AP Ticker takes on Lower Merion school district’s Webcamgate, disgraced bronze medal snowboarder Scotty Lagos, and answers once and for all the age old question: Is curling gay? Also, he dispels the rumor that he is in fact Epic Beard Man.
AFTER THE FIRE: Gamble & Huff Vow To Rebuild
[Photo by JEFF FUSCO] RANDY ALEXANDER: Describing the burned-out remains of their historic “Sound of Philadelphia” offices as “total devastation,” legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter-producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff held a press conference today to express their outrage and sorrow from seeing the iconic birthplace of Philly Soul Music ravaged early Sunday by a fire termed “suspicious” by officials. Despite the extensive damage to the third-floor at 309 S. Broad St., where the Philadelphia International Records (PIR) offices and recording studio are located and the fire apparently originated, Gamble & Huff vow to rebuild their home […]
INSTANT KARMA: Cheney Suffered ‘Mild’ Heart Attack
ABC NEWS: Former Vice President Dick Cheney‘s office says he had a “mild heart attack” this week — his fifth — but is in stable condition and will be released from the hospital in a couple of days. “Former Vice President Cheney was admitted to GW Hospital after experiencing chest pain,” his office said in a statement. “Lab testing revealed evidence of a mild heart attack. He underwent a stress test and a heart catheterization. He is feeling good and is expected to be discharged in the next day or two.” Cheney has been working the phones from the hospital […]
SIDEWALKING: Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
16th & Latimer, 2:03 PM by JEFF FUSCO *
The Edgar Allan Poe Story That Came Horribly True
CRACKED: In 1838, future horror-god Edgar Allan Poe released a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, his only full novel. The book was such a bomb that Poe eventually agreed with his critics that it was “a very silly book” (yet still good enough to inspire heavyweights like Jules Verne and Herman Melville to write Moby Dick and An Antarctic Mystery–yes, Poe was a badass). Where it Gets Weird: Poe did a Blair Witch thing with his novel, which claimed to be based on true events. This turned out to be a half-truth: The real life […]
Superman Comic Book Sells For $1 Million
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Superman lifting a car? Not a big deal in today’s comics, but when it’s the Man of Steel lifting a car drawn on a “very fine”-rated 10-cent-issue of Action Comics No. 1, the deal is the biggest public auction in comics history: $1 million. Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com, which mediated the deal, told the Associated Press: “It is still a little stunning to see ‘a comic book’ and ‘$1 million’ in the same sentence.” The buyer remains anonymous, as often happens in these big money deals. The book doesn’t reach the record heights […]
WORTH REPEATING: Why The Mad Hatter Is So Mad
NEW YORKER: One factor that the Times [Tea Party] article tiptoed around, but which undoubtedly plays some role, is racism. For some white Americans of a certain age and background, the sight of a black man in the Oval Office, even one who went to Harvard Law School and conducts himself in the manner of an aloof WASP aristocrat, is an affront. While President Obama’s approval rating has fallen in almost all groups, the biggest slippage has taken place among whites, especially middle- and working-class whites. A Gallup poll identified this trend last November, and it surely played a role […]
EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: Michael Smerconish Quits The GOP, Says It’s Become A ‘Party Of Exclusion’
[Photo by CHRIS CHRISMAN] MICHAEL SMERCONISH: The national GOP is a party of exclusion and litmus tests, dominated on social issues by the religious right, with zero discernible outreach by the national party to anyone who doesn’t fit neatly within its parameters.Which is not to say I feel comfortable in the Democratic Party, either. Where political parties once existed to create coalitions and win elections, now they seek to advance strict ideological agendas. Collegiality is nonexistent today, and any outreach across an aisle is castigated as weakness by the talking heads who constantly stir a pot of discontent. So vicious […]
The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret
POP MATTERS: In Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, David Cross writes and stars as the title character stuck in corporate hell. The pilot, also starring Will Arnett and Spike Jonze, was produced for England’s Channel 4 and was recently picked up for a full season order. MORE
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Earlier this month, former congressman Billy Tauzin announced that he would step down from his position as president of the pharmaceutical industry’s main lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America — known by the shorthand PhRMA. Last year, PhRMA spent $28 million lobbying in favor of a health care overhaul, after negotiating a deal with the White House and members of Congress. Had the health care bill passed, the cost-cutting measures negotiated during several meetings at the White House would have saved the pharmaceutical industry $80 billion. By negotiating the secret deal, writer Paul Blumenthal explains, […]
Starr’s Fishtown Beer Garden To Have Valet Parking; Mac’s Will NOT Be Always Sunny Museum
PHILADELPHIA SPEAKS: The plan includes the use of valet parking and Roland stated he has 70 spaces available with more on the way. Parking will be reasonably priced to be on par with what a patron would pay at a meter. Even with valet service there will undoubtedly be pressure on the immediate area for parking. MORE GRUB STREET PHILADELPHIA: Will Mac’s downplay the connection to Always Sunny or will it be something that’s highlighted? Vesotsky says, “We’re not proactively going to do much with that correlation – it will grow in and of itself. It’s not going to be […]