REUTERS: The actor son of “Star Trek” veteran Walter Koenig has disappeared while visiting friends in Canada, and family pleaded on Sunday for information on his whereabouts to be given to the Vancouver police.Andrew Koenig, 41, who co-starred as “Boner” on the 1980s sitcom “Growing Pains,” was last seen in Vancouver on February 14 after neighbors said he sold all his possessions in Los Angeles. “He’s been depressed,” his father, who has a degree in psychology, told local ABC television station KABC. “He’s trying to get ahead in this business and he’s been working at it a long time.” Koenig, […]
LAME: Winter Olympics Execs Kick Scotty Lagos Out Of Vancouver Over Bawdy Party Photos
YAHOO: The fuddy-duddy suits who run the Vancouver Games got their scapegoat. Scotty Lago was kicked out of the Winter Olympics. Yes, kicked out. Do not believe the party line served by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, nor the words of United States Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky, who said: “Scotty left on his own accord. He wasn’t forced to leave.” Lago, the bronze medalist in halfpipe, was forced to leave, two sources close to him told Yahoo! Sports, and did so only to prevent an even greater escalation of a situation that already had been blown far […]
THIS JUST IN: Phillly International Catches Fire
INQUIRER: A strong fire swept through the Broad Street offices of Philadelphia International Records today, causing extensive damage to the celebrated music company where Chubby Checker recorded “The Twist,” and where songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff developed their soulful Philadelphia sound. Investigators, who arrived on the scene four minutes after the 7:28 a.m. alarm, were working yesterday to determine the cause of the blaze. They immediately escorted an unidentified man from the three-story building on the corner of Spruce Street, across from the Kimmel Center. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with minor injuries, and was being […]
CHAPTER 12: My Life In The Ghost Of Bush
BY AARON STELLA About a year and a half ago, I began chronicling my stranger-than-fiction life story here on Phawker. Admittedly, much of it is hard to believe, but let me assure you that everything I have shared thus far really did happen. Since almost all of these events occurred during the presidency of G.W. Bush, I am calling this MY LIFE IN THE GHOST OF BUSH, a play on the David Byrne/Brian Eno album MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS. This is the 12th chapter, and for the benefit of newcomers, here’s a quick recap of the preceding […]
ARCHITECTURE: Race Street Pier Plans Are Promising
CHANGING SKYLINE: When the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. selected Field Operations last fall to design a new park at the Race Street pier, it was hard to shake off a certain feeling of trepidation. The firm, led by Philadelphia-based James Corner, was still basking in rave reviews for its work on the High Line park, the magical suspended garden that rolls through New York’s Chelsea neighborhood on an elevated trestle. But for that five-acre project, Corner’s group enjoyed a kingly budget of $152 million. Perennially cash-strapped Philadelphia was setting aside just $5 million for its one-acre pier, and part of […]
There’s A Hole In Daddy’s Arm Where The Money Goes
Funny how the more wars change, the more they stay the same. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, John Prine, quintessential Americana songwriter, then fresh out of the Army and well-acquainted with the Catch 22s of a soldier’s life, wrote “Sam Stone.” You may not recognize it from the title, but you have heard this song. Detailing the post-traumatic stress of a Vietnam vet all but abandoned by the country he nobly served, the lyric goes: “There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm where all the money goes/ Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose.” Intended as a […]
Synthetic Marijuana Shipment Seized At Airport
INQUIRER: Federal agents are cracking down on imports of a synthetic marijuana that has started appearing in the Philadelpha area. It is not illegal to possess the substance in any state, but officials say Food and Drug Adminstration regulations bar its import and sale because it is not a tested and approved drug. So far, 85 parcels, arriving from Amsterdam at a UPS facility at Philadelphia International Airport, have been detained then seized after tests proved positive for the drug, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The latest seizures were on Tuesday, after a CPB lab in Georgia confirmed […]
CINEMA: No Man Is An Island
SHUTTER ISLAND (2009, directed by Martin Scorsese, 138 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I’ve never heard anyone accuse Martin Scorsese of coasting, even his least successful films show stretches of inspiration that raise them above mere journeyman work. His latest, an adaptation of Dennis Lahane’s best-selling Shutter Island is a gorgeously-produced, well-acted film but is unlike nearly anything is Scorsese’s filmography: a predictable thriller’s whose biggest mystery is exactly what attracted Scorsese to it to begin with. Going deep into M.Night Shyamalan territory, Shutter Island is one of our most idiosyncratic director’s least personal films yet. Scorsese continues […]
SPORTO: Johnny Are You Weir, Boy?
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY Male figure skaters? Studs. Incredible specimens of athleticism. Male figure skating? Well, if it’s not totally gay, you can see it from there. I can’t help but think they’d get more respect if only they would stop dressing like Liberace. I should have broken out this piece for the pairs skaters…it’s amazing what those girls talk their partners into wearing. Did you see the German guy? He looked like the Jack of Clubs. Here’s the review of last night’s top competitors in the Men’s Finals. I’ve ranked the manliness of each outfit on a scale […]
Lower Merion School District Sued For Spying On Students Via Webcams In School-Issued Laptops
BOING BOING: According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines. MORE […]
SIDEWALKING: Sign O’ The Times
1500 Block of East Passyunk 10:53 AM by JEFF FUSCO
BREAKING: Feds Investigating Plane Crash Into Texas IRS Building As An Anti-Tax Kamikaze Attack
ABC NEWS: A single engine plane smashed into the side of an Austin office buildling today and authorities are investigating reports that the pilot may have burned down his house down and then steered the plane into the building in a suicidal attack on the IRS, sources told ABC News. The pilot was identified as Andrew Stack [pictured, below right]. The IRS has offices in the building complex that was struck. Eyewitnesses who saw the plane slam into the building said the pilot appeared to be in control of the plane in the moments before the crash. “It hit it […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: Murtha, Murtha, Murtha!
AP Ticker delivers a stinging eulogy for recently departed PA congressman John Murtha, plus he reveals his Olympic man-crush on Bob Costas.