On the Saturday morning before this year’s Folsom Street Fair, while most of us were still blacking our boots or rigging our pony carts, a social media skirmish broke out regarding the rights of photographers versus the rights of the scantily clad at sexy large-scale events like this one. The target of this ire was the Ask First campaign, a volunteer group of advocates responsible for the little yellow “Ask First” stickers seen above. Ask First’s mission is to require consent before touching and engaging with others, and they extend this concept to taking pictures, too. But some photographers have pushed back against the campaign, exposing a complicated conflict regarding street photography and public nudity in the age of self-publishing, viral image-sharing, and facial recognition technology.

Photographer Tony Perez, whose status below was a widely shared screenshot on social media Saturday, is not some random Internet troll. He's been a pretty accomplished burlesque scene and concert photographer for years. Attempts to reach him for comment in this article were unsuccessful, but the status below certainly contains comment.

Not particularly artful language there, but the guy has a technical point — there is no legal requirement to get consent or permission to take photos of nude people at the Folsom Street Fair. “The fair takes place on a public street and as such, there are no restrictions on photography,” Folsom Street Events executive director Demetri Moshoyannis has said in past interviews. “We do ask photographers to ask permission as a matter of courtesy and mutual respect.”

That ‘courtesy and mutual respect’ component is what Ask First is trying to push, and plenty of photographers have pushed back. “This is not the first discussion I’ve had with photographers about this topic,” Ask First founder Maxine Holloway told SFist. “I have several other emails in my Inbox from photographers expressing disdain for this campaign.”

Funny, because we here at SFist post an NSFW set of explicit Folsom Street Fair pictures every single year on the Monday after the fair. We get them from the Flickr sets of photographers with whom we have a level of trust. In some cases, the consent is obvious because the naked people are conspicuously posing for a photo (NSFW link). In other cases, the consent is implied because the individuals are hamming it up in a public scene of bondage (NSFW link). But we also have incidents of some naked shlub standing in the background (NSFW link) or straight-up boob shots (NSFW link).

It’s unclear whether the naked shlub or the boob shot subject gave permission to be photographed. Heck, I even posted the image above as my Facebook cover photo — featuring roughly 2,000 Folsom attendees whose permission I did not receive to photograph. I patted myself on the back for being so ethical, because surely none of these 2,000 people can be recognized. But what if some facial recognition technology comes out tomorrow that can identify them all, tag them all with links to their Facebook accounts and add “Was At Folsom Street Fair” check-ins? This technology does not currently exist, but I’d bet my left lung that Zuckerberg has people working on it as we speak.

Image: Ask First Campiagn, Instagram

In response to this very scary gray area, the Ask First campaign put out the above “Handy How-To Guide” for consensual photography. “This guide is really for people photographing in public or in a crowd, not necessarily just for Folsom, although the stakes for Folsom photos often feel a little bit higher,” Ms. Holloway said. “When someone has their picture on SFist and is a teacher and people see them at the Folsom Street Fair, the repercussions of that can be different than if they’re at the North Beach Blues Festival.”

“I understand how photographers want to capture this really wonderful moment, but I think that people’s privacy and consent should come before that need to make a pretty picture,” she added. “If the consent and comfort of your subject isn’t really high that list, that feels really scary.”

So photographers, do have a look at the Ask First guide to street photography of public nudity. After all, we’ve still got the Castro Street Fair coming up Sunday in all of its foreskin-painting glory.

Related: A Brief History of Folsom Street Fair

ALL OF THEM: West Portal Ave & Ulloa

-- David Letterman after the final McCain/Obama debate via the absolutely critical at-these-times politicalirony.com.

This one's from inside the venerable Eezy Freezy Market along West Portal.

They also have a somehow inexhaustible supply of nice folks behind the counter wearing hoodies, along with stacks of British tabloids.

Don't forget that you're part of ALL OF THEM too! Contribute! Take a picture of a magazine stand or newspaper rack in the Bay Area (or anywhere, really) -- anything that would help hold/illustrate ALL OF THEM. Note the location, send it in to allofthemsf@gmail.com, and we'll do the rest. For great justice.

And after the jump, one Mr. Tate's piquant opinion on the whole ALL OF THEM debacle.

Well, the bad news is still that we've hit a 12 year high for homicides in the City and County of San Francisco, with two weeks left to go in the year. On the statistical side, though, the SFPD year to date murder count has moved down by three victims, from 100 to 97.

What happened to those three victims? Well, they're not any less dead, unfortunately. Rather, three of them were reclassified into non-murders. Namely, one victim's death was reclassified as a justifiable homicide (he attacked his girlfriend, who then killed him in self-defense), one double homicide has been redesignated as a domestic murder-suicide (so the murder stays on the homicide list but the suicide victim drops off the list), and the SF State student (at right) that the cops originally thought had been murdered after attending a party has been reclassified as an accidental death, possibly as a result of a bad LSD trip.

If you follow the SF Crime Blog, their murder count for the YTD reached a high of 101. That's because they're counting the Hayes Valley death of Hughes de la Plaza as a murder (at number 56). The SFPD still hasn't decided one way or the other where to classify de la Plaza's death.

Reporting from the snow-dappled streets of Chicago, it's your American Football Spectacular preview for this Saturday night's battle at The Stick as The Queen City's feline football franchise comes to town.

* Cincinnati vs. San Francisco
Saturday, December 15, 2007. 5:00 PM, PST.
Week 15
The Messy Battle

As Jon mentioned previously, there's Raider-esque internecine squabbling goin' on within the 49ers now. Sad. Pathetic. Sigh.

But it could be worse -- at least the Niners aren't the Cincinnati Bengals.

In 2006, the Bengal players compiled a rap sheet of somethin' like twenty-something-odd arrests. And this from a team that was supposed to be fronted by a disciplinarian! In that phase of his head coachin' gig, Marvin Lewis has failed.

Not to mention on defense too. Boy, does CIN suck this season. For a team that was supposed to make the playoffs and challenge for the AFC North crown, Cincinnati has flubbed and misfired their way to 5-and-8.

That's where the sad-sack 49ers enter the picture. Sigh.

Now with third-string Shaun Hill starting at QB for the depleted dispirited depreciated Niners, this game looks to be a sad team tearing apart a sadder team.

Don't watch this game.

Former SFist editor Jackson West boasts that at the "last sample sale [he] came away with five hats for forty bucks." You don't get better testimonial than that, folks. Also, heads just look adorable in hats -- more so than you would think. Sure, those of you who suffer from extreme ovalarity of the visage might want to re-think the chapeau as a fashion statement. But for most of us, the hat not only frames the face with aplomb, it also keep you toasty during the glacial winter months. Burr.

So, check out The Bold Hat Makers' sample sale this Saturday and Sunday. In addition to hats, they will be chock full of knits, bags, accessories, and more.

What: The Bold Hat Makers' Sample Sale
When, Saturday, December 15; Sunday, December 16
Time: 9am-5pm (Sat), 9am-3am (Sun)
Where: Goorin Bros, 1269 Howard

What is the dumbest thing in the world?
I am tempted to say nationalism, for the way in which it rallies people around a symbol they believe to be inextricably linked to their own identity but which belies a much darker reality and causes those who take it up to lose their independent mind and soul and give it over to the idea of a thing that, in and of itself, can only exist by oppressing the very people it purports to represent, creating monsters of us all, but I think you'll be expecting that. I'll go with Pop Tarts.

What is the dumbest thing about the Bay Area?
That it insists on calling itself the Bay Area, as if there are no other regions of the world centered around bays!

What was the most surprising thing you learned in working on this book?
Unlike what the people of Germany might say, it is remarkably hard to make light of unspeakable human suffering. Our greatest challenge was finding something to say about countries no one has ever heard of and which we are not even sure exist. I also really want to go to Iceland some day—it looks to be paradise on Earth.

What is the most fake seeming (yet real) news story you've come across?
"Bush Wins." That one got me twice.

Please create an Onion headline about SFist:
Online Alternative Magazine Has Perfect Obscure Band For You To Feign Enjoying This Weekend

By Dianne de Guzman

Although it took awhile, we've finally recovered from the Yelp holiday extravaganza at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. As to be expected Yelpers know how to throw a party! There was an open bar, plenty of food to go around and lots of dancers, hula hoopers (hula hoopists?) and girls running around in Yelp underwear.

More pictures after the jump.

Joe Frazier was once quoted as sayin' "Kill the body and the head will die." For an NFL offensive unit, the opposite is the case.

And here comes the context: it's your American Football Spectacular preview for lucky Week 13 of the 2007 NFL season.

* San Francisco vs. Carolina
Sunday, December 2, 2007. 10:00 AM, PST.
Week 13
The Quarterback-less Battle

The Carolina Panthers are two seasons removed from being picked by Sports Illustrated to win the Super Bowl.

Nowadays, this hard-nosed team is a shell of itself, with their once mighty front-loaded defense weakened by personnel loss, and their offense crippled by injury.

QB Jake Delhomme, the Panthers’ wily triggerman, is lost for the season. Without him taking the snap, the Carolina offensive game has stagnated. Opposing defenses simply double-cover WR Steve Smith and bet on stuffing the anemic CAR rushing attack.

Former number-one overall pick David Carr was brought in to back-up Delhomme, but now he’s hurt too. So who have the Panthers turned to? 44-years-young QB Vinny Testaverde. Goodness.

So, the Niners have their weak spot in the Panther team obviated for them.

The 49ers must get Vinny.

This is the NFL. Kill the head and the body will die.

The patrons were willing to entertain an oil well and a 1950s Americana re-setting that dramatically differs from Stravinsky's original 18th Century,even though they were a tad skeptical. At first. After all, what could be the symbolism here? A young couple lying on a blanket in front of the derrick, pumping in, pumping out, viscous fluids a-flowing. (Mmm, we can't put our finger on it. Oh no wait, we can: sex.) Fortunately, the whimsical sets by Carl Fillion (for the Robert Lepage and Sybille Wilson directed production) won them over. And after a few scene changes, they were enthusiastically clapping at the wacky decors thrown at them.

Above, William Burden and Laura Aikin, below James Morris and Catherine Cook, and Denyce Graves, pictures Terrence McCarthy/SF Opera.

Reporting from spa-side in Santa Ana, it's your American Football Spectacular preview of the next rung of pain on the agony ladder that is the 49ers' '07 season.

* San Francisco vs. Arizona
Sunday, November 25, 2007. 1:00 PM, PST.
Week 12
The Trend Battle

The 2007 NFL season was the one before-which all the self-appointed experts abandoned the Arizona Cardinals as a franchise to break out and make a push for the NFC West title. For the past two years with the wacky Denny Green as Head Coach, the Cards were supposed to make a push. Both times, they burned and failed in a way that was both memorable and banal.

In 2007, based on the strong finish of their '06 season, the Niners were the popular pick to challenge the Seahawks. Lord knows we picked 'em to move up.

But they didn't, they haven't -- and this season -- they won't.

2007 is a flaming wreck strewn with busted expectations for the 2-'n-8 Niners. Now last year's sleepers are making their move.

Well, he does not care for our image, but still: same thing.

Well, we went to this last Saturday's open casting call for Gus Van Sant's latest project, Milk. (Based off of the life of former San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, etc. etc...you know the story -- well, at least you should.) It was our first-ever open casting call, in fact. We were nervous. And totally unprepared.

When we arrived on the scene, all of the other cows had a handsome headshot with them and owned bragging rights to envious bit parts on their thespionic resumes. (Impressive showboating from guys claiming "I had a scene with Will Smith's kid" and "I just got a speaking part in Saw IV" littered the Sanchez School where the call took place.) We waited in the middle school hallway until escorted in a single-file line into an auditorium to fill out paper work and have our picture taken. Wee. But the only interesting thing to note was that Gus Van Sant was there, sneakers and all! We almost got a shot of him for you all, but after we took two innocent pictures with our phone -- the stupid shutter sound on our stupid BlackBerry will not mute -- we were asked to put it away. Nicely. Sort of.

Applause to John's Grill owner John Konstin, who decided to put some money into the arts. When the Maltese Falcon replica displayed in the restaurant was stolen earlier this year, Mr. Konstin offered a $25,000 reward for its return. The heartless culprits were never found, however, and Mr. Konstin decided against buying an inexpensive replica or "fake," as the momentarily-panicked Kasper Gutman termed it in the final moments of the 1941 film. Instead, he commissioned Bay Area sculptor Peter Schifrin to make a new Falcon.

The reports that the new Maltese Falcon has "a fiercer, more realistic look." The sculptor himself characterized the old bird as "parroty or even pigeony."

To quote the famous last word of the film, "Huh?"

The "more falcony" new bird, to our eyes, resembles Stephen Colbert's angry eagle -- not the formerly San Francisco-based baby bald eagle named after Colbert, but the screecher from the Colbert Report credits.

We'll set aside the question of realism -- leave that to the Audobon Society. And the new Falcon is fiercer, perhaps, like the Colbert eagle. But let's not kid ourselves: updating the Falcon itself is as bad an idea as colorizing -- or, no wait, as remaking the film (which Hollywood will surely do one of these days, no doubt). Let's have a contest: what fiercer, more realistic actor should play each of these roles in the less pigeony remake of The Maltese Falcon?

Our suggestions after the jump.

In the end: Maroon 5 is decent, safe KOIT music. Nothing more, nothing less.

Check out more pictures (and two videos) after the break...

So foul and poor a play we haven't seen. At least, not during this San Francisco Opera season. That is, until now: behold, the vile production that is Macbeth.

It's easier to count the things that went right, because there were so few: Thomas Hampson (fan), the Adler fellows, and Raymond Aceto, who all more or less shine. The rest, sadly, was pretty awful. You know you're in for a long night when you're forced to jostle your neighbor two seats over because of her audible snoring. (We wonder if the opera tattler noticed that.) Still, we can't totally fault that sleeping lady for doing what came naturally. We do, however, marvel at how she caught some zzz's, since the sounds heard coming from the stage were rough, and not at all propitious to dreaming.

Let's start with the production: it makes little sense. The stage looks like a bunker. Unlike La Rondine, it did not receive applause as the curtain went up. A giant hole marks the ceiling of the set, as if a comet crashed through. Guards dressed in black space-trooper-chic outfits didn't work, the same goes for the typewriter sitting on the proscenium, unused. There's only one way we can comprehend the mess onstage: director David Pountney and set designer Stefanos Lazaridis are fan of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, where a fly on a typewriter causes a typo, and a guy named Buttle to be arrested instead of Tuttle, by helmet-clad policemen bursting through the ceiling, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. This explains it all. The typewriter, ultimately responsible for the mix-up, symbolizes guilty consciousness, and governmental oppression. Or something like that.

Pictures of Thomas Hampson and Georgina Lukács by Terrence McCarthy/SF Opera

It's been a mighty tough season to be a 49er fan; what with the bevy of broken expectations, the death of Bill Walsh -- and this week -- the passing of former Head Coach Dick Nolan.

* San Francisco vs. Seattle
Monday, November 12, 2007. 5:30 PM, PST.
Week 10
The Battle Of Unnumbered Tears

Before the 2007 season started, this week's game was to be the proving point, the crucial matchup where the rising 49er franchise fought to prove itself against the NFC West champion Seahawks. It was to be a coming-of-age test.

Yet, here we are on this Monday's game, and this season is already lost. The playoffs are out of reach, and the stench of missed opportunities lingers above the team.

(Yes, the problem is still the same: piteously inept play-calling on offense.)

Mike Nolan's father, Dick Nolan, passed away this week. Mike has said through press statements that he'll be there to lead the 49er team in tonight's game, rain or shine.