Do you think anyone will peak inside if I leave my “Top Secret” folder out like this? Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

this morning i went to the gym again. i wasn’t planning on it, but i felt like i really want a tuesday/thursday/saturday gym schedule. so i decided that iw as going to go again today and again on saturday to get me started on that schedule. i also asked the front desk [...]

click the pic to make your own at iheart.despair.com

for those of you who are catholic out there, or at least raised catholic like me, you would know that today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. the story goes that Jesus walked in the desert for forty days and forty nights, etc. during this time, catholics everywhere would give up [...]

Don’t freak out if you missed Folsom this summer, or if you forgot to pop into the Mission for Cinco De Mayo, or couldn’t make it Pride or whatever. This is San Francisco, remember? The sun may be gone, but...

A grown man died during a street race in Oakland last night at around 9:30 p.m.. The unidentified 42-year-old -- that's right, 42-year-old -- was racing his 2005 Nissan "west on the 7100 block of Doolittle Drive, near Oakland International Airport" before losing control of his vehicle. He then slammed head-on into a non-compete Hyundai, which sent the 57-year-old driver of the former car to the hospital with serious injuries.

Oh, and Ms. Lagos goes on to tell us that "[a]nyone with information about the incident should call the Oakland police traffic investigation section at (510) 777-8658." So if you saw something, do snitch. It the cool new thing to do!

We love Gridskipper's edge as of late. Take, for example, today's revealing top 8 San Francisco bars with the "crappiest crowds." Rankings 8, 7, 6, and 5 are Beauty Bar, Medjool, Swig, and R Bar, respectively.

In all fairness, you need to visit good ol' Gridie to find out just who made the top four. (Also, regarding the number-one spot, we've never visited the sorta chic spot but have heard mixed reviews. Is it really that bad, clientele-wise? Jesus. We remove ourselves from the nightlife scene for a scant four months, and our scenester knowledge is shot to hell. Sad.)

We can't think of any local establishments' crowds that deserve our scorn. On the contrary, the scenes at such venues as Michael Gouddou's Gallery Lounge and Da Da, the newly relocated Metro in the Castro, and the bar at the St. Regis have won us over tenfold. (Really, all excellent choices for drinking and chatting as far as we're concerned.) Oddly enough, we here at SFist cannot think of one particular bar crowd to bitch about. Frightening.

This is where you, dear readers, come in: any thoughts? Just where will you never step foot in again because of the scene?

It's time for another top ten essential trade paperbacks list from Collected Editions! If you haven't read our list of Top Ten Superman trade paperbacks, click the link to see it. And now on to the Batman trades ...



* Batman: Knightfall

This Bat-saga created in the wake of The Death of Superman never gets the credit that it deserves. In total, the trilogy was probably a too-long telling of the fall and rise of Batman; in parts, however, Knightfall is a thrilling tale of Batman pushed by his enemies to the brink of exhaustion ... and beyond. Part one is great for fans of Batman's colorful villains, nearly all of whom appear here.



* Batman: Death and the Maidens

I literally stayed up all night to finish this gripping Batman/Ra's al Ghul story, written by Greg Rucka in the spirit of the original Dennis O'Neil Ra's tales. Rucka has an addictive, pulse-pounding story that weaves in and out of history and ultimately makes a major change to Batman continuity. This is a classic Batman story, and comes with one of my highest recommendations.



* Batman: Evolution

Then-new writer Greg Rucka's beginning Detective Comics after the mega-No Man's Land crossover. In an attempt to distinguish the title, the colorist worked with a limited pallet, creating comics that were often only shades of reds, blues, and greens. The result is a gorgeously moody Batman comic featuring yet another Ra's al Ghul tale by Rucka. I feel the art here is something every fan should experience.



* Batman: No Man's Land

No Man's Land is a gigantic six-trade collection of a year-long Batman crossover, unique in it's authorial structure such that the story read far more like a novel than most comics crossovers. The story drags, undoubtedly, at times, but the stories of Batman's return to the city in the beginning, and the bittersweet end, are both worth reading.



* Batman: Sword of Azrael

By the time Knightfall was over, no one really liked the Azrael character, but I always thought there was a lot of potential in this initial mini-series. The writing is by comics legend Dennis O'Neil, and art is by current Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. The story pits Batman against a Knights Templar-type organization, with one Jean-Paul Valley caught in the middle; Valley has no idea he's next in line to become the order's avenging Azrael.



* Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying

Not as well known as A Death in the Family, the story that killed off the second Robin, Lonely is the first appearance of the third and current Robin, Tim Drake. It's also, however, a Batman/New Titans crossover, which should thrill any 1980s comics fan, and is written by New Titans creator Marv Wolfman. For Batman, Robin, or Nightwing fans, this is a good one.



* Batman: Year Two

Also not as well known as Batman: Year One, Year Two is a great mystery with tragic romance that works so well with the Batman character. The story deals with the man who murdered Batman's parents and the reasons Batman doesn't carry a gun; art is by Todd McFarlane of Spawn fame.



* Batman: Broken City

Sandwiched between the vaunted Batman: Hush and the start of some new creative teams, Broken City didn't get much notice, but deserved it. This is moody, hard-boiled crime fiction with plenty of snapped arms and broken teeth--it's also an excellent Batman whodunit. If you like Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets, you should have this in your collection.



* Batman: Bruce Wayne — Fugitive Vol. 3

The Batman Murderer/Fugitive story wasn't a bad crossover, only perhaps went on a little too long. This final trade, though, is a gift from DC Comics -- after volumes one and two, they realized there were enough good follow-up stories out there to warrant a third trade. What you find here are smaller stories featuring Batman and his sidekicks; Rucka's the three-part about Batman's hunt for, and failed romance with, Checkmate's Sasha Bordeaux is worth the price of admission.



* Batman Adventures: The Lost Years

Lost Years is a trade collecting a mini-series that bridged the gap between two different Batman cartoon series and, essentially, it's the animated universe's take on the origin of Nightwing and the rise of the new Robin. If you're a Nightwing or Bat-verse fan, this is some fun revisionist history done in the animated style.



Agree? Hate my choices? Got something to add? Leave a comment!

Windows/Mac only: Music instruction site Show Me How To Play takes an iTunes-like approach to video lessons, charging 99 cents for downloadable "Multiplayer videos" that let users watch skilled session groups move through a song, one instrument at a time. Even if you get by fine with free lessons, the site has a nice collection of mostly free features dealing with the music business, gear choices and other musician-friendly topics. Using the Multiplayer videos requires a sign-up, Quicktime and Windows XP/Vista or OS X 10.3.4 or later.