Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Funny Ha-Ha: 1-4-5 Show featuring local comics Neil McGarry, Mike Eisworth, Carolyn Busa, and Katie Kohler at Joe Coffee Bar (1100 Walnut), 7PM. $5 Many Projects: Reception featuring exhibits "Bloom," "Politics as Usual?," dance video by Tania Isaac, and "Bean Scene" (celebration of community gardens) at Projects Gallery (629 N 2nd), 6-9PM. Free Another One?: Screening of Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story at Scribe Video Center......

"Republican City Councilman Jack Kelly is suing a Lawncrest man for a smear campaign that Kelly says nearly cost him last year's general election." "Police are looking for the driver of a gray Ford pickup who may have been involved in or witnessed the wounding of a Glendora man in a road-rage shooting Sunday night near the Walt Whitman Bridge." Barack Obama will be all over Philly tomorrow, with rallies in four neighborhoods. A......

...

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. We posted a link to an xkcd comic a while back wherein a character created a virus that would force commenters on YouTube to listen to any comments they tried to make by reading their words back to them aloud. The idea was to shame them with their own stupidity. Clever and funny—and now, reality. The developers at YouTube created an option that......

We'll miss Fumo because of the great copy; we didn't know there’d be math involved. Chinatown really doesn't want a casino. Really. We just want a Philly team to win a championship (and sorry Jaws, the Soul really doesn't count in this regard), so sure, we're frontrunners in this one. Luckily we now have a cheat sheet. Citizen Mom gets a shaming from students at Strawberry Mansion High, but promises to go to graduation. Broad......

With the great clash between Philly and LA coming up tonight, it's time to compare the cities and start trading barbs. (Meanwhile, as the Eagles seem to drift further and further from a championship, they at least have phone sex with Playboy Playmates to console them.) This weekend a number of political superstars will be coming to the region, including Sarah Palin, who'll be dropping the first puck at the Flyers' regular-season opener at the......

Sigourney Weaver is 59 today, but a hot chick in a mech killing a monster alien remains a timeless image in the minds of sci-fi geeks everywhere. What? You prefer her as Zuul? Either way, it's unofficially movie night, more specifically documentary night, so read on and go get some popcorn. Just don't make a mess. CINEMATHEQUE: ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION In an election year as dysfunctional as this one, this documentary on the 2006 State Senate......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. CNN's electoral map calculator is a pretty interesting little web app. The default values show you CNN's estimate for how the race will turn out, but you can switch any state you want to either candidate and see how that swings things (via Kevin). In other election news, the Maverick family points out that John McCain is not a maverick, by......

Details of The Great Schlep, and the question: Are Jews ready? Um, for what? Thank God there are only four weeks left. Even if we have Governor's Balls and Bosses to keep us entertained. Speaking of God, apparently he's eco-friendly. And maybe we should leave the election up to gondoliers. Local DJ swears off sex for a year. Don't worry, it's for a good cause. Paxia is the latest Mexican joint on the block, and......

A really interesting piece of commentary in the Inquirer describes an exchange between Sarah Palin and a Temple student and how it got blown up into a bit of a national scandal. NFL star Marvin Harrison was never charged in a North Philadelphia shooting this spring, even though various pieces of evidence seemed to point in his direction. Now the victim is suing Harrison over the incident. "Two men and a 24th District police officer......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. It should surprise no one that Larry Flynt’s Hustler Video is making an X-rated movie inspired by Republican Vice President nominee Sarah Palin. Check out the details here. Also check out the hilariously accurate Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart. (Via Sarah) For the first time, the Stoker estate has authorized an official sequel to Dracula. It's called Dracula:......

The Daily News has a lengthy article on Philadelphia-based model Ray Armstrong and the circumstances that led to him being arrested for the murder of Anthony Williams. Police are seeking a rapist who assaulted a woman in a party bus parked at Lincoln Financial Field during Sunday's Eagles game. Albert L. DiGiacomo, the Chester County chief of detectives, has not been seen on the job in over a month, and no one seems to......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Read about the winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prize, "the annual award given by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for oddball but often surprisingly practical scientific achievements." It turns out Coca-Cola is a spermicide, and strippers make more money when ovulating. (Via Sarah) Today's bunch of political links: Colbert and Shakespearean scholar Stephen Greenblatt discuss the parallels between the......

If you made it to Saturday's rally, we'd love to hear about your experience. Leave us a note in the comments and let us know what you thought! And don't forget that the deadline to register to vote is today!......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. VH1 Hip Hop Honors (Mon, 10PM-12AM, VH1) Tracy Morgan hosts the fifth annual event, which will honor Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Slick Rick, Naughty By Nature, and Too Short. Those folks will all also perform, along with Big Boi, Biz Markie, Bun B, Ghostface Killah, Wyclef Jean, Kid Rock, Lil Jon, MC Lyte, and Scarface. Animal Cops: Philadelphia (Mon, 10PM-11PM, Animal Planet; Tue, 10PM-11PM, Animal Planet)......

The Phillies beat the Brewers yesterday afternoon to win the Nation League Division Series. At almost the same time, the Eagles suffered an embarrassing loss to the Washington Redskins, but most Philadelphians were ignoring that and focusing on the positive, not to mention the upcoming National League Championship Series where the Phillies will face the LA Dodgers. Your deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania in time for the presidential election is today. So......

Michael may be getting yet another casino victory soon, as SugarHouse officials are offering to tweak the casino's design plan to conform more with Michael's waterfront development plan. Michael announced that there has already been improvement in DHS following the Danieal Kelly tragedy. Well that's reassuring—we can't imagine that DHS could have gotten much worse. Michael dissolved the Minority Business Enterprise Council because it, umm, failed to help minority businesses. Oops! He's replaced it with......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Crisis averted! Royalties won't be increased, and the iTunes Music Store won't be shut down... this time! (Via Sarah) AMC is developing a series based on Red Mars, the first book in Kim Stanley Robinson's epic sci-fi trilogy about the colonization of Mars. Today's collection of ridiculous election-related links: 7-Eleven's coffee cup poll (via Zoe); Defective Yeti's liveblog of last night's Biden-Palin debate;......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Religulous A documentary about world religion, directed by Larry Charles, of Borat and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, and starring Bill Maher. The freshness rating is above average, but this Phillyist stopped finding Maher funny a few years ago, and doesn't really get the Larry Charles style of embarrassment humor either, so we'll be giving this one a miss. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the......

A mother and daughter prostitute team in Wissinoming, who promised to "double your pleasure" in Craigslist ads for their services, were arrested yesterday by an undercover police officer. At a defendant's sentencing hearing yesterday in a robbery and attempted rape case, the woman who had been the victim of the attack began hyperventilating in court and then collapsed in an anteroom. She was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and later released. The defendant was......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. The iTunes Music Store could be closed soon. The Copyright Royalty Board is scheduled to hand down a decision today on royalties paid to publishers and songwriters for downloaded music, and if those rates are increased by six cents per song, Apple says it will have to shut down the iTunes Music Store because it will no longer be profitable. (Via Sarah) Nintendo......

Would many LGBT folks actually support McCain in the first place? Not that we don't love an Obama presence at OutFest. Shame he won't be there himself, but if you have $2,300… A sad reminder that burying cops is getting to be mundane around these parts. The stealth economy of South Philly = ticket scalping. At least there are ways of working with them. We’re not too fond of Christine Flowers, and Isaiah Thompson's comparison......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Of Course It’s Free: "Neither Red nor Blue: The Libertarian Party in 2008 Election" featuring Bob Barr and the Cato Institute's David Boaz at the National Constitution Center (525 Arch), 6:30PM. $9 Calmer: Intro to Buddhist psychology and meditation presented by the Menlha Buddhist Center at the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia (1906 S. Rittenhouse Sq), 7PM. $10 Buried: Buried Beds, These United States, and The Mural and......

How about those Phils? Their success is good, not only for fans, but also for the local economy. The election is getting closer, which means it's time for some voter intimidation! "An anonymous flier circulating in African-American neighborhoods in North and West Philadelphia states that voters who are facing outstanding arrest warrants or who have unpaid traffic tickets may be arrested at the polls on Election Day." This is false. A plumber was buried......

Bruce Springsteen will play a free show on the Parkway this Saturday as part of an open-air rally for Barack Obama. The latest poll shows Obama still leading John McCain in Pennsylvania. In fact, thanks to efforts by the Obama campaign in the area, Democrats now have a 1.1 million registration edge in Pennsylvania, with large gains in the traditionally Republican Philadelphia suburbs. Coverage of Patrick McDonald's funeral. 25-year-old Michael Thomas was held for trial......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. Finally, a couple of really important commentators give their opinions on the presidential debates: Statler & Waldorf (via Jill)! And while we're talking about the presidential election, check out Download Squad's handy list of nonpartisan fact-checking sites. And also keep in mind that you can register to vote through Xbox Live! We're really depressed that Terminator: The Sarah......

The House rejected the economic bailout plan yesterday and the Dow plummeted. The Inquirer takes a look at how local folks and small businesses are coping with the economic crisis, and the Daily News finds that things are going well for at least one set of businesses: secondhand shops. A second-grade student at Harrington Avery D School in West Philly brought a bag of marijuana to school yesterday and showed it off to his......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Japanese newspapers are reporting that a new version of the Nintendo DS will be announced soon which will include a camera and music playback. Woah. The entertainment world suffered another in what seems like a long line of painful losses this year with the death this weekend of Paul Newman. Sorry, fellas, she's taken now: Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds got......

A fire broke out in City Hall shortly after 4:30AM on Saturday in a judge's chambers. The chambers were being remodeled and were not occupied. It's possible that an electrical problem was the cause. There were no injuries, although three other offices sustained smoke and water damage. Latrice Bryant, chief legislative aide to Philadelphia City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., issued a letter of apology to Goode yesterday for holding up signs during a......

...