Results tagged “conventioncenter”

The onset of cold weather makes us feel like not leaving the couch, much less keep up with our nascent running scheduling. But we’ll try to compel ourselves to get out Sunday to cheer on folks who have more motivation than we quite possibly ever will: The 15th Anniversary Philadelphia Marathon starts at 7AM, an hour we must admit we don’t often see on a Sunday. For that reason we’ll probably chose a Cheer Zone further along, say maybe mile 18.5 at the Ridge Avenue transfer station… though the way some of these folks run that might not help us too much. The Philly Marathon is a qualifier for the Big One in Boston, and so attracts folks from all over, so many that slots have been sold out for weeks. If you can't bear to even stand in the cold Sunday, you'll be able to watch the action from the website (the link should be in the upper right corner).

Please add us to your press list for next year. Please?

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Ah, it's a bad photograph of a car! And that can mean only one thing: the Philadelphia International Auto Show is almost here! We're finding it hard to believe that it's already that time again, but it must be true, because whenever we go within a four block radius of the Convention Center, we see dozens of large trucks full of cars. And we snapped this shot this morning of one classic specimen already waiting inside.

Last Friday & the weekend: Michael probably doesn't know it, but he got a shout-out from Hot Hot Heat frontman Michael Bays at last week's FREEZEtival before the band played "Bandages." What the connection between the song and our mayor is, we have no idea. And in real news, Michael named his appointees to the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority board.

Librarians like to stir up a ruckus when they can: The Newbury and Caldecott Medals were awarded this morning at the American Library Association’s Mid-Winter meeting down at the Convention Center, and the choices are, to put it mildly, “bold.” Most of us remember elementary school reading lists filled with past Newbury winners (The Westing Game was our favorite), and the Caldecott denotes excellence in what are called picture books, which are basically what you read before elementary school—think Where the Wild Things Are. The Newbury this year went to Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, which is odd only in that it is a collection of monologues with historical info thrown in between for good measure. But the bigger surprise, at least to those not in the know, was the Caldecott, which went to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a story of an orphan living in a train station, written and illustrated by Brian Selznick. The book is known to librarians, though, and their raucous applause at the announcement came because, as one noted, “the librarians knew the works well - and approved of them highly.” Why the surprise? Well, Invention, which Selznick wrote over 10 years, is a 500-page book. Yes, you read that right. No Knuffle Bunny here. The format is also odd in that it is “short and fat” as opposed to the oversized, thin picture books most of us are used to seeing. One librarian noted that shelving it is going to be a nightmare. Ah, we love a good scandal! (P.S. There were a bunch of other awards presented too—but maybe none as “bold.”)

The latest in the case of Ebony Nicole Dorsey, the 14-year-old girl allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend: the Daily News has an exclusive interview with the girl's mother, Danielle Cattie, who calls her boyfriend a monster. Meanwhile, the Inquirer quotes Cattie's brother defending his sister; he says she's "a great mom who deeply loves her children," and "She's a good person who made some bad decisions. She's paid a horrible price." It may seem...

If you have some free time this Sunday and just can't wait to hear more about Mayor-Elect Nutter's vision of "Philadelphia being the next great city," sign up as a volunteer for the The Great Expectations Citizens Convention. Volunteers are needed from 10:30AM-6PM to staff registration tables and act as guides to rooms between sessions. We're betting you'll be able to sneak a peak at some talks while you're at it too, including Michael...

The Attorney General's Office has accused Former State Rep. Frank LaGrotta of giving his relatives fake jobs in order to pay them thousands in taxpayer dollars. A cheval-de-frise (an iron-tipped log that's placed in a riverbed along with many others in order to gore the hulls of enemy warships) was recently found at the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia. It's a relic from the mid-1770s, and...

Part of the Convention Center's westward expansion....

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Toren Atkinson (of the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, our favorite Canadian band that bases all its songs on the work of H.P. Lovecraft) has had a number of entertaining posts lately on his blog. Here's a list he put together of all the great stuff that's going to be on TCM this month. And here's a commercial he did a...

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Tuesday post only collects the early announcements, so definitely check back on Thursday for the latest ticket news.

We think this might qualify as some sort of meta-volunteer experience: Philly is hosting this year's National Conference on Volunteering and Service, and Greater Philadelphia Cares is looking for a few good volunteers to help everything move along smoothly. Volunteers will (fittingly) be involved in every aspect of the conference, which runs July 16-18 at the Convention Center. Best of all, this is one of those deals where you get concrete rewards on top of the do-good feeling: sign up for 1 three-hour shift, and you can attend the conference for just $150 (regular rates range from $325 to $770). Sign up for 3 three-hour shifts, and you get to go for free.

We don't know about you, but this week has sucked so bad we wanted to pull Paris Hilton and cry, "Mommy, Mommy, it isn't fair."

This Phillyist recently took the giant leap from mild interest in comics to full-on weekly comic book collecting, with spreadsheets and everything, so we can understand the attraction of the giant comic book geek gathering going on at the Pennsylvania Convention Center this weekend. Yes, that's right, Wizard World is back in town. Starting today and running through Sunday there'll be tons of panels on every topic having to do with comic books imaginable, as well as collectible gaming, signings and talks by comic book creators, and, of course, tons of dealers with all kinds of products on which to waste your hard-earned money! And isn't that what conventions are really all about?