Lovers of antiquity would do well to check out Judith Thurman‘s piece, entitled “The Cleopatriad,” in this week’s issue of the New Yorker (abstract here), which examines of heap of new interest and scholarship surrounding Cleopatra, who ruled Egypt in the last century B.C. with an iron fist and a legendary sexual charge. But, Thurman [...]

But you might have already known this. What hardly any of us could have known, though, was the deep and pervasive openly racist management culture at McFadden’s — or so it is a alleged by a new lawsuit brought upon the bar. And even if McFadden’s bartender Michael L. Bolden, who brought suit after he [...]

We don’t much go in for the hero worship around here, but suffice it to say that Ray Davies is most likely among the five greatest songwriters alive on Earth today. Do we even need to bring up his CV, or mention the influence of his work, or discuss the emotional value invested by so [...]

Make no mistake: J. Meejin Yoon’s Light Drift, presented by the Mural Arts Program, might have been the single coolest thing we have seen/done this autumn. (We loved it so much, we made a video of it, too.) Above, a time lapse of Light Drift‘s run. Please bring it back so that it can live [...]

Wow. We knew Land Of The Lost sucked and all, but this seems a little extreme. Seeing something around town of note? Cameraphone it to: tips[at]philebrity[dot]com.

See attached for a notice on some Broad St closures next week due to the filming of that new Jason Statham movie about the girl who figures out the combo to a safe and needs someone to keep her safe from would-be safecrackers. I think it’s going to be called The Girl Who Knew Too [...]

After the jump.

Far be it from us to say that Philly director Tigre Hill‘s The Barrel of a Gun, a documentary that throws a shocking! new! light! onto the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is a steaming pile of horse shit: After all, there was a theater full of angry people at the National Constitution Center on Monday [...]

· For one thing, now that we know the Byko side of the conversation was real, it makes me feel like we’ve been beating up the town retard ‘lo these many moons. But I know that’s not true, either, and the ruse Byko fell for was an easy enough one: He did, after all, email “keith@keitholbermann.com.” [...]

In other news, yes, we’re Facebook friends with Jnnphrphrhhhhhhrrrrrrr Frdrdrdrdrdrdrdrrrrrcckkkk. We did it for you. So that you could have nice things.

Regular readers of this blog may recall the couple of times we’ve posted about our friend David Hartley‘s one-man sound magorium, Nightlands. As it happens, the debut Nightlands LP, Forget The Mantra, was released today on the highly respected Secretly Canadian record label. To celebrate, we’ll be dropping the needle on a fresh copy of [...]

Sic transit gloria. Tuesday, November 23 at 12 p.m., to be exact. Bernie Parent, Bobby Clarke and Dr. J will be on the scene to attest how they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. Fun fact: The photo for the cover of the long lost Neil Young album Time Fades Away was taken [...]

I mean, look at this way: The Mayans did much stupid-er shit. Count us in.

Click to enlarge. Drink coffee first, though. We’ve sung the praises of Philly-based comedian Doogie Horner on this site before; if you haven’t checked him out, you should. Recently, though, Horner has added another arrow to his comedy quiver: Expert Flowchart Maker. Horner has just released Everything Explained Through Flowcharts, a book of expertly Jenga-esque [...]

That said, we’d love to see this fake email exchange. Either one of you needs to forward it to us, or we’ll just write the thing ourselves. Previously: Byko Will Not Shut Up About The Fucking Bike Lanes Byko Will Also Not Shut Up About The Fucking Al Fresco Dining UPDATE: Thank you, God. Phawker [...]

We’re glad he’s now back It’s not any different But we’re glad he’s back

There is something about this that is like watching a dog trapped in a car on a hot day, and being paralyzed from doing anything about it. Previously: The Answer: Turkey!

Strike one: Rob McElhenney (Mac) and wife/co-star Kaitlin Olson (Dee) let old Philly pals guilt them into partnering on Mac’s, the Old City Bennigan’s that used to be Skinner’s that used to be Anthony’s. Strike two: This season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It’s belabored and unfunny in the exact same way that David [...]

There’s a fun Dan Gross scoop up today on the trials and tribulations of one Jolly Weldon, owner of Jolly’s Dueling Piano Bar, which is our very definition of hell. In true ragtime-goes-Journey fashion, it would seem that Jolly somehow convinced himself he was a gangster, and “was arraigned Friday on charges of making terroristic [...]

Much daps to Daily News scribes Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker: Their Pulitzer Prize-winning DN series of stories, “Tainted Justice,” will soon see a book form: Midnight In The City Of Brotherly Love, “about Philly and how they risked their lives to expose unprecedented levels of police corruption and brutality,” will be published by HarperCollins [...]