NEW YORK TIMES: Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83. The cause was cancer, said Jeff Sanderson of Chasen & Company, Mr. Newman’s publicists. If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy. He acted in more than 65 movies over […]
LIVE & DIRECT: Mississippi Burning
We were planning to live blog from the Irish Pub, with one eye on Bible Spice and the other on the debate — but her handlers are already shooing her out of town before anyone actually asks her a question. Never fear, though, dear reader, for we shall be liveblogging the debate from the comfort of our pajamas. As per usual, Citizen Mom and Jonathan Valania — the Greatest Political Analyst Team In The Known Universe — will be cracking wise, with occasional shoutouts from Philly Mag’s Steve Volk. You lucky ducks! 8:54 PMCitizen: yo 8:55 PM Where the hell is […]
LAME: Palin Bails On Debate Watch Party; McCain Travels Thru Time, Wins Debate Before It Happens
LIVE FROM THE WASILLA WITCH TRIAL: Obama supporters vastly outnumber Palin supporters out front of the Irish Pub, Philadelphia, 6:41 PM [Photos by KEVIN C. BROWN] BOSTON HERALD: Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is scheduled to appear at a tavern near Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square — but to leave before the presidential debate.The Irish Pub is to welcome ticketed guests at 5 p.m. Friday. One of the owners, Mark O’Connor, tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that Palin is expected to show up between 7 and 7:30 p.m. and greet people. O’Connor says she should leave around 8:30 p.m., half an hour […]
KILLADELPHIA: Court Kills New Gun Laws Dead
INQUIRER: Philadelphia officials cannot enact gun laws tougher than Pennsylvania’s law, a state appeals court ruled today in throwing out city ordinances that would have limited gun purchases to one a month and banned assault weapons, among other things. Commonwealth Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Legislature filed by two members of Philadelphia’s City Council, Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller. The court cited language in several gun ordinances the council passed last year that the measures cannot take effect unless the Legislature were to let municipalities enact stricter laws. That has not happened. “While we understand the terrible […]
GAYDAR: Is That All There Is To An Apocalypse?
BY AARON STELLA Well, here we are again with another exciting edition of GAYDAR! This week, we’re traveling back in time to turn-of-the-century Alabama, the land of pork rinds, pickled pigs feet, deep-fried snickers and Creationism. Know that it wasn’t the simple fare or the relaxed colloquialisms, or even the Biblical science, that drew my family to the middle of nowhere. We were pilgrims, in the loosest sense of the word, in that we desired a new start, and a place where we could worship freely with fellow Catholics — oh yeah, and we were on the run from […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR] FRESH AIR Australian singer Nick Cave and and his band, the Bad Seeds, are best known for angry, twisted, ballad-like lyrics. Their 2008 album, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!, was inspired, in part, by the Biblical story of Lazarus. It is Cave’s 14th studio album. In an article about Cave in Entertainment Weekly, Chris Nashawaty writes, “Over the years Cave’s songwriting has become more intricate and challenging, almost literary in its ambitions. He’s one of the few artists in rock & roll, or any medium, really, who’s managed to get better with age.” RADIO TIMES Hour 1 We […]
BREAKING: Milton Street Gets 30 Months Behind Bars
ACTION NEWS: The older brother of former Philadelphia Mayor John Street has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison and fined $413,000 for not filing tax returns. Prosecutors say Milton Street willfully avoided paying taxes on nearly $3 million in income. He was sentenced Friday, handcuffed and ordered to start serving his time immediately. MORE
CINEMA: Lite Club
CHOKE (2008, directed by Clark Gregg, 89 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC How could it have taken Hollywood a near decade to adapt another novel from shock writer Chuck Palahniuk, when most readers of Maxim would describe Fight Club as the most kick-ass film ever? There was a brief attempt to mount an adaptation of Palahniuk’s 1999 novel Survivor until the events of 9-11 gave the studio cold feet, now finally the drought is broken with Choke, the story of a sex addict whose desire for intimacy and extra cash leads him to fake choking attacks while dining […]
BREAKING: McCain Blinks, Palin Wins Pageant
WASHINGTON POST: The news that John McCain will debate Barack Obama tonight in Mississippi is a concession by the Arizona Senator that his attempt to score a quick political victory on legislation to bail out the financial sector did not pan out as he had hoped. McCain suspended his presidential campaign with much fanfare on Wednesday, insisting that the crisis in financial markets and the seeming stalemate on Capitol Hill required that politics be set aside for the good of the country. But, over the intervening 24 hours, McCain saw what looked at first like a brilliant political gambit turn […]
MEDIA: A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We sat down with the comedians for a provocative talk about the political landscape, the way they (and other, more traditional media outlets) cover it, and whether or not we’ll ever see the alleged ”change” we’ve been promised by every candidate. ”Do you mean change we need, or change we can believe in?” asks Stewart. ”Any change is as good as a vacation at this point,” says Colbert, who set his conservative TV pundit character aside for the chat. ”I don’t know if you’ve paid much attention to the past eight years, but it has been a shitburger […]
PIMPIN AINT EASY: Goode Thug Bitchslaps Reporter
PHILLY CLOUT: The Fox 29 News Vs. W. Wilson Goode Jr. mess appears to have turned physical today. Here is video from the Fox 29 News web site of reporter Claudia Gomez chasing Goode after his comments in Council today. A man wearing a fedora — no, really — appears to step in her way several times. Then we get this exchange: Gomez to man in hat: “You just slapped me!” Man in hat: “No I didn’t. I put my hand up and you ran into it.” MORE MYFOXPHILLY: Click To Watch Video PREVIOUSLY: Goode Aide Calls Fox29 ‘Racist’ For […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran spoke at the United Nations this week, his translator was Hooman Majd. But Majd isn’t a professional translator. He’s been a record executive, a film producer, and a writer. Based in New York, he’s written for GQ, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Salon.com; he’s also a contributing editor at Interview, and he contributes occasionally to The Huffington Post. His new book is called The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Farnaz Fassihi, the Wall Street Journal’s deputy bureau chief of the Middle […]