CITY PAPER: Felix is painting again. He peels off his blankets, switches on the lamp and warms his hands by the electric heater he keeps close to the spot on the floor where his bedding lies. Then, he sits with his black faded sketchbook in his lap and draws until sunlight fills the small cramped bedroom he rents in a crumbling building at the end of a narrow alley off Washington Avenue. If Felix is happy with what he’s put on the page, he’ll pull on his red-checkered lumberman’s jacket and make his way down the creaky wooden spiral staircase […]
TONITE: Swallow Your Pride
Josh Camerote’s Swallow Your Pride, a documentary about Philadelphia’s Wing Bowl competition, chronicles a year of the life of a past Wing Bowl champion. Bill Simmons, aka El Wingador and the principle subject for the film, spent his days prior to Wing Bowl stardom in the limelight of professional sports. But upon retirement, he soon realized that the incessant stirring in his belly could be symptomatic pangs of his next vocation. But what glory is there in competitive eating, you ask? Well, Camerote thinks it about time all you dainty elitists swallowed your pride and recognize the intense […]
THE ACORN: The Flood Pt. 1
The Acorn opens for Calexico tonight at the TLA.
Q&A: Meet The Man Who Punked The NY Times
On Monday, New Yorkers awoke to astonishing news on the front page of the New York Times: The ware in Iraq was over, the troops were coming home, and Condoleeza Rice offered a public apology for hoodwinking the American people about WMDs . Furthermore, the paper said, plans were afoot to re-structure the economy away from predatory and monopolistic practices that enrich a few while exploiting the many, universal health care was a go and anybody who wanted a college education could get one on the government’s dime. Too good to be true? Well, for the time being, yes. But […]
CINEMA: The Spy Who Shoved Me
Quantum of Solace (2008, directed by Marc Forster, 108 minutes, U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK, FILM CRITIC Directing action on film is sort of like being a good dancer, either you’re blessed with an understanding of movement, space and rhythm or you’re not. The recently trimmed down, buffed up and rebooted Bond, ushered in with Daniel Craig two years ago with Casino Royale, has anchored the long-running series more than ever to its action sequences; gone are the jokes, the gadgets and the preposterous villains. The mystery in Casino‘s sequel pertains to a shadowy scheme labeled “Quantum” yet the biggest conundrum […]
EARLY WORD: Get Mad Or Get Even
Tomorrow night at Starlight Ballroom.
DR. DOG: The Ark
Dr Dog “The Ark” by Gary Breslin and Adam Kurland from gary breslin on Vimeo. Dr. Dog “The Ark” from Adam kurland on Vimeo. Currently touring the capitals of ‘old Europe’, the Dog comes home to the Starlight Ballroom on November 28th.
PAPERBOY: ‘All Pornography Is Local’ Edition
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 […]
CINEMA: Guess Who’s Coming To The White House
ANDREW’S VIDEO VAULT @ The Rotunda 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PAThursday November 13th 2008 8PM Free! THE MAN (1972, directed by Joesph Sargent, 93 minutes, U.S.) HAIL (1973, directed by Fred Levinson, 88 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Thirty-six years ago, it took the mind of Twilight Zone-creator Rod Serling to imagine the audacious history we’re now living. His 1972 script for The Man tells the story of the first African American President of the U.S. and there could be no more timely booking for this obscurity’s reappearance than tonight on a Presidential double-bill at Andrew’s Video Vault. […]
ROGUING: Sarah Palin STILL Hating On Ayers
[CNN TRANSCRIPT 11/12/08] BLITZER: Because, you know, during a campaign, every presidential campaign, things are said, it’s tough, as you well know, it gets sometimes pretty fierce out there. And during the campaign, you said this, you said: “This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America.” And then you went on to say: “Someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” PALIN: Well, I still am concerned about that association with Bill Ayers. And if anybody […]
BREAKING: PW Dumps Editor
THIS JUST IN: Tim Whitaker is no longer Editor of Philadelphia Weekly. DAN GROSS: Adamma Ince has replaced Tim Whitaker as the editor of Philadelphia Weekly, the paper’s parent company Review Publishing announced this evening. Whitaker, who led the newspaper since 1994 when it was still known as the Welcomat, learned today that he was being replaced. He has not returned a message we left at his home this afternoon. Ince spent 12 years at the Village Voice which she left last year as the New York weekly’s deputy managing editor. Anthony A. Clifton, the Englishman who owns Review, says he’s […]
ARTSY: A Hip Gallery Grows In The Dirty South
BY ELIZABETH FLYNN I’m sort of prejudiced about South Philly. I happen to think it’s the coolest neighborhood in town. When I moved here as a disgruntled center city bohemian — having been gentrified out of my fabulous CC apartment after 9/11 — it was still very Italian and Old World. But in the last five years I’ve watched the neighborhood change drastically as an influx of hipsters and Mexicans moved in to take advantage of the cheap rent and convenient access to the rest of the city. The recent evolution of 9th St from Federal to Washington is living […]
HEAR YE: Belle & Sebastian The BBC Sessions
Now playing on Phawker Radio!