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 […]
MIA: Mr. Chekov’s Son Is Missing
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 […]