The Blog

SF Sketchfest has been a San Francisco tradition since 2001, yet I had somehow always neglected to partake. Until this year’s 11th annual lineup of festivities, that is. Last Saturday I crashed the College Improv Tournament – Golden Gate Regionals at the Ninth Street Independent Film Center in SOMA. The College Improv shindig is actually part of SF Improv Festival, SF’s more spontaneous sister to Sketchfest, but the two festivals go hand-in-hand in hosting an arsenal of comedic debauchery for two weeks of the year.

The College Improv Tournament showcased five Bay Area collegiate teams (University of San Francisco’s Awkward Silence, Stanford Improvisors – known also as SImps, Berkeley Improv, Academy of Art’s Juxtaposed, and Chico State’s 5 Year Old Fiancé) battling it out for the victorious title of improv mastery, and a chance to compete in the national competition in Chicago. Sounds pretty legit to me. 

University of San Francisco's Awkward Silence

Awkward Silence and Juxtaposed carried the honor of reppin’ the city – and they had a lot to live up to, given the gut-busting acts that have passed through SF’s comedy clubs over the years. Which is largely SF Sketchfest’s doing, in fact. The impressive array of wit on this year's Sketchfest schedule is definitely one to write home about, featuring noteworthy humorists like Drew Carey, David Cross (bring back Arrested Development! Please!), Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory, Samm Levine and Busy Phillips (bring back Freaks and Geeks too, while you’re at it), Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family, Michael Ian Black, The Whitest Kids U’Know, and tons others.

SImps in action

The tournament’s competitors surely lived up to the paradigm, if the audible audience approval in the form of uncontrollable laughter is any inclination. The final round came down to a battle between the SImps and Awkward Silence’s series of Whose Line is it Anyway-esque improvised sketches, as they put a hilarious spin on everything from disputes over the Big Bang, to impressions of a bloodthirsty killer rabbit, to a scene about members of Sesame Street being accused of possession of crystal meth. In the end, Awkward Silence took the crown, won a trip to compete in Chicago, and maintained San Francisco’s dignity as the reigning champion in hilarity.

Awkward Silence takes the cake

This year's Sketchfest is nearing its end, so this week is your last chance to catch some hardcore laughs and witness some amazing comedic genius. Stop by the Marines' Memorial Theatre to behold the experts of Theme Park Improv (they have an all-star cast, Simon Helberg and Oscar Nuñez from The Office are my faves) tomorrow, Feb. 3rd, and get your time warp on at the Castro Theatre's exclusive showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday, Feb. 4th.

Luke Perry (photo by Keven Law) reads to you on Sat. as part of Sketchfest

There’s plenty of new ground to cover this weekend, starting with a new Chinese year. 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, folks. What does that mean, exactly? You’ll have to hit the Castro on Friday night for the Mickey Rourke movie of the same name to find out. My picks for other fresh and off-the-radar events to hit this weekend are listed below.

In Like Quinn (Fri.) If you’re looking to hear live music in an intimate setting with the best (freshly-juiced) greyhounds in town, Club Deluxe is the place to go. Soul man Quinn DeVeaux performs with his Blue Beat Review on Friday, and if you arrive hungry, be sure to order one of the venue’s famous artisanal pizzas.

I think night photography is so compelling because a camera can sift through darkness to illuminate beautiful things we wouldn't be able to see with our own weak human eyes. And, in the case of these awesome long-exposure photographs of Caltrain tracks taken by local photographer/Twitter guy Aaron Durand, the camera can find great swaths of temporary light and make them last forever (and also make railways look like the warp speed space trail of the Starship Enterprise). 

Aaron learned how to use a camera by taking shots of walls full of graffiti with a group of local photographers. But, he explains, "walls don't move," and Aaron was interested in capturing motion. Since much of the graffiti Aaron was photographing was located near railways, creating images of the trains (well, their lights, anyway) was a natural next step. 

Now, Aaron and his photographer cohort Nick Fisher lurk near San Francisco Caltrain railways, waiting for the blazing lights to pass. 

While Aaron shoots both digital and film, he's more into film these days. The square images you see here were taken with a German medium-format camera, the Pentacon Six. 

Now this is crazy. To get this shot from under the train, Aaron and Nick disassembled a tripod, nailed some of its parts directly to the tracks, mounted the camera on the makeshift tripod, and prayed the train wouldn't smash up the lens – and everything else. It worked, and they got this amazing shot. 

I'm ending with my favorite. I love lasers. Hey, no one go photoshopping a cat into that tunnel. Check out more of Aaron's SF trains on his Flickr page.