NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: Gunman Kills Eight In Nursing Home Rampage An armed man shot and killed seven patients and a nurse at a Carthage, North Carolina, nursing home Sunday before being wounded during a shootout with a police officer, authorities said. Three other people, including the police officer and a visitor to the nursing home, were wounded in the attack, Carthage Police Chief Chris McKenzie said. The police officer was treated and released, McKenzie said. The slain patients ranged in age from 78 to 98, Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger said. The man accused of carrying out […]
I, GAMER: Get In, Get Out, Don’t Get Any On Ya
BY ADAM BONANNI Easy to pick-up but tough to master, puzzle games straddle the line between casual and hardcore games, and have a kind of universal appeal — because, hey, who doesn’t love a good brain-teaser? I, GAMER’s target in the cross-hair this week is World of Goo, an independently-developed puzzle game by San Francisco-based studio 2D Boy. World of Goo has an extremely tight focus on what makes this type of game so alluring. It’s full of memorable set pieces, a perfect learning curve, and really well-designed puzzles that strike a balance between skill and logic in order to […]
HECKUVA JOB, TIERNEY: Inky/DN Big Wigs Were Paid $650,000 In Bonuses As Papers Went Bankrupt
THE DAILY EXAMINER: Though the company teetered on the verge of bankruptcy at the time, this past December Philadelphia Media Holdings awarded bonuses to CEO Brian P. Tierney, vice president of finance Richard Thayer and Daily News publisher Mark Frisby. PMH board chair Bruce Toll confirmed bonuses of $350,000 for Tierney and $150,000 each for Thayer and Frisby in a phone conversation on Friday. […] PMH filed for bankruptcy in February. Toll, of the homebuilding Toll Brothers company, confirmed that the PMH board knew the company¹s fiscal situation was dire. “The financial condition of the papers was obviously not good,” […]
O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU: Obama Lets Us Down On Privacy, Pot And The Fourth Amendment
CBS NEWS: As CBS News’ Chief Political Correspondent Marc Ambinder points out, the top-rated questions in the “budget” and “fiscal stability” sections of the submissions page concerned the legalization of marijuana. (Here’s one: “With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?”) Hotsheet did not expect President Obama to address the pot questions during the town hall, particularly after the event opened with a […]
CINEPHILE: The Lowdown On The Film Fest Opening Night Party & Interview With TLA’s Thom Cardwell
BY EGINA MANACHOVA If you want the lowdown on the opening Film Fest night party on the 19th floor of the Bellevue, well, I will be your fly on the wall. In short, you didn’t miss much. It was like hobnobbing with the not so rich and not at all famous. I exaggerate. There were some D-list celebrities there. I think. William Forsythe. I didn’t even know who he was until my friend made him feel very awkward. The catered food reminded me of being at a Bar Mitzvah. So did the middle aged white women dancing to top 40 […]
CINEMA: Our Film Festival Picks & Pans
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC As you’re thumbing through your festival guide here’s a rundown of some of the entries screening throughout the first weekend of the Philadelphia Film Festival. Among the highlights unavailable for preview were Sam Rockwell lost like Major Tom in the ’70s sci-fi throwback Moon (opening here in June), the IRA hunger strike drama Hunger, the Philly-set cooking school doc Pressure Cooker, James Toback’s Sundance hit documentary on ear-biter Mike Tyson and the two part (of a projected three) Japanese fantasy epic 20th Century Boys. And check back next week as we continue daily coverage of […]
MOE, LARRY, THE CHEESE: Farrelly Brothers Lock-In Sean Penn As Larry Fine In Three Stooges Movie
VARIETY: MGM and the Farrelly brothers are closing in on their cast for “The Three Stooges.” Studio has set Sean Penn to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome “Curly” Howard. The studio is zeroing in on Benicio Del Toro to play Moe. The film is not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts. The quest by the […]
INBOX: Ever Get The Feeling You Are Being Watched?
Hi, phawker (phawker). Larry Mendte (LarryMendte) is now following your updates on Twitter. Check out Larry Mendte’s profile here: http://twitter.com/LarryMendte You may follow Larry Mendte as well by clicking on the “follow” button. Best, Twitter PREVIOUSLY: Ex-Anchor Pleads Guilty To Email Hackery *** NEW FEATURE: Meet Jeff Tweeney Hey folks, Jeff Deeney here to let you know how this new Twitter project we’re rolling out will work. From now until Philadelphia no longer needs me for cannon fodder in the trenches of the War On Poverty, I will be posting the little overheard snippets of unintentional brilliance and frequently unhinged […]
TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE: NJ Teen Charged With Child Porn Trafficking For Posting Nude Pix of HERSELF
NBC PHILADELPHIA: The social networking world is rife with sexual exploitation of young children, but it rarely happens that the exploiters are the children themselves. A 14-year-old girl was arrested Tuesday for allegedly posting nearly 30 naked photos of herself on MySpace, according to NorthJersey.com. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped off police that someone was posting naked pictures of a teen on a MySpace profile. As it turns out, the culprit was the teen herself. Authorities investigated the case for a month before zeroing in on the suspect, who said she posted the pictures for her […]
CINEMA: Let The Fest-ing Begin!
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Barring the outbreak of more ill-timed bickering, starting tonight we should be blessed with twelve days of films from around the world courtesy of the eighteenth Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest. Just one film is opening tonight at the Prince Theater, 500 Days of Summer, which promises to unleash the fully combined heart-breaking powers of Zooey Deschanel and The Smiths, followed by cocktails happening afterward on the 19th floor of the Park Hyatt Bellevue. On Friday the Festival turns on the faucet with screenings expanding to The Bridge, The Ritz 5, The Ritz East, The International House […]
PAPERBOY: Slow Jamming The Alt Weeklies
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 […]
HEAR YE: Giant Sand Chore Of Enchantment
Now playing on PHAWKER RADIO! Because it’s the best album you never heard. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Giant Sand mainman Howe Gelb has always been one of indie rock’s most beautiful losers. Twenty-some albums into a career that’s brought him all the riches and fame of a Wal-Mart stock boy, Gelb just doesn’t know when to quit. And thank God for it, because Chore of Enchantment (originally released in 2000) remains Giant Sand’s finest hour. Gelb’s music — as intimate as a campfire and as expansive as the desert panoramas it evokes — has always clung to the slippery pole of […]