SALON: This movie is going to be vehemently attacked as brain-damaged garbage that exemplifies everything that’s wrong with today’s filmmaking and today’s audiences. It’s also going to be vigorously defended as a subversive action-movie masterpiece that offers a big middle finger to Hollywood convention, audience expectations, and anybody and everybody who would rather watch “The King’s Speech.” People on both sides will be partly right and partly wrong. Here’s where I come down: “Sucker Punch” doesn’t all work by a long shot, but it confirms my sense that Snyder belongs near the top of a very short list of directors […]
Phawker Presents The Ninth Installment Of BLOTTO
BY LANCE DOILY As any driver worth his salt can attest to, there’s a point in your career where you’re going to somehow or another find yourself working under the influence of psychedelic drugs. My dad’s 2-year string in the late 60’s, where he did every delivery under the influence of LSD, is the stuff of legend, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Royce’s “mushrooms and morphine” phase in the mid 80’s is still spoken of in similarly hushed, reverent tones by all who witnessed it. Although I’ve obviously driven under the influence of psychedelics before, […]
MUST SEE TV: Taking The Cure
An HIV positive woman agreed to be filmed every day for 90 days to show the dramatic impact that access to medication has on reversing the ravages of AIDS. The stop-motion film is edited in reverse, so at the beginning she looks hale and healthy and by the end she is literally wasting away. Powerful stuff and a stirring testament to verity of the notion that access to health care should be a human right for all, not a privilege for the moneyed few.
Before There Was ?uestlove There Was Hal Blaine
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Hal Blaine put his hand on my shoulder. “This is going to break your heart, but much of the music you heard in the ’60s and early ’70s wasn’t recorded by the people you saw on the album covers,” he said. “It was done by me and the musicians you see on these walls.” Talk about a “Wizard of Oz” moment. Last week I traveled to Mr. Blaine’s home here to talk about his prolific career as the Buddy Rich of rock and pop recordings. I also wanted to know more about his role as the ringleader […]
WORTH REPEATING: When Liz Came To Town
INQUIRER: Messing – now 74 and retired, living with his wife in North Wildwood – wasn’t supposed to trail Dame Liz. He initially was hired to serve as extra security detail, despite retiring from the police force a week before, after 23 years on the job. But Taylor’s regular bodyguard was sent off to New York due to a drug problem. The star saw the 6-foot-3 Messing while rehearsing and hired him to protect her during her time in the city. He ended up doing so for six weeks. Messing said that Taylor was afraid of the paparazzi and crazed […]
TECH: Tablets Are The New Microwave Ovens
TECH INCH: In 1967, American consumers were introduced to the new, must have item for their kitchens: the microwave oven. This device, manufactured mainly by defense contractors such as Raytheon due to their expertise with magnetron, the device that generates microwaves in a radar system or microwave oven, was now supposed to be a fixture in every home, restaurant, and more. It could heat food faster, use less energy, and be less likely to burn your house down than a traditional oven. And it cost just under $500. What more could you ask? Actually, there was a lot customers could […]
KEYSTONE COPS: 1,147 Drunk Driving Arrests In Limbo Because Breath-Testing Equipment Was Faulty
6ABC: 1 ,147 cases were affected between September, 2009 and November, 2010. The issue came to light when defense attorney Charles Peruto raised an objection in court to a questionable breathalyzer result. He predicts there may be as many as 5,000 tainted cases and most of those defendants will walk. MORE DAILY NEWS: Police initially thought that one machine caused the problem, affecting 416 DUI cases. But as they tested more machines, they uncovered more problems. By Tuesday, they determined that five of the department’s eight machines had been miscalibrated, although one had not been in service.That added up to […]
EARLY WORD: Democracy Now
This weekend the National Constitution Center will host Can We Talk? A Conversation about Civility and Democracy in America, a three day workshop that will explore the crucial role of dissent played in maintaining the vitality of American democracy. With Democratic uprisings springing up across the Middle East right now, this conference could not come at a better time. The public conversation will consist of various interdisciplinary forums with an amalgam of scholars, political activists, government officials, including acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton, controversial ex-Department of Justice lawyer John Yoo and PBS journalist Hari Sreenivasan, […]
Lewis Black On The Donald’s Douche Baggery
The Daily Show – Back in Black – Trump 2012 Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Well played, sir.
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Last fall, several teens across the country committed suicide because they were gay or perceived to be gay. This shocking rash of suicides raised attention about a sobering fact: Gay teens are up to four times as likely to attempt suicide as straight teens, and 9 out of 10 LGBT teens have experienced some sort of harassment in their school, according to The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention hot line for LGBT youth. When advice columnist Dan Savage heard about the suicide crisis unfolding, he had an idea: If older gay people offered hope and encouragement to gay […]
How Phones Got Too Smart For Their Own Good
NEW YORK TIMES: It’s at the point where when the phone does ring — and it’s not my mom, dad, husband or baby sitter — my first thought is: “What’s happened? What’s wrong?” My second thought is: “Isn’t it weird to just call like that? Out of the blue? With no e-mailed warning?” I don’t think it’s just me. Sure, teenagers gave up the phone call eons ago. But I’m a long way away from my teenage years, back when the key rite of passage was getting a phone in your bedroom or (cue Molly Ringwald gasp) a line of […]
EARLY WORD: Stoned In The Queen Age
BY MIKE WOLVERTON The first time I went to see Queens of the Stone Age was in New York in January of 1999. I was just getting into Kyuss at the time and had caught wind of this new project involving some of those guys. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go, it was a Friday night and I had already had way too many drinks. I called an old work buddy and invited him to go with me, thankfully he turned me down. I somehow stumbled downtown to this dive on Saint Mark’s Place, where I […]