Phillyist VIP: Matt Nelson...

Ever since I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—the wildly imaginative, deeply moving, incredibly insightful sci-fi/romance/drama/comedy with Jim Carrey that came out in 2004—I've been pretty keen to see what else writer-director Michel Gondry can do. I found his next fiction feature film, The Science of Sleep, ultimately unsatisfying, but just as imaginative and affecting as ESotSM. So I was thrilled to hear about Gondry's latest project: Be Kind Rewind. This film—set over the......

Normally we could start this post with some quip about chasing off the winter doldrums with some laughter. But seeing as how the mercury is riding high today, and should be for a while, we got nothing. That’s why we’re not comedians. Luckily, there are some very talented folks who are, and they are presenting a 5-day smorgasbord of improv and sketch comedy goodness for your gluttonous consumption. Philly Improv Theater’s Shubin Week starts tonight......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

DISCLOSURE: Jill, our editor, is working on Out of Sight, but she is not in the production nor had any input with this review. Wow. I was not ready to jump into Sara Felder's life on opening night of Out of Sight. I was in the middle of a conversation with my friend (whom I'll later discuss) when suddenly Felder appeared on stage. As she welcomed us to her one-act performance, she cautioned us on......

Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title...

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.......

What's interesting on TV this week. Prison Break (Mon; About 8:30PM-9:30PM; Fox) - For a show called prison break, it sure took them long enough to finally break out of prison. In fact, the entire first season. But apparently not everybody gets out, and neither their troubles, nor the show, are over yet. (Official site) NCIS (Tue; 8PM-9PM; CBS) - Eventually, if it stays around long enough, every show has to have an amnesia episode.......

Phillyist knows that some of you find musical theater...intimidating. (It's OK, we're not judging. After all, anyone could be frightened by anthropomorphised, singing cats.) What we want to know is what'll it take to get your behinds back into theater seats? A tale embroiled in lust and tragic love? A little rock and roll? The triumphant return of Lon Chaney? Or are you the type that'd rather just watch the movie instead? Well, either way......

Chris and Phil are back again this week to talk about Citizens Bank Park, Jim Thome, and Ugueth Urbina, among other things. This will be Phil's last post for a while, as he's on something he likes to call "vacation." Personally, we just think he doesn't like staying up late for the Phils' west coast swing. 1. Can the Phils do anything to fix Citizens Bank Park? If so, what? If not, will this stadium......