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......

The City Attorney's Office has filed a reply to Ed Jew's response to the State AG from last week that if you don't think he lives in the city, you're a racist. And yowza! In their papers, they describe Ed Jew's response as "inadequate, incomplete, misleading and inflammatory." They couldn't find a synonym for the word "misleading" that also started with an i? (Okay, now we can't think of one either. Impertinent? Informationally-challenged? Impossible? Well,......

Last week's winner: the SJ Metro . Cover article: San Jose Pride - family day in the park on Saturday, Gay Rodeo, Women's Music Festival this weekend. A new queer nightclub in downtown San Jo. Problems with contracting for paratransit at Santa Clara County Transit VTA . Annalee Newitz on notableness on Wikipedia. The Ann Arbor Film Festival at Foothill College. And now for our frontrunner, the SF Weekly, big trouble at the Culinary Academy......

It's been forty-nine years of great cinema for the SF International Film Festival (SFIFF), and starting April 26 through May 10 2007, it'll be fifty! To celebrate their gold anniversary, the SFIFF is not only presenting the always-dazzling film festival itself, but hosting a huge array of events as well: from tributes to Spike Lee (and a screening of When The Levees Broke), and awards to locals George Lucas and Robin Williams, an address about......

Supervisor Chris Daly takes a break from smashing the state to continue the Matt Gonzalez tradition of Smashing The State through art, as he hosts what looks like his first City Hall art show. (is that right?) Hey, is Ross Mirkarimi still having his art shows, or has he moved onto the ultimate performance art project of compiling a 5 bazillion-page zoning guideline for pot clubs? We can't find any information about Daly's show online -- not even at the Daly Blog -- but sources (and the fine print on the .jpg we got forwarded) tell us it'll be featuring the work of photographer Mark Ellinger, who takes pictures of SROs in the Tenderloin and SoMA. Sounds like Daly's going to be featuring Ellinger's work and talking about SRO mailbox legislation, with free food and drink to boot. The event's next Friday (2/10) and open to the public. We can't wait! The photographs are beautiful, and -- well, all right, we are totally dying to see what Chris Daly's office looks like too. We promise not to start any fights! Okay, and this is not related to anything, but is it a bad sign when a news article entitled: "As Wife Heads To Jail, Daly Shoots 69" is published and two or three people email asking you how SFist will be covering this? (John Daly! The golfer!) The Hotel Project February 10, 2006, 4-7 p.m. Room 273, City Hall, SF. Picture by Mark Ellinger...

Cole Stratton isn't just one of the founders of SF Sketchfest, which starts tomorrow. (Are you going? We are, and you should, too.) We should have asked him what he did to attract performers from Mr. Show, The Kids in the Hall, Saturday Night Live, Stella, The State, The Daily Show, Arrested Development, and The Upright Citizens Brigade to the Fest, as well as ask him what local stars of the comedy stage Kasper Hauser,......

Okay, it's official: SFist has a huuuuuuuuuuuge crush on Brad Bird, presenter of the SFIFF's annual Thoughtful Lecture Thingy, loftily titled "The State of Cinema." Previous addressees include Michel Ciment (editor of "Postif," a french film mag) and B. Ruby Rich (critic, curator, cultural commentator), both of whom were probably wonderfully edifying, but far less likely to scream and turn red and make goofy voices than Brad. He kicked off his talk by sheepishly......

It's no Smash The State, but friend of SFist Windy Chien (isn't that the best name ever?) tipped us off that our boy Matty G (and before you ask, we DO have a woody for Matt, big time) has been joined in his art-loving ways by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi will be kicking off his monthly art shows (it's there, scroll down) in his office this Friday March 18 from with Teresa Norris's The......

Sfist speaking at the State of Bay Area Online Journalism panel....