Miley Cyrus is better at being Michelle Bachmann than Michelle Bachmann is. And let us now praise SNL’s Taram Killam. He’s fearless.
BREAKING: Inquirer Editor Bill Marimow Fired; Refuses To Leave The Building, Vows ‘It’s Not Over’
Inquirer editor in chief Bill Marimow was abruptly fired some time in the last two hours (some time after the 10:30 news meeting, which he reportedly attended), reportedly by publisher Bob Hall and co-owner George Norcross. This terse email went out to staff: From: Hall, Bob Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013 11:15 AM To: All IGM Employees; All Philly.com Employees Subject: Announcement Please be advised that effective immediately, Bill Marimow is no longer employed by Interstate General Media, Inc. We wish Bill well in his future endeavors. Stan Wischnowski will become acting editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. However, reports […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR In April 2009, Somali pirates boarded an American-flagged container ship and took its captain, Richard Phillips, hostage on a small lifeboat. That led to a five-day drama at sea, much of it covered on television, as a U.S. Navy destroyer tailed the lifeboat and Navy SEAL sharpshooters eventually freed the captain. In 2010 Phillips wrote a memoir called A Captain’s Duty, and the harrowing experience has now been adapted into a film called Captain Phillips.Captain Phillips is directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Tom Hanks, both of whom join Fresh Air’s Dave Davies to talk about the film. […]
GUILLERMO DEL TORO: Simpsons Couch Gag
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In trying to scare up some laughs for its annual Halloween episode, The Simpsons also got deadly serious: They recruited big-screen writer-director Guillermo Del Toro. Known for crafting surreal worlds of fantasy and horror (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone) as well as action (Pacific Rim), Del Toro turned Springfield into his own wicked playground with a 2-minute-45-second couch gag/ opening-titles extravaganza to kick off last night?s “Treehouse of Horror XXIV.” It’s a dense, elaborate, clever, creepy, impressive creation — and it requires several viewings to process all of the action. Initially offered the opportunity to record a […]
BEING THERE: The Flaming Lips @ Festival Pier
Photos by DEREK BRAD Last night the Flaming Lips unveiled the more-awesome-than-you-could-possibly-imagine reboot of their stage show, which replaces the happy-happy-joy-joy bliss rallies they’ve been staging for the past decade. Gone are the balloons and blood and bubble-walking and the dancing Santa Clauses and the big hands that shoot lasers. In its place — well, fact is it defies words, you really had to be there — but calling it H.R. Giger meets Hanna-Barbera on the dark side of the moonhenge isn’t that far from accurate. Frizzy-brained frontman Wayne Coyne conducted the proceedings from high atop a lumpy mound-like perch […]
TAME IMPALA: Elephant
Live at the Festival Pier Thursday night. RELATED: Eight Miles High In The Land Down Under
CINEMA: In Space Nobody Can Hear You Scream
GRAVITY (2013, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, 90 minutes, U.S.) WADJDA (2012, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, 98 minutes, Saudi Arabia) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I’ve been met with nothing but skepticism when I tell folks the next must-see film is a sci-fi epic starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. I can’t blame them; with that spare description, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity sounds like Hollywood business as usual, which is exactly what this downright thrilling adventure is not. For at least the last decade, Hollywood blockbusters have smashed up cities and flexed super powers like clockwork, but here is a special […]
PA Guv Tom Corbett Makes Jaw-Droppingly Offensive Remark About Same Sex Marriage
ATLANTIC WIRE: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett went on local TV news in Harrisburg on Friday to talk about the state’s ongoing gay marriage debate, and was asked about his lawyers comparing gay marriage to 12-year-olds getting married. Corbett responded, “It was an inappropriate analogy, you know.” So far, so good. But then he went astray: “I think a much better analogy would have been brother and sister, don’t you?” You can watch the reporter struggle to respond at right. Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post has already advised Corbett to “call your office.” A few hours after the interview, Corbett issued a statement, […]
SIDEWALKING: Smiley Smile
Flaming Lips crowd, Festival Pier last night by DEREK BRAD
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR William Masters and Virginia Johnson became famous in the 1960s for their groundbreaking and controversial research into the physiology of human sexuality. Instead of just asking people about their sex lives, Masters and Johnson actually observed volunteers engaging in self-stimulation and sexual intercourse. Changes throughout their bodies during arousal were measured with medical equipment. A new Showtime series premiering in September tells their story. It’s called Masters of Sex, and it’s based on the book by Thomas Maier, who is also a consultant for the series. Until Maier’s book, Masters and Johnson’s research techniques remained shrouded in […]
Switzerland Decriminalizes Recreational Marijuana
HUFFINGTON POST: As of Oct. 1, possession of marijuana is decriminalized in Switzerland. Anyone over the age of 18 caught with 10 grams or less of the drug will no longer have to make a court appearance and will not have offenses entered into their permanent record; instead, violators will have to pay a fine of 100 Swiss Francs (approximately $110), then be on their way. Lawmakers in the country relaxed weed regulations in an effort to unify what had been a patchwork of often confusing policies that varied from one local area to another. Per The Independent, the measure […]
HOT DOC: Map Of Deadly D.C. Freakout
[Via NEW YORK DAILY NEWS]
Win Tix To See Lupe Fiasco @ The Electric Factory
We’ve been down with Lupe since the Gas, Food, Liquor days, saw his first Philly show at the Troc, was close enough to see the little Andy Warhol button pinned to the belt of his low-slung skinny jeans — back in 2006, yo, when most hip-hoppers were still members of the Big Pants Nation. It’s been a bit of a bumpy road for Lupe since then, but we are glad to see him overcome. This new “Peace Of Paper Cup Of Jayzus” track re-affirms Lupe’s status as a master class word playa with mad skills, etc. He’s playing the […]