Mojo

There are four characters in The Mojo and the Sayso, the play opening Venture Theater's season, and then there's the car - a prop so dominating of the stage and the attention of the audience that it takes on the status of a fifth character. The car is indicative of both what is right and what is not so right about Aishah Rahman's play and H. German Wilson's production at Temple University Center City's Stage III theater. The automobile (actually the front half of a small MG sports car)

In their quest for a PIAA Class AAAA state baseball championship, the Council Rock North players are showing their solidarity by sporting Mohawks. After helping the Indians beat Central in a first-round matchup yesterday afternoon, Tyler Farrell was slated to get his head shaved when the squad returned to school. Despite the dubious appearance of some teammates, the senior catcher said he was ready for the new hairstyle. "It's not a good look for everyone," he said. "But it's a Mohawk.

IGOT A CHUCKLE out of letter-writer Patricia Dougherty's latest rant ( June 7 ). This time her selective indignation focuses on the audacity of former Beatle Paul McCartney helping President Obama to open a library. She even goes so far as to refer to them as radicals! Now there lies a stellar example of the pot calling the kettle black. And then she goes on say that McCartney ought to go back to his own country because she opines that nobody cares about him over here. I assure Ms. Dougherty that Sir Paul would be able to fill the Wachovia Center three times over.

"We're putting all our cash in the bank, dumping the contents of the slot machines, taking chips off the floor then locking them away. " - Dennis Gomes, co-owner of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, on preparations for Hurricane Irene. "It was nothing more than an economic pep talk. " - Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's Friday speech. "He appears to be saying that the Fed has largely played its part and that the politicians need to step up their game.

For Austin Powers, shag is not merely a noun, a verb, a coif and a rug. Shag is a way of life. It tickles. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, a goofy, spoofy sequel to the 1997 shaga - oops! saga - of the superspy/playboy, is the Laugh Potion No. 9 of parody. Once again, it's modman versus madman (wiggy Austin versus his chrome-domed nemesis Dr. Evil), both played by the endearing Mike Myers, the Puck who created the Austin franchise. And once again, this affectionate tweaking of James Bond movies and of '60s velvet-and-vinyl culture rivals the comedies of Mel Brooks and Leslie Nielsen for sheer silliness and velocity of laughs per minute.

1. Nothing. Let him get healthy and he will get his mojo back. 2. Send him to the minors until he finds that mojo. 3. He's out of mojo. It's time to find a new closer.

It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's a bat. Finally - Batman Returns. The long-awaited, much-publicized sequel to the Tim Burton blockbuster opens tomorrow, but some people will be able to see it tonight. Two area theaters will present advanced showings of the movie. AMC Granite Run 8 and AMC Marple 10 each will preview Batman Returns tonight, but seats are limited. The Granite Run 8 will have 360 seats available, the Marple 10 only 165. Tickets are $6. Once again playing the moody Caped Crusader is Michael Keaton, with Danny DeVito portraying the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

Sometimes you want to just kick back and eat. Not dine. Not graze. Not admire the still-life arrangement of the dinner entree, or coo at the itty bitty baby vegetables, or puzzle over exactly what exotic fruit flavored the vinaigrette. It was in such a frame of mind that four of us descended upon El Kibuk last week, ordering Corona beers ($3) and margaritas ($3) all around, ready to dig in. We departed full and contented. El Kibuk, opened in Hunting Park about three years ago and named for a small river near Havana, is Philadelphia's only Cuban restaurant.

A mere 979 days after Cliff Lee was traded to Seattle for three minor-leaguers, the Phillies finally received their first returns. Phillippe Aumont assumed a locker Tuesday at the entrance of the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park, and while it could be for only 24 hours, the hulking righthander was in the majors. "This is a huge opportunity for me," Aumont said. He arrived because lefty Jeremy Horst was placed on the paternity leave list. Manager Charlie Manuel said Horst could return Wednesday.

"Don McNabb. " Say it. And keep saying it. If you like, toss in an occasional "D. Mac. " But no more "Donovan. " Not if you want him to win the Super Bowl. Or even just get there. It's weird but true. History is cruel to quarterbacks with polysyllabic first names. Not since 1980 and Terry Bradshaw has a passer with a multipart first name won an NFL title. And no QB with a triple-syllable moniker - like Donovan - has even played in a Super Bowl. Talk about mysterious mojo.

A mere 979 days after Cliff Lee was traded to Seattle for three minor-leaguers, the Phillies finally received their first returns. Phillippe Aumont assumed a locker Tuesday at the entrance of the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park, and while it could be for only 24 hours, the hulking righthander was in the majors. "This is a huge opportunity for me," Aumont said. He arrived because lefty Jeremy Horst was placed on the paternity leave list. Manager Charlie Manuel said Horst could return Wednesday.

NEWARK, N.J. - The Flyers, being generous sorts, gave New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur a present for his 40th birthday on Sunday night: some free time to catch up on his reading, take a nap, or do whatever he wanted while the puck was at the other end of the ice. They went 16 minutes, 23 seconds between shots until Brayden Schenn got one off from the left side of the net with 7 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the second period. The Flyers had talked about playing with more desperation, more emotion, more energy.

Down on his luck and drained of confidence, Chestnut Hill distance runner Dustin Wilson replenished both during the weekend at the 118th Penn Relays. Wilson, a senior, entered Saturday's 3,000-meter high school boys' championship race seeded 12th in a field of 22. It was a race in which he had experienced success as a sophomore, when he clocked a personal record of 8 minutes, 30.96 seconds for seventh place. Wilson called it the "race of his life. " He rode that confidence into the same event as a junior - until an unpredictable collapse.

"We're putting all our cash in the bank, dumping the contents of the slot machines, taking chips off the floor then locking them away. " - Dennis Gomes, co-owner of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, on preparations for Hurricane Irene. "It was nothing more than an economic pep talk. " - Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's Friday speech. "He appears to be saying that the Fed has largely played its part and that the politicians need to step up their game.

When Justin Rose saw Aronimink Golf Club for the first time last year, he felt his best approach was, in his terms, to "take what you can get. " He got plenty. He set a course record of 64 in the second round of the AT&T National, grabbed a 5-stroke lead with nine holes to play, and held off a charge by Ryan Moore to capture the tournament by 1 shot for his second PGA Tour win in the span of about a month. "If there's one thing about not having played a golf course before, you come into it with no preconceived notions," Moore said earlier this month in a conference call with reporters.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Bartolo Colon pitched a four-hitter for his first shutout in nearly five years and Mark Teixeira homered in the first inning to help the New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics for the eighth straight time, 5-0, on Monday. Robinson Cano added an RBI double in the three-run first against Trevor Cahill (6-3) and Derek Jeter recorded his 2,981st career hit and drove in a run for the Yankees, who have won 22 of 26 games against Oakland since the start of the 2008 season.

CAIRO - While rebellions are erupting all over the Middle East, it is the continuing Egyptian revolution that will determine which direction the Arab world takes. After spending Friday in Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands of Egyptians were jubilantly celebrating the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, and talking to a broad section of people involved in his downfall, I can see how Egypt's revolt might produce a democracy that delivers for the people. And if Egypt succeeds, the whole region would have a better chance.

SAN FRANCISCO - Feel a little better now, Philadelphia? The Texas Rangers had Tim Lincecum on the ropes in Game 1, just as your team did. And lost a lot bigger to them than your team did. When the Giants completed their 11-7 battering of Cliff Lee and a parade of relievers, they had accumulated 14 hits, seven for extra bases. To put that in context, the seven extra-base hits equal half the number they achieved in the National League Championship Series and more than half the runs.

Q: My partner and I have been together for 25 years. Two years ago he got a vasectomy, and we have been having sex at least once a day since. The relief of not getting pregnant has changed our sex lives tremendously. The problem is that recently my desire has dropped off. My doctor says this is perfectly natural after age 40. But I don't want it to. I am really having a lot of fun. Steve: As Ogden Nash observed, "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. " As long as your input is moderate - and I see no problem with one shot of rum or one glass of wine - your output should be fine.

If there was anything more disturbing in the chaos of this week than Scott Barry's umpire-from-hell routine, it was the absence of the Phillies' mojo. What happened to this team? If some sawed-off drama queen in blue messed with them the way Barry did Tuesday night, the Phillies we knew would take it out on the other team. If a game stretched on into the weirdness of the wee hours, with pitchers in left field and no one left in the bullpen, those Phillies could be counted on to find a way to win. When the going got weird, this team got going.