TASTE DAILY: Four meals to eat this summer
GOOD LIFE DAILY: Break your coffee addiction in style
Given today’s top billing on Yahoo.com, it looks as if last week’s Travel & Leisure survey ranking Philadelphia as the city most populated by pustule-covered monsters is going to keep gaining traction. But who’s really getting hurt by all this negative pub? The hard-working Philly-is-so-cool kids at uiwishunu, whose main goal in life is to ensure that the public’s perception of Philadelphia doesn’t begin and end with “fat, Santa-booing murderers.”
Annie Heckenberger, the social media director of uwishunu parent org Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, sounded a bit exasperated when the Daily Examiner called for a quote. “Rolling Stone says we’re the hot scene,” she redirected helpfully. “I agree with that.”
Here’s what we offered Heckenberger as the solution to her woes: To combat this rising butt-ug rep, the GPTMC should hire May’s 2007 Playmate of the Month (photos safe for work only if you work at home or at the Fantasy Showbar) and product of the Philly ‘burbs Shannon James as the official ambassador for the City of Brotherly Love — forever. (Or until her looks start to go.)
Dress her up like Ben Franklin, have her throw out the first pitch at Phillies games, let her moderate mayoral elections, and have her analyze the murder epidemic in the national media. Anytime Philadelphia is represented on a national scale, trot Miss James out there to look pretty and wag ass.
After a long pause, Heckenbeger agreed to “take it under consideration.”
She should. And Heckenberger should know that James is no ordinary blonde with a perfectly shorn pubic region. We interviewed Miss James soon after her pictorial and were pleased to find that, in addition to her love of tanning products and spin classes, she’s also an aspiring poet. She sent us some of her work:
Spinning
Ever feel like your world is spinning?
And there you are — right in the middle
No conception of what is actually going on
You try to reach out to grab a hold?
To touch that bit of reality?
Twisting and twirling?
You know you can’t stop
In fear that you will fall
Fine. So she’s not Sylvia Plath. But she’s sure not ugly either.
Looking for attractive people? Don’t go to …[Yahoo]
Photo: Playboy.com
From the department of corporate PR horseshit:
Thought you might like to know that on October 1 Holiday Inn Express, the hotel brand that encourages its guests to “stay smart” (in partnership with AOL and HBO) launched the “Smart Show,”™ a Web-based series chronicling the daily adventures of its co-hosts who promise to showcase what’s “smart” about select U.S. cities over the course of a two-month, 6,500-mile road trip. Los Angeles resident and yoga instructor, Joan Lauckner, was recently chosen by online viewers nationwide to ride shotgun alongside host, actor, writer and comedian, Henry Dittman, in this documented cross-country road trip from Boston to Los Angeles. George Verschoor, one of the original writers and directors of MTV’s “The Real World,” also joins in on the action from behind the cameras. Next up on the exciting list of cities to visit is Philadelphia!
Superb. You too can tune in and watch rubber-faced Henry and the chesty yoga instructor romp through such storied locations as the Eastern State Penitentiary, The Mütter Museum, The Magic Gardens, and the Insectarium. Watch them eat cheesesteaks (mmmm …), ponder the Liberty Bell (oooh) and mawkishly pose in front of the Art Museum (Yo, Adrian!). It’s everything you could expect from a ten-minute web show sponsored by Holiday Inn. The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation must be horrified. Actually, maybe not.
Pit Stop In Philly [The Smart Show]
Philadelphia International Airport was involved in an embarrassing homeland security incident last week when it detained seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal because his name resembles that of a 39-year-old Pakistani terror suspect. This was big news internationally, as it pointed both to potential problems with the U.S.’s terror-fighting policies and a possible profiling situation. But if you check with the local media — or even airport staff — Iqbal’s accidental detainment appears never to have happened.
