GARGOYLES (1972, directed by Bill L. Norton, 72 minutes, U.S) THE INCUBUS (1982, directed by John Hough, 93 minutes, Canada) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Philly film buffs often note that the most intriguing films only stay in local theaters for a week, but some of the most curious offerings will only play one show. Tonight is likely your only chance to see one of the most daring bookings the Exhumed Films collective has ever presented. Loosely connected by the ancient myth of The Incubus, a demon who rapes humans as they sleep, Exhumed Film will be presenting a double-bill […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Reality Checking The Fables Of Budget Deconstruction
THIS IS OUR MONEY: LIE NO. 3: The prison budget increase is due to criminals, not poor policy. “In 1993, Pennsylvania had 24,000 men and women in its prisons. Today that number is over 50,000. This number speaks to a failure. Sometimes it’s a failure in our schools, or in our society, but ultimately in the personal character of the criminal.” – Tom Corbett Corbett’s budget includes a $186 million increase for the state Department of Corrections. That’s an 11 percent jump, part of a long trend of skyrocketing state prison costs. Corbett attributes this trend to the personal failings […]
NPR FOR THE TONE DEAF: National Public Radio CEO Steps Down In The Wake Of O’Keefe Sting Video
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: NPR chief executive officer Vivian Schiller resigned Wednesday in the wake of a sting video that showed fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) criticizing Jews and disparaging conservatives, the tea party movement, and former NPR political analyst Juan Williams, whose firing in October may have set into motion one of the most tumultuous eras in NPR’s 41-year history. James O’Keefe, the controversial conservative sting artist behind the ACORN “pimp videos,” said Mr. Williams’s firing in October sparked the latest sting operation, in which two actors posing as representatives of a Muslim Brotherhood front group met with Mr. Schiller, […]
ARTSY: Our First Friday Picks
BY CAROLINE SCHMIDT Henry the Navigator was born on March 4th, in 1394. Charlie Chaplin was knighted on the same day, in 1975. Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office, in 1861. It was the last full day-in-the-life of Josef Stalin (d. March 5, 1953), as well as Patsy Cline (d. March 5, 1963). Here is a list of top-five gallery picks for the month of March in Philadelphia, some of them, but not all (!) opening on this momentous day, Friday March 4th. Desert Island, curated by Gabe Fowler–the owner of the Brooklyn based comic/art bookshop of the same name–opens this […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
ON THE COVER CP: Lots of nice stuff in the Music Issue, including nicely-drawn connections between hip-hop and poetry in a spot on Curly Castro. I’m drawn most to Patrick Rapa’s cover treatment of Kurt Vile, which manages to reveal new things about a subject who’s been covered extensively in recent years. Observe: His new album, Smoke Ring For My Halo, is due out next week on Matador. Where some of his earlier releases reveled in their mysterious, overcast sound, this new one’s noticeably crisper, with a few more mellow moments. Instead of charging out of the gate with a […]
WTF: Your Daily Dose Of ‘I Can’t Believe It’s News’
PUNK AS F*CK FAKE RAHM EMANUEL TWITTERER OUTS HIMSELF The real Rahm Emanuel offered to donate $5,000 to the charity of the anonymous Tweeter’s choice if the creator of the account would out himself (Update: even now, the offer still stands). The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board begged the account not to stop, saying, “The fun is just beginning,” and comparing the mystery of the account’s author to the “intrigue surrounding the identity of “Anonymous,” the author of the 1996 novel “Primary Colors,” a devastating insider take on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. If that seems like a lot of fuss […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
[Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] DEAD MAN TALKING: Steve Earle, Johnny Brendas, last night. BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Steve Earle would be the first to admit he’s no saint, but by my tally he’s been going to bat for the angels ever since he tamed his demons – a nasty drug habit that ended in a prison sentence – nearly 20 years ago. Earle is just old-fashioned enough to think that folk songs can make a difference and protest singers should put their money (and their downtime) where their mouth is. Case in point, Earle performed Sunday night at […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See The Low Anthem
Perhaps best known for “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin”, their Simon & Garfunkel-esque affirmation of faith in the power of reason to deliver us from the evil of superstitious irrationality, the Low Anthem are back with a gorgeous new album — full of pristine harmonies, infinite reverb, luminous melodies and prayerful silences — called Smart Flesh. They fit somewhat neatly in the Americana box, but unlike say, the Avett Brothers, they don’t so much channel The Band as swim in the same still waters. And as the saying goes, those still waters run deep. River deep and, for that matter, […]
Phawker Presents The Fourth Installment Of BLOTTO
BY LANCE DOILY I had spent the last 20 or so hours in the Waterfront Pub’s basement sleeping off a bender and didn’t even know it was supposed to snow, let alone be declared a state of emergency. According to the cook who periodically came down to check me for vital signs, I was looking at around three and a half to four feet of snow, in addition to a county wide power outage. Pile that on top of the nearing sub-zero temperatures that all but guaranteed vehicular abandonment for anyone stuck on the road, and I call that a […]
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 […]