In Philly for the summer? Us too. While UTB will keep you posted on each week’s particular happenings, this helpful Philly spring-and-early-summer festival guide from Uwishunu is worth a read.

During the next two months, every possible culture and special interest group is capitalizing on the gorge weather with a big celebration. Best of all, festival-hopping will cost you nada! For example, this weekend is the South Street Spring Festival, the Kite Festival at Penn Treaty Park, the Strawberry Festival, and the Broad Street Run. Here’s to your next Facebook album!

Starting this June, a solution to the most pressing problem plaguing our city, the inconveniently dying cell phone, has finally been found. As the Philly Post blog reported, ChargeItSpot, the aptly named start-up headed by Douglas Baldasare (WG’12), is looking to install 76 free cell phone charging stations in businesses throughout Philly.

Using cakes to spread the word to interested business owners (someone aced Marketing), Baldasare is putting those Wharton skill to work. For smart phone users, an app, also debuting in June, will monitor your phone’s battery level and send out alerts about ChargeItSpot locations. Walk fearlessly Snapchat addicts and Google Maps dependents, the world is your outlet.

The Made in America music festival is making its second annual appearance this Labor Day weekend. The lineup was just announced today, and we have one word for you: BEYONCÉ. So there you go, kids. If you’re still bitter about Girl Talk by August, you can bow down to the mother of all Fling headliners we never had.

Also, in case you haven’t noticed the academic calendar, school starts a week earlier this year (booooo). That means once you’re done reuniting with the besties and intimidating the freshmen, you can do NSO all over again the next weekend! Thanks, Jay-Z.

Do youse guys love speaking like real Philadelphians? According to a recently published study by Penn linguistics professor William Labov, the Philly accent has changed significantly over the past century.

The Philadelphia dialect used to be more similar to Southern speech, but Northern influences have been increasing during the last few decades. Some sounds, like the “i” in fight, have become more extreme, while others, like the “o” in soda, have become less distinctive.

This might seem like a lot of change, but don’t worry. This is still the only city in the world where you can order a glass of wooder.

For seniors counting down their last days as undergrads and other students alike, Sidetour might be your new best friend.  It’s a new community marketplace aimed at offering unique experiences in cities and Penn grads just brought the site to Philly.  From tequila tastings to a guided tour from a descendant of Philadelphia’s charter-writer, all the offerings on the site sound like preceptorials you would want to take.  This might just be the perfect opportunity to finally put that thesis to rest and reacquaint yourself with the outside world.

Hey, it’s your weekly reminder that you live in Philadelphia! Midterms are stressful, but hanging around other stressed people can be like getting sneezed on  when you’re already sick. Here are some reasons to leave the bubble:

Friday:

Philly Fashion Week comes but once a year, and if you don’t spend it smizing and accessorizing then you’re wasting your time.

Or, go see comedian-slash-angry-old-man Lewis Black grace the the Academy of Music with his shouty take on current events. It’s tonight, but tix are available, and he has, like, totally touched Jon Stewart!

Saturday and Sunday, after the jump.

Welcome to UTB’s first Filly Friday post, a feature designed to get you out on the town this weekend! Obviously there’s lots of great stuff happing on campus, as usual, but sometimes you need to get away.

Tonight:

Throat Singing at the Rotunda: The Rotunda isn’t technically OFF off campus, but it’s a real live West Philly institution, and this event will take you pretty far outside the Penn comfort-bubble. Throat singing, kind of like human-bagpiping, is weird and wonderful. This event is one of the Rotunda’s most popular each year, and it’s pay-what-you-wish!

Saturday:

Paleopalooza: Do you love dinosaurs so much that you want to marry them, and sometimes wish that you were covered in scales and had a walnut-brain so that you could understand what they WENT through? Then you’ll love this Academy of Natural Sciences event, which includes robotic trilobite races and a bunch of lectures from famous Paleontologists. Miss Frizzle would be proud.

Northern Liberties’ Winter Music Festival : Yeah yeah, hipster scum, etc. But  How often can you say that you actually get to see real Philly-based live music? We’re not going to pretend we know who Brick + Mortar are, or how Ruby The Hatchet got their name, but with World Cafe-based radio station WXPN as a sponsor it’s guaranteed to be worthwhile. Protip: This event is 21+.

Sunday, after the jump!

Time Lapse: Philadelphia from Angelo Leotta on Vimeo.

Whatever your feelings on Philadelphia, you’ve got to admit—you live here! So when it’s cold and dreary and you’re shuttling from class to VP to Houston to your house like a mindless drone, it’s good to remember the city around you can be quite lovely. We encourage you to start your Tuesday with this time-lapse video of Philly at its most endearing. Dear Olde Penn makes cameos in 00:27, 00:54, and 1:40, so see if you can spot your fine self amongst the technologically-assisted bustle!

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly LO.

Forget sandy beaches and idyllic national parks—our very own Philly has been named the fourth best travel destination in the US. All UTB has to say is DUHHH. We could have told you that. In fact, we should really be #1. I mean, Kentucky? Robbed.

Lonelyplanet has dubbed Philly the new art capital, pointing to renowned destinations like the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the trendy Loft District. The only thing missing from the list is a little shoutout to West Philly. It’s also no secret that Penn is the gem of the Philadelphia art scene. There’s a giant, broken sex button in front of our library. There are two giant tampons duking it out over Locust Walk. We’re artsy.

Now that the secret’s out, everyone’s going to be cancelling holiday flights to St. Bart’s and flooding our little city. ‘Tis the price of fame. Just remember that we were here before it was cool.