Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! With apologies to those readers who don't celebrate Christmas, I'm going to indulge myself a bit here. I love just about everything about Christmas. I actually enjoy Christmas shopping, stressful though it may......

Understandably, there are no new productions opening in the next ten days. So just sing "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame for now, and rest assured that there are several new shows opening in January. Now, on with the listings! A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant - We hear TomKat may make an appearance with Suri. Through December 30. Tickets online. Winter Musicale - Sing along, everybody! Through December 23. Call 215.785.0100 for......

The big story around these parts continues to be the arrest and imprisonment of CBS3 anchorwoman Alycia Lane. The Daily News has an article about the incident, focusing on Lane's call to the governor from prison, which she apparently made in order to "make sure he knew her side of the story because he is an opinion-maker and runs around in influential circles." A 4-year-old in Southwest Philadelphia shot himself once in the throat......

We've told you some ways to make the season brighter for local kids. Now here's an opportunity to help out an entire family in one go: Greater Philadelphia Cares is sponsoring Adopt-A-Family. They will match you with a local family in need and provide a wish list. You'll go out and gather some goodies, and drop it all off at a local agency, which will then get it all to the family in question. Easy--......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Juno - Another of this year's big pregnancy comedies! We'll have a review coming up later today. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Red Balloon - A remake of the 1956 French classic about the evil red balloon that stalks and kills people! Well, okay, it's not a mean and deadly balloon. But it does stalk people! Juliette Binoche stars as a single mother......

The latest in the case of Ebony Nicole Dorsey, the 14-year-old girl allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend: the Daily News has an exclusive interview with the girl's mother, Danielle Cattie, who calls her boyfriend a monster. Meanwhile, the Inquirer quotes Cattie's brother defending his sister; he says she's "a great mom who deeply loves her children," and "She's a good person who made some bad decisions. She's paid a horrible price." It may seem......

Because Brat Productions is opening a very tongue-in-cheek Scientology play this week, we thought it only fitting that we use a quote by L. Ron Hubbard to kick off this week's listings. It runs in full: “Freedom is for honest people. No man who is not himself honest can be free – he is his own trap.” Now, on with the listings! A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant - We hear TomKat may make......

Pennsylvania ranks very low amongst other states in requiring breakfast to be served in its schools to the children of low income families. A new memorial design for the President's House, which "would allow visitors to peer down through a glass shed and view archaeological remnants of an 18th-century house once occupied by presidents and slaves," will be unveiled tomorrow night at Freedom Theatre. "The DRPA, whose board meets today to adopt its annual budget,......

Phillyist loves us some grub, and we love the Restaurant Weeks about town. We just heard about another: Kid's Table. Through Sunday, December 16, participating restaurants will be donating a portion of their proceeds to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to fund research and medical treatment. The list of places is on the short side, but hopefully this is an event that will grow with time. Besides, we've always wanted to try Ristorante Panorama, and......

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! As I've mentioned once or twice before on Phillyist, this year I went from being distantly fascinated by comic books to being a seriously obsessive weekly comic book collector. So here are my......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Sci Fi Wire reveals that Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet and rapper Xzibit will be in X-Files 2, while The Movie Blog tells us who won't be in it: Lance Henriksen. GameSpot has decided to release a more in-depth series of responses to the controversy surrounding their firing of Jeff Gerstmann, and Joystiq has the run-down. Meanwhile, this whole thing has gotten everybody thinking......

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! 5. After kidnapping her two children, Britney Spears goes on the lam before being finally caught in Old City, Philadelphia, attempting to stuff her sons into the Liberty Bell. Seems she thought it......

Phillyist likes shopping for toys. We don’t know why. Perhaps biology is rearing its ugly head, reminding us that even savvy (read: nerdy) urbanites can and indeed should procreate. In any event, when this Phillyist used to be a good Catholic, we’d love the week after Thanksgiving when the Christmas tree would go up in the back of the church, decorated with cardboard stars on which the details of a child in need of......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Friday: Last Friday: Last Friday at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th), featuring visual, literary, and performance offerings, 7PM. Free Saturday: Space is the Place: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts hosts a family day inspired by their Space is the Place exhibit, 11AM-4PM. Free with museum admission, $5-7 (children, adults) No, Not the Bourne: Arab: The Born Identity, featuring four spoken word poets sharing their experiences......

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has been closed in both directions between the Philadelphia and Willow Grove interchanges, and is likely to stay closed most of the morning, due to a fiery five-car accident earlier today involving a tractor trailer and a pickup truck. Thankfully, as of this writing, no fatalities have been reported. The Fort Dix suspects are asking to be moved Special Housing Unit at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia due to the fact......

The Inquirer has an article about the Philadelphia Community Cats Council, a group of folks trying to manage and reduce the city's huge feral cat population, estimated to be at least 250,000. They do this by trapping feral cats, neutering them, and then returning them where they were found. Both the Daily News and the Inquirer have articles about Sharon Hill native John Patrick Foley and his elevation this weekend to the status of Cardinal......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Finishing the Game - We posted the preview for this one a ways back. It's a mockumentary about director Robert Clouse's attempt to finish the film Game of Death after the untimely death of its star, Bruce Lee. In Finishing the Game, Clouse starts a frantic search for an impersonator to replace Lee, and much wackiness and Hollywood satire ensue. Sounds like fun, but keep in......

Everyone at Phillyist has guilty pleasures, some guiltier than others. For Editor Jill and me, one of our biggest guilty pleasures of 2007 has been Fall Out Boy's (MySpace) latest album, Infinity on High. Before you roll your eyes and click down to the next post, hear us out. This album had a lot more thought go into the song structure and overall album structure than most others we've heard lately. So we're giving in......

This week's quote is from Bertolt Brecht, the author of Mouther Courage and Her Children. It goes in full: "Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." Now, on with the listings! 50 West 50 - You love her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else... November 16-December 2. Tickets online. Baby with the Bathwater - Don't throw it out. November 16-December 1. Reservations online. Hate......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

T.O. Book Giveaway
11/4/07-11/5/07...

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend My Kid Could Paint That - A documentary about child painter Marla Olmstead, and the questions about aesthetics that her story brings to the forefront. She and her family went on a rollercoaster ride of fame and infamy. Her paintings were hailed as great works of abstract expressionism by some, and started selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. She appeared on many national news programs.......

As we're sure you've heard by now, Officer Charles Cassidy, who was shot during the attempted robbery of a Dunkin' Donuts in East Oak Lane yesterday, passed away this morning. Officer Cassidy, who was 54, leaves behind a wife and three children. This isn't going to be a prolonged post, but if you don't have lunch plans, we now have some for you. If you have lunch plans, change them, because the Quizno's stores at......

When our friend first played a track for us by The Go! Team we thought it sounded like The Electric Company meets Nintendo music meets cheerleaders on crack. And that was only the first album. Their new CD, Proof of Youth, is back with a tighter version of the band, creating music that is even more bonkers. With guest stars ranging from Chuck D (wha!?!) to Bonde do Role's Marina Ribatski, you have to......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Defective Yeti is celebrating Halloween with a list of links to the entire text of over 20 spooky stories. Here's a unique list: great pizza moments in film. Yum! (Via Sarah, via SlashFood) It's a joining together of geek-iverses for a good cause! "Fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity will auction off an autographed script from SCI FI Channel's Battlestar Galactica to......

At 12:30 this afternoon, the organization Moms Against Guns will bring its message to the masses from a stage in Love Park. Lynne Korman Honickman, local philanthropist and founder of the organization, was told she'd be "spinning her wheels" if she tried to galvanize women across the state to express their outrage over our appalling rate of gun violence, particularly that against children. This afternoon's rally is the organization's official kick-off; there is already......

Warm up your Tivos, because some exciting television program is coming your way this Saturday! And by exciting, we mean boring and pointless. It's a televised debate between the Philadelphia mayoral candidates! The city has ordered Judge Rayford A. Means to fix the two rooming houses he owns in Southwest Philadelphia, which are apparently infested with rodents, have faulty plumbing, sagging floors and broken ceilings, and are also overcrowded. In response to a grand jury......

A gunman attacked an armored car as it pulled up to service an ATM at a Wachovia Bank in Rhawnhurst early yesterday morning. He killed two guards, injured a third, and escaped with a bag of money. Surveillance cameras recorded the entire attack. The killer "is described as a black man, wearing a yellow baseball cap with a black logo, a black short-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. His car appeared to be......

No matter where you stand on the abortion debate, you probably don't want to come face-to-face with graphic photographs of aborted fetuses just after you've had breakfast. (In fact, we feel so strongly about that that we've included an extra dose of cute, above.) So we're just providing you with the friendly public service announcement that there's a smattering of abortion protesters, big signs in hand, standing around City Hall and preaching that only......

Dear Rittenhouse Square: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the good times we've shared. Thank you for the picnics. Thank you for the people-watching. Thank you for the adorable dogs and even more adorable children. Thank you for serving as a frequent shortcut. I'm a big fan of any diagonal path that can get me there faster. Recently, while crossing the park, I saw two young men in t-shirts and baggy blue jeans carry......