Fun around town, for $10 or less: FRIDAY Center City District Gallery Night: Special exhibitions and complimentary cocktail receptions at participating galleries, 5-8:30PM. Free Not a Crock, Nor a Croc: Local poet Peter Krok reads and signs copies of his new collection Looking for an Eye at the Grey Lodge Pub (6235 Frankford), 6-8PM. Free The Terror!: Welcome to the Terrordome, a night of local comedy featuring Animosity Pierre, Meg and Rob, and Secret Pants......

Oprah’s said it. The helpful Victoria Secret clerks say it. Our great-aunt Holly used to say it all the time: a well-fitting bra makes the woman. Today you can acquire said well-fitting brassiere and help raise money for breast cancer research at the same time at Fit for the Cure. Wacoal certified fitters will be on hand in the lingerie department at Macy’s Center City today from 11AM-5PM; for every woman who participates in a......

Until tomorrow, at least.......

Fun around town, for $10 or less: X-mas Eve Holiday Light Show: The famous light show at Macy's (1300 Market), every hour on the hour from 10AM to 6PM. Free (p.s. it will always be the Wanamaker's light show to us) And While You're There: Visit the Dickens Village on the third floor of Macy's (1300 Market), 10AM-6PM. Free See the Choo-choos: Holiday railroad display at the Reading Terminal Market (12th and Market), 8AM-6PM. Free......

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......

Paris Hilton, former celebutante/party girl/homemade video star and now alcoholic elephant advocate (thanks to Jim, Ross, and Sarah for that one) is releasing a new perfume called CAN CAN. (Get it? Because that's something they do in Paris. But then, so is this.) To celebrate, the formerly constipated jailbird will be at Macy's Center City today – and you can meet her! All you have to do is be one of the first 200......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. UPDATE: We just discovered the first full trailer for Grindhouse is up on the web, so we felt it our duty to link you to it immediately. It is, of course, completely awesome. We're with The Movie Blog - we can't wait to see this movie! A Milli Vanilli biopic? Seriously? We don't see how this could turn out well at all. (Via......

In this virtual world of ours, it's become really easy to forget common courtesy sometimes. The handwritten letter is practically a thing of the past, and thank-you notes are about to make their exit, as well. Pity, really, because people like to know that they're loved and that you appreciate the nice things they do for you. But beyond the warm-and-fuzzy feeling a thank-you note can give the recipient, and the fact that sending said......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Tue; 8PM-10:30PM; ABC Family) - We've fallen back in love with Harry Potter recently. It's very comforting escapist entertainment. Watching these movies could actually be a fun new holiday tradition! This week we've got the quite excellent film adaptation of the third of the popular children's novels. Of course, the fourth one, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is......

A man recently had a mushy-gushy, Vaseline-on-the-lense soft-focus moment with a lovely lady while in line at The Dickens Village (which, this year, can be found along with the light show at Macy's in Center City). Alas, as these stories go, after boy found girl, boy lost girl...in the bustling holiday crowds. Now here's the modern twist: he's turned to the blogosphere to find her: If on the slightest chance (about 300 million to......

One of the things that saddened us about the closing of Lord and Taylor was the prospect that those lights would come down and we wouldn't be able to walk through on a weekday afternoon and see how happy they made little kids. Fortunately, Macy's saved the lights. And here's the (grainy) proof.......

If you're hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs "so are you nakie" to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

On a recent trip to the allergist, Elite -ist was informed of something quite shocking: a dog allergy. But Elite -ist grew up with dogs! Elite -ist has never had a bad reaction around dogs! Besides...just look at the picture. How could you be allergic to something that adorable? Austinist: Aww, hipster love! Sampaist: Our Portuguese isn't improving, but as long as Sampaist keeps posting adorable puppies—this time with a cute kid!—we'll keep posting their......

We have a couple announcements for the Style Devotees among you. Now through Earth Day, Phillyist favorite Buffalo Exchange is sponsoring a Coats for Cubs drive. Bring your real and faux fur apparel, including fur trims, fur accessories, and shearling to any Buffalo Exchange and they'll give it to The Humane Society for use as as bedding to comfort orphaned and injured wildlife. As the critters aren't fashionistas, damaged goods are a-ok. (You can also......

Strawbridges is no longer to become Macy's, although that building where they shot Mannequin still will. (via) Between this and the re-sale of our recently purchased newspapers, we're beginning to wonder if Philadelphia can commit to anything anymore. Other than crime. Speaking of which... Two men have been arrested for using fake qualifications in order to be paid real money. That they managed to bilk the city out of $400,000 with their hijinks suggests they're......

Exciting changes are coming to our fair town, friends, in the form of department stores, restaurants/concert halls, and maybe even a casino: The Lord and Taylor across from City Hall, as well as the Strawbridge's at 8th and Market, will close around June 1st. The Strawbridge's will then be gone for good, but the L&T will reopen as a Macy's in August. We could have two new House of Blues restaurants soon, one in the......