Dear Old City Movers: You guys rock. No, really. You rock. I've never moved with movers before. In the past, I'd enticed friends with upper body strength to help me move with the promise of fifty bucks or a few free meals or, most recently, a pizza and a six pack. But when Ross and I decided it was time to take that crucial couple step of moving in together, it became quickly apparent that......

Dear Philadelphia: I have lived here now for nearly six years. I made it through four and a half without buying pepper spray, and only acquired one from a friend when a string of sexual assaults last fall were a little too close to home. It remains attached to my keychain, except for when it isn't: before shows at the Electric Factory or TLA, I make sure to detach it and leave it somewhere......

Dear myphl17: What have you done to me? I realize I'm unemployed (again – sigh), but I swear, I really do have better things to do with my time than watch you. And yet here I sit, as often as three times per day, finding out who the baby daddy is, what the lie detector said, and whether it's a chick or a dude in the dress. That's right. I'm watching Maury. (Oh, I......

To the Right Hemisphere of My Brain: I have a column due at 2PM. That's just a few hours from now. It's usually a pretty simple column to write, really. I just choose something in Philadelphia—or not, if I'm not feeling like it— and write it a letter. It doesn't even have to be funny – it's ranged from the flippant to the tragic in the past. I just need to get it up. You......

Let's face it: bad things happen to good people. It sucks, but it's a reality we all have to get used to. Whether it's a bitter divorce, an untimely death, or a serious illness, it's hard for those most immediately affected by tragedy—be it large or small—to have the courage and the coping mechanisms to eventually return to the status quo. And then there's you: one degree of separation and absolutely hopeless. What do......

Dear Penn: Merry Christmas. (Or, perhaps more appropriately, happy belated Chanukah.) You get some nice gifts this season? Maybe an endowment or two? A couple of mentions in The New York Times? Some national accolades coming your way? That's nice. I'm happy for you. What's that? You want to know what I got for Christmas? A couple of very thoughtful gifts, and a couple of checks from family members who figured that I'd rather......

CBS 3 anchor Alycia Lane was arrested at 2:04 AM yesterday at the corner of W. 17th Street and 9th Avenue in NYC for allegedly punching a female police officer in the face. She was locked up in a New York jail cell as of yesterday afternoon. More on this story later. (Via Jason) TV star Bam Margera of West Chester, along with business partner and bar owner Don Moore, plans "to open a theater,......

Good morning, readers, from a Phillyist on a plane, killing time on the way to Louisville via Chicago. Yeah, I know that's really out of the way. But then, so is Louisville. Air travel is generally hated by most people. Strangely, though, today's experience has been almost pleasant. Here's why: (1) Tuesday afternoons in December are apparently an awesome time to fly. Business travelers are out of town, going about their midweek business, and......

Dear PhillyCarShare: I love you. I do. And I extol your virtues to anyone who asks. You're socially responsible. Your customer service is second-to-none. You sponsor events throughout the city. You've got these guys. What's not to love? Perhaps some of your customers. The kind who don't really know how to drive all that well and end up banging up one of your cars but not reporting it. The kind who leave the cars......

Dear Philadelphia Winter: The fact that I've started putting on a scarf for my walk to work means you're right around the corner, and there's no stopping you. For a significant portion of my life, I considered you a necessary evil. After all, without you, there would be no Thanksgiving, no Christmannakkanzaa, no New Year, right? But about three years ago, I decided that was a ridiculous idea. After all, people in, say, San Diego......

Dear Satan: I think I may believe in you now. You see, I know what hell is now, and it is the United States Post Office branch at Broad and Sansom. I spent an hour and a half there on Tuesday. An hour and a half. The line wasn't obscenely long – but there was only one clerk at the window. And even that wouldn't have been much of a problem, except that apparently,......

Dear Rittenhouse Square: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the good times we've shared. Thank you for the picnics. Thank you for the people-watching. Thank you for the adorable dogs and even more adorable children. Thank you for serving as a frequent shortcut. I'm a big fan of any diagonal path that can get me there faster. Recently, while crossing the park, I saw two young men in t-shirts and baggy blue jeans carry......

Dear God (go with me on this one – if someone can sue Him, I can sure as hell write Him a letter): Hey up there! How's it going? Long time no talk! Sorry about missing Rosh Hashannah last week. The holidays aren't on a consistent date every year—not on the Western calendar, at least—so I didn't know when they were when I made my PLAF schedule. But hey – the Torah indicates that......

For our parents, it was the assassination of JFK. Ask any of them and they can remember exactly what they were doing at the time they found out JFK had been killed. I never understood that until September 11, 2001. Our generation can remember it like it was yesterday. For us, that moment, frozen in time, is and will always be 9/11. Back then I was in community journalism at a small paper in Bristol,......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Labyrinth - Woah! Here's a blast from the past. It's the 1986 classic wherein a young Jennifer Connelly has to travel into a weird fantasy world and face-off against a charming, well-hung, singing, dancing, evil David Bowie - not to mention a bunch of Jim Henson puppets - in order to save her kidnapped baby brother. Of course, it's ostensibly a kid's movie, so she has......

On July 17th, Michael Vick (among others) was indicted on myriad charges, including illegal dog fighting. You also shouldn't forget his weak attempt to "smuggle" a bong through airport security in January – a charge which was dropped because all tests on the confiscated substances came back negative. You'll also remember that in 2005, Vick was sued by a woman alleging that he passed herpes onto her while using the alias "Ron Mexico." Paris Hilton......

Dear Philadelphia: I think you’re stalking me. What’s more, I kind of like it. Two weeks ago, while Mamaist was visiting, I took her up to New York for a day. Not to make her sound too small-town Texan (she’s not – she’s traveled plenty, just not in the Northeast, and besides, El Paso isn’t a small town by any means), but it was her first time visiting the Big Apple, so she had......

Dear Radio 104.5: I don't know where you came from, but I think I love you. With Y-Rock exclusively 24/7 on the internet and in HD, the Philadelphia airwaves had been severely lacking in the modern rock department of late. And then one day, while my boyfriend was surfing the radio in his car, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" came on. I assumed that we were still listening to one of his pre-programmed XM stations until......

I love this city. This week I found out that it loves me back. Okay, maybe not the entire city, but at a minimum, Standard Tap. A few weeks ago, I moved to Northern Liberties. Needless to say, I love it: good people, quality food, live music, great yoga studio, copious amounts of cider, and a kick ass pair of swings. I was so busy enjoying this city that I was surprised when my ex-landlord......

Dear Philadelphia: It's official. Life is a joke when I leave you. There was my struggle to return over the holidays. There was the time you almost didn't let me leave. And then there was this past weekend. My boyfriend and I, as you no doubt know (you always know these things, Philly!), headed a few hours south to our nation's capital. We were visiting some friends and just generally in need of a weekend......

To the Gentleman Sitting by Himself, a Few Seats Over from Us, During the Wednesday Evening Screening of Crazy Love: Nobody, nobody, nobody hates rude people like I do. I do my best not to be offensively rude, and if I have inadvertently made a breach of decorum, I am sure to apologize for it. You do not deserve an apology. People talk in movies. It's annoying, sure, but it's a fact. And, unless......

Dear Philadelphia: Please believe that this column has nothing to do with the fact that I was offered a job this week, or the fact that taking the job would mean a not-too-small pay cut from what I was making in my old job (although it is better than what I was making on unemployment alone). I'm not being selfish as I write this, but rather discussing a problem that I, and many others, have......

Please digg this story. Thanks! It is never easy to watch friends depart for dangerous lands, but it is always a bit comforting to know, at least, that they are members of the United States Marine Corps. If anyone can survive the often hellish situation on the ground in Iraq, it is the USMC. That does not mean that, when my good friend (whom I met during my first year in college, when we......

To the Class of 2007, at whatever university you may be graduating from: A year ago next week, I walked across the stage on Franklin Field, shook a couple of hands, and collected my fake diploma. (The real diploma got mailed to my parents' home a few months later.) I'd done it: I'd earned my B.A., and from an Ivy League institution, no less. I had a job lined up. I had a lot......

Hey there, Philly: So, um, I just renewed my lease. I had the opportunity to spend my summer living in a cabin in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Rent-free. I could sleep in, then go sit out by the river, and spend my day writing. Hike if I felt like it. Walk around the adorable downtown if I felt like it. I would have been reunited with my dog, Sophie (the adorable creature pictured above). All......

Tom Knox is the frontrunner in the 2007 Democratic primary and, according to the most recent Keystone poll, the one with the momentum behind him. But like so many other things about him, Knox’s accomplishment is less impressive than it first appears. Relying on nothing more than a wealth of contacts in city and state government, a nationally known campaign team (his media guru was profiled in The New Republic, under the headline “Joe Trippi......

Dear Readers: Indulge me this week, won't you? I searched and searched for a direct tie between Kurt Vonnegut and Philadelphia. But other than assorted random mentions of him in the Inky, all I could find was this page, indicating that Harold Bloom published a volume of criticism on Vonnegut with a Philadelphia publisher. So no, this column is not going to be about Philadelphia, nor about any entity therein, which is the basic framework......

You may have noticed that yesterday's video post has been taken down. It should never have gone up. That was a huge, huge oversight on my part, which I am completely mortified by. I'm not here to defend my actions. I'm only here to tell you that I made the unfortunate mistake of listening to the video while I wrote a Film Festival diary, rather than watching it. If I'd actually watched it, I'd have......

This Spring is the third anniversary of Lifeknot, online meeting place for people of all ages, based solely on interests and hobbies. The CEO and founder, Matt Muro, began Lifeknot after using online dating services that seemed to force an instant romantic relationship. “I felt that online dating sites rushed people into the relationship stage of a friendship and social networking sites linked you to so many people that the intimacy of establishing a......

Weekend's here, so most bloggers will be taking it light for the next two days. That's because most people blog from work while they're supposed to be getting things done. Yeah you. You know you do it too. So you're reading blogs at work. So? Then it happens, that funny headline or article at which you laugh just a little too hard, then minimize Firefox so the people glancing over don't see. So yeah, you......