NEW YORK TIMES: GARY GYGAX died last week and the universe did not collapse. This surprises me a little bit, because he built it. I’m not talking about the cosmological, Big Bang part. Everyone who reads blogs knows that a flying spaghetti monster made all that. But Mr. Gygax co-created the game Dungeons & Dragons, and on that foundation of role-playing and polyhedral dice he constructed the social and intellectual structure of our world. Dungeons & Dragons was a brilliant pastiche, mashing together tabletop war games, the Conan-the-Barbarian tales of Robert E. Howard and a magic trick from the fantasy […]
WYOMING: ‘Yes We Can’
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Senator Barack Obama continued his string of victories in caucus states on Saturday, beating Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wyoming by a wide margin. The victory, while in a state with only 18 delegates, was welcome news for the Obama campaign as it sought to blunt Mrs. Clinton’s momentum coming off her victories in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton had campaigned here Friday, a day after her husband and daughter, signaling the stakes every contest holds in the fierce battle for the Democratic nomination. Party officials reported extremely high turnout at caucus sites across the […]
THE BEATLES: And In The End, The Love You Take…
…is equal to the love you make. RELATED: LONDON, March 8 (UPI) — British singer Paul McCartney has reached a $400 million agreement with iTunes for the distribution of the Beatles’ back catalog.
CINEMA: Frances McDormand Will Have Her Revenge
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY (2008, directed by Bharat Nalluri, 92 minutes, U.K.) COVER (2008, directed by Bill Duke, 98 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Trying to resurrect the spirit of Hollywood screwball comedies decades after their era died rarely bears fruit yet a new generation of filmmakers are continually foolhardy enough to try. The screenwriters of Finding Neverland and The Full Monty (David McGee & Simon Beaufoy respectively) have dug up Winifred Watson’s 1938 novel for some authentic source material yet as fizzy entertainment Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day lacks the snap and personality needed […]
PHAWKER EXCLUSIVE: Inside Bill Clinton’s Smokeless Backroom Meeting With Philly Democrat Party Bosses
JOE SUPER DELEGATE: Illustration by ALEX FINE BY AMY Z. QUINN Phawker is receiving reports from some of the city’s Democratic Ward Leaders, who gathered this morning to hear a pitch from former President Bill Clinton on behalf of his wife in anticipation of Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary. According to sources who just left the meeting, attended by Mayor Nutter and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, both of whom have publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, the former president gave a passionate pitch for his wife’s candidacy for president, but ward leaders voted to defer making an official endorsement until they have a […]
MAGNETIC FIELDS: I Hate California Girls
Welcome to our second homegrown Phawker TV rock music video! This week we bring you this gloriously spiteful fuzz-pop confection from Magnetic Fields’ new barbwire-kissed Distortion — a great song in search of a video, if ever we heard one. And so we worked some of our Hollywood magic. Hat’s off to The Wook for the concept and execution, you can head over to Wookified to see the uncensored version. In closing, we would just like to say ‘some gave their all’ and nobody knows that better than Paris Hilton, bless her little waxed-hairless Chihuahua heart. WORTH REPEATING: As Dorothy […]
STAY TUNED: For Our Hilariously Un-Scientific Pennsyltucky Primary Keystoned Cell Phone Poll
A long time ago, in a Clinton campaign far, far away, James Carville famously declared that Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and Alabama in between. Aw, yeah: Pennsyltucky. We know thee well. It’s sort of like the Dukes Of Hazzard after smoking kielbasa. Like sweat socks with a Sunday suit. Like the Deer Hunter costumed by Wal-Mart. It’s the long dark Chicken Dance of the national soul. Lord help us all. Anyway, with the national press are already converging on the Keystone state to get some local color on their laptops, we feel an obligation to Sherpa them up to […]
TONITE: PHAWKER’S FIRST FRIDAY USER’S GUIDE
BY TIFFANY YOON LIVING ARTS CORRESPONDENT Every First Friday of the month, galleries around the city graciously open their doors and bottles of wine for both the local hipster Great Unwashed looking to get buzzed cheap and beret-clad tourista Philistines from suburbs in search of a little BMW boho-edge. Local merchants and busking musicians line the sidewalks, creating a de facto slalom of hand-made bric-a-brac and subterranean homesick blues. Yes, cynics may bitch, but First Friday is nothing short of an embarrassment of riches and we are not afraid to say so. Having long-since outgrown the gentrified confines of Old […]
INSTA-REVIEW: The Breeders Mountain Battles
NOW PLAYING ON PHAWKER RADIO! WHY? BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU! BY SARA SHERR The Breeders are my favorite band of the ’90s, back when cheerleading tomboys from Ohio roamed the Earth like alt-rock glamazons in flannel. Kim Deal’s terminal coolness is as undeniable as it is Midwestern friendly and gum-crackingly accessible. Everyone feels like they could pull it off. Together with her equally gum-crackingly cool sister Kelley and a revolving cast of band members that once included Throwing Muses/Belly’s Tanya Donnelly, their harmonies were tighter than your tightest black jeans, and their weird, wonderful guitar sounds made left-field hits that […]
VIRGIN SUICIDES: In 2007, 17 Teens Died By Hanging In A Small Welsh Town, And Nobody Knows Why
NEWSWEEK: The string of deaths began with Dale Crole, 18. He hanged himself at an abandoned warehouse on Jan. 5, 2007. His friend David Dilling, 19, took police to the scene. Dilling died the same way a few weeks later, in mid-February. A week later the boys’ friend Thomas Davies, 20, hanged himself in a local park. After two months’ respite another local youth, 21-year-old Alan Price, was found dead of similar causes. In June his friend Leigh Jenkins, 22, hanged himself in another friend’s bedroom. Another of Crole’s friends, Liam Clarke, 20, died the same way in a park […]
TONITE: Ten Years Loaded
[Click to activate Internets]
Bubba In Town To Kiss The Ring Of Dem Party Bosses
INQUIRER: Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to address the city’s Democratic ward leaders tomorrow to pitch his wife’s candidacy while on a campaign swing through Philadelphia, party sources said.The 69 ward leaders were scheduled for a regular meeting and may consider endorsements in the April 22 primary, when in addition to the presidential race, state lawmakers, row offices and members of Congress will be on the ballot. Insiders do not expect the leaders to come to an agreement between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in the presidential race; already several African American ward leaders have declared they are […]