So, you didn't like Microsoft, did you? Well, how about News Corp.? more ›

It looks like Sunnyvale-based Yahoo plans on rejecting the $44.6 billion rose Microsoft offered it earlier this month. A move that would have merged the two tech giants won't happen, it seems, and we were so sure this relationship would've worked out swimmingly. Sniff. more ›

The Wall Street Journal ran this piece by Ted Nugent yesterday. If you're at all inclined to check it out, do so soon, because the password protection will kick in at some point. More or less, Nugent uses the 40th anniversary of "The Summer of Love" to rail on against drugs and "stinking hippies." more ›

--A guy jumped onto the field to say hi to Barry Bonds yesterday. Arrested, drunk. [The Chron photo pool, the Snitch.] more ›

SFist interviews Alexandra Lipsitz, Director of Air Guitar Nation more ›

The SFIFF is winding down - only two more days to cram in as much international film as you can! Or are you ready for a quick breather before diving back in? Then take a night off and head out to one of these happenin' events. more ›

Playing the role of Shawn Fanning, minus the curls, the real estate retraction appears to be stealing theoretical dollars from the pockets of a member of Metallica. According to The Wall Street Journal guitarist Kirk Hammett has cut the asking price of his Pacific Heights mansion to a mere $10.5 million from the $12.5 million he'd been seeking since 2005. more ›

Speaking of cleaning up the streets, people on Polk Street are trying to have a major rehaul done in an attempt to make it less grimy. Twenty-nine commercial spaces are either vacant or under construction along the Lower Polk corridor and all the businesses and developers are looking to help clean the area up in order to increase their business. For whatever reason, they think that having to climb over transvestite heroin junkies nodding out isn't the kind of thing people want to do if they come to a neighborhood. And also, lots of vacancies equals more crime and the more crime the more vacancies and so on and so forth. more ›

Four out of five workdays recommend ..... Wednesdays. Tonight: Japanese jazz improv in Oakland! The 2+2 jazz improv series at Oakland's 21 Grand, which features dueling instruments of one kind of another, is hosting a Japanese koto battle this month (with the second +2 for saxophones). The koto is the long wooden plucked-string instrument. 416 25th Street (at Broadway), in Oakland, 8 p.m., $6-10. more ›

The Wall Street Journal's East Bay Journal showed us a little love this week with a two-part series on the residential and commercial real estate markets in the Five-and-Dime. more ›

You know, public schools just can't win. Up here in San Francisco, it's a constant "our schools are failing and segregated," so affluent upper-middle-classers have to spend gajillions of dollars on private schools or leave the city. But down in Cupertino....! The Wall Street Journal reports that Caucasian families are unhappy with their public schools too, to the point where they're also opting out of the Santa Clara public school system -- but not because the schools are bad. Rather, parents are unhappy because the schools have become too rigorous. Is this an Onion article or what? White families in Cupertino complain that Caucasian children are in the minority and the constant academic pressure is bad for their children's self-esteem. Other families complain that there are too many math and science classes at Monte Vista High, and not enough sports teams. One mother says she would never have moved to Cupertino if she'd realized "how much it would change" (now, what do you think that means?), while Asian-American families note that no one in (whiter) Palo Alto seems to have a problem with its competitive high school academic scene and wonder if it's got something to do with race. That said, it's also true that in Cupertino, the lower-level classes are the only ones with diverse enrollment -- and an overall 3.0 GPA puts you in the bottom third of your class. Man, we are so glad we're done with school. This Asian sucks at math. more ›

The indelible "Polly Jean Harvey" rocked "the Great American Music Hall" Thursday night. The sold-out show was a must see for PJ fans, who have only dreamt of seeing her in such a small and intimate setting--and with no opening act! Ms. Polly arrived onstage in a bright yellow dress (with her name embroidered on the back), and pink stillettos. The dress marked this burst of sunshine's entrance with rousing applause by the salivating crowd. She immediately started belting out "The Whores Hustle and the Hustler's Whore" from her "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea" album. She played a great mix of music from several of her albums. A highlight from her current album, "Uh Huh Her", was "Who the F***?" "Get your dirty fingers/Outta my hair!" she shrieked; PJ may be small in stature, but that voice is not small in the least. Other selections from Uh Huh Her were "The Letter", "Shame", "Cat On The Wall", "Life and Death of Mr. Badmouth", and "The Darker Days of Me & Him". The high point of the show for us had to be "Taut" from her collaboration with John Parish, "Dance Hall at Louse Point". We literally got chills as Polly writhed around on the floor of the stage, and whispered of a repentant boy named Billy. As she sang "Jesus Save Me", we thought we could die happy at that moment. more ›