Results tagged “philbronstein”

Former pop star Kanye West, that (racist?) Senator who called Obama a fibber, the oddly schadenfreude-free sight of a bruised Tila Tequila, murder-suicides in the Bay Area, Serena Williams, the staff at SFist headquarters -- why has everyone gone mad? Well, according to Phil Bronstein, the stars might have something to do with it. Today, the SFGate scribe posts an astrological cautionary tale and explanation behind all celebrity meltdowns of late. That is to say, the current Mercury retrograde is to blame. For everything. (Seriously, watch that Mercury retrograde. Scary stuff.) He cites Susan Miller's AstrologyZone, who tell us that for the next couple of weeks, we are, more or less, fucked. Bronstein advises, "And in case you're unemployed, fundraising for struggling non-profits, looking to budge entitled and entrenched health care/new financial bubble chicanery, or think you have the most clever idea for saving journalism, just hold on. 'Don't ask for favors, present ideas or launch new projects this month.'" But have no fear -- just kidding -- the retrograde will end on September 29. Until then, we find slow, gentle rocking movement prove the most soothing while curled up in the fetal position.

Conspiracy theorists freaked the holy hell out this morning over a piece penned by Phil Bronstein -- one that was critical of Gavin Newsom as California's next governor -- which was pulled. Or so it seemed. What happened was, local-politics fanboy types, like the anonymous ILoveGavinNewsom and journo Josh Wolf, accused SFGate of censoring the anti-Newsom bit. (While Wolf, a journalist by fame, didn't balls out accuse them of censorship, he retweeted the anonymous blog's assertion without consideration of the source.)

Phil Bronstein wrote this morning about several senior cable car operators who are boycotting the upcoming Bell-Ringing Contest in Union Square, due to Muni's lack of respect for 36-year cable car veteran, Alben Chang's, retirement celebration. Chang, who had an unblemished conductor record, wanted to take one last memorial ride on both the Hyde and Powell lines with some of his fellow senior operators. Muni had at first said the operators could take the ride while clocked out, but on the day before the ride, Muni then refused to let them participate.

San Francisco's very own Phil Bronstein, former editor at SF Chronicle and Sharon Stone survivor, appeared on Hardball last night. Around the 8 minute mark, he gets appropriately bitchy at Chris Matthews and Lawrence O‘Donnell who are talking about NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and East Coast politics, and then Matthews points out that DC is on the East Coast and NY is on the East Coast, and makes a snide remark about SF and a mood ring. See for yourself.

During the contentious court trial between (former) Bay Area married couple of note, Ginger McKenna (AKA Sharon Stone) and the Chronicle's Phil Bronstein," the former, it seems, was described as an "alarmist" who had "gone off the deep end over and over." At least according to the esteemed journalists over at TMZ, who obtained the court's "Tentative Statement of Decision" document on their recent custody battle.

Well, here we go, folks. What was once an abstract thought is now a reality. Behold "Phil Bronstein At Large," featuring the Chron's political scribe, Carla Marinucci. It was just posted fresh for your admiration, disdain, or entertainment.

Former editor of The Arizona Republic, vice president of The Cincinnati Enquirer, and top editor for the Reno Gazette-Journal and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Bay Area's Ward E. Bushee was just named executive VP and editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

• Phil Bronstein steps down as editor. Say what? [SFGate]
• Julius Castle closes amid allegations of fraud, misrepresentation, and lease issues. [Tablehopper]
• 1015 gets a (much-needed) makeover, will feature live bands. Well, it's about time. [SF Weekly]

It was announced today that SF Chronicle's editor, Phil Bronstein, will be "shifting his role from running day-to-day operations in the newsroom to taking on broader strategic responsibilities at the paper and for its owner, Hearst Corporation." Whoa.

We don’t dabble in national politics much, except when a gay Republican senator is outed in a Minneapolis airport (fun!). But we relate to the Two Americas theme of Democratic primary candidate John Edwards’ campaign: there is an America which will go to the SF Opera tonight, and another one which will go to Opera in the Park on Sunday. The first one, tuxedoed and bejeweled, cheered up by a cocktail reception, will enjoy a performance of Camille Saint Saens Samson and Delilah, followed by a “lavish post-performance dinner” and dancing. The other (ok, let’s be honest, us) will get arias selected from the upcoming season, preceded by Phil Bronstein’s stand-up routine, while drinking two buck chuck.

Today, we really enjoyed an interview of Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein by Julie Haire, an L.A.-based freelance writer, that was published on MediaBistro. And, yes, we confess, part of that enjoyment was due to multiple references to SFist.

When we talked to Phil Bronstein, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, a few weeks back, he told us that "the Chronicle will continue to be packed with talented journalists who will keep providing what (SFist) Rita called 'an essential public service.'"

Our recent "3 Questions" subjects have included Megan Marrone, Kevin Rose, Phil Bronstein, and the founders of Yelp -- all pretty darned high-profile people. However, as compelling as we find those folks, our goal with the short-form interview was always to intersperse folks on the street; the folks you meet in your real life, who really are as interesting as, well, anybody.

Hi, folks -- welcome to the latest edition of the Top 5. As SFist is community driven, we enjoy picking out some of the best comments that you folks contributed -- the ones that raised the discussion level, taught us something we didn't know, or made us laugh. This week, commentary on Ed Jew, Western Addition Shootings, the budget, and more made the Top 5.

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network.

Phil Bronstein is the Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Mr. Bronstein agreed to answer a few questions for us. His responses directly address issues brought up by SFist and SFist's readers a short time ago. Notably, you'll see from his answers below that he'd appreciate more of the same. Here's a chance hear and be heard from one of the most important drivers behind news coverage in our area. See what he had to say to us below -- and let him know what you think.

Number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 55.

And the layoffs begin -- a source tells us the first person to be let go from the Chronicle in their 25% reduction-in-staff campaign is managing editor Robert "Rosey" Rosenthal. We got the news confirmed by Friend of SFist and Chron Blogging/Interactive Editor Eve Batey, who says:

Yesterday, we were shocked to find this picture of our homeboy, SF Bay Guardian publisher Bruce Brugmann, posted on his blog.

Well, this sounds like fun! A reader who went to yesterday's live taping of the NPR news game show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" writes in to report that the game show's "special guest" of the day was none other than our favorite newspaper editor, Phil Bronstein!

Thanks to the kindness of a tipster (remember folks, keep those cards and letters coming), we get word of a great site that combines two of everyone's favorite kind of porn: real estate and celebrities. The site is called the Real Estalker and even though it's been up and running for a year or so, they finally opened up their San Francisco branch. It's like SF Curbed except snarkier and only about people you know.

As our former co-editor Eve moves on in at the Chronicle as their Blogging and Interactive editor today, we do a little imagining about how her first day might be going!

--Another successful Folsom Street Fair!

like the name of a certain local blog! Oh no, not at all!

Is Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein the new Jerry Seinfeld? Every year, he steps on the stage of the SF Opera in the Park, which the Chron generously helps produce. And people are semi-drunk on chardonnay, satiated on taboule and tomato-and-mozarella salads, they are baking in the sun: they are warmed up already. Yet every year, Phil's attempts to warm up the crowd even more end up in a train wreck. Here are this year's jokes (transcribed by us as honestly as we could), and we'll let you be the judge:

Don't know what to do with that formerly-trendy FREE WINONA t-shirt? Just cross out her name and write in "LANCE WILLIAMS AND MARK FAINARU-WADA" in sparkle-pen instead -- the Chronicle's getting ready to send those guys to jail on principle, as the Hearst Publishing legal team files a motion to quash (i.e., ignore) the subpoenas that the US Attorney's office sent out to them to find out just where they got all their juicy secret grand jury information from.

Hey, the Examiner said it first, not us: BALCO Reporters Could Face Prison Time reads the thrilling headline to their article on Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, who have been have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury regarding leaked testimony in the BALCO case.

Though last week's Golden Gloves was not actually the "Golden Gloves" event sanctioned by boxing's governing body, USA Boxing, that information failed to dissuade some of the Bay Area's greatest fighters from appearing at the Civic Center this weekend.

-And on a Friday when the Examiner ran stories about problems with Gavin's homeless policies and the difficulties of staying afloat in the city, the Chronicle ran an in-depth, investigate report about how the city wastes thousands, nay millions! of dollars by allowing their thirsty employees drink out of a water cooler instead of the faucet. Water coolers just don’t go on trees, people! And somewhere Phil Bronstein is busy clearing out a space on his mantle for the inevitable Pulitzer Prize this story is sure to win. The story does have a happy ending as Brita has offered to hand out filters to city employers, thus saving the city from this boondoggle of boondoggles. But still, this question has to be asked-- if employees no longer have a water cooler, where will they gather to discuss the latest episode of "Lost," "24," or "Freddie?"

Well, the top blotter news this week has been, of course, the murder of Pamela Vitale, the wife of Susan Polk's attorney, Daniel Horowitz. Polk, the Orinda woman who's accused of murdering her psychiatrist husband, is back in custody after the judge declared a mistrial in her case because of all the publicity about her attorney's wife. No shortage of conspiracy theories going around -- was it him? A disgruntled client? The weird neighbor? Despite what Phil Bronstein said yesterday, no arrests have been made as of yet. Cybersquatters, you just missed your chance -- in all the hoopla of opening the new San Jose city hall, the SJ IT department accidentally forgot to renew their registration on the sanjoseca.gov website. They hastily paid the $125 and the site's back in business. They're looking into whether they can just pay for a multi-year registration so it doesn't happen again -- "we are, after all, the capital of Silicon Valley." And the Oakland Tribune profiles wacky Ecstasy users at the San Francisco club Mighty. One guy has been obsessively logging every single hit of E he takes (he's up to 38.5 rolls, starting from Aug. 13, 2004 -- DEA, take note). Another raver, who's a banker in her day job (and came to Mighty dressed up as an anime character), is described as a "long-time user" and says "most folks grow out of it." We hope she didn't give the reporter her actual name.