You know it's bad when the dry cleaning lady gives you a disapproving look and tells you she can't guarantee success on the first try. REAL PIRATES AT THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE Well, sort of. Their historically significant stories and wares are on display over at the Franklin Institute. The exhibit specifically features artifacts from the Whydah, including a full-size replica of the ship. The show runs until 8pm tonight, so you'll have time to head......

Why doesn't anybody tell us about these things before they happen?......

Ah, flash mobs. We love them. From massive pillow fights to silent discos, they’re generally outrageous, funny, and tend to be a lot safer than actual mobs. We’ve got word that a flash mob will be striking Rittenhouse Square this Saturday, May 17th. Fifty people, all donned in black, will arrive at noon, streaming into the park from all corners. They’ll meet up in the middle, turn east, and look up at the sun......

Proofreading Philly tries to capture typos, wordos, and all other kinds of grammatical mistakes that we see around the city. But we need your help! Email photos to us from your computer or your phone, and show the city that you care about good grammar. Once in a while, Proofreading Philly turns into Fact-checking (Phact-checking?) Philly, and this is one of those times. We just wouldn't be responsible bloggers if we didn't correct CBS 3's......

Ah, The Franklin Institute. Sorry, The Franklin. (As an aside, what the fuck is up with that? We know that Philadelphia is all Ben-obsessed and everything, but honestly, when your marketing people make it harder to Google you or find pictures of you on Flickr, they deserve to be fired, not to have their efforts rewarded with rebranding. I'm going to continue to call it The Franklin Institute. Period.) Who would've thought that The Franklin......

Yet another Christian holiday comes to pass on this bright and sunny day. Today is Good Friday. It marks the day Jesus suffered and died for the sins of humanity. But look at that face—He doesn't let it get Him down! It's Good Friday because He knew how much Friday would always mean to us, and asked His publicist to put a good spin on the otherwise gloomy fact that He died today. The......

The Inquirer reminds us that Monday is the last day to register for Pennsylvania's April 22nd primary. They also include a list of locations you can go to register, and a link to a site with more information. Meanwhile, the Inquirer has another primary-related article which reveals that since last November, according to state registration numbers, the Democratic Party has gained 111,227 new voters, and the Republican Party has lost 13,391. A helpful list......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend Witnesses or Svjedoci Set in a small town in Croatia during the civil war of the early '90s, this film adaptation of the novel Plaster Sheep tells the story of the investigation into the murder of a Serbian smuggler and loan shark. The story is told from multiple perspectives and only slowly does the reason for the murder become clear. Sounds interesting, and the majority of......

D'oh! We up and forgot to celebrate Pennsylvania Day yesterday! While we were forgetting, Pennsylvania was earning the national average grade of B-minus in the Pew Center on the States scorecard on the effectiveness of state government, which just happened to get released yesterday. PA "was praised for creating a plan to respond to its alarming backlog of bridges in need of repairs and furnishing meaningful information about programs funded with state money." Meanwhile,......

Wednesday is named after the Germanic god Woden – god of gods in the Anglo Saxon pantheon, who was swallowed up by generations of cheeky Christian settlers who gradually morphed his religious stature into that of a folkloric king for the sake of proselytizing those who once believed in him. He is the basis for a primary character in Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods. THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE LUNAR ECLIPSE EVENT We wanted to toss......

Philadelphia has one of the highest rates of police shootings in the country. The Daily News takes a look at what's being done about it, and is pretty underwhelmed. Apparently "many of the officers involved in these shootings are back to their regular street beats, even though most incidents are still being investigated without a determination that the officers were justified in firing their weapons." Due to the fact that local schools had received recalled......

We're going next month, and we can't wait!......

In honor of Ben Franklin’s birthday, lettuce-clothed PETA activists braved the cold yesterday afternoon to spread the word about animal cruelty. Dressed in nothing but iceberg lettuce, a bit of trim and a stretchy waistband, local Lettuce Lady Nicole Mathews passed out faux-turkey sandwiches, talked to tourists and answered bewildered Franklin Institute attendants in 30 degree cold. All, of course, prompting the perfectly reasonable question, “whaaaa?” It turns out our city’s great historical mascot (in......

We'd like to start this post off with something we just read in a press release: "If Ben [Franklin] were alive today, we believe that he would be brokenhearted to see the abuses endured by the same birds whom he sought to honor," says Lettuce Lady Nicole Matthews. "With so many delicious meat alternatives available, there's never been a better time to go vegetarian." We quote it because PETA's scantily-clad Lettuce Ladies will be......

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 best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. This story is kind of horrible, but it's also kind of hilarious: a squirrel nibbling at the power lines in Bayonne got electrocuted, caught on fire, fell down, and blew up a car. The owners of the car have their house decorated for Halloween and are considering dedicating the plastic tombstone on their lawn to the squirrel. (Via Jason) Some crazy......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. Ira & Abby - Ira is a brilliant, neurotic Jew with tons of "issues" (hmm... where have we heard of that character before?), and Abby is a free spirit who likes to solve her friends' problems. They meet, fall in love, meet each other's parents, and decide to get married, all in just a few hours. Then, of course, a series of wacky shenanigans make them......

If you’re finding yourself short on culture and shorter on cash, you’re in luck this weekend. Saturday is Museum Day, where you can get into a gaggle of local museums gratis. Sponsored by Smithsonian Magazine, the day is a way to spread art and history around and “bring Americans together,” we’re assuming in queues. All you have to do is sign up on the site to get your free pass (good for you and one......

Over the weekend, I visited the King Tut exhibition at the Franklin Institute for the second time. (The first time also yielded a column.) The exhibit closes in a few days, so it's more crowded than it was when I went in March. That's to be expected. Unfortunately, large crowds breed bad behavior. You see it at airports; you see it at rock concerts; and surprisingly enough, you see it at museums. The King......

This Phillyist started drinking coffee in college (we're just not all that precocious, what can we say). Those days, coffee consisted of a cuppa from the student center convenience store or, on good days, the spoils from a trip to Wawa. We're in danger of dating ourselves here, but a Starbucks didn't appear anywhere near campus until half-way through our tenure, and we didn't succumb to the green goddess's siren song with regularity until......

Plan Philly has an article about that roundtable discussion amongst bloggers, reporters, and academics about the future of Philadelphia. Our own Jill Ivey was there to offer her insights. Go Phillyist! An 18-year-old former Philadelphian has admitted guilt in two armed bank robberies in April in South Jersey, as well as an attempted carjacking and a home invasion following the second robbery. The Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute is on track "to break......

Imagine dusk in the Appalachian mountains - the crickets are chirping through the tall grass, the moist air wets your back as a cool breeze sweeps through the dense heat. It's finally that time. The time when friends and family congregate on the front porch for some cold drinks - iced tea, beer and maybe some whiskey - and best of all, live music. The sounds of the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass will soon......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Becoming Jane - English majors around the world are either cringing or jumping for joy over this historical drama about the personal life of Jane Austen, which heavily influenced her work. Normally, this Phillyist would be rolling his eyes and thinking of any and every excuse imaginable to avoid seeing this movie, but if push comes to shove, he might suffer through it. After all, Anne......

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I've written before about parents who really need to keep their children in control on at least one occasion, but for every impolite or incompetent parent who doesn't know how to control his or her child(ren), there are probably a dozen other parents who do. There are also genuinely good children who don't usually need to be reigned in by their parents. I've recently made a fabulous new friend who has the most adorable six-month-old......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Breaking and Entering - Oh no! Another movie about three people whose lives intersect! Still, this one does sound rather intriguing, as it features Jude Law as a landscape architect who decides to start investigating the repeated thefts at his state-of-the-art offices in inner-city King's Cross (a seedy area of town he's trying to help rejuvenate), and ends up stumbling outside the confines of his familiar......

Looking for something to do before checking out the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute? London Grill, in the art museum area, wants to serve you an authentic meal before you step into the golden age. The restaurant will offer special dishes and drinks, inspired by traditional Egyptian cuisine, every evening until the exhibit completes its run on September 30. Created by chef and co-owner Michael McNally and Chef Ghita Belgout - who was......

As we mentioned a while back, King Tut is coming to town this weekend! Well, okay, maybe not the King himself, but a bunch of his coolest stuff will be on display at The Franklin Institute. Now that it's become clear that Tom Knox is doing exceedingly well, and has a great deal of money, a bill has been introduced to temporarily cancel the campaign contribution limits in order to even things out a......

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,......

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......