Our favorite bodybuilding, back-aching ex-firefighter appeared on the radio to make his first public statements. Albert Arroyo wishes that other jakes—the ones who show up to work everyday—would be more sympathetic to his plight. [Boston Globe] MBTA employees complain about new federal regulations that require the monitoring of urine tests to detect drug use, in effect saying, "I can't cheat if you're looking." [The Boston Channel] Blame Canada! Our northern neighbors are considering a......

The rumors that JFK fathered a love child who is now living in Canada have not gone away. In fact, they seem to be gaining strength, at least up north. The love child went to the press and revealed some information about himself. His first name is "Jack," of course. The Herald has his full name, but the Toronto Globe & Mail does not. "Jack" wants DNA tests, and he says people stop him and......

On top of the loss of his chosen presidential candidate, Barack Obama, in the Massachusetts primaries (debate on the "Kennedy Lift" here), Senator Ted Kennedy now has to deal with more rumors about the Kennedy Clan. The Kennedy Clan has always been a magnet for rumors, some sordid, some not, some true, some not. In this case, whether or not it is true, the latest rumor will have a high-profile mouthpiece in the form of......

Today, we're not going to talk about YouKnowWhat XLII. Because there's nothing to talk about. Today, we're going to celebrate two big wins from our two local winter teams. (We will remind you, however, that we'll be live-blogging YouKnowWhat XLII starting 7:30ish on Sunday. Get your commentin' fingers in shape.) The Celtics were facing maybe their toughest test of the season so far. There have been Negative Nellies all over the land saying that the......

--A few days old, but still exciting--the MBTA says it will improve the lighting at the JFK/UMass stop. [Boston Globe] --Speaking of transportation improvements, the city will start work on the intersection of American Legion Highway and Walk Hill Street, which one neighbor calls "Kamikaze Way." [Boston Globe] --Want to know how to help Frank Enwonwu, the local man who may be deported to Nigeria, even though he informed for the DEA? [Bostonist] --Cable......

So a few movies shoot in Boston, and all of a sudden the city is Hollywood East. Well, a lot of movies stopped by here, and Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters premiered at Harvard. The New York Times called Boston the "new Toronto" as long as movies are concerned. Today, the Track Girls became excited at the prospect of Canada being jealous of Boston. But who cares about that? All we care about is--what in......

--Boston wins again! ...in the plane delays department, at least. --Big fuss over protesters in New Orleans. Might've been nice to have some fuss about levees a few years ago... --Britney Spears' little sister is pregnant. Finally, something that can unite all Americans in disgust. --Britain might be even worse than Boston for driving this Friday. --Busted: Mitt's dad didn't actually march with MLK after all. At least not in the same city on the......

On December 12th Berklee College of Music hosted a show (broadcast live for Sirius Canada) dedicated to the music of Canadian artists - rapper k-os and rockers The New Pornographers were billed as the headliners. The Canadian music scene has been on indie radars for a while now, and this show proved that the attention has been well deserved. The show began with performances by Canadian Berklee students, and while all the students showed......

Josh Ritter Tuesday, December 11 Club Passim, Harvard Square 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., $35-$75 (SOLD OUT) When Josh Ritter closed his most recent Somerville show with a rambled monologue in which he dispensed impractical driving directions from Davis Square to Canada (via the Fresh Pond Whole Foods) and plugged his two upcoming benefit concerts at Passim, Bostonist jumped at the chance to see him in such a cozy, acoustic-friendly venue—and so did everyone......

Come on, it wasn't as if anyone thought that the mighty Toronto Raptors would snap the Celtics' unbeaten home streak. Sure, they could have - insert your "any given team, any given night" coaching adages here - but it wasn't a match up that was highly anticipated. You didn't hear any of the Raptors guaranteeing victory. We're just sayin'. So it was with a pleasant little lack of surprise that the Celtics took an early......

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......

After the Mooninite Menace and Star Simpson's light-up sweatshirt, we were starting to think that the entire city of Boston was afraid of its own shadow. But Toronto just made us feel better by having its own experience of homeland security gone awry in the face of art. Torontoist has an interview up with a gentleman who just scared the holy shit out of the city. And this is Canada, people, aka America's Hat. They're......

MUSCLES Jokers Of The Scene @ Hearthrob Middlesex Lounge 315 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 9pm - 1am 21+ / $5 MySpace: Muscles MySpace: Jokers Of The Scene MySpace: Hearthrob The UK-based Modular Records is fast becoming one of Britain's most important electronic music exports on a global level. Now, Klaxons are one of the biggest indie bands to carry the dance party torch, uniting it with the rock venue atmosphere and audience. Stepping up......

Ann Patchett, Wednesday, September 26, 6:00 pm, Coolidge Corner (via Brookline Booksmith) The author of Bel Canto situates her latest book in Boston, and the plot should seem awfully familiar - the head of a political family tries to perpetuate a political dynasty. A Boston mayor steps down and tries to drive two of his adopted sons into politics. In the span of one day, events unfold that might change those plans. Vincent Lam, Wednesday,......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

You play until the late hours against your fiercest rival, then fly six hours cross-country to face one of the toughest pitchers out there. How would you fare? If you're the Red Sox, you'd fare badly for a while, then really well, then disappointed. Oakland starter Danny Haren was fantastic, shutting the Sox down with 9 strikeouts through the eighth. So Boston did what they do best, which is bide their time until the bullpen......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

Harry Doyle and the Friends of the Feathered are breathing a sigh of relief this morning. After two losses at Fenway, Chief Wahoo's Tribe turned on the juice Wednesday night, pounding out a season-high 18 hits and smacking the Sox 8-4. Boston gave Daisuke a 2-0 lead after four innings, but Dice had been living dangerously all along, and Cleveland finally started to make him pay. And pay and pay. The Indians score two in......

Since McGrory took over the Metro Editor post at the Globe, we've only got Alex Beam's column to look forward to for our dose of ridiculous controversy on Wednesdays. Today we took the hook and got excited that he'd be giving us the scoop about Boston University rebranding as Boston's University. With the controversy, and imminent no confidence vote, at UMass Boston we thought he had some juice to share. We were wrong about the......

No games last night of local interest. So let's take a spin around the country to see what's going on in the rest of the sporting world. We'll start in Arlington, Texas, where the Red Sox are about to begin a three-game set with the Rangers. Daisuke Matsuzaka goes tonight against Brandon McCarthy. Big D is still buzzing about this week's announcement that the Cowboys and their new stadium will host Super Bowl XLV in......

If only Tim Wakefield could pitch in Toronto all the time. Wake shut down the Jays a month ago, and he did it again Thursday night, going seven innings and cruising to a 8-0 pounding of the Blue Jays, who have plummeted straight past "hapless". 26-5 was the final score of the three-game series. Wake had a little early trouble. The Jays loaded the bases with one out, but Wake struck out Frank Thomas, then......

Not much gets said about the restorative effects of a vacation to Canada, but the Red Sox' stay in Toronto has been nothing but beneficial. The Blue Jays are falling apart at the seams, and the Sox are more than happy to take advantage of their hospitality. Last night's 9-3 win was just the latest example. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who had won his last two decisions despite looking surprisingly average, was back in form last night,......

Things were looking bleak in Canada yesterday. Leonard Cohen bleak. Down 3-1 after seven innings, the Sox looked like the "feast or famine" roller coaster was about to take another big dip. Then Manny homered to tie it. He's finally off the schnide, and only one behind Miracle Mirabelli now. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Alex Cora survived a tough slide by the Jays' Lyle Overbay to turn a rally-killing double play. Cora,......

If you look past the fact that the Sox are back at home for their first few games at Fenway this season you'll be able to hear a greater beat on the street. As is often the case there is more good live music going on in town this week than any one person could possibly listen to. Time to clone yourself so you can scoop up a standing room ticket to watch Dice-K......

Celtics? Forget about it. Hockey is now clamoring for our attention with the Beanpot finale scheduled tomorrow night, a Bruins victory over the Islanders (4-3), and a four-player trade between the Bruins and the Calgary Flames. Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau are headed to Canada, while the Bruins will get Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew, who are cheaper. According to the Globe and Mail, Calgary may be the losers in the trade because they are......

Valentine's Day is only a few days away, and we here across the network wanted to express would like to tell you, in the spirit of the holiday, just how much we love you, our readers. Don't let it get to your heads, though. There are plenty of things we love, you included. Just be glad you're not amongst the things we hate. SFist saw their beloved mayor enter rehab, and they loved the opportunity......

The BPD rounded up 21 perps for smuggling pot and Ecstasy in "Operation Polar Express." Actually, judging from how bags of Ecstasy looked in this picture available at the Globe, the law should have called it "Operation Popcorn." This drug bust involved Vietnamese drug rings tied to Canada. These people were busy bees: "Investigators seized 85,000 ecstasy pills, worth nearly $2.6 million on the street, 130 pounds of marijuana, five guns, and $25,000." The BPD......

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbqs and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder? Phillyist is concerned that the war on Trans fats could affect it's beloved cheese steak sandwiches, something for which we should all be concerned.......