UPDATE: The blog staff was misinformed. Bruce/Marshmallow Snuffleface is a girl, and now goes by Vanessa. Vanessa still need her owners, though!

Today, we found this guy in our building's parking lot (919 North 5th Street, just north of Poplar). Is he yours?

He has been named both Bruce and Marshmallow Snuffleface. Bruce/Marshmallow Snuffleface is making quick friends around here. However, we believe that neither of these is the dog's one true name.

Do you know that name? If so, please call Molly at 917-841-1962.

This was originally posted by Andy, one the arts + culture experts from CultureBot—we thought it was sound advice for all the up-and-coming artists out there. (Or an invitation to the old and jaded artists who are reading this to take a stroll down memory lane to a time when you were poor and earnest.)

Here at Culturebot we get a lot of pitches from newly-minted college grads who are either promoting shows or looking for writing gigs. Here's some advice:

1. Don't tell your life story as a pity pitch.

I know you think that your confusion and alienation on hitting the real world is fascinating. Guess what? It isn't. It is usually completely irrelevant so don't tell me about how you're struggling with this time of your life. Twentysomething alienation is a gift, enjoy it. Go get loaded and get laid like the rest of your friends. Or start a band. Or write a hit TV show.

2. Focus, dammit, focus.

This is kind of an addendum to the first point. I don't care about your life story unless it is relevant to the pitch. Otherwise, take some time and think about what the story is, what the pitch is, what is different, unique, insightful and relevant. Convince me that there's a story there. If you're pitching yourself as a writer, then focus on your positives and your experience, not your negatives. Once again – I'm not concerned with your life story unless it is relevant to your writing skills.

After the jump: the importance of spelling, not being a dick, and offering sex (attempt at your own risk).

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Josh found this little book on the curb down the street from the Live Arts office. It's called Five Missionary Minutes—no it's not what you think. These time-worn pages, first published in 1912 by George H. Trull, contain invaluable "Brief Missionary Material for Platform Use in the Sunday School for 52 Sundays in the Year." There's a lot to be learned . . .

Like what we discovered at Live Arts Sunday School this week, the fact that Santa Claus in Korea and Santa Claus in America are two very different beings:

"In Korea he is called Angwangi, and he is supposed to be an old man who lives in the upper air. . . There is not a girl or boy, man or woman, in Korea who is glad when Angwangi comes around. Everybody fears him, for he is a villainous old fiend, whose gifts are typhus fever, cholera, leprosy, and other diseases . . . Now nobody wants any of Angwangi's gifts, so one plan after another way tried to prevent his leaving any. This is the one that the Koreans believe is most successful. A common flour sieve is left beside the shoe mat on New-year's eve. As Angwangi has a mania for counting the meshes in these sieves, his attention is at once drawn to them the moment he sees one outside the house. He begins counting, and soon forgets everything else. Before he is aware, daylight has come, and with it Angwangi's opportunity to scatter disease and pestilence." (p. 118)

Better dig out your old flour sieve and stay tuned for more Titillating Moments with Five Missionary Minutes.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that not all Fourth of July celebrations are created equal. What, you thought that the only way to pay tribute to our great nation was by eating potato salad and shooting bullets into the air? You're no patriot! Check out some of the zany ways that your fellow citizens from the amber waves of grain to the purple mountains majesty commemorate Independence Day ever since the Declaration of Independence was read here in Philadelphia in 1776 on the very first 4th of July (OK it was actually the 8th).

Click more to find out why the USA is A-OK.

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Hi, my name is Ellen, and I'm so happy to be spending my summer in sunny Philadelphia writing for the Festival blog! Usually I go home to Portland for the summer (I'm a student at Haverford College the rest of the year), but maybe you can take a vacation in my stead? Well if you do, perhaps you'd like to know the following:

1) PDX Pop Now!
For one wild-and-crazy weekend every summer 50+ of Portland's best bands play a 100% free festival! Artists range from Pitchfork noteworthies to high school headbangers because in the months leading up to the fest they let anyone vote online for the bands they want to see. I'll admit, I've stuffed a ballot or two, but it's paid off--I've seen some of my favorite local bands Starfucker, Eskimo and Sons, Breakfast Mountain, and Typhoon play at past PDX Pops. The zillion people who show up (on what always seems like the hottest weekend in Portland) wander in between the indoor and outdoor stages and chow on drunk-munchies from the food carts. You can keep your Bonnaroo.

2) Sauvie Island
At the risk of sounding like a travel guide plugging Portland, the city is a mere car-ride away from practically all forms of natural beauty--Mt. Hood, Mount St. Helen's, the Oregon Coast, pine forests, even deserts. My favorite spot is Sauvie Island, an oasis of farmlands and beaches in between the Willamette and Columbia rivers. After consuming enough U-pick berries to give myself hives, I relax on the sand, watch giant ships from Japan go by, and try not to gawk at the naked geriatrics playing bocci ball (especially when they bend over) a few yards away on the nude beach. This place is so great that my all-time favorite band, Kickball, wrote a song about it.

Interested in edible mac and cheese sculptures? Click more.

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I may be a little late to the party sometimes, but I have to share this video of a 4-story little girl puppet parading around Londontown, strolling in the park, and no doubt, once she has become aware of her superior size, looking for humans to stomp underfoot. Yes, it's from 2006, but for those of you like me who missed out before, here it is.

There's also an impressive elephant puppet, that's big, but closer in size to a real one.

--Josh McIlvain

For those of you who don't yet know, my colleague Josh McIlvain is not only the information maven for the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, he's also the co-editor of Philly Fiction 2, a collection of stories from current and past Philadelphians. Read the piece on the book from yesterday's Metro, and check out the blurbs below for the new title as well as for Philly Fiction, round one of new Philadelphia stories.

Want a copy? Want a beer? The book will cost you $12, but the beer is free at tonight's release party. Stop by, congratulate Josh, and say hello! A bunch Live Arts and Fringe folks will be swinging through.

Tonight, 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Skylight 307, 307 Market Street, 2nd Floor. Free!

New Shameless Promotional Blurb
"All in all, Philly Fiction 2 is filled with situations and characters that are original and lively - the kind of storytelling you eavesdrop on in Starbucks or on the train. As a life-long Philly girl, I am amazed and grateful to the editors for pulling together such an authentic collection."
-Autumn Konopka, philly2philly.com

Old Shameless Promotional Blurbs

"I liked every one of the tales in this anthology . . . Philly Fiction rocks: Buy your own copy and see."
-Philadelphia Inquirer

"[t]he writing sings; in 'The Shanghai Ship to Love,' Edward P. Clapp hilariously describes a trip on the Chinatown Express. There's genuine emotion in Michael Aronovitz's 'The Big Picture' . . . In Greg November's 'Dinnertime at 42B,' a loser pays a hooker for her company, but the woman isn't pretty, and the ending isn't Hollywood. Welcome to Philadelphia."
-Philadelphia Magazine, Best of Philly issue

"Delish"
-Philadelphia City Paper


--Nicholas Gilewicz

We've been situated at our 5th and Poplar location for a couple months now, and it's been a pleasure getting to know the neighborhood. At first, moving from Old City gave some of us the sense that we were so far from everything. And while the subway is a few more minutes from the door and we don't pass the Federal courthouse in morning anymore and we can no longer wave at the Fox 29 news team as we stand outside their window, the new neighborhood has lots going on.

My favorite part is that Northern Liberties is a great walking neighborhood, with many angled streets and tiny back alleys that make for oddly shaped houses. It's been a beautiful summer so far, and I love to wander about on my lunch break.

After the jump, tag along with me as I take my daily constitutional.

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We're all feeling the pressure of today's economic crunch. For artists, whose income can be sporadic, broader economic problems can have a disproportionate impact on them. When Philly's artists begin to hit the thirty mark, many, like the rest of their fellow-citizens, start thinking about owning a home. But are they worthy in the eyes of loan officers and other gatekeepers of the home buying process? Even as home prices come down from the market's bubble bursting?

"These people are my friends, my social contacts; they're who I spend my life with," real estate agent Trish Kelly said of her involvement in the arts scene.

Trish, who supports the local arts scene by donating 15% of her commission back to the theater, dance, and arts communities, specializes in getting artists into houses. Each month she and business partner Gail Finnegan hold a seminar aimed at helping first timers sort through their questions and concerns. Monday night I attended their seminar to hear the thoughts of potential buyers from the arts community.

"I'm an actor. I'm broke. I make a living in the arts. But it's a modest living," said Terry Brennan, a seminar attendee, of the challenges he faces as a prospective home buyer. Many shared his sentiment. Some attendees faced the challenge of having little or no money for a down payment while others were concerned with how their low incomes affect their prospects.

For many of the seminar's attendees, the information proved helpful. "It took the scariness out of the process," said Terry.

Adam Woods, a small business owner, was impressed by the seminar and relieved at the overall ease of the process. "My next step," reflected Adam, "is to get strategic about credit, sit down with family and partner, and talk to Trish about getting the process started."

Here are some of the key points that Trish covered that will help get roofs over our city's artists:

Take advantage of Obama's $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the tax credit does not need to be paid back as long as the home remains the buyer's "main home" for at least 3 years after the purchase date. To be eligible buyers must purchase their home before December 1.

Working for yourself is not a problem in the home purchasing process as long as you have a documented income stream and tax returns.

Low income does not mean you will be ineligible to purchase. "It's possible. I've worked with artists and other clients making $10,500 and I've found them a home," said Trish.

For more information, visit Trish's page at Plumer Real Estate.

--Jennifer Burrini

Photos by Jennifer Burrini