ONEINDIA: Russian popstar Oksana Pochepa [pictured, above] admits she was the girl photographed frolicking with Mel Gibson on a beach, and adds that she has fallen for the actor. Pochepa says she is smitten by the 53-year-old actor and hopes their love is “strong and long-lasting.” Just weeks after the snaps were published, the movie legend’s wife Robyn Gibson, 52, filed for divorce. “This is serious and I hope that our union will be real and strong and long-lasting,” the Sun quoted Pochepa as saying. “We are different people, but Mel is a grown man and knows precisely what he […]
MOBY: Shot In The Back Of The Head
Animation by David Lynch. Song from the forthcoming Moby album Wait For Me, due out June 30th on Mute.
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #16 It’s back! The week that was in just five minutes, read by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of gawd. Even better than the real thing.
Stalking A Culkin At The Film Fest Closing Night Party
BY EGINA MANACHOVA Much like March, this year’s Cinefest came in like a lion and went out like a lamb — at the slaughterhouse. Quiet, doomed and resigned to its uncertain fate. Phawker’s resident Cinephile went to the lamb’s last scream at the G Lounge Monday night. The opening night of the festival found yours truly hobnobbing with the not-so-rich and not-so-famous. Well, that all changed Monday night. The evening started slowly with a five deep bar line. By the end of a twenty minute wait I found myself double-fisting complimentary Stellas and making my way to a group of […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR British actor and comedian Russell Brand is known for his outspokenness, his outlandish appearance and his wit — not to mention a series of raunchy on-air prank calls that ended his tenure as host of a BBC radio show. But he’s best known in the U.S. for his role as a caddish rocker in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and for hosting the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Recently, he’s put his over-the-top persona on the page with his memoir My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-up. My Booky Wook chronicles Brand’s struggle with addictions […]
RADIOHEAD: Nude
Wow.
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
JULIA (2008, directed by Erick Zonca, 140 minutes, France) In his first English language film, Frenchman Erick Zonca (The Dreamlife of Angels) follows another desperate character to the brink. Here, Tilda Swinton is Julia, a manic shit-storm whose life is spiraling out of control due to her alcoholism and unnamed demons that are spurring her towards self-destruction. She meets a mentally ill woman named Elena at AA and she convinces Julia to help her kidnap Elena’s son from his wealthy industrialist grandfather. If the joy of crime films is the vicarious thrill of watching people successfully flout the law, following […]
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
IL DIVO (2008, directed by Paolo Sorrento, 118 minutes, U.S.) No film at the Festival screams “Masterpiece” quite like this audacious docudrama about the former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti is a political legend in Italy, serving as Prime Minister three times, with his last term ending in disgrace in 1992 when his Christian Democratic Party dissolved in the fallout of allegations of mob ties and the “Bribesville” scandal. You’d be forgiven for believing that this prizewinner from last year’s Cannes Film Festival would be a dry bore yet director Paolo Sorrento has transformed this political bio into the […]
BEING THERE: The Good News Flower Hour
The week that was in just five minutes, hosted by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of gawd. Funny. Sad. Good for you. GNHF is on hiatus this week, look for it next Friday.
SNEAK PEEK: Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno
Possibly NSFW, depending on where you W.
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
KASSIM THE DREAM (2008, directed by Kief Davidson, 87 minutes, U.S.) Forrest Whitttaker produced this documentary about the unlikely journey of Ugandan born Junior Middleweight Champ Kassim “The Dream” Ouma. Kidnapped from his school at the age of six and forced to become a lethal soldier in the Ugandan army, Kassim eventually defected to the U.S. while on a military boxing tour. Kassim ended up wandering into a Virginia gym where his boxing talents gave him a recipe for The American Dream. Kassim gives us a triumphant tale yet peppers the success with the reality that a childhood this profoundly […]
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
WAGES OF SPIN (2008, directed by Shawn Swords, 68 minutes, U.S.) One show only! Starting the film with a title card defining “Payola”, Wages of Spin comes on like a cheap shot attempt to smear Dick Clark’s legacy from Philly’s American Bandstand heyday. If the line of inquiry for the sea of graying talking heads shows an attempt to harvest sour grapes, Wages of Spin picks up much of its cantankerous personality from its stubborn half-century grudge with the former “World’s Oldest Teenager.” Wages of Spin‘s greater value though is in letting old hands like Ed Hurst and Wee Willie […]
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
PHANTOM PUNCH (2008, directed by Robert Townsend, 112 minutes, U.S.) Tonight is your only chance to catch up with the latest film from Robert Townsend, who broke into the business in a big way twenty-two years ago with the black comic satire Hollywood Shuffle. Townsend has never recaptured that early success, although he has continued to direct, helming TV biopics of both Natalie Cole and Little Richard. In Phantom Punch Townsend tackles the biography of former Heavyweight Champ Sonny Liston, the hard-punching fighter who back in the sixties struck fear into fighters like few others. The always reliable Ving Rhames […]