Category Archives: A&E

Help Temple help you

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Your eyes don’t deceive you. Temple University is cutting costs and they want you to tell them what to cut.

Don’t bother asking them to cut their “Thinktank” department. Clearly they have already received their pink slips and have had their duties passed on to the students who can see the image above on their TUPortal homepage after logging in -assuming TUPortal works that is. If you can’t log in to see this invitation to the Temple decision-making process, you might assume members of TU’s Computer Services team are scrambling to update their resumés.

Happy birthday, Kurt Vonnegut

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Having trouble getting revved up to celebrate Veterans Day? Are you simply too drained from World Series and Election parties to really get it up for the Armistice? While that’s understandable, I may be able to help you over the celebratory hump yet: for not only is today Veterans Day, it’s also Kurt Vonnegut’s 86th birthday.

The love affair between Vonnegut and college students has lasted more than half a century now, unaffected even by his death in early 2007 – a dedication and longevity that bicycles and organic produce can still only gaze upon with envy.

If you’re a Vonnegut fan, what better time than now to finally get around to reading one of his lesser works? Or, if you’ve read them all, dipping back into one yet again? And if you’ve yet to try any of his works, why not start now? I’d recommend Cat’s Cradle, but that’s just me.

Happy birthday, Kurt.

Take a hike. No, really.

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Philly has been named as the fifth most walkable city in the United States.

It’s so exciting that they made up the word “walkable” (at least, according to Microsoft Word). Nice, isn’t it? At least it gives us something good to brag about.

At one point, we were fat. And apparently still, we’re ugly, as The Temple News reported. And now, we can walk places.

Check out this link to see where your Philadelphia neighborhood ranks. Or, go here for the overall rankings, and see how San Francisco, New York, Boston and Chicago beat us.

So long, Spectrum

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Tradition is important to Philadelphia sports fans. After 100 consecutive seasons without a championship title, some are meant to be broken. But certainly not all.

That’s why Philadelphians may get sentimental over the Spectrum, the oldest and smallest sports arena in South Philadelphia that has since been overshadowed by the Wachovia Center, Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.

“This will be the final year of the Spectrum,” Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider announced this morning.

The Temple News reported in January that plans for the possible demolition of the Spectrum to make way for an entertainment complex were in talks. The talks have now materialized into reality.

The Spectrum, host to many concerts and shows, will be a lost home to its sports teams, the Philadelphia Kixx, the Phantoms and, ocassionally, the Soul, who are preparing for their championship game Saturday. They played their most recent game in front of a nearly sold-out crowd at the Spectrum.

No word on the future of the soon-to-be homeless teams. Rumors originally said the Phantoms could move to Camden or Atlantic City.

The Flyers and 76ers called the building home from 1967 to 1996 before moving to the Wachovia Center. The Flyers won their first Stanley Cup there in 1974, and the Sixers hosted many playoff and finals games inside, also.

Comcast-Spectacor said many “surprise” events are planned for the final year of the Spectrum, including Sixers and Flyers home games and returning concert players.

This will likely be the final demolition at the sports complex for at least a few years, as the oldest building, the Wachovia Center, is only 12 years old. Veterans Stadium, home to the Eagles and Phillies, was imploded in 2003.

An un-gentlemenly agreement

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libertyplace.jpgA bright yet subtle change may be soon coming to the Philadelphia skyline. But as with most additions to Center City, controversy is high.

libertyplace.jpglibertyplace.jpgTwo Liberty Place, what is now the third-tallest building in Philadelphia, dwarfed by its big brother One Liberty Place and the new Comcast Center, may soon be donned with 11-foot high illuminated letters over the 38th and 39th floors advertising a new tenant, Unisys Corps.

However, other tenants – the ones who are in the process of moving into the luxury condos in the same building – are not too thrilled.

The condo owners are afraid the red lighting will reflect into their living rooms and hurt the overall value of their condos. The city, on the other hand, supports the act, saying it will show the world that Philadelphia is the place to be for a corporate home.

Let a tenant in the Empire State Building try to pull off something like this, one homeowner said.

As an AP reporter notes, the Liberty Place towers like to break tradition. When constructed, One Liberty Place broke the unwritten “Gentlemen’s Agreement” when built in 1987, which ‘said’ no building should be built higher than William Penn’s statue atop City Hall.

Oops.

Photo courtesy philly.com.

Free art for all today

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If you are in need of something to do today, get some culture and head to the Philadelphia Art Museum. The museum will be free today till 6p.m. for everyone.

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The complimentary admission is in honor of the late Anne d’Harnoncourt. D’Harnoncourt led the museum for many years.

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Farmers Markets abound

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With summer having officially started, markets overflowing with fresh produce and goods are popping up all over the city.

One of the newer additions to the area market scene is the City Hall courtyard. Every Wednesday from 12 pm to 6pm, through November, local meat, produce, baked goods, cut flowers and more will be available.

The courtyard market is a partnership between the city of Philadelphia and Farm to City.

Philly.com has a video of the market from its first day.

For a full list of Farmers Markets in the region click here.

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“Honey From the Hood”

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North Philly is totally lacking in proper supermarkets to provide its residents with fresh produce, but one area of Kensington is hoping to change that.

Greensgrow Farms on E. Cumberland St. provides its neighbors with fresh produce from its one acre plot and other farms from the region. Greensgrow also makes it own honey, labeled “Honey From the Hood”.

The local farm has been at its Kensington location since 1998. It is open for the summer season daily at 10 a.m. except for Mondays. Flowers and plants are also available from Greensgrows nursery.

A recent New York Times article took a look at the urban garden and what it’s trying to do for the local community.

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