OK, time for another edition of DRUG TEST wherein we vet the media’s reportage on the so-called War On Drugs, separating the seeds and stems of law enforcement press release hyperbole from the sober, reality-based facts. Today we check out this article posted on Philly.com by the Inquirer’s Sam Wood. Let us say up front that we think Sam is a damn good journo, not to mention a damn good Joe, so understand that nothing we are about to say is personal. Anyway, onward and upward — forward, never straight! Heh-heh… In a series of drug raids yesterday, Philadelphia police […]
PAPERBOY: Special ‘Miss Me, Bitches?’ 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 […]
DOUBLE DOS: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
The Colbert Report after the jump. Enjoy.
WORTH REPEATING: John McCain Can’t Remember How Many Homes He Owns, How About You?
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] PHILADELPHIA — This morning, Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change launched a statewide search to find Pennsylvanians who, like John McCain, have so many homes that they just can’t keep track of the number. Our new media team will be at Love Park in Philadelphia beginning at 1:00 PM and volunteers and field staff will be calling voters throughout the day in an attempt to uncover even just one person who doesn’t know how many homes he or she owns. Yesterday, McCain was asked how many homes he owns. Clearly uncertain, he responded, “I think — I’ll […]
EXCERPT: How I Got To Starbucks
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] A Teenage Memoir Of Midlife Crisis BY COLLEEN REESE By the time it was over, high school finally made sense to me: Clean lines were drawn between the extraordinaires bound for leafy private colleges and the Joe Regulars headed to state schools; between the part-timers headed to community college and the free spirit do-gooders who would travel the world and eventually settle down for a little missionary work in Uganda or whatnot; and let us not forget the sons of working class shlubs doomed to endless summer apprenticeships with their neighbor’s landscaping companies. And, as predicted, […]
FAUX NEWS: Why Whitey Can’t Hope
[236.com: Fox News’ Obama Documentary in a Minute] 23/6: Monday night, Fox News Channel aired the first of two presidential candidate documentaries called “Character and Conduct.” First up: Barack Obama, whose documentary pretends really hard that it’s not full of stereotypes and insinuations! Couldn’t stomach it Monday evening? We’ve got it for you in a minute. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Fox News Is Lying To America!
CINEMA: Un-American Activities
TRUMBO (2007, directed by Peter Askin, 96 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC When Elia Kazan won his honorary Oscar back in 1999 there were some who voiced surprise that Sean Penn (among others) refused to applaud for the eighty-nine year old director. If one needs to understand why someone could be holding a grudge over Hollywood’s Communist witch hunts of the 1950’s, the life of its most famous victim, Academy Award winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, is a fine place to start. Peter Askin’s new documentary gives an intimate look at a how the blacklist effected one man and […]
BREAKING & EXITING: Why I’m Leaving Fishtown
BY STEWART EBERSOLE I woke up at 3am to the sound of something crashing downstairs. My roommate Rob is a night owl, so I assumed it was him making all that noise and rooting loudly through my toolbox. When my alarm finally woke me up at 7 a.m., it occurred to me for the first time that Rob actually had not been home that night, and that those noises were of a different ilk than the using late night roommate rattle and hum. And then I saw that the hallway window, the window that leads onto the back porch roof, […]
Glen Campbell Will Not Save You From Yourself
BY JOE WARMINSKY The best song on Jenny Lewis’s Rabbit Fur Coat was her Traveling Wilburys cover; she turned “Handle With Care” — with assists from indie worker-bees Oberst, Ward and Gibbard — into a post-millennial service economy lament. (In the hands of Lynne/Petty/Harrison/Orbison/Dylan, I saw it more as a rumination on suburban boomer anomie.) But more importantly, Lewis refreshed a fusty, shopworn hit by simply taking it seriously. Jenny one, FM rock zero. In that same way, Glen Campbell’s new album racks up a score of at least 3-0. With its 10 showy covers of alt-rock familiarities and AOR […]
VIMEO: The Saddest Music In The World
THE ARCHIVE from Sean Dunne on Vimeo. [HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] “Paul Mawhinney was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years he has amassed what has become the world’s largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection. This is the story of a man and his records. I hope you enjoy it.” — Sean Dunne, Director
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR After he won the presidency, Abraham Lincoln brought three of his rivals for the Republican nomination into his cabinet. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin‘s book, Team of Rivals, recounts the life and work of our 16th president — and the principal characters of his administration. Goodwin won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, No Ordinary Time, about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. She has also written books about Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedys. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: When Lyndon B. Johnson took office as president, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he began making daily recordings of his private conversations. Historian […]
KILLADELPHIA: 11-Year-Old Busted In Gun Shop Heist
DAILY NEWS: WHEN POLICE phoned early yesterday, the mother of an 11-year-old boy assured them that her son was at home in bed. But surveillance cameras at the Suburban Armory in Delaware County show he was miles from his Philadelphia home. Her little boy, police said, had been arrested as part of a teenage posse that tried to pull off a brazen gun-shop heist in Collingdale Monday night by dismantling the external alarm system and throwing a boulder through the window. They arrived on public transportation and used a pair of schoolbags to carry 14 semiautomatic handguns — plus the […]
JUMPIN’ JACK NEWS FLASH: Councilman Kelly’s Chief Of Staff Steps Aside After Corruption Indictment
PHILLY CLOUT: As predicted in today’s Daily News, City Councilman Jack Kelly’s chief of staff, Chris Wright, is leaving his job — maybe for good, maybe not. Wright was indicted two weeks ago, along with Kelly’s campaign treasurer and two brothers who had made substantial campaign contributions to the councilman. Wright is on unpaid leave, as of today. MORE PREVIOUSLY: City Councilman Jack Kelly’s chief, Chris Wright, [pictured making O-Face behind his boss] and three men involved in local land development were indicted this morning on federal corruption charges. Federal investigators say Wright used his post to help real estate […]