scary events going listed on I'm Staying Home for Halloween's site. A sampling: more ›

Run-ins with Sean Penn and figuring out how McCandless died, after the jump. more ›

After reading her porn-for-women article in O Magazine, a clearly horny Tyra Banks invited former SFist contributor Violet Blue to be a panelist on the Tyra Banks Show (think the Oprah Winfrey Show, but unwatchable) to chat about porn for women. Although a rich and thoughtful tet-a-tet was not to had during filming, thanks to the titular host, Violet did learn what some have already known but dared not to whisper: Tyra Banks is insane. more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

more ›

And by "tonight" we mean this afternoon...and then tonight. more ›

Ralph Nader is in town this week to promote his new book, The Seventeen Traditions. He did an interview with KGO radio criticizing Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and 2008 Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton. more ›

Kick those schlumpy tryptophan and Monday induced sighs and blahs to the curb and check out Bacon Press’s Food Porn. We can’t much bear thoughts and photos of turkey, but the tantalizing pics of vibrant veggies and wholesome soup are pleasing. Barely a trace of heartburn there, family and friends-who-are-like-family (we’re trying to be a bright and happy holiday trooper here). Such healthful dishes may soothe and perhaps allow us to ease into our ill barely fitting Levi’s sooner rather than later. After zipping up, we’d never call the authorities from learning about food related theft in another newish Bacon Press Post so appropriately named: Steal this Brie. more ›

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbq's and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder? more ›

We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there's a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network! more ›

After a bit of a rough year, Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park recently celebrated its 51st anniversary as one of the great independent bookstores in the area - a dying breed as you well know. We got Clark Kepler to take some time out and answer a few of our most burning questions: more ›

right here in the Bay Area, so damn right it's an O Magazine What To Read This Summer pick. more ›

The TableHopper is an fun email that we look forward to every Tuesday. Since you have to be a tiny nimble thing to gracefully hop on tables, we find this food-and-restaurant-scene newsletter incredibly sexy. Were we to jump on a table, we would look as ridiculous as Tom Cruise on Oprah's couch, and the table would crash under our weight. Lithe we are not. We leave this sport to the playful Marcia Gagliardi, a San Francisco-based food writer, who kindly agreed to answer our questions. more ›

Guess who's going to be on Art Bruzzone's SF/Unscripted show this week? Who's in the hot seat for our local version of Oprah, Larry King, and Joe Scarborough all wrapped up in one? You got it -- our esteemed co-editor SFist Eve!! more ›

Man, we need some extra cash to get us through the weekend. We hate it when payday is on a Saturday! Our couch doesn't have cushions to harbor change (stupid Ikea PS), and Oprah's debt diet series has made us so afraid of check-cashing places that we cross the street to avoid them. (Tangent: Anyone else ever think that Oprah could solve all our debt problems on what she probably would have spent at Hermes?) more ›