Now here's what we're talking about! This is what we call a motherquacking ghost tour. We, pointlessly clad in red fanny pack and Alcatraz t-shirt, blew our tourist cover because we kept running into friends and friends' roommates and waving, and paling noticeably, even in the dark, when the tour got a little too close to our house for comfort. Note: never do a ghost tour in your own neighborhood, unless you are prepared to walk past the same spot at least 3 or 4 times a day, thinking every single time: "Oh yeah, whatev, Charles Manson lived there. Across the street? Yeah, they have a little ghost girl that they buy dolls for. See, you can see them on the mantel. Not frickin' freaky at all. Oh no. What, you don't sleep with the light on too?" On a chilly Sunday night in front of Coffee to the People, we met our genial tour guide, Tommy, an honest-to-goodness ghost hunter, There were only two of us on the tour, but that didn't phase him. Us, a little at first, but we got over it. And most importantly, he had goodie bags for us. With candy, a book of the tour, and fun goodie bag stuff. Take notes, Chuck and Ingmar, take notes. ...

So, SFist Tourist has a bit of a confession: we went on the Chinatown Ghost Tour over a week ago and plumb forgot to write about it until we were watching Big Trouble in Little China last night. It could have been the misnomer in the name. Not that we thought a ghost would lead the tour, but you certainly don't go to a monster truck rally and not expect to see monster trucks.......

Welcome SFist Jessica, our undercover tourist! The all-Alcatraz outfit was definitely a nice touch -- and we're still looking forward to the poignant watercolors she's going to paint of her time on the San Francisco Bay Quackers tour. Lots of local news tidbits this week: the musical saw competition, Hitler references by a departing Niner, the police escorts for the renegade sound system on the N Judah -- and we noted the difficulty of complying......

If it weren't for our life as an -ist, we're not sure we'd ever leave our apartment. Fortunately, to fully -ist, one must seek out the new, the fresh, and the unknown. Brand new, or just new to us, that's what we're all about this week. Phillyist keeps it fresh by getting a new motto, learning to prioritize, and taking in an experimental indie rock show. Torontoist does their first post in franglais, gets ready......

Everybody welcome new contributor SFist Jessica, who bravely ventures where no local dares -- the world of the San Francisco tourist. "God, tourists!" We are all familiar with the shameful epithet meant to invoke images of pasty, overfed Midwesterners milling about Fisherman's Wharf, clad in SF sweatshirts and fanny packs, and desperately trying to locate the nearest Olive Garden. For the most part, being a Tourist is a bad thing. We avoid them, we don't......

It's that "two buck chuck" time ofthe month again -- it comes around so fast, sometimes we forget. Start your night at the California College of the Arts, where there are three shows listed on the calendar, a film show and even a fashion show which our roommate told us about but we can't find a link to. Go check out some hot young artists (we were at the open studios on Sunday, and......