Four commercial fishermen were rescued today after their 35-foot commercial fishing boat, christened "Reward," capsized 50 yards off of Pier 45 today. Fortunately, as a response boat from the Coast Guard Station was performing "training evolutions" in the Bay, they noticed the boat sinking, went into action, and rescued the four fishermen. No injuries were sustains. However, the boat, carrying a possible 300 gallons of diesel fuel, is currently submerged under the Bay. Check......

A "significant amount" of spilled into the San Francisco Bay after a tugboat collided with a refinery pipeline last night at Tesoro Petroleum's Golden Eagle Refinery in Martinez. Reports claim that "it wasn't know how much gasoline spilled into the bay, but a Coast Guard spokesman says it's 'a large amount.'" ...

Oh shit. After an alert system SNAFU failed to notify workers at a Marin County treatment facility about a sewage overflow on Thursday night, the San Francisco Bay is now the proud recipient of 2.7 million gallons of both "raw and treated" sewage. Lovely. Although sunbathers are few and far between this time of year, signs are posted all over Crissy Field, Baker Beach, Aquatic Park, and China Beach to keep people from swimming......

First eco-friendly homeless shelter opens its doors. Glamour, glitz, green. [Oakland Tribune]The Mayor uses Muni funds to pay his posse. [SFGate, N Judah Chronicles]Speaking of which, buy your "The N Is Near" t-shirt now. No, now. [N-Judah Chronicles]Mary Ratcliff reports on the police state formerly known as Bayview-Hunter's Point.Yikes. [SF Bay View]Yerba Buena Loft cover up? Shady. [Curbed]Although he seems like more of a Mission fag, Gus takes over the Castro. [eBAR]Sir, there are no......

Beatropolis: Oh joy! Beatropolis has returned! (Not that they really went anywhere, but it always feels like forever when they're not around.) Anyway, Beatropolis' special brand of dance rock, live drum 'n' bass, and futuristic space pop will have you up until the wee hours of the morning. The Toy Soldiers (a heady nu-electrorawk mix of Flaming Lips, Justin Timberlake, and Hot Chip) and the Buttercream Gang (a local indie/post-punk/afro-beat band) also perform starting......

Merry Martin Luther King Jr. Day. [Examiner, Nature abhors a vacuum, SF Bay View, Beyond Chron]The TLDR spat between SF Bay Guardian and SF Weekly continues at a steady, confusing pace. [SFBG, Weekly]Voter registration deadline is tomorrow, kids. [SF Gate]Metallica's Kirk Hammett's Divisadero Street manse is still for sale. [Examiner]Facebook will get an executive chef, but workers might have to pay for their meals. How devastating. [Valleyvag]Temperatures drop . As does some snow. [Mercury......

Wanda Sabir gets a call from Michelle Obama. [SF Bay View] Where to take that special someone you like, but don't like-like. Like, you know? [Gridskipper] Hasbro can go straight to hell wants to put an end to Scrabulous. [Valleywag] Rejoice, guilty white liberals! Sen. Barack Obama's TV ads will kickoff the vote-for-me ad campaigns we'll start seeing. Wee. [SFGate's Politics Blog] Engagements be damned. Beth returns for the sweet, sweet taste of Gavin......

Just what's up with our least favorite oil spill dilemma, you ask? Let's find out: -- After 29 years of military service, Coast Guard Captain William Uberti will retire after the oil-spill SNAFU is over and done with. According to the Examiner, "Uberti was the region's sector commander when a container ship sideswiped the Bay Bridge in dense fog, dumping 58,000 gallons of thick bunker fuel into the bay." Uberti was soon replaced after......

-- Cinewhores Present Midnight Cowboy (1970): Although tame by today's smut-filled standards -- oh, you heard right! -- Midnight Cowboy has the distinction of being the only X-rated film to have ever snagged the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film -- about the friendship between Joe, a rookie New York City hustler, and Ratso, a terminally-ill New Yorker -- is prefaced by a reading by queer author Kirk Read. (Oh, and Sylvia......

The airtight smiles. Awesome. For those of you somehow not tempted into becoming a part of Van Santian art -- or, you know, if you sport a vagina -- might we suggest catching round II of the Leno vs. Migden smackdown? Sponsored by the Harvey Milk Club, this meeting is sure to ruffle a few plumes and have local politicos affectedly scratching their chins for days to come. That's right, kids, it's on. It is......

This morning at around 11:30 a.m., two people were seen standing on top of a single-engine A35 plane that crashed into SF Bay. The plane went down near (and, thankfully, not into) the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. As of now the extent of the victims' injuries are unknown, but seeing as how they managed to climb atop the wreckage, we're going to say that they're fine, or at least very, very tough. (Will update with......

Good news for students of the struggle of the proletariat: even if you don't have time to read Marx, there are alternatives. Like Paul Krugman, Harpers, Howard Zin, Noam Chomsky, the Guardian of London -- and even our very own home-grown SF Bay Guardian. This reading list is the result of a conversation that started innocently enough on the SFBG's blogs, in a post about homelessness in Golden Gate Park and, tangentially, the Spanish......

Gay marriage, GLBTQQGQQ$#@ discrimination, HIV issues, queers in the military, Donna McKechnie (we can only assume), health care, and more are what's on tap for tonight's presidential debate. Disgusting, we know. But 84% of eligible gays voted in the last election, so why not? (Who knew gays could even vote? Huh.) And who better to breakdown and break through all of the rhetoric than SF Bay Guardian's Marke Bieschke (AKA Super Ego). He'll be......

-- Litz Plummer, the Opera Lady: Wow. This should be an interesting combo: Coming to the Eagle this evening is the opera lady. You know? The one who sings on Maiden Lane, near the Hermes store. (Where you buy all of your blue separates, just like us?) She's part of tonight's "Thursday Night Live" along with All My Pretty Ones and Carletta Sue Kay. 10 p.m., the Eagle Tavern, 12th St. & Harrison; $5.......

Last week's winner: the SF Bay Guardian . Cover article: Summer Guide - lots of world music and food festivals in places named "something"-ville. Remembering Jello Biafra and The Clash. Gavin's skimping on the details of his mayoralty to the public - it's the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love, Gavin, let the sun shine in on your calendar. Do it for Beth Spotswood. Kimberly Chun wasn't a happy camper at Coachella. Daughters of......

Over the weekend, photographer Matt Cohen went to the Roller Derby to see the SF Bay Bombers vs Brooklyn Red Devils last weekend. These are the totally cool photos of the event. There are more of our favorite photos (including of the guys getting down and dirty) after the jump. You can see these photos and many more of the derby at Matt's Flickr page......

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

The Alternative Press Expo (or APE) was this past weekend at the Concourse here in San Francisco. The show, which is put on yearly by Comic-Con International, features indy and small press creators of zines, comic books, mini-comics, and more. After getting Larry Young's help to kick off our coverage, we attended on Saturday. We met so many cool people and saw so much neat stuff that we're breaking our experience into several posts. First up: the funny stuff. ...

Tonight at the venerable New Langton Arts (1246 Folsom St between 8th and 9th), it's the Opening Reception for Myth by Method, an exhibition that explores the unfolding of narrative through drawing, video, collage, sculpture, and music, with works by SF's Katrina Lamb and New York-based collective Lansing-Dreiden. Lamb and Lansing-Dreiden share an interest in synthesizing the realms of art and music, creating works that resonate with mythology, fantasy, and even daily life. The reception......

Forget the Oscar nominations and the Super Bowl, what really matters in January is The Onion's A.V. Club choices for Worst Band Names. They have special categories for emo bands, death metal bands, bands with the word "f*ck" in them, bands with the word "funk" in them, and bands with gratuitous usage of exclamation points. Personally, we're of the opinion that there are two types of bad band names: annoying or boring bad and so-bad-they're-good......

An event will be held today in yet another effort to Free Josh Wolf. Wolf, of course, is the video blogger/journalist being held in jail for contempt of court for not releasing the hottest video out there that doesn't involve a celebrity having sex with somebody else. And thank God for that but we'd love to see the alleged video of Britney and K-Fed playing chess. ...

More art tonight! Feeling hungry? Check out Détourned Menu: Food in the Form of Activism at The Lab(2948 16th Street @ Capp) from 6-9pm. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi continues his predecessor, Matt Gonzales' tradition of art shows in his office. Tonight, photos by Amy Auerbach and Ethel Mays! (City Hall Room 282) - 5-8pm. Saturday Writers With Drinks, two hours of trauma and nihilistic epiphany (and drinks), returns to the Make Out Room (3225 22nd.......

Well, is our face red! We screwed ourselves out of a couple of free 40 buck lunches! For the second year in a row, we talked smack about our nomination for a Pubby Award, the SF Bay Area Publicity Club's Media Excellence Awards. However this year's awards banquet had a surprise twist (at least, it was a surprise to us): according to a source within the SFBAPC Sorry you couldn't make the Pubbies Award program......

Locally, the big news was the second best blog party last Friday thrown by TechCrunch down in Menlo Park. Scott Beale was commissioned to take the photos, including the one above featuring an uneasy handshake between Valleywag's Nick Douglas (left) and his favorite whipping boy, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. Nick had been bumped off the exclusive invite list, but Michel must have relented. If he had been dis-invited, apparently crashing the party was not an......

We here at SFist are high-minded individuals who do what we do for the joy of it (because it sure ain't for the money, honey). So why do we find ourselves suddenly obsessed with the idea of winning the Best Local Web Site award in this year's SF Bay Guardian Best of the Bay? Sure, we love the Guardian (well, technically, Rita loves it for all of us), but it's not like the approval......

We're thrilled to the gills that the dailies are learning about this cool new sex podcasting thing all the kids are doing with their computers. While we loved the SF Bay Guardian's podcasting piece last year, we felt kinda like the Chron needed a pat on the head and a cookie when they ran yet another lame duck piece on sex podcasting last weekend telling us for the second time that our friend Susie......

To the delight of headline writers throught the internets, two great SF Bay Area products now go great together, thanks to Levi's long-awaited announcement of the RedWire DLX Jeans. As if the iPod dock in a convenient side pocket weren't enough, Levi's actually added a double-entendre-friendly joystick in the watch pocket. That's attention to detail. Not everybody has love for Apple in their pants — a new update to iTunes was released and bloggers are......

Howdy, fellow 'Fisters and fans of the SF Bay Area -- it's another episode of SFist Answers, where we strive to provide helpful answers, or at least decent-sounding BS, to those burning, itching questions. Want us to take a crack at your question? Just shoot a note off to SFistAnswers[at]sbcglobal.net. Scriblegurl writes: Why do many people get bored so quickly? For example, I'm really bored right now. Scriblegurl, there's a fine line between "comfort"......

Imagine how excited we were to hear this morning through the PR Newswire that your humble little -ist website had been nominated for a prestigious "Pubby" Award! A "Pubby"! For best Bay Area blog! The competition was stiff (SiliconValleyWatcher.org, DaveyD.com, splendora.com, and travelblog.org) -- but we were hopeful that we'd be invited to the 9th Annual SF Bay Area Publicity Club Pubby Awards lunch ceremony to pick up our prize! So we were all excitedly planning on what we were going to wear to the lunch ceremony at the Argent Hotel, practicing batting our eyelashes for lunch MC Liam Mayclem from channel 5 -- when SFist Eve (always the most eagle-eyed among us) noticed -- hey, this lunch is scheduled for today! Guess we didn't win, huh? Well, fine! We didn't want to win anyways! We've never even heard of the Bay Area Publicity Club! What's a "Pubby," anyways? No, it's okay, we're fine -- but, well, shoot, Bay Area Publicity Club -- you guys could have at least told us we were nominated a little bit earlier, so we'd at least have had our concession speech to, say, DaveyD.com all prepared and ready to go. (note: we actually have no idea who won, since we get no actual communication from the BAPC). A little harsh to issue a press release to us that basically says we've already lost, too! ...

Well, if you were looking for material to parody lefty activists, look no further than the recent strife over at KPFA's offices in Berkeley. Want your lawsuits, your conspiracy theories, your anonymous mudslinging and accusations of being a goverment and/or corporate coup by agent provocateurs hell bent on destroying the station? How about if we told you there's alleged sexual harassment, thrown chairs and threats to go mano-a-mano? Oh yes, it's a sordid mess......