A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Cinematical smashes a couple of casting rumors (no, Will Smith is not playing Captain America, and no, David Boreanaz is not playing the Green Lantern), reveals that Brett Ratner would be interested in making the new Superman movie, and gives us the scoop on early preview screenings of G.I. Joe and Star Trek (the general feeling seems to be that Joe is bad......

Former CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte is scheduled for a plea hearing at 9:30AM this morning at the federal courthouse at Sixth and Market Streets, where he is expected to plead guilty to hacking into the personal e-mail of onetime colleague Alycia Lane. Lawrence Scott Ward, 65, a former marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, is already serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for trafficking in child porn, but yesterday new......

A look at how locals are faring in the Olympics. Police are still searching for the rapist or rapists who have been terrorizing the Frankford section of Philadelphia. A man was arrested Saturday in a kidnapping and sex assault, but police don't believe he's connected to the other incidents. The Inquirer takes a look at the crowded and sometimes dangerous conditions on the Kelly Drive bike path at Boathouse Row. The Daily News lists......

Maybe you forgot about it in the wake of the DHS mess, but let us remind you. Keystroke Logger: A keylogger, sometimes called a keystroke logger, key logger, or system monitor, is a hardware device or small program that monitors each keystroke a user types on a specific computer's keyboard. ~Search Security Anchorman: A broadcaster (as on a news program) who introduces reports by other broadcasters and usually reads the news. ~Merriam-Webster Online The definitions......

The Philadelphia area is under an excessive heat watch through Sunday. In response, the Philadelphia Senior Center, in conjunction with Comcast-Spectacor, will give away 300 fans on a first-come, first-served basis this morning. The Daily News examines how an alleged DUI killer's outrageous MySpace page is not exactly helping his case. (What a freaking idiot.) The city's Board of Revision of Taxes meets at 10AM today to vote on the Actual Value Initiative, a plan......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Cinematical's review of Hellboy II is encouragingly positive. You can check out the new, third trailer for the film right here (via). Two Greek mythology movies are on their way and are likely to end up fighting it out at the box office. One is a remake of Clash of the Titans, to be directed by Louis Leterrier and written by......

For those of you who don't know, Larry Mendte used to do stand-up out in California. Now that he has some free time, maybe he'll pick up the mic again. Man, we hope so! Hey thanks everybody, it’s good to be here. Take my anchor chair, please! Seriously though what’s the deal with e-mail? Have you seen this thing? Apparently you can send letters and pictures over the internet. It’s true. Yeah, apparently you can......

Racoon Ticket Giveaway
12/12/07-12/14/07
Image via Racoon's MySpace page....

The French call it La Petite Mort. Literally translated, it means the little death. The phrase refers to the orgasm. I like the idea of a larger definition, one that transcends those explosive moments of bliss. I want you to talk to me about the little deaths, good ones and bad ones, that come before, after, and during the act of sex. Starting today, La Petite Mort is also the title of Phillyist's new sex......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Monday Night Football: Redskins at Eagles (Mon, 8:30PM-11:30PM, ABC & ESPN) - The Eagles have their first home game on a Monday night against a team they really should be able to beat. In fact, people are already calling this one a "must-win" game for the Eagles. We're trying to remain hopeful and confident... but last week's showing was pretty poor... SPAM: The Documentary (Tue, 11PM-12AM, Court......

Sometimes, it's hard to resist the hate. You may not be having an especially bad day – you may in fact be in a good mood. But sometimes the snark comes so naturally that you have to marinate in it. Like it's Lawry's. Today is one of those days for two Phillyists who found themselves in an e-mail conversation about Tori Amos, lactating, and people we'd like to have killed. This may be in poor......

Rendell is now supporting the idea, spearheaded by outgoing Philadelphia School Reform Commission Chairman James Nevels, of trying to bring a major league soccer franchise to the city of Chester. While the court battle still rages over whether SEPTA will be able to eliminate transfers or not, Rendell and Fumo announced Tuesday that all seventh-through-12th graders who live more than 1 1/2 miles from their schools will ride for free with a new weekly transit......

Friday night, the boy and I were seeing a show at Johnny Brenda's, and we decided that, rather than the usual food downstairs, we'd branch out and explore the neighborhood. A little bit of internet searching led him to Isla Ibiza, about five blocks down Girard from our final destination for the evening. We'd made reservations, but apparently didn't need them, as the restaurant was almost completely empty. Pity, too, because, as I would find......

Knox, facing tough opposition from the other candidates in ads and at a recent debate, decides to fight back with... more of the same! He just bought $400,000 worth of time for his TV commercials. The Kingsessing Recreation Center, site of an April 12 shooting, has long had, and continues to have, problems with drugs and violence. Residents don't feel the city is doing enough. The regular monthly meeting of the Kingsessing Recreation Center......

Chivalry and romance are alive and well in South Philly. This morning, a friend of ours found the following note on his car: Good morning/afternoon [redacted], It's me, [redacted]. I hope this is your car (black Honda Civic with NJ Tags). I hope everything turned out okay and that you're safe, which is the most important thing. I just wanted to say that it was very nice meeting you and helping you out. I'm glad......

We've got a weird and interesting opportunity for you, via editor Jill, via Maria, via Kathryn: you could square dance with local singer/songwriter Adam Arcuragi - and in outer space, no less. They want 50 people to sign up, hopefully by today, to go down to the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Science Center on Sunday January 21st from 6PM to 12AM and appear in a music video for Arcuragi. Arcuragi and the band......

We don't know about you, but it's friggin cold out there. Well, not for some of you. It seems as though places that are supposed to be cold are warm and places that are supposed to be warm are cold. Or maybe that's just us. Either way, we're freezing. Austinist said goodbye to their co-editor (sell-out) and played rumor monger on the SXSW lineup. And when dozens of dead birds littered downtown Austin, it's......

Just over nine and a half hours, five home-city teams, and three games made for one crazy Saturday of men’s college basketball in Philadelphia. It is not often that hoops diehards get an opportunity to attend a trio of games in one day, but December 2, 2006 brought just that. Unfortunately, I was only able to go to the nightcap due to a massive amount of work and no access to a car. But in......

New Cars Giveaway
11/13/06-11/17/06...

If you're a regular reader of Phillyist, you may have noticed a certain Sith Lord pop up on the sidebar a little while ago, demanding your attention. But in case he wasn't clear enough, we wanted to break it down for you: Phillyist wants you! We want you to write for us! Come, be part of the new media and the expanding -ist empire! All you need is the ability to write, and perhaps some......

People, people, people! The internet is, in many regards, a beautiful thing. It lets us do things that we wouldn’t ordinarily do. Like bid in auctions and watch a lot of porn. It also allows us [almost] complete anonymity. So we can be a lot ruder than we ordinarily would in person. Forums, message boards, and listservs are ripe for anonymous examples of bad manners. People even start flame wars on YouTube. And we’ve noticed,......

The Editors prize pack
Every Mon thru Wed from 6/26/06-7/26/06...

Phillyist recently got the opportunity to spend some time with Max, a very sweet German shepherd dog (that's the actual breed name -- didja know?) who really needs a loving home to go to. Max's mom went back to work, and Max and all of his adopted canine siblings had to find new homes. His foster family loves him but the house is a little too full for another permanent member, so Cares4Pets is......

Nothing irks Phillyist more than rude people. Which would be the purpose of this column. But what irks us especially is when rude people can't even be rude to our faces. We're not talking about e-mail (it's plenty easy to be rude by accident via e-mail). We're talking about the telephone. Remember the telephone? It's that thing you used to communicate with people before e-mail came around. We know, we know. You still use your......

Terrence J. Nolen, Director...

Are you young? Do you like art? How about things that are free? Well, the Young Friends of the Philadelphia Art Museum have invited us to invite you to a gallery reception they're hosting at the Ashley Gallery (718 North 3rd Street) on Thursday the 18th at 5:30 p.m. The Young Friends bill themselves as "a dynamic group of young professionals who support a number of Museum initiatives," and who participate in and arrange a......

A few weeks ago, we told you about Kelli Ann, and now it's time for another loving animal in need of a good home. Today, we bring you Angel, who is also a Cares4Pets potential pet. This adorable akita-mix puppy was found wandering the streets of West Philly by her foster dad, but unfortunately, he's leaving the country and Angel will soon be homeless. Angel chimed in to help us find her a home, too:......

It's been a week or so now since the Philadelphia Film Festival ended, and maybe now you're looking for another festival to go to. Or maybe you're tired of hearing how great recent, distant music fests like SXSW were. Well, fear not, bored fellow city-goer! The third Thrilladelphia Music Festival is here! It starts tonight and goes through next Saturday with indie-rock shows featuring over 60 bands at most of the regular local venues,......

A few weeks ago, we noticed SFist's brilliant SFist Wants You to Find a Friend feature, and we decided hey, we'd like to do something like that too. And, since we already had connections with Cares4Pets, we thought they might like to help us get our own incarnation of this feature started. And so, we'd like to bring you the first edition of Phillyist's Potential Pets (sorry for the alliteration), starring Kelli Ann the black......

by Star Foster and Jim Genzano Sweden's The Sounds are coming to town in support of their new album, Dying to Say This to You, a follow-up to Living in America. The album is an unexceptional but unobjectionable, generally quite fun, vaguely New Wave, pop rock disc, with tracks of the catchy ("Song With a Mission"), sexy ("Tony the Beat"), and indie ("Hurt You") variety. If you haven't heard of The Sounds...well, you should have!......