JOE SUPER DELEGATE: Illustration by ALEX FINE BLOOMBERG: Barack Obama has pulled almost even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials and has cut into her lead among the other superdelegates she’s relying on to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Among the 313 of 796 superdelegates who are members of Congress or governors, Clinton has commitments from 103 and Obama is backed by 96, according to lists supplied by the campaigns. Fifty-three of Obama’s endorsements have come since he won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, compared with 12 who have aligned with Clinton since then. “That’s not glacial, […]
CINEMA: All Fun & Games Until Somebody Gets Hurt
FUNNY GAMES (2007, directed by Michael Haneke, 107 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC “People have criticized me for making films just to provoke, That was never the case. But in this film yes. It made me happy to give an awakening kind of slap”. That’s Austrian director Michael Haneke being interviewed on the DVD of his breakthrough film, 1997’s Funny Games. Funny Games was a rigorous study of a viewer’s complicity with on-screen violence that invited the audience to watch helplessly (or not, which may be the film’s point) as a nondescript upper-class family are tortured to death […]
EARLY WORD: It’s Alive With Pleasure!
BY TIFFANY YOON LIVING ARTS CORRESPONDENT Benjamin Franklin once said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Which makes Philly Beer Week God’s work, but then you probably already know that. With all this in mind, I recently stopped by Triumph Brewery to get the lowdown. I talked beer with Jay Misson, director of brewing operations, and got to tag along as Patrick Jones, head brewer, brewed some beer. PHAWKER: So what can you tell us about Philadelphia’s Real Ale Festival? MISSON: We’ve gathered 30 casks of beer of Real Ale. Which means […]
Aussie Woman Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Boyfriend To Death Because He Didn’t Let Her Listen To Springsteen
CNN: An Australian woman pleaded guilty Thursday to fatally stabbing her boyfriend because he objected to her listening to Bruce Springsteen’s music. The national news agency, Australian Associated Press, reported that the Supreme Court in the city of Brisbane sentenced Karen Lee Cooper to eight years in prison. Cooper told arresting officers she “just got tired” of her boyfriend, Kevin Watson, bossing her around during their two-year relationship. “I couldn’t even play Bruce Springsteen on my stereo. Can you believe that? Can you believe that?” Cooper told police, according to the Courier Mail newspaper. Later, in a formal police interview, […]
STUDY: 85% Of Philly Parking Tickets Are Totally Bogus
CBS 3: Several years ago, [Philadelphia attorney] Pascal challenged hundreds of parking tickets issued in western Pennsylvania because the meters weren’t certified as required by state law. A judge agreed and threw the tickets out! “It’s a consumer protection issue that says that people are going to get what they paid for, just like they should get the amount of gasoline they pay for at the pump and the amount of meat they get at the grocery store,” said Pascal. In Philadelphia, while the Parking Authority collects the revenue and issues tickets, the City’s Licenses and Inspections Department is actually […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
SIZE MATTERS: Broadzilla DJs, The Barbary, Last Night PHOTOS BY TIFFANY YOON/CLICK TO ENLARGE
EAVESDROPPING: How Clinton’s Spin Doctors Do Brain Surgery On The Fourth Estate Over The Phone
GIVE ‘EM HECK, HILLARY: Clinton in Scranton, Monday, by VIC SUEDE BY JONATHAN VALANIA So, I couldn’t get anyone on the line today for our Keystoned Cell Phone Poll — all four of the guys in Pennsylvania named John Doe must have day jobs or are still sleeping off last night, and likewise with the eight guys named Mike Hunt and the two Jane Does. Man, this polling is hard work! So instead, I sat in today on one of those Hillary campaign conference calls to reporters that you have no doubt read about or heard referenced by columnists or […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Digital media — including MP3 players, peer-to-peer networks and music websites — are changing how we discover, listen to and share music. Writer Eliot Van Buskirk joins Fresh Air to discuss the new, digital landscape of music, and the resulting changes in the music industry. Van Buskirk covers digital media for Wired.com on the blog, Listening Post. Formerly a senior editor for digital music and devices at CNET.com, he is the author of two books, Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing, and More! and iPod and iTunes QuickSteps. ALSO, in 2002, Dan Kennedy landed what he thought […]
KILLADELPHIA: One More Since U Went To Work
INQUIRER: Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man in North Philadelphia early this afternoon. Authorities said the victim, whose name has not been released, was shot in the back and leg about 12:30 p.m. while in the 1500 block of North Myrtlewood Street. He was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting.
INVENTOR: Goodbye Ink-Stained Wretch
This just came in over the transom. Can’t help but think it’s like buying a fancy slipcase for your Beta player.
HEAR YE: Now Playing On Phawker Radio!
BY SARA SHERR The Breeders are my favorite band of the ’90s, back when cheerleading tomboys from Ohio roamed the Earth like alt-rock glamazons in flannel. Kim Deal’s terminal coolness is as undeniable as it is Midwestern friendly and gum-crackingly accessible. Everyone feels like they could pull it off. Together with her equally gum-crackingly cool sister Kelley and a revolving cast of band members that once included Throwing Muses/Belly’s Tanya Donnelly, their harmonies were tighter than your tightest black jeans, and their weird, wonderful guitar sounds made left-field hits that worked both as stoner jams and shimmying pop songs. The […]
BUSHCO: This Is Your Tax Dollars NOT At Work
WASHINGTON POST: After Philadelphia‘s housing director refused a demand by President Bush‘s housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.”Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?” Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene. “Take away all of his Federal dollars?” responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, […]
TONITE: Get Your Fassbinder On
VALLEY OF THE WOLVES IRAQ (2006, directed by Serder Akar, 122 minutes, Turkey) DESPAIR (1978, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 119 minutes, Germany) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The Turkish action film Valley of the Wolves Iraq has a certain whiff of the 1980s, which is only fitting considering the decade was a prime era for stereotypical Arab movie villains (remember of robed gang in Back To The Future?). Shot like a straight-to-video gun & grunt fest, this Turkish crowd-pleaser (reportedly Turkey’s largest-budgeted film ever) makes the 80’s-style Hollywood action genre its own, turning its American soldiers into blood-crazed monsters […]