Putting Valentine's Day on a weekend...on a three-day weekend? Oh. Wow.
It's best to prepare yourself for some sweet, angry and funky invitations over the next few days.
Also, do yourself a favor and skip the Roses. If everyone's buying them, they're not special anymore.

Congratulations, you've survived another week, and to celebrate, here's a few picks for weekend entertainment and the latest in profanity-laced tirades.

We like to think of ourselves as a full-service pop culture obsessed, Internet-loving, local music snooping, blog.

It's the end of another week, so let's run down some of the possibilities for this weekend, which include, but are not limited to, staying in with a warm Snuggie.

You were warned.

We've made it another week and fortunately it's not hazardous just to walk out your front door.

That sounds like reason to celebrate by heading out for a show and a beer to me.

We like to appreciate the small things around the NXT Desk.

I feel like this weekend is the beginning of a big break for a lot of folks. Presidential elections can become life consuming, and after one that lasted more than two years and millions of dollars (not to mention billions of TV hours. Thank goodness that ads are gone) we finally have a break.

Seriously, who couldn't use a break this weekend? Lucky for you we've got a mix of everything.

Luckily Sen. John McCain came through and agreed to appear at tonight's presidential debate, thus avoiding the ruination of thousands of debate parties tonight.
The Republican presidential candidate changed his mind, thus all the planning, all the the Barachos (Democrat themed nachos) and Raisin McCain cakes won't go to waste.

What could have been a disastrous start to the weekend looks - for now - to be in the clear.

Remember, people, Parties First.

"How often during the past year have you had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking?"

How guilty is guilty? Are we talking "tequila is a bad choice" guilty or "I've just woken up in a pile of my own filth" guilty?

The MaineBAC demands answers to these questions.

Let us not mince words. The economy is making buying just about everything extremely painful. The prices of a gallon of gas and gallon of milk are frighteningly close.

If you've been checking out the series we're running this week you know Mainers are looking everywhere they can to cut corners.

But of all the places we've had to be vigilant against signs of the "Econolypse" - the pump, the grocery store - now we've got to add the bar to that list?

With this morning's column I wanted to put myself in the shoes of all the bar and club owners in Portland.

So while we're at it, why don't you put yourself in their shoes as well?

Spring is in bloom (in theory) and with the turning of the seasons comes an annual tradition...award season.

Local business, local artists and local musicians are all coming into focus this month and it's time to celebrate some of the things that make it pretty great to live and work in this community.

The best part is - you get to decide.

This Presidents' Day weekend, take time to stop and think about your favorite president. Is it Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard "Party Boy" Taft, or Dwight "My way is the highway" Eisenhower?

Then again you could always attend a presidents' day party. You know the type, everyone dresses up as their favorite president, makes policy jokes and chases around first ladies.

Hail to the chief indeed.

There is nothing quite like the fear, tension and unease you feel when you're hosting a Super Bowl party and things go south for the home town team and you've got few fans for the opposing team in attendance.

I didn't know whether to hide the booze, knives and easily flammable furniture, or as a neutral party (Vikings Fan) appeal to reason.

Since I didn't have time to put together The Scanner yesterday I thought we'd double things up today for the weekend.

If only it was politics.
The debate I am talking about is not as far–reaching, but could be just as divisive.

I'm talking about Old Port vs. Congress Street.

What happens when you have airtight New Years Eve plans, coordinated with Danny Ocean-esque perfection right down to the minute Ryan Seacrest says "2007...out!" tonight?

For those of you just tuning in this afternoon, that's the question on more than a few people's minds.

Yeah, you read that right. Girls Gone Wild, as in "reliably-sketchy-
always-getting-sued-for-not-getting-girls'-permission
-to-air-their-drunken-exploits" "Girls Gone Wild."

Ah yes, another summer Friday in Portland.

Bars, decks and all that is golden. Which begs the question again, what makes for a good summer time bar? I’m going to keep asking until we get a conversation going, and I know there are people out there who like to enjoy beer and assorted cocktails.

This wet, dreary, overcast and overall morose weather is rough. Seriously, I look out the window here at Press Herald Plaza and want to put on some Ben Folds and crawl under my desk.

Would you believe we’ve got one of America’s best bars down on Fore Street?
Any guesses? It’s not Liquid Blue or Gritty McDuff’s.
It’s Rosie’s.
Yes – Rosie’s!

Holy freakin’ crap, there’s a lot going on this weekend! If I was an anchorman I might say something like, “Better super-size your weekend because there’s a lot going on around town! Let’s send it to Tom for the fast-cast!”

For all my MegaStorm 2007 jokes, guess who ended up manning the phones and chasing power outages yesterday. Sadly, I did not get access to anything with the word Doppler in it.