GIGAOM: Karl Bode over on DSL Reports reports that Comcast will institute a 250 GB cap on its broadband connections starting Oct. 1. Expect other carriers to follow suit and make tiered broadband a reality. Much as I would like to think otherwise, this is the end of the Internet as we know it. The caps are a move to ensure that the gouging scheme put in place by Comcast and other cable providers stays intact and they can continue to sell their video-on-demand services. It was a point I made when I wrote, Why Tiered Broadband Is The Enemy […]
MCCAIN VEEP: It’s A Girl!
WASHINGTON POST: The McCain campaign had make little secret of the fact that they wanted to pick a woman as the Arizona senator’s running mate, believing that the rift caused by the protracted primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton gave them an opportunity to pick up scads of disgruntled women. PHAWKER: Three thoughts up front. 1.) You can measure the fear of a man by the extremity of his choices. 2.) His choice is a response to the Democratic party circa last week. Not the Democratic party circa now. 3.) This is like saying to black people, ‘Here’s […]
TONITE: Get Your Fringe On
Sonic Dances Eight dancers adorned with iPods and speakers will turn some of Philadelphia’s favorite public spaces into an outdoor stage. Follow the dancers of Group Motion Dance Company as they make their way down Broad Street to celebrate Opening Night at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe. Choreographed by Manfred Fishbeck, in collaboration with Group Motion dancers, Sonic Dances will conclude in front of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre as audiences gather for the August 29 opening performance of Karen Getz’ Disco Descending. DETAILS Disco Descending Greek mythology meets disco fever: it’s 1978 — a group of suburban […]
MILE HIGH: Live And Direct From Denver
[Photos by LenEdgerly & DemConvention] Our DNC correspondent Nick Powell has managed to elbow out a space at the table in the press room. He will be sending us reports from on the ground — God and WiFi willing. Also, our analysts Amy Z. Quinn and Jonathan Valania will be parsing Obama’s speech. 9:55 PM AZQ: gotta go get the kid in pjs back in a sec 9:56 PJV: Oh great, I’ll tell Obama I am SURE he can stall for five minutes just start this John Lennon record over sure nobody will notice 9:58 PM Durbin. This […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
EXILE ON MAINSTREAM: Liz Phair, TLA, Last Night [Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] 1. On the whole, it was a tidy kind of show. Liz Phair went onstage shortly after 8, rolled through Exile In Guyville and a three-song encore, during which she played on three different guitars and an electric piano, engaged in some truly priceless audience participation (more on that later), patted the show on its butt and had everybody home before curfew. 2. I was kind of disappointed not to see more college-age and twenty-something females in the not-quite sold-out TLA audience, though I guess these days the […]
TONITE: Some Assembly Required
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45 YEARS AGO TODAY: A Man Had A Dream
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former […]
INSTA-REVIEW: The New Nas
BY JOE WARMINSKY Nas dutifully hyped his ninth album during the height of summer, because that’s what you do when Lil’ Wayne is everywhere: You make sure the season’s hot-shit rapper has a little competition. But the untitled disc is really a back-to-school piece. This is Nas as essayist — and although the rhetoric is thoroughly familiar, his grip on it is firmer than ever. Even when he’s rapping about aliens, it’s tough to simply laugh it off as a conspiratorial rant: “I’m-a tell you what I seen with my three eyes/Word to me, not a hoax, back in 9-9/A […]
PAPERBOY: ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ Edition
BY DAVE ALLEN 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 steer […]
MILE HIGH: Live And Direct From Denver
SEMPER FI: Marine at Rage Against The Machine concert, Denver, 2:49 PM. [Photo by NICK POWELL] BY NICK POWELL DNC CORRESPONDENT My knees are throbbing, my shirt is drenched in mile-high perspiration, and I’m a little cranky after spending the afternoon with the iron-fisted leaders of the Iraq Veterans Against The War and following their attempt at an anti-war protest through the streets of Denver. The IVAW, who sponsored this afternoon’s concert with Rage Against The Machine, The Flobots, and others, sucked all of the protesting spirit out of the march by refusing media access to some of the vets […]
THE EARLY WORD: Return To Forever
TOON TIME: City Suckers, starring BoyCatBird The iconic BoyCatBird characters, created by Michael Segal for Ghostly International, appear in their very first animated short. This short was originally made to accompany the free Ghostly Swim compilation from Ghostly International and Adult Swim. [Hat tip to TIFFANY YOON]