Elsewhere In The 'ist-a-verse

credit: Gothamist reader Wayne

• Gothamist was struck by this photograph of a rat stuck while trying to emerge from under a sidewalk. And Gothamist readers let their imaginations go wild, offering various scenarios for the rat.

• Phillyist watched MLB.com call it too soon before celebrating the Phillies' second consecutive trip to the World Series. Sorry, LAist—but at least you still have one hometown team in contention.

• Torontoist took a look at their city hall's new green roof; when it's finished in the spring, it'll be the whole city's largest publicly accessible one.

• Bostonist interviewed John Hodgman about his role in the Boston Book Festival.

• Shanghaiist found out that a lot of people in China have a lot of trouble defining what "communism" means.

• Chicagoist was a little surprised when an atheist billboard went up near downtown and nobody seemed to notice.

• Seattlest heard and was saved by the Gospel of Jay-Z.

• LAist went from the sublime to the ridiculous: They went day trippin' to the gorgeous Channel Islands National Park and found a 5-star Yelp review for Top Chef Fabio Viviani's not-even-open-yet restaurant.

• SFist was sad to see a second dead blue whale wash ashore in two weeks.

• Londonist celebrated its 5th birthday with copious cupcakes and general revelry.

• DCist followed the ongoing controversy of the Bloomingdale neighborhood's 'Boxer Girl' mural, which neighbors either seem to love or hate.

Compiled by SFist editor Brock Keeling