Mayor Nu... Mayor-elect Nutt... Mayorial candidate Michael Nutter has proposed altering the city's approach to lobbying in Washington. Specifically, he would like to establish a lobbying office on the city's behalf, staffed by lobbyists employed by the city, rather than hiring outside firms to lobby for Philly (which is the way things have been done in the past). Will it matter? Maybe not, but file it in the list of things Nutter would do different......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Antiques Roadshow (Mon; 8PM-9PM; PBS [WHYY]) - The final part of this show's three episode visit to Philly. This time they look at some paintings by John F. Kensett, a diamond ring, and some autographed baseballs. They also take a side trip to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Digging for the Truth (Mon; 9PM-10PM; History Channel) - Appropriately enough, given the fact that the King......

The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment. A short, sobering science documentary on the effects of drugs on spiders. Tee hee. (Via) More YouTube fun: the trailer for what is supposedly a horror film, but what looks like just about the funniest comedy ever to us: Black Sheep. Yeah, you've just got to watch it. (Via) Sundance 2007 is coming! Cinematical has picked out the films they're interested......

A tribute to One Liberty Place. With the Comcast Center pushing upward, 2006 will be the last year that One Liberty Place can claim to be Pennsylvania's tallest building, a title it's held since its controversial ascent was completed in 1987. Standing at 61 stories and 945 feet, One Liberty Place was the tenth-tallest building in the United States when completed (it's currently 18th). It is a visually striking structure, an angular postmodern homage to......

The recycled paper books are often printed on is a function of practicality, yet the obviousness of this statement neglects an inner significance of meaning. If it can be said, with an intoned sigh particular to the deliverance of the axiom, that history repeats itself, it should likewise be said, and with an equally emphasized downbeat of a breath, that literature repeats itself as well, and that the reams of 100% recycled paper are more than mere practicalities for their contents, but material metaphors for abstract redundancies of literary tastes and trends, deaths and revivals, exiles and fancy welcome-home parties. Perhaps a case study can be made of the author Stefan Zweig, who enjoyed fame in his lifetime, then obscurity, and now hopefully a revived respect, in the pages of his novel, Beware of Pity....

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. He's a Bully, Charlie Brown (Mon; 8:30PM; ABC) - How is there a new Peanuts TV special out, six years after the death of creator Charles Shulz? Easy - this was created based on his last original script. This time the Peanuts group is at a summer camp and is getting pestered by a bully who also happens to be a champion marbles player. Charlie challenges him......

No doubt about it, Philly's got a lot to offer: a thriving theatre scene (don't forget, Fringe is just around the corner), fabulous museums, loads of live music and more historical hoopla than you can shake a stick at. However, there are some hotspot trends in places far, far away that look cool too, and Phillyist is wondering why local entreupenuers aren't jumping all over them. Dammit! We want them too! Private room karaoke: It's......

Phillyist is always looking for books to improve ourself. We recently found two such books, and feel honor-bound to share them with you, dearest readers. Both books are out now and should be available at any major book shop in town. So get dolled up and go shopping, because dears, we all NEED these books. Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin - We picked up this book on a whim because it looked interesting. It's better......

  Philly Confidential profiles a local PECO employee who isn't afraid of a few odd animal carcasses when it comes to shutting off people's power.   South Philly Blocks makes grilled cheese the Benny & Joon way - although they rely on the hotness of a clothes iron rather than the hotness of Johnny Depp. (via)   Where do you go when you're looking for the latest Philadelphia fashion trends? Apparently, the Mummers Museum...at......

Because of a rather unusual cosmic occurence (okay, our neighbors are on vacation), Phillyist was able to procure a copy of Sunday's New York Times to read over breakfast yesterday. Now, we don't necessarily live and breathe the Times the way many people we know do, but this morning's edition had a story that is actually worth our attention. The article is titled "Cities Shed Middle Class, and Are Richer and Poorer for It,"......

In our regular sweeps of the downtown shops, Phillyist has noticed a few new trends in pants that please us well. The first is the return of the waist. The fact is, only about 2% of the population look good in low-rise pants. In the rest of us, it creates the unholy “muffin top,” otherwise known as the Dunlap Syndrome (as in, “your belly done-lapped over your belt”). Yet, for the past several years,......