This is the green issue, so it's appropriate to read it online. Then grab a bite to eat. If you've got the cash and time, try "Philly's greenest restaurateur." We Shop Eco. Make sure Fido is on board with the eco-friendliness. We really can't take it that far though. And biking in the city still scares us. Lessons learned from the Olympics. Keep on getting ready for Fringe; good luck getting into Wandering Alice though.......

It’s only right to pick up a hard copy of this one: City Paper presents the Comics Issue! How subversive. Or not. Is oil animal by-product free? Vegans are hit hard by the rising cost of gas. Yeah, what has he done? A look at at-large City Council member Jack Kelly's record, which apparently includes parking garages and puppies (two of our favorite things!). A tale of two truthinesses: Another look at the bill requiring......

Yesterday, in a speech to the AFL-CIO, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton endeared herself to the citizens of Philadelphia by comparing herself to Philly’s Phavorite Phictional Phrized Phighter, Rocky Balboa: "Sen. Obama says he's getting tired of the campaign. His supporters say they want it to end," she said. "Could you imagine if Rocky Balboa had gotten halfway up those art museum stairs and said, 'Well, I guess that's about far enough?' That's not the way......

Dear Mamaist: Lately, I've been babysitting a lovely little girl two days a week. Her parents are close friends of mine, and they named her for one of their personal literary heroines, which you know I think is awesome. She's five months old and thinks just about everything I do is funny, except for when she's a little tired. But when she is tired, I put her down in her crib and play lullaby versions......

Mary Poppins, or at least Disney's Mary Poppins, makes the British Suffrage movement look like fun. You paint signs and you go out and sing songs about equality. Linda Griffiths' play, Age of Arousal, currently being produced at the Wilma Theater, takes a different approach, showing things in what is likely a far more realistic light. The first scene of the play, in which Mary Barfoot (played by the always excellent Mary Martello), reclining......

Dear La Petite Mort, Why is it so enjoyable to motorboat an exquisite pair of boobies? I dont know the answer, but perhaps you do. Either way, i shall continue to motorboat. — Johnny Brumsky [sic] Dear John, Not quite sure why it's such excellent times. Perhaps you are flashing back to your infancy, when you were a wee lad and your mother's breasts loomed over you like giant hot air balloons. You wanted to......

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia's December On Stage listings make note of four productions of A Christmas Carol (one of which, admittedly, I loved), plus productions of A Christmas Story, Christmas City Follies, Comet, the Fifth Reindeer, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, The Holiday Goose - A Musical, Holiday Show at the Swing Club, The Nutcracker, O'Henry Christmas, The Santaland Diaries, Tiny Tim's Christmas, and Winter Musicale 2007. In short, the season is saturated......

This week's quote comes from the movie A Christmas Story, and is likely repeated in the play, opening next week at The Players Club of Swarthmore. It's what pretty much everybody tells Ralphie whenever he mentions that he wants a BB gun for Christmas. Now, on with the listings! A Christmas Carol - Marley was dead, to begin with. November 30-December 30. Tickets online. A Christmas Story - Now, about that BB gun... November 23-December......

An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf is not a perfect play. But the Arden's production of it is damned near perfect. Empty Plate, which made its debut at the Arden in 1994, was local playwright Michael Hollinger's first play, and it has some of the signs of an early work by a young writer: a little bit of pretense and an ending that you can see from a mile away. And......

Disclaimer: This event preview has been rated "M" for "Mature." Reader discretion is advised. (In other words, if you go to this concert and are offended, don't say we didn't warn you.) Have we mentioned lately that we hate the Electric Factory? We're pretty sure we have. And yet we find ourselves going back there for the third time in as many weeks. We must be gluttons for punishment. But, the bands we want to......

What's new and/or interesting at Philly theaters this weekend. Control - A biopic about Ian Curtis, the frontman of Joy Division, who hanged himself at a young age on the eve of the band's first U.S. tour. The film is based on a book by Curtis' wife Deborah. Newcomer Sam Riley stars as Curtis opposite Samantha Morton. Obviously it doesn't have a particularly happy ending, but the reviews are generally quite good, and it's a......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

If the first rule of film is “Show, don’t tell,” then I think it is about time that we invented a second one: “You can’t make a movie about a dude getting it on with a plastic doll, and expect people to take it seriously.” Lars and the Real Girl could have been a hilarious Andy Samberg digital video on SNL, but as a 105-minute movie, it is just horrible. In the film, Ryan Gosling......

This is my first review of an 1812 Productions play, but I've long been interested in the company. They are, after all, Philadelphia's only all-comedy theatre company. And as much as I love high-brow, intellectual, Great Works of Theatre™, sometimes, I just want to laugh. And so I was optimistic about The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. It was originally written for the inimitable Lily Tomlin and this production stars......

Performance: Fatboy (Brat Productions) (no future performances) I'm exhausted, so it's just as well the festival is over. I know, compared to other diarists, my eight plays were nothing, but it was a lot of theatre in a very short time by my standards. And it ruled. Some of the plays were great, more were so-so. But it felt incredibly good to watch live people performing (as opposed to all those filmed people I......

Tonight’s the night. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns to FX at 10 pm. You know that space between what’s funny and what’s socially inappropriate/totally taboo? Always Sunny locates that space and settles in for the long haul. It’s a guilty pleasure in the literal sense: the more we laugh, the guiltier we feel, because the heartiest laughs on this show come from subjects we’re supposed to take seriously, like homelessness, neglect, environmental concerns,......

Performance: Trad (Inis Nua Theatre Company) (Future PLAF Showtimes; Additional Showtimes) I realized today that I've gotten to the point at which I don't know what I'm seeing anymore. I show up at the theatre I'm supposed to be at, ticket in hand, and try my damnedest to remember what the Festival guide said about the show I'm seeing: Comedy? Drama? Dance? Musical? Of course, by that point, it doesn't matter. I just have to......

Performance: Litttle Girl Blue (Pheralyn Dove a.k.a. "Lady Dove") (No future performances) The last time I'd been at the Ethical Society it was to hear an ex-Buddhist monk discuss the Dharma for the modern age. Wednesday I went to see a one woman show about an African American woman's personal and spiritual journey. Gone was the Buddha statue adorned with lit candles. In its place were the props that would help the Little Girl Blue......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Rocket Science - When a film is described as "inspirational," we immediately approach it with suspicion, but this one at least has an interesting premise: a 15-year-old high school student (Reece Thompson) with an uncontrollable stutter decides to work through his disability by joining the debate team at school. The film is directed by Jeffrey Blitz, who overcame a speech impediment of his own as a......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Wow. Just, wow. You need to check this out. Dude decided to try to visit every Starbucks in Manhattan (that's 171) in one day - and purchase and at least partially consume a product from every one of them! He had to hit a store every seven minutes for 20 consecutive hours, spending $369.14, and the caffeine ended up leaving him dehydrated and......

Friday this Phillyist was sipping Strongbow in her new 'hood, enjoying the fact that everyone else had left for the shore and there was plenty of elbow room at the bar. Filed under Captain Obvious was how satisfying it must be to drop a deuce at Deuce. We laughed with our friend and made it the running joke of the night every time one of us got up to break the seal. We really do......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Broken English - This romantic comedy by first-time writer/director Zoe Cassavetes, and starring Parker Posey and Gena Rowlands, already hit Philly a while back during the Film Festival; you can read our review right here. Trailer Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse Brooklyn Rules - The story of three life long friends set against the backdrop of mobster John Gotti's rise to power in the '80s.......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Shatner has confirmed that he won't be in the new Star Trek movie, and Leonard Nimoy will. He seems kind of pissed, but he's got a sense of humor about it, too. Sci Fi has got a fun video from the red carpet outside the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, featuring interviews with the director, screenwriter,......

We were seated in the third row. And we were afraid, very afraid. Because the closer you are to the stage, the higher the chance the comedian is going to shit on you. With jokes on your outfit, your choice of companion, your very being. Luckily for us, we were sitting behind one of opener Paul Mecurio's relatives, so he generally shied away from our side of the theatre. The other side, not so lucky.......

Phillyist is pleased that San Francisco-based cartoonist and animator Levni Yilmaz has decided to go bi-coastal and share his weekly "Tales of Mere Existence" series with us. Already a hit at SFist, the comics find the "humor of self-destructive thinking, obsessiveness, and the way that we all create our own limitations and get in our own ways," which, we think, just about sums up the mindsets of most bloggers. Welcome to the fray, Lev! "Tales......

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......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. How about some political humor mixed with clips from The Godfather? Our favorite part is at the very end. (Via) Local aspiring filmmakers, be aware that the Big Bang Film Festival (also on MySpace) is calling for entries, and the deadline is approaching! Well, one of the deadlines. The regular deadline is June 1st, which is Friday, but there are "late"......

"I feel naked," our friend leaned over and whispered. We nodded our head. "Exposed, but in a good way," we replied, in awe of the man who was causing this feeling. It was the third song in and Damien Rice was alone on the stage, bathed in red light, with only his voice and his guitar. He sang, "It's not that we're scared/It's just that it's delicate," with such candor that the vulnerability in his......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. For the 24 fans, and 24 haters, out there, a list of the 10 Most Ludicrous Moments in the History of 24. (Via) How about another list? Nerd World has for us the Top 10 Science Fiction/Fantasy Novels That Really Need to Get Made into Movies. Um, you forgot Song of Ice and Fire!!! And we're sorry, but Snow Crash just isn't that......

I'm just going to come out and say it: I loved Shrek the Third. I didn't want to. I was worried that it'd be disappointing. The original was brilliant, and the second was a very strong sequel, but the Tomatoes had me convinced that the third would be less-than-stellar. The third installment of the popular series didn't equal the first two, but it had more of what made the first two so enjoyable: adult......