WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE uncovers historic and previously unseen footage of the illustrious rock quartet and provides new insight into the revolutionary impact of its music and legacy. Directed by award-winning writer/director Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film is a riveting account of the band’s history. Said Depp, “Watching the hypnotic, hitherto unreleased footage of Jim, John, Ray and Robby, I felt like I experienced it all through their eyes. As a rock n’ roll documentary, or any kind of documentary for that matter, it simply doesn’t get any better than this. What an honor to have been […]
ANNIVERSARY: The Stimulus Package Turns One
[Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics] POTUS: Millions of jobs had already been lost to the recession before I was sworn into office. Another 800,000 would be lost in the month of January. We’d later learn that our economy had shrunk by an astounding 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, and economists from across the political spectrum warned that if dramatic action was not taken to break the back of the recession, the United States could spiral into another depression. MORE RELATED: Philadelphia and Camden will be sharing $23 million from a federal government to extend, connect and create […]
MOB RULES: Flash Mob Rampages At The Gallery
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: A flash mob of teens snowballed into violent brawlers in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Police suspect the 100 teens gathered at The Gallery on Market St. after organizing the incident on Facebook or Twitter. According to a Philadelphia TV station, the event began as a massive snowball fight. The crowd quickly became unruly, and spilled into a nearby Macy’s department store. Fights broke out, as the store was damaged and items stolen. MORE INQUIRER: Yesterday afternoon, police arrested 15 teenagers who went on a rampage through Macy’s department store and the surrounding streets. The teenagers, who came […]
BOOKS: Edward Gorey, The Godfather Of Goth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Edward Gorey was a lot of things — illustrator, author, designer, screenwriter, animal lover, pop culture junkie, antiquarian aesthete — but above all else, he was, for better or worse, the post-modern godfather of goth, a lineage that stretches back to Edgar Allan Poe, the pre-modern godfather of goth. Absent Gorey’s meticulously cross-hatched pen-and-ink chiaroscuros — typically exquisitely gloomy drawing room interiors and the forlorn coal-eyed waifs that haunt them — there would be no Tim Burton. Though he illustrated and authored countless books from the 1950s through the 1990s, and continued re-packaging and publishing his work […]
SEASONS GREETINGS: Happy Happy Presidents Day
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Is it Presidents Day or President’s Day or Presidents’ Day? Life used to be simpler.George Washington, the father of our country, was celebrated on his birthday, Feb. 22. But society has all but erased the accomplishments of the most dynamic figure to ever walk on the American stage. Beginning in 1971, we spinelessly designated the third Monday in February as Presidents’ Day.One school of thought holds that Presidents’ Day now honors both Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Horsefeathers! It would seem the celebrations of our two greatest presidents are now dictated by auto dealers and department stores that […]
GNFH: The Phantom Plot To Blow Up The Liberty Bell
PREVIOUSLY: The ‘Plot’ To Blow Up The Liberty Bell BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY In the spring of 1969, four activists from the Philadelphia chapter of the Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) were arrested for plotting to blow up the Liberty Bell after the police found bomb-making materials in the refrigerator of their West Philly apartment. According to the police, the planned destruction of the Liberty Bell was part of a larger plot hatched by a network of student radicals to destroy national landmarks across the country. The shocking news spread quickly when footage of the police […]
Told She Wouldn’t Get Tenure, Star Bio Prof Goes Berserker, Shoots 6, Kills 3 At University Of Alabama
[Photo via HUNTSVILLE TIMES] WALL STREET JOURNAL: A biology professor at the University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus was charged with murder Friday in the shooting deaths of three fellow biology professors at the campus. Authorities say Amy Bishop, an instructor and researcher at the University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus, opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting, killing the three and injuring three other school employees. Ms. Bishop has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted. Ms. Bishop was taken Friday night in handcuffs from a police precinct to the […]
BLOOD SPORT: Olympic Luger Killed In Practice Run
RELATED: BBC Winter Olympics Promotional Spot NEW YORK TIMES: A luge athlete from Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, was killed in a crash in training on the Olympic track at the Whistler Sliding Center on Friday, an Olympic luge official at the track confirmed, the worst-case scenario developing on a track that many competitors have said is too fast.Kumaritashvili, 21, lost control of his sled 48 seconds into his run, near the end of the track. According to the speed clock on the broadcast, he was going 143.3 kph — 88 mph — and was propelled over the track wall. He slammed […]
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION: Armed And Dangerous Teabagger Says Sarah Palin ‘On A Mission From God’
TALKING POINTS MEMO: The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent “Armageddon” appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a “righteous ‘Mission from God,’” as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society. As we reported yesterday, Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who […]
SIDEWALKING: One Is The Loneliest Number
Third & Market, 9:06 AM by JEFF FUSCO *
CINEMA: Starling In The Slipstream
FISH TANK (2009, directed by Andrea Arnold, 123 minutes, U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The metaphors in Andrea Arnold’s acclaimed coming-of-age story Fish Tank are so blatant they threaten to smother the film itself. The “fish tank” of the title is an ugly public housing complex that’s home to Mia, a fifteen year old brooding, feral teen who wanders around friendless, vulnerable and spitting profanities beneath overcast English skies. Arnold’s direction keeps the camera tightly on the first-time actress Katie Jarvis, who plays Mia, trapping her in the claustrophobically square frame. Often shot in the blue light of night, […]
OPEN LETTER: Dear Kim Basinger…
Dear Kim Basinger, Please stop driving Alec Baldwin batshit crazy. Pretty please? We’re sure you have your reasons, but despite all that, and perhaps because of it, he is a deeply funny man. He makes lot of people laugh, hard to be exact. The world needs men like him. Most of us don’t have much these days, and when you get right down to it, for a lot of us laughter is all we got. We don’t ask for much, just this: please don’t kill the funny. Sincerely, The Phawker PREVIOUSLY: Baldwin’s bizarre outburst capped a day that began at […]