(By Joe Kukura) From the “We’ve watched this twenty times over today” department, footage from last night’s Scripps National Spelling Bee where little Sameer Mishra above thinks he’s been asked to spell a dirty schoolyard taunt, then repeats this dirty schoolyard in front of his mom, a national tv audience, and to the perky fake blond sideline reporter backstage. Best of all, he spells his way of this jam and goes on to win......

If you’re anything like us, you’ll get unnecessarily riled up woot-woot-ing for the Bay Area in any kind of regional representation-structured contest. If there’s a competition and any kind of trophy involved, screw it – we’re down. Add to that the factor that these kids are totally cute as hell with their awful posture and adorable lack of telegenic savvy, and the Scripps National Spelling Bee – the Super Bowl of these things – makes great entertainment. ...

Tomorrow's the finals of the National Spelling Bee! We've already got our TiVo set for the semifinals (which happen while we're at work), we've cancelled all our evening plans for the finals (on ABC), we're already practicing not catching any spoilers of the event online throughout the day (your SFist updates tomorrow may be a little slow as a result), and we're trying to find a marimba player to play background music behind us all......

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with new plays that unapologetically explore the state of the nation?...

When we heard that the Northern California Regional Round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (were spelling bees so conspicuously branded when we were kids, or is this a new thing?) was going to be held in San Francisco this Saturday, we were overjoyed. Ever since we saw Spellbound, we've had a hankering to hear "Can you please use it in a sentence?" in a competitive setting. We were all set to head down to......

What can we say? This week's offerings are b-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t....

Every year it rules -- the Scripps Howard spelling bee. Is it that whiff of old world middle school mores? Is it the adorable freaked out word-geek kids, too young and frightened to disguise their feelings on stage? "Can I get a definition, please?" The rad ESPN "Under Pressure" ad? The snotty-voiced lady commentator? ("It's the schwa -- it gets you every time.") Naw. It's the bell! Today was the 78th Spelling Bee championship, broadcast live on ESPN, and dang it if we didn't watch the whole darn thing. Love it. Love it every year. Your obligatory Northern California angle? Aliya Deri, an 8th grade speller from Pleasanton who was sponsored by the Chron came in second (went out on "trouvaille" in the 19th round, like a champ). And the Contra Costa Times' sponsoree, home-schooled Evan O'Dorney from Danville, made it to the eighth round (going out on "athyriosis"). Our other favorite thing about the spelling bee? News articles laboriously attempting to use the championship word in the title. And yes, we love Spellbound too (which we saw first at the 2002 SF DocFest). Just for the marimba music alone! ...