CLARIFICATION: Adolf Hitler NOT ‘Good,’ Says Will Smith LOS ANGELES — Will Smith is angry over celebrity gossip Web site articles that he said misinterpreted a recent remark he made in a Scottish newspaper about Adolf Hitler. In a story published Saturday in the Daily Record, Smith was quoted saying: “Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good.’” The quote was preceded by the writer’s observation: “Remarkably, […]
ANIMAL INTIFADA: S.F. Tiger Escapes, Kills 1, Maims 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Investigators trying to determine how a tiger escaped its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo, killing one visitor and mauling two others on Christmas, planned a thorough sweep of the zoo grounds Wednesday to look for clues. The two injured men were listed in stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. John Brown, an emergency room physician, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday they suffered deep bites and claw cuts to their heads, necks, arms and hands. “These injuries are severe injuries, but they are very treatable,” Brown said, “and these two gentlemen seem to […]
ALL I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS: Little Drummer Boy
Phawker reader Jack Quinn sent in this pic of the Keith Moon starter kit Santa left behind. Rock on, duderino!
KILLADELPHIA: Two More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: A man was found shot to death in West Philadelphia on Christmas night, police said.The body of Shawn McKnight, 35, was found dead between a car and a cherry-picker truck in the 400 block of North 60th Street near Haverford Avenue last night. He had been shot multiple times in the chest. McKnight was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where he was pronounced dead just after 8 p.m., police said. Police believe that McNight may have been a victim of an attempted robbery gone awry. * A North Philadelphia man was fatally shot last night […]
THIS JUST IN: Merry Christmas To All
And to all a good night and good luck!
DECLASSIFIED: FBI Plan To Suspend Habeas Corpus & Detain 12,000 ‘Disloyal’ Americans In Military Prisons
NEW YORK TIMES: A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty. Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons. Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.” The F.B.I would “apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous” to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The […]
TAO OF EVA: Japan-dy Warhol
Hey Boss, I’ve got a slew of funny/random/stupid video commercials i can send you from this japanese land. heres the first one. Andy Warhol for DTK TV. Ironic at all? Love, EVA
CINEMA: Royal Tannenbaums
THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY (2007, directed by Julian Schnabel, 112 minutes, France/U.S.) WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY (2007, directed by Jake Kasdan, 96 minutes, U.S.) THE SAVAGES (2007, directed by Tamara Jenkins, 113 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Who can forget the Phawker episode a few months back when our editor/provocateur ruffled academic feathers by opining that the journalism majors should study something/anything else and then bring that speciality into their journalistic interests? Outrage and hilarity ensued. Too bad we couldn’t get our fearless editor’s act booked into the country’s film schools because they’re aching […]
RECONSIDER THIS: Blade Runner Turns 25
BY MATTHEW DADDONA It is a curious symptom of our modern digital world — where the DNA of art can be easily transposed, transported or transformed with the click of a mouse, a process that used to take years and a cast of thousands in the analog age — that the basic premise of a landmark film can be altered in the director’s cut DVD version twenty years after the fact. This is literally rewriting, or more accurately re-editing, history. Prior to its initial theatrical release back in 1982, Warner Bros studio execs were so convinced that audiences wouldn’t be […]
USELESS ADVICE: Top 5 Gifts For Your Philly Magi
BY ABIGAIL SHEPHERD With five days till Christmas, the holiday rush has now transformed into an all out attack mission to find the perfect holiday gift. Malls are overcrowded, specialty stores are running low and eBay is getting around 478,237,482 bids per second. By now, most people know exactly what they want…and they plan on getting it no matter how many innocent civilians die in the process. But, there are some people who still have no idea what the perfect gift for their special someone is going to be. Well, have no fear! This handy-dandy list is like a […]
THE TAO OF EVA: Fortune Cookie Surprise
Phawker assistant editor Eva Liao is currently in Japan on an exciting journalistic-type assignment that we’d have to kill you if we told you about, etc. As promised, she has been sending us a little culture-shock postcard each and every day. Today we thought we’d open it up to readers and have one of our patented WRITE A CLEVER CAPTION AND WIN FABULOUS PRIZES contest. First prize is a dream date/Manhattan getaway with Alycia Lane a paperback copy of Charles Burns’ Black Hole. Send your clever caption to FEED@Phawker.com
HAPPY ENDING: It’s A Wonderful Life
Though he would never, ever admit it, this part ALWAYS makes the editor bawl like a baby.
JUNK SCI: The 12 Carcinogens Of Christmas
BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR Christmas causes cancer. You knew it would come to this sooner or later. Okay, OK, Christmas doesn’t cause cancer, but Christmas trees might, and I’ll get to how both real and fake ones might lead to cancer. But the real point of this column is: If you have a real tree, don’t throw it in the trash! Recycle your tree. Recycle your tree. Recycle your tree. First, which is kinder to the planet — a real Christmas tree or a fake one? No Vinyl, That’s Final. That pretty much says it all. Fake trees are […]