One of the best things about the Film Society’s programming–besides the price–is the quality of the presenters on both the filmmaking and festival programming sides. Tonight’s “Thinking Outside the Doc Box” panel at Mezzanine will include discussion about whether character-driven documentaries are the only fund-worthy kind (Richard Saiz, senior programming manager at the Independent Television Service, says they aren’t). Institutional funding sources and alternative documentary structuring are fair game before “Laptop Shop,” the regular peer review series that invites local filmmakers to share their work in progress.

One of the best things about spending last week in the Big Apple–besides coming back to warmer weather and recycling bins–was the chance to learn more about the wine lovers community Cork’d from CEO Lindsay Ronga. The four person team is based in NY, but I know more than a few Bay Area winos and up-and-coming aficionados who might like rating wines or submitting guest commentary on the platform.

Ronga, who worked in finance before affirming her interest as the president of the HBS Wine and Cuisine Society, partnered with Wine Library founder Gary Vaynerchuk to launch the site. The “playground for wine lovers” is run without advertising, and participating wineries pay $1,000 annually to participate. Members are active in making wine tasting and collecting more approachable, and the trust-your-instincts tone is reminiscent of Courtney Cochran’s guidebook “Hip Tastes.” And even for those of us who might consider little about our wine choices beyond color and cost, the discussion section is a good place to bone up before shopping.

In advance of Global Ignite Week, Ms. Carmel Hagen and I are excited to announce the speakers for March 2’s event at Automattic. We hope you can join us for five-minute talks to include achieving enlightenment through nightclubs, a contemporary perspective on marching bands in America, and the opportunity costs involved in modern dating. Tickets may sell out again, but you can get ‘em here to see the following speakers in their Global Ignite finest:

Dylan Tweney // Wired
Tiffany von Emmel // Dreamfish
Paul Salazar // Urban Astronomer
Scott Rosenberg // MediaBugs
Michael Zuckerman // Temple Nightclub
Rod Begbie // Slide
Thomas Goetz // Wired
Marc O’Brien // Nada Bike
Dr. Debbie Findling // Goldman Fund
Dr. Lisa Chu // The Music Within Us
Augusta Hopkins // Sustainable Business Advocate
Christian Crumlish // Yahoo
Rebecca Weeks Watson // GWallet
Greg Allen // Northern California Community Loan Fund
Michael Driscoll // Dataspora
Jennifer Lindsay // Jennifer Lindsay Digital

Now that the Winter Music Fest is wrapping, the 12th Independent Film Fest opens Thursday at The Roxie, and not without its share of good-looking features (including Beyond the Pole and Wah Do Dem) and mark-the-calendar-worthy events (a roller disco party at Cellspace on Saturday and a filmmaker coffee date at Four Barrel next weekend, for example). Enough staring at this screen–get yourself to the big one, skates optional.

Ever liked a company more than a Yelp review can express? Triple Pundit alum Ryan Mickle’s Companiesandme might help should you have a story to share about supporting or founding a local organization, and stories by Joie de Vivre’s Chip Conley and Numi Tea’s Reem Rahim about the inspiration for going their own ways are well told in the first person.

I also like the site for its commenting and engagement potential and because it includes conversations about companies whose work is admirable, including Give Something Back, 18 Rabbits, Rickshaw Bagworks, and Tcho Chocolate (full disclosure: the latter two are Ignite Bay Area supporters, but I think their products are notable independently). Nominated companies pay to participate, and this cheerleader of independent Bay Area endeavors looks forward to more digital storytelling–and having a portion of the proceeds fund regional non-profits.

Starting tomorrow, the Mostly British Film Festival will open at the Vogue Theatre and screen films from the UK, Australia, South Africa, and Ireland through Feburary 11. Topping my list are the Australian documentary “Salute” about sprinter Peter Norman’s solidarity for his fellow medalists who gave the black power salute during the 1968 Olympics and the South African feature “Disgrace” starring John Malkovich as the shamed professor from J.M. Coetzee’s novel. And should you feel so inclined, the 1973 English film “Don’t Look Now” starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as parents who move to a supernatural sort of Venice after losing a child is hard to turn away from.

I’m cooking up a redesign of TheSanFranista along with designer Jamie Panzarella (who has a little something up her sleeve this winter/spring as well) and can’t help but gaze at the mood boards she developed when I’m supposed to be doing, well, anything else. I’d love to hear your favorite based on this color palette now that I’m 90 percent sure of my own.

The Sneak-er

Stipple

Prenatal Fatal

Lucky Strike

I wouldn’t have expected a hotel along the Embarcadero to be a decent place for a yoga conference (even though they can’t all be Squaw Valley-hosted, a la Wanderlust), but Yoga Journal’s annual class-lecture-retail festival has managed to be very enjoyable even in stuffy ballrooms. The classes (including Vinyasa with Off the Mat co-founder Seane Corn and “gravity surfing” with Ana Forrest) are great, and the business track (with lectures on creating a viable studio and building local community support) differentiates the Thursday-through-Monday conference from others in its category.

And though “Yoga Day USA” passed last week, additional events on the publication’s calendar for this year include the Midwest Yoga Conference in June, a summer day of free classes in Times Square, the Telluride Yoga Festival in July, and Bhakti Fest at Joshua Tree come autumn. Closer to home, I’m excited that Rusty Wells’ Urban Flow is starting more early morning and Spanish classes (for the embarrased San Franciscans among us).

One week to the day after Alt Design Summit in Salt Lake City, I’ve devoured gardener/blogger Gayla Trail’s upcoming “Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces.” Her sophomore book explores ways to grow and prepare fruits and vegetables in places where space is limited, and the result is a beautiful set of images and solutions to gardening challenges (should you find yourself with “legions of hot peppers” with no home or slightly shady windows to plant near, for example).

It was interesting to hear Trail talk about making time for writing as YouGrowGirl and her own outdoor projects during our “Growing Your Small Business” panel last week (pun unintended). Reading her statistic that up to 80 percent of Havana’s fresh produce is grown in urban gardens gives hope to we San Franciscans, of whom she says “know all too well that edibles like nasturtiums, blackberries, and fennel will thrive in fallow lots and fields in their city without a scrap of human intervention.” If only the same could be said of Jerusalem artichokes.

I feel fortunate to have two large-scale gatherings for activities I’m passionate about this weekend with She’s Geeky taking place in Mountain View and the Yoga Journal Conference but a mile from my house. (These are in addition to the Design Revolution Road Show sendoff at Stable Cafe on Saturday–or maybe it will be more of a soiree to welcome founder Emily Pilloton back from a great appearance with Stephen Colbert.)

The women’s tech conference will include attendee presentations on everything from “aspirations in radical tech development” and Drupal design to e-mentoring for diversity in math and engineering. I was glad to see the organization–which is headed by Ignite Bay Area presenter Kaliya Hamlin–featured in the ReadWriteStart story “Why We Need Tech Events for Women” today. She cited: Read the rest of this entry »