the pop box

One of my new favorite and shameful obsessions is A&E's new reality series, Parking Wars. The show follows meter maids, booters and impound lot officers all over the city. Now who would have thought that an entire TV show about the day-to-day lives of Philadelphia Parking Authority workers could be so entertaining? For starters, it's all based in Philly which means you're going to get the cream of the crop from downtown bitches, rude tourists, ghettolandians, college kids and more...

My favorite character goes by the name of Swoop AKA Tiffany. She's a ticketing officer who says she has to say the "Serenity Prayer" to get through a stressful work day. Her goal, every day all day, is to write the most tickets possible. Rundown of Operation Swoop: Swoop hides out in park behind bush across the street from bank with handicap meter right out front. Patrons continually pull into the handi spot to run into the bank (shame shame shame). As soon as the drivers are out of site, Swoop runs across the street and writes a ticket like lightening. Angry driver comes out pleading and cursing: "I was only in there for 5 seconds!" LIAR!Swoop has already written the ticket and she's all smiles. Suckers.

To me, Swoop is a local celebrity. My sister was in Center City the other day. She writes,

"u will never believe who i saw! SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!! she came by my meter as i was feeding it with the smart card and i went "SWWWWWOOOOOOP" and swoop went "heeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..."

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, which is not to say that I haven't been blogging per say. In fact, I've become quite the blog reader. See below a favorite from the Philadelphia City Paper blog, The Clog. I was certainly amused by the post. But seriously, I hate trash and litter. And anyone breaking the law should be reported! Still funny though. More to come soon. I've been stockpiling hilarity. POP by E

Not a trashcan. - Photo by Chad Willenborg

Reader (and runner up in last year’s fiction contest) Chad Willenborg sends us the above photo. The sign reads: "Morons, This is not a trash can for the lazy."

I wasn’t sure to whom I might send such a photo, but I thought you guys might find it interesting. My pic isn’t the best, but, man, there are lasagne-like layers of irony in this one. Around 20th and Jackson in South Philly…

Best,

Chad Willenborg

Thanks, Chad!

Someone took that idea from elementary school gym class - the parachute - and created this thing.

While conducting photo research on "blankets" for the below post, I stumbled across this image. It's the United-fucking-Nations of children mushed into a caterpillar. Rad!

The Co-Operblanket "allows a group of participants to be set free in a wondrous, cooperative movement journey. They're quickly turned into a 'trust me, work with me,' team intent upon movement and exploration of space. As participants move their body, they not only test their group and individual limitations, but also stretch and exercise their muscles. The blankets consist of 8-way stretch lycra, fabricated from 4-way, 8-ounce, heavy-duty nylon tricot lycra and are available in three different sizes."
- POP by J