Maria Kochetkova and Vitor Luiz in
San Francisco Ballet's season opener,
Onegin.
Photo by Erik Tomasson.

Nerdy balletomanes in San Francisco, rejoice! Nutcracker has been safely stashed away for the next 11 months, and on Friday the San Francisco Ballet does a grand jete into its 2012 season.

The new season is an ambitious whirlwind of classical story ballets, abstract contemporary choreography, world premieres and creations by George Balanchine, San Francisco Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins and others. In contrast to the daintiness and airiness of Nutcracker, the season opener is heavy on the dancing and the emotions. Brace yourself by reading our preview of Onegin.

Mayor Ed Lee and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have made a bet over which city's team will be heading to the Super Bowl (Lee sends over sourdough or Bloomberg ships bagels), and by now you've probably made plans to watch (or ignore) Sunday's brawl at Candlestick between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. Now is also when the trash talk starts heating up--like New Yorkers calling us wimps.

"Ten reasons to never fear 49ers fans," an article in the New York Daily News by columnist Filip Bondy, argues that we're push-overs with delicate constitutions, in part due to our mild weather and our seafood-heavy diets. Of course most of the list is positive--positive reasons for why we wouldn't live anywhere else, and especially not New York. Sure, we think too much, so we try to legislate Happy Meals and kids' junk food consumption and naked derrieres sitting in public. Our median income is relatively high (though that's because rent is).

Bondy's analysis even draws upon history. Reason #5 notes that the colonists came to settle in New York "because they hated Europe. They were already angry. When settlers came to San Francisco, they arrived for the gold. They were just trying to make more money so their descendants could afford season tickets."

Peek at the list, and see if your San Francisco pride swells, too. Hey, perhaps we should thank Bondy for recognizing how wonderfully soft we are. But we're not conceding that the 49ers are (not yet, anyway).

In San Francisco Opera's production
of The Magic Flute, Christopher
Maltman sings the role of Papageno.
Photo by Terrence McCarthy.

The San Francisco Opera season is from September to December and June and July, but when it's not singing live, you can still see it, and up close at that. On select Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings from January until May, the opera's productions are shown on the big screen, at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in Japantown.

The opera cinema series starts Jan. 24, 2012, with Mozart's The Magic Flute, the fairy tale of an opera with the melodic bird-catcher Papageno. Next is Otello, Verdi's adaptation of Shakespeare's play about the mighty commander doomed by his own jealousy. Critics raved about South African tenor Johan Botha in the title role.  In Salome, featuring German soprano Nadja Michael, the sleazy King Herod, his erotic stepdaughter, Salome, and the persecuted John the Baptist are caught in a destructive triangle. Il Trittico consists of three one-acts by Puccini that encompass murder, greed, comedy, suicide, fraud and young love, and Patricia Racette stars as the soprano heroine in each.

All of the operas were recorded live in high definition at the War Memorial Opera House. The footage has English subtitles and during the intermission, backstage interviews. Before the Saturday morning screenings, a San Francisco Opera lecturer will give a free, 25-minute preview and orientation about that day's opera.

San Francisco Opera's Grand Opera Cinema Series
At Sundance Kabuki Theater, 1881 Post Street, San Francisco.
Tuesdays at 7 pm: Ages 21+ only. Tickets $11, $8.75.
Saturdays at 10:30 am: Free lecture at 10 am. Tickets $8.75, $8.

Jan. 24, 28: The Magic Flute
Feb. 28, March 3: Otello
March 27, 31: Salome
May 15, 19: Il Trittico

Stick around, because there's plenty to do.  Monday, January 16, is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, and concerts, a commemorative march, films, volunteer projects, and free admission to the Museum of the African Diaspora, Contemporary Jewish Museum and Children's Creativity Museum (formerly Zeum) are all offered that day. Our list has the details.

You have to eat, of course, and two food specials are being served this weekend, the Good Food Awards (with a gala and a Saturday marketplace) and Dine About Town.

There's a special on nature, too: All national parks are free for all three days. Muir Woods,  Yosemite and Sequoia are calling!