Well, this is all too exciting. And just when things were starting to get dull in the local media arena. You see: last Friday Judge Marla Miller "said...she's inclined to boost a jury's damages award against the SF Weekly to $15.6 million" and order them to knock it off with the below-cost ad sales. Ouch.

VVM's Andy Van De Voorde, via the Snitch, responded, going on (and on) to say that this is nothing but a "cash grab" on the SFBG's part; that their First Amendment rights are at stake; and, well, lots of legal/journalistic wordage that flew right over our tiny head.

SFBG responded to the response, via Tim Redmond, by calling SF Weekly a bunch of whiners; saying they're going to win it all; name-checking blood relative James C. O'Brien, a New York State Supreme Court judge; and featuring a cameo appearance by former SF Weekly reporter Peter Byrne in the comments section.

The Weekly, of course, plans on appealing the verdict.

Aw. We've missed you guys. And, really, we won't be happy until blood is drawn. As our late grandfather, the Broadway playwright Lloyd Richards, used to say, "the atmosphere is very MacBeth-ish--what has, or is about to, happen?" Stay tuned.