Netflix Inc.

The Fiber-Optic Umbilical: Pay-TV Companies Want You to Forget About All That Internet Media Nonsense

PBS Offers Guide to Cord-Cutting and Defense of Piracy

You want to cut the cable cord, but you aren't clear on how to go about it. You aren't much of a gadget geek, you don't regularly follow tech news, and -- while you might have a Netflix account -- you might not know much about the other alternatives and how they compare: Hulu, Blockbuster, Amazon Pr ... More >>

Watch the Trailer For Tasting Menu, A New Foodie Rom-Com From Spain

Well, the new Spanish flick Tasting Menu has come up with a brilliant plot for a food-themed rom-com. It's the last night at El Bulli-like restaurant Chakula, the "best restaurant in the world," and an attractive couple have a table booked at the memorable meal. The only problem? They made their res ... More >>

Amazon's Cloud Fails Yet Again, Taking Down Netflix

Forget Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' clumsy public utterances, which turned so many of his customers against the company. And forget the modest price increase that sent even more of them in the direction of competitors or even pirate sites. Hastings' biggest mistake might turn out to be signing on 100 ... More >>

Carl Icahn's Move on Netflix Spells Trouble

The last thing Netflix needs right now is Carl Icahn, but there he is, his dour puss looming above Los Gatos as he buys up shares in the company and makes noises about how he thinks it should be run. The trouble is that he has no idea about how it should be run, and all he cares about is pulling in ... More >>

The Internet Red Scare

Congressman Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty organization sounds like it's worried that Commies, or maybe Russian-style state capitalists, are plotting to take over the Internet. In a manifesto issued last week, the group warns that "the road to tyranny is being paved by a collectivist-Industrial com ... More >>

SOPA, Limbaugh, Komen: This Is What Happens When the Mob is Right

​There is far too much cheerleading for the "wisdom of crowds." The undiscerning among us, often motivated by an understandable (if often mindless) disgust with institutions, tend to employ buzzwords like "crowdsourcing" and to preach the idea that "the people" are always right even if "the people ... More >>

Netflix Says That Actually it Doesn't Advertise with Rush Limbaugh at All

​For the last year or so, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has been behaving like the hero of Brewster's Millions or some other sad 80s comedy (probably available for streaming!) where the hero has to piss away a fortune or a corporation or something while pretending to be a reasonable person. (This was ... More >>

Copyright Owners Continue to Tilt at Windmills

​Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... More >>

Reason to Hope for More Reno 911: Five Highlights of Sketchfest Comedy Nightlife

Comedians stood in front of hundreds of guests for Sketchfest Comedy Nightlife at the Academy of Science. "Where are my nerds?" one hollered, which was just one of the many punches thrown at nerds for attending a nighttime event at a museum. The crowd loved it. Here's what you missed. 5. Chocolate ... More >>

Netflix Chief, Please Stop Talking

​Netflix CEO Reed Hastings should be applauded, I suppose, for trying to communicate with his customers directly -- apparently in an attempt to add the personal touch. But he's no good at it, and he should never do it again. On Sunday, Hastings posted what was ostensibly an "apology" for the ... More >>

Still Just Kids

Netflix Saga: Fight for Your Right to Cheap Video Rentals

​Americans have collectively developed a keen sense of entitlement. That's why so many of us think we have a "right" to undeserved pay raises, undeserved good grades in school, free software, free music, low-priced gasoline; that we have a "right" to act like jackasses in traffic or in Internet co ... More >>

Bouncer: Hearing the End of the World at O'Neill's Irish Pub

Final Cut?

No one wants the Clay Theatre to close, but few are lining up to see movies there either.

Kaiken 2009 Malbec Mendoza

​Tuesday night we went to Boulevard and blew the rent. After two Woodford Reserve Manhattans, the sommelier John helped us pick out an astounding Barolo from Piedmont that set us back $165. Good thing the foie gras was amazing and the northern halibut was as close to the empyrean as one gets w ... More >>

The Last Picture Shows

@sk Jamie Varon: What are you hiding on your password-protected phone?

Pal's Takeaway to Open Saturdays

John BirdsallPal's pulled pork.​The U.S. Postal Service wants to make it impossible for you to get a Netflix copy of New Moon delivered on a Saturday, but on 24th Street in the Mission, you'll soon be able to get house-cured Kobe pastrami on rye. Starting July 17, the sandwich guys at Pal's Ta ... More >>

Ask @JamieVaron: Should I Let the Person I'm Dating Have Access to My Phone?

​Dear Jamie, Should I let the person I'm dating have total access to my phone? I don't want anyone trying to read my texts and emails, so I put a password on my phone! Is that wrong? Sincerely, Private in Presidio-- 

Monday Morning Hangover: Sopping Wet

This weekend's torrential downpour was enough to keep us inside with a bottle of Jim Beam's finest, streaming Hallmark made-for-TV Criterion movies on Netflix. But in spite of the wretched weather, we managed to pull on our on-trend galoshes and slog out into the night.Richard Haick​Nerds and musi ... More >>

And the 'Gayest City in America' Is ... Atlanta?

Not gay enough, apparently​As the ongoing Proposition 8 trial begins its second week today, the mayor of the "Gayest city" in California will take the stand to testify in favor of marriage equality. That mayor, of course, is Jerry Sanders. And the gay-friendly realm over which he reigns is -- San ... More >>

Prop. 8 Trial Roundup: Gay Couples Don't Want To Be 'Glorified Roommates'

​A roundup of the action on Day One of the Proposition 8 trial at San Francisco's Federal Courthouse.The attorney for the Prop. 8 backers argues: "Marriage is essentially the sexual embodiment of the man and the woman who formed the marital union." Did this guy not get the news that marriage is th ... More >>

Rent a Wreck

For a former video store giant, not such a blockbuster decade.

The Trail of Dead Winds Thru S.F. in Mid-March (Be Afraid ... Be Very Afraid)

Arty Texas post-hardcore band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead has a new album, The Century of Self *, due out in February. The group'll also be hitting the asphalt for a national tour, which finds its way into Slim's on Monday, March 16; tickets cost $18 and go on sale this Sunday, Jan ... More >>

Heckled to Death: The Mystery of a Good Joke

Night Day: Calendar Picks for 5/9

Revealing Sergei's Shadows

Avant-Garde Aphorisms

If You Build a Movie Theater in the Presidio, Will They Come?

Insiders Take on the Slow Decline of the Mercury News

R.I.P. HD DVD, Almost: Toshiba Likely to Pull Plug Soon

Hooray! Watch Unlimited Movies on Netflix...on That PC You Don't Have

The Best 3rd Party Applications for your iPhone/iPod Touch

Later, dude: Bouncer waits for no man at Benders

They Really Are the World

Off the Cuff

Repertory Film Listings

Repertory Film Listings

Shepard's Headlock

Repertory Film Listings

Repertory Film Listings

Repertory Film Listings

The Good Magazine Block Party

Everybody's a GOOD Samaritan these days: the music trend of worthy causes

Last Night: Dan Deacon at Bottom of the Hill

Pot's for pussies

Shine on you crazy lightning bugs and deep-sea creatures!

Tomorrow's Misery Today

Our top DVD picks for the week of March 13:

Tacos and Gimlets

Treating the author of Julie & Julia to a little taste of San Francisco