Around the Globe with the Ists

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing: what's going on in the World of the -ists?

Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagiarizing sports writer.

Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals.

DCist put their noses in legal books as they wrote about the Scooter Libby trial, the House possibly taking up a Voting Rights Act for D.C., and a court ruling against DC's gun ban. To lighten up their mood from such weighty issues, they had their first photo exhibit and packed the house. Congrats DCist.

Gothamist would like to celebrate the opening of a Muji Store but not when taxi drivers are about to strike over the addition of GPS and after biking 100 blocks to work. Even worse, a plan to name a street after Jerry Orbach fell through.

People can't hear in Houstonist's world. Maybe it's because they're listening to iPods at work or a because a speaker blew out at a Hannah Montana concert. Some people can't even listen to other people's opinions and burn down radical bookstores. But as long as somebody hears you when you order a mint-julep martini, all is right with the world.

Despite itself, LAist was full of questions. Such as, Can a Free Culture group get fined for posting fliers all over a Free Speech Zone, or Can a size-queen be with, well, someone not so sized? Or Why did a famous restaurant close for business and what happens if LA calls an election and nobody knows?

Londonist had money on their mind when they discovered they were all rich. So rich they could spend loads of money on Obi Wan Kenobi's cloak (but not rich enough to buy some other Star Wars memorabilia as somebody made off with someone's private collection). They might actually be too rich as developers might be doing too much developing around the Tower of London.

Parisist spent the warm weather discussing International Women's Day and the life and times of cultural theorist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard. But what really got them stirred up was a new law banning people from filming "happy slapping."

Phillyist was concerned about what to do and what not to do. What not to do: leave drunken text messages and ejaculate on airplane passengers. What to do: take videos of imploding buildings, honorlong-time baseball coaches, and have awesome Mayoral elections.

Seattlest had things big and small on their minds. The bigger things concerned their inept Governor and Mayor and a video series on Black History Month. As for the small things, donuts and fast food.

Despite the great weather, SFist was in a cranky mood. Cranky about litter bugs and cranky about bad public transportation web sites. Luckily for them, they have dragon-loving racist columnists still to make fun of and is that a picture of their Mayor in a kimono with his purple-gloved stalker?

Shanghaiist saw China block LiveJournal and go after pet dogs. But they also saw an awesome show about a magic cellphone and some great beat boxing.

Torontoist was in a musical frame of mind. Perhaps because it's so cheap to live there? They couldn't decide on the video of an 18 year old songwriter, but were all over Canadian MusicWeek.

Photo ofDCist Exposed from DCist

By SFist's Jon Shurkin