Comment: Django (Score 1) 519
The thing about PHP is that it is very easy to get started with, and gets a big user base partially because of that. Because it has a large userbase, people sometimes assume it is by default the best choice.
It is a decent language, and after all, you can use it for most tasks.
However, i'd strongly recommend you to give Python and Django a try before you settle for PHP. It is so much nicer than PHP once you get used to it.
This video is a good (although slightly old) intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-WXiqrzAf8