This video is actually really adorable, and we can't argue with the musical selection. But the mistake in the Please Touch Museum title is just the teeniest bit disturbing.......

We recently shared our excitement over the prospect of getting to NYC on the cheap and comfortable: the semi-new bus routes set up to rival that bastion of Mid-Atlantic inexpensive travel, the Chinatown bus. We are deeply saddened to share with you the experience of QuizMasterChris, who had quite a surreal time whilst attempting to get to aforementioned Big Apple on Megabus, one of those “book early, get cheaper tickets” outfits. That didn’t quite work......

We've seen a lot of these videos, but this is the first one we've posted from this vantage—and now we know why.......

But wouldn't it be nice if once—just once—we came across a tourist video that used no music from the Rocky movies?......

For the first time in almost ten years, fewer people in the Philadelphia area are predicted to travel 50 miles or more this Fourth of July weekend than did the previous year. The change is believed to be due to high gas prices, increases in the price of food, and other expenses. And it's probably just as well, because cops are hiding out there on the roads in PennDOT trucks, ready to tip off other......

Dear Airline Industry: What the hell, guys? First, American Airlines announces they're going to start charging us to check bags, unless we're flying first class, paying full fare, or frequent flyers. Yesterday, United Airlines followed suit. Their prices per piece are lower, sure, but you'll make up for it in your lack of legroom. (I now feel comfortable disclosing that this 2006 Return to Sender column was about United.) And today comes the news that......

A week's worth of local Craigslist hijinks. We have to advise this guy to learn from Larry Craig and avoid public bathrooms. Otherwise, bon voyage! In lean economic times, if you can't find a job, offer your naked body for anatomical study. Really, folks, it's for the good of the children. What is the proper response when one gets flashed? Either this is the most caring husband ever, or he really wants his wife to......

Signs your job might suck: You have to punch a clock and get reamed if you're three minutes late. Your boss takes credit for all your great ideas while you pick up the coffee and drycleaning. Your company considers creamer and sugar packets as perks. Signs you might be a lucky bastard: Instead of working for the man, your job is to travel the world and capture your adventures via photos, videos and blogs. The......

It's actually pretty impressive how many people like to post their videos of their trips to Philadelphia on YouTube.......

Remember when we told you about Shut the Duck Up? Here's more about the founder.......

UPDATE: Digg this, please! Phillyist has always regarded the Ducks with a combination of annoyance (do they have to give everyone those damned whistles?) and fascination (it's a bus that goes in the water!), but mostly the former. But even at our most annoyed, we're not nearly as angry as Walt Sherman, creator of the new (and sometimes Proofreading Philly-worthy) Shut the Duck Up!, who writes on this new blog: I wanted to start this......

The Daily News takes a look at the problem of domestic violence in the city and the rather poor way that it's dealt with by officials. Foreclosures were down in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in November, as compared to October 2007 and October 2006. Governor Rendell called into 610 WIP to talk about Lanegate. Basically he wanted to explain what her phone call to him had been about (she just wanted someone to hear......

Dear Philadelphia: Congratulations! Just a day after The Inquirer reported that violent crime was down across the city, we received a press release from the GPTMC extolling all your other achievements in 2007. You deserve a big pat on the back for the national and international media mentions you've garnered this year. People are paying attention to you. You're like a celebrity now. On the Food front, The Today Show decided that Vesuvio Restaurant's......

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......

Go across the Walt Whitman Bridge and take the North-South Freeway to Route 55. Travel South on Route 55 for about 25 miles, and you'll find yourself in Vineland, New Jersey. (Insert wisecrack about Vineland's awesomely bad municipal website here.) Why would you go to Vineland? Well, at the moment, you probably wouldn't. But next summer, you might have a reason to. Paste Magazine is reporting that C3 Presents—the force behind Lollapalooza and the......

A show we've never heard of on the Travel Channel just visited our fair city. Here's what they think of some of our native cuisine.......

Haverford Township Commissioner Fred Moran went on trial yesterday for "his alleged attempt to extort $500,000 from the developers of the Haverford State Hospital site in exchange for granting them zoning approval." Thanks in part to the influence of Betty Thompkins, a microscopist in Albert Einstein Medical Center's pathology department and one-time U. Penn researcher, Central High School "will be the first high school in the nation to receive the Phenom, a $72,000 tabletop electron......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Finishing the Game - We posted the preview for this one a ways back. It's a mockumentary about director Robert Clouse's attempt to finish the film Game of Death after the untimely death of its star, Bruce Lee. In Finishing the Game, Clouse starts a frantic search for an impersonator to replace Lee, and much wackiness and Hollywood satire ensue. Sounds like fun, but keep in......

I will admit that I am a faster walker than most. This fact can probably be attributed to two reasons: 1) the faithful consumption of four cans of Dr. Pepper per day and 2) a clear aversion to doing anything on my lunch break other than surfing the Internet and staining my khakis horrifically from my work desk. So maybe I am more inclined to see some Philadelphians’ funeral dirge-ian way of moving through the......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Atlantis SquarePantis (Mon, 8PM-9PM, Nickelodeon) - A special 45-minute-long episode of SpongeBob SquarePants wherein he and his friends take a trip to the lost city of Atlantis, but a flash from Patrick's camera causes trouble. The episode is followed by a fifteen-minute making-of special, which rounds out the hour. The important part: David Bowie guest stars as the voice of Lord Royal Highness, the king of Atlantis.......

An animal cruelty epidemic is sweeping the city, with dog fighting and pit bull abuse the most prominent activities. Seven Democratic presidential candidates will be coming to Drexel University tomorrow for a two-hour debate that will be televised on MSNBC. No public tickets are available. The Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus is offering a sensitivity-training program (which made its debut on Thursday) to hotel employees so they can learn how to be sensitive to the......

Dear Travel + Leisure: If you're going to talk smack, get your story straight. Least attractive city? (Insert buzzer sound.) Have you seen the people who live on Staten Island? You said we were least stylish. Wrong , wrong, and wrong. You said we were the least active. Does any other city have this? You called us least friendly. Bullshit. If we've got to live with the ugly label, at least recognize that we are......

Performances: Flamingo/Winnebago (The Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental/Le Chat Lunatique/Thaddeus Phillips) (Future Showtimes); The Fantoccini Brothers Return (Mum Puppettheatre) (Future Showtimes) A note for next year to the PLAF organizers: however long someone tells you that a performance is, add ten minutes to it before you print the program or update the website. People who love the Festival want to see as much during it as they can, and so they schedule performances more or less back-to-back,......

Tonight, after happy hour and before whatever else you're doing, spend some time with Michael Palin. He's the guy in the video above who's not John Cleese, and he's one of the funniest actors from Monty Python's Flying Circus. Having added travel documentary host to his list of talents, Michael Palin will speak at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium tonight at 7:00 p.m. He'll discuss his new book, Diaries 1969 - 1979: The Python......

We are dumbfounded as to why the New York Post’s Page Six gossip column has been following the saga of the love life of KYW’s Alycia Lane, but it has provided some odd entertainment since the spring. In case you don’t know, the tabloid broke the story of Lane sending e-mails containing bikini photos of herself to NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen which were intercepted by his wife, ABC Sports reporter Suzy Shuster. Yesterday, Page......

Back in April, I used this column to encourage you to be nice to tourists. I still absolutely stand by that column, but this week, I'd like to address the other side of the coin: how not to be an obnoxious tourist that the locals want to be rude to. Do not stop in the middle of the sidewalk. You are not the only person using it. Beyond that, not only tourists need to use......

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......

Those who routinely fly in and out of Philadelphia International may have noticed some recent changes in both the arrival and departure flight paths. An exhaustive list of documents on the motivations and effects of possible flight path changes, part of a redesign of the larger NY/NJ/PHL airspace, is given on the FAA website. Basically, the FAA is trying to reduce noise impacts on the region while improving arrival and departure capacity of the......

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......

Saturday night at a party, I somehow ended up getting into a conversation with some new acquaintances (and an old friend or two) about the video embedded here. If you're somewhere where you can watch it, do – but you may want to skip the first two and a half minutes or so. If you're not able to watch the video, it's called "Text Message Breakup," and for all its ridiculous conceits, it does express......