Hip

THE FLYERS' blue liners continue to drop like flies this summer, more than a month before skates are scheduled to hit the ice in training camp. According to a report in Swedish newspaper Helsingsborgs Dagblad , as first translated by Hockeybuzz.com, Flyers defenseman Andreas Lilja underwent hip surgery last week to repair a degenerative condition that has been plaguing him for more than a year. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren confirmed the surgery on Sunday, saying that Lilja will "be ready in late October or early November.

Jennifer Lopez has been so many things since her career's start that it's hard to remember what she actually does best. Lopez, 43, is a multi-hyphenate at a time when doing one thing well means little. Luckily, as her song goes, she's doing it well. She's renowned as a well-choreographed dancer. She's judged other singers (for two seasons on American Idol , a gig she left just weeks ago) and has been judged in mixed reviews for her own slight, sprightly dance-music hits, big ballads, and light, soubrette, vocal éclat.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It doesn't have a bathing beach or a five-star hotel, but what this city of 105,000 does have for fun-lovers is Clematis Street and CityPlace, a pair of hip entertainment/shopping complexes with a South Beach flavor that grew out of downtown slum areas. U.S. News & World Report has ranked West Palm Beach as the 11th-best summer vacation destination and the fourth-best for a golf vacation. And right now, hotels and restaurants are offering off-season discounts of up to 50 percent.

ORLANDO — His first basket as a professional basketball player was pretty easy, as Maurice Harkless took a pass in the open court and easily deposited a dunk late in the first half of the 76ers' opening game in the Air Tran Orlando Pro Summer League against the Indiana Pacers. It's about the only thing that came easy for Harkless recently. The roster the organization has accumulated met in Orlando on July 5 and, through Sunday, went through six workouts at the University of Central Florida.

Steve Lorenz works as a foreman at a cement company near his home in Whitehall, Pa., and has been active all of his life, but that life has been different since he had both hips replaced. "Sitting with him, watching TV, he would drive me crazy because he is always moving," Pat Lorenz said of her husband's discomfort. "He often said it felt like he was sitting on marbles. " Pat Lorenz is scheduled to speak Wednesday at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel hearing in suburban Washington.

Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk will not need hip surgery and should be ready "well before training camp," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Friday. "After consultation with various doctors regarding James' hip injury, we have come to the conclusion that surgery is not necessary," Holmgren said in a statement. "We will treat James' hip with alternative therapies and nonsurgical procedures. It is expected that James will be 100 percent well before training camp begins.

A recent opinion piece called into question the Free Library's place in our digital world. A quick stop on freelibrary.org — our "online branch" which receives 8 million unique visits annually — immediately highlights just how relevant and digitally savvy the Free Library is. There, users will quickly and easily find access to: More than 30,000 ebooks for checkout; Streaming and downloadable popular music; Hundreds of podcasts from...

Many a demographic is super-served throughout the year on the Philadelphia film festival calendar. Cineastes with particular interests are catered to by the Latin American, Jewish, Terror, Gay & Lesbian, Science, Asian American and Animation film festivals, among others, not to mention the overarching Philadelphia Film Festival, which will take place in October this year. Add another group of movie buffs to the list: music fans. Starting this week, the inaugural XPN Music Film Festival will take place in University City, with 20 movies screening, mostly at the Annenberg Center on the University of Pennsylvania campus.

Tasty English food has gone from an oxymoron to a driving culinary trend in this country, thanks to chefs such as April Bloomfield of New York's Spotted Pig. Once-stuffy dishes rooted in British history are suddenly hip, made with a lighter hand and quality, seasonal ingredients. In Philadelphia, British mania can be found in gastropubs such as Pub & Kitchen and the across-the-pond-themed eatery the Dandelion, but also through subtle menu touches. Marc Vetri put rarebit on the menu at his new pub, Alla Spina, though it's made Italian style, with sunny-side-up egg and applewood smoked bacon.

Colleen Mook's business began somewhat indelicately, inspired by an experience familiar to all parents of newborns. "She was a baby that spit up a lot," Mook said of her firstborn, Molly. That meant burp cloths were a must. And after seeing enough of them, Mook thought: "I can do this. " By "this," she meant personalize the towels, figuring: "All babies spit up. Why not let them spit up in style?" That was in 2002, when Mook started Baby Be Hip, a company specializing in personalized gifts commemorating new arrivals.