(By Daisy Barringer) It's all come down to this. The 49ers must win on the road in St. Louis tomorrow to guarantee the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. A Saints loss to the Panthers in New Orleans would also give the 49ers the No. 2 seed, but since everyone is playing at the same time, the Niners can't take any chances. more ›

Peter Jackson's anticipated two-part prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy brings back a slew of your favorite Tolkien characters (and noted thespians) including Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Orlando Bloom. The new series will introduce Martin Freeman (Tim of The Office UK fame), Stephen Fry, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, and Lee Pace to Middle Earth. Sadly, however, you won't get to see it until December 2012. Until then, enjoy this too-brief preview of the first installment, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) It's been six days and the San Francisco 49ers are still the winners of the NFC West and headed to the playoffs. WHAT? more ›

(By Angela Zimmerman) Among the myriad joys of living in San Francisco is having access to places like the Exploratorium. If you’ve never been there, as this writer had not until descending on the place with hundreds of others for the After Dark event last week, you are missing out on the best interactive playland in the Bay Area... and should plan a visit posthaste. more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) I'm pretty sure everyone thinks that the San Francisco 49ers are going to run all over the St. Louis Rams this weekend for an easy Niners' victory. And yeah, I'm not gonna lie: I'm a little cocky about this one. I mean, it's the Rams. The 2-9 Rams. The Rams who were everyone's NFC West darlings during the off-season, but who turned out to be a horrible (yet delightful) bust. The Rams who are looking for their third win of the season. more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) When the 49ers schedule was released in April, I immediately sent my mother an email: Hi Mom, I just want to put this out there. The 49ers play the Ravens (in Baltimore so I won’t be going to the game) at 5:20 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. If there is not a lockout, I will insist upon watching this game. It will be over at approximately 8:20 p.m. ... more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) This Sunday, the 8-1 San Francisco 49ers meet NFC West division rivals the 3-6 Arizona Cardinals. Last night my friend Meredith (bless her heart) asked, “Is there any way we can root for the Cardinals in this game?” So obviously, I drop kicked her and then returned to my glass of wine. Okay, not really. Instead, I rolled my eyes and said, “The answer to that question is never going to change: No. NO NO NO NO NO. Just because you love the Cardinals because they practice in the heat does not mean we root for them. Ever." more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) There's been a lot of talk in mainstream media this week about the San Francisco 49ers for the first time in, like, forever. ("In, like, forever" is just one example as to why it's an atrocity that I'll be paying off my graduate school student loans until the year 2047. In case you were wondering.) more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) The 6-1 49ers travel to Washington on Sunday to play the 3-4 Redskins. It’s a game everyone seems to expect the 49ers to win, but don’t think it’s going to come easily. First, the 49ers have to travel all the way across the country and play at 10 a.m. on the road. more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) When it comes to the 49ers, all anyone seems to be able to talk about is how they're totally going to the playoffs. After all, they're winning and, well, everyone else in the NFC West is losing. It's basically guaranteed, they say! more ›

Remember last year when the 6-3 Buccaneers marched into San Francisco and destroyed the 3-6 49ers with a 21-0 shutout? Our first shutout at home since 1977? Yeah, me neither. Because that’s the thing about pain. The only way humans can handle it is by forgetting what it feels like. more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) Earlier this week, one of the two people who reads this called me out for my prediction that the Eagles would beat the 49ers this Sunday. Well, Matthew Lynch, while I hate to cut my readership in half, I think you should probably stop here because you’re not going to like what comes next. (And, for the record, neither do I, but it’s my JOB to at least attempt to be rational and honest. And I’ll have you know that I only attempt to do those things when I’m getting paid for it; sorry anyone I’ve ever dated!) more ›

(By Daisy Barringer) It’s Friday afternoon (YAY!), which means there’s less than 48 hours before the 49ers meet the Bengals in Cincinnati. Remember when the Niners played Cincinnati in the Super Bowl and beat them? TWICE? Yeah, no one cares about that this in this matchup. But still. Fun to remember… Ah, the glory days… more ›

You might have seen the posters around town -- hey, print media does still work! The San Francisco Symphony is kicking off its 100th season with a free lunch-time concert in Civic Center Plaza on Thursday, September 8th. The performance will feature "musical surprises, celebratory treats, and activities." more ›

While perusing Laughing Squid this morning, we came across the preview for the , which will feature the return of Jeff Bridges and light cycles. (Eeee! Ahem.) The film is scheduled for a 2010 release. And, if the sequel to the 1982 sci-fit cult classic lives up to this preview, it's sure to be a gargantuan smash. more ›

Over at Laughing Squid, we came across this delightful preview to Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. The plot line goes like this: "the California coast is terrorized by two enormous prehistoric sea creatures as they battle each other for supremacy of the sea." The future cinematic masterpiece, which (SPOILER ALERT) features a giant shark eating the Golden Gate Bridge, is set for release on May 26th. more ›

by Moses Namkung more ›

There will also be: greed, husksterism, rage, isolation and open-handed brawls. more ›

Tonight, for one night only, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be featuring two sneak previews of Dirty Country, a highly entertaining documentary about the underground world of raunchy music, directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, founders and hosts of the Found Footage Festival, which sold out four shows at the Red Vic last month. Dirty Country, which won the Audience Award at this year's South By Southwest, is part of Yerba... more ›

Starting today, The Frameline LGBT Film Festival will be rolling out its rainbow carpet at the Castro and the lineup of guests is glittery. Besides appearances by RuPaul (for ), the fest is again offering a super smart lineup of LGBT themed fare with a special mention of the fest’s foreign language section. more ›

Thursday, the SF Symphony opens a two week Prokofiev festival. They even have a fancy title: Russian firebrand, Russian virtuoso: the music of Prokofiev. We think they're trying to say that Prokofiev was Russian. He wrote five Russian piano Russian concertos which will all be performed by four Russian soloists: Yefim Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman, Ilya Yakushev (he'll do two), and Mikhail Rudy. That's a pretty rare opportunity to hear all these concertos performed in such a short span by such distinguished performers. more ›

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Please don’t mistake us for fans of human suffering but it’s high time a film was made to tell the uninformed public about the genocide in Rwanda. Beyond the Gates, at the Embarcadero, is a smart, engaging, often (rightly) painful view of the conflict from the view of a Catholic training college manned by John Hurt and Hugh Dancy. It’s a tearjerker but it’s really edifying to see how screwed up our international policy was just a generation ago – compared to now when it’s 2-3 times worse. (Watch trailer here.) more ›

Preview for the movie , which premiered last night at the SF Int'l Asian-Am Film Fest. (Movie's not rated but this clip probably should be rated R for violence.) The clip is a pretty good example of what the movie's like (though the movie is better lit). more ›

Let's meet the guys newly selected to bear the Silver And Black, shall we? Presenting the top three picks of your Oakland Raiders' 2006 Draft. more ›

Yeah, yeah, we know.

You had Oscar Pereiro in the office Tour de France pool until you watched the OLN Tour Preview show and Bob Roll convinced you to change it to Floyd Landis. Right, and you had Carlos Sastre on the podium too until your buddy Joao from Portugal got you thinking that Jose Azevedo had this one dialed in. And you've always been a huge Cyril Dessel fan, but you thought he was still a year or two away from going big time; this was going to be finally going to be Georgie Hincapie's year.

Sure you did. We guarantee that nobody had Pereiro, Sastre, and Andreas Kloden in the top three (well, maybe Kloden) before the Tour started.

Earlier this week we told you about some of the great shows at the Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival, including a special performance by Dieselhed at 12 Galaxies on Sunday night. We're sending two of you to the show. Preview some songs off their 1999 album Elephant Rest Home and enter to win. (Contest ends Friday at 5pm. Winner will be notified via email.) more ›

Before anyone accuses us of having a soft spot in our hearts for bands from Texas, let us just go ahead and admit we do. That leads us to this week's giveaway featuring Pilotdrift, a band from Texarkana. Don't get any ideas about their sound from their hometown though. Their music is atmospheric, symphonic, theatrical, and the singer even sounds a bit like Bowie. Their debut album is out now on Good Records Recordings, owned and operated by the Polyphonic Spree's own Tim DeLaughter. more ›

In this week's stage roundup, we'll take "Improvised Game Shows" for $200, Alex. more ›

If that question doesn't make you nostalgic, then VHS OR BETA's music will. "We're definitely not a band who's afraid to admit we have influences," says member Craig Pfunder, influences which include Duran Duran, New Order and Echo and the Bunnymen. more ›