When we talked to Phil Bronstein, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, a few weeks back, he told us that "the Chronicle will continue to be packed with talented journalists who will keep providing what (SFist) Rita called 'an essential public service.'" more ›

A couple days ago when we lamented NextMuni's lack of text-messaging, helpful reader HM pointed out that we don't have to wait for them to implement such a useful feature -- you can hack up your own NextMuni predictions with a site called TextMarks. We checked the site out, and whaddya know: it works! Go ahead and try out some of the predictions we set up: text 2216HARRISONIN to 41411. more ›

If we may be permitted to step out of subjective first-person plural for a moment: more ›

If a staged opera is a traditional meal, with an amuse-bouche of an overture, a few appetizers of introduction to set up the drama, some meaty bits in the middle and as a palate cleanser, a tragic ending, then the Merola Grand Finale is an all-you-can-eat buffet: the highest quality items, for sure, not a $7.99 Vegas buffet. But we were confronted to the same dilemma: which singers to pick to highlight in a review? Which arias did we like better? Our plate would be full before we could list half of them. Unlike in a regular opera, there were no less intense moments, no lower points to give more perspective to the high notes. All the arias were vehicles to display the singers's abilities (aka. hot dogging), and all of them were up to the task. more ›

. Gay couples aren't sorry they demanded equal rights. Cover article: Julia Butterfly Hill (the chick who lived in a tree for two years) started her own nonprofit environmental action group. A music columnist goes to Yoshi's four nights in a row and now hates jazz. Obit for Mac Dre. The EBX's election 2004 silver lining: Jello Biafra will put out some good records in the next few years. more ›