It's about 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 20. The 49ers just secured a place in the Superbowl, but I'm not out celebrating, because I'm locked in a room with 11 strangers. Inside the room is a desk, a couch, art, and some random furniture. There are two doors, and both of them are locked. One with a padlock, and the other with a regular door knob. We have one hour to escape.

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I will admit to no small disappointment that even though I was attending Creation Entertainment's Official Star Trek Convention at the Westin St. Francis as press for the Weekly, all I got at registration was the same red wristband they gave to general admission ticket-holders. No excellent lanyard like the one I got at the furries convention, Further Confusion, (the high standard by which all press passes are judged), or even the basic but still beautiful name badge that all My Little Pony attendees at Everfree Northwest received. C'mon, Creation! Some of us are tryin' to build lanyard collections!

Lanyard or not, I got to see what a Star Trek convention looks like in 2012 and I interviewed writer David Gerrold, an early hero of mine, so I ain't complaining. (At least, not too much.)

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Fans of popping, locking, turfing, and b-boying will already know what the hottest ticket in street dance is this weekend. But even if you didn't recognize any of those styles, you don't want to sleep on the San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Fest.

Now in its 14th year, the S.F. Hip Hop Dance Fest was the first event of its kind to focus on hip hop, and has grown into an international showcase, with this year's fest featuring performers from England, Norway, Japan, and Chile. While the goal of the HHDF has always been to "present the highest quality Hip Hop dance companies," it shows love to our local groups as well, who more than hold their own with the best in the world.

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Did you miss Flugtag aka "flying day," the great tradition of building human-powered flying machines and launching them off of a 30-foot ramp into McCovey Cove? Nonetheless, if you missed the genius, the innovation, and most importantly, the fashion, we're here to help.

Photos by Christopher Victorio for SF Weekly.

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I've always wanted to be a secret agent. The sneaking around, the mysterious assassinations, the beautiful women; it all looks so easy in the movies. The only bummer is how all of those covert operations start at the crack of dawn -- when my alarm goes off at 4 a.m., the only thing I want to assassinate is the clock. I was thinking about all of this on a recent Sunday while sitting in my car outside of Golden Gate Park at 5 a.m. I had dragged myself up with coffee and a Clif bar to meet classically trained actor and all around clown Jon Deline for a renegade art installation at the de Young Museum. When I saw a minivan with a missing headlight pull up, I knew it had to be him. Jon's brother came along to help out, and the three of us looked like friendly ninjas in our all black clothing.

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Shannon Gallogly

Celebratory fireworks on Mission Street.

The morning of the last World Series game, I woke up around 9:30 a.m. and outside the bathroom window I saw my upstairs neighbors yelling about the liquor store not being open yet. The chance for the Giants to sweep the Detroit Tigers apparently was a green light for an all-day binge drinking event, and my neighbors were not going to waste another minute. I sighed heavily, it was going to be a long day.

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If you're like most people in San Francisco, you're probably wondering why the weather was so nice during the week and bumming about it cooling down a bit over the weekend. The Indian Summer can be unpredictable and frustrating, so for those of you whose spirits are low, we made a list of some fun, cheap, and interesting events you should not be missing out on this weekend.

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Kate Conger

Few of us will ever wear something custom-made to fit our bodies. Not many of us will even visit a tailor to have a dress taken in or pants hemmed. Fast fashion is our comfortable standard. Running to the store to pick up the latest trend on our way home from work feels normal; it's sometimes even luxurious to have what we want, so easily accessible.

But the de Young's new exhibition, Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance, redefines luxury. The galleries hold over 70 costumes from the prolific dancer and choreographer's ballet career, in addition to photographs and videos. The thought of Nureyev -- who was nothing if not meticulous in all aspects of his life -- commanding the creation of such exquisite, handmade garments is any fashion-lover's dream come true.

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For a city that prides itself on being a cultural epicenter, we sure freak out when there's more than one big event happening in a weekend. The San Francisco Calendar Crisis of 2012 has reached such epic proportions that Mayor Ed Lee is warning citizens to remain calm, the entire police force is on red alert, and the streets are closing down.

Okay, we're exaggerating a little bit. But seriously, guys, calm down. Events happen in cities all the time. We can totally handle the America's Cup exhibition races, Fleet Week, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Litquake, the opening of Uniqlo, the Italian Heritage Parade, and the Castro Street Fair (and some sports shenanigans, if you're into that kind of thing)! We're all going to have fun cultural experiences and it'll only hurt if you don't wear comfortable walking shoes. 

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Day games in September are notoriously unattended -- the kids are back in school, (who skips class to go to the ol' ballpark in 2012? Nobody.) the kids who do go often get in for free, and yes, there are themes!More »