All the political junkies in town know that David Latterman and Rich DeLeon's cogent analyses of the current local political scene are statistically sound, politically astute, and so cannily call the upcoming trends that it's a little frightening how accurate they are -- but we love them the most for their gorgeous maps! The map to your right (from this analysis) is the percentage of people ranking more than one choice in the supervisorial races......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to....

San Francisco wasn't the only place moved by the Kim family tragedy. People around the world followed the tragic story with bated breath as the events unfolded. For most of us it's hard to feel anything but sadness after such an event. We turn off our computers, talk about how the search should have started earlier, wonder what would have happened if the road the family travelled on was locked as it should have been. But a rare group of us hear stories like the Kim's in the news and do something with the loss they feel. ...

There was no shortage of craft books on the market this year. From knitting to t-shirt reconstructing more and more crafters are sharing their ideas with the world. ...

Feeling inspired from all the amazing arts and crafts you've been seeing every weekend in December? We know we are. While we love supporting our local artists we also don't mind pulling up our sleeves and getting some glitter and glue under our fingernails once in a while. Home made gifts don't have to be perfect, after all, part of their charm is that your little hands made them and not someone else's. We......

We're sure you're familiar with the brooding dark haired girl known as Emily the Strange. Clothing, shoes, comic books, calendars, CD's, you name it, Emily's done it. And Sfist is proud to call Emily a native to the Bay Area. Rob Reger and an illustrator for Emily, Buzz Parker, will be signing books at Things From Another World this Saturday at their Metreon location in San Francisco, be sure to go and get something signed. In case you don't already have an Emily book to bring, Chronicle Books has offered free books and journals to three lucky SFist readers. ...

SFist Christina, contributing. Last night was the book release party for Shannon O'Leary's Pet Noir, a comic anthology of true pet crime stories published by San Francisco's very own Manic D Press. If you weren't there you missed one hip affair. Held at the wonderful Cartoon Art Museum it was packed the entire night and Pet Noir was selling like hot cakes. Many of the artists who contributed to the book were in attendance......

Feeling that crafty holiday spirit? Head on over to NPR's website and enter their first ever craft competition. They're asking for entries of menorah's or ornaments that represent the news of 2006. A Gavin Menorah with all of his ladies? Or maybe one of his famous blue ties fashioned into an ornament? Sounds like fun to us. You've got until December 11th, so get those glue sticks out and start crafting. ...

We're just as taken with the shiny new mall downtown as you are, but once you're inside it you may as well be in Wayne, New Jersey. Charm your friends and family this holiday season with some gifts you can only get in our lovely city, and rest easy knowing that you're helping local businesses and crafters thrive. Don't know all the local talent San Francisco has to offer, or where to shop for it? We're here for you....

Beach House likes our Burritos, and we like them. We've always trusted Jennifer's taste in music. After all, she led us to the Grizzly Bear show at The Independent in September, and more recently she played us some of Alela Diane's haunting vocals, which have been banging around in our heads since we first heard it. So when she told us we shouldn't miss the Beach House playing at the The Hemlock on Tuesday night, we listened to her, even though we had our hearts set on seeing one of our favorite local bands, Vetiver, at 12 Galaxies. ...

We had planned on going to the gym after work, but it was raining and cold and that type of weather is much better served being somewhere cozy and eating a big plate of comfort food. We couldn’t think of a more fitting place to eat than The Front Porch. ...