BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. 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 […]
STYLE COUNCIL: Planet-Friendly Panache
ARCADIA BOUTIQUE 819 N. 2nd Street Philadelphia, PA 19123 P: 215.667.8099 BY ASHLEY MYERS Arcadia is an exclusively eco-friendly boutique located in the middle of Northern Liberties. The boutique has been providing Philadelphia with a variety clothing and accessories, vintage designs, and showcasing local artists and designers since September 2007. Arcadia came to Philadelphia after owner AliMcCloud saw a need for eco-friendly fashion in Philadelphia. Before opening the boutique, McCloud lived in New York, attended FIT, and did a thesis focusing Green fashion. The boutique offers mainly women fashions with a small selections of men and children clothing as well. […]
REPORT: Phila. Drinking Water Contains Contaminants At Levels Above The Legal Limit
[Click image to enlarge] FRESH AIR: In part because of overwhelmed sewer systems, human excrement and dangerous chemicals are making their way into our waterways and drinking water. New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg returns to Fresh Air to talk about chemicals in our drinking water, and how the nation’s sewer systems are desperately in need of infrastructure repairs — even if the fix is not exactly politically attractive. An estimated one out of ten Americans is exposed to this unsafe drinking water. Duhigg reports on the “worsening pollution in American waters” — and regulators’ responses to the problem — […]
MILESTONE: It Was 20 Years Ago Today…
[Click image to enlarge] RELATED: To cap its 20th anniversary, Fox will air a documentary special on “The Simpsons” produced and directed by Morgan Spurlock. Titled “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice,” the outing will air Jan. 14. According to the announcement, Spurlock “will examine the cultural phenomenon of ‘The Simpsons’ in his distinctive and innovative style. The special will document how the world sees ‘The Simpsons’ and how the Simpson family has seen the world for two decades.” Huh. “When they first called me about this, I thought it was a prank and I hung up,” […]
CHINA: Earth Not Too Big To Fail
NEW YORK TIMES: COPENHAGEN — With just two days remaining in historic and contentious climate talks here, China signaled overnight that it sees virtually no possibility that the nearly 200 nations gathered would find agreement by Friday. An official in the American delegation said that China would agree only to a brief political declaration that left unresolved virtually all the major issues. The conference has deadlocked over emissions cuts by, and financing for, developing nations, including China, who say they will bear the brunt of a planetary problem they did little to create. Leaders had hoped to conclude an interim […]
SEX4TICKETS TRIAL: Like A Bad Romance Novel
INQUIRER: She arrived at Manny Brown’s at 7:30 that night and walked up to a man sitting at the bar. Officer Michael Brady was in plain clothes and wearing the Penn State jacket. She asked if his name was Bob. He said “yes.” Three more undercover officers, including Bugsch, sat at a table about 15 feet away, Brady said. Brady testified that Finkelstein said she was married but in a very open relationship and that her husband knew she was a prostitute but didn’t care. Finkelstein continued, Brady said, telling him, “I’m a whore. I love sex. I just can’t […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR There’s an abundance of journalist coverage of U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, but Jeremy Scahill has found a niche investigating Blackwater, a military contractor with a long involvement in the war. He’s broken many stories in The Nation, and his latest, published Nov. 23, uncovers the contractor’s involvement in a covert program run by the U.S. Joint Special Command (JSOC). Scahill says that even though tax payers are funding this shadow army, their operations are shrouded in secrecy. In his article, Scahill reports that Blackwater (which has officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC) is operating […]
TONITE: Get Your Dumpster On
BY AARON STELLA We’ve got one last push before the end of our first year in recession, but the Dumpsta Players, those lascivious lint-lickers of the everydrag, have decided to drench you in the year’s drossy tabloid afterbirth beforehand with their Christmas special Jon and Kate + Hate in Outerspace! Fate would have it that the Gosselin’s hyper-fertility would be sullied by their love for the camera and the Benjamins: during a rehearsal with their children at Ponzio’s for “The Regis Philbin Christmas Special,” Jon storms out and into the arms of Octomom, who’s really an alien. At that, the […]
BLAZE ON: Cali Pot Legalization On The Ballot For 2010; Ex-Seattle Police Chief Says ‘Legalize It”
ALTERNET: The Tax & Regulate Cannabis 2010 campaign has just achieved a major victory in its efforts to legalize marijuana for all adults in California — they have gathered the signatures necessary for inclusion on the state’s November ballot. “This is the next step to sane cannabis policies and the end to the hypocrisy and unjust prohibition of cannabis,” pot entrepreneur Richard Lee told me Monday morning. He is the co-proponent and a major sponsor of the Tax Cannabis initiative and the force — and money — behind Oaksterdam, the successful marijuana-friendly section of Oakland. This win means that Californians will be […]
CINEMA: Citizen Vain
ME AND ORSON WELLES (2008, directed by Richard Linklater, 114 minutes, U.S./U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Feeling more like a “hit” than any film the towering director was ever part of, Me And Orson Welles is a breezy nostalgia piece that never feels slight, thanks to the genius of Welles that hangs over the film with a weighty spirit. Brought to life by little-known actor Christian McKay, the film captures Welles at an early career highpoint, bringing a controversial 1937 Shakespeare production to Broadway. This is Welles before headline-grabbing War of the Worlds broadcast and the convention-shattering Citizen Kane; […]
YOU’VE GOT MAIL: 22 Million Bush Administration Emails Miraculously Found Alive And Well
MSNBC: Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush and the Obama administration is searching for dozens more days’ worth of potentially lost e-mail from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system. The two private groups — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive — said Monday they were settling the lawsuits they filed against the Executive Office of the President in 2007. It will be years […]
BEATING THE RAP: The Revolving Door Of Justice
INQUIRER: Just 23 years old, John Gassew has been arrested 44 times, mostly on charges of sticking a gun in people’s faces and robbing them. But in the eyes of the law, Gassew isn’t an armed robber. He’s never been convicted. Despite being called one of the city’s more prolific, and sometimes violent, stickup men by police — they say he bashed a delivery man over the head with a bat, shot at a 13-year-old neighbor, and smashed in the face of a robbery victim — Gassew has been sentenced to jail only once, for a drug charge. The Northeast […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With Your Host A.P. Ticker
AP Ticker’s [Scrapple News] Hiking in Iran