Obama May Be All Over Pennsylvania…

A fancier sign, indeed, but the Obama camp knows the importance of placing its sign below Philadelphia Weekly’s. I hope The Hopemonger stops by himself so I can try to pitch him on my “I did blow with Barack Obama and all I got was arrested” t-shirt idea.

Related: Obama ahead in local Pa. campaign offices [Inquirer]

Phillies’ So Taguchi Beneficiary Of Famous Reverse PW Cover Jinx

How about that? After new acquisition Joe Blanton set a Phillies record on the day off (with 7 cheesesteaks eaten in one trip to Pat’s), he pitched last night in typical fashion: 6 innings, 5 runs, an impressive 1:3 strikeout:walk ratio. The Phillies, though, rallied in the ninth inning — and they weren’t even facing this year’s Least Deserving All-Star and Worst All-Star Ever, Billy Wagner.

After the Phillies loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, Carlos Ruiz was in prime position to make another rally-killing double play but managed to hit the ball high enough to make it just a fielder’s choice; he got an added bonus when Jose Reyes screwed up and got nobody out. So Taguchi, 0-for-16 as a pinch hitter this year, came up to the plate. The recent PW cover story subject hit one over the head of (who else?) Inning-Endy Chavez — who was thrown out twice at home last night — and the Phils tied the game. Jimmy Rollins doubled in two more runs and the Phillies eventually won, 8-6.

After the jump, So Taguchi’s game-tying hit. I have a request: Watch the Redlasso video (it’s crashing my Firefox 3, so standard warning applies) and listen if you hear Sarge cheering in the background during the play. It could just be a fan, but it didn’t show up on the Mets broadcast I saw in highlights.

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Liz Spikol Continues To Take Over Media

PW executive editor/blogger/all-around cool gal Liz Spikol hasn’t stopped her quest for world domination at the New York Times. She’s headed across the pond as well.

Yesterday, Liz’s first name was the fifth word in a piece about the increased acceptance of mental illness in The Sunday Times. There’s also apparently something called “Bonkersfest,” which features “a moving padded cell, a de-normalisation programme, and performance art by Bobby Baker featuring seven adults dressed as frozen peas.” Sounds downright staid.

Hmm… now that The Trouble With Spikol has mentions in major newspapers in both the U.S. and England, I should re-title this blog “Paxil Will Do.”

Mental illness in the limelight at Bonkersfest [The Sunday Times]

On The DL Podcast

Dan Levy has a new PW podcast up, and it’s with Mayor Nutter. There’s even short clips of just what parts you want to listen to now for those of us with ADD-riddled brains. Unfortunately, the mayor does not want to start arresting more white people. Oh, wait, I’m white. So, uh, fortunately, I guess.

Jaws On The DL

Cross-promotion alert! This week’s PW On The DL Podcast by Dan Levy features none other than Ron Jaworski, talking about his football career, breaking down game tape and (of course) the Philadelphia Soul, who have a playoff game Saturday.

(Incidentally, this is my favorite line: “We also talk about the philanthropic efforts of the team and how they are one of the most successful teams in the league, yet don’t make any money.” Fortunately, the team is owned by a rock star, so I think he’s doing okay in the pocket.

Ron Jaworski talks with the DL [On The DL Podcast]

Down The Shore With Alli & Erica

Geeze, nobody did a parody of one those Philly.com beach girls so Philadelphia Weekly had to do it ourselves. Watch serious journalists Alli and Erica explore the beaches of Ocean City. Fantastic job, girls.

Me, On The Internet

Hey, here’s me on the On the DL podcast, the 2008 new media cross-promotion spectacular. If you have the stomach for it, you can listen to me ramble on about blogging and drugs — and then say something stupid every couple of minutes! Woo-hoo.

Today on DrugRoar.com

Yes, I’m still blogging daily about drugs over at Drug Roar. Today I even did a few whole posts! One was about New Jersey’s medical marijuana bill and another was a Redlasso (fight the man!) clip of a surprisingly long (and well done, to boot) report about low dose naltrexone and its possibility in treating a variety of diseases, including Chron’s and Parkinson’s.

This Week’s Drug Roar

As you can guess, it takes a lot of drugs to get through one episode of Gossip Girl. (Not really.) And, yes, I’m still doing the drug column: This week it’s about the side-effects of drug prohibition. The column wanders a bit too much — digesting the info I come across into streamlined columns is hard sometimes — but I think I make some okay points. I guess.

Recently In Me

This week’s Drug Roar column is up. It’s about how the media covers drugs, using the example of marijuana. I guess. As usual, I’m blogging at drugroar.com.

Also, I wrote this little column about Buzz Bissinger and blogs and truth and baseball in last week’s paper. And, for some reason, reviewed The Price is Right.