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Dec
30
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Now that 2005 is over, I only have one thing to say: Whew. Look at everything that happened: Philadelphia got cool (really), the Eagles got to the big game (and then imploded), local politicians continued to embarass themselves in various ways (I’m looking your way, Rick Mariano) and one local 22-year-old got a freaking job blogging. I know, right?
I don’t quite get what to make of this year, but I do know this: I couldn’t have done it without you. Since launching this blog in late August, it’s been quite a strange trip: praise, hate mail, the whole shebang. The only thing more mindblowing that people emailing me and saying they really enjoy what I write is people emailing me telling me I can’t write. Either way, I’d like to thank all of you for reading.
A lot of people have really helped me out — even if they didn’t know it. Some people emailed thanks, some people sent tips, some people linked me and some people were just inspirations. Last week in PW, EIC Tim Whitaker wrote a big list of people’s names with holiday wishes, and I kind of liked it. So I’m stealing the idea. And thanks to the magic of hyperlinking, I can link to selected people to show you some of their fine work. Or something I wrote about them. Or make fun of them. It’s like a big game — albeit the stupidest game ever — and you have to figure it out. They’re in no particular order. If you didn’t get a link it’s because you’re so good I couldn’t choose one. Or I was lazy.
After the jump, the fondest of New Year’s wishes. I’ll see youse in 2006, back on a regular schedule.
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dmac | 4:30 PM | 0 Comments
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Dec
30
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It’s going to be a light day today, folks. I just have one or two things planned for the afternoon and that’s about it. But you’re already partying like it’s 2006, right?
Anyway, the answers to yesterday’s Northeast Times letters quiz: Andy was the first one to get it right; #3 and #6 are both not real Northeast Times letters.
#3 I just made up and wrote in about 15 seconds. #6 is a real letter, it just appeared in the Daily News a few months ago. Yes, every other letter ran in the Northeast Times sometime in the past few years. Even the really racist ones. Even the one that says “As for the squirrels in the park, they will not leave an area filled with so many nuts.” Amazing, huh?
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dmac | 9:43 AM | 1 Comment
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Dec
29
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When I was a little boy, I would read the letters page of the Northeast Times and think to myself, “Who writes these letters? Who prints these letters?” Now, of course, I am older, but I am still baffled by those two questions.
To get over my puzzlement, I’ve always just made fun of them. (Making fun of things is what makes the world go ’round.) But with no Northeast Times this week, what would I do? A reader helped out with a quick IM and a good idea: print a bunch of Northeast Times letters, throw in a few fakes, and see if anyone can pick out the fake ones.
After the jump, 10 letters. Eight are from the Northeast Times letters page, two aren’t. Can you spot the real ones from the fakes? A few easy ones — ones that have been on this site before — have been thrown in because they were so abhorrent I had to post them again. The winner gets a photo of a puppy.
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dmac | 1:30 PM | 14 Comments
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Dec
29
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• As much as I dug this Wu-Tang dance article in the Daily News today, what was even better was the sidebar speculating where the dance came from: “The Wu-Tang Clan borrowed its name from this fighting style, and the rap group has gone as far as dubbing Staten Island ‘Shaolin,’ a mythical breeding ground for kung-fu masters.” [DN]
• I’m totally using this condoms filled with flour defense one day. Maybe for like a parking ticket or something. [Inky]
• Your daily dose of Benergy, this time sports related. [DN]
• The Majestic Diner (formerly the Ritz, formerly the U.S. 1 diner) on the Boulevard in Northeast Philly? You can have it for a price. And then you can move it to whereever you want to. No, really. [Citypaper]
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dmac | 11:46 AM | 2 Comments
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Dec
29
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A correction in today’s Daily News:
The HBO horse opera “Deadwood” is set in the 1870s, not a century later as reported in yesterday’s list of Ellen Gray’s Top 10 TV shows from 2005.
I only have one thing to say to this: Horse opera? Shit, I need to watch this show more.
Correction 12.29.05 [DN]
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dmac | 11:24 AM | 0 Comments
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Dec
29
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Stu Bykofsky: Hmm… I don’t have anything to write about. I know: A reader mail column!
John Baer: Hmm… I don’t have anything to write about. I know: A “here’s the times I screwed up” column!
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dmac | 10:36 AM | 0 Comments
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Dec
29
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 Despite what you may personally feel about slot machines coming to Pennsylvania, you have to admit one thing: self-help guru Pat Croce investing in slot machines is almost as funny as Bill Cosby telling people to speak correctly. Because there’s nothing that says “self-help” like “throwing your money away into a little box.”
Yesterday was the state-imposed deadline for companies to submit proposals for slots parlors, and there are five companies vying for deals — and none of the places these companies want to put the parlors are at the most logical spot across from the Convention Center. (Sorry, Funk-O-Mart, I love you, but if you have to go, you have to go.)
The five companies who applied for licenses in Philadelphia are:
- Foxwoods Development: Controlled by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the group is partnering with local investors (Ed Snider, Billy King, ex-Phillies centerfielder Garry Maddox) to build a $350 million casino on the Delaware Riverfront between Reed and Tasker streets.
- Pinnacle Entertainment: This Las Vegas-based company wants to build its casino in Fishtown. It’d include 3,000 slot machines, bars and restaurants and a movie theater.
- Donald Trump: This is the Pat Croce-backed plan. To be called TrumpStreet — sigh — it’d be at the former Budd Company location in Nicetown.
- Planet Hollywood: This is the Delaware river casino on the former city incinerator site. They’re going to call it “Riverwalk.”
- Sugar House Gaming: This company wants to build a $450 million casino on the Delaware riverfront.
None of these, with the possible exception of the Fishtown plan, seems all that great. But this is Philadelphia! What did you expect? Two proposals will be approved, in the obvious short turnaround of 12 months.
Placing their bets [Inky]
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dmac | 10:32 AM | 0 Comments
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Dec
28
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 An editorial in the Inquirer notes today that there’s a possibility that 30th Street Station will be renamed Ben Station.
Look, I like Ben Franklin and all: He founded the college I went to, he did something with a kite and key, he invented about a million different things and he wasn’t a player — he just crushed a lot. But do we really need to name every single thing in the city after him just because he was born 300 years ago? Franklin Field, Franklin Square, the Ben Franklin Parkway, the Franklin Institute, the Franklin Building and that stupid statue near Pine Street aren’t enough?
A guy on Livejournal notes that Amtrak doesn’t like the idea, especially due to its similarness to Penn Station — and there are already two of those, in Newark and Manhattan. (Another guy on LJ says “I think it is great. It reminds me of Ben Franklin, famous intellectual and world-class pimp,” which is the most compelling argument in favor of the renaming I’ve heard yet.)
Anyway, even if they renamed the station in favor of Ben Franklin, everyone would just call it 30th Street Station anyway. (See: West River Drive, Delaware Avenue, etc.) And that’s the way it should be. The Inky editorial board is all nice about it, and that’s all well and good, but let’s say it like it is: This is the stupidest idea since, well, putting a Planet Hollywood at Penn’s Landing.
Uh oh.
Editorial | Name of the game is leave it the same [Inky]
Ben Station? [Livejournal Philadelphia Community]
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dmac | 3:19 PM | 1 Comment
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