Don't you wish you were headed there, to the paradise pictured below? Well, you're not. Unless you are. Anyway, it's Friday, so you can close your eyes and picture the paradise of two full days away from work and everything it stands for. In the meantime, there are a few interesting goings-on, uh, going on tonight. So Happy Friday! LAST FRIDAY AT THE PHILADELPHIA ART ALLIANCE You heard all about First Friday, but what......

In hoops, the Sixers try to break their five-game losing streak with a win tonight against the Chicago Bulls at the Wachovia Center, 7PM. Broadcast on Comcast Sportsnet, or buy tickets. On ice, the Flyers come off a 5-1 road trip to challenge the Boston Bruins at home Saturday at 1PM at the Wachovia Center. Broadcast on Comcast Sportsnet, or buy tickets. The Phantoms, whose fourth straight win Wednesday night against the Lowell Devils kept......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

The most interesting facet about the Phillies' just-concluded search for a new general manager isn't that they hired a proven winner who had built three other franchises into playoff teams and was the architect of the fantastic Blue Jays squads of the early '90s, squads that won a pair of World Series. No, the really interesting thing has been the collective reaction among Phillies fans to Wednesday's announcement of Pat Gillick's hiring. Despite Gillick's impressive......

The Phillies will announce today at noon that 68-year-old Pat Gillick is their new General Manager, replacing former GM Ed Wade, who was fired on Oct. 10. Gillick has had a successful career as a GM, including two World Series championships with the Toronto Blue Jays, one of which came in a victory of our very own Phillies. Perhaps Gillick can coax Joe Carter out of retirement and plug him into centerfield. Gillick won the......

The Philadelphia Phillies entered their weekend series needing a sweep of the Washington Nationals to keep hope alive in their Wild Card chase. They got their sweep, but unfortunately, they needed something else: the Cubs to take three of four from the Houston Astros in Texas. While the Cubs were able to take the first two games from the Astros, they dropped the last two games, sending the Phillies home for the winter. The......

Chris Mustazza and Phil Sandick, our regular Phils followers, are back again this week to talk about five issues surrounding our Phillies. This week, the duo examines how likeable this team really is, Ryan Madson's role, and Jim Thome's future in Philadelphia, plus much more. 1. The Phillies are regarded by many as an unlikeable team. Is this true? If so, what players embody this? If not, what players prove this wrong? Chris Mustazza: Does......