It's easy to think of Boston as a sports team town: the Celtics are smokin', the Sox are starting off nicely, and even the Bruins have somehow avoided hibernation (til now). But don't forget about individual athletic feats at this time of year. In just two weeks, Boston will host one of the most revered traditions in sports, the Boston Marathon (in its 112th running), and we're here to help you make your 2008 Boston......

Art Somerville's Nave Gallery has brought us thoughtful installations before, but their new "Ghost Town" sounds positively compelling. Artists imagine our earth in a process of transformation, with cities growing and shrinking, populations moving, people interacting with nature, and everything cycling both naturally and unnaturally toward growth, decay, and chaos. Might sound like a bunch of hippie nonsense, but we think it makes for some appealing art. "Ghost Town" runs through March 21 at......

--Old hotness: Late trains on the Worcester-Framingham line. New hotness: Changing the timetables so they don't look late anymore. [WBZ] --House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has offered up a budget with a sizable tax cut for corporations that would drop the percentage from 9.5 percent to 7 percent. Let's see--the state is in a budget crunch, so he wants a tax cut? The budget also didn't include casino licenses, which sets up another Battle Royale......

--What would happen if you threw a Christmas mass and the priest never came? [Boston Herald] --Looks like City Councilor Maureen Feeney (aka "MoFee") will be elected City Council president for another term. [Boston Globe] --Even though the family that owns the stores skipped the country, Alpha Omega stores reopened. [WBZ] --Since Filene's is undergoing reconstruction, the annual "Running of the Brides" is moving to Hynes Convention Center and will be held February 22. [Boston......

--A new company, FlexPetz, will let you rent a dog for a few hours so you can enjoy canine companionship without getting up in the cold to walk the critter. Wouldn't it be great if you could just rent human companionship for a few hours? Oh, wait. That's illegal. Nevermind. [Boston Globe] --Wondering why there are so many kids running around today? Seventy drivers called in sick or took a personal day today, and about......

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

It's a hot debate right now. The Somerville Journal posted pictures and video of the annual Tufts Naked Quad Run. The video and pictures are far from titillating. It's tush, tush, tush as far as they eye can see. But some readers, including Tufts students who participated in the Naked Run, were aghast that the pictures emerged, the Herald reported. They argued that it was a private event. The Herald pointed out, though, that taxpayer-funded......

--Another storm is on the way starting tonight and running through Sunday evening. [WBZ] --One person died in a terrifying 8-alarm fire in downtown Gloucester last night. The fire also destroyed an apartment building and a synagogue. [Boston Globe, WCVB] --Regarding fires, b0st0n LiveJournal posted some fire safety tips. A lot of it is common sense (you really don't want to put the space heater by the curtains, ok?), but the reminders are useful. [b0st0n......

Santa Speedo Run Saturday, December 15, 1:00 pm Lir, 903 Boylston, Boston Run goes down Boylston to Berkeley and back up Newbury Official Site For some reason, people are compelled to prove their strength by taking off their clothes in winter and running around, displaying their pasty, quivering flash to one and all. (Tufts, we're talking to you.) But the people participating in the 8th annual Santa Speedo Run are stripping down to their skivvies......

After a brief flash of clarity in which City Councilor Marjorie Decker suggested things might be getting a bit out of hand, Cambridge has up and banned the leafblowers, for five months of the year, anyway. Here's the details from the Cambridge Chronicle: According to the ordinance, residents are permitted to use leaf blowers from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, from March 16 to June 14, and from Sept. 16 to Dec.......

If you dare to venture out that way--and you may not want to after this morning and the storm that is coming in--Green Line Service is back up. Or, in the lingo of the T alert system: "Green Line service is running with residual delays as a result of an earlier medical emergency at Boylston station." If you hadn't already heard, Trolleys Collide, Closing Green Line This Morning A side note: A commenter let us......

The MBTA has renewed its contract with the MBCR. Statistics confirmed what everyone knew—that commuter rail in Massachusetts needs a major overhaul, yet the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail Company will get three more years to do whatever it is that they do. So, when you're stuck on the train or waiting for the train, you know who to thank. For some background, Bostonist Noah Bierman's Globe piece on the history between the MBTA and MBCR.......

--Handheld red laser beams can be a lot of fun, but a guy from Medford with a laser beam caused a ruckus on Saturday night when he pointed his beam at a State Police helicopter. The State Police swiftly summoned themselves, the Coast Guard, the Medford Police Department, and the Somerville Police Department to find the person. The feds are investigating. --The man who is accused of being the "Green Line Groper" has pled not......

If Anthony Smith has learned anything this week, it's that guarantees are best left to Cajun chefs and the Men's Wearhouse guy. Because when you're an inexperienced safety trash-talking a 12-0 juggernaut, you can bet they'll listen. And listen the Pats did, toasting Smith twice en route to a 34-13 pasting of the Steelers. First, Smith misplayed Randy Moss, which is almost always good for a highlight, as Brady hit Moss for a TD while......

The guy who drove the tanker truck that exploded in Everett is officially Blotter material. Not only did Chad LaFrance have some driving trouble on his record, but he admitted to issuing a bomb threat in 1997. The Globe quoted what he wrote on a package at a UPS store where he used to work: "Tick. Tick.Tick. The time is running out. UPS Sucks. Danger. Explosive illegal bombs enclosed. Watch handling." His aunt called it......

COLOR Friday, December 7th Milky Way Lounge 403 Centre Street Jamaica Plain, MA 9pm / 21+ / $5 MySpace w/ resident Joseph Colbourne special guest: David Shaw A recently added night to Boston's blossoming dance party scene, COLOR - hosted by Ben Sisto - takes on a handful of meanings. Open to all, the genres spun cover a vibrant variety. The idea behind it, too, is to join art and music, bringing in guests......

The baseball winter meetings are over, and the Red Sox find themselves without an ace. Except for the one they have. And the Japanese guy who might yet become one. And the old cowboy back for one more year. And the two or three promising kids who might be a couple years away. But they haven't landed Johan Santana, which is either a failure (if they really were after Santana) or a success (if their......

Bostonist was suffering from a major BPD News withdrawal because they haven't updated since Sunday. Turns out we're not the only ones. Universal Hub and Boston Daily were also wondering where BPD News went. Bostonist contacted the BPD, and Julie Fratalia of Media Relations told us that the site is having some software problems. They're working on it as we speak, and she said she hopes the site is back up and running by......

Sunday's BPD Blotter described a woman who had a little too much to drink at an office Christmas party. Police found Kimberly M. Simon, 28, of Newton, sleeping at the wheel of her car, which was running. Further investigation revealed that she was plowed and that she got plowed at the office party. It got weird when police took Simon to the station: On arrival to the station, the suspect urinated on the floor of......

Pollock Matters Through December 9 McMullen Museum of Art Boston College 140 Commonwealth, Devlin Hall 108, Chestnut Hill (T: Boston College. Directions by car.) Boston College is running an art exhibit addressing the relationship between painter Jackson Pollock and his friend Herbert Matter. The exhibit is national news because the paintings, which were discovered by Matter's son Alex, may or may not be original Pollocks. Numerous experts have evaluated these paintings to discover the truth,......

One of our favorite little quirks in sports is that, when a hockey player is listed as active or inactive for a given game, the announcers say "so-and-so will [or will not] be dressed for tonight's game". It made us giggle as eighth-graders; it makes us giggle today. But giggling seems somehow inappropriate at today's Globe story about the New York artist named Kurt Kauper, who's causing a splash in the art and hockey world......

Former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney attended the Republican CNN/YouTube debate last night, even though he admitted he was concerned about taking questions from a snowman complaining about global warming. CNN teased him a little bit in the beginning by showing a brief highlight reel with the snowman, but then they disappointed by saying that only "serious" questions would appear. And then CNN showed questions from a dude performing a singsongy tune on......

As tempting as it would have been for the Bruins to come out swinging last night, playing back the Flyers for Patrice Bergeron's concussion, that's not how they roll. And they needed the two points even more than they needed the visceral satisfaction of seeing the Flyers laid out like the wounded soldiers in Gone With the Wind. The 6-3 shellacking wasn't exactly a tea party, though. Defenseman Andrew Alberts left the game after a......

When the RMS Carpathia began hauling Titanic passengers out of lifeboats in the North Atlantic in 1912, those passengers probably didn't want to spend a lot of time reflecting about the food, or the music, or man's hubris. They were just happy to be alive. Was that too Nick Saban-y an analogy? Sorry about that. But that's kind of how we feel after the Patriots clawed their way to survival against Philly last night. The......

A fried turkey is a delicious turkey because the skin is ever-so-crispy and the flesh is meltingly moist. But Bostonist would like to issue a public-service announcement--turkey-frying is dangerous. You best know your way around propane because 'tis the season for turkey-fry fires. Be sure to take the turkey fryer outside before you start. Essentially, you will be hooking up a vat of oil to a propane tank and dipping a whole turkey into the......

The Sox got the message. After making decisions that led to the breakup of the 2004 champs, like letting Pedro (which we grudgingly understood) and Johnny Damon (hey, how's that working out for you anyway, Johnny?) leave, Sox fans stood as one and declared that if they didn't bring back World Series MVP, great fielding, clutch hitting, hard working, popular Mike Lowell, we'd...be pretty unhappy. So Mike Lowell will be right where he belongs next......

A mixed bag on Big TV day in New England. Let's start with the good: The Bills had won four in a row, and were feeling pretty good about being able to hang around with the Patriots. They even got an inspirational message on the Jumbotron from injured Kevin Everett, so they had to be pumped up. Eleven seconds later, they were down 28-0 (numbers may not be strictly accurate). We're running out of ways......

You know that former Massachusetts governor presidential aspirant Mitt Romney is rich. But did you know just how rich he is? He has spent a total of $10.2 million on TV ads--$85,000 a day, according to CNN. Ponder that a second. $85,000 a day--much of it his own money. He's donated $17.5 million of his own money to the campaign so far. To give a little perspective, Team Romney can drop $85,000 a day,......

The Globe reports that the Milky Way will remain open through Monday, pending a court hearing. The Jamaica Plain bar and night club, one of three in Boston closed for failing to install fire sprinklers, won an injunction from Suffolk Superior Court last night. It reportedly came too late to prevent the cancellation of one event, the Rock 'N' Roll Fashion Show. The bar has requested a one-year extension from state fire officials for installing......

Bill Belichick wins football games, and he makes it clear that he's not looking for affection from the masses. But one comedian has decided it's time Belichick worked on his people skills. Michael Showalter rhymes "Belichick" with "Surly Dick," and he proceeds to knock Belichick around for numerous offenses, such as wearing a "Flashdance sweatshirt" and blowing off Tony Dungy after the Patriots-Colts game. Showalter then launches into a fantasy about what Tony Dungy should......