Between “The War” and “Dancing With The Stars,” anyone leaning toward the “total nerdbucket” end of the cultural scale will be at home in front of the ‘tube tonight. No worries, that just means more room for you at the International House, which at 7 p.m. shows the rare 1968 Japanese rock film Go Forward! BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The Beatles are so ubiquitous 37 years after their break-up that their music finds ways to wriggle into your life whether one invites them or not. So where can a fan go after they’ve worn out their records and the […]
Tough Boys Running The Street, Taking Bullets
Within the space of a few hours in West Philly yesterday, a rookie cop barely old enough to drink was shot in the face yet chased the suspect on foot for blocks, and an 18-month old boy at the playground with his Dad took two bullets meant for another man. Officer Richard Decoatsworth, 21, was seriously wounded by a close-range shotgun blast after he approached a motorist who was driving a battered blue Buick suspiciously at 9:05 a.m. in West Philadelphia, Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said. . . . After he was shot on North Farson Street near Market Street, […]
ETHNIC CLEANSING: Iran Free Of Gay Menace
Ahmadinejad also rejected criticism of human rights in his country, notably persecution of homosexuals: “In Iran we do don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” he said, sparking loud laughter from the audience. “In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you we have it.” [Reuters] RELATED: Iranian Queer Organization Ring A Bell?
KILLADELPHIA: 2 DEAD SINCE U SAID ‘ADIOS’
Early yesterday morning, a North Philadelphia man died after being shot multiple times near Eighth and Somerset Streets. Brian Harvin, 27, lived in the 2800 block of North Darien Street. He was shot about 1:45 a.m. and pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital about a half-hour later. Early Saturday morning, a man died after being shot after being shot in the head on the the 200 block of Ramsey Street in West Philadelphia. Nalin Tilghman, 29, lived in the 5800 block of Cedarhurst Avenue, also in West Philadelphia. The shooting happened shortly after 2 a.m., and Tilghman was pronounced dead […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Fast Times, Fumes, Fear And Loathing At Dover International Speedway
Tomorrow on Phawker BY JAMES DOOLITTLE
JUNK SCIENCE: Are We Having Fun Yet?
BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR A special mom/editrix asked me to look into the frenzy surrounding the recall of thousands of toys due to the use of lead paint. She probably was interested in learning exactly how dangerous these toys are to her young tot. She probably didn’t expect that the question would send me into an anti-capitalist seizure. Which it did. What I’ve learned is that you really can’t separate these “accidents” — the lead paint in toys, the tainted pet food, the contaminated toothpaste — from corporate greed and the people’s losing battle against neoliberalism. Unsure what neoliberalism […]
Tehran-On-Hudson: Free Speech Or Bad For The Jews?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — terrorist, Holocaust denier, extremist dictator, lover of the whole suit-no-tie look — will speak today at Columbia University, ahead of his appearance at the U.N. tomorrow. DEVELOPING Through a spokeswoman’s recorded message on a telephone line set up to respond to inquiries about the speech, [Columbia President Lee] Bollinger said the university’s commitment to “understanding the world as it is and as it might be” required engagement at times with “offensive and even odious” beliefs. “It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open a […]
YEAR OF THE RAT: Mattel CEO Is Sorry, So Sorry
On Monday, Elizabeth Fiend will school you on why Polly Pocket might have something to do with why Sally Can’t Read. But in the meantime — say, while you’re dismantling the Chinese crib of death — cogitate on which of the Mattel CEO’s three (so far) apologies for the lead-paint debacle you believe. Your choices are: * The one from a few weeks back aimed at U.S. consumers who really need to get started on the Christmas shopping * The one proffered Friday to Chinese officials * The one he says he really meant The state-run New China News Agency […]
BREAKING: Valania Shitcanned! Meet The New Boss!
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Just kidding, but I will be traveling to Bogota, Columbia next week and filing dispatches from my adventures in the Amazon — as long as the free wireless in the jungle is as plentiful and reliable as I am assuming it is. In my stead, Amy Quinn, aka Citizen Mom, will be running the good ship Phawker. Her email is citizenmom@gmail.com, please feel free to contact her with news tips, salacious gossip and idle flattery. Yes, I know Colombia is risky for American tourists, but I have instructed Amy to run a very flattering photo of me […]
THIS JUST IN: Hillary Is NOT A Lesbian
THE ADVOCATE: Clinton’s pioneering ways have, of course, met with fierce resistance in the past. Her detractors are legion, and many people simply hate her for being a powerful woman. The animosity is such that as soon as her husband was inaugurated in 1993, rumors started circulating that she was a lesbian, Lattimore recalls. “Where that came from, I just could never figure out,” he says. “It was so ridiculous.” One man would call the press office repeatedly, posing as a reporter for different newspapers, seeking comment on his scoop that Clinton was gay. Lattimore eventually transferred him to the […]
WTF: Judge Denies Bail For ‘Jena Six’ Teen
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A relative of one of the Jena Six says a judge has denied bail for Mychal Bell, the only one of the teens who is jailed in the beating of a white classmate. Attorneys would not comment because juvenile court proceedings are secret. But the father of one of Bell’s co-defendants said Bell’s bail request was rejected. Bell’s mother left the courthouse in tears and refused to comment.
FUNNY PAGES: The Great Bed Famine Of 1827
[via MARRIED TO THE SEA]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
IN THE PINES: Brett Sparks of Handsome Family, World Cafe Live, Last Night BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER If Edgar Allan Poe had an alt-country band, it would sound a lot like the Handsome Family: Stark, forlorn, and plumbing the tawdry depths of the dark night of the soul with a verbal acuity far beyond most mortal men. Nevermind that the lyrics are written by Rennie Sparks, Handsome Family bassist/banjoist and wife of Handsome Family singer/guitarist Brett Sparks, who lends Rennie’s darkside narratives a Mount Rushmore gravitas with his deep, resonant baritone. Uncommonly good lyrics is what separates Handsome […]