“Tom Snyder, who rose from a Philadelphia-based talk show to being a late-night network fixture, has died from complications of leukemia. He was 71. Snyder was an anchor from 1965 to 1970 at KYW-TV, where he also hosted his first talk show, a morning gig called Contact. From 1973 to 1982, he hosted NBC’s The Tomorrow Show, which followed The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. That run ended to make way for a new show starring David Letterman. Snyder also had a four-year run on CBS’ The Late Late Show With Tom Snyder. He was known his casually glib, laughing style, […]
FROM THE DESK OF ALEX FINE: The Artist
EDITOR’S NOTE: Alex Fine is Phawker’s in-house artist, he’s the guy that does all those cartoons everybody loves. Fat kids, skinny kids, even kids with chicken pox. He is also responsible for the infamous Saira Rao illustration. Let me just take a minute here to give the drummer some: Alex Fine is a motherfucking AWESOME artist and a gentleman and a scholar. He also rocks. Literally. And for all the above reasons we wear him on our masthead with extreme pride and, um, prejudice. Hey Jonathan, Thanks for sending me the letter. Haha I never thought I’d find myself being […]
KILLADELPHIA: 6 More While U Were Down The Shore
* 2 a.m. Saturday – 15-year-old Raheem Grant was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head on Callowhill Street near 63rd, in the Overbrook section. * 4:46 a.m. Saturday – Jason Brewer, 25, was shot multiple times near 18th Street and Girard Avenue, in North Philadelphia. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 5 a.m. * 1:40 p.m. Saturday – An unidentified male victim was stabbed multiple times in the neck on 10th Street near Schiller in North Philadelphia. He was pronounced dead at 7:38 p.m. at Temple University Hospital. * 2:51 p.m. Saturday – A 25-year-old […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
BLUES EXPLOSION: White Stripes, The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, Friday BY JONATHAN VALANIA Mississippi said to Michigan: What did Delaware? If you ask this question – a variation on the old school bus singalong “Delaware” — to a sold out crowd at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware, and pause dramatically and then answer your own question with “Alaska!” and (this part can’t be underestimated) your name is Jack White — well, people go positively apeshit. As Hello Clevelands go, it’s pure Jack: old-timey, slightly bawdy, just this side of corny, and, in the right hands, showbiz gold, Jerry. […]
The Terror Dentist Weighs In On ‘Repellant Racism’
EDITOR’S NOTE: I asked my friend Anand Rao (no relation), whose parents are off-the-boat Indian, for his opinion on the brouhaha. Astute readers may recognize Anand as the so-called Terror Dentist (OK, so I called him that) and the rest of you might find it instructive to read up on his experience with racial profiling before reading his take on all this: Dear Phawker, So, we’re about to get the proverbial chakra spinning: As an arm-chair journalist, I would probably say that the picture does not accent or further the interview that was dictated to Phawker. I have to ask […]
CINEMA: Sunshine Superman
SUNSHINE (2007, directed by Danny Boyle, 108 minutes, U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It wasn’t long ago when the ecological horrors of ’70s sci-fi films like Mad Max or Soylent Green seemed quaint and naive, another relic of the era, like sideburns or double-knit pants. Films like the new space trip spectacular Sunshine are now one of the few beneficiaries of the fact that we are living in a time when a future of natural and unnatural calamity seems to be a real possibility. 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle refracts the dread of an imminent environmental disaster into […]
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO D’OH: We Salute You
OUR ONE WORD SIMPSONS MOVIE REVIEW: Ha-ha!* *In the voice of Nelson Muntz Spoiler Alert: All the dirty details after the jump…
TROUBLE WITH PHAWKER: Why That ‘Apology’ Sucks
. BY DAN OMBUDSMAN BUSKIRK Hey Jonathan- Let me first say that I’m not accusing you of anything I can’t imagine me getting myself into. I’ve gotten myself into more than my share of charged racial situations and I’m sure there is more to come but I’ve definitely tried to learn something along the way. If I was receving this letter I wouldn’t feel very apologized to, although you do actually say “I apologize”. But for every point you concede you defend yourself twice over. I’ll comment on a couple of things from the letter: Nita, First I would like […]
HOT DOC: How I Became A ‘Repellant Racist’
—————————- Original Message —————————- Subject: Saira Rao Posting. From: “Rao, Nita” REDACTED@usmagazine.com Date: Mon, July 23, 2007 11:25 pm To: feed@phawker.com —————————— I’m writing because on Monday, July 23rd, the writers, editors, and art department at Phawker posted an interview about my sister Saira Rao’s novel, Chambermaid, and the experiences inspiring her book. The critic, Mavis Linneman, raised observant, provocative questions. There was no nipping, as if at Dorothy Parker’s heels. But the overall tenor of the piece was still quite agreeable.The deep shame of it — for Phawker, not Saira — was that all was utterly undone by the […]
SHIT HITS FAN: Rove Subpoenaed, Meyers Facing Contempt Charges, Schumer Asks Special Counsel To Investigate Attorney General For Lying To Congress
WASHINGTON — The head of the FBI contradicted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ sworn testimony and Senate Democrats requested a perjury investigation Thursday in a fresh barrage against President Bush’s embattled longtime friend and aide. In a third blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to compel the testimony of Karl Rove [artist’s rendering, above], Bush’s chief political adviser, in connection with its investigation. “It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,” four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement […]