BY ADAM BONANNI And we’re back! Got my legs all stretched out during my little vacation, but now it’s time for me to pick up my controller and get back to you guys and gals with the dirt. The good shit. Lots of good stuff launching in 2010; Final Fantasy XIII, Alan Wake, Super Mario Galaxy 2, GranTurismo 5, a nice little Medal of Honor reboot, and Starcraft 2 (well, could happen) and I’d like to sum up a bit of what deserves your attention in the coming months. Mass Effect 2: This will be quite the divisive title, but […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: The Week That Was
With your host, A.P. Ticker.
SHOWBIZ: Coco Goes Out With His Pimp Hand Strong
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] ABC NEWS: In the strongest indication yet that Friday indeed will mark Conan O’Brien’s final “Tonight Show,” a list of the booked guests for the rest of this week released Tuesday featured Will Ferrell set to appear Friday. Ferrell, of course, was the first guest on “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” when the show launched June 1. Other big names scheduled for O’Brien’s final week on “Tonight”: Tuesday, January 19: Quentin Tarantino, Paul Bettany and musical guest Spoon; Wednesday, January 20: Adam Sandler, Joel McHale and musical guest Joss Stone; Thursday, January 21: Robin Williams […]
HUBBA: Suddenly We are Passionate About Spaying
PETA: One unspayed dog and her offspring can produce up to 67,000 dogs in six years! Each year in the U.S., 6 to 8 million dogs and cats are dumped at animal shelters—and nearly half of them must be euthanized for lack of a good home. Spaying or neutering your dog or cat is a crucial step toward saving lives. The only way to become a “no-kill nation” is to become a “no-birth nation.” MORE LAS VEGAS WEEKLY: The adult film star is nominated for 12 Adult Video News awards in categories such as Best Actress, the Jenna Jameson Crossover […]
MESSACHUSSETTS: The Lion Sleeps Tonight
YOINK: Ted and Robert Kennedy at the zoo. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: There is no understating the symbolism or the substance of what happened Tuesday. Malcontent voters in this most Democratic of Democratic states plopped a Republican into the iconic Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat. This is huge. MORE WASHINGTON POST: Massachusetts is among the nation’s most liberal states, and the candidates made it clear that a Brown victory could kill the Democrats’ health care push in the Senate. Democrats now must ask: Did Massachusetts voters register their discontent based on a decent understanding of the complex health care legislation? Or did conservatives […]
TONITE: Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby
The Erotic Literary Salon meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month at TIME (The Bohemian Absinthe Lounge), 1315 Sansom Street, Center City, Philadelphia. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. (limited seating), for cocktails, food and conversation. The event begins promptly at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $10, discounted for F/T students and seniors (65+) to $8. Salon attendees must be 21. Tonight’s Erotic Literary Salon will be dedicated to those lives who have been cut short by the devastation in Haiti. A portion of the proceeds from this tonght’s event will be given to the Red Cross for the Haitian relief fund.
BREAKING: Supreme Court Slaps Down Mumia Appeal
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose death sentence for killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981 has become an international cause célèbre for opponents of capital punishment, has suffered a significant setback at the US Supreme Court. In a summary order issued on Tuesday, the high court reversed a 2008 federal appeals court ruling that had required a new sentencing hearing for Mr. Abu-Jamal. The Supreme Court action sends the case back to the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to reconsider the issue in light of a similar decision handed down last week by the high court. […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR It was in 1967, on her first day in New York, that 20-year-old aspiring poet Patti Smith met fellow artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Their friendship, romance and creative collaboration began on that day and lasted until Mapplethorpe’s death in 1989. Both children of religious upbringings and influenced by ideas of outsider culture, the pair would stay up painting and listening to records in their Brooklyn apartment before Mapplethorpe eventually moved to San Francisco. In the course of their friendship, Smith would become a punk icon and Mapplethorpe a famed photographer. Smith’s new memoir, Just Kids, tells the story of […]
NY MAG: New York Times Set To Announce Paywall
DAILY INTEL: New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. appears close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its website, according to people familiar with internal deliberations. After a year of sometimes fraught debate inside the paper, the choice for some time has been between a Wall Street Journal-type pay wall and the metered system adopted by the Financial Times, in which readers can sample a certain number of free articles before being asked to subscribe. The Times seems to have settled on the metered system. The decision to go paid is monumental for the Times, […]
RIP: Kate McGarrigle Dead At 63
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Canadian folk singer and songwriter Kate McGarrigle, best known for performing with her sister Anna, has died of cancer. She was 63. McGarrigle’s brother-in-law, Dane Lanken, said the singer died at her Montreal home Monday night surrounded by her sisters, Jane and Anna, and her children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, also singers. He said McGarrigle had been battling cancer since the summer of 2006. He said the cancer started in her small intestine and spread to her liver. Kate and Anna, known as the McGarrigle Sisters, began their careers performing at Montreal coffeehouses in the 1960s with a […]
SICK AND TIRED: Stock Market Surges At Prospect Of Health Care Reform Derailment If Brown Wins
WALL STREET JOURNAL: U.S. stocks climbed Tuesday as health care stocks soared on hopes that Congressional legislation may be subject to new compromises following Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 77 points, or 0.7%, at 10687. The Dow’s health-care components led its gainers, with Merck jumping 3% and Pfizer up 2.3%. Tuesday’s rally in health-care stocks came as Massachusetts residents head to the ballot box in a tight special election to replace the late Democratic senator, Edward Kennedy. Democrats stand to lose their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the U.S. Senate if Republican candidate […]
Corzine Signs New Jersey Medical Marijuana Into Law
NJ.COM: Gov. Jon Corzine tonight signed a measure making New Jersey the 14th state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, part of a flurry of bills the Democrat penned in his last full day on the job. The governor stayed out of sight in his Newark office as the Statehouse was readied for Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie, who takes office at noon Tuesday. The marijuana bill (S119) is expected to take effect in six months. Only patients with specific illnesses would be permitted to get a prescription: cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, seizure disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Brian Fallon At The Church
BY JAMIE DAVIS The Gaslight Anthem are one of those few bands whose songs are almost always full-on punky rock music, but still manage to sound like they would have absolutely no problem being stripped down to just an acoustic guitar. This is exactly what singer Brian Fallon has been doing on tour for the past few months, and on Sunday night he graced us with his presence at the First Unitarian Church. I have always thought that the greatest strength of The Gaslight Anthem is their lyrics, using tales of jukebox romeos and burning diners to create this Springsteen-esque […]