Results tagged “opinion”

Recently my daughter showed up at our house, after a weekend with Mom-Mom, with her fingernails and toenails painted pink.

 

What was the best part of Invincible? Was it the story of triumph and struggle in the harsh economy of the Carter Years? WRONG! Was it the extremely well shot and realistic football scenes? Not even close! How about the strong bond of brotherhood and friendship in a tight-knit but emotionally stunted community of uber-masculine guys? Nice try. Well, then, it has to be the sheer unearthly hotness of Elizabeth Banks? Sorta.

 

Here’s the scenario: It’s a beautiful summer day at Citizens Bank Park. The sun is shining, the air is still, and the scent of hot dogs, peanuts, and beer wafts through the crowd. There’s really not much to complain about on such a picturesque afternoon. Our beloved Fightin’ Phillies, however, are down by one run in the 6th inning and we all know what comes next.

Dear Readers:

On December 9, 1981, Officer Daniel Faulkner was brutally murdered by an assailant whose identity has since been the subject of historical speculation. There are myriad theories as to the identity of the murderer, many of which are ridiculous, but some of which deserve merit and further investigation beyond blindly being dismissed as "just another conspiracy theory." As I write this, it is 3:51 a.m. on December 9, 2007. I am sitting on the ledge...

To my fellow XX chromosome-possessing brethren sistren:

Dear Travel + Leisure:

For our parents, it was the assassination of JFK. Ask any of them and they can remember exactly what they were doing at the time they found out JFK had been killed. I never understood that until September 11, 2001. Our generation can remember it like it was yesterday. For us, that moment, frozen in time, is and will always be 9/11.

By Bill Hayes and Pencopal

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.

Boy, did I wake up to good news this morning!? As it states on page D2 of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Brian Tierney’s publication has stripped Stephen A. Smith of his column-writing duties, effective immediately. They have stated that they want him to return to reporting, which, since he spends most of his time in cities not named Philadelphia, is probably code for “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” Now I don’t want to rush to judgment and say that my column of the 17th of August 2007 was the reason for this unceremonious demotion… but until I hear otherwise, that is exactly what I will do. So since I have been able to accomplish this lofty goal, you can read eight more wishes I would like to see fulfilled after the jump.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a disturbingly effective visual aide that brings together the homicide data from last year - data we are quickly on our way to surpassing in 2007.

On July 17th, Michael Vick (among others) was indicted on myriad charges, including illegal dog fighting. You also shouldn't forget his weak attempt to "smuggle" a bong through airport security in January – a charge which was dropped because all tests on the confiscated substances came back negative. You'll also remember that in 2005, Vick was sued by a woman alleging that he passed herpes onto her while using the alias "Ron Mexico."

Haven't heard of it? From the same form of racial profiling that results in people getting pulled over for Driving While Black, basically, if you're black and travelling by plane, the odds of having your luggage (or self) searched are significantly higher than the odds white travellers operate with. In 1999, Mos Def rapped about it on his album :

No this isn't an ode to the Rolling Stones (though we do hear the bass line from that song in our head when we're walking down Market Street in the summertime). This is an ode to our love, Philadelphia. We are counting the hours until we get back to your edgy goodness. Unlike our other trips to Vegas, this one sucks. Perhaps it is because we are travelling alone and aren't in the mood to...

Spring Training is all but finished, and that local sports team heads back to Philly to open the season on April 2 (that's Monday, folks). If you're keeping track though, you'll need to get in on your office fantasy baseball pool before that. Unless you do the second half only season, which is just silly.

Yesterday was President's Bush first press conference this year. If you missed the conference and you haven't read about it, you can read the transcript here. Since I am a teacher, I had the day off yesterday, so as I was casually changing the channel, in my pajamas, I began to notice that every channel had President Bush on. Boy, was I pissed—he was ruining my daytime television romp. Before I switched to my DVR to watch the previous night's episode of "House", I watched the President stumble over his words for a few minutes. I then noticed myself screaming explicitives at the TV. That is when I knew I had to stop watching.

While everyone else was writing about this yesterday, I was too busy working [read: getting a tattoo of Barbaro on my shoulder while listening to Bad Brains].

If you pay any attention to Phillyist’s Staff Page, then you may have noticed that I recently became the site’s Associate Editor. What this specifically means is that I’m working on increasing the Philly-based content on the site, in regards to both regular columns and special features. I’ve got a lot of ideas, as does the rest of the staff, but we create this site for our readers, so I want to know what YOU want to see, and what you think of what’s up here already.

It's official. New York stinks. While New Yorkers and North Jersey folks woke up to the smell of a gas-like odor (read: rotten eggs tag teamed by the worst. fart. imaginable) we here in Philly woke up to the smell of victory. Between last night's Eagles win and making it through weekend-long Mummers parties with only the slightest of hangovers, Philadelphia's slogan for this week should be "It's good to be the king."

Confession time.

We here at Phillyist love the holiday season as much as the next person. It always brings fond memories of great home cooked food, warm fireplaces and those wonderful family get-togethers where something always gets broken, someone always falls asleep really early, and someone else takes WAY too many pictures (Mom...).

Having received an Au Bon Pain gift card, my initial happiness ("FILL YERS BOOTS WHILE YA CAN MATES 'CAUSE WHEN WE GET BACK TO SCOTLAND IT'S McCAIN'S OVEN CHIPS TILL FUCK KNOWS WHEN"*) was a bit derailed by the ensuing application process. Granted, logging in to write this post has taken time itself, but the damn registration page for the gift card was insistent that I fill in ALL my details. Fucking gestapo requirement for credentials. You shouldn't have to be reminded of the DMV when someone buys you a giftcard. Anyway, here's what I gave them:

As you've no doubt heard (and several times by now), Thomas Jefferson University plans to sell "The Gross Clinic," a painting by local artist Thomas Eakins, to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas for a not-so-inconsiderable sum of money. Some members of the community are upset by this decision on the part of the University, and would prefer to see local art stay, well, local. And as we told you yesterday, Mayor Street is proposing measures so that works deemed important will undergo "appropriate review and consideration before they can be altered or removed from the city."

Image via Mourguefile

Since we originally composed this question, Rupert Murdoch has declared that he has ix-nayed both the book deal, and the ensuing Fox TV interview (this is what we get for preparing posts ahead of time). However - despite the news that this show won't go on, we're still curious why you think it ever was conceived in the first place. Speculation as to why it got pulled also welcome.

In the Inquirer article from which Phillyist learned that this crime deterrent strategy is under deliberation, a video clerk from Kingsessing said he would support the measure, saying, ""If you've got nothing to be guilty about, you should have no problem. I would put up with that level of inconvenience to make the neighborhood safer."

For those of you who didn't vote - we'd love to beat you with sticks hear your reasons why.

Last week, the city of Philadelphia announced that it had a budget surplus of -- everyone put your pinkies to your lips -- $200 million dollars. When the news was announced, City Councilman Jim Kenney said the money should be put aside for a "rainy day fund" and not spent right away, which Mayor Street agreed with.

- Last week it was identity theft, this week's crime - dealing illicit prescription drugs.
- And speaking of drug-dealing - what's worse than getting picked up by the cops for alleged drug trafficking? Maybe getting picked up for having "weapons of mass destruction" when the cops come to your apartment and find you have "a two-liter plastic soda bottle, covered with duct tape, with a several-inch long fuse sticking out of the spout" - or, a "condom bomb." Whatever that is. All we know is that no one wants to be around when a condom explodes unexpectedly.
- Poor Rocky. The placement of his effigy is once again under debate. To add insult to injury, journalists are using this battle as an excuse to trot out their limited boxing lingo in all the headlines.
Image credit: Flickr user trec_lit