The rise in metal theft can be explained very simply: Due to increasing demand from overseas factories, metal has doubled in value just in the last year. In response, Philadelphia police have amped up surveillance, politicians are drafting new laws and the scrap industry is scrambling to defend itself. But in all the commotion, another story has been overlooked — it's tipped the scales in favor of legitimate scrappers, as well.

Elisa Ludwig's critiqued Philly's finest, most exquisite plates. Her passion, however, always seemed to live with small, authentic, unpretentious ethnic joints.

What was most significant in Cass' death was the way we have all come to live our lives. In the Philadelphia ethnic neighborhoods of the 1950s, no widow would have been without a neighbor's visit for more than a day or two. In today's Philly, no one knows who lives down the block — and no one wants to know.

You don't need to be poor to get groceries from SHARE. Just giving. And, yes, taking your grandmother to the park serves the common good.

"Doron Taussig and Tom Namako: You guys are fucked up."

"Only in Philadelphia can you be a celebrity mover," says Candace Karch, who's preparing to open a show of artwork by the hippest group of manual laborers in the city.

This program is certainly worth celebrating. The choreographers share a classical ballet-based foundation merged with a contemporary sensibility, but otherwise, each presented an individual aesthetic.

"A few weeks before the invasion I signed a full-page petition in The New York Times against the invasion and I paid the price for it. I had a lot of nasty things said about me on the Internet. I think that when it counted, I came out and now it's just another voice."

Monica McIntyre has grown the Black Women's Arts Festival in a small but formidable fashion.

The play takes place over the course of a night when a dysfunctional modern American family is visited and subsequently attacked by terrorist clowns.

A perfectly normal day (Judy's wedding) is suddenly disrupted (Dad bonks his head and starts hallucinating), and everything done to correct the problem only worsens it.

Know Your Power looks into the story of Pelosi's upbringing in the politics of Baltimore and her eventual transformation from California housewife to the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States government.

The film follows in a long line of butterfly-effect dramas in which disparate characters are brought into contact or end up having critical effects on the lives of people they never meet.

What Roots godfather Ahmir Thompson is to hip-hop, Anthony Green is to local progressive punk — a good housekeeping seal.

Azerbaijan, with its rich and diverse cultural history, is a fascinating country that no one in their right mind would actually want to visit.

While sequestered in his father's isolated cabin — and in between shoveling snow and skinning dead animals — Bon Iver found time to record a bunch of songs that featured sparse acoustics and multitracked choirboy vocals.

Jim Boggia hasn't always done the right thing.

With Living Colour, Vernon Reid brought the funk to hard rock; in the Yohimbe Brothers, he reverses the ratio, infusing a heavy-metal edge into a 21st-century fusion unit.

What disappointed me about my $300 meal at Zahav is that it offered meager food for thought. At that price, I expect dishes that expand my culinary horizons, or at least provoke discussion. What I got instead was skillfully prepared food that didn't move me.

| Mama's Vegetarian | Café Estelle | Fisher's Soft Pretzels | IKEA | Nick's Charcoal Pit

Tequila Tasting Dinner | Osteria: Food and Wine of Sardegna | Bust Out! Breast Cancer Awareness Eating | McCrossen's Tavern Wine Tasting

"Race walking is a middle ground. You get the aerobic effects of running with shock absorbers so you don't eat your body up."

So when friends ask where you got that perfect pencil skirt, just tell them you had a little help from this chick Betsy, who knows a thing or two about sewing.

Live with your parents? Still sleep on Phillies sheets? No need to worry about taking your honey back when you can get them to undress right here.

"I had a cheesesteak that wasn't made of real meat or real cheese, but it was delicious. The meat was made from clumps of mud; the cheese was made from glue; the bread was made from paper. It was truly a wonderful meal."

Both the instruction and the studio at Salsita have some twists. The space is the result of an entirely green design plan, from the sustainably harvested cherry wood floor to the low-VOC paint to chemical-free props such as yoga mats and blocks.