Photo by zombietime Saturday's woefully ineffective war protest in Berkeley looked like all sorts of fun! There were ladies sporting furry pink outfits, large signs with lots of small text making incomprehensible messages of protest, flag-waving bikers, Melanie Morgan speaking, privileged UCB students shouting, upside down American flags, baked goods, and much more. Sadly, though, the anti-war contingent blew it in the final round when they busted out the Nazi salute as U.S. National......

Photo credit: WhatImSeeing Around 150 protesters were arrested during yesterday's anti-war protest -- "a lesson on how to do it right," raves C.W. Nevius! -- during a rally that was, for the most part, a peaceful affair. Although a few hooligans hurled glass Christmas ornaments loaded with paint at San Francisco police, which seems a bit unnecessary considering how tolerant the police force here acts compared to larger cities such as Los Angeles, people......

The photographer being manhandled at around 20-25 seconds in is Luke Thomas of Fog City Journal. (Or so we're told.) Then, at the end, the camera operator receives a serious (and seriously questionable) smackdown by an SFPD officer. ...

Oops. Did a blogger put this thing together? Looks like it. Anyway, local celebrity Cindy Sheehan headlined yesterday's peace vigil at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Geary Street. Vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez, brother-can-you-spare-a-dime Carole Migden, Justin Raimondo, CODEPINK gals, and a few others all showed up to get their views on the war, face time for the cameras. Update: SF Bay Guardian has info on the protests happening throughout the day in the Bay......

*CLUB: Check out Rock Out Karaoke over at Amnesia. What is Rock Out Karaoke? Well, it mean that you will hear neither a Righteous Brothers cover nor a note from everyone's least favorite musical, Grease. And isn't that what you really want in a karaoke night? Of course it is. (Glenny Kravitz hosts.) READING: Sorry to throw another Valencia Street happening your way, but: author and artist Ian Philips, of Suspect Thoughts Press, reads......

Fascist Imperial Dogs 1 - Tree Loving Hippies 0- After all that protesting and dancing and carrot juice drinking, the Berkeley City Council chickened out and said they erred in passing that January resolution that disinvited a Marine recruiting station and called them "unwelcome intruders." In that resolution, they also allowed Code Pink permission to blast all sorts of things at the station, gave them a designated parking space in front of it, and permission to protest on Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. Why Wednesday? Because it’s Hump Day! They did, however, refuse to issue an apology and used part of their mea culpa to lash out at the Bush administration and the war. This didn't satisfy some conservatives as Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced the "Semper Fi Act" which would redirect money to UC Berkeley and give it to the Southern Heritage Coalition so they can sew more flags with the Confederate flag in them....

Republican (it goes without saying) Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon wants to slice off more than $3 million in state funding from Berkeley for their stance against Marine recruiting. He will introduce legislation to "withhold state transportation money until Berkeley rescinds its 'war on the U.S. Marine Corps.'" Jesus. In a move that will ideally hurt his political career -- since it's a waste of time, a symbolic prick move, and has little......

Dispatches from TJICistan points out a delightful fact about General Frederick N. Funston--the apparently sensitivity-free Medal of Honor recipient known for his manliness in both the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, and the current namesake for Fort Funston--who once boasted the following. Ahem: I personally strung up thirty-five Filipinos without trial, so what was all the fuss over Waller's 'dispatching' a few 'treacherous savages'? If there had been more Smiths and Wallers, the......

Yes, by popular demand, San Francisco Film Society's SF360 Film will once again bring you the one, the only, "Trapped in a Closet" sing-along, the awesomest sing-along this side of the Buffy "Once More With Feeling" sing-along (sing it everyone: "Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes/They've got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses...") The show will be Friday, January 25, at 7:00 pm at Mezzanine....

-- Winged Migration (Le peuple migrateur): Birds! We tend to think nothing of them here in the Bay Area - well, as far as the homely and picked upon poor pigeon goes - but birds are exciting creatures. Colors, flying, migrating, the ability to form perfect V-shapes - just see for yourself tonight at 7:15 p.m. and 9:25 at The Red Vic; $6-8.50. -- Mike Stern: The controversial opening of Yoshi's SF won't hinder......

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Trying to decide what to feature this week was rough. Our choices were slim to none, ranging from the Wu Tang Clan to Bow Wow/Omarion; we just weren't feeling it. Then, we were checking one of our favorite blogs, Stereogum and we came across Vampire Weekend's new song, "I Stand Corrected." We got all excited since we're still reeling from......

Phillyist prepared to party by doing the hustle, lighting the lights, shopping up a storm, and... visiting Khrushchev? LAist continues to cover the Hollywood Writers Strike with visiting guest "strikers" such as KT Tunstall and Presidential candidate John Edwards. To celebrate Veteran's Day, they visited a Civil War reenactment and to celebrate Geography Week, they asked all the Los Angeles City Councilmembers about the districts they represent finding that LA's 180+ official neighborhoods are......

Oh is it a voting day or something? It totally sneaked up on us! It still feels like Monday today. Actually it also feels like October. Anyway, you should probably vote yes on A and no on H, because that's what everyone else is doing. Prop A will protect The Mt Soledad National War Memorial and do something to the air force? and will transform some colleges. Also, Aristotle endorsed it it. Proposition H......

Well, this is interesting. Today we received a (rightfully) irritated press release from Tom Radulovich, District 9 BART Director (co-signed by Chris Daly). It seems that he wasn't involved in the decision to go ahead and close BART on Halloween night. Which? Is bizarre and inappropriate considering, well, he's an elected District 9 BART Director. The missive, which is long and available for your viewing pleasure below (and continues on after the jump), reads......

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Standouts: 1. Nicole Atkins - Neptune City: This New Jersey native, reaches down deep to relate stories of her hometown, Neptune City on her debut release. "From the time I was a kid I started collecting these sad little tragically beautiful personal stories from the people in my life, and my own as well. That sense of history really appeals......

This morning a press conference was held in front to City Hall about this Saturday's March to End the War Now. The parade (grumble), which will start at City Hall and drain into Dolores Park (next to the worldwide Michael Jackson choreography routine), will be honored with its own day. It seems that the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution making October 27 "End the War in Iraq" Day. (And that day only.) Hopefully, Newsom won't wuss out and pull the resolution like he recently did with el Snoop Dogg....

It seems CODEPINK, a female-based grassroots pro-peace (and judging by the photographs, anti-conditioner) movement, recently got all up in Condoleezza Rice's face at Capitol Hill. This protester, sporting bloody hands, got a little too close to Condi, shouting "war criminal!" at her before she was pushed away and snapped up by the police. Four other CODEPINK protesters were arrested. ...

Photo of a large bird doing its best to survive in a somewhat polluted environment. ...

In addition to the "Thriller" dance record-breaking attempt at Dolores Park, Saturday's Antiwar march, starting at Civic Center at 11 a.m., will end up smack-dab at the same recreational area. Once there, the "Fall Out Against the War" marchers (another worldwide event happening on the same day) will stage a (symbolic) die-in "to bring home the 2 million Iraqis who have died, the 500,000 who are now refugees, and the nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers who have died for an occupation that only benefits weapons manufacturers and oil corporations." ...

After House Democrats rescued him from censure today, Fremont Democratic Representative Pete Stark then apologized to members of the House and President Bush for his recent remark about "'soldiers getting their heads blown up...for the President's amusement."...

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, with 50% off home delivery. Cazadores, the one with the deer head. Truly CA, stories about California on KQED. World War Z, perfect as Halloween is coming up. SF Dish, where AMEX cardmembers can dish about restaurants. Interpol, tomorrow at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Wristcutters, opening next month. Stylized Sculpture, at the Asian Art Museum. Travelzoo,......

Hmm. Oakland resident John Barsamian, a chief warrant officer way back during the Second World War, is putting up for auction a globe he found at the Führer's bombed out home. "The globe [is] to expected to attract bids from $15,000 to $20,000 when it is auctioned Nov. 13 in San Francisco," so start saving your pennies, folks. What would one even do with such an item? Anyway, other Nazi forget-me-nots going up for......

Good news for students of the struggle of the proletariat: even if you don't have time to read Marx, there are alternatives. Like Paul Krugman, Harpers, Howard Zin, Noam Chomsky, the Guardian of London -- and even our very own home-grown SF Bay Guardian. This reading list is the result of a conversation that started innocently enough on the SFBG's blogs, in a post about homelessness in Golden Gate Park and, tangentially, the Spanish......

After last week's dueling press conferences and memo-leakage, the Homeless issue is becoming the Issue du Jour, leading to a full-fledged reporter dogpile. First came CW Nevius who weighed in with yet another story on the issue, this time saying that even in liberal, tolerant, San Francisco, residents might not be feeling so liberal and tolerant when it comes to dealing with the homeless. As evidence, he points to one of those online polls SFGate ran about the issue in which 90% of the people said they wanted something to be done. We, as a rule, hate those "polls" because it's actual scientific value is nil as it's all determined by people who were motivated enough to play along and doesn’t factor in those who were too lazy to. ...

What does SF Opera music director Donald Runnicles do when he's not conducting Wagner at the War Memorial Opera House? He's conducting Wagner in London. What does SF Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas do when he's not conducting Mahler at Davies Symphony Hall? You guessed it: he's conducting Mahler in London. We knew that addicts to Mahler or Wagner existed. But to think that they live in our own backyard? Well, that's just spooky.......

Yay! Exciting news. We just love award shows! And now we have something to look forward to. Something to be proud of. Something that will take our gaze off of Ryan Seacrest’s creepy, over-animated mouth. Wait, what? The San Francisco cast of Jersey Boys is performing at the Emmys? Whoop-dee-do. How are we supposed to get excited about that? Sorry to be a tease, but we do have one thing to look forward to......

Thesis: classic Italian opera represents the core tradition of the art form and success as a singer means being able to master the genre. Anti-thesis: opera is an evolving live form, and the work of contemporary composers is relevant, forget about the old dead ones. Synthesis: let’s toss a little bit of everything on the wall, old and new, domestic and foreign, we’ll see what sticks, and call it the Merola Grand Finale. To conclude......

-- The 2007 Bay Area Rhythm Exchange: Stepology (which we can only hope is very much like "Vibeology") presents tap stars Channing Cook-Holmes (Riverdance, Gangs of New York, Bojangles), John Kloss (Tap Heat), Deborah Mitchell (The Cotton Club, Black and Blue), Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, Bamboozled), Sam Weber (Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood). 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre (SF War Memorial and Performing Arts Center), 401 Van Ness; $19-$22. -- Chrome:......

In case you missed it, President 25% Approval Ratings was able to ram through some legislation revamping all those FISA laws you keep hearing about. It's hard to make heads or tails of what the bill says as the administration, in a surprise to no one, won't tell anyone what it says, but it involves making warrants kind of unnecessary, the monitoring of anyone suspected as a "terrorist" and-- get this-- the oversight by one Alberto "Fredo" Gonzalez. That's more than letting the fox guard the hen house, that's letting Michael Vick run the SPCA. ...

Sorry we're a little late putting up SFist Mihi's last SFJFF review! Judith Schaefer's movie, So Long Are You Young, screened at the Roda Theatre in Berkeley on Tuesday and when the lights went back up, the crowd of mostly senior citizens were on their feet wildly applauding the filmmaker. The gray-haired lady sitting in front of us was shouting, "your movie is a gift! It's a poem!" Shaefer's documentary is itself the story of......