ROLLING STONE: The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It’s typical of Ledger’s total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I’m Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there’s a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976’s Network, sign me up. Ledger’s Joker has no gray areas — he’s all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman […]
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES: New Beck Teaser
ON THE DOWNLOAD: Three Tracks From Modern Guilt [Now playing on Phawker Radio!]
Supremes Affirm Individual Right To Bear Arms
NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history. The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact. The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: ”A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free […]
OH NOES: Madonna And Guy To D-I-V-O-R-C-E?
TIMES OF LONDON: She did it for Macca — now can she do it for Madonna? Fiona Shackleton, the divorce lawyer who ensured that Sir Paul McCartney retained all but £24.3 million of his £825 million fortune, has been lined up by the pop star. Madonna, whose fortune is estimated to be worth £300 million, is understood to be seeking legal advice on a possible divorce from her husband of seven years, the film director Guy Ritchie. Ms Shackleton, 52, is the lawyer of choice for the rich and famous after what was regarded as the spectacularly well-handled split of […]
KILLADELPHIA: Cop Shooter Gets Hard Time
INQUIRER: Earlier in court, Common Pleas Judge Glenn Bronson sentenced Antonio Coulter to 36 to 72 years in state prison for the shooting and for his attempt to escape afterward. Officer Decoatsworth told reporters he was “very pleased with the decision the judge made. That young man’s life is over now. He’s going to have to find some way to get used to his new home. I’m sure the guys up there [in state prison] can’t wait to meet him. So we’re all excited about that.” Last month, Coulter pleaded guilty to attempted murder, aggravated assault, burglary, weapons charges and […]
POWERPOINT: Obama’s 50-State Strategy
HUFFPO: Journalists in Washington, D.C. got a chance to take a crack at Chief Obama Campaign Strategist David Plouffe Wednesday during a briefing he delivered at the DNC on the state of the general election race. The overriding theme of his address was confidence. Outlining the campaign’s top priorities, Plouffe told reporters that, in addition to feeling good about their chances to hold onto the 252 electoral votes won by John Kerry in 2004, the campaign believes it has the financial resources, organizing strength, and candidate appeal that will help them contest over a dozen battleground states that together boast […]
HEAR YE: Dr. Dog Fate
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because WE let the Dog out!
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Last July, Brent Stirton took a photograph that shocked the world when it was published in Newsweek — a picture of a dead 500-pound male gorilla named Senkwekwe, one of six endangered mountain gorillas who had been murdered, execution-style, in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the photo, Senkwekwe is strapped on his back, on a litter made of saplings. More than a dozen African men are carrying him — gently, respectfully — out of the jungle that was supposed to be his sanctuary. When Stirton took that photo, one pressing question […]
IN 1987: I Saw An X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas
BY JONATHAN VALANIA First thing you should know is that what I am about to tell you violates a solemn pact that was made by all involved: Whatever happens in 1987 stays in 1987. I grew up in Pennsyltucky — Allentown, PA, to be exact — and by the time I was getting to the be the age where you just WANNA GET THE FUCK OUT OF DODGE, a shiny new superhighway literally appeared out of thin air, connecting the hinterlands of the Keystone State to New York City with a directness and efficiency that was heretofore unimaginable. You could […]
BURAKA SOM SISTEMA: Sound of Kuduro
This is badass. Don’t miss the MIA cameo. Play loud. No…LOUDER!
SCOTUS: Sympathy For The Devil
BLOOMBERG: A divided U.S. Supreme Court slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damage award against Exxon Mobil Corp. for the 1989 Valdez oil spill to $507.5 million, ending a 19-year legal saga over the worst such disaster in U.S. history. The justices, voting 5-3, said the original award, which would have been increased by more than $2 billion with accrued interest, was excessive under federal maritime law. The $507.5 million figure is equal to the economic damages that a trial judge determined were suffered by thousands of Alaskan commercial fishermen involved in the case. ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Supreme Court has struck […]
RADIOHEAD: From A Basement On The Hill
Radiohead has released ten live performance videos recorded at The Hospital studio in Covent Garden with the team from the band’s longtime producer Nigel Godrich’s ‘From the Basement’ TV show. The collection is now available exclusively through iTunes. The videos feature live renditions of songs from ‘In Rainbows’ and the bonus CD included in its deluxe discbox edition. The full track listing of video performances is: