Photio credits: John Mundy and Michael Stabile/Sword Somehow we overlooked this last week, but local porn-ish blog, the Sword, captured images of San Francisco's openly bent politicos Supervisor/personality Bevan Dufty and city treasurer Jose Cisneros kicking it together at Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras. And it looked downright outrageous. Trannyshack's Heklina also joined them at San Francisco's sister city down under. Also, did you know that Sydney is San Francisco's sister city. Really? Well, we......

Though this may amuse a smattering of transplants who neither want this city to grow nor evolve into the world-class city it secretly is, a new global Monopoly board is coming and San Francisco is not a part of it. You see, people of the earth get to vote to see which of the 68 world cities will make the final 22 on the global board game. San Francisco, it seems, is not on......

Today Gavin Newsom announced that "a series of public hearings on the fatal Christmas Day tiger attack" that resulted in the killing of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. will start as soon as this Friday. After these hearings, the Recreation and Parks Department Commission will "make a set of recommendations to improve the agreement that allows a nonprofit to run the public zoo." Or something like that. Although it's an attempt to appease the mayor......

News from the non-Nancy Pelosi side of the San Francisco House of Representatives delegation -- Tom Lantos, the fourteen-term representative for the Sunset, along with northern San Mateo County, has announced that he will not be seeking reelection, because he's been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Jackie "Jonestown survivor" Speier is considered the early favorite to fill Lantos's seat, and reliable object of fun Leland Yee is reported to be considering a run as well. Lantos,......

One of the greatest misunderstandings in the history of US cinema -- oh please, as far as repeated viewings go, Ordinary People is a superior and more devastating film than Raging Bull -- is the genius of Sophia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette. A fantastic flick, really. It's gorgeous, laced with a few Bay Area inside jokes, oddly nerve-wrecking to watch, and the ending is perfect. Brilliant. In every way. And, yes, while many would (with much......

Sorry for the day late post, but it was a hectic weekend, and we just couldn't bear having to recount the tragedy that was this week's "Project Runway" without at least one good night's sleep behind us. Let's get this over with. Last week's pathetic challenge still hung in the air this week with the designers discussing Carmen's exit, and Chris proposing a "Project Runway" fragrance that would be a mixture of tears, sweat,......

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......

While the pairing seems unlikely (despite San Francisco being the "Paris of the West"), the Legion of Honor has received the, uh, honor of hosting the Marie-Antoinette exhibit. The show specifically focuses on Petit Trianon—Marie-Antoinette's personal retreat in Versailles—as well as the life and times of the lady herself. Paintings, furniture and anything else not bolted down in her house have been flown over here for display while the "cottage" (ahem) is being renovated.......

It’s early on a Saturday afternoon, and we’ve somehow found our way to Paris. OK, we’re not in Paris. Rather, we’re poking around mellow South Park between 2nd, 3rd, Brannan, and Bryant Sts., where arrondissement 94107’s narrow ellipse of green space merely feels a bit Parisian. The scene in the park is, for the most part, typical and ephemeral: young parents with their kids at the playground, couples chatting on benches or picnicking at tables, dogs and their attendant humans. Falling leaves pepper the ground with muted autumn color. South Park’s twist on the familiar neighborhood park theme, however, is the regular presence of down-and-out’ers at its west end. Nobody seems to demonize the two or three unshowered men hanging about, and while we’re not interested in joining them for a game of checkers or anything, it seems to be a case of no harm, no foul – at least on this afternoon....

Yup, "the Paris of the West". It's a phrase that's been liberally applied to our fair city, perhaps most notably when the mayor of the Paris of, um, "France", arrived in San Francisco last November to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our "Sister Cities" agreement. Never heard it? A quick Googling brings up a hefty 7500 matches, and as the scanning of turn-of-the-century tomes marches forward, that number will certainly increase. But to the......

We’ll start with the token blue-collar business. Down toward the Laguna end of this block of Union, a red banner plastered on the home of plumbing/heating/appliance specialists A. Valente & Sons defiantly announces, We’re Here 100 Years – Get Used To It. One of its signature ramshackle red Ford pickups sits across the street, and the stubborn survival of such an unsophisticated enterprise along this, the Yankee Stadium of big-league boutiquery, gets us wondering: Will women’s fashion retailers BCBG Maxazria or Pavillion de Paris still be making sales here early in the 22nd century? Can Marc Jacobs handbags and Lennox heating systems forever co-exist on Union St.?...

No longer just for cute Aryan stoners, Albert Fert of the Scientific Research National Center in Paris -- who just received the Nobel Prize for physics alongside Peter Gruenberg for their massive brainpower to help shrink hard drives so that they fit into your iPods, or whatever -- is a Dell user. We'll go one step further by suggesting that Fert has dabbled in Linux use when he was young, too. Shame on you,......

SFist Mihi runs with the canines! There's nothing like a celebrity appearance at a film festival, and Sunday night at the Roxie Theatre, the crowd went wild when it was announced that two of the wiener dogs who star in "Wiener Takes All: A Dogumentary" were in attendence. The Doc Fest crowd started oohing and ahhing and craning their necks as if Paris freaking Hilton herself had dropped by. Apparently, competitive wiener dog racing is......

Bless you, Drew Altizer, for your always-fun pictures of the local celebs in town! We wish we were Vegasist, so you'd have some pictures of Britney Spears's flabtastic performance at the VMAs last night. (aaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!) Anyhow, so Paris Hilton was in San Francisco earlier this week, at a Macy's event, and friend of Jennifer Siebel Molly Sims was at Cartier (after the jump). Drew's got the pics! Enjoy. All pictures by Drew Altizer.......

We feel way dirty for posting this, but maybe someone cares. According to what is supposedly actually Paris Hilton's blog via some youth-oriented contraption called "MySpace," the omnipresent socialite is going to be at Macy's Union Square tomorrow at 3 p.m. to launch her clothing line....

We can't really get ourselves too worked up about the billboards or campaign finance allegations that Mark Leno's tossing around about his rival for the State Senate seat, Carole Migden (sorry) -- but we certainly do pay attention to her reckless-driving woes! The Solano County DA has decided to charge Migden with a misdemeanor based on her wild lane-changing and fender-bending ways from earlier this year. Like Paris Hilton, only without the DUI or the......

Here's todays sports news...

Cue Sex In The City theme music here, as SFist Wendy struts on down to the Castro! We headed to the Castro on Sunday evening for the SFJFF's Gorgeous! (exclamation included in the title), sort of a Desperate Housewives meets Sex and the City, featuring four women, some single, some married, some divorced, but all Jewish and all uniquely Parisienne. Instead of NYC, the film’s set primarily in a beauty salon in Paris owned......

Yay, more film festivals! We love it. Next up: the SF Jewish Film Festival, which runs from July 19 to July 26 (with some additional screenings around the area through August 6). You've got a wide array of movies to choose from, including movies about Jewish boxers and documentaries from Israel -- but also, the always-fun film festival staples of romantic movies set in Paris and plaintive movies about family drama. What seems especially notable:......

A hearing at City Hall on Monday, 7/9/07 regarding Octavia Blvd....

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......

Look! Just like we promised -- to celebrate the Frameline GLBT film fest, we're giving away free passes throughout the festival (running June 14-24). Your first giveaway, for you and a guest? To the Opening Night screening and party! The Opening Night movie is The Witnesses, a French movie set in 1984, about four people whose lives are touched by AIDS, and starring an ensemble cast featuring Emmanuelle Beart. Sounds like Angels in America,......

10:30 p.m.: We went out to dinner and missed Ed Jew's surrender to the authorities.... in Burlingame!!! Awesome. Hey, that way he could just go straight home afterwards. Jew posted bail and was released on his own recognizance. His first court appearance is scheduled for July 16. 7:42 p.m.: KCBS has an audio clip (3:53) of their interview with Bill Fazio up. Jew found out a warrant was being issued at around 4 p.m. today,......

The entries are coming in fast and furious on the Photoshop Frank Chu's Sign challenge! Here's our top two so far -- send yours in too! And while we have you here, we might as well give you some news updates too. Oh No, Ed Jew!: Turns out the money that the Quicklys paid off to Tapioca Ed was marked bills from the FBI. The whole money swap was probably bugged too. MOOOOOM!: Apparently......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Did anything happen at all in the San Francisco Bay Area today? All we've been doing is monitoring the Paris Hilton back to jail news! MOOOOOOM!!!!! --Beer and wine are okay for the North Beach Festival next week, but no hard alcohol. --More folks are getting laid off from the Chronicle. The Chron has launched a Portraits In Grief-like feature. --The Special Olympics are in Berkeley this weekend. --An old theater on Market Street (the......

Photo of car with a CHP 11-99 Foundation license plate holder...

SFist interviews Laura Veirs...

Greg Novoa of San Francisco was the 45 millionth visitor to Seattle's Space Needle. 45 million is the key number because the ol' needle just turned 45 years old. It's great news for Mr. Novoa -- he's been awarded five days and four nights in Paris, France for being in the right place at the right time. Nice! ...

Ew ew ew bedbugs. For the last year or two, we've been seeing a resurgence in the pests, probably thanks to the rising popularity of bed ownership or something. Even a classy joint like the Hilton isn't immune, apparently: Consumerist reports that the one on Kearny presented one customer with a delightful bouquet of bites and itching. The customer says that they complained to the folks in charge, and two days later hadn't heard......