BY EGINA MANACHOVA If you want the lowdown on the opening Film Fest night party on the 19th floor of the Bellevue, well, I will be your fly on the wall. In short, you didn’t miss much. It was like hobnobbing with the not so rich and not at all famous. I exaggerate. There were some D-list celebrities there. I think. William Forsythe. I didn’t even know who he was until my friend made him feel very awkward. The catered food reminded me of being at a Bar Mitzvah. So did the middle aged white women dancing to top 40 […]
CINEMA: Our Film Festival Picks & Pans
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC As you’re thumbing through your festival guide here’s a rundown of some of the entries screening throughout the first weekend of the Philadelphia Film Festival. Among the highlights unavailable for preview were Sam Rockwell lost like Major Tom in the ’70s sci-fi throwback Moon (opening here in June), the IRA hunger strike drama Hunger, the Philly-set cooking school doc Pressure Cooker, James Toback’s Sundance hit documentary on ear-biter Mike Tyson and the two part (of a projected three) Japanese fantasy epic 20th Century Boys. And check back next week as we continue daily coverage of […]
MOE, LARRY, THE CHEESE: Farrelly Brothers Lock-In Sean Penn As Larry Fine In Three Stooges Movie
VARIETY: MGM and the Farrelly brothers are closing in on their cast for “The Three Stooges.” Studio has set Sean Penn to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome “Curly” Howard. The studio is zeroing in on Benicio Del Toro to play Moe. The film is not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts. The quest by the […]
INBOX: Ever Get The Feeling You Are Being Watched?
Hi, phawker (phawker). Larry Mendte (LarryMendte) is now following your updates on Twitter. Check out Larry Mendte’s profile here: http://twitter.com/LarryMendte You may follow Larry Mendte as well by clicking on the “follow” button. Best, Twitter PREVIOUSLY: Ex-Anchor Pleads Guilty To Email Hackery *** NEW FEATURE: Meet Jeff Tweeney Hey folks, Jeff Deeney here to let you know how this new Twitter project we’re rolling out will work. From now until Philadelphia no longer needs me for cannon fodder in the trenches of the War On Poverty, I will be posting the little overheard snippets of unintentional brilliance and frequently unhinged […]
TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE: NJ Teen Charged With Child Porn Trafficking For Posting Nude Pix of HERSELF
NBC PHILADELPHIA: The social networking world is rife with sexual exploitation of young children, but it rarely happens that the exploiters are the children themselves. A 14-year-old girl was arrested Tuesday for allegedly posting nearly 30 naked photos of herself on MySpace, according to NorthJersey.com. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped off police that someone was posting naked pictures of a teen on a MySpace profile. As it turns out, the culprit was the teen herself. Authorities investigated the case for a month before zeroing in on the suspect, who said she posted the pictures for her […]
CINEMA: Let The Fest-ing Begin!
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Barring the outbreak of more ill-timed bickering, starting tonight we should be blessed with twelve days of films from around the world courtesy of the eighteenth Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest. Just one film is opening tonight at the Prince Theater, 500 Days of Summer, which promises to unleash the fully combined heart-breaking powers of Zooey Deschanel and The Smiths, followed by cocktails happening afterward on the 19th floor of the Park Hyatt Bellevue. On Friday the Festival turns on the faucet with screenings expanding to The Bridge, The Ritz 5, The Ritz East, The International House […]
PAPERBOY: Slow Jamming The Alt Weeklies
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 […]
STYLE COUNCIL: Virtue Is Its Own Reward
REWARD BOUTIQUE 55 N. Second St., 267-773-8675 BY LAURA YACOE STYLE EDITOR Reward, the rookie amongst the Philly clothing boutiques, is the new triple threat of Philly — combining fashion, music and art, the six-month-old boutique is creating a major buzz. Hosting music and art events is what makes the hot spot stand out from other Olde City boutiques. When Shari Roulin, owner and former Urban Outfitters buyer, opened in Reward in September, she wanted to put a new spin on fashion retailing in this town and just maybe inspire the creativity of her customers and competitors. Frightened Rabbit and Chairlift […]
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: Stranger Than Pulp Fiction, Funnier Than Borat, You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up!
Straight outta the WTF Files of Phawker, the following item from the Inquirer was posted here in April of 2008: INQUIRER: A 20-year-old Philadelphia man was attacked and forced to put on handcuffs in a room at the upscale Chestnut Hill Hotel, then got free and fought with his assailant down an elevator and into the lobby of the historic inn last night, police said. Akiva Israel, 24, of Middletown, N.J., was arrested after the bizarre incident and is expected to be charged with aggravated assault, false imprisonment and related offenses, police said this morning. The two men have known […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Alejandro Junco de la Vega runs daily newspapers in three of Mexico’s largest cities: Reforma in Mexico City, Mural in Guadalajara and El Norte in Monterrey. Junco was born in Monterrey and earned his journalism degree from the University of Texas. He returned to Mexico to become the publisher of El Norte in 1973. Even at the beginning of his newspaper empire-building, Junco fought for freedom of the press — he hired a UT journalism professor to teach journalistic ethics and techniques to the reporters of El Norte. After El Norte became successful, Junco founded Reforma and Mural. […]
CELEBUTARDS: Khloe Kardashian Has A Shiny Hiney
BUDDYTV: ??For the stars of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, living in the spotlight seems so easy. But it doesn’t exactly apply to all of them, as we find out how difficult it is to face pressure from the media when it comes to body image. We last saw the Kardashian family in a cold war, as Kourtney ignored momager Kris when she didn’t come to her first ever cover shoot. She thinks their mother is playing favorites, but it’s only a conflict in schedule that kept her from attending. On tomorrow’s episode, “I’d Rather Go Naked…Or Shopping,” Khloe deals […]
MUST READ: Welcome To The Occupation
ROLLING STONE: It’s over — we’re officially, royally fucked. No empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Morrissey, 49, Clumsy And Shy
MAN IN BLACK: Morrissey, Academy of Music, last night [Photo: MICHAEL T. REGAN] BY DIANCA POTTS AND KYLEE MESSNER Spanning the yawning chasm between the teenage wasteland and the retirement home, Morrissey fans from all walks of life filled the lobby of the Academy of Music. From Moz look-a-likes to Rosie O’Donnell’s doppelganger, show-goers of all shapes and sizes mobbed the merch tables, salivating at the sight of overpriced t-shirts and silver key chains. Interrupted by the dimming of ornate, gold-leafed lights, ticket holders quickly found their seats. The opening act, Manchester-bred The Courteeners rocked out like The Killers aspire […]