Let's hear it for curling, huh? Every four years the world once again remembers, and simultaneously mocks and watches in awe as teams of men slide enormous rocks down the ice and frantically sweep a path in a kooky, stone-age-ish version of shuffleboard that only someone from a truly chilly nation could love.

This year's Olympic curling team from Norway decided to mix things up a bit and get a little attention for themselves via some brightly colored, harlequin-patterned pants. And wouldn't you know, CBS5 tracks down the makers of said pants (probably via a press release), who are none other than Sonoma-based Loudmouth pants. The company typically dresses golfers on the PGA tour, who are used to wearing silly pants, but now they've provided a kooky visual talking point for those staying up too late to watch the curling events. Watch a video about the pants here.

Thursday, popscene brings another great act to San Francisco, The Sessions. Hailing from Vancouver, these guys remind us of the Killers, the Bravery, and These Electric Lives. Friday, BAGeL RADIO presents San Francisco's own indie-rock band, Love is Chemicals. Not only a BAGeL RADIO party, it's also Love is Chemicals' CD release party. You can't go wrong with that combination.

The concert that we 100% recommend: Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile at The Independent. Chris Thile is a genius. Absolute genius. We were so upset that Nickel Creek called it quits and ended their farewell tour with Fiona Apple. (What a terrible idea!) It looks like he has redeemed himself, though. There will be two shows, one at 7pm and the other at 10pm. Punch Brother's new CD comes out February 26th.

Check the jump for full show listings...

Found over at Laughing Squid, "The Tiki Bar TV is selling a classic pinup calendar featuring the fabulous Lala. The calendar was designed by Vancouver vfx artist and illustrator Kevin Genze."

Laughing Squid also has some choice Tiki-related links, so do check them out.

-- "Hold Yr Horses": Vowel dismissive DJ Rchrd Oh?! spins electro, no wave, '80s, '90s, hip hop, disco punk, synth pop, and more tonight at this TL dive bar's gipster club night. Music goes from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Aunt Charlie's Lounge, 133 Turk; $3.

-- Mahjong: Drop In and Play: Amos 'n' Andy, mahjong and platinum hair, but...oh, pardon us. We got carried away into song thinking about playing this fun and exciting game. Happens every Tuesday from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California (at Presidio); free.

-- They Shoot Horses Don't They?: No, not Jane Fonda's wonderful 1969 take-me-serious-as-an-actress film, but a Vancouver sextet. Neutral Milk Hotel-y cries SF Weekly! They perform with the Fucking Ocean (hey!) tonight at Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk (at Post); $6.

It seemed like everyone in the beer-geek world was at the Toronado for their 20th Anniversary party on Saturday night. The place was packed to the absolute gills with locals, brewmasters, and beer fans who'd flown in for the occasion (we met a guy who'd come from Vancouver). Several brewers of note had made special beers for the occasion, and we were lucky enough to score a table and sample a few. We loved the Bear Republic Wild Turkey Rye Rocket Booster, the Russian River Damnation 23 and 20th Anniversary Ale, and the Sierra Nevada Wood-Aged Stout, to name a few. The anniversary beers are on tap until they run dry, so do yourself a favor and swing on over for a taste or four.

Passes! Passes! We got movie passes! Wanna see , a movie about a high-spirited Asian-Canadian girl whose older sister is going through a Christian religious conversion, and whose family is learning to assimilate in Vancouver? (The "fire horse" part of the title refers to a superstition in Chinese astrology that children born in 1978 are particularly rambunctious.) We have no idea what's going on in that picture above, but it looks awesome!

Eve is playing for two weeks only at the Sundance Kabuki theater -- we've got five passes to give away, which are good for you and a friend for any screening any day between Monday and Thursday. We'll mail you the passes, so give us your address (and we won't use it for any other purposes).

Winners will be announced around the end of the day today.

Lyrics Born + The Coup-- Thursday March 1 @ The Fillmore... AA, $23, doors 8pm

Best show you've ever played
There have been so many, that's tough. I always love playing Austin, Sydney, Portland, London, Melbourne, etc. When you've been playing as much as I have for as long as I have, it's tough to narrow it down to just 1.

Favorite venue?
Again, that's also a tough one because of the reasons given, but I like the Metro in Sydney where I recorded my live LP, the Fillmore in SF just cause it's so historic, and Cool Haus in Vancouver. Outdoor shows are my favorite however, like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Reggae on the River, etc.

Where are the best fans?
I like shows where the people come out strictly to party. No pretense, no crossed arms, just ready to get down. You paid a lot of money to come see me, you might as well get your money's worth.

Dream musicians to perform with?
Prince, D'Angelo, Memphis Horns, anyone of James Brown's bands.

Favorite collaborators?
KRS-ONE, E-40, Lateef, Joyo Velarde, Cut Chemist.

Where can the Bay Area see you next?
Headlining the Fillmore March 1.

Lamest request from a crowd?
Someone hella loaded in crowd requesting the song I just played.

Any advice for aspiring musicians in the Bay Area?
Get your skin thick.

Daiso (or "The Daiso," as its website occasionally refers to it) is a cult-fave upscale Japanese 100-yen store -- like a dollar store, but stocked with awesome Japanese houseware items. We cannot overemphasize the awesomeness of the wares. You want juice glasses with chickens on them? Plastic pastel-colored baskets? A rubber puzzle of Japanese prefectures? Picture frames with a photo of a dog wearing glasses and a Santa hat? Miso soup bowls? A plaid-striped umbrella? All yours for $1.50 (It's about 118 yen to $1 as of right now; also, a few items in the store cost a little bit more).

We were kicking ourselves for forgetting our camera, and we had to leave far too quickly so we could get to the mall across the street before it closed -- but you should check it out! This is the fourth Daiso to open in America, and the first to open in California. There are three Daisos in Washington state and one just outside Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Daiso is in a stand-alone building right across from the Serramonte Target (the one up the hill, not the one down the hill in Colma -- we always get those two Targets mixed up), in the building that used to be a Good Guys. 146 Serramonte Center, 650-992-7462.

World events got you down? Sometimes wonder if American citizenship is worth all the grief? If you’re considering marrying a Canadian to escape it all, we’ve got one more reason to move to Canada: the music. The newest kanuks to hit the music scene are Shapes and Sizes. Sharing a label with Sufjan Stevens and Berkeley dweller Half-Handed Cloud, is daunting start for a young band, but they seem up for the challenge.

Caila Thompson-Hannant of Shapes and Sizes has lent a Vancouver bent to the standard SFist interview. If you long to see the Mayor hooking up with Margaret Thatcher, or are thinking that your new Canadian address might be in her fair city, check out her interview below. You can catch Shapes and Sizes opening for Oh No! Oh My! at The Bottom of the Hil tomorrow night.

Name
Caila Thompson-Hannant/ Shapes and Sizes

Introduce yourself in one sentence
I'm a girl.

Age and Occupation
21. I'll work pretty much any job I can get. At the moment I'm a Barista! I also play in a band called Shapes and Sizes.

Best show you've ever played?
Louisville KY. We thought it was gonna be a tomato-throwing kind of night,
but they were such awesome fun people. It was one of those good surprises.

Best venue in the world?
Probably this huge warehouse collective art space in Austin, Texas called the Rizome. It was great because it had walls made of straw and a farm with turkeys and an outdoor fire pit and it was focused on ecological awareness and community and stuff. Plus it was huge! Of course, much credit goes to the crowd for making it a great place.

Best fans in the world?
Montreal: they love you or they hate you. Luckily, we have loads of friends there.

What's your favorite song to perform?
That changes pretty frequently, but right now, and for me personally, it might be this song we've only played once. It's a highlife-esque world beat-y little number that has no name at the moment. It might be called something like "fleshy, mouthy corners" or "I had been duped". The new ones are often the most fun.

Favorite collaborators?
Eno and Fripp. OR all the people involved with the new Danielson album.

I removed the sheets off the bed and found more bugs. I went to the front desk to report my find, and to my indignation, the person that was in charge didn't seem to care much. He absently told me he was going to report the incident to the manager. Even after I showed him the bites and the bugs in the bag I did not get a "We're terribly sorry" or "Is there something we can do for you", at the very least offer me some lotion for the itching and inconvenience.

Photo: Dramatic re-enactment of infestation at the Heritage Marina Hotel. Bedbugs pictured may not be actual size.

Sure, we've seen a lot of these movies before, but this is our chance to see studio archive prints of these classics in a big-screen theatre setting. DVDs just can't compare!

Some of the movies we're planning on seeing (see the full schedule here) are , in which Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy brave the 1906 earthquake, After The Thin Man, because we LOVE all the Thin Man movies and haven't ever seen any of them on the big screen, and Woody Allen's classic Take The Money and Run.

Image from Barbary Coast , playing 4/23-4/24 at the Reel San Francisco series at the Balboa

We think we know what it is.

"Killer Instinct" has been cancelled.

You say you didn't even watch the show? So how could its cancellation have anything to do with your deep depression? We say it doesn't matter. Just vaguely knowing there was another show on the air that was set in San Francisco and, oddly, Vancouver, well, that was enough to bring some joy to your sad life. Alas, you'll never get the chance to learn how...uh....that detective guy could...hmmm....what was his deal, anyway? His dad was a serial killer or something?

OK. We admit it. We didn't watch the show much, either. Not that there was anything else on Friday nights tearing us away. But we did like catching those occasional shots of San Francisco streets and Vancouver neighborhoods if only to remind us that actually being able to live here is whole lot nicer than living in Canada and having to commute to San Francisco every day for work! No wonder that detective was so grumpy!