A friend of mine put together this video (hopefully it will embed correctly) about the film tax credit.  It comes down to the fact that if the tax credit is not in the budget, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh specifically, is going to lose out on a lot of jobs and revenue.  Christopher Nolan has already been spotted downtown scouting out locations for the third Batman movie, but he’s gone on record saying that he won’t be able to film in Pittsburgh without the tax credit.

Please call the Governor and let him know that you support the tax credit.  Pittsburgh needs a hero.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcXZa41UysE[/youtube]

You smell like a wet dog.

Not that that really matters, you’ll be covered in a blanket of snow tomorrow morning.

Still working on getting mobile uploading working, I’ve been posting a lot, but nothing is showing up, more soon.

So apparantly there’s some basketball tournament going on…or something.

May I instead call your attention to an annual tradition of 96.1, the Freak Show Bracket.

Once again, it is broken out, not by conference, but by counties.  And I have to say, down in the Fayette County Division, I don’t see the City of Uniontown doing all that well.  This year also features contendors such as Charlie Sheen (you knew it was coming), Angry Brids, Ambassador Rooney, Geno’s Parents, Samoas, Julie Bologna and Brett Johnson’s Left Hook.

View the whole thing and vote in the first round here.

With the Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations kicking off this weekend (I have to pull out my big hat), a few items that I’ve recently learned about Pittsburgh drinkers.

First, when you go to a bar and practically empty your pockets/purse onto the bar, that’s a Pittsburgh thing.  And I”m very guilty of this, I almost always have my wallet and cell phone on the bar in front of me, and typically leave them there (even if I go to the bathroom).

Also another dead giveaway that you’re from Pittsburgh: leaving a $20 bill (or some other denomination) on the bar and expecting the bartender to make change from it (and you’ll presumably pull out tips as well) as you order more rounds.

Both of the above items have tipped off bartenders in other cities that the people telling me these stories (bartenders themselves) were from Pittsburgh.  Thankfully, some people are kind enough that if they see you drop dow na $20 bill for a bottle of [insert your favorite beer here], they’ll make some comment about you being a Yinzer and then make change accordingly.  Asshats will take the entire $20 as payment and tip.

Be safe out there this weekend, enjoy the drinking!

From the depths of Metblogs, once again comes…a kitteh.

As I mentioned briefly before, I’m looking for more writers.

Here’s the deal: We (Metblogs authors) write because we love the cities we live in (now granted, I consider Southwestern PA to be Pittsburgh.  I spend enough time romping through Westmoreland and Fayette counties to know we’re all Burghers).  All you have to do is write about Pittsburgh.  Anything that is related to Pittsburgh.  I tend to write about transportation, culture-type things and fun things I see when I’m walking to and from my bus stop.  If you want to write about those things too, that’s awesome!  I don’t know much about Pittsburgh politics, since I live in the suburbs, and I tend to only follow hockey.  We’re pretty irreverent here sometimes, we have fun with what we write.  If we don’t, what’s the point?

What do you get out of being a Metblogs author?  Well, I keep getting invited to things, for free!  I’ve seen a bunch of special preview shows, gotten to interview awesome people who I would normally not have access to, and also, every now and then, just get free stuff.  I’ve gotten a lot of exposure for my own blog, and made friends in other cities because of the community of authors.

And, here’s the fun thing, since I’m Captain now, I can give you stuff.  Case in point, at least every other month (but I’ll try for monthly), we’ll have an author meet-up, and the first round of drinks is on me (21+ only, younger authors can write, but I’ll be buying you something non-alcoholic).  That’s right, free drinks, just for writing about the city you love.  Seriously, where else are you going to find a deal like that?

What do you need to do?  Write about Pittsburgh.  That’s it.  I try to post at least once a day (sometimes I fail, hence the need for help).  The general rule is to post 2-3 times a week, but if you can’t, that’s okay too.  When we have a lot of authors, we just make sure that we don’t post over one another (that is, letting other posts sit at the top of the page at least an hour, and scheduling of posts does that easily), unless something is happening live.  I post a lot from my phone (you can post from a flip phone, Android, or iOS device).

If you’re interested, send me a message, I’d love to see some previous online writing if you have some, and if you don’t, that’s okay too, I’ll work with you, no worries.

As always, thanks for reading.

Just waiting for tonight.

I’m not sure if it will embed or not, so just in case, here’s the link to the Star morning show’s Peep Olympics:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEeUa40tYw[/youtube]

I’ve been hearing a lot about the Ravens telling the NFL commissioner that they don’t want to play any nationally televised games at Heinz Field this upcoming season.  Most of this week I heard it on the radio every day.

However, I’ve been searching, and the only references I can find are about the 2009-2010 season.  I’ve seen a few forum posts scattered around, and they are current, but they don’t like to any new articles.

Has anyone heard differently?  Or is this a non-story (at least this season)?

Pitt News has an excellent article about the upcoming filming of “The Dark Knight Rises” in downtown:

Before the hype spirals out of control, however, it seems necessary to reevaluate how much Pittsburgh will actually benefit from its “Dark Knight” spotlight and whether that spotlight will be the public relations miracle some have hoped for. I, for one, doubt that the film will lead audiences to revise their perceptions of our city; that — at the risk of sounding like a downer — this film is really our ticket to long-overdue respect.

Tybout continues to discuss the fact that most of what we see of Gotham, at least in the action sequences, are dark alleyways and other small locations, although he thinks (and I have to agree) that parts of Pittsburgh’s skyline, especially PPG Place, will most likely be spotted in the final cut of the film.

As awesome is it is that Nolan and his cast and crew will be in town to film, I can’t imagine Pittsburgh fitting into Gotham, or Batman coming to the Steel City as part of the storyline (on a side note, for those that know, where in the U.S. is Gotham, or is that never discussed in the comics?).

Once again we see more evidence as Pittsburgh becoming a small Hollywood of the East, and it’s great to get the recognition and the publicity that this city deserves.

Now, who else thinks that we should get the Bat Signal?

I was not able to watch the game on the big screen yesterday, but for those that did: cheese steak!