Two years of anticipation will finally end Saturday, T-Day in Philadelphia, when “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” opens at the Franklin Institute. This city is the last of four American stops for this dazzling display of royal tomb treasures from ancient Egypt.The show attracted more than one million visitors to the Field Museum in Chicago. The Franklin Institute projects a similar turnout here.With more than 130 objects, this Tut show is far larger than its celebrated predecessor, the first American museum blockbuster, which toured this country between 1976 and 1979. That show was devoted exclusively to artifacts […]
THE ZERO OSCILLATOR ATE MY HOMEWORK…AND THEN IT ATE MY SISTER!
Music by Dave Talento.
JURY: Wyeth Hormones Caused Breast Cancer
A state jury in Philadelphia on Monday found Wyeth’s hormone replacement therapy (HRT) Prempro was responsible for a woman’s breast cancer and ordered the U.S. drugmaker to pay $1.5 million in compensatory damages, a court official said. The jury found that Wyeth was negligent in failing to provide adequate warnings about the breast cancer risk associated with Prempro. The jury is expected to return on Tuesday to decide punitive damages after also finding that Wyeth’s conduct was “malicious, wanton, willful or oppressive or showed reckless indifference to the interest of others” in its failure to provide proper warnings about its […]
SPORTS: Arthur Ashe Center Wins ‘Best In Show’
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education in Philadelphia has been selected as Public Facility/Organization of the Year by the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and its national and international affiliates, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The announcement was made today by Dennis Van der Meer, President and Founder of Professional Tennis Registry. […] “This honor belongs to all those who dreamed of a Youth Tennis Center where kids could train and rise to their potential, not only as tennis players but as solid human beings,” said AAYTE Board Chairman […]
BREAKING: BARBARO PUT DOWN
NEWSDAY: Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, whose valiant battle for survival after shattering his right-hind leg in the early stages of the May 20 Preakness brought international attention unprecedented emotional support, was euthanized early today at the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center, where he had been hospitalized for more than eight months. DAILY NEWS: After winning the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin in 60 years, that elusive Triple Crown seemed there for Barbaro’s taking. Then, 2 weeks later, barely 200 yards into the Preakness at Pimlico, it was over, as the colt’s right hind leg was left dangling, a […]
THIS JUST IN: Philebrity Still A Bag Of Dicks
With friends like this, who needs enemas? From the Department of Faint Praise comes this typically backhanded compliment from our old dear friend, Joey Sweeney. We took the liberty of fucking with it in the pursuit of humor. Ah, feels like old times: Phawker Produces First (Sort Of) Readable Post, Nabs Interview With Jose Swilton CITIZEN MOM REPORTS: The scariest guy on the Internet plops down next to me on a banquette. He’s sporting a head of pink hair, a dark T-shirt-and-jacket combo, skinny jeans and moon boots ? an ensemble that probably nobody else could pull off. He looks […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER: Among people who like that sort of thing, Colin Meloy – ringleader of the Portland, Ore.-based folk-pop collective the Decemberists – is the most satisfyingly literary songwriter to emerge in recent memory. Others find his tune-smithing to be cloying and contrived, like an English-class apple-shiner who makes sure that his essays always incorporate alliteration, onomatopoeia and at least three examples of simile and metaphor – just because he can. A bookish, blocky man with an owlish countenance and the physique of a chatroom habitue, Meloy writes songs best described as historic pulp fiction, a […]
EXCLUSIVE: PHAWKER NAILS PEREZ HILTON
FLICKR: Perez Hilton’s Party At Club Mur Mur, The Borgata, Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY — While the rest of the Philly media was busy eating the dust of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Citizen Mom and Phawker headed down the Shore to party with the Queen of All Media, Perez Hilton! The celebrity uber-blogger — who was just named #2 on Forbes Magazine’s Web Celeb 25 — held court at the Borgata Saturday night and ONLY Team Phawker was there to get the celebrity juice, NOT from concentrate and straight from the mouth of Miss Perez herself. […]
OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: Casino Fund Created To Alleviate Crushing Poverty Of A.C. Underclass Buys House Of Blues & New IMAX — For The Casinos
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) _ The agency created to redirect casino revenue to revitalize downtrodden areas in the city and around New Jersey has given more than 20 percent of the money back to the casinos to subsidize improvements and expansion, according to published reports. According to a report in Sunday’s New York Times, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, created in 1984, has given $400 million to the casinos for projects such as: -The construction of 13,000 new hotel rooms, including 800 in a tower under construction at the Trump Taj Mahal; -An IMAX theater at the Tropicana Casino and […]
GAMBLOR: Shamed Slot Shack Changes Mind, Decides To Play By The Rules And Payout $102,000 To Winner
After days of unwelcome national media attention, PhiladelphiaPark Casino Saturday night paid the disputed $102,000 that a Feasterville slots player said he had coming to him. But Stephen Wilkinson, 56, a retired carpenter, said the jackpot was in his hand for “about two minutes.” His wife of 25 years, Nancy, grabbed the check for safekeeping. “We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with it,” he said. Wilkinson, a regular but small-time bettor, said that his son Sean, 23, had asked for help in paying off his 2002 Dodge Ram truck but that the family would take its time in […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: Prairie Companion Comes Home
The Philly crowd also got the rare treat of seeing Terry Gross sing, having been cast as a punk singer-songwriter in one sketch. [Garrison] Keillor had confided in the podcast interview that he was looking forward to putting her on the spot like that. She sounded fine, though, and it’s clear Keillor remains conscious of his outsized responsibility as the host, producer, lead writer and general icon of a show heard weekly by 4 million people. […] As readers of [Keillor’s] book “Homegrown Democrat” know, it’s not as if the man lacks a fire in the belly about the state […]