On one hand, he is Sonny Forriest Jr. and he is a goddamned hero. On the other hand, he is Sonny Forriest Jr. and he is a goddamned hero.

It’s true: Come fall, if you’re on the Penn insurance system, the plan will cover up to $50,000 worth of gender-reassignment surgery costs. (Male-to-female business-switchin’ currently costs around $20K, so that is pretty generous.) This is great news for noteworthy faculty who have deep-seated fears of winding up on the website Men Who Look Like [...]

Banksy, of course, is pretty much the most famous (anonymous) street artist in the world, and Exit Through The Gift Shop is his story — or at least, a chopped and screwed version of his story, told via a director who may or may not exist from locations all over the world. And if the [...]

South Philly, earnin’ that paycheck, yo.

Ghana’s answer to Prince, Ata Kak, has wormed his way into our hearts and minds, and we don’t think he’ll be leaving any time soon. Just wanted you all to know in the likely event that Philebrity becomes an all-Ata Kak message board and support group.

The City just released the grand tallys around Spring Cleanup 2010, which occurred on Saturday. And the numbers are very, very impressive. Check ‘em out: 2010 Philly Spring Cleanup in numbers Most project sites in our history – 231 Most registered volunteers in our history – 11,313 Recycling up almost 190% – 139,540 pounds Trash [...]

Oh, that kooky PA Attorney General Tom Corbett wants to sue the U.S. gub’ment over health care legislation. It’s a bullshit, grandstanding move that will serve only to get his name in headlines, partisan-ize his office and waste tons of time and money. Spiffy. So maybe he should get fired. Or resign. In any case [...]

Can we geek out for a second with you all? Blood Feathers’ Goodness Gracious, the debut release on the Philebrity Label, has just arrived here at Phileb HQ this morning in all of its High Quality 180-gram vinyl glory. And lordy, it sounds amazeballs. We’re happy to tell you that it will be available for [...]

A current ad, placed by the all-powerful soda lobby, making its way ’round the web locally right now: Oh, soda tax kerfuffle. There’s just something so Stephen Baldwin about you.

Click to enlarge. Says reader Amelia: I know you already have a million maps of the Northern Liberties, but mine is a very especial guide to liquids around my house. It was going to be strictly coffee but then I started to get carried away. I made it for my sister/roommate Molly after I promised [...]

Hey, everybody, nothing to worry about, but, uh, cops in South and Southwest Philly lost all their radio signals for about twenty minutes yesterday. The Philadelphia Police Dept. has been plagued by problems like this for a while now — where the signal just cuts out for bit and is all like “Oh my bad, [...]

i just saw john lithgow in west philly while i was eating pizza at the best house at 43rd and baltimore. he was walking with his daughter. really exciting, right? Yes! We have no confirm on any of this, but just in case it’s real, DO NOT HIRE THIS MAN FOR YOUR HOMEBUILDING CHARITY OR [...]

Philebrity will resume posting when we’re confident that the gaggle of ellipses engaged above can be definitively closed. See you in August, everybody!

Because real talk: No photo illicitly taken in the bathrooms of hospitals and other public places can possibly be as creepy as the look on this man’s face when he’s been caught. Make him stop. Stop that right now, young man. Oh dear.

In 1994, if you threw a rock in Philly, chances are you’d hit a “political d.i.y. straight-edge hardcore/emocore band.” Frail was but one of them.

Just a quick note: In this how-YOU-doin’ interview in today’s Philadelphia Weekly, D.A. Seth Williams — now forevermore known as SETH WILLIAMS DANCE PARTY — busts out a totally unwarranted rip on the Mayor’s (and my) alma mater: I don’t buy the mayor’s contention that he didn’t visit South Street until he was 18. Well, [...]

Pardon us if we found this piece in the Weekly Press about how Mayor Michael Nutter invited correspondents from all the local freebs in last week for a sit-down; we are so craving more of the Guffmanesque comedy that surely ensued. The WP’s Nicole Contosta tips her hand a bit with this sentence: “While the [...]

Via Romenesko: Memo from Philadelphia Newspapers CEO April 13, 2010 TO: All Employees FROM: Brian Tierney On the heels of yesterday’s fabulous news of a Pulitzer Prize for the Daily News, later today we will announce that a new Daily News weekend edition will debut starting in October 2010. This new edition is the result [...]

As the Mayor’s proposed new budget — including a controversial (to fatties and people who work for soda companies) soda tax — here’s a note for the growing anti-soda lobby should the bill (most likely) not pass. Up in NYC, The Alliance for a Healthier New York is hosting a soda buy-back program in which [...]

Oh dear. That doesn’t seem right at all. >>> What? Movie Monday at The Trocadero this week is actually Movie Tuesday, and it’s The Lost Boys. As it happens (don’t judge), we actually Netflixed The Lost Boys recently, and are pleased to report that it holds up really well. In fact, it’s a shining monument [...]