FRESH AIR The three-day March on the Pentagon in October 1967 inspired Norman Mailer to write Armies of the Night and stirred many to action. While the march 40 years ago cannot be considered a turning point in the anti-war movement in the 1960s, it did serve to galvanize opposition to the Vietnam War. ALSO, Novelist Junot Diaz‘s first novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explores the complexities of living in two cultures at once. Set in both the United States and in the Dominican Republic, the novel follows the story of Oscar Wao in prose that frequently […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Hey Bub, Wanna Buy A Boxing Ring?
$6500000 The Legendary Blue Horizon Reply to: amyb@yentis.com Date: 2007-10-18, 10:24AM EDT A multi-purpose venue located on the Avenue of the Arts. #1 Boxing Venue in the world; 3-story structure; interesting architectural details; asking price does not include boxing business; 41,440+/- sq. ft. above grade; Contains CarMichael Auditorium with clear span and high ceilings, seats 1500 people for boxing and wrestling, seats 600 in lower auditorium and 580 in balcony for concerts and also used for cabarets/parties; Blue Diamond Ballroom seats 500; Newer Roof (2005); newer boiler (2003); Zoned C-2; 400+ amp electric; Taxes $11,239; 74 x 200 Lot. Daniel […]
PAPERBOY: ‘Freak-Folk Wit Whiz’ Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN 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. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up […]
D.C. IMPROV: Ladies And Germs, Arlen Specter!
INQUIRER: Specter finished second last night in a contest to determine the funniest celebrity in the nation’s capital, a charity event to benefit VH1’s Save the Music Foundation and the Institute of Musical Traditions. Most of the other performers were members of the media, so Specter stood out not only for his age — at 77 he was the oldest contestant by a good quarter-century — but for being a good sport among his famously dour and introverted congressional colleagues. Specter, looking trim and relaxed, a consoling martini nearby, said his jokes ranged from “the questionable to the highly questionable […]
VIET NOW: Baiting The Kill Zone
WASHINGTON POST: A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of “bait,” such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents. The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed. “Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy,” Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite […]
KILLADELPHIA: 4 Dead Since U Went 2 Bed
Police are investigating an attempted robbery that turned fatal this morning at a recyling company in Germantown. Police said a gunman, who posed as a customer to get inside the facility, confronted employees in a garage at Geppert Recycling in the 4500 block of Wayne Avenue. Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, said that two workers were armed and that a shootout ensued. The gunman, who appeared to be in his 20s, was pronounced dead shortly after the 9:30 a.m. incident. [via the INQUIRER] At about 11:35 last night, a man was fatally shot in Olney, police said. The […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
NUTTY PROFESSOR: U.S. NOBEL GENETICIST SAYS BLACKS DUMBER THAN WHITES James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, has provoked outrage with his comments, made ahead of his arrival in Britain today.The 79-year-old geneticist said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.” He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.” […]
VIET NOW: Meeting Resistance
Meeting Resistance Trailer
I Went To The Daily Show & All I Got Was A Good Time
BY EVA LIAO The first thing you learn about seeing Jon Stewart tape “The Daily Show” is that you have to wait — in line, for three hours to be exact — but it’s worth every tedious, snail-paced minute you spend in the Comedy Central queue. The vendor outside is making a killing selling overpriced hotdogs at $2.50 apiece (my friend and I, showing foresight, came prepared with a fifth of whiskey and a joint). Surprisingly, the crowd was not nearly as overwhelmingly white and college-y as we’d expected — though there were four Penn students representing — but unsurprisingly […]
WELCOME TO THE HOTEL VINCENT FUMO: You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Leave
PHILADELPHIA. If you’re looking for a new house, State Sen. Vince Fumo is trying to sell his Fairmount-area mansion. He may be asking almost $7 million, but you’ll save a ton in taxes. Philadelphia’s Board of Revision of Taxes has valued Fumo’s 29-room home at $250,000 for the past six years, just a fraction of his $6,995,000 asking price. The BRT has required Fumo to pay just $6,611 in real estate taxes each year, which according to tax advocate Brett Mandel is the most vivid picture of the problems with the city’s assessment process. “Even though thousands of people in […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR In the book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, neurologist Oliver Sacks explores the relationship between music and the mind.Through a series of case studies ranging from songs stuck in one’s mind to a newfound passion for concert piano after being struck by lightning, the professor of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the NYU School of Medicine examines the complexity of human beings and the role music plays in our lives. PLUS, The brother-sister duo Fiery Furnaces make wildly experimental music that’s as playful as it is unpredictable. Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, on […]
GAYBO: I Am Melting!…Melting!…Oh What A World!
BY TOMMY ZANE GAYDAR EDITOR OK, I’m not sure if my Ramon rollercoaster has finally reached its zenith, or if turning 39 last week triggered some sort of desperate mid-life crisis, but I totally earned my Oscar nomination this week, complete with hyperventilating, a crying jag, and other assorted acts of anxiety. It all started at my family’s birthday party, replete with yelling and arguing between my sister and her husband. My niece dropped her cell phone in a booth at an Appleby’s and World War III erupted. Of course, the LAST place I want to eat on my birthday […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
O BROTHER, HERE ART THOU: REID BOYS REUNITED AT LAST Garrett Reid joined his brother Britt at the Montgomery County jail last night after he missed a court-ordered drug test. The eldest son of Eagles coach Andy Reid “failed to appear for a drug test that the probation and parole office demanded,” said Kevin Harley, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office. The tests are random and Reid is not given advance notice, said Harley. “It was a miscommunication,” said Ross Weiss, one of Garrett Reid’s attorneys. Weiss said that because his client is not permitted to drive, he must […]