Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! I'm a music guy. I listen to a ton of music, and because of Phillyist, I've been able to hear a lot of great stuff I never would have heard otherwise. But, no......

Bands I Caught: The Bad News Bats, The Northern Liberties, The Mountain High, The Lowbudgets Venue: Millcreek Tavern Granted, I have virgin ears for this kind of thing. But for me, last night was hard. And not hard in that "I could hardly keep my eyes open" sort of way or that "struggling to find words to describe it" sort of way. Not difficult. Just hard. My Millcreek experience was the antithesis of Monday night.......

It isn't for a little while now, when the weather will hopefully be a little bit warmer (although Phillyist makes no promises to that end), but we figured that the POPPED! festival, April 9-15, needs to be on your radar already. The week-long event is a festival of Philly self-love taking place each night at various venues around the city, with the promise of reasonable ticket prices and various venue sizes. According to Philebrity, three......

...Valid Points: Elton John may be outspoken, but he might also be right. (Via Yahoo!) ...Awww! Before people go on deathwatch for this, can we just appreciate how cute it is? (Via Seattle PI.) ...Spawn: Spider-spawn, that is. (Via People.) ...Maturity: Because this is what adults do when they get dumped. (Via The Superficial.) ...Ew: This is also what they do. (Via News of the World.) ...Legitimately Bad News: Love her or hate her,......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY: Don McCloskey Musician Don McCloskey at The Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd Street). $10 at 10:30PM. Pre-Independence Day Bar B Que 4-6PM at I-House (3701 Chestnut Street). $8 Festival of Animation: As part of their ongoing summer series, the Franklin Institute (222 N. 20th Street) presents "Superman & Superheroes" followed by Superhero Quizzo. 8-10 PM in the Stearns Auditorium. $8 Novelty at the North Star: Dirty Diamond......

Well, this weekend won't be as good as last weekend, but it's not terrible. If we were to structure this post by going from the biggest to the smallest, we'd be taking you from the worst to the best. We'll spare you of that, we assure you. Hustle and Flow isn't on many people's radars. At least not compared to Michael Bay's The Island and Billy Bob Thornton's Bad News Bears. It should be,......