Victor Fiorillo’s Weekender: Things to Distract You From Phillies Anxiety
Who would’ve thought that scoring a Phillies ticket for this weekend would have become more difficult than getting a seat at Van Halen’s two-night stand at the Wachovia Center next week? This is a strange and wonderful city, my friends, and here are some ways to enjoy it.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see that Bono wanker get his ass kicked: If you, like most people, have become disenchanted with the world of professional boxing, the antidote can be found on Saturday night at the New Alhambra, when hungry amateurs go toe to toe in the Muay Thai Kickboxing Showdown. It’s bloody and ruthless, and apparently a pretty good place to pick up single women, assuming you’re into gals that like to watch people beat the crap out of each other. In other bloodsport news, the Colonial in Phoenixville shows Raging Bull on Sunday. On film no less.
Spend money on weirdly attractive women: Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for two women I love. First, the foul-mouthed and well-schnozzed Sarah Silverman, who pretty much sucked as hostess of the MTV Video Music Awards but still rocks my world. But the show that you can’t miss — and the show that I am going to miss because I have to go to a friggin’ wedding on November 10th — is the incomparable Annie Lennox at the 1,900-seat Merriam. (And if you have enough money to do all that, you can certainly afford to buy your favorite person at Philadelphia magazine a ticket to that Van Halen show next week. This blogging really doesn’t pay the bills.)
If the last book you read was not the Da Vinci Code: The National Book Festival, whatever that is, is going on in D.C. this weekend, though we’ve got plenty of our own book stuff going on to keep you bibliophiles occupied. The two events you’ll find me at: the $1 per pound book sale at Robin’s Bookstore and the Banned Books Reading at the Free Library in honor of National Banned Books Week (who knew?).
Total sensory overload: So the Franklin Institute is selling $25 tickets to the pretty lame Tutankhamun exhibit, which — finally — ends this weekend. It includes the Mummies IMAX movie. But I’d much rather spend $14 and see Transformers in IMAX. A friend of mine just saw it and said he started having acid flashbacks.
Bad table manners: I’m really not much of an art gallery guy, but photographs of random Philadelphians stuffing their face with food and taken without permission I like.
If you have any suggestions for the Weekender, please e-mail them to me. And don’t forget my Van Halen tickets!