Happy Birthday Funkmaster Flex! PHILLY GEEK DINNER AT NATIONAL MECHANICS Tonight you can celebrate geekdom with fellow geeks and scarf some quality eats at the same time. Head to National Mechanics and join local geeks for the inaugural Philly Geek Dinner meetup. Don't bring your "I-know-what- venture-capital-is-and-how-to-beg-for-it" slide show, though. Good food will satisfy your analog hungers and the drink selection will help the shy ones start geeking it up with the group. There will......

"No - no words. No words to describe it. Poetry! They should've sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful..." - Ellie Arroway, talking about the amazing spring day we have here in Philadelphia. OPEN STAGE NIGHT AT COMEDY CABARET You know the deal. Show up and pound a few so you can convince yourself that people want to see you try to sing or be funny or do that weird thing where you put......

We're all out of new ways to praise Friday. It's been a long week and we're just glad we survived. THE ORIGINAL 23RD STREET ARMORY ANTIQUES SHOW We sent the ladies over to the Armory last week, but this one is for everyone who likes a quality antique. This event will end at 6 but if you work in the vicinity of 23rd and Market, you should leave work early because you deserve it.......

Many neo-conservatives both in the Bush White House and Congress have argued that in a post-9/11 world torture is a necessary and viable method of obtaining information from detained enemy combatants. Others have argued that torture discredits the U.S. abroad, breeds anti-American sentiment, places our soldiers at risk, and contradicts most of mankind’s reasonable standards as to what is and is not moral. Here’s an overview of the United States’ recent relationship with torture: This......

Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama exchanged blows in Ohio Tuesday leading up to next week’s primary in that state. 161 delegates are at stake. The exchange of criticism focused largely on Clinton’s position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. On free trade, there appears to be little difference in the candidates’ rhetoric and voting records. Clinton, however, faces a challenge on the issue that Obama does not. Obama claims that......

Tuesday is traditionally a day of stupid two-for-one deals, twice the music from awful radio bands and similar disappointments of daily proportions. Let's see if there's anything low on disappointment and high on "Thanks-for-telling-me-about-this-awesome-event!" Or something like that. PATRICK MURPHY - TAKING THE HILL: FROM PHILLY TO BAGHDAD TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS The North Philly native is coming to the UPenn book store tonight to discuss his autobiographical release Taking the Hill, which......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Antiques Roadshow (Mon, 8PM-9PM, WHYY & WLVT) First part of a three part series set in San Antonio, Texas. One of the items examined is a World Series program for the 1905 series between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics. Good Eats (Mon, 8PM-8:30PM, Food Network) Our favorite cooking show takes a look at our favorite vegetable: broccoli! History of the Joke (Mon, 9PM-11PM, History......

I’m filling in for Ross this week with Asshole of the Week, and the honorable fossilized simpleton from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter, is my selection for this prestigious award. This camera-ready attention whore, who is so desperate for air time that he calls up 610-WIP every Monday morning and eagerly reveals how little he knows about Philadelphia sports while the majority of the hosts' mics are turned off in order to stifle their stupefied laughter,......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. State of the Union Address (Mon, 9PM-10:30PM, All network stations, among others) - W gives us the traditional load of bullshit in front of a joint session of Congress. Kansas governor Kathleen Sibelius will give the Democratic response. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Mon, 10PM-10:30PM, Food Network) - This time they're taking a tour of New Jersey diners, including restaurants in Long Beach Island, Hackensack, Lake Hopatcong, Livingston,......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. 25 more films are being added to the Library of Congress' national registry, our favorites being Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Oklahoma!, Back to the Future, 12 Angry Men, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Women. (Via Jill) The Movie Blog has a first look at a new Disney animated film called Bolt. It's about a dog who's the star......

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......

Edward Pettit wrote an enlightening cover story for this week's edition of the City Paper, proposing the relocation of Edgar Allan Poe's grave site to our fine city. The old chap lived here for six tumultuous years. He wrote here, drank here, and likely enjoyed the more potent aspects of the poppy seed here, too. Pettit's argument is lucid and informative and we would love to see Poe's return. However, there is little to suggest......

If you, like Phillyist, depend on XPN's live stream to entertain you during the long work day, you're in for what might be a sign of things to come today. XPN, along with other radio stations that simulcast their broadcasts and many webcasters, is participating in the Internet Radio Day of Silence. Why would they do such a thing? Do they want to torture us? No. But the Copyright Royalty Board does. A recent......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. What was originally going to be a bongos-controller racing game for the GameCube is now coming to Wii with the title DK Bongo Blast, and it'll be controlled using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. Sadly, it doesn't have a US release date yet (they get it in Japan on June 28, those lucky bastards), but in the meantime,......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Guess what the Irredeemable Ant-Man is doing. (Via) Yay! It sounds like Congress is going to uphold the ban on further taxing of internet access. (Via Jill) Are you the kind of person who likes all kinds of beverages, and so can't decide which flavor to get? Then Anything and Whatever are the soft drinks for you. Anything is a cola that comes......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. The Hip Hop Project - This documentary, produced by Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah, is about Kazi, a once-homeless teenager who now works with teenagers in New York City to craft hip hop songs from their personal lives as "a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery." Russel Simmons has helped to fund the Hip Hop Project, even, along with Bruce Willis, donating a recording studio......

With all that went down this week, we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay tribute to those......

The Liberty Bell Forever stamp was released, complete with a speech next to the actual Liberty Bell, yesterday morning. A North Jersey business immediately bought 24,000 of them for a direct-mail program. Two state Senators held their third hearing Wednesday on the possibility of convening a constitutional convention for the reform of state government, and they did it at U. Penn Law School. There were three speakers: "an area lawyer and author, a Rutgers......

Area anti-casino forces are attacking on various fronts. Next month the City Council will vote on whether to include a question on the next ballot which could put the decision of whether to have casinos in the city or not in the hands of voters. Bill Cosby gave another of his patented controversial talks at a Save Our Children forum at the Community College of Philadelphia on Wednesday. Meanwhile, (perhaps at Cosby's insistence?) cops......

Our own Senator Specter has reminded the President of something important: Congress is also involved in the decision-making! Those cameras they put in on Roosevelt Boulevard have really made a difference: 96% fewer cars are running red lights now. Gun violence in Pennsylvania "is killing black people at a higher rate than anywhere else in America." And that's just based on the 2004 data. So how do we beat the violence? The mayoral candidates want......

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......

This Phillyist works just a block away from the Inquirer/Daily News building, so its weird to think that it might be sold and become...something other than the Inquirer/Daily News building. In the wake of the news that the young man shot on New Year's by police was unarmed comes the news that the mother of another unarmed man shot by police, this time back in April, is suing the officer who fired the shot,......

There's good news and bad news for local victims of sex crimes by the clergy. A judge threw out a lawsuit against the Philadelphia Archdiocese because he said the conduct alleged did not qualify as racketeering. But new protections for victims of sex abuse should soon be signed into law by Governor Rendell. Cartoonist for the Daily News Signe Wilkinson will appear in the Library of Congress' 2007 "Women Who Dare" desk calendar. Wilkinson was......

There is a Congressman who has gained no small notoriety in the past year. The NRA has given his voting record an A+, NARAL an F. The left-leaning Committee for Reform and Ethics in Washington called him “one of the most unethical members in Congress.” Perhaps that’s why he raised more money from lobbyists than almost any other candidate for the House of Representatives; why he consistently opposes lobbying reform and disclosure requirements; why he......

More shootings over the weekend that left 4 dead and 13 wounded have led anti-violence organization Men United for a Better Philadelphia to call for a cease-fire. They plan to go door-to-door in the most violent neighborhoods with their message, helping young men at risk for doing violence by connecting them with jobs, education, and social services. They also plan to teach anger management to prison inmates so they don't return to violent lives......

Last night was obviously good for Pennsylvania Democrats, but precisely how good remains to be seen. They can claim already Rick Santorum's Senate seat, at least three--and maybe four--Congressional seats, and five state House seats. Locally, Democrat Patrick Murphy seems likely to pick up Pennsylvania's Eighth District with a razor-thin lead over Mike Fitzpatrick, but Fitzpatrick has yet to concede. In the Seventh District, Curt Weldon lost as expected to Vice Adm. Joe Sestak,......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. Made your decision yet on which next gen video game console you're going to purchase? Well, Siliconera is hear to remind us that it's really all about the games, and offers us a detailed breakdown of each system's launch titles. (Via) Rolling Stone has three words for you: Worst. Congress. Ever. (Via) Okay, this is fricking incredible: dude made pretty much perfect, working......

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbq's and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it the -ists ponder? Phillyist is concerned that the war on Trans fats could affect its beloved cheese steak sandwiches, something for which we should all be concerned. They also seem to......

As we feared would happen, Philadelphia-based Comcast's proposed merger with Adelphia Communications won approval Thursday from the Federal Communications Commission without forcing Comcast to make CN8 and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia channels available to customers of satellite TV and non-Comcast cable systems. For a moment, we became optimistic when we read this Bloomberg article which reported that "as a condition of approval, the FCC required the buyers to offer some of their regional sports networks......

by Jonathan Tannenwald We were perusing the Ist-a-verse recently and came across this post from our bretheren in D.C. that piqued our interest. There's a classically Washington finger-pointing spat going on down there between Comcast and Congress, over the fact that the Philadelphia-based cable network refuses to put the channel that has the rights to most Washington Nationals games on its cable systems. This has been going on since before the 2005 season, the Nationals'......