Beginnings “Let me first say that it was not my intention to be a Pain in the Ass. I was far too lazy, arrogant and insecure to think I could ever be one. Apparently I was halfway there. “I had friends who never wanted anything more than to be Pains in the Asses. Their fathers were Pains in the Asses, and their grandfathers before them. My friend Lou learned how to be one from......

Dear Philadelphia: Congratulations! Just a day after The Inquirer reported that violent crime was down across the city, we received a press release from the GPTMC extolling all your other achievements in 2007. You deserve a big pat on the back for the national and international media mentions you've garnered this year. People are paying attention to you. You're like a celebrity now. On the Food front, The Today Show decided that Vesuvio Restaurant's......

If you still aren't bored of stories about Jocelyn S. Kirsch and Edward K. Anderton, then by all means, read on. Meanwhile, other rather more dangerous criminals are still on the loose. Police still have little to go on in the brutal November 25th murder of John Bartram High School sophomore Antonio Q. Clarke, who was last seen alive trying to catch a trolley in Southwest Philadelphia. Call police at 215-686-3334 or -3335 with......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

It's been a while since we've had the pleasure of adding a new writer to the mix, but today we get to do it again. Please help us welcome John K. Frisbee, who among other things is the Director of Development at Pig Iron Theatre Company, to our cadre of writers. John's primary interest is in covering Philly's outer neighborhoods – but we're going to let him start with University City. Werner Herzog's increasing popularity......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Colbert Report (Mon, 11:30PM-12AM, Comedy Central) - We rarely mention this show in this column, because it's understood to always be worth watching, but we wanted to point it out in particular this week, because tonight, Stephen's guest is a LEGO sculptor named Nathan Sawaya, and LEGO sculptors are cool. On the Lot (Tue, 8PM-9PM, Fox) - This week sees the end of the season for this......

The Inquirer has a nice little article (and a video) about the super-cool Girls Rock Philly day camp, which is at Girard College this week. Apparently every summer Senator Arlen Specter likes to visit all 67 counties in Pennsylvania and have a little Q&A session. Here's how the trip's going this year. Another annual ritual in PA is a SEPTA bus tour for Philly assistant DAs of some high crime city neighborhoods. This year......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

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......

We love Steve Martin. We love just about everything he's ever done – Cheaper by the Dozen notwithstanding. One of our favorite Steve Martin flicks? My Blue Heaven, also starring Rick "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" Moranis. Phillyist re-watched the movie recently and were struck by two things: (1) It's exactly as funny as we remembered it being. (2) Despite the funny, it's beginning to show its age. Case in point, a dialogue between Vinnie......

By now you may have read about the arrest of 20-year-old street singer Anthony Riley on charges of disorderly conduct. He is, apparently, one of several criminals (read: victims) recently caught by police in an attempt to quell the evil uprising of mimes, musicians and street-based merry-makers terrorizing our city's wealthier residents. Yes, Riley is not, it seems, alone in his artful rebellion. Felix Wilkins was arrested last month for attacking hapless passersby with the......

Philadelphia mail carriers took part in an all-day drill yesterday wherein they were timed while delivering empty cardboard boxes to 52,000 homes in three neighborhoods, simulating the delivery of packages of medicine that would take place in the event of an attack involving biological or chemical agents. Rachel Marie Brooks, a U Penn graduate from Broomall, became 2007's Miss Pennsylvania Saturday night, which means she'll represent our fair state in the Miss America competition......

To state the obvious: Spiral Q Puppet Theater is a Philadelphia institution. Combining social activism with larger-than-life puppetry has made the organization a neighborhood favorite in, well, many neighborhoods in the city, seeing as how their folks partner with the community to put on fantastic parades and pageants. You'll be able to see puppets in action this Saturday at 1 pm, rain or shine, when Spiral Q presents the 3rd annual UP North Parade and......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend Paris Je T'Aime - A love letter to the city of love, taking the form of a series of vignettes that tell stories of unusual encounters in the various neighborhoods of the city, each directed by a different famous director (including the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, and Walter Salles) and starring a different team of famous stars (including Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah......

Please digg this story. Thanks! It is never easy to watch friends depart for dangerous lands, but it is always a bit comforting to know, at least, that they are members of the United States Marine Corps. If anyone can survive the often hellish situation on the ground in Iraq, it is the USMC. That does not mean that, when my good friend (whom I met during my first year in college, when we......

CBS 3 Eyewitness News anchor Larry Mendte...

Plenty of updates on the mayor's race! First of all, Brady cleared his first legal hurdle Monday when the judge in his case ruled that he could amend his forms, and thus he can be on the May 15 ballot. However, this is by no means a final ruling; an appeal has already been promised. Meanwhile, according to a recent poll of Philly's African American voters, Chaka Fattah has the number one spot by a......

Tonight at 7, the International House will be showing the premiere of Precious Places, a documentary put together by Scribe Video Center's Precious Places Community History Project. That's a mouthful, but what it translates to is local folks from largely non-touristy areas of the city and some parts of Camden were given cameras and asked to record the goings-on of their community. There are interviews and looks at out-of-the way historical and cultural sites; Scribe......

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, State Senator Vincent Fumo (D., Phila) has been under FBI investigation for the last four years. He is being accused of using "the assets of the charity Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods and his senate office staff for his own personal and political benefit." In order to preemptively address a potential indictment, Fumo: ...said he would step down as the ranking Democrat on the powerful senate Appropriations Committee, but would......

Phillyist would like to introduce you to yet another fabulous new contributor: Spencer Williams. Spencer and his wife are recent transplants to Fishtown from the West Coast, and they're just now getting a chance to explore the city. Spencer, a grad student studying music, will be on hand here providing his expert knowledge to music events throughout the city. And, because he has a car, we'll occasionally send him on assignments we can't make ourselves.......

Due in large part to a long and nasty freeze in California, citrus fruits and leafy vegetables will be scarce, and thus their prices will be going way, way up, even in the Philly area. The Inquirer has a creepy, and perhaps too detailed, article about the Philly Zoo's attempts to get two tigers to mate. The tigers did in fact mate multiple times, and if all goes well, there may be tiger cubs......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

Philly.com runs down what local Philadelphians were doing to celebrate New Year's Eve Sunday night - like watching the fireworks at Penn's Landing, and tailgating at the Eagles' game. It was pretty satisfying to learn that the Eagles had clinched the division due to a loss by the hated Cowboys, and even more satisfying to watch them win against the Falcons even with their star players sitting out in order to keep in shape......

The popular Delaware Canal towpath, which runs parallel to the Delaware River from Easton to Bristol, has sustained an estimated $30 million worth of damage due to flooding in recent years, damage which has left large portions of the path impassable. Restoration of the path, funded mostly by federal and partially by state money, will begin in the summer, transforming it into a more flood-resistant path made of stone and seeded topsoil. WHYY's local radio......

More shootings over the weekend that left 4 dead and 13 wounded have led anti-violence organization Men United for a Better Philadelphia to call for a cease-fire. They plan to go door-to-door in the most violent neighborhoods with their message, helping young men at risk for doing violence by connecting them with jobs, education, and social services. They also plan to teach anger management to prison inmates so they don't return to violent lives......

As if the School District of Philadelphia wasn't having enough money troubles, the former principal and chief administrative officer of a small Center City charter school has been found guilty of defrauding them of over $200,000. He's been ordered to pay the money back, and to serve 33 months in federal prison. US Department of Justice lawyers had requested that federal observers be stationed in polling places in Philly's Latino neighborhoods on Tuesday, but......

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend is really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it. Austinist knows that few things in life are scarier than zombies, people with way too much money, and politicians who try too hard to be funny. Slightly less scary, depending on whom you......

A Philly PD chemist has been arrested on suspicion of helping herself to some of the pharmaceuticals in evidence she was meant to be looking after - a fact which might make her expert testimony in some pending cases suspect. Quick, everyone grab your Escalades and SUVs - gas apparently dropped down to an average of $2 a gallon in South Jersey the other day. Who ever thought $2 a gallon would be good......

Earlier, this week, city leaders announced a coordinated effort to thwart local violence (and with different shootings in 3 different parts of the city in the time span of one 1/2 hour Monday morning clearly something needs to be done (via)). Last week, the announcement came that the curfew laws for kids were going to be enforced. Philly Confidential and The Philadelphia Daily News question whether or not the current cycle of violence warrants......