Oh. My. Gawd! RELATED: McKenzie Phillips’s Terrible Secrets
GREATEST HITS: Best Of Today I Saw…
BY JEFF DEENEY Today I saw a long and boxy old black Cadillac parked on Master Street just west of 17th. Master Street is on the south edge of Pill Hill; up the block towards Jefferson Street young pushers were perched on every stoop with pockets full of Oxys, Percs, and Xanies. They watched the passing traffic for white guys from downtown who might be out cruising on their lunch breaks with fat wallets and runny noses, hoping to cop their medication. Every eye in that crowded corridor between Jefferson and Master Street vied for contact with mine, assuming I […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Matt Latimer joined the ranks of young idealists going to Washington to make a difference in the world. He became chief speechwriter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and was hopeful that he was on his way. When he got assigned to the White House, he knew his dream was coming true. Once there, however, he was quickly disillusioned. Working as speechwriter to President George W. Bush during his last months in office, Latimer was immersed in the chaos of an environment he describes as more like The Office than The West Wing. It’s from these experiences and others […]
Smoking Bans Blamed For 36% Drop In Heart Attacks
REUTERS: Smoking bans in public places can reduce the number of heart attacks by as much as 36 percent, offering fresh proof that the restrictions work, U.S. researchers said on Monday. They urged widespread bans on smoking in enclosed public places to prevent heart attacks and improve public health. “This study adds to the already strong evidence that secondhand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100 percent smoke-free laws in all workplaces and public places is something we can do to protect the public,” James Lightwood of the University of California-San Francisco, whose study appears in the journal Circulation, […]
GLENN BECK: Exhuming McCarthy
MEDIA MATTERS: Glenn Beck has revived one of the most shameful chapters in American political history. Sen. Joseph McCarthy spent years ruining the lives of patriotic Americans serving in the United States government and beyond. He did it through fearmongering and baseless, unproven accusations. He combed the past statements and associations of loyal U.S. citizens and then shamefully accused them of being traitors bent on the destruction of the American way of life. At a time when conservatives are unable to find new leadership or present new ideas to address the challenges facing our nation, it is perhaps fitting that […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Q&A With Jim Derogatis
Pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Sound Opinions co-host, Lester Bangs biographer and author of the just-published and altogether beautiful The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side. Coming soon to a Phawker near you!
SPORTO: Auto Tuning Fox’s Eagles Broadcast
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY You saw the Eagles game yesterday, but did you hear it? Maybe you were at the bar and missed out on the insight from the FOX broadcast. Or maybe you heard but couldn’t believe your ears. I’m here to fill you in on what you missed. It’s Week 2, and Saints-Eagles looks like a big game on paper. FOX brings in its “A-Team” of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver. 1st Half I’ve only had High Definition TV for a couple weeks, and I thought it came without a downside. That was until I […]
Pelosi In The 215, Voices Support For Public Option
INQUIRER: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during a visit to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital today that a government-run insurance program must be in the final version of health-care reform, even as other Democratic leaders have suggested it could pass without the provision. “No bill can pass the House of Representatives without a public option in it,” Pelosi said, after touring the hospital emergency room. Pelosi said the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the “public option” of health insurance would squeeze $100 billion in costs from the system over 10 years because of competition with private insurers. “That’s hard to […]
THAT’S COMCASTIC: FCC To Enforce ‘Net Neutrality’
NEW YORK TIMES: In a move to make good on one of President Obama’s campaign promises, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will propose Monday that the agency expand and formalize rules meant to keep Internet providers from discriminating against certain content flowing over their networks, according to several officials briefed on his plans.While the communications industry does not like more regulation, it has generally not found it difficult to comply with the existing four principles, lobbyists said. But there are a few areas where opposition is expected. In 2005, the commission adopted four broad principles relating […]
BOOK REVIEW: Undiscovered Gyrl
BY SYDNEY SCOTT Pretty much everyone on the planet, it seems, has a blog. Sharing your ideas, opinions, and life stories with millions of anonymous Internet users is now commonplace. Allison Burnett blurs the lines between blogging and book-writing with her novel Undiscovered Gyrl. This book surprised me. What looks like an annoying chick lit novel is the surface turns out to be anything but: Katie Kampenfelt is a seventeen-year-old high school graduate who decides to start an online journal chronicling her life and sexual escapades. She posts stories of her first job, an affair with a married man and […]
THIS JUST IN: Leonard Cohen Collapses Onstage
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Leonard Cohen is recovering after collapsing onstage while on tour in eastern Spain, his music company said Saturday. The veteran poet and performer has been released from hospital after suffering from a stomach complaint, Doctor Music Concerts said in a statement. Cohen was part-way through his song “Bird on the Wire” in Valencia when he fainted, causing the band to stop playing to rush to his aid as concertgoers watched. The concert was stopped. MORE PREVIOUSLY: The Great Man glides onstage in black pinstripes and a fedora like a gangster cantor, double-breasted and tie-less, his crisp creamy blue […]
FRINGE REVIEW: The Waitstaff Sells Out
BY LINDSAY HARRIS-FRIEL The Waitstaff has got it all down to a science. By now, they certainly should. After almost a decade of reincarnating their troupe on stages from The Adrienne to Chicago’s Sketch Fest, they’ve refined their craft into a tight, efficient comedy machine. Thank God we have the Waitstaff to send up Brand Fringe. The crew has been writing and performing in theatre and sketch since the Fringe was in diapers (and Chris McGovern quietly shows us that it still is), and not much has changed, so they’re well-poised to show us the commonalities. While the Waitstaff is […]
CINEMA: With Friends Like This Who Needs Enemas?
THE INFORMANT! (2009, directed by Steven Soderbergh, 108 minutes, U.S.) JENNIFER’S BODY (2009, directed by Karyn Kusama, 102 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC In the 20 years since Steven Soderbergh’s debut, his versatility has left him somewhat of an enigma. Over the course of 20 films, you would expect a theme, a driving concern or even a visual vocabulary to emerge. Instead, Soderbergh comes off as an reserved, unbiased observer, poking and prodding whatever idea tickles his curiosity (philosophical sci-fi! Leftist biography! old Hollywood recreations!), yet never giving the sense that he’s emotionally tied to any idea. This […]