"King @ 7th and Market" by djhexhector.

*FILM: The 5th Annual San Francisco Irish Film Festival kicks things off with by director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran. This is followed by a reception with the Consul General of Ireland, Emer Deane. According to LS, "other highlights include Speed Dating, a romantic comedy about a lovelorn amnesiac; the award winning Irish-language feature film Kings, and finally The Undertaking, a documentary about Irish American undertaker and poet Thomas Lynch, who is famed as the inspiration for hit HBO series Six Feet Under. Thomas Lynch and film director Cathal Black will be at the screening for a Q &A. Plus, the ever popular, Magners n’ Shorts Program (Magners Irish Cider is served for free during the film program) and Irish TV Night will also return to this year’s festival."

LECTURE: Yeah, yeah, you can go listen to Greil Marcus prattle on endlessly about the Magnetic Fields and the outback, or whatever, later this month at teh JCCSF. Or better yet, you can hear Family Ties creator Gary Goldberg talk about what it was like working with Michale J. Fox (his second choice to play Alex P. Keaton), Stephen Spielberg (who Goldberg tried to talk out of doing E.T.), on the set of Spin City, and more. He speaks tonight at the Jewish Community center of San Francisco. (Also, according to IMDB, he doesn't own a computer. The hell?)

DANCE: While the members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater probably can't bust out "Turkey Lurkey Time" to save their lives, they're still not half bad. Check out the famed dance troupe across the bridge over UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall.

The listed events were chosen by the editors of SFist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla.

The incredibly crowded space was crawling with an audience that was brimming with excitement. Their excitement had been curtailed while Grand Ole' Party and San Francisco's own, Still Flyin' opened for this seemingly "members-only" band. Based out of New York City, this four-piece afro-pop band met while attending New York's best, Columbia University. The incredible buzz has been everywhere - ranging from blogs to the New York Times.

In June, the Times said, "Even without an album, Vampire Weekend have made one of the most impressive debuts of the year." Impressive is headlining a show without even having a CD released. The two songs, "Mansford Roof" and "Ladies of Cambridge," which have been available on iTunes were some of the crowd favorites. The live versions of "A-Punk" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" were off the hook. The pianist, Rostam Batmanglij and bassist, Chris Baio were both equally as talented though a few dance lessons might improve the whole aesthetic. You also can't forget the audience participation in "One," when everyone was screaming "Blake's got a new face!" over and over. Apparently, Blake is from Palo Alto, a Stanford biochemistry major who disappointingly didn't show up for the concert. How do you not show up to a concert when a song is written about you? Koenig and the rest of the band were severly disappointed. Shame on you!

Warriors 103 Kings 96- Yawn, another day, another Warriors win. And when was the last time somebody said anything like that? The Warriors had to earn this game as they were down by two with a little over a minute left and rallied with Stephen Jackson nailing two three pointers in a 20 second span. He really does make a difference, doesn't he? Let's hope he stays away from the strip clubs. Anyways, Golden State is now .500 at 7-7 and now has more victories going than the Raiders and 49ers combined.

Kings 3 Sharks 2- Hey, look, the Sharks (remember them?) played a Kings too but the one from LA and not Sacramento. And unlike the Warriors, they lost, losing in a shoot out. The Kings may be a lousy, lousy team, but they seem to have a big enough boat as it's their third victory at San Jose's expense. That's about a third of their victories at this point. Ouch.

-Hey, using young pitchers as trade bait just ain't for the Giants either-- reports out there say that the A's Danny Haren and Joe Blanton are being dangled in front of the usual slathering big market teams, mainly the New York Metropolitans. ESPN's Buster Olney has actually been throwing out the idea that Haren is actually a better deal than Johan Santana. He's cheaper, younger, has years left on his contract, and has the makings of being almost Santana-like.

And on that note, the purported reason for why Beane is shopping around two of his aces is because after looking out and seeing the Giants, 49ers, and Raiders stink up the joint, he’s decided that he’s all in on joining them and is nipping at the bud to begin yet another rebuilding process. Sigh.

OK, so we've got some new and intriguing faces like Marco Belinelli, Brandan Wright, and Stephen Lasme joining returning favorites like Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, and Andris Biedrins to give coach Don Nelson's player-friendly up-tempo small ball another go. Basically, more of the same for the Warriors this year.

Nellie has some new pieces to play with but it's his same old game plan, so we pretty much know where the Ws will land this year. Based on the weakening of the Western Conference over the offseason and the anticipated emergence of exciting players like Belinelli and Kelanna Azubuike, we look for the Warriors to improve on last year's 42-win season. Gazing into our eerily reliable crystal ball, we see 48 wins this year for the double-u's, good enough for second in the Pacific Division and the six seed in the WC.

Photo from unbeknownst.net

Attrition has been one of the Warriors' best pickups this offeseason. While the Warriors have taken some baby steps forward, many of the Western Conference rivals have been moving in the opposite direction.

When looking at the Warriors chances to make the playoffs this year, it runs from the bottom up.

• 15. Minnesota -- Congratulations Kevin McHale, after trading franchise keystone Kevin Garnett, your team is officially irrelevant for years to come.

• 14. Sacto -- Until the Kings move perpetually troubled Ron Artest this team will be mired in the delta blues. It's the first of many rebuilding years in the capitol city.

• 13.Memphis -- Quick, name one player on the Grizzlies. Just one. Any one. Exactly. Next.

-- Oh noes: local homes sales are in the crapper. [SJ Merc]

-- Sex assault charged against Sacto Kings player Justin Williams. [CBS5]

-- More lighted landmarks to shutdown during Saturday's Lights Out SF. [Examiner]

-- Suing Ed Jew. [SFGate]

-- Jon Stewart and Daily Show confusion. [BeyondChron]

-- Not guilty plea in Bailey murder. [Oakland Tribune]

-- Gayrab party. Ha! Get it? Yeah. Anyway, check out Bibi this Saturday at Club Eight. [SFBG]

-- Grey Gardens: Kiki & Herb's Justin Bond hosts one of the most splendidly tragic documentaries every made, about life inside a rundown East Hampton mansion with Jackie Kennedy Onassis' eccentric aunt and cousin. Little Edie look-a-like contest happens before the show. The psychosis starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Castro Theatre, Castro and Market Streets; $6-$9.

-- Pundits With Punchlines: South Asian comedians highlight this night of comedy. Samson Koletkar, Hasan Minhaj, and the show's creator, Tapan Trivedi, appear. 8 p.m. at Punchline Comedy Club, 444 Battery; $10.

-- Bat for Lashes: (AKA Natasha Khan) goes on with Kings & Queens at 8:30 p.m. at Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market; $10-$12.

-- Harmon Leon Book Release, National Lampoon's Road Trip USA: Come hear this controversial comedian and scribe read from his latest release. 7 p.m. at Booksmith, 1644 Haight; free.

It's easy to make a heroic character lovable and the bad guy despicable, but it's much more of an accomplishment to turn a fallible, sweaty, chubby guy with real flaws, including a seriously questionable moral compass, into a sympathetic character. , a charmer of a movie directed by Philippe Falardeau manages to do just that. Congorama is a lovely tale about a man looking for his origins (in French Canada) and the myriad ways in which lives are interconnected.

We missed the first SFIFF showing of Congorama last week but made it to the Kabuki in time for the Q&A with the director. The movie showed on two screens so the Q&A crowd was funneled into a third theatre. Maybe it was a self-selecting group of folks who chose to ask questions, but not only was there a lot of French flying around, but also inside jokes about the Congo, Belgium, Canada and the 1967 World Expo.

Hmmmm, that sounded a little random to us and at first we weren't so intrigued, but the director then told a story about how his Aunt Helene started having headaches in her late 30s. They discovered a piece of glass behind her eye from a car accident she was in way back when she was 16. This was the inspiration for what happens to the main character, Michel, in the movie. He also said the emu on set started spontaneously following the blocking in the script with very little wrangling. This had us intrigued too.

This is what we love about film festivals. So far we've seen Congorama and Heavenly Kings and both are movies we loved but probably would have missed if it weren't for the SF International.

The Pond's horrible ice and Teemu Selanne's illegal stick helped the Sharks avoid being down a man in overtime against the Ducks last night. Selanne was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at the beginning of overtime, negating a Craig Rivet penalty that was carrying over from the end of regulation, and San Jose went on to win the shootout for a 3-2 victory. The Sharks came back to even the score after being down by 2 goals in the first period, and both teams helped their playoff positioning against the Dallas Stars.

The expansion of hockey outside of the snow belt has often meant late- season and playoff games are played on ice that in other circumstances would be better off scooped up, drizzled with syrup, and handed to small children. Anaheim's ice last night was terrible, and it marred what otherwise was a tightly played, playoff-intense game between two excellent teams. The ice did help out the Sharks, however, when both Selanne (now using a legal stick) and Andy McDonald flubbed their shootout attempts, making Jonathan Cheechoo's and Ryan Clowe's shootout goals standup.

Um, remember what we were saying about Jonathan Cheechoo not scoring goals? Just forget we wrote that, ummkay? Cheech recorded his 3rd hat trick of the season in last Sunday's 6-2 thumping of the likable, but hapless, L.A. Kings, bringing his season goal total to 35. He's scored 12 goals in his last 10 games (adding 5 assists).

Even after last night's unsatisfying loss to the Utah Jazz in the SLC, we're calling it right now -- cancel your reservations at the midtown Manhattan Day's Inn, cuz' ain't gonna' be no Warriors representative at this year's NBA Lottery. After 12 years, THE STREAK IS OVER -- your Golden State Warriors will make the playoffs this year as the number eight seed in the Western Conference.

Unlike Monte Poole or Tim Kawakami, there is no "will they or won't they" coming from SFist. This is a done deal. Their season-long fever has broken just in time, and the Warriors are playing the kind of ball they need to play, when they need to play it -- like late in the game, like late in the season.

Though now tied with the Clippers after Tuesday night's action, for almost one whole week now, your Golden State Warriors have been proud owners of the number eight playoff spot in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (give that line a little Cosell when you read it). And they're gold Jerry, gold!

Really, the Warriors should be about five games out of the playoffs right now, but for once, fate is on their side. Just as the Warriors have started to play well, going 6-2 in the last 8 games, the rest of the Western Conference midpackers have completely collapsed. The Clippers have lost 14 of their last 21 games; the Timberwolves 15 of 21; the Kings 12 of 19; the Sonics 14 of 23; the Hornets 8 of their last 11. Fine, if nobody else wants it, the Warriors are more than happy to snatch up el ocho. No, not that ocho pasado, not until the second round of the playoffs, that is.

This year's Warriors are proving themselves when it counts -- during the playoff push. Poster image from GoldenStateofMind.com.

Also for once, the Warriors have been helping themselves with timely, critical victories, including wins over the Clippers, Timberwolves, and most recently, Sunday's playoff-caliber gutcheck win on the road over Seattle. Even their defense is coming around.