Gadabout, the Details mag blog for the modern man-about-town, says Facebook is for pansies in general, but if you’re “pokin’” you’re dead to them: In a few short years, Facebook has leaked out of the college dormitory like some rare tropical disease and has begun infecting grown men in disturbingly vast numbers. The fastest-growing demographic among Facebook’s 64 million users is those over 25. More than half of MySpace’s 110 million users are older than 35. The hosts, once infected, exhibit a tendency to “superpoke” each other, hyperventilate over friend counts, and share their thoughts about the latest episode of […]
PAPERBOY: Hollywood Options Ex-CP Editor’s Novel
BY AMY Z. QUINN Straight from the City Paper to Phillywood, Duane Swierczyinski tells me his novel The Blonde may be headed for the big screen. Actress Michelle Monaghan has optioned the rights to film the 2006 sci-fi thrilla, and we could easily see her playing the titular badass babe with a killer kiss. Though who plays Jack Eisley, the bitterly almost-divorced journalist? And will we find out through on-location shooting where that effed-up masturbation club really is? Here’s the official announcement: Film rights to Duane Swierczynski’s THE BLONDE, about a soon-to-be-divorced young father who is poisoned by a beautiful […]
PAPERBOY EXTRA: The Audacity Of Change
BY AMY Z. QUINN OK, so you didn’t hear it here first — Dan Gross broke the news this afternoon that City Paper editor Duane Swierczynski resigned today. We heard this Friday afternoon, when the Swiercz spilled his plans for a full-time leap into noir fiction (The Blonde‘s in paperback, there’s very preliminary talk of a movie) and Marvel Comics and over noodles and tea, then promptly swore me to secrecy. Never let it be said your Paperboy doesn’t know the meaning of “off the record.” For the record. Anyway, dude certainly seemed like a guy who’d made up his […]
BREAKING: Death of the ‘Peoples’ Prime Minister’
NEW YORK TIMES: RAWALPINDI, Islamabad — An attack on a political rally killed the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto near the capital, Islamabad, Thursday. Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto was fired upon before the blast, and an official from her party said Ms. Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker. At least a dozen more people were killed. “At 6:16 p.m. she expired,” said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Ms. Bhutto’s party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack, according to The Associated Press. Hundreds of […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Dead Since U Went To Bed
Two men were shot – one fatally – last night in Powelton Village, police said. The shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. at 40th and Green Streets in West Philadelphia. A 26-year-old, shot once in the abdomen, was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead a few minutes after midnight, police said. The homicide was the city’s 370th this year. The other man, 45, was in stable condition at HUP with a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. Another man was critically wounded this morning in the 100 block of West Thelma Street […]
VALANIA/SWEENEY FEUD: A Never-Ending Fount Of Dubious ‘Hipster’ Humor Since 2006!
From Today’s Metro, where Quizzomeister Johnny Goodtimes holds forth on some Philly wrestling matches he’d like to see: Philebrity founder Joey Sweeney vs. Phawker founder Jonathan Valania in a Hipster Death Match: This match disappoints promoters, as the hipsters think that this whole idea is “lame” and, after entering the ring, just exchange shrugs and discuss some crappy band. Actually, I’m pretty confident that any fight between those two would involve some girlie slapping, soft weeping, a blurry Photobucket slideshow and at least one smoke break. And the entire evening ends with Jill and Ruthie ditching them to go for […]
WILLIAM BURROUGHS: Thanksgiving Prayer
Amen, Bill.
EXIT, STAGE LEFT: The Amy Winehouse Object Lesson Guide To Pop Stardom
Today’s Lesson: If you can at all avoid it, try not to call the audience “monkey cunts.” From the BBC: Amy Winehouse [pictured, right, at the Electric Factory this past spring] was booed by fans as she delivered a shambolic set on the first night of her UK tour in Birmingham. The singer also dedicated a song to her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who is being held on remand pending charges including GBH. During the show, the 24-year-old told the crowd: “To them people booing, wait ’til my husband gets out of incarceration. And I mean that.” Shortly after the show […]
PEACE BOMB: Ron “I Will End The Iraq War” Paul’s $10 Million ‘Tea’ Party Comes To Town Saturday
BY AMY Z. QUINN Supporters of Texas Congressman and longshot GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul raised $4.2 million in 24 hours in a loosely-organized fund-raising push they’re calling a “money bomb.” Speculate, theorize, stereotype. Only one thing is clear: the Paulites, the loyal, organized, Web-savvy supporters of Rep. Ron Paul, know how to raise money online, and 37,000 Paulites set a record [Monday] by hauling in more than $4.2 million in 24 hours. That’s the most money raised online by a candidate in a single day. A Paulite came up with the fundraising idea, a few more Paulites joined in […]
PAPERBOY: Travails Of The City Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN We know how it is: so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up valuable nanoseconds that can now be better spent ‘roughing up the suspect’ over at Suicide Girls or what have you. Every Thursday we pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer you towards the gooey caramel center of each edition. Why? Because we like you. ON THE COVERS CITY PAPER: […]
BREAKING: Philly Gets Its Man, er, Men
Looks like Mike Nutter’s about to be upstaged on his own Election Day — but we have a feeling he won’t mind. In fact, it might be a good diversion from the long, soggy hours before the polls close at 8 p.m. Suspected cop killer John “Jordan” Lewis may have been arrested in Miami rescue mission at around 7 a.m. Sounds like the dumb kid stayed there Monday night, and someone recognized him shortly after the Miami news began running his photo this morning. Assuming it’s him, we’ll just say we’re thankful nobody else got hurt. And maybe we’ll hope […]
SEASONS GREETINGS: It’s Halloween!
“Why even Dracula will be there!” — The Shaggs, “It’s Halloween”
CLOSED ENCOUNTERS: Judge Tells NASA To Come Clean On 1965 Kecksburg, Pa. UFO Crash
WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA has agreed to search its archives once again for documents on a 1965 UFO incident in Pennsylvania, a step the space agency fought in federal court. The government has refused to open its files about what, if anything, moved across the sky and crashed in the woods near Kecksburg, Pa., 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Traffic was tied up in the area as curiosity seekers drove to the area, only to be kept away from the crash site by soldiers. The Air Force’s explanation for the unidentified flying object: a meteor or meteors. Eyewitnesses said a […]