Good Times in the City of Brotherly Love

me and my brother david went to philly - shooting for the phillies victory parade but were held up by the fact that 2 million people crowded broad street and market street and the nj transit bus made us get off in camden and take the PATCO line (underground train) into the city because the buses had given up even trying to navigate the city at all. we waited in the PATCO station while 5 fully sardine packed (think japanese subways) trains went past out of the city into the jersey suburbs before 1 train came to take us into the city.

anyway - we missed the official parade but were still surrounded by friendly but loud and mostly drunken phillies fans for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

here's my few pics. check out the pumpkin headed guy at dirty frank's at least. i ended up sorta overwhelmed by the combo phillies victory vibe and the coinciding Halloween madness and just gave up trying to document and just decided to be in the no for the rest of the night: http://picasaweb.google.com/mattymoo/Phillieshalloween#

and here is an article (some i disagree with) that touches on the subject:

Good Times in the City of Brotherly Love

Surveying the good, the bad and the ugly in Philadelphia, our correspondent is optimistic about its future.

By Alex Schmidt, October 30, 2008
It's a clear winter morning on a small carriage street in South Philadelphia. A woman in a mumu steps out of her narrow row home and yells, "Bill, Bill, you got an extra rubber band?"

The person she's talking to is the mailman, as he pushes his cart along.

"Morning, Joyce," he answers. "Sure."

This is one of the first Philly interactions I remember being absolutely shocked by when I arrived here about a year ago. The fact that a regular person would address the mailman with such familiarity – and that he'd respond in kind – was completely foreign.

I had moved here, most recently, from my hometown of Los Angeles, where casual conversation in the street rarely takes place due to the car thing. On the rare occasions when direct addresses do happen, they're viewed with a degree of reserved suspicion. What does this person want from me? I'd actually much rather go inside.
Casual conversation among strangers isn't merely common here—there's an expectation that you'll take the time for chitchat. If you don't, people think you're rude. At first, this was a chore. But a couple of months ago, as I waited for the Chinatown bus in a crazy Friday afternoon crowd, I found myself commenting to a straight-faced gentleman, "Stick with me, we'll make it on."

He didn't respond. New Yorker.

If you've only lived in huge cities, you might be surprised (as I was) to learn that the geographic center of Philly is really small. It's easy to get around everywhere on a bike, despite it being the 5th largest city in the country...

...So many things here simply defy the logic that you would think governs the rational functioning of a major American city. There are only three places in the entire city where you can buy subway or bus tokens – and they only take cash...

...Several New York friends commented to me when I first moved to Philly that they loved it here because it felt so "real." I answered back that they were confusing realness with dirt...

...Each show, from the biggest to the smallest, that I attended at the Philly Fringe Festival was packed, and the audience laughed, clapped, and generally participated. Loudly. That goes for every other exhibit, opening, bar, party, or event that I've been to in Philadelphia.

And it was especially true late Wednesday night, as the Philadelphia Phillies brought a World Series championship to the city. Everyone with a pulse had taken to the streets, groups were lighting piles of newspapers on fire and setting off fireworks in the middle of crowds as high fives flew between utter strangers...

rest of the article here.