STONE (2010, directed by John Curran, 105 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC What would it take to rouse Robert DeNiro out of his deep slumber? When did we see last him conscious, maybe the sullen ex-con in 1997’s Jackie Brown, maybe the heist mastermind in 1998’s Ronin? In this past decade it seems that the man who was once America’s most respected actor is most engaged when chasing Ben Stiller around the suburbs in the Meet The Parents franchise. A melancholy autumn of a career indeed. Stone might have perked him up. It’s a chamber piece, […]
REVIEW: Cut Chemist The Sound Of The Police
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Making music with turntables quite honestly scares the shit out of me. I understand MPC drum programming, vinyl scratching, chopping loops and synth programming. However, mixing a live performance in front of an audience, regardless how rehearsed it may be, is an impossibly difficult task. One small slip-up can ruin an entire set; it’s not like missing a snare drum or hitting the wrong note on the tuba. Musicians with turntable expertise are like circus performers— stellar freaks of nature that leave us staring agape at their wacky hijinks. One such freak of nature is Cut Chemist, […]
IMMIGRANT SONG: From Russia With Love
BY ARTHUR SHKOLNIK My father works harder than anyone else I know. He immigrated to America from Moldova while he was still in his early thirties. He came to this country with nothing more than the clothes on his back, the brain in his head, and the lint in his pockets. His propensity for math and science took him down the career path of an engineer; however the company paying his way through school went belly-up. He never finished his degree, but continued with his craft and became a private contractor and electrician. He never had the option to finish […]
THIS JUST IN: New Kid On The Block Blog
We are very proud to offer a shameless plug for Philly Broadcaster, the new metroblog helmed by former Phawker intern-turned-gay affairs columnist-turned-theater critic-turned-memoirist Aaron Stella. Good luck, kid. It’s a dog eat dog Internet out there!
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
FINALLY: NPR Cans Faux-Liberal Bot Juan Williams
ASSOCIATED PRESS: NPR has fired longtime news analyst Juan Williams, also a commentator on the Fox News Channel, after he told Bill O’Reilly that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane. In a statement late Wednesday, National Public Radio said it was terminating Williams’ contract as a senior news analyst over his comments on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor.” NPR executives had previously complained about his remarks on Fox, including saying first lady Michelle Obama could be a liability for her husband shortly after his inauguration. The latest comments came Monday, when O’Reilly brought […]
LIFE LESSIONS: With Your Life Coach, AP Ticker
A.P.’s acceptance speech from the 75th Annual Handsome Man Awards.
RIP: Bob Guccione, Lord Of The Soft Focus, Dead At 79
NEW YORK TIMES: Bob Guccione, who founded Penthouse magazine in the 1960s and built a pornographic media empire that broke taboos, outraged the guardians of taste and made billions before drowning in a slough of bad investments and Internet competition, died Wednesday in Plano, Tex., The Associated Press reported. He was 79. A statement issued by the Guccione family said he died at Plano Specialty Hospital after a long battle with cancer, The A.P. said. His empire began in London in 1965 with a bank loan, an idea and an accident. The loan was for $1,170. The idea was a […]
LIVE & DIRECT: The Sestak/Toomey Debate
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] We will be liveblogging the Sestak vs. Toomey debate tonight at the Constitution Center starting at 7 PM. 7:00: A new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College Tracker poll came out late last night that has Sestak pulling ahead with a three point lead over Toomey after trailing for months. Just yesterday, the almost-always-reliable Nate Silver poured cold water on internal Dem polling that showed the race tightening. But if past elections are any indication, and of course they are, Sestak tends to rope-a-dope until the final rounds and then come out swinging. He currently enjoys a $1 million […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR On the HBO comedy Bored to Death, Jason Schwartzman plays Jonathan Ames, a struggling writer who turns to unlicensed private-detective work after flailing in both his writing and his personal life. (The character was created by real-life writer Jonathan Ames, who is also one of the show’s executive producers.) Bored to Death, which co-stars Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis, follows Schwartzman’s character around as he tries to emulate his favorite fictional detective — Philip Marlowe. After getting the part, Schwartzman tells Terry Gross, he had very specific ideas about the ways his character should be portrayed. “Basically, I […]
SIDEWALKING: In The Belly Of The Beast
43rd Street, NYC, 8:59 AM by JEFF FUSCO
Wife Of Clarence Thomas Asks Anita Hill To Apologize
NPR: In a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction twist, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas earlier this month left a voicemail message for Anita Hill, asking Hill to apologize for her 1991 testimony accusing then Supreme Court nominee Thomas of sexual harassment. Virginia Thomas has confirmed through a spokesman that on Saturday, Oct. 9, she left a voicemail message at Hill’s Brandeis University office. News organizations, including <em>The New York Times</em> and ABC, have reported that they heard the recording, which said: “Good Morning, Anita Hill. Its Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask […]
IDIOCRACY: Christine O’Donnell Clueless On Separation Of Church & State; Joe Miller’s Journalist-Handcuffing Private Guards Were Active Duty Military
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” O’Donnell asked him. When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?” Her comments, in a debate aired on radio station WDEL, generated a buzz in the audience. “You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,” Widener University political scientist Wesley Leckrone said after the debate, adding that it raised questions about O’Donnell’s grasp of the Constitution. Erin Daly, a Widener professor who specializes in constitutional […]