Are you a hipster? Do you enjoy watching hipsters in their natural habitats? If so February is the month to come to
San Francisco and join the festival circuit.

Right now through the 17th of February we have SF Indie
Fest... San Francisco Independent Film Festival plus San Francisco Winter Music
Fest equals 85 indie features, documentaries, shorts and animated films, at
least 40 bands and some riotous parties, including one titled Super Bowl XLV:
Men in Tights and the annual Big Lebowski Party and Roller Disco Party. All the
films at Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St. Music and parties at CellSpace, 2050
Bryant. Ticket prices vary. http://www.sfindie.com/

Next we have NoisePop, Feb. 22nd through the 27th. Concerts
by Yo La Tengo, Kid Koala and dozens of other indie musicians, indie art and
films, discussions of how they’re all intertwined, and workshops on making
videos and remixing songs. My
personal fave is The Stone Foxes at the Independent on the 24th. The shows are going to happen all over
the city and the prices vary so check the website
http://2011.noisepop.com/schedule

All summaries taken from sanfrancisco.about.com

The time has come again for the Great American Holiday known as the Super Bowl. Come February 6th twill be a day full of hot dogs, bean dip, and beer. 'Tis a day where you can be completely and totally embroiled in a sport without moving anything but your thumb. This year there is an epic showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.  Here at the Tortoise we will be showing the game in the Ballroom for your football education. That's right I said it football.  You can buy beer and food and settle in without having to worry about tipping a bartender.   But if you wanted to venture out in some sort of anthropological expedition to see what sports bars look like on this day of days I have a few that will be up to snuff.

Do the Super Bowl “Bottom of the Hill” style with SuperBowl XLV on several screens, DJs, and chilli! It starts @ 1:00 pm and goes to 7:00 pm and Bottom of the hill is a club @ 1233 17th Street, San Francisco, CA.  They are not the most serious football fans but it is the 3rd annual Heavy Metal cookoff, yea, the chili will be heavy metal themed and be voted on based on taste and name .

SF IndieFest Presents: SUPER BOWL XLV: MEN IN TIGHTS. It’s the big game
with the big men on the big screen with IndieFest’s SportsSweater
Commentators.  The big game gets the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 treatment. We’ve
got a 10×15 screen and a nice bright projector. We’ll be showing all of
the game. All of the commercials. And making fun of all of it. It's @ Cellspace | 2050 Bryant St at 18th, SF CA 94110.   Beer/Wine/Soju cocktails/Bloody mary’s for sale. probably some chips or
popcorn as well. 100+ seats plus sofas etc. fun casual spot to watch the
game and have some laughs at pro football’s expense….

The Independent @  628 Divisadero St. takes the day off from hosting concerts to show the Super Bowl on a 221? screen (that’s 12 feet x 14 feet,
folks). They’ll be serving pitchers of all of their beers on tap
(Lagunitas IPA, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Widmer Hefeweizen, Stella, Bud
Light) plus a drink special of a Beer and a shot of 3 Roses Whiskey for
$8.  Doors at 2:30p, Game at 3:30p.  This location will probably be taking the game a little more seriously

Maggie McGarry's @ 1353 Grant Ave between Green St & Vallejo St       
                                    We always send people here for
games during the year I can only imagining the epic scene that will
ensue during the biggest football game of the year.

Most of these suggestions were taken from http://sf.funcheap.com/.   Look there for more suggestions for the big day or any day of your SF adventure!

MacWorld - 2011

Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, 

January 27th - January 29th

So, What in the world is Macworld? A giant 3 day tech conference, presenting the world's largest retail platform in the IT and electronics sector. Not only is this a place for companies to showcase new products, but a techies dream! Sales left and right and crazy deals for leading gizmos. However, as you would imagine, this is only for products and services which are Apple related. Also, for some reason.. probably just for comic relief among all the g33k talk, Sinbad the comedian will be doing a live stand up show! There will be talks on various things, from digital artistry on the IPad, to using Powerpoint more efficiently; and expert advice on everything Apple.

If you only want to hit up the Expo, you can do it online for a mere: 25$ ! If you want access to all the user conferences as well however, and all the feature presentations ( including Sinbad! ) a one day ticket is going to cost you a pretty considerable 210 buckaroos. just hit up www.macworldexpo.com/attend  ! BUT! guess what! you can get your expo ticket for a little as 10 bucks if you book online with the coupon code funcheap. 

The conference is only minutes from your favorite hostel, so if you do end up going, come back to the Tortoise to rest your weary, computer filled head <3 

February 3rd will be the beginning of the Chinese New Year.  Here in San Francisco that means there will be plenty of celebrations going on.  And here at the tortoise, where we try to not hold it against the hare for being so fast and spritely, we are primed and ready being just a short walk to Chinatown.  So after you walk the 2 blocks over what then?  Well first I would suggest going here and here for a full listing of what is going on in Chinatown.  Regardless, parades and plenty of bars and booze should lead to a lot of fun for all involved.  Go out and enjoy yourselves you beautiful bunnies.

With 2011 looming around the corner I am at a loss to help all my happy tortoise friends what to do.  Personally new years eve is a time to get together with some friends, get insanely drunk and pass out on couches and strewn about the floor.  I have never been to a "real" NYE party and this city has a bunch of them.  So if you like to go out and get your drink on with a bunch of strangers I think I should be kind enough to refer you to sf.funcheap.com as they have a great list of parties cheap and free around the bay area.

Also for some alternative ideas in the bay area there is this fun little list of events:  http://calendar.insidebayarea.com/oakland-ca/events/alternative+events+in+san+francisco .  And no matter where you are, you can catch fireworks over the bay, YAY!

 So I hope this will help all you great travelers, and remember that we love you here at the tortoise and hope your new year will be a fantastic and exciting new adventure.

***UPDATE*** If you go to http://sf.funcheap.com/city-guide/sf-sketchfest-cheap/  than you can get half priced tickets to a bunch of the shows!

Hey kids!  Its your friendly neighborhood hostel worker here to tell you about the comedy scene here in San Francisco.  What comedy scene you ask? Well once upon a time San Francisco was the place to be for "alternative comedy" whatever that means.  Greats like Patton Oswalt and Robin Williams have spent a good chunk of their career here in SF and to our credit we still have some pretty great clubs still operating in the city, most of which are right in our neighborhood.  Cobb's Comedy Club (cobbscomedyclub.com) and the Punchline (punchlinecomedyclub.com) are the two more traditional clubs but we also have the smaller more personal, Purple Onion (caffemacaroni.com/purple.shtml) not a block away from our front door.

And for the last 10 years we have opened our figurative city gates to the SF Sketchfest.  A comedy extravaganza that lasts over 2 weeks.  Half the venues are in our neighborhood and the other half are super easy to get to from the Tortoise. 

A few highlights of the festival are Mike Birbiglia's one man show "My Girlfriends Boyfriend" that is making its making its stop here before it heads out to New York for its Off-Broadway run.  A ton of podcasts are going live shows like Jimmy Pardo's "Never not Funny", Chris Hardwick's "Nerdist", and Mark Maron's "WTF".  A couple big names on the show include Neil Patrick Harris, Bob Odenkirk, and David Byrne.

 For ticket and venue information go to sfsketchfest.com

For anyone in the city who enjoys staring at the night sky (i know i do), there is going to be a full lunar eclipse on the night of Monday, December 20th on into the morning of the 21st!

The eclipse begins at about 9:30PM and ends at 3:05AM, with the full and most exciting portion between about 11:40PM -1:00AM. It should be a good one, since the moon will be nearly full!

Its also special, since this year it happens to be landing on the winter solstice! Should be some good parties for that...

The best place to view will probably be Ocean Beach by Golden Gate Park. There are bonfire pits over there to help keep you warm! 

Bundle up and enjoy. Now all we can do is hope the weather's clear... 

...And for a lot of us that means the bi-annual visit to the Church Pew, the other of course being Easter Morning.  Even if you aren't the most religious person, the church going experience in San Francisco is unlike any other.  One of the most famous churches in the States is an Episcopal church called Grace Cathedral.  It was established during the Gold Rush in 1849 and has been a San Francisco destination ever since due to its beautiful architecture and decoration.  They Have Sunday services at 11am and Christmas services should begin about 12:10pm but it be sure give them a gander at www.gracecathedral.org.

The other church of note is Glide, this church is best known for its radically inclusive outlook and its outreach with the homeless and its mission to feed the hungry.  Its Sunday celebrations happen at 9am and 11am and the same goes for its Christmas celebrations.  Glide teds to be a church for those who have fallen out of step with their respective faiths or if you don't feel you have ever found one.  Though its based in a belief in god, Glide tends to celebrate humanity more than anything else.

There are also countless other churches and temples in this city whatever your inclination.  And you can always find a little piece of home when you travel with the Green Tortoise this Holiday Season.  Whether it be our Adventure Tours or a stint at our hostel we always try our best to make you feel welcome.

Happy Holidays and Safe Travels!

So guests keep asking me about where to go in this fair city for Dubstepping action.  Not being much for the scene myself I have recommended clubs like the Endup which have DJ parties after all the bars close and such.  Just the other day though I was helping another happy dubstepper and suggested he try out the Elbo Room as it was Sunday and I had seen they were advertising a Dubstep event every Sunday night.  Not only did he go and have a great time but he wanted me to know that I should recommend that club and their Sunday nights to everyone as he thought it was such a good time.  So I thought I might let you cyber monkeys out there know.

There are some great shows coming up this month.  A few of note:  Giant Squid @ Thee Parkside 12/17, Agalloch @ the Great American Music Hall 12/22, Primus @ the fox(oakland) 12/30-31, Badly Drawn Boy @ Cafe Du Nord 12/14 and many more.  For more details I thought I might take a minute to link you to some venue's and their event calendars for more information:

Bottom of the Hill,  Thee Parkside, Slim's, The Great American Music Hall,  Cafe Du Nord,  Fox Theater,  Yoshi's Oakland,  Yoshi's San Francisco,  The Independent, and El Rio.  So there is a pretty good look at what's going on around town in the month of December and beyond.  Have a great holiday season and take in a show or five.

FREE MUSEUMS

ALWAYS FREE!
Cable Car Museum
1201 Mason St
(415) 474-1887

Chinese Cultural Center
750 Kearny St, 3rd Floor
(415) 986-1822

Museo ItaloAmericano
Fort Mason Center, Building C
99 Marina Blvd
(415) 673-2200

San Francisco Fire Department Museum
655 Presidio Ave (at Pine)
During museum hours: (415) 563-4630
After hours msg: (415) 558-3546

Visitor Center & Hyde Pier at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
499 Jefferson St (at Hyde)
(415) 447-5000
Worth seeing at Visitor Center: First Order Fresnel lighthouse lens.

Free 1^st Tuesday

Go see the sights!

Sigh...it won't be long now. Our wonderful Indian summer seems like it will soon be coming to a close, bringing with it rain... so much rain. While you might just feel like curling up in your comfy dorm bed or hanging out in the ballroom all day, there's a ton of rain-friendly things to do in our fair city.

Go see a movie:

Blockbusters galore! Go see all the latest movies at these theaters:

Metreon --> 4^th Street @ Mission

AMC Theatre --> Polk Street @ O'Farrell

OR if you're feeling crazy, combine drinking and movies and head to the Kabuki Theatre in Japantown at Fillmore @ Post

Are you a big fan of Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass boys? Yeah me neither. If you're looking to see some independent films check out these theatres:

The Red Vic --> Haight Street @ Cole

Castro Theatre --> Castro Street @ 17^th

Check out some museums:

SF Moma --> 3^rd Street @ Mission

DeYoung Museum --> in Golden Gate Park @ Fulton Street and 8^th

California Academy of Sciences --> in Golden Gate Park @ Fulton Street and 8^th

^{Palace of Fine Arts --> Lyon Street @ Marina Blvd}

Go shopping!

Here are the top ten shopping areas in San Francisco:

1. UNION SQAURE

Traditionally the focal point of all the best stores, including Tiffany &Co., Armani, Prada, Cartier, Yves St Laurent, Chanel and more.

2. UNION STREET

Converted Victorian homes house a charming assortment of boutiques, bookstores, antiques shops, restaurants, and a cinema.

3. GRANT AVENUE

The southernmost four blocks are chic shopping off Union Square; then you enter eight blocks of exotic Chinatown emporiums; finally, Upper Grant is all about North Beach hangouts

4. UPPER FILLMORE STREET

A colorful choice of cafes, restaurants, and boutiques, all geared to a high-end Pacific Heights clientele.

5. MARKET STREET

A good place to find cut-rate electronics shops, as well as utlet shops like Old Navy clothing store.

6. HAYES VALLEY

These blocks offer shopping with an avant garde feel.

7. CHESTNUT STREET

Clothing boutiques, health-food shops, and an old-fashioned cinema.

8. THE MISSION

Plenty of super-discount stores.

9. CASTRO STREET

Gay bookstores and erotic boutiques, as well as some finer shops.

10. HAIGHT STREET

This is still hippie-central – secondhand clothing and esoteric emporiums.

If none of these things appeal to you, come ask the front desk: We are full of ideas and starved for attention, so inquire away!

More fun events can be found at Johnny's Funcheap website.  But I thought I might pimp a few of the more interesting ideas here.

Off The Grid: Friday Night Food Truck Party | Fort Mason