What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. How to Cook Your Life - A documentary about a combination chef-Zen Buddhist priest (Edward Espe Brown) who's trying to school viewers in the joys of organic cooking. We can't say that sounds particularly exciting to us, but we could see how it might be fun. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Most Likely to Suck: Revolver - If you feel like this Guy Ritchie......

UPDATE: A water main broke at about 5AM in front of the University of Pennsylvania's new Life Science Building, flooding the streets in three-foot deep rapids. The flow was stopped and the water has since subsided, but as of 7:30AM, University Avenue between 38th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue was closed while repair continued on the broken water main. Woodland Avenue is an alternate route. Ramps on and off I-76 at University Ave. were......

Dear God (go with me on this one – if someone can sue Him, I can sure as hell write Him a letter): Hey up there! How's it going? Long time no talk! Sorry about missing Rosh Hashannah last week. The holidays aren't on a consistent date every year—not on the Western calendar, at least—so I didn't know when they were when I made my PLAF schedule. But hey – the Torah indicates that......

Back in April, I used this column to encourage you to be nice to tourists. I still absolutely stand by that column, but this week, I'd like to address the other side of the coin: how not to be an obnoxious tourist that the locals want to be rude to. Do not stop in the middle of the sidewalk. You are not the only person using it. Beyond that, not only tourists need to use......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Heh. The Daily News got a great photo of Mayor Street waiting in line for his iPhone. (Via Neil) Any film geek is bound to have issues with the AFI's latest list of 100 greatest films, but here's a blog that took their issues a step further and made a detailed list of the films the AFI missed - both times they counted......

"WAAAAAR-EEEEEEEEEE-ORS, come out and PLAY-E-AY!!" It's that time of the week again, son. Do work. I stole your crutches. craigslist > best of craigslist Hey, Jimmy, if you’re looking for your crutches, I think Timmy’s got ‘em. I smell another CRIP-PLE FIGHT!!! I’m not sure what’s more important, this dude getting his crutches back or the fact that the Philly contingent finally got an entry on 'Best of.' Sexy neighbor across the street - m4w......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Simon Schama's The Power of Art (Mon, 9PM-10PM, PBS [WHYY, WLVT]) - The guy in the title is a Columbia University art history professor, and in this new show he takes a look at famous artists: their masterworks, and crucial moments in their lives. In the debut, he's talking about Van Gogh and his painting Wheatfield with Crows (pictured here). Heartland (Mon, 10PM-11PM, TNT) - Another medical......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Day Watch - Entry number two in the trilogy of films based on the best-selling Russian sci-fi/fantasy novels. The story is a classic one: the forces of light and good vs. the forces of darkness and evil. The movies are a huge hit in Russia, and are supposedly loaded with awesome special effects and thrilling action. We hear they're pretty confusing, though, so you might want......

Comedian Paul Mecurio...

I was reared on PBS children's programming. Sesame Street. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Square One TV. But I had a special place in my heart for Reading Rainbow. Some episodes I remember better than others. One such episode being the one in which the featured story was The Story of Ferdinand, about a gentle bull who wanted to stop and smell the roses, rather than fight in the ring. It's this book on which the......

At the POPPED! opening night party this Monday, I got the pleasure of visiting the upstairs ladies' room at Johnny Brenda's. This may be one of the prettiest bathrooms I've seen in town. Yup, that's right: the decor in this restroom is simplistically beautiful. The sign outside of the door is made of red glass and has black writing. It always makes me feel like I've magically left the country and stumbled upon the only......

News Anchor Kerri-Lee Halkett...

Hey, we got your mayoral race updates right here! First of all, looks like Fattah's much touted college-prep program might not be all it's cracked up to be locally, and he's also falling behind in the polls, but maybe his new TV ads will save his bacon. Speaking of TV ads, the Inquirer takes a look at Tom Knox's, and also takes a look at what the candidates in general are planning to do about......

Dear Pot Smokers: My feelings about marijuana use are pretty much this: I don’t do it, but after doing some research on the topic, I’m not necessarily sure why it’s illegal and alcohol isn’t, so this isn’t an issue of me getting on my moral, or even legal, high horse. And anyway, it’s your choice what you do in private. In. Private. Because if you’re going to knowingly break the law, why flaunt it?......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Google Maps is extremely helpful with directions, even when you're going across oceans (see step 23). (Via) A student was suspended in North Carolina because he came to school dressed as a pirate, and his costume was "disruptive." The student says the punishment is a violation of his rights, as his religion dictates that he must dress in "full pirate regalia." Yep, he's......

Readers: I'm currently performing in, helping to choreograph, and acting as the dance captain of a musical that goes up this week. It's left me a bit delirious and really quite hungry. Apologies for the off-beatness... Once upon a midnight dreary, I was dancing, weak and weary, To the jazzy beats of a difficult Coleman score. While I counted, madly clapping, I soon noticed quite a tapping, From my stomach, no longer napping, napping as......

On my walk to work Tuesday morning, I was a block away from the store when I hit a red light. While waiting for it to change, I looked to see what the light was doing. There was a man standing to my left, in my line of vision to the stoplight. He winked and smiled at me, but I couldn’t even tell you what he looked like, because as soon as my nose......

Dear smokers: It is called a ban. Not a friendly reminder, a polite suggestion, or a mild request. This is purely semantic. A smoking ban. That means that those of you who were smoking in Copa, Too last night, were actually breaking the law. Yeah, yeah. I know. The smoking ban infringes on your rights. Specifically, your right to slowly kill yourselves. And those around you. Sure, there was that one study that indicated that......

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......

Surprisingly, its not the usual bouquet of aged urine, fecal matter, and assorted garbage left to ferment. The Subway actually smells nice. In the last week and a half, I've seen crews at work at 30th, 11th, and 8th street stations actually mopping. Other times I've come across a slowly drying non-urine film accompanied by yellow signs telling me "Caution Wet Floor" and something or other in Spanish. Yes, they were mopping the subway.......

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." Image Credit:......

A ferocious head cold is slowly attacking everyone I know, and this Wednesday evening, I accepted that I, too, am sick. And then I accepted that I wanted soup and I wanted it now. On my way home from a rehearsal, I stopped by Szechuan Hunan Chinese Restaurant to pick up as much Wonton Soup as I could carry. While I was awaiting my food, I went in search of the bathroom. I initially......

Before I begin my review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, I'd like to encourage all those who still want to see the film by the end of my review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer to make sure to visit the restroom on their way into the theater. The film clocks in at just under 150 minutes, without previews. Now that that's out of the way... Perfume is a beautifully shot,......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Miss Potter - A film dramatization of the life of children's author Beatrix Potter. Renee Zellweger plays the title character, Ewan McGregor plays her publisher (and forbidden lover!), and Emily Watson plays her friend and his sister. The trailer makes it look like a terribly sweet little movie, and apparently some of Potter's paintings are animated in order to simulate her imaginary world; we can't decide......

Monday morning, I was walking down Chestnut, on my way to Suburban Station. About twenty feet ahead of me, a twenty-something-year-old woman, wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase stopped short. She looked around like there was some foul smell following her. Then she lifted her right foot, checked her shoe, gasped and clutched her heart. Now, stepping in feces blows. I know this. It sucks the big one. But there are ways......

Right before college graduation, a bunch of my friends and I found ourselves wondering how we’d meet guys after college. A bit into the conversation, we decided we’d probably meet them the same ways we had thus far: through friends, at bars, same old, same old. Then someone wondered, “Hey, what about at work?” This was a new concept for us. Yes, we were all aware that dating a co-worker is generally a bad......

Having recently graduated from Penn with Bachelor of the Arts degrees in Theatre Arts and Afro-American Studies, I found a job in the line of employment I was most expected to enter: retail. While there are many other ways I would prefer to spend my days, this pays the bills and provides me with full health benefits, so I really can’t complain. It also means that I am guaranteed an endless supply of entertainment,......

We just love when work interferes with our personal lives. And our other work. Austinist: Mmmmm...must smell lovely. Parisist: All of our childhood memories, ruined. Bostonist: Crap! Was it really that long ago? SFist: Politicians are awesome. Chicagoist: That sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Sampaist: Woohoo! English! Houstonist: That's...interesting. Seattlest: If they were doing this in Philadelphia, we think even the mayor would have a few dozen tickets. Nobody waits for the signal......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. List! This time it's Tired Science Fiction Tropes That Must Be Retired. A lot of them are really more complaints about the poor science in science fiction, rather than complaints about the cliches of science fiction, but some good points are still made. (Via) 100 Pirates in 100 Days. That pretty much says it all, doesn't it? Arrrr. (Via) Heh heh heh. Now......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Some bored cubicle prisoners discovered that there are letters hidden in pretzels and decided to free them and make a whole font. They were shut down by their managers, but smuggled the results of their labor out of the office, and now you can enjoy writing with pretzels, too! This reminds us of one of our favorite "Family Guy" quotes: Peter:......