We're trying to bring you a better Monday than you're used to, but sometimes it's difficult to have fun on a Monday, even if you find something interesting to do. That's why we propose that Monday be altogether stricken from existence. We know that Tuesday would take its place, but it would be several generations before Tuesday took on the meaning for posterity that Monday holds for us now. Then, they could just bring......

All seasons have their harbingers, but spring's seem to be the prettiest, especially in the D.C.-to-Boston corridor that we're strategically placed in. What makes springtime so lovely in these parts, you might ask? Well it's certainly not the weather we've been having of late. We were thinking more along the lines of the annual appearance of fluffy pink and white cherry blossoms on trees throughout Fairmount Park, commemorated annually with the Subaru Cherry Blossom......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: XPN Presents: Griffin House and Sons of William at Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd), 8:30PM. $10 Japan/USA: Dance and music as part of the ongoing Sound Space: Japan/USA project at the Mascher Space Coop (155 Cecil B. Moore Ave), 8PM. $10 Kulu Mele: West African dance workshop with Kulu Mele at the South Philadelphia Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia (1700 S. Broad), 6PM. Free Quizzo Mania:......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. In case you were waiting for the official word, yes, the WGA strike is really officially over now, and everyone is expected to go back to work immediately. Our long national nightmare is over. Even though Microsoft recently spent $240 million to buy a 1.6% stake in Facebook, Bill Gates recently decided to stop using the site because he was tired......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. A painfully true video about what's really important to voters. It's composed mainly of NSFW language, so remember your headphones! (Via Jill) Basic Instructions discusses something of serious importance: How to Decide Which Star Wars Character You Are Most Like. Cloverfield's impressive opening weekend box office numbers make the possibility of a sequel seem pretty inevitable. Grindhouse is back up on......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Japanese magazine Famitsu has given Super Smash Bros. Brawl a rare perfect 40/40 review score. Seems like a good sign! Yesterday was the latest big tech event, after CES: MacWorld 2008. Nerd World sums up the whole thing in one post, but Shiny Shiny has lots of coverage, including posts about upgrades to Apple TV and the official announcement of movie......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Have you heard about a little thing called the Consumer Electronics Show? No? Well, don't worry, Shiny Shiny has the story so far, and Wired was liveblogging the Sony press conference, and the Bill Gates opening keynote speech. From Sony, we learn that a GPS receiver for the Sony PSP, already available in Japan, will be coming to America. Microsoft announced......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Finishing the Game - We posted the preview for this one a ways back. It's a mockumentary about director Robert Clouse's attempt to finish the film Game of Death after the untimely death of its star, Bruce Lee. In Finishing the Game, Clouse starts a frantic search for an impersonator to replace Lee, and much wackiness and Hollywood satire ensue. Sounds like fun, but keep in......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: The Science of Sound: Music virtuoso Fiidla performs his World-Soul music at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut), 8 PM. $8 ($5 student/senior) Reading Comics/Comics Reading: Douglas Wolk will give a brief lecture on the state of comics today (among other things) and Hans Rickheit offers a slideshow of work accompanied by avant garde violin at the Kelly Writer’s House (3805 Locust Walk), 6 PM. Free Miro Dance: Miro Dance......

Wednesday: Celebrate Halloween with ballet’s favorite vampire. Pennsylvania Ballet continues their run of Dracula. Creature of the night? Join the company for their Halloween party after the performance at the DoubleTree Hotel. The Academy of Music, 8PM, $22-124. (Halloween party $25) This performance runs through November 3. Don’t you love a little extra? Miro Dance Theatre offers a bonus Open Studio this week when they host Japan’s Ikyuo Kuroda and the US premiere of her......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. The Big Bang Theory (Mon, 8:30PM-9PM, CBS) - It's the debut episode of a new show about a couple of nerdy genius physicists (played by Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons) who share an apartment and whose lives are disrupted when they meet their beautiful new neighbor (Kaley Cuoco). One of them inevitably falls in love with her on sight and subsequently - gasp! - entertains an illogical......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Love Guitar Hero, but tired of your lame old guitar controller that's just like everybody else's? Well, if you feel like splurging, you can pick up a $399 limited edition AG Riff Master Guitar Controller for the PS2, which is an actual guitar that's been heavily modified to have the regular fret buttons and so forth. It also features KISS artwork on the......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Fat March (Mon, 9PM-10PM, ABC) - Here's a lovely show where they make fat people walk long distances, and force them to complete challenges of various sorts. This episode brings them to our area, as they leave Millstone, NJ bound for Philadelphia, to be reached via Lancaster County. Their "Amish challenge" will see them harvesting cabbages under a hot sun, and in another challenge they will have......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Seth Rogen is going to write and star in a feature film version of The Green Hornet. Wait... Seth Rogen? Knocked Up guy? WTF?! That ain't right, people. They're releasing an 160 GB external USB hard drive for the PS3... in Japan. Harry Potter 7 finally comes out at midnight tonight! You better believe this Phillyist has his pre-order in and his wristband......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. What was originally going to be a bongos-controller racing game for the GameCube is now coming to Wii with the title DK Bongo Blast, and it'll be controlled using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. Sadly, it doesn't have a US release date yet (they get it in Japan on June 28, those lucky bastards), but in the meantime,......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. 24 (Mon, 8PM-10PM, Fox) - One of the many season finales airing this week is this two-hour long sixth-season finale of everybody's favorite real-time espionage action thriller drama. In it, Jack is trying to protect us from the Russians. The Russians? Seriously? What year is it again? Heroes (Mon, 9PM-10PM, NBC) - Also having a season finale Monday night is everybody's favorite sci-fi action thriller about super-powered......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Extra, extra! Google cares a lot less about the First Amendment than we thought. Think those squirrels you see frolicking in the park are adorable and harmless? Not in Denver, where apparently, they're carrying the plague. On this day ten years ago? Computer Deep Blue Something (how 1997 can you get?!) beats its human opponent in tournament-level chess. In what's surely an attempt......

Starting in 1999 as an artist development showcase by Mercedes Martinez and Tracey Moore, of the Jazzyfatnastees, Black Lily serves as a sounding board and promotional organization for women in the arts. To date, it has helped launch the careers of such artists as Jill Scott, Floetry and Jaguar Wright. After its creation, Black Lily quickly gained a prominent position in the international entertainment scene. Their first performance series was a weekly event at The......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Joanna Cassidy, who played Zhora in Blade Runner, just finished her re-shoots for the upcoming DVD re-release, which we think will be called something like Blade Runner: The Really Real Director's Cut. As ridiculous as it all seems... we still can't wait. Every version of that movie is one of our favorite movies ever. Sony's announcing a YouTube-like video sharing site in Japan......

We admit that we shut off last night's Phillies game in disgust. (This seems to be turning into a pattern with us, although this should surprise no one, given the Phightin's 3-9 start - a start that makes "lackluster" look like "on fire." Seriously, they're off to their worst start since 1997, a season so bad that we gave up and started paying attention to the Pirates.) We are, however, absolutely kicking ourselves for......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. The song "Thou Shalt Always Kill" offers us some new commandments for a new age. Pretty brilliant! (Via) Anthony Hopkins says he might end up in that Wolfman movie with Benicio Del Toro. We're not sure how to feel about that. We don't really trust Hopkins anymore... A remake of Clash of the Titans written by Lawrence Kasdan?......

Films: Hula Girls, The Guardian’s Son, Life Support Future Screenings: Hula Girls, Saturday, April 7th, Ritz East at 9:30PM The Guardian's Son, Saturday, April 7th, Ritz East at 2:15PM Life Support: Sunday, April 8th, Ritz East 2:30PM This is the first time I have become involved with the Film Festival and honestly, I don't know why it took me so long. I enjoy film and thoroughly enjoy watching films from around the world. For my......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Time to kick the CES to the corner, because yesterday was Macworld, and Jobs dropped some bombs. Download Squad has a handy roundup of the big stuff, the biggest of the big being, of course, the long-awaited iPhone, which looks to be just about the coolest, craziest multi-purpose techno-gizmo ever in the world. Wired has the photos, Gadget Lab already has......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Ummm...MONKEY CLONING! Vin Diesel's film adaptation of the life of famous military genius Hannibal, entitled Hannibal the Conqueror, is on track for a 2008 release, and will be filmed in the archaic language of Punic. Sweet. Wii Sports is TIME's 2006 Game of the Year! It couldn't have happened to a nicer game. We were just thinking we needed to pick up a......

Well, at least one representative of Philadelphia is doing well in sports - that being a guy named Tom Smith, who goes by the name Vertical Paper when competing in his sport of choice: Rock Paper Scissors. The International World Championships went down this past weekend in Toronto, and Smith won the bronze medal. He's one of only five Americans to ever place in the top 3 during the five-year history of the event, and......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story: Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia is screening Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story at the iHouse (3701 Chestnut Street) at 7PM. $7 Octane: Philly rockers Octane play an unplugged set at Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd Street). 8PM. $10 Bingo at The Dive: Bingo on the 2nd floor of The Dive (947 E. Passyunk) at 9PM. Play is free, extra bingo cards are......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Monday Night Football: Giants at Cowboys (Mon; 8:30PM-11:30PM; ESPN) - This should be an interesting game, and much easier for Philly fans to watch than another agonizing Eagles game. And hey, you might get to see T.O. and the hated Cowboys get beat. (Link) Fear Files: Zombies! (Tue; 8PM-9PM; History Channel) - Oh, yeah, it's Halloween all right. This special looks at stories about zombies and voodoo......

Some heavy-hitting orchestral and chamber pieces by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, and Sibelius, as well as the versatile and beautiful voice of Dawn Upshaw grace us with their presence this week. While events outside the Kimmel arena seem to be a bit slow, next week promises more off-the-beaten-track events. We might even get an opera or two soon… Monday The Philadelphia Art Alliance’s Connoisseur Series welcomes up-and-coming cellist Efe Baltacigil for a solo recital, joined......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. We mentioned the Grumpy Freak Show to you a while back; it's an art show displaying many Grumpy Bear vinyl dolls customized by artists into all kinds of cool shapes and characters. Well, the show's blog put up a great photo post on Friday with tons of pictures from the show (gotta love those Star Wars bears, especially......

No doubt about it, Philly's got a lot to offer: a thriving theatre scene (don't forget, Fringe is just around the corner), fabulous museums, loads of live music and more historical hoopla than you can shake a stick at. However, there are some hotspot trends in places far, far away that look cool too, and Phillyist is wondering why local entreupenuers aren't jumping all over them. Dammit! We want them too! Private room karaoke: It's......