Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping are of the opinion that the masses have an opiate other than religion. And if it's the merchandise that keeps us in line, then there is no time of year when we binge on our fix of choice like the holiday season. Bank accounts and credit card statements across the nation can do the testifying for us on this point. And so it is at the most......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not......

When Peter Gelb took over as the new general director of New York's Metropolitan Opera, he promised several initiatives to bring opera to broader audiences. The leading American opera company opened its season last September, and New Yorkers were able to watch the celebrity-studded performance of Madama Butterfly on large screens in the plaza of Lincoln Center and the chaos of Times Square. The Met even brought a brief scene from its production of......

Halloween is Tuesday, which means this weekend was really the time for all of the –ists to celebrate. And whether they’re designing super-spooky costumes or talking about the super-spooky upcoming elections, we’d say that they’re doing a fine job of it. Austinist knows that few things in life are scarier than zombies, people with way too much money, and politicians who try too hard to be funny. Slightly less scary, depending on whom you......

As we reported last month, this city seems to be buying Tommy’s Scientific schtick whether or not he is still feeling indigestion pains after placenta consumption. In the hometown of Scientology (is it really allowed to share a suffix with Microbiology and Physiology?), L. Ron’s people are revving up to open their new location on 16th St. in NW, and as of today, go-time is set for the fall. With so much more space, they......

Houstonist reports on cross-dressing thieves and undressing educators this week. A Peeping Tom defends himself with a papaya and an outraged onlooker asks Ken Lay, "TATER TOTS OR FRIES?" Also, FEMA wants it's money back. LAist are a bug bunch of geeks. They're Star Trek geeks, David Duchovny geeks and Frank Gehry geeks. During their Cochella preview their readers reveal themselves to be Depeche Mode geeks. Seattlest saw their basketball team preparing to leave for......

The District is often compared to our behemoth neighbor of a city to the north, New York. And as much as we hate the comparison -- and the resulting argument -- we may be moving in New York's direction, figuratively speaking. As it turns out, certain folks see a bit of Manhattan moving down south, resulting in a so-called "Manhattanization" of the District. Bloomberg yesterday expounded on this issue in an article titled, "D.C., Once......

MONDAY: >> It's a slow concert night around town. Head over to the Black Cat's backstage for Vintage DC Punk Video Night to benefit Jobs with Justice. 9:00, $5 TUESDAY: >> South Carolina natives Jump Little Children head north and set their sights on Arlington's Iota club tonight. All classically trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts, their first songs were based in Irish folk music and Delta blues, and has evolved over......

One of our favorite scenes in the movie "Barcelona" is toward the beginning when Ted Boynton takes his Navy officer cousin Fred on a night-time driving tour of Barcelona and says the city's Avenida Diagonal is like Chicago's Michigan Avenue. Then when approaching Las Ramblas (at left), changes his mind, saying that it is more like Chicago's celebrated retail corridor. Fred nods off and then gets riled up over anti-NATO sentiment in Spain. We think......