TIMESONLINE: This grainy footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being beaten by Islamic radicals in Pakistan’s northwestern region of Swat, where Sharia law was introduced after the government reached a truce with the Taleban in February. A local Taleban commander in the militant stronghold of Matta, 25 miles from the regional capital, Mingora, ordered the girl to be flogged a week ago after accusing her of adultery, according to local r More..eporters. But some residents of Matta have accused the commander of ordering the beating to get revenge after the girl refused to accept his proposal of marriage. “Please! Enough! […]
BEING THERE: The Good News Flower Hour
The week that was in just five minutes, hosted by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of gawd. Funny. Sad. Good for you. GNHF is on hiatus this week, look for it next Friday.
NEWS CLUES: Like A Celebrity Adoption Of The Truth
TECH CRUNCH: Twitter To Get Googled? Reports on TechCrunch claim that Google is in advanced negotiations to acquire micro-blogging site Twitter. Citing two separate sources, TechCrunch said that the asking price is more than the $250m (£170m) valuation that Twitter’s recent round of funding would suggest. A third source, however, recently added to the TechCrunch report, suggests that talks are only in the early stages. Twitter has recently reworked its search feature, prompting many to think that this makes the firm more appealing to potential suitors. Search facilities have been added to the ‘tweet’ pages, and users can search tweets […]
SNEAK PEEK: Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno
Possibly NSFW, depending on where you W.
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
KASSIM THE DREAM (2008, directed by Kief Davidson, 87 minutes, U.S.) Forrest Whitttaker produced this documentary about the unlikely journey of Ugandan born Junior Middleweight Champ Kassim “The Dream” Ouma. Kidnapped from his school at the age of six and forced to become a lethal soldier in the Ugandan army, Kassim eventually defected to the U.S. while on a military boxing tour. Kassim ended up wandering into a Virginia gym where his boxing talents gave him a recipe for The American Dream. Kassim gives us a triumphant tale yet peppers the success with the reality that a childhood this profoundly […]
NEW WORLD ORDER: Revolution To Be Accessorized
FINANCIAL TIMES: Markets surged on Thursday as world leaders agreed a sweeping package of measures to fight the global recession, including a $250bn increase in the international money supply. Gordon Brown, UK prime minister and host of the G20 summit in London, claimed that the deal marked the emergence of a “new world order” as he announced a range of moves, including a pledge to give a $500bn boost to International Monetary Fund to help struggling emerging economies. In Asia, stocks surged ahead of the summit, with Hong Kong shares’ seeing their biggest daily advance in four months.The rallies continued […]
PAPERBOY: Super Asstastic ‘Get Wells Soon’ 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 […]
SOMEBODY ISN’T TELLING THE TRUTH: Eagles Say ‘Deal’ Was Struck With City; Street Says ‘No Deal’
INQUIRER: Former Mayor John F. Street said yesterday that he had struck no agreement with the Eagles to substantially reduce the team’s $8 million debt to the city during private negotiations years ago that led to the building of Lincoln Financial Field. “I didn’t cut a secret deal. There was no deal. We didn’t make a deal. . . . And if I had agreed to a deal, I would have put it in writing,” Street said last night during a rare City Hall appearance. “The one thing I did commit to,” he continued, “is we would absolutely make a […]
What Part Of ‘On The Record’ Don’t You Understand?
Temple J-schooler notes Philadelphia police officer’s racial slurs during a patrol car ridealong in the article she wrote about it. Sh*t hits fan. To wit: The stories of police brutality are easier to believe when Thrasher and his colleagues interact. “TNS” is the code they use for many of their cases. When Thrasher arrives at Arthur’s Dog House on Germantown Avenue in response to a midday call about an escalating argument; the cook greets him by saying the fighting couple has already left. “Nobody died,” he tells her dismissively. Thrasher’s lieutenant drives by as Thrashers slides back into the seat […]
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
WAGES OF SPIN (2008, directed by Shawn Swords, 68 minutes, U.S.) One show only! Starting the film with a title card defining “Payola”, Wages of Spin comes on like a cheap shot attempt to smear Dick Clark’s legacy from Philly’s American Bandstand heyday. If the line of inquiry for the sea of graying talking heads shows an attempt to harvest sour grapes, Wages of Spin picks up much of its cantankerous personality from its stubborn half-century grudge with the former “World’s Oldest Teenager.” Wages of Spin‘s greater value though is in letting old hands like Ed Hurst and Wee Willie […]
USELESS INFORMATION: Diddy On The Way To Gym, Hopes Everyone Is Having A Great Day, God Bless, Etc.
RELATED: Barack Obama met the Queen at Buckingham Palace today and gave her a gift of an iPod loaded with video footage and photographs of her 2007 United States visit to Richmond, Jamestown and Williamsburg in Virginia. In return, the Queen gave the President a silver framed signed photograph of herself and the Duke of Edinburgh — apparently a standard present for visiting dignitaries. It is believed the Queen already has an iPod, a 6GB silver Mini version she is said to have bought in 2005 at the suggestion of Prince Andrew. Earlier, Mr Obama had spoken of his admiration […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR “Pet fashion shows, Chihuahua social networking, veterinary antidepressants [and] ambulance-chasing animal lawyers” are just the tip of what Philadelphia-based journalist Michael Schaffer says is a kind of pet-obsession iceberg in the lives of the American middle class. In his new book One Nation Under Dog, Schaffer takes a close look at the $43 billion industry that’s grown to help enable that obsession, explaining how that booming market reflects our evolving ideas of consumerism, family, politics and domesticity. But One Nation Under Dog is no dry industry analysis: It’s a book, as Schaffer explains on his Web site, that’s […]