*FILM: The 5th Annual San Francisco Irish Film Festival kicks things off with Garage by director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran. This is followed by a reception with the Consul General of Ireland, Emer Deane. According to LS, "other highlights include Speed Dating, a romantic comedy about a lovelorn amnesiac; the award winning Irish-language feature film Kings, and finally The Undertaking, a documentary about Irish American undertaker and poet Thomas Lynch, who is......

Jonathan Winston of Bikescape sends us this fury-inducing image he caught while wandering the catacombs of the Macworld Expo. It's a "baseball cap mounted iPhone with a handy plastic magnifying strip. Just right for watching youtube while walking down Market Street! Save for the bald, in good conscience we cannot promote the sporting of baseball caps. And we can just imagine the streets of San Francisco turning into a blood bath if iPhone users......

Well, not "all," per se, but on Monday night Paul Dahliwal, one of the three people involved in the Christmastime tiger attack at the SF Zoo, telephoned Carlos Sousa Jr.'s mother, Marilza, to tell her that he and his chums were "dancing, talking, and laughing" moments before the attack. (Doing the Turkey Lurkey dance, no doubt.) It seems that Paul also told her that they were not taunting the tiger, something that has been......

Hey, a local 12 year old from Foster City just won the world chess championship for the boys 12 and under age bracket. Champ Daniel Naroditsky won 9 games, lost 1, and played to a draw with the previous number 1 ranked preteen male. The Chron was unable to talk to him because of the time difference in Turkey (where the championships were held), but Daniel's proud father reports that Daniel's first question after......

Care to avoid be ridiculed by your Thanksgiving hosts following your departure after din din? Good. Then pay attention. (For those of you who have T-Day hosts who regularly gulp Chuck Shaw or Yellowtail, ew, feel free to ignore this post. You're screwed anyway.) Here's what NOT to bring to Thanksgiving dinner: Cabernet Sauvignon (for the love of God, don't bring Cab) Merlot Petite Sirah Chardonnay (unless there is a crab dish) The varietals above......

Lindy in the Park this Thursday...

A loyal fan of the child-rearing arts -- she had taken nanny jobs at least twice before, even a job in Turkey, after answering online ads in the past; and even recently played Maria in her church community theater's production of The Sound of Music -- Katherine Ann Olson, 24, answered a Craigslist ad posted last week, looking for a nanny. The CL ad ultimately would lead to her death. Last Thursday, in Savage, Minnesota,......

It seemed like everyone in the beer-geek world was at the Toronado for their 20th Anniversary party on Saturday night. The place was packed to the absolute gills with locals, brewmasters, and beer fans who'd flown in for the occasion (we met a guy who'd come from Vancouver). Several brewers of note had made special beers for the occasion, and we were lucky enough to score a table and sample a few. We loved......

Worst. Holiday. Ever. For. Eritreans Near and Far. We’re not joking about the sadness and confusion this Turkey Day crime has wreaked. The shell-shocked East African Eritrean Bay Area community, numbering 10,000 to 12,000 strong according to many reports, is still reeling from the Thanksgiving Day killings that left 3 members of the same family dead in an Oakland apartment shoot out. "This is the worst ightmare for Eritreans,"Yikaalo Gebreselassie of Alameda told the Chron, who said he was a friend of the victims. "We've never had this kind of experience before, and now we have three people dead." ...

Two films about the Middle East involving food: "AnTEAcipation" screens at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St. @ 3rd) as part of the SF World Music Festival. This documentary takes a gradual, personal approach to the role of tea growing on the Laz people of Turkey. The 8pm screening is preceded by a lecture on the Laz that starts at 7pm. "Border Café (Café Transit)" is an Iranian film about a......

Turn around, bright eyes..... -- Eclipse of the heart, eclipse of the moon -- same diff! So at 2:55 a.m. PST tonight, there's going to be a total lunar eclipse. Problem is, the lunar eclipse is only visible in South America and Europe. What's a Bonnie Tyler fan to do? Well, the Exploratorium's come to the rescue! Local science fans who like to stay up late can check out the Exploratorium's live webcast of the eclipse -- or if you're in the mood for a pajama party, the Exploratorium will be open for partying all night, and broadcasting footage from a telescope they've hooked up in Turkey that'll be recording the whole event (from a Roman amphitheater, no less.) Since the eclipse is traveling over Brazil, the Exploratorium is featuring capoiera dancers, and Turkish dancers will perform too. Tickets are $15 adults, $10 kids, and $8 members, and will be on sale until either 11:00 p.m. or 2:00 a.m. (it's unclear from the materials we received -- maybe to be safe, reserve in advance at 415-561-0308.) And after the moon comes back, go to the 24-hour IHOP on Lombard to celebrate! ...

The SFist test kitchen has come up with a great idea. Sometime in the next week, arrange to see your friends or family at a big meal. Imagine how pleasant it will be to rediscover the quirks and foibles of your kin. You could even take this opportunity to clear up any issues you've let simmer over the last year. You'll thank us for giving you the chance to air out the metaphorical closets.......

The scene at the Kabuki for the last night of the Asian-American Film Festival was jam-packed, with three movies all starting at the same time, and people dressed to the nines for the closing party. We were in attendance at the sold-out show for part three of the thirteen-part series Chinese Restaurants, a labor of love for Chinese-Canadian director Cheuk Kwan, who has eaten in Chinese restaurants around the globe -- including Israel, South Africa, Mauritius, Cuba, and Turkey -- and sought to learn the stories of how the proprieters came to live in these unexpected places. Chinese restaurants are a constant source of fascination -- the co-sponsor for the screening was the Chinese Historical Society, which is currently showing an ecstatically-reviewed photography exhibit of Indigo Som's pictures taken in Chinese restaurants in Mississippi. (You may also remember Som's other project, collecting all the Chinese takeout menus from across America.). The movies screened on Thursday -- Three Continents and two shorts, BBC House Special and Selling Louie's Village -- all explored the role of the Chinese restaurant in representing the Chinese diaspora. Egg Foo Young, a Chinese restaurant in Norway, and Chinese people with Liverpudlian accents, after the jump. Images from ...

A weekly attempt at keeping the homeland safe. Because if we don't spend every weekend getting drunk to the point of passing out in a corner booth, then the terrorists win. By your humble barrespondent, Drew. NYE, The big year-ender, old lady turnover. Whatever you choose to call New Year's Eve, one thing is always the same each year, it's the biggest amateur night on the whole calendar. Every secretary, every salesman, every dull Milquetoast......

Ahh, SF. The cuisine. The culture. The coffee. But what happens when an SFist has to leave town? Or the local coffee joint closes on a holiday? Or when the season's eatings aren't bean & brew friendly? Well, Thanksgiving was a pretty good preview. Here are some tips for getting by. Steel Cage Match: Caffeine v. Tryptophan Turkey contains an amino acid called tryptophan, which makes you sleepy. Coffee (thanks to trimethyldioxypurin, natch) perks you......

roundup of the Bay Area weeklies...

Television has become as a much of a Thanksgiving staple as turkey, cranberries, and drunken uncles. Let's face it: when you've just eaten a week's worth of calories, and you've got a house full of relatives surrounding you, you'll probably welcome the chance to just stare at the soft glow of the TV screen. "What's this thanksgiving thing you speak of?" you ask. Well tune in to the History Channel's The History of Thanksgiving......