FRESH AIR Comedian Jerry Seinfeld last sat down with Fresh Air in September 1987, before his TV series made him an international celebrity. Now he’s back, and in a big way: Bee Movie, the animated comedy he’s written and produced for DreamWorks, opens this Friday. (Watch clips.) It’s about Barry B. Benson, a bee who learns about life outside the hive — and eventually sues humanity for stealing honey. Seinfeld begins his conversation with Fresh Air guest host Dave Davies with an observation on the difference between writing a screenplay and doing stand-up comedy. “The trouble with it is, you […]
SERVE THE SERVANTS: Dicker Bids On Hotel Fumo
Tuesday, October 30, 2007, Philadelphia, PA — Today, Pennsylvania State Senate candidate Anne Dicker put in an offer to buy Senator Vincent Fumo’s 2220 Green Street Mansion. The offer was for $250,001, which is $1 more than the value assessed by Philadelphia’s Board of Revision and Taxes (BRT). If successful, Anne Dicker has pledged to turn around and sell the house for upwards of $1.25 million, and to donate the profits from the sale to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. [via HEARD IN THE HALL] PREVIOUSLY: Welcome To The Hotel Vincent Fumo, You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, But […]
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY TODAY I SAW a mountain of garbage stacked on the flat landing outside the front doors to Mantua Hall. There were bags filled with rotting garbage and piles of discarded clothes. There were bed mattresses tossed at angles on top of all the bags. There was busted up furniture pushed to the edges of the pile and left to soak in the rain. It was impossible to tell if the trash heap was a sign of progress or regress; these could be things discarded by families moving to new Section 8 housing in advance of the […]
CONFETTI BETTY: Getting Into Hillary’s Pants
BY AMY Z. QUINN I have this Hillary Clinton fantasy. It’s something I’ve been, until now, reticent to share. Go figure. No, it’s not just about her being elected president, especially since that seems less and less a fantasy as Obama continues to plateau while Hillary’s air of inevitability continues to gain altitude, but about her inauguration. OK, OK, it’s really about the outfit she’d be wearing at her inauguration. My daydream ensemble looks nothing like that ill-advised number she sported at Bill’s first swearing-in — you remember, the one that made her look like Tinky-Winky? And my fantasy President […]
SECOND GUESSING: The Case FOR John Edwards
BY LOREN R. DORGAN OF THE CONCORD MONITOR John Edwards says if he’s elected president, he’ll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he’ll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes. Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called […]
WORTH REPEATING: Be Very Afraid, Please
BY BILL MAHER This week — as every week — all the Republican candidates talked about was who was toughest in the war on terror. While the country’s most populous state literally burned. The Democrats, as usual, said nothing, because they didn’t want to offend fire. The Republicans, including the scaremonger in chief, sell themselves as protectors of our safety. But since they’re all, except for McCain, armchair warriors, they’re only comfortable protecting us from fears they made up. Like the way Iran is itching for a war with the United States now. Ahmadinejad is pure evil! Terror has a […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Look Who’s Blogging!
Congratulations! If you are receiving this email, you have been credentialed for the NBC Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate at Drexel University. Attached to this email is the Media Logistics memo. This memo outlines the logistics aspects of the debate, services available to working journalists and general information helpful in planning your coverage of the October 30 Democratic Candidates Debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia. NBC’s “Terms and Conditions” for re-broadcast are in a forthcoming email. NBC will provide satellite coordinates for those outlets who wish to pull down its feed of the debate on October 30 and that information will be […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Always politically minded, chess master Garry Kasparov is now running for president of Russia. He’s the leader of an opposition coalition known as The Other Russia. He’s also published a new book, called How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom. In the mid-1980s, Kasparov became the youngest ever world chess champion. He was the highest rated chess player in the world from 1985 to his retirement in 2005. In that same year, Kasparov formed the United Civil Front party, with the mission of working to preserve electoral democracy in Russia. He […]
RIP: Porter Wagoner 1927-2007
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] It wasn’t very long ago that we saw Porter Wagoner onstage at Madison Square Garden, singing, playing guitar, sparkling like a sapphire. We feel even luckier now having made the trip to NYC, and as always, are stunned how fast cancer can take a life. [via CITIZEN MOM] LA TIMES: Porter Wagoner, 80 PREVIOUSLY: Porter Wagoner + The White Stripes, Live At Madison Square Gardens PREVIOUSLY: The Wagonmaster’s Comin’ PORTER WAGONER & THE WILLIS BROTHERS: I’ll Fly Away
MEDIA: FEAR OF A HOMELESS PLANET
BY JEFF DEENEY I was struck by a sense of déjà vu while looking at the Sunday Inquirer. They’ve gotten around to noting, once again, that the numbers of homeless men and women living on the streets — especially on the Parkway — are on the rise. Funny, if you remember this article from a little more than a year ago, you’ll notice that they’re essentially the same story, almost verbatim. Last year, the focus was on whether or not charity groups should be able to feed the homeless on the Parkway, and this year the focus is on a […]