With your life coach, AP Ticker.
HURRICANE PORN: The Weather Industrial Complex
WILL BUNCH: Longtime media writer Howard Kurtz, now with the Daily Beast, nailed the disparity when he said that although Irene did prove to be a Category 1 storm, causing significant disruption, it received Category 5 coverage into the weekend. Jason Samenow, chief meteorologist with the Washington Post‘s Capital Weather Gang, which is receiving kudos for its accurate and restrained reporting, said last night that some cable anchors were still reporting that Irene could strike New Jersey and New York as a major hurricane long after his team determined that it clearly was weakening. “You want to raise awareness of […]
REVIEW: Jay-Z & Kanye Watch The Throne
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Jay-Z is the biggest, baddest, most livin’ largest persona to loom over the skyline of New York City since Sinatra. He went from shooting the shit in BK with Memph Bleek and Jaz-O to dining in Africa with Bono and sharing plane rides with the President of the United States — not bad from a reformed drug dealer from the projects. His wealth exceeds his Mafioso attitude, and he is the only true rapper-turned-businessman in the world of hip-hop. He’s the rapper that every rapper wants to be. Plus, he wifed-up that chick from Destiny’s Child. After […]
SPECIAL REPORT: The Top 10 Drug Corners 2011
[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR] EDITOR’S NOTE: The following report — the product of a partnership between Phawker and PW and funded by a grant from J-Lab and the William Penn Foundation — ranks the city’s 10 worst drug corners the way Philly Mag ranks pizza or bars or bikini wax salons. Sarcasm aside, the story is no joke, rather it is the product of six months of old fashioned shoe leather reporting, arrest statistics crunching, and and dozens of interviews with the police,academics, neighbors, drug dealers and drug buyers. The hope is that we can spark a new conversation about […]
PBS: Can Marijuana Really Cure Cancer?
RAW STORY: The cancer-killing properties of marijuana were the subject of discussion in a PBS documentary that aired this week to little media fanfare. While using marijuana to kill cancer may sound like a wild claim to some, it struck Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti as a great idea. In his studies as professor of pathology and microbiology for the University of South Carolina, he tested synthetic cannabis drugs on cancer cells and developed a formula that was able to completely eradicate cancer cells in a test tube. A follow-up on mice afflicted with cancer found that up to 30 percent in […]
CONCERT REVIEW: My Morning Jacket At The Mann
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Opening for a band that draws seven or eight times as many people as you do seems like a no-brainer. After all, if you win over just a quarter of the crowd, you’ve more than doubled your draw in this particular market. The downside is that nobody shows up for the opening act at The Big Rock Show. Never have, never will. Tuesday night at the Mann Center was no exception. Neko Case opened for My Morning Jacket and delivered a game but faintly glum set to mostly empty seats […]
The Hagiography Of Dr. Arlene Ackerman
Posted two days ago to Dr. Arlene Ackerman‘s YouTube account, this video looks like a million bucks, or at least $905,000. Either way Cgraham915 is just not feelin’ it. His comments below were mysteriously deleted this morning and commenting disabled. Some things never change with Dr. Ackerman. This video fails to mention the almost weekly embarrassments in the press about her and the School District. It doesn’t mention her lies about “I’m not leaving” and “I have had no discussions about leaving.”, and? is then reported that she has been in negotiations for a buy-out settlement since June. Lastly, this […]
Bob Dylan Really Likes Our Dylan At The Mann Piece
Or at least the BobDylan.com webmaster does. Either way, we don’t need a weatherman to know that’s pretty friggin’ awesome. Terrorist fist bumps to Mike Walsh, our new pop culture writer, for hitting on out of the park on his first at bat. RELATED: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Bob Dylan
RIP: Vaya Con Dios Jose Vento
From our partners in media crime over at Scrapple TV.
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: 8 Candles On The Yellow Cake
BY WILLIAM C. Henry Remember that nondescript swath of Syrian desert that Dubya decided to remake into Arlington National East? Well, S U R P R I S E, we’re forty-six-thousand-American-troops-strong still there! And assuming you haven’t been paying much attention lately, I’m sorry to have to report that that cesspool-in-the-sand is still swallowing up American dead and dismembered at a rate of more than a score a month–and never mind that Iraqis themselves are being blown up by the scores EVERY DAY! It’s the dirty little debacle that just won’t go away. And, by all that’s right and just, its memory never will. THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND […]
HOLY SHIT: We Just Had An Earthquake
5.8 on the Richter Scale, epicenter in Virginia…MORE…statement from the City after the jump…
CONTEST: Win Tix To See MMJ & Neko Case Tonight!
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] We have a pair of tickets to give away for My Morning Jacket and Neko Case at the Mann tonight! Why? Because we love you, you idiot. Time is short, so we’re gonna make this super easy: Name the large, furry creature on the cover of 2003’s It Still Moves. And, no, Jim James is NOT the answer. First reader to send us the correct answer at FEED@PHAWKER.COM wins the tix. Include a cell phone number for confirmation. Good luck and godspeed!
HEAR YE: New Tom Waits Album Listening Party
Bad As Me, Tom Waits’ first studio album of all new music in seven years, comes out out October 25th. This pivotal work refines the music that has come before and signals a new direction. Waits, in possibly the finest voice of his career, worked with a veteran team of gifted musicians and longtime co-writer/producer Kathleen Brennan. From the opening horn-fueled chug of “Chicago,” to the closing barroom chorale of “New Year’s Eve,” Bad As Me displays the full career range of Waits’ songwriting, from beautiful ballads like “Last Leaf,” to the avant cinematic soundscape of “Hell Broke Luce,” a […]