San Francisco Chronicle

A Short History of Cinema's Long Passing

The sky keeps falling!

Sushi Cologne: Will Cats Chase You Down the Street?

Better than a trip to the sushi bar -- or maybe not. Demeter Fragrances, the outfit that brought you perfumes with the odor of Dirt, Baby Powder, Clean Windows, Funeral Home, and Egg Nog (I have the Dirt, and used to use it to disguise the smell of pot in my luggage), has come up with another dooz ... More >>

Da Capo's Second-Best Music Writing 2011: 112 Of Last Year's Most Notable Music Stories

The 2011 edition of Da Capo's annual anthology Best Music Writing— which this year was guest edited by The New Yorker classical writer and The Rest Is Noise author Alex Ross; Daphne Carr has been the series editor since 2006—contains 32 essays and is augmented by a a jumbo-sized "Other N ... More >>

Starbucks Sees Liquidity in Juice Market; Papasito Grill Burned by Noise Complaints

​Starbucks, no longer satisfied with being everywhere, has decided to be everywhere even more. The Seattle-based chain bought Evolution, a high-end juice company, Thursday. Execs plan on opening health and wellness-themed stores.[Washington Post]Papasito Grill and Agave Bar's Upper West Side locat ... More >>

US Airways, Anti-Saggy-Pants Airline, Allows Man to Fly in Women's Panties

​Last week, much ado was made over University of New Mexico football player Deshon Marman, 20, who was kicked off a US Airways flight for wearing saggy pajama pants and booked on suspicion of trespassing, battery and resisting arrest (he has not been charged). Now there's a photo circulating ... More >>

New Yorker Who Invented the Fern Bar Dies

S.F. ChronicleNorman Jay Hobday, fern bar creator​Norman Jay Hobday, the man credited with inventing the leafy breed of swinging singles bar called the "fern bar," died last week at the age of 77 in San Francisco. Originally from upstate New York, Hobday ended up in San Francisco after the Kor ... More >>

Manila Bus Hijacker Killed; At Least 7 Hostages Survive

​According to reports, Rolando Mendoza, the former police inspector who was holding at least 15 Hong Kong tourists hostage on a bus in Manila, has been killed after being shot in the head. Mendoza had been demanding his job back after being dismissed for extorting $444 from a chef over drivin ... More >>

Stay Lifted on Prop. 8 Decision: Gays in California Can Marry As of August 18

Judge Vaughn Walker will lift his temporary stay on last week's decision declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional. However, as Joe My God notes, the stay won't expire until August 18. But after then, California will again become one of the few states where gay and lesbian couples can marry, at least ... More >>

Jack Daniels the Cat Abducted in San Francisco, Found in Harlem

via San Francisco Chronicle​Awwww. Today in cat news: Jack Daniels, a nearly blind black cat, was somehow stolen from the San Francisco SPCA a year ago, and was found in Harlem last week. No one knows how exactly he got there or why -- catnapping! -- but after being discovered by animal contro ... More >>

Good Food Awards: Enter Your Pickle Today

FlickrWin a trip to this slope-y, geologically suspect metropolis.​ Hoarding your artisanal pickles for yourselves and your friends? Have a killer bit of handcrafted charcuterie you've been waiting to unveil to the world? Well, today's your day: The San Francisco Chronicle announces the first ... More >>

Kahlúa Goes After Fancy Coffee Market, Turns Baristas into Mixologists

Kicking up your coffee, one shot of Kahlúa at a time.​Coffee liqueurs are getting upgraded, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, with such new and forthcoming releases as Firelit Spirits Coffee Liqueur, made with coveted Blue Bottle coffee, and Heering Coffee Liqueur from the maker of Ch ... More >>

Beard Awards Media and Journalism Finalists Are Announced

The man himself.​The James Beard Foundation is announcing its James Beard Awards finalists via Twitter this morning. The list of chefs has just started rolling out (currently, regional finalists are being named), but the list of final nominees for the foundation's Media and Journalism Awards a ... More >>

Booze News: Mariah Carey Busts Out her Own Bubbly; LeNell Smothers Makes her Own Bitters

​ It's quite public knowledge that Mariah Carey enjoys a tipple or two. Now, the singer and recently acclaimed actress (for her role in Precious) is launching a Champagne brand. Carey tweeted recently that she is releasing her own rose bubbly called Angel Champagne. [NY Daily News] Cognac sal ... More >>

All Local Dailies Except WSJ Lose Circulation; National Drop 10.6%; York, PA Record Soars!

​New U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers have been released, and about the only happy news was for the Wall Street Journal, whose circ rose six-tenths of a percent while USA Today's dropped 17.5 percent. Thus, WSJ supplants USA Today as the national circulation leader. The New York Times ... More >>

Written in Snacks: A Couple of Loosely Related Happenings

cupcakesforlife.org​Apparently, putting your message where your mouth is is the best new way to get it across. (And that doesn't just go for eulogizing the celebrities lost over the past year.) The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a group called Cupcakes for Life has inscribed slogans like ... More >>

Largest Pumpkin Bursts Onto the Scene

Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle​ The San Francisco Chronicle reports that, at the yearly pumpkin weigh-in at Half Moon Bay, a 1,658-pound pumpkin won. The behemoth clinched the coveted title of largest recorded pumpkin at Half Moon Bay, which sits in the center of a lush coastal agricultural regi ... More >>

Chatting With Gary Regan About 'The Gin Compendium', the Lady in the Glass & His Next Book

​"Gin's a spirit unto herself. She's a loner. Gin can gnaw on the back of your neck till she nigh-on draws blood, and she can just as easily kiss you softly behind each ear, stroke the back of your shivering hand, and make you know that everything's going to be okay. And it will, you know. It ... More >>

Losing Money, the 'Times' Hits the Bottle

The New York Times Company announced yesterday that it's starting a wine club. An un-bylined article in the Times' business section today reports that the new business, called (suprise) the New York Times Wine Club, is one of several ventures the company has been exploring as its advertising sales h ... More >>

Appleman Headed to the Apple?

Right after the San Francisco Chronicle broke the news this morning that Nate Appleman was leaving his post as executive chef at his restaurants A16 and SPQR to "explore what's out there," a rumor quickly surfaced that the James Beard Award-winning chef -- known for his soulful, meaty takes on the f ... More >>

Free Will Astrology: June 10 through 16

Breaking News--Fairfax, VA Sues Krispy Kreme

According to officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, a Krispy Kreme factory in Lorton is responsible for clogging up the county's sewage system with grease and yeast, causing it to overflow. The county sent the company (which, predicatably, denies everything) a bill for $1.9 million dollars, and ... More >>

Free Will Astrology: September 17 to 23

Teaching a New Generation of Reporters to Capture Events on Film

Dying news industry? Just shoot it.

Free Will Astrology: March 19 through 25

Free Will Astrology: March 5 through 11

Free Will Astrology

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Conspiracy 101

The basics of alternative 9-11 theories

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Wines to Welcome

A new shop gives lesser-known vintners their due

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Dance

Tattoo You

Braut fishing in Japan: Takahashi unfair to Aristophanes!

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Special Forces

A Book Unfit for 'The New York Times'

The Cultures of Newsrooms

Red Badges of Courage

Shopping in the Spirit of May Day

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