By MEREDITH MAY, San Francisco Chronicle

At the recent Islamabad premiere of the documentary "Bhutto," screaming crowds ignited and toppled garbage cans.

A good sign, according to San Francisco film director Duane Baughman.

It meant that the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's struggle to bring democracy to Pakistan wasn't in vain.

We all know her. The "frenemy" who hugs you at parties, yet spills your secrets when you turn your back. The female boss who won't cut you a break. The feminist who scoffs at your fishnet stockings, or the stay-at-home mom who pities your childlessness.

The widow with four young children and a golden retriever stepped forward, tentatively.

She had a question for Jennifer Arnold, whose new best seller, "Through a Dog's Eyes," debunks widely held dog-training methods based on alpha dominance.

The woman said the family dog couldn't stop baying at the window in the three months since her husband died.

In her latest movie, "The Kids Are All Right," three-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening plays Nic, a doctor who is partnered with Jules, played by four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore. Jules is a sometimes-employed landscape designer who is still seeking her path. Each woman gave birth to a child using the same sperm donor, Paul (Mark Ruffalo).

SAN FRANCISCO - Moonlight leads the way to San Francisco's Grace Cathedral's 1-ton bronze Doors of Paradise, and behind them dancers are swaying on the labyrinth as a reverend spins ephemeral techno music.

LOS ANGELES - It's 4:30 a.m., and I'm standing on Beverly Boulevard in a long line of desperados waiting for their luck to change.

Spot No. 1 is occupied by a guy snoring inside a sleeping bag, who arrived from Ohio two hours ago. Behind me, three recent high-school graduates who found baby sitters for their newborns are doing football cheers to stay warm.

Maybe it was the eve of a new year. Maybe it was the champagne. Maybe it was simply the right time.

Whatever it was, Adam Greenfield of San Francisco made a resolution at a party on Dec. 31, 2008: He would not drive, or ride, in an automobile for all of 2009.

SAN FRANCISCO - Noah Zovickian, 11, checked his GPS device.

"It's this way," he said, waving his mother and younger brother down a mural-lined alley in San Francisco. He stopped in front of a painted garage door depicting farm workers and a guitarist under a rainbow.

"There's the clue!" he said, pointing to the artist's name in the lower right corner.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Retirement is anything but slow for two Episcopal deacons saving lives a half a world away.Each year, the Revs. Christie McManus, 60, and Patricia Ross, 57, journey to from San Francisco to Sierra Leone to help deliver babies in remote villages with some of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.

They are tactical philanthropists -- part of a growing group of socially conscious givers in the San Francisco area whose generosity accounts for more than half the $1 billion in assets at the San Francisco Foundation.