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Archive: August, 2011
While South Philly audiences and snap-happy photogs hovered around the Wharton and Passyunk garden/kitchen shooting locale for The Rachael Ray Show's Great Philly Grill-Off, my photog Scott Weiner, his daughter Mariel, my dog Django and I hung back by the trailers and chilled with locals (“go aheaaaad, kiss huh," one local said to her child when Patti Labellle popped her head from her trailer) and the stars.
Mostly, they stayed cooped inside, but on occasion peeked outside to greet their fans. All-around house guru Ty Pennington (Extreme Makeover Home Edition), the men of Boyz II Men and a handful of neophyte Philly chefs clung to Ray like a brie rind after the diminutive host ate at Famous 4th Street Deli. Look for this episode to run late in September on Channel 6 WPVI.
Photos: Scott Weiner
Shawn Proctor sets his controller aside to hash out the goods, bads and uglies of the latest games and gadgets.
BACKGROUND: Infamous 2 follows up Sucker Punch Productions’ bestselling PlayStation 3 original, shifting the storyline of courier-turned-superhero Cole MacGrath from Empire City to the New Orleans-inspired New Marais. Not content with MacGrath’s previous slate of electrical powers, the game designers expanded his ability to cause massive amounts of destruction — and he’ll need every bit of it to deal with the nearly indestructible beast that's stalking him.
REVIEW: The game itself is a comic book fan’s wet dream: a world full of places to climb and slide, and enemies to hack, shock and destroy. Like a super-charged version of G4’s Ninja Warrior, MacGrath defies gravity and physics, putting the player in the thick of eye-popping battles and immersing game play. The voice-over work and graphics are excellent, on par with nearly anything on the market.
However, Cole MacGrath is pretty vanilla as a character. And his powers have logic holes that turnpike traffic could pass through. If electricity-based abilities could do this much, Spider-Man would be able to flip cars, spin webs, and shoot poison missiles from his fingertips. Regardless of the entertainment value, it’s all a bit ridiculous.
View galleryIn May, we blogged about the beginning of the 2011 Philly's Phunniest competition, the yearly contest to find the funniest standup comedian in Philadelphia. All summer long our local jokesmiths have been serving up their choicest observations, their most potent punchlines, their leanest tags and least-awkward callbacks. The final round is tonight, and eight of the city's very best will be throwing down for an important credit in their resume: Philly's Phunniest.
If you consider yourself a fan of the Philadelphia comedy scene, this is more or less the can't-miss night of the year, so snatch up tix for this super showcase while you can. And good luck to the contestants: John McKeever, Pat House, Mike Rainey, Gordon Baker Bone, Gary Vider, Pat Barker, Chip Chantry, Andy Nolan, Tommy Pope, and Daryl Charles. Stay tuned tomorrow, when we'll announce our Philly's Crown Clown 2011.
Tonight, $8 p.m., $20-$27, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com.
Matt Cantor puts Gen Y-ers on blast.
Is Generation Y going to be the last generation that knows what a book is? I certainly hope not. (I doubt they’ll have e-Bibles in the pews at churches of the future, for example. I can’t imagine that the Word would have the same power in digital ink.) But the fear that my unborn children will never turn a page was certainly on my mind as I made a last trip to Borders yesterday.
I spent much of my childhood wandering among the well-stocked shelves of my nearest Borders location. I was in middle school and my parents had just begun letting me walk to the distant shopping center unsupervised. It soon became a weekly activity: my friend Patrick and I would make the exhaustingly long trek from our cozy suburb to the highway shopping center, proud of our navigational skills, kissing the sidewalk when we made it across harrowing streets on foot.
Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore is performing tonight at the First Unitarian Church. His most recent album, Demolished Thoughts, is acoustic low-rock produced by Beck Hanson (aka Beck). Arranged strings heavy with mellow violins galore, Demolished Thoughts is Moore's follow-up to 2007's Trees Outside the Academy.
But don't go expecting the jangled electric guitar that brought Moore fame while in Sonic Youth. This matured singer-songwriter is participating in delicate strumming and plucking akin to the earlier work of the late Elliot Smith. And vocals are still minimalist, to say the least. Check out the opening track from Demolished Thoughts, "Benediction," below.
Tonight, 8 p.m., $15-$17, with Meg Baird, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 215-563-3980, r5productions.com.
(ryan.carey@citypaper.net) (@slackerDIYtoday)
Last week, we debuted our weekly Philly design and architecture post, The Great Indoors, in the Arts & Entertainment section of the paper. The piece featured Meet Me in Philadelphia design blogger Ashley Hannan, who showed us how she turned her one-bedroom Society Hill apartment into an impressive, modern showplace of DIY design. Because of space limitations, though, we weren't able to share all the pictures our fab staff photographer Neal Santos snapped. Enjoy the slideshow above. And if you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Great Indoors post, email our columnist Meg at megan.augustin@citypaper.net.
Photos: Neal Santos
As stated in Icepack several weeks ago, the Rachael Ray Show crew earmarked Aug. 30 for the date of its Great Philly Grill Off and the opening of a lush community garden on the corner of Passyunk and Wharton. And despite literal hell and high waters, they stuck to the date. NOTHING STOPS RACHAEL RAY. Before the storm, her production crew stapled day-glo green posters to trees that have since fallen. They've spent the days since the rains ceased nailing down and putting up the last bits of board and metal and, as of this morning, is welcoming crew members and studio trucks into a parking lot next to La Veracruz Taquiteria on Washington between 9th & 10th streets. Joining them are the limos of potential guest starts such as Patti LaBelle, Boyz II Men, and very possibly ESPN’s Erin Andrews. Haven’t seen any of the marquee names yet. But will report back in the next Icecube Illustrated on Thursday.
Man Cave is a testosterone-laden Monday feature that highlights the weekend haps of a pop culture-loving Philly dude. This weekend, Ryan marked a few major to-dos off his list.
1. A Phillies Game
You can save your hate mail about this being my first Phillies g
ame. I have no problem with baseball, I just never found it to be brutal enough. The devastating collisions are infrequent and the regular-season games were so many that a single non-playoff was unable to compete with the NFL or a Kill Bill marathon for my attention. But a Phil's-obsessed buddy had a bachelor party at the stadium, and damned if I'm not diving in head-first.
Friday night's game against the Marlins was definitely a good one. Even though the Phils lost, I was glad my first baseball game was actually a close contest, as opposed to the usual 27-0 routs of a modern Phillies exhibition. I have to say, there was something relaxing about live baseball — it didn't have that "powder keg" atmosphere we enjoy while watching the Eagles. Citizens Bank Park is a great stadium; we had standing-room-only tickets and we quickly found a ledge with a great view. Valdez and Howard's homers were so hi-def, it was like I was actually there! Oh wait ...
Reporter Meg Augustin takes you inside some of Philly's most fab dwellings to showcase our city's unique grasp on design and architecture.
As a city rich in architectural heritage and on the forefront of modern design, Philadelphia’s sense of style seems sandwiched between the old and the new. This is a fusion that is rarely carried off with ease, let alone expertise. Yet, when I walked into the Jagr:Projects design studio on Rittenhouse Square, I knew that’s exactly what I had found — a perfect example of Philadelphia style.
If you’ve ever entered either of Marc Vetri’s establishments, Osteria or Amis, you’ve witnessed this expertise. Both eateries were designed by Jagr to reflect modern architectural elements while giving heed to the farmhouse-style comfort and homey feel that makes Vetri’s atmospheres so notable. Their fusion techniques, however, aren’t solely reserved for restaurateurs. The group’s rich and varied take on design suits them for a variety of works — all befitting landmarks of Philadelphia design.
City Paper music critic Brian Wilensky gives you the rundown on a week in live music.
Monday: Owen Ashworth used to play under the name Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. His new moniker, Advance Base, is a little more discreet. Lyrically it’s just as stark as the former, but musically its even more minimal. Check “Christmas in Oakland,” it waltzes down the same vein as most Mark Linkous efforts. Hopefully Ashworth doesn’t have any similar intentions. 8 p.m., $10, w/ Concern, First Unitarian Church Side Chapel, 2125 Chestnut St., 215-821-7575.
Tuesday: Imagine John Salamone Band is like the band your good friend plays in, your good friend that has every Pearl Jam album. Well, that good friend recently introduced you to their best friend who listens to nothing but WMMR. Well, that new acquaintance is the younger brother of one of the guys in JSB. Hypothetically speaking, Philly is a smaller world than we realize. 8 p.m., free, w/ Lightninging, Teri’s, 1126 S. Ninth St., 267-761-9154.
Wednesday: Breaking it off from Barenaked Ladies birthed a solo career for their lead-singer, Steven Page. But little has changed. Last year’s Page One brought his single, “Indecision,” which proved that Page has still got what it takes to write the catchiest pop-rock songs on the block. 8 p.m., $22.50-42.50 w/ The Beekeepers, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400.
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