BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR ROLLING STONE As the health care debate rages in Washington, Motley Crue weighed in with a loud-and-lewd vision of health care reform in Camden, New Jersey Sunday night when they kicked off the opening night of Crue Fest 2 with a start-to-finish run thru Dr. Feelgood to mark the six-million-selling album’s 20th anniversary. The stage design was no doubt intended to mirror the album’s underlining theme of waking up from a nightmarish sickness (remember, Dr. Feelgood was the notoriously hard-partying Crue’s post-rehab album), it also served as a not so subtle reminder that we are all […]
City Blocks ‘Domelights’ From Municipal Web
Website: domelights.com Restriction Reason: Categorized as Misc Block;Political/Activist Groups. ATTENTION: Use of the City Internet connection is restricted for City business related purposes only. The City reserves the right to log all Internet activity and block access to certain types of Internet sites to reduce load on the system and/or minimize risk. Details: Access to this site is RESTRICTED by the City, as it is deemed to be non-business related. If you require access to this site for a valid business reason, please contact the Division of Technology Service Desk at 215-686-8213 or dothelp@phila.gov. Options: Click Go Back or use […]
RIP: Author Frank McCourt Dead At 78
NEW YORK TIMES: Frank McCourt, a former New York City schoolteacher who turned his miserable childhood in Limerick, Ireland, into a phenomenally popular, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” died in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 78 and lived in Manhattan and Roxbury, Conn. The cause was metastatic melanoma, said Mr. McCourt’s brother, the writer Malachy McCourt. Mr. McCourt, who taught in the city’s school system for nearly 30 years, had always told his writing students that they were their own best material. In his mid-60s, he decided to take his own advice, sitting down to commit his childhood memories to […]
MOONWALKING: It Was 40 Years Ago Today
WASHINGTON POST: Only rarely — on major anniversary dates, like today — does he show up on television, and then only fleetingly. He hasn’t leveraged his fame for higher office or some grand cause, nor has he sold it willy-nilly. If the subject is Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon tends to turn churlish. He will defer, deflect or refuse to answer. When his little home town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, sought to honor him with a parade on the 25th anniversary of his moonwalk, Armstrong sent his regrets. He once pleaded to a newspaper reporter, […]
I, GAMER: I Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghosts
BY ADAM BONANNI Movie tie-in games, as a rule, are utter duds. Generally rushed to the shelf in order to provide a safe, accessible tie-in to some blockbuster film, they often serve as a functional, but utterly unremarkable gaming experience. “Seen the movie? Buy the game” is the mantra that justifies their existence, and they sell like mad because of it. Of course there, have been a few exceptions. The last movie-to-game adaptation that really stuck in my mind was 2004’s Chronicles of Riddick, and before that, 1997’s Goldeneye. Now, in 2009, the much delayed and anticipated modern Ghostbusters game […]
GAYDAR: The Trouble With QFest
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR With a snappy new name that aspires to put the the non-gay among us at ease, a fattened marketing budget, and walk-ons by gay cinema stars (Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Chad Allen) and straight power brokers (hello Mayor Nutter!), QFest seems destined to please everyone — everyone, that is, except for the rank and file of Philly’s gay community. Consider these man-in-a-gay-bar responses when the topic of QFest was raised by yours truly: “I don’t bother any more. None of the shows have any substance.” “I went this year, and was more disappointed than usual.” […]
Walter Cronkite, Godfather Of Anchormen, Dead At 92
NEW YORK TIMES: Walter Cronkite, who pioneered and then mastered the role of television news anchorman with such plain-spoken grace that he was called the most trusted man in America, died Friday at his home in New York. He was 92. From 1962 to 1981, Mr. Cronkite was a nightly presence in American homes and always a reassuring one, guiding viewers through national triumphs and tragedies alike, from moonwalks to war, in an era when network news was central to many people’s lives. He became something of a national institution, with an unflappable delivery, a distinctively avuncular voice and a […]
THE EARLY WORD: Dots & Loops
[Click image to activate Internets] PINK SKULL: If You Like Can, Then I Guess You Know Music
SEPTA GIRL: Even Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death I Will Fear No Evil
BY PHILLY GRRL I vividly recall the first time I became a SEPTA apologist. It was my sophomore year at Temple. The Philadelphia Orchestra was playing Beethoven’s Fifth down at the Kimmel Center and I had just gotten a free ticket. It was the first time I was going to see them play and I was more than a little excited. An hour before the show started, I ran to the restroom at the student center to put on my makeup. (In my naïveté, I assumed the orchestra audience was akin to what I imagined the opera-going audience to be […]
CINEMA: The Dark Side Of The Moon
MOON (2009, directed by Duncan Jones, 93 minutes, U.K.) THE HURT LOCKER (2008, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 131 minutes, U.S.) SERAPHINE (2008, directed by Martin Provost, 121 minutes, France) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I was trying to recommend an off-the-beaten-track sci-fi film from the last few years for a friend and I was coming up blank. It struck me that nearly all sci-fi films are built to be blockbusters these days, there is no small budget sci-fi just as there is no low budget super hero films, the genre is completely given over to spectacle. This makes Moon, the […]
Black Officer’s Association Sues The Philadelphia Police Department Over ‘Blatantly Racist’ Web Site
INQUIRER: An association of black police officers has sued the Philadelphia Police Department in federal court for allowing its officers to post “blatantly racist . . . and offensive” content on a popular Web site devoted to law enforcement topics. The suit, filed Wednesday, says Domelights.com, which bills itself as “the voice of the good guys,” was founded by a Philadelphia police sergeant who uses the screen name “McQ” and “encourages the racially offensive conduct.” The Guardian Civic League also sued McQ and the 10-year-old Web site, a forum where officers discuss crime news, police gossip, current events and other […]
EYE-RAGEOUS: McDonalds Clerk Blinds Customer Over McFlurry Dispute, Still Works For Burger Giant
CITY PAPER: The shift manager and Rashee Henderson began arguing. The shift manager called Rashee a bitch, said Henderson. In an effort to defuse the situation, Henderson testified, he escorted his wife to the restaurant door and then went back to complete the order. Then, he said, Lewis, who was working the register, threatened him. “This pussy think he tough,” Henderson remembered Lewis saying.”I’m going to knock him the fuck out.” Then Lewis asked the shift manager to punch him off the clock. “Wait a minute, I’ll go get my keys,” Henderson remembered Lewis saying next. At this point, Henderson […]
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: California Pot Tax Would Net The Money-Starved State $1.4 Billion
SACRAMENTO BEE: California could see a nearly $1.4 billion per year increase in state revenues were it to legalize marijuana, the state Board of Equalization says in an analysis of pending legislation to to do that. The bill (Assembly Bill 390) by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is still awaiting its first committee hearing and is likely not to be considered until next year. It would impose not only sales taxes but a $50 per ounce fee on marijuana sales, which would be licensed by the state much as alcoholic beverages are regulated.Today, although considered illegal by federal authorities, California […]