Hollywood producer and Vanity Fair scribe Dominick Dunne died today at 83. Self-described as a "a high-class Zelig," Dunne is best known for writing about the "courtroom travails of the rich and famous." He is also also known as the father of the Dominique Dunne, the actress who played the older daughter in Poltergeist, who was murdered by her boyfriend. Dunne "vented his anger at the legal system in Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer, following the murder trial of John Sweeney, the estranged boyfriend who strangled 22-year-old Dominique Dunne, in 1982. Sweeney spent fewer than three years in prison." Dunne died after battling cancer. more ›

We got lucky this weekend. Not like that. We got lucky because one of our dear friends gave us a fantastic pair of black leather boots. The boots are brand new, never been worn, tall ones that go up to our knees. We've wanted a pair of boots like this for a while. But we have big calves (ok, this is where it gets weird, because I have big calves and I know for a fact that most of the SFist staff doesn't. Really, I've seen Matty Matt and Rita and Jeremy in the flesh, and not like I was really looking, but they all seem to have very normal sized calves, maybe even tiny ones). We bring the size of our calves up because, instead of denying the very cool boots our friend gave us, instead of turning them away and saying, oh those boots won't fit us, we took one look at them and thought, hey we can run those puppies through our sewing machine and alter them and make them fit just perfect. Which is exactly what we did. And we were so proud of ourselves that it got us thinking about all the other stuff we have lying around that we don't use anymore but could probably turn into something very useful with some cutting or gluing or altering. So this weeks post was inspired by those black boots and our very sweet friend who gave them to us. What follows is a sort of laundry list of ideas and resources for turning old things into new ones. Although it's not a unique concept, the craze to make recycled crafts is more popular than ever. If having a green issue of Vanity Fair is what it takes to get the main stream into the idea of 'going green' again, we'll take it. But for those of us who make it a point to always live resourcefully, no matter what Newsweek is telling us, there are some great new craft books that feature projects with a green angle. Re-Creative has 50 projects that can all be created from 'trash', cast-off, or found items. We like what we're hearing about Danny Seo's new line of books called Simply Green, which teach people how to make eco-friendly gifts and party decorations. Although Craftivity isn't entirely centered around recycled craft projects, it does have some great ideas for reusing cast aside items, including moth eaten sweaters. Image from Needles & Pens more ›

We're having so much fun reading through your submissions! Send us more! Reader bluecanary sends in the following:

Saturday before last I saw Gavin Newsom. I saw him come into Cafe Grecco in North Beach, wearing a suit and his ubiquitous light blue tie. He sat down and drank a coffee in a DISPOSABLE CUP. And this is the guy that Vanity Fair calls a "green mayor"? I don't think so. He stayed pretty much to himself and everyone left him alone.

I didn't see Gavin, but on Friday I saw Willie Brown coming out of a limo parked illegally in the bus zone on 2nd and Folsom. About five minutes later Matt Gonzalez shows up. Matt came by foot at least. Then the limo in the bus zone drives off, only to be replaced immediately by a longer, more ostentatious limo that parked illegally in the same spot. Where's DPT when you need them?!

LAist tracks an award-winning TV writer who worked on Good Times to a homeless shelter and sees a Little Old Lady get a jaywalking ticket because she can't get across fast enough (in the same post!). Poets invade Metro and an LAist contributor's new book asks WWJB. more ›

Thanks to our super-secret sources for sending along the Vanity Fair picture that we didn't have earlier, of Gavin Newsom moodily contemplating eco-friendliness with two fatter guys! We kind of want to draw a little thought bubble above him: "How ya like me now, San Francisco Green Party????" (unrelated musing: was it SFist Jackson who noted that every single Newsom initiative has the word "connect" in it? Can someone please arrange for a meeting between Newsom and three other people? We have the "Project Connect Four" post already all written in our head.) After the jump -- the Vanity Fair cover photo, with Julia Roberts dressed up like a tree! The Earth is our home! Picture from Vanity Fair by Art Streiber more ›

SFist Jon, on the East Coast this week, took a break from his family vacation to excitedly email us that our boy Gavin's featured in yet another national magazine photo spread. This time it's Vanity Fair! It's their Green Issue, featuring on the cover Julia Roberts dressed as a tree, and a very embarrassed-looking SF resident Al Gore at Julia's crotch level. Newsom's in a two-page photo spread of Mayors Who Support The Environment, one page after Ed Norton (who's a solar-power user) and 9 pages after Republican Governors Who Support The Environment, with girly-greeny man Arnold Schwarzenegger and a wan-looking George Pataki. He got the shout-out for promoting recycling. We'd show you the picture but it's not online -- so you'll have to look at it in the checkout line at Safeway. On the bright side, Gavin is the only mayor who doesn't have a potbelly. On the down side, he looks vaguely embarrassed about being in the picture at all. You can see him thinking, I'd much rather be lying on a carpet right now. Don't worry, Gavin, we here at SFist will make your dreams come true! So best! more ›

We're not really sure what to make of this news item, so we'll just give it to you straight. Turns out that skinny Teri Hatcher has revealed in this month's Vanity Fair that she gave anonymous testimony in a child molestation case in Sunnyvale that put her uncle in prison for 14 years on a plea bargain. Wow. Among other things, we had no idea Teri Hatcher was from the Bay Area. Here's some additional Merc News coverage of Hatcher's uncle's child molestation trial. Remember the pregnant woman who stabbed her baby daddy in the stomach after he started bugging her about eating a candy bar? Sentenced to five years in prison. She's now 8 months pregnant, and said that she had been previously abused and that her boyfriend had said, "I hope you have a miscarriage" before she went at him. And in our final entry in sad family news, the Susan Polk trial gets weirder and weirder, as the allegedly-schizophrenic defendant, defending herself in court against charges that she murdered her husband, squared off with her son in court. For example, Susan Polk asked her son, "why did your father say I was delusional?" The son replied, "Because you were acting that way... I saw your delusions myself." Susan Polk also spent some time trying to convince her son that his brother had been molested in satanic rituals. Sigh. more ›

No, not that Deep Throat. Or the documentary. Via Chris Lopez, we've learned that Vanity Fair is reporting W. Mark Felt, former FBI second-in-command, revealed himself to be the famous anonymous source for Woodward and Bernstein in a recent interview. more ›

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summary of the Bay Area weeklies more ›