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
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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 […]
PAPERBOY: ‘Everything I Needed To Know About Hip-Hop I Learned From Lady B’ Early 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. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and […]
CLINTONISTA: Campaign In Civil War
WASHINGTON POST: For the bruised and bitter staff around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tuesday’s death-defying victories in the Democratic presidential primaries in Ohio and Texas proved sweet indeed. They savored their wins yesterday, plotted their next steps and indulged in a moment of optimism. “She won’t be stopped,” one aide crowed. And then Clinton’s advisers turned to their other goal: denying Mark Penn credit. With a flurry of phone calls and e-mail messages that began before polls closed, campaign officials made clear to friends, colleagues and reporters that they did not view the wins as validation for the candidate’s chief […]