We stuck it in Day Around The Bay already, but thought we would let you hash it out here in its own pad, readers. It seems that, according to the preciousness that is Dan Noyes, "the Silent Drill Platoon of the U.S. Marine Corps wasn't allowed to be filmed Sept. 11 on California Street in San Francisco for a segment of its new advertising campaign." Stefanie Coyote, executive director of the San Francisco Film......

Some local PBS affiliate stations will be re-airing two San Francisco-centric episodes of "American Experience" this weekend. The first, and best, is Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Through interviews with former members and survivors of the Jim Jones cult, along with loads of archival footage, you get an eerie portrait of a good idea gone bad. In hindsight, it's hard to imagine how anyone could have fallen under the spell of......

We found it pretty interesting that the L.A. Times saw fit to publish a feature story examining teh Haight, complete with quotes from actor Peter Coyote, a Marin Resident. (Leave it to the LaLa Times to turn to an actor for quotes . . . ). ...

SFist Rita is out of town for work, so we are donning our tiara and gown for this weeks Swells analysis. Tra-la-la! Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 57. Total number of people pictured whom we recognize/know: 23. This high number is because of the SF Library event with lots of writers, including Amy Tan, Vendela Vida, Dave Eggers, Stephen Elliot, Ben Fong-Torres, Michael Lewis, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry,......

On Wednesday we relished reading Matier and Ross's column about a brouhaha involving the San Francisco Film Commission. Seems that while shooting days in The City are up, all is not well between the commissioners and the executive director, Stefanie Coyote -- whom loyal SFist readers will remember from her previous brouhaha with deposed Treasure Island impresario Tony Hall over the Rent production. So Stefanie gets in a fight with former deputy director Michael Billington......

Okay, we're stealing this link from Usual Suspects, who found it first. (but if we give them credit, it's all okay!) PlanetOut.com, in connection with their voting Gavvie the person of the year, is running an online survey called "Who should play Gavin in the movie?" (We voted for k.d. lang.) More importantly: will Peter Coyote play Tony Hall negotiating the movie production of the movie, in the movie? ...

For an actor known for his want of privacy, Marin's own Sean Penn seems to be making a lot of news lately. Locally, Penn has thrown himself into the murky world of San Francisco politics by filming a very short film coming out against Proposition L. The thirty-second trailer will play in local theaters starting this weekend. Proposition L, which bills itself as the "Save our Theaters" initiative, calls for taking $10.5 million that's earmarked......