You know what we're thinking about today? We're only 21 days away from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...Beware the link, the signature music plays right away, and loudly, too. NEW PARADISE LABORATORIES PRESENTS: PROM! That's right. PROM. Sort of like prom, but capitalized. New Paradise Laboratories, with the help of some Drexel students, is bringing their unique and experiential theater experience to Philadelphia at the Mandell Theater on Drexel's campus. New Paradise themselves described......

Yesterday, the city was humming with national media and energetic supporters of Clinton and (mostly) Obama. Ten more photos after the jump.......

You may have noticed that another new writer has joined us! And we take it from all the recommends you've given his first post that you like him. We forgot to give him a proper introduction on that post, so we're making up for it now. Mark Downing works in video production, but also wrote at the sports desk of a New Jersey newspaper, and it's that experience, along with his love of the Philadelpha......

With Hillary Clinton's big primary wins in Texas and Ohio, it seems that the national eye has turned towards Pennsylvania and our primary on April 22. So much of the news about Michael this week was about his endorsement of Hillary Clinton. He says he's going to campaign hard for Clinton, who is no longer the presumptive nominee, as she was when Nutter gave his endorsement. Given that race may now be back in play......

Remember those makeshift stables in Strawberry Mansion that animal cruelty investigators raided yesterday? Well, the owners of about 40 of the horses living there removed their animals yesterday, as ordered. About 20 more horses were allowed to stay in three garages on Fletcher Street near 27th that had been made into stables while owners of those properties made repairs. The other structures will be bulldozed today. Yesterday, City Council gave final approval to a lease......

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......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. The upcoming print edition of Empire Magazine has a couple of cool new pictures from The Incredible Hulk. Looks like William Hurt makes a kick-ass General Ross! Rumor is that a sequel to The Last Starfighter is on the way, focusing on the son of the titular character from the first movie, and featuring the talents of the original writing, directing, and acting......

Our very own state could actually be of key importance in the Democratic presidential primary, so the campaigns for both Clinton and Obama will be opening offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the coming days, and expanding their staff by recruiting local pros. The Inquirer takes a look at the battle going on over a proposed state-wide ban on smoking in Pennsylvania. A woman leaped from her third-floor apartment window on South Street near 2nd......

Photo credit: sniderscion Torontoist spent its week uncovering who was behind mysterious ads for a drug called "Obay" that popped up across the country (Scientology? Frank Shepard Fairey?), first tracing them to an advocacy group called Colleges Ontario and then confirming their suspicions a few days later.Phillyist learned how to put on a puppet show – it's not as easy as you might think!Shanghaiist discovers that the average starting monthly pay for fresh graduates......

The president and board chairman of the city-funded nonprofit Philadelphia Safe and Sound testified yesterday that they were forced by Mayor Street and his senior aides to spend an extra $21 million that they knew did not exist in the city budget. It's those expenditures that have forced Safe and Sound to cancel dozens of programs in recent weeks. You can find copies of Safe and Sound's testimony online here and here. Insiders say......

"A Philadelphia parents' group sharply criticized the city school district and the USDA yesterday for not acting earlier to recall possibly tainted beef served to children in school cafeterias." The latest poll in Pennsylvania shows Hillary Clinton's lead against Obama shrinking, and also suggests that regardless of which candidate wins the Democratic primary, he or she will have a close, tough fight against John McCain. Meanwhile, the Montgomery County Democratic Committee is meeting tonight to......

Most estimates put the number of illegal immigrants in this country at around 5 million. Some view this fact as evidence that illegal immigration is a struggle akin to the civil rights movement of the 1950s. That may sound a bit far-fetched, but in many ways the struggle is similar. We face a public that is in many parts of the nation exceptionally hostile to any illegal immigrants, regardless of their plight. Additionally, the federal......

Photo by Phillyist's Matt Johnson, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007. Phillyist explored an impending implosion and lived to tell the tale.Gothamist marveled at the city's new NYC-branded condom campaign - especially the use of a Toronto landmark in the advertising. (Also, fun fact: Gothamist turned five years old yesterday.)Tired of the worldwide Scientology protests? Torontoist totally isn't: they covered the big downtown protest the day it happened, and followed up with an examination of all......

Remember that call for writers we put out a few weeks ago? Well, the intrepid Tony Iantosca was one of the first people to respond to it, so it makes sense that he'd also be the first new writer from our new batch to post on Phillyist. Tony is a recent graduate of Johnson State College in Vermont and moved to Philly on a whim. He's still getting to know the ropes around Philadelphia, but......

Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughlin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Gothamist was amazed after the Giants won the Super Bowl, the city went wild, and it witnessed a ticker-tape parade.Barack Obama drew 20,000+ ahead of Seattle’s Saturday caucus.Londonist had Super Tuesday too.Elusive guerrilla street artist Banksy revisits Los Angeles.After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and came this close to making......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. Even though Will Arnett's performance as the voice of K.I.T.T. in the upcoming Knight Rider TV movie was already done and in the can, he's now been replaced with Val Kilmer due to a conflict of interest: Arnett has done voicework on GMC truck commercials for over a decade, and K.I.T.T. is a Ford Mustang. This sounds like a joke, but it's apparently......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Chicagoist has discovered that animals like Obama for president. There's even a Venn diagram explaining it all! (Remember to digg it if you like it.) Exciting news! Warren Ellis announced late yesterday that he's launching a free weekly webcomic starting February 15th at FreakAngels.com. The plot sounds suspiciously like that of Umbrella Chronicles, but whatever. The point is, Warren Ellis webcomic!!!......

Dear La Petite Mort, I think my game is broken. I haven't been out on multiple dates in years. I'll admit, I'm sort of a particular guy. If I want to see There Will Be Blood and she wants to see 27 Dresses, done. If I want to talk about Obama and all she can say is, Oh Britney! she's finished. It might seem picky, but I never want to settle. If she's too short,......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens' celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hillary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

The PA Guv is meeting up with New York Senator and 2008 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at City Hall. The Inquirer reports that the 1:15pm meeting was added to her schedule late last night. Phillyist suspects a last-minute cheese steak craving may have been the motivating factor behind the visit, but it may have something to do with Governor Rendell's endorsement of the candidate-formerly-known-as 'first lady', which he will make official at the meeting today.......

As a member of the Writers’ Guild of America, I am not really allowed to write posts for Phillyist, so you probably have noticed that there hasn’t been much from me on the site since the Philadelphia Eagles’ merciful demise. (By the way, this is all code for “I have been feeling really lazy” – Karl Rove’s words – lately and have been trying to do as little thinking as possible.) But something annoyed the......

A Philadelphia police officer shot in 1966 while trying to stop a burglary finally died on Sunday from complications of his injuries, and his death has therefore been ruled a murder. Police are now considering whether to charge the shooter (already sentenced to 10 to 20 years for attempted murder) with the crime. Pacifico Ford in Philadelphia and Springfield Ford in Delco have made an agreement with the government to reimburse African African customers who......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Colbert Report (Mon, 11:30PM-12AM, Comedy Central) - We rarely mention this show in this column, because it's understood to always be worth watching, but we wanted to point it out in particular this week, because tonight, Stephen's guest is a LEGO sculptor named Nathan Sawaya, and LEGO sculptors are cool. On the Lot (Tue, 8PM-9PM, Fox) - This week sees the end of the season for this......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Philadelphia's parade of presidential candidates continues; today the NEA will hear from Senator Barack Obama, Senator Joe Biden, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. The Inquirer has more details on the strange drama surrounding that recently discovered manuscript of The Good Earth. Early yesterday morning, a West Philly biker was bringing up the rear of a group of bikers who were weaving in and out of traffic as they headed north on 95 when he......

One of the suspects in the planned attack on Fort Dix applied to be a Philadelphia police officer in April, but luckily he didn't get very far in the procedure, as he was ineligible for various reasons. Remember that story about some of the Penn State football players getting into a fight? Well, the law hasn't sorted out what exact punishments they'll receive yet, but Joe Pa has. Good old Joe Pa. (Via Jill,......

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get......

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: "Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!" On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment The action was thick......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. Say, it with us, fellow Harry Potter fans: whew! Yes, Emma Watson, along with the two other main "child" stars, will officially be reprising her role as Hermione in the rest of the films, despite what the tabloids have been saying. (Via Editor Jill) Hey, somebody found one of those R2-D2 mailboxes in the area! It's "at the corner of Frontenac......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing-- what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as they......