FRESH AIR Comedian, writer and producer Steve Coogan, an icon of British comedy, is best known for playing his character Alan Partridge, the “nerdy radio DJ with a terrible taste in sweaters and an inflated ego.” As Partridge, Coogan was often compared to Garry Shandling in The Larry Sanders Show and Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, for his ability to improvise and play with the tiny details of life. In 2006, Coogan took his comedy skills to film, starring in the scripted Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, with fellow comic Rob Brydon. The movie interpreted the comic […]
Brad Pitt To Film Zombie Invasion Of Philly In Glasgow
MYFOXPHILLY: Brad Pitt is filming a $120 million movie about zombies invading Philadelphia, but one thing is missing: any location shooting in our area. Instead, “World War Z” will use Glasgow, Scotland as a fill-in for Philadelphia. On Monday, crews started changing store fronts and other landmarks in Glasgow to make it look like Philadelphia. The is the second high-profile location snub for Philadelphia, after ABC decided to shoot “Body Of Proof,” its Philadelphia-located drama, in Providence. British newspapers say Pitt will show up for filming in August for two weeks of action shots. The work will add $US 2.5 […]
Saxophonist Clarence Clemons Suffers Massive Stroke
ROLLING STONE: Bruce Springsteen’s famous E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons suffered a serious stroke Sunday night at his home in Florida. He was reported to be very ill and in critical condition. Clemons has since had two brain surgeries and is now, according to The Star-Ledger, “responsive and in stable condition“, but is sadly paralyzed on the left side of his body, reports Fox New York. MORE BACK STREETS: The latest out of Florida has Clarence Clemons in better condition than anyone expected, a close friend tells Backstreets: “Yesterday, it did not look good at all. Today… miracles are […]
Anthony Weiner And The Politics Of Self-Destruction
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Rep. Anthony Weiner finally began considering Sunday the possibility that he may have to resign, as yet another cache of embarrassing photos appeared. A source close to the congressman told the Daily News that he had been adamant about keeping his seat – even amid daily new revelations of his reckless sexting. But the unrelenting media coverage, the demands from his party’s leaders that he step down and the appearance of more humiliating photos made Weiner realize he may not be able to bull his way through the crisis after all, the […]
90% Of Captured “Taliban” Turned Out To Be Innocent
IPS: But it turns out that more than 80 percent of those called captured Taliban fighters were released within days of having been picked up, because they were found to have been innocent civilians, according to official U.S. military data. Even more were later released from the main U.S. detention facility at Bagram airbase called the Detention Facility in Parwan after having their files reviewed by a panel of military officers. The timing of Petraeus’s claim of Taliban fighters captured or killed, moreover, indicates that he knew that four out of five of those he was claiming as “captured Taliban […]
THIS JUST IN: Weiner Checks Into Treatment Facility; Will Request Leave Of Absence From Congress
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] NEW YORK TIMES: Representative Anthony D. Weiner planned to check himself into a treatment center on Saturday after House Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, called on him to resign and suggested he needed psychiatric counseling. A spokeswoman for Mr. Weiner said he would request a leave of absence from the House and seek treatment, but provided no further details. “Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” said the spokeswoman, Risa Heller. “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from […]
WORTH REPEATING: War Is Over, The Drugs Won
NEW YORK TIMES: Friday marks the 40th anniversary of one of the biggest, most expensive, most destructive social policy experiments in American history: The war on drugs […] has waxed and waned, sputtered and sprinted, until it became an unmitigated disaster, an abomination of justice and a self-perpetuating, trillion-dollar economy of wasted human capital, ruined lives and decimated communities. (Since 1971, more than 40 million arrests have been conducted for drug-related offenses.) And no group has been more targeted and suffered more damage than the black community. As the A.C.L.U. pointed out last week, “The racial disparities are staggering: despite […]
EARLY WORD: Art For The Cash Poor
BY MEREDITH KLEIBER In this economy, money is pretty hard to come by. I mean, I’ll be completely honest with you—when cash goes into my bank account, the first thought that enters my head is I need to pay the bills, closely followed by, Man, I would really love a beer right now. After that, maybe some food or a concert. Let’s face it—the last thing most people think about buying nowadays is art, probably because they automatically assume they can’t afford it, especially if it’s an original piece. Well, there’s good news for the financially challenged: InLiquid’s Art For […]
CINEMA: Let There Be Light
THE TREE OF LIFE (2011, directed by Terrence Malick, 138 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The Tree of Life, the fifth film from maverick filmmaker Terrence Malick in 38 years, is an improbable master stroke, a film that amplifies and clarifies the singular vision of his previous work while heading places his admirers could have never foreseen. It is impossibly ambitious. Using surrealism and CGI for the first time, Malick is looking to expound on the biggest questions of life. Over the course of two hours and 15 minutes, this impassioned, ethereal epic succeeds so well that it […]
HOT DOC: Jack White Divorce Party Invite
To whom it may concern: karen elson and jack white announce today that they are getting divorced. “we remain dear and trusted friends and co-parents to our wonderful children Scarlett and Henry Lee. We feel so fortunate for the time we have shared and the time we will continue to spend both separately and together watching our children grow. In honor of that time shared, we are throwing a divorce party. an evening together in Nashville to re-affirm our friendship and celebrate the past and future with close friends and family.” with love Karen Elson and […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Fault, Dear Brutus, Is Not With Our Weiners, But With Ourselves
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Kudos to the American media and public at large! With the Anthony Weiner revelations, and the public’s insatiable appetite for the details thereof, the bar has now been set so low for profiting from salaciousness that paparazzi nationwide will no doubt soon be selling exposés of religious school valedictorians voraciously devouring issues of Playboy (for the interviews, of course). Christ, you have got to be kidding me! It’s now front page news as well as fodder for every bottom feeding Breitbart in the country that a congressman tweeted a picture of his […]
Obama Justice Department Backs Off Espionage Act Prosecution Against NSA Whistleblower After Jane Mayer’s Embarrassing Article In The New Yorker
BALTIMORE SUN: A former National Security Agency manager accepted a plea deal Thursday that cleared him of espionage charges stemming from the alleged leak of classified information to a Baltimore Sun reporter. Thomas Drake had been charged with 10 felonies but will plead guilty to a misdemeanor: exceeding the authorized use of a computer. If convicted of the felonies, he could have faced 35 years in prison. Under the plea bargain, he is not expected to serve any time. Drake, a former Air Force officer, had been charged under the Espionage Act even though he allegedly leaked information to a […]