The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

The hostage standoff is over. No one died. Nothing went ka-blam. The "deranged man" at Clinton's HQ was simply the town crazy infamous around those parts for his kooky mental instability. (Then, this situation must happen on a daily basis over at Hillary Clinton's SF headquarters.) According to CBS 5: WBZ Radio's Lana Jones learned that the [wacky] man's stepson reported to police that his stepfather had been drinking for two days. The son......

It's kind of an interesting Presidential Race in that two of the leading Republican contenders, Romney and Guiliani, are basing their campaigns on bashing the liberal bastions they governed. The obvious reason is to throw some red meat at conservatives by saying not only are they not actually liberal, but that they based most of their governance on beating back gays, Jews, and dark skinned people liberals. So Rudy just put a commercial out saying that he tamed "America's Most Liberal City." This didn't sit well with New Yawkers, however, and Douglas A. Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, fought back and said, “Blame San Francisco. We’re not No. 1.” ...

-- The WGA strike suuuuuucks. As does a fall season full of reruns. [The Bastard Machine, The Snitch] -- Vote tomorrow. Or whatever. [SFGate] -- No Googlephone? Then, what's the point of living? [ValleyWag] -- GOP Presidential candidate Romney Mailer is a ginormous GOP tool. [SFGate] -- Missing teen found with blue square at Fisherman's Wharf. Ew. [Examiner] -- Wisconsin-based chain store Batteries Plus banned. (Who knew there was a chain store devoted to......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

Giants 9 Reds 5- Here are three things we once thought improbable: Britney Spears having a comeback, Mitt Romney winning a "Pet Owner of the Year" award, and Matt Cain getting enough run support to win. Well, the improbable happened and for the first time since Mother's Day, the Official Favorite Giant of SFist got enough run support to win. In fact, he got a lot of run support, all thanks to Fred Lewis who......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

SFist reviews Comedy Death-Ray at SF's Sketchfest ...

We admit it, it's been a slow couple of weeks here at SchwartzenWatcher HQ. Nothing much has been going on as the Governator has been pretty quiet lately being all wonky and acting all Governor-like. But then, like manna from heaven, we get word that after a few days in D.C. schmoozing with other Governors and enjoying the fact that the Chinese control our ports and not a bunch of A-rabs, we discover that from there, Arnie is off to Columbus for the Arnold Fitness Expo and Arnold Classic. And kicking things off will be a pay-per-view Mixed Martial Arts Championship, the Gracie Fighting Championships actually, one that will be have as it's master of ceremonies our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our Governor is SO not like your Governor. ...

Well, it's about time! Assuaging his secret worries that he's not really a governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger finally got his personalized booby-trapped letter....