Those who still need to register to vote in time for the February 5 presidential primaries need to do so by tomorrow, January 22nd. Re-registering is necessary whenever you move, change your name, or change your political party affiliation. You can download a form here and mail it in by tomorrow (must be postmarked January 22nd) or deliver it in person. Here's a list of all the local county elections offices. The address for San......

Ever since the SFist Reads column turned us back onto the awesomeness of checking books out of the SF Public Library, we've been big fans of the First Stop area of the Main Library, where the library put all their books they'd acquired in the last two years. We've spent many a pleasant few hours checking out the latest memoirs, or all the books in the 300 section, or randomly pulling out titles in the......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Yesterday, Mayor Newsom signed into action the Tommy Ammiano-introduced legislation that requires the city to handout ID cards to undocumented immigrants and other residents who either can't or just won't apply for driver's licenses. The good news is that these IDs will help (formerly) undocumented residents gain access to the wonderful world of banking, a sense of peace before calling the fuzz, as well as "health services at city-run clinics, public library privileges, and resident discounts at museums and other cultural institutions." (Entry fee discounts at the Exploratorium: the American dream realized.) ...

Unidentified Women On Horseback In Golden Gate Park, October 29, 1934 San Francisco Public Library Historical Photograph Collection We’re all for citizenship and all—we would even consider ourselves to be citizenship geeks. We love voting (of course) and jury duty (jury opportunity, we like to call it). We love the Post Office and even the DMV (especially those the traces of the Eisenhower era that remain here and there in those temples of citizenship…......

Proposition D is a library bond initiative. Let's be clear: we love the public library. Sure, the main building is a little weird looking and they've been restoring it for two years and it functions as a daytime homeless shelter, but...everything in there is free, and if you are trying to find something, the staff knows pretty much everything. The city library is a fantastic resource, and functions a heckuva lot better than, oh,......

Slide from the State of the City Address (pdf of full slideshow here) "Statistical tools and methods, like many other technologies, can be employed either for social good or for evil" (the American Statistical Association’s Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice). Unfortunately for us, we’ll never know the difference: Darryl Huff’s classic How to Lie with Statistics is, at the moment, unavailable at the San Francisco Public Library. The probability of this occurrence is… you......

The SF Public Library's holding a good old-fashioned photo drive! One day only! Today! They're looking to add to their Historical Photograph Collection, and they need your help -- but heterosexuals need not apply. Ha ha, just kidding, heterosexuals can help too! But seriously, they don't want pictures of straight people. The "Shades of LGBTQI" project is looking for donations from the community; they want photographs -- physical or digital -- that have something......

-- Scott McCloud: Experimental and wildly popular comic artist and novelist (Making Comics) speaks tonight at "Evolution of the American Comic Book". Rory Root (owner, Comic Relief) and Andrew Farago (curator, Cartoon Art Museum) also speak. Starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market; $7-$20. -- End of Summer Slam Jam for Teens: Are there words prettier than "back to school"? Maybe. But when we start seeing back-to-school commercials and such, we......

Photo of Harry Potter translations at the Main Public...

Photos of the Harry Potter's Knight Bus in Civic Center...

Just in case you think baseball is the only thing going on in this city right now, it most certainly is not. The latest Harry Potter franchise will hit you soon and hard. And we thought it would be imperative to point out an alternative and Potter-related event for the kiddies -- especially for your little blessings who, say, can't catch a ball, if you know what we're saying. Anyway, check it: The purple......

A variety show and a chance to help out Killing My Lobster? But of course! The Romane Event, the monthly music/film/comedy/spoken word event at the Make Out Room the last Wednesday of every month and hosted by Paco Romane, is a benefit for local comedy group Killing My Lobster, and will feature their sketches and movies tonight. Looks like fabulous fabulist Harmon Leon'll be there too! $7-15 sliding scale, 8 p.m., at the Make Out......

Head over to Mezzanine for SF360 Film+Club, a monthly series taking films out of the theatre and putting them in the club shows a sexy, bloody, ass-kicking redux of Macbeth, directed by Geoffrey Wright. Complimentary cocktails from 7-8pm, with the film starting at 7:30pm. $8 at the door, 444 Jessie St. Drop by Books Inc in the Castro for a reading with local author Dr. William Lipsky from his book, Gay and Lesbian San Francisco.......

--The heart of rock and roll is still beatin' -- at Stern Grove this afternoon. It's HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS!!!! The free show starts at 2, but we assume folks'll be lining up pretty early, beach towels and folding chairs at the ready. Stern Grove's at Sloat and 19th. --The Chinese Cultural Center screens White Tower, a documentary about deaf culture in China's Henan Province. 1 p.m., $6, 750 Kearny 3rd Floor (x......

Get that gigantic backpack and sleeping bag and trek on over to Cody's Books on Fourth Street, as Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of Lonely Planet, read from their new books, Unlikely Destinations (the story of Lonely Planet) and Bad Lands (Tony's trips to dangerous countries). If you can't make tonight's reading (7 p.m.), they're in town through Friday, reading at Get Lost in SF tomorrow night and Book Passage in Corte Madera on......

As part of the National Queer Arts Festival, graphic artist and memoirist Alison Bechdel is speaking at Michelle Tea's Radar Reading Series at the SF Public Library tonight! We've been huge fans of Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For for, like 10 years now (we're latecomers -- she's been drawing the strip since 1987), and her first graphic novel, Fun Home, about her relationship with her closeted gay father totally blew our mind with......

When you go to someone's house, do you also make a beeline for their bookshelves and try to wrangle them into lending you some of their books? ("Did you like The Namesake? We heard it was good! No, we haven't gotten around to reading it yet! Are you done with it?") Well, if so, you and us are going to have to arm-wrestle over the selections at SwapSF's big book swap event this Saturday! SwapSF......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

This isn't just tonight -- it's for all month -- but it's so cool we're making it the pick of the day! Bank of America customers, you can flash your ATM card or credit card and you and a guest get into a bunch of local museums for free, free, free! (Wells Fargo card holders, you'll have to pay not only admission but also a $2.50 service charge. Kidding, kidding.) Offer applies to the SFMOMA,......

It's more than just Heart and Soul: the Berkeley Arts Festival presents an evening of four-hand piano pieces, composed by beloved local minimalist Terry Riley, and performed by Joseph Kubera and Berkeley radio host/pianist Sarah Cahill. 8 p.m., $10-20 sliding scale, at the temporary Berkeley Arts Festival location, which is the Fidelity Bank Building at 2323 Shattuck (x Bancroft). Other events: --A talk at the SF Main Public Library on "How to Listen to......

We've told you about Pet Noir here before, the comic anthology published by Manic D Press featuring an impressive list of local talent. If you still haven't picked up a copy get yourself down to the San Francisco Public Library tonight for a slide show and an enlightening, lively discussion about pets, comics, true crime, and much more. The event will feature many of the fine comic artists who contirbuted to the book, including, editor/artist Shannon O’Leary, John Isaacson, MariNaomi, Lark Pien, Trevor Alixopulos, Damien Jay, Peter Conrad, and Melanie Lewis. The fun goes from 6:30-7:45pm and will be held in the Latino room at the Main Library. Best of all it's free, so you can use your cash to buy a book, or dog food. Main Library is at 100 Larkin Street (@ Grove, Lower Level) 415-557-4400 ...

While we were at the symphony last night, our partner in crime mentioned an interesting event coming up tomorrow that we'd thought we'd pass along. The SF Public Library, in conjunction with its James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, is sponsoring a free event tomorrow (Sunday Jan. 21) from 2-4 p.m., to promote an anthology called "Return to the Caffe Cino," which is a collection of essays, plays, and reminiscences from a group of......

When we are at a loss for scintillating entertainment options here at SFist, we often turn to the inimitable SF Station, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary with a free shindig tonight at Mighty (119 Utah St. at 15th). Festivities include a smattering of DJs, live bands, including Sean Hayes and Felonius, visuals by Stephen Williams, and outdoor movies from local filmmakers and organizations courtesy of teacherwiththebus.com. RSVP is strongly encouraged, plus bring a coat......

A few years back, it seemed like everyone we knew was vacationing in Thailand. To keep ahead of the curve in fashionable Southeast Asian travel destinations, we're heading over to the Main San Francisco Public Library (100 Larkin @ Grove) to see Wendy Yanagihara, author of “Lonely Planet’s Guide to Vietnam,” talk about her travels in said country and learn all about the off-the-beaten-path gems so we can nod sagely and make intelligent comments......

Maybe it's just us, but when we start hearing big numbers (for example, the national debt, the number of people who died during the influenza pandemic of 1918, or our student loan debt), our eyes glaze over. So, when we hear statistics like "400 volunteers, 7,000 boxes of books, 300 tables and 200,000 books in over 50 categories", we might ordinarily have to reach for the NoDoz, but, wait: we're hearing these numbers from some......

We're hitting the Main branch of the SF Public Library (100 Larkin Street) for Central America on a Shoestring, a talk by Lonely Planet's commissioning editor Greg Benchwick. Benchwick’s Central American travels started in the mid 1990s when he traveled by chicken bus from Costa Rica to Guatemala – and that was just the start for his Latin American adventures...Benchwick will present highlights of Central America and suggest itineraries and trips for those going for......

--Love the San Jose public library -- just don't love the San Jose public library. --An Angelides aide says they found the "hot blooded Latino" audio clip on a publicly-accessible website. Also, former Steve Westly manager Garry South seems to be calling Matier and Ross a lot. --The City of Oakland accidentally turned down a historic garden by Lake Merritt, and now has to make it into condos. --Water fountain pressure is low at Oakland......

Oh, wow, this sounds so cool! Tonight, at 6 p.m., ITVS Community Cinema, KQED, and the San Francisco Public Library are presenting a screening of The World According to Sesame Street. The World According to Sesame Street is a feature-length documentary, in cooperation with "Sesame Street," that explores the drama and complexities behind producing international versions of the world’s most-watched children’s television program. Get to the Main Library's (100 Larkin Street in Civic Center) Koret......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 63 (crowd scenes not counted). Total number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 5 (Mr. Gavin "15'll get you 20" Newsom, Willie "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" Brown, Hooman from Alice, Robert Mondavi, Charlotte Shultz.) Minority count: 4 (6%). Number of hats: 1. Getty v. Traina: 2-0. Shultz count: 2. Number of people at David Barsotti's rooftop Scotch and cigar bar soignee:......