LOS ANGELES – Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95. Barbera died of natural causes at his home with his wife Sheila at his side, Warner Bros. spokesman Gary Miereanu said. With his longtime partner, Bill Hanna, Barbera first found success creating the highly successful Tom and Jerry cartoons. The partners, who teamed up while working at MGM in the 1930s, then went on to a whole new realm of success in the 1960s […]
COMEUPPANCE: NYT Takes Off Gloves, Explains How Judith Regan, The Queen Of Spleen, Got Remaindered
But then, Ms. Regan has actually been in the celebrity business her whole career, with her ability to sell the tatty and salacious elements of contemporary culture. She formed those skills as a reporter for The National Enquirer, but in a world where many office workers spend their days surfing for a shot of Britney Spears sans panties, that work history was a credential, not a knock. Ms. Regan always lived her public life as if it were one big MySpace page, which she filled with outrageous personal and professional behavior and intemperate words. Part of it seemed like shtick, […]
(THE LAST) STOP THE PRESSES: GUILD Ratifies Contract, Drafts, Passes And Affixes F.U. Resolution Before Sending It Back To THE COMPANY
SGT. BYKO’S FINAL REPORT: After the questions subsided and a motion was approved to start the vote, another motion was presented, and approved after some debate. That motion ?instructs the Local 10 Executive Board to discuss – and pass — a resolution saying the following: ?1- Because of their tight-fisted, slash-and-burn, anti-labor tactics, we have NO CONFIDENCE in the new owners? actual desire to publish great newspapers ?2- Because of the new owners? recent record of poor business decisions, which includes hiring executives while promising layoffs of union workers, we have NO FAITH in their desire to treat employees with […]
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: This Is Your Government’s Brain On 900 Mics Of TERROR
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES VIA ATTYTOOD: “American guards arrived at the man?s cell periodically over the next several days, shackled his hands and feet, blindfolded him and took him to a padded room for interrogation, the detainee said. After an hour or two, he was returned to his cell, fatigued but unable to sleep. The fluorescent lights in his cell were never turned off, he said. At most hours, heavy metal or country music blared in the corridor. He said he was rousted at random times without explanation and made to stand in his cell. Even lying down, he […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: Portrait Of ‘A Chilled Out Enterainer’ As A Young New Romantic
DANIEL RALSTON REPORTS: In honor of his appearance on Fresh Air today, I have compiled what I consider to be the Best of Ricky Gervais from YouTube. Here are a few favorites, with context: The Office If you haven’t seen The Office UK, just go buy it. It simply IS the funniest show of all time. The US version of the Office has a completely different (still very funny) tone, but the original BBC version manages to strike a chord with me every time. It’s the creeping sense of desperation and boredom we all feel at our desks, told through […]
ASK MOTHER PHAWKER: A Can Of Worms Marked DO NOT OPEN AT CHRISTMAS
Dear Mother Phawker, I know this time of year brings out the fun in family dysfunction for everyone, but this one’s a doozy. See, in my extended family there are three homosexuals. That’s not the problem, though. The thing is, they’re all very barely closeted and it drives me nuts. Each one of them has a partner, who is brought to family functions and introduced as “so-and-so’s friend,” despite the fact that these couples live, own houses and in one case, are raising a child together. Ma, I don’t begrudge anyone happiness and I’m glad my loved ones have found […]
MOTEL HELL: Four Dead Hookers Expected To Be The New Movers And Shakers At AC Zoning Board Meeting
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Fifty years ago, the motels along the Black Horse Pike attracted families who went crabbing in the waters just outside Atlantic City, or enjoyed some time on the beach. But over the years, the one-story cinder block structures declined – along with their clientele – to become magnets for drug addicts and prostitutes. For the last 15 years, local officials have wanted to buy the motels, knock them down and replace them with something more palatable, like condos or offices. And while those plans have remained stuck in park for years, the discovery behind the […]
THE NEW PANIC: Toe Sucker Strikes Again
The attacker with a fascination for women’s feet has struck again. Police said the man they’ve sought in connection with five other attacks, mostly in Center City, is responsible for victimizing yet another woman – this time in South Philadelphia. According to police, a 33-year-old woman was getting off a bus at 19th and Federal streets shortly before 5 Saturday morning when a man approached with a gun and forced her to walk down Ellsworth Street. Along the way, the man struck her with his weapon and forced her to enter a nearby playground on Ellsworth Street near 20th. “The […]
GUNCRAZY: Lil’ Wayne Concert First Casualty of 215 ‘Stop n’ Frisk’; Rapper Cancels Show To Keep It Real
Rapper LIL’ WAYNE scrapped a concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recently because he feared for his safety when security at the venue insisted he give up his guns. The tough-talking rap star, real name DWAYNE CARTER, told venue security he had a permit to carry guns for protection and feared they were setting him up for a shoot-out with a longstanding rival when they insisted he left his weapons with them. He tells Complex magazine, “I know the n**ga I’m beefing with is out there, so when security at the show told me, ‘We gonna search y’all,’ it was like, ‘Nah, […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
CLOSING TIME: The Killers Have Left The Building, Electric Factory, December 16 EVA SAYS: I went to see Brandon Flowers and ended up in New Jersey. I tried my hardest to focus on the music, but couldn?t ignore the boob-jiggling, blond highlighted girls bouncing in front of me. And I couldn?t, as much as I tried, look past the frat boy, business jocks intermittently exchanging high-fives. So I can’t really tell you how the Killers performance was, but according to the rhythm-less fat dude awkwardly bending his knees next to me, ?the killers are good shit.? And I won?t deny […]
SMELLS LIKE JOURNALISM: Inky Rakes Pooper Scooper Thru Gaming Control Board’s Litterbox And Digs Up Some Good Shit
HARRISBURG — Former State Rep. Mark McNaughton, a longtime critic of gambling just appointed as a member of the state’s Gaming Control Board, has won thousands of dollars at casinos in recent years, according to tax returns obtained by The Inquirer. McNaughton, other records indicate, also took several trips to an Atlantic City casino with a lobbyist who represents Boyd Gaming Corp., which until September was vying for one of Pennsylvania’s coveted slots licenses. McNaughton, a five-term conservative Republican from Harrisburg, disclosed his winnings — about $15,500 between 2003 and last year — on federal income taxes but not on […]
The Economy Of Sleep: New 215 Growth Industry, Snore Control
PHILADELPHIA – Loud snoring and insomnia used to be merely annoying. Now they are big business. In Philadelphia and across the country, sleep-diagnostic centers are popping up and people once aggravated by a lousy night’s sleep are getting help. One beneficiary of the push for more testing is a local company, Viasys Healthcare Inc., which makes medical equipment including devices to diagnose and treat sleep ailments like sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops repeatedly for brief periods during sleep. In the five years since Viasys was spun off from a Boston-area company, Thermo Electron Corp., sales of its […]