[Illustration by DRUNKPUPPY] SMIRKING CHIMP: Here’s the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore. And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to […]
TONITE: Do You Know Where You’re Going To?
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (2007, directed by Alex Gibney, 106 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Everything I know about politics I learned at the movies. Take torture. It was watching all those WWII movies with my older brother that introduced me to the U.S. policy on torture and war, especially prison camp films like The Great Escape, The Bridge On the River Kwai and Stalag 17. In each of them, the U.S. soldiers were left fairly unmolested, forced by dumb luck to wait out the war in lousy P.O.W. camp conditions. Occasionally a Japanese or German commander […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
[Photo by AMY Z. QUINN] JUST LIKE BUDDY HOLLY: Weezer, Susquehanna Center, Saturday Night BY AMY Z. QUINN I was pretty sure I’d made it through Saturday night’s Weezer show without feeling too old when on the way back to the car, niece Jenny turned to me and said “Who is Buddy Holly, anyway?” Cue that wah-wah-waaaaah “Thank you for playing!” sound effect. Of course, I was happy to tell her all about the Texas rocker, about the nerd-sex glasses and “Everyday” and “Peggy Sue” and The Day The Music Died, though I stopped short of going into why I […]
FAILOUT: House Votes ‘No’ On Bailout
WALL STREET JOURNAL: A bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers defeated a $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street on Monday, rejecting pleas from the Bush administration and congressional leaders from both parties of the potential dire consequences of policymakers not acting to help financial markets. The 205-228 vote against the plan sent stocks plummeting, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 500 points as news of the vote spread through Wall Street. The defeat came despite House leaders holding open the vote for well beyond the 15-minute time limit, supporters were unable to convince enough members of either […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Once known mostly for his sweetly tentative portrayal of awkward, sexually anxious teenager George-Michael Bluth on the cult TV hit Arrested Development, Michael Cera became a bona fide movie star in 2007 with his winningly geeky performances in the hit comedies Juno and Superbad. As an actor, Time magazine’s Richard Corliss notes this week, Cera “has the gift of appearing both wise beyond his years and not at all happy about it … as if he’d received a vision of what life has in store for him, and it worries him sick.” Next up for Cera: Nick and […]
PALINTOLOGY: ‘It Was Fun While It Lasted’
WALL STREET JOURNAL: The McCain campaign moved its top officials inside Gov. Sarah Palin’s operation Sunday to prepare for what is certain to be the most important event of her vice-presidential campaign: her debate on Thursday with Democrat Joe Biden. Additionally, at the urging of the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Palin will leave late Monday for his Arizona ranch to prepare for the high-stakes debate. The moves follow several shaky performances by Gov. Palin last week and come amid concern and grumbling from Republicans, and even a few queries from her husband, Todd Palin, according to campaign […]
MY BAD: Latrice Bryant Is Sorry For ‘KKK’ Signs
INQUIRER: The chief legislative aide to Philadelphia City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. issued a “letter of apology” yesterday for flashing handwritten signs in City Council chambers comparing a Fox29 news reporter to the Ku Klux Klan. In the letter addressed to Goode, Latrice Bryant said: “I apologize for my public, albeit silent, display of the handwritten signs. What I did was inappropriate and inexcusable.” On Sept. 18, during a Council meeting, Bryant held up notebook paper with the messages “Fox29 are racist” and “Jeff Cole KKK.” Bryant and Goode are black and reporter Jeff Cole is white. As Fox29 […]
PWNED: Citigroup Swallows Wachovia Whole
NEW YORK TIMES: Citigroup reached an agreement early Monday morning to acquire the banking operations of the Wachovia Corporation after making a daring bid that pulled the deeply troubled company from the brink of collapse. Federal regulators worked around the clock this weekend to orchestrate the sale, finally reaching an agreement at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. In the end, the government agreed to provide Citigroup with a financial guarantee on Wachovia’s most risky assets. It is similar to the deal that the Federal Reserve established with JP Morgan Chase’s emergency takeover of Bear Stearns. Citigroup will assume the first […]
WEIRD SCIENCE: The Afterlife Test
BBC: Doctors at 25 UK and US hospitals will study 1,500 survivors to see if people with no heartbeat or brain activity can have “out of body” experiences. Some people report seeing a tunnel or bright light, others recall looking down from the ceiling at medical staff. The study, due to take three years and co-ordinated by Southampton University, will include placing on shelves images that could only be seen from above. To test this, the researchers have set up special shelving in resuscitation areas. The shelves hold pictures – but they’re visible only from the ceiling. Dr Sam Parnia, […]
ARTSY: Banksy Vs. The Dirty South
SUPERTOUCH: As we reported earlier this week, British street artist BANKSY has been on a southern road trip of late, starting in a pre-Gustav New Orleans before moving on to ALABAMA where he paid homage to the great white powers-that-be with his stenciled image of a hung KKK member on an abandoned gas station. Taking matters into their own hands yesterday, irate locals broke out their own spray cans to let the world know what they think of a snotty English street artist pointin’ fingers at their good ole boys. Too bad they didn’t realize that simply cutting out the […]
THIS JUST IN: The Boss Will Rock Superbowl
THIS JUST IN: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will play the half-time slot at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, snagging the most-watched musical showcase of the year, according to the organizers. This year, more than 148 million viewers in the U.S. watched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play at the championship game of American football, the National Football League said on Sunday. The Super Bowl, scheduled for February 1, will be televised by NBC. MORE ALSO: Federal regulators on Sunday night were pressing for the sale of yet another troubled bank — this time, the Wachovia Corporation […]
BACK TO THE FUTURE: McCain Elected President
Only you can stop this. Click HERE to check your voter registration status. Remember, October 6th is the registration deadline to vote in this election. What the HELL are you waiting for?
TRAGIC: ScarJo Married Somebody Other Than ME!
HORROR YEARBOOK: Ryan Reynolds, best known to horror fans for killing the Blade franchise, and running around shirtless in the Amityville remake officially married Scarlett Johansson Saturday confirms US magazine. “The wedding took place Saturday evening at a remote wilderness resort outside Vancouver. Guests included Scarlett’s mother, Melanie Sloan, and her brother, Adrian Johansson.” HoHansson, 23, and Reynolds, 31, have been dating since 2007 and announced their engagement on May 5th. Reynolds also received our Hot Stud of Horror award on Feb 2nd 2007. MORE THE GOOD NEWS IS NATALIE PORTMAN IS SINGLE AGAIN: In Touch can exclusively reveal that […]