NEWS.COM: Former NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell – a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission — has stunningly claimed aliens exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions — but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as ‘little people who look strange to us.’ He said supposedly real-life ET’s were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head. Chillingly, he […]
ROLL THE CREDITS: Ebert Closes The Balcony
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE Mom’s Italian. 100%. And while she could have poured the over-exuberant passion that is the genetic cross my people bear into anything obvious — food, language, Catholicism, music, Sophia Loren — she opted at an early age to funnel my genetic disposition into her love for the cinema. We’d go every week, right after church, our reward for the penance that was 10AM mass. And without cable television, without a VCR, my cinematic cravings were only sated on the homefront via the weekly sit-down with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Thankfully, then as now, they were accessible […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
ABSOLUTELY FAB: The Ting Tings, JBs, Last Night [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER There was a time when radio, MTV, Rolling Stone and Beavis and Butthead were the kingmakers of tomorrow’s hitmakers. These days, of course, it is the blogs, MySpace buzz and the ubiquitous iPod TV ad that are the new deciders. Case in point: The Ting Tings, a stylish duo from the UK, and their sassy, big-bottomed punk-funk hit “Shut Up And Let Me Go,” currently wiggling in throbbing primary color perpetuity on a cable station near you. Even before the iPod ad put […]
SUN: Batman’s Mum & Sis Tried To Shake Him Down
THE SUN: Legal sources told The Sun the women said sister Sharon needed £100,000 to help her bring up her three children. They said Bale, 34, snubbed the plea and a row flared in his suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London’s West End. Welsh-born Bale was alleged to have “pushed and shoved” mum Jenny, 61, and Sharon, 41. But sources close to 6ft 2in Bale, who has another sister called Louise, said Jenny inflamed the situation by hurling insults about his wife Sibi, 38. A source close to the case said: Christian is a very wealthy young man and […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED Imagine if millions of people had seen you naked before you were old enough to say “embarrassing.” That’s the story of Spencer Elden, whom you may know as the little baby floating towards a dollar bill on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 album, Nevermind. Nearly 17 years later, amid hating school and playing water polo, Elden is still struggling to make sense of his (very) public image. “Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis,” he says from his home in Los Angeles. “So that’s kinda cool. I’m just a normal kid living it […]
ALPHA OBAMA: Ich Bin Ein Berliner!
AFP: BERLIN — Barack Obama Thursday told a staggering crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation. EXCERPT: People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time. I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived […]
GUNCRAZY: Hello, My Name Is Killadelphia
Starting today, Jeff Deeney has a two-parter in the Metro about the alarming number of Philly MySpace pages — set to PUBLIC, mind you — with young men pointing guns at the camera. Some look scary, some look scared. Let the record show that we have pointed this out on numerous occasions. Metro policy forbids the paper from running photos of people pointing guns at the reader. We have no such policy. We believe it’s what you don’t know that can hurt you. UPDATE: Part 2
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR The team behind Step Brothers has an enviable life. Director Adam McKay and actors Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly get to hang out together, make jokes and get paid for it. The three first worked together on the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and they enjoyed collaborating on the film so much that they thought another film was in order. Leaving behind the world of car-racing, Step Brothers centers around two grown men who never managed to leave their respective parents’ houses. Drama ensues when their single parents marry and the two adults become […]
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Is That A Stolen Manhole Cover In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?
NEW YORK TIMES: PHILADELPHIA — Francis McConnell is a field supervisor for the Philadelphia Water Department, but lately he is acting more like an undercover police officer. Several hours a day, five days a week, he stakes out junkyards. Pretending to read a newspaper, Mr. McConnell sits near the entrances and writes down descriptions of passing pickup trucks and shirtless men pushing shopping carts. His mission is to figure out who is stealing the city’s manhole covers and its storm drain and street grates, increasingly valuable commodities on the scrap market. More than 2,500 covers and grates have disappeared in […]
ACCIDENTAL TOURISM: Bring Us Your Fannypacked, Your White-Socked And Your Birkenstocked
USA TODAY: Tourism officials say Philadelphia was visited by more than 550,000 international visitors in 2007. That’s a 27% increase from the year before — and an all-time record for the city. A report released Tuesday by the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau attributes the rise in part to the declining dollar, which makes the U.S. a bargain for European travelers. The nonprofit corporation says the momentum is continuing this year. There are efforts to attract more international visitors and to encourage local companies to hold conventions close to home. MORE KILLADELPHIA: Two More Dead Since You Went To Bed […]