NEW YORK TIMES: David Foster Wallace, whose darkly ironic novels, essays and short stories garnered him a large following and made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, was found dead in his California home on Friday, after apparently committing suicide, the authorities said. Mr. Wallace, 46, best known for his sprawling 1,079-page novel “Infinite Jest,” was discovered by his wife, Karen Green, who returned home to find that he had hanged himself, a spokesman for the Claremont, Calif., police said Saturday evening. MORE NEW YORK TIMES: David Foster Wallace used his prodigious gifts as a writer […]
CITIZEN MOM: Baby Mama Drama
CITY PAPER: After three days that contained enough absurdist theater to qualify for the Fringe Festival, the image I’m left with from the Republican National Convention is of the future Mrs. Levi Johnston — you know her better as Bristol Palin — standing onstage with her family and the McCains, being showered with the kind of wild-eyed applause usually reserved for that other rock star in the presidential race. There she was, all of 17, having sprouted a baby bump and a sketchy-looking fiancé since arriving in Minneapolis, and feeling the love from an arena — and a nation — […]
GAYDAR: Livin’ La Dolce Musto
BY AARON STELLA Amidst the revelry of the Mr. Gay Philadelphia pageant, I was able to finagle a future interview out of Michael Musto, famed gay-celeb columnist for the Village Voice in NYC. So a couple of weeks later, I hopped on the Chinatown bus headed for Village Voice’s headquarters in NYC. Musto, dressed in a crisp black and white vertical-striped shirt and baggy black slacks, (and of course, wearing his trademark Sally Jesse Raphaels) explained to me that the Voice was moving. Most everything was packed in boxes and hardly anyone was in the newsroom. We found a quiet […]
10 YEARS AFTER: It’s Google’s World, U Just Search It
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Success was hardly assured for two Stanford University graduate students and their nascent search engine, operated from a couple of cramped dorm rooms and burdened with a goofy name. But their brainchild, Google, incorporated 10 years ago, has blossomed into one of the world’s most valuable businesses — simultaneously sparking fear and admiration in competitors while making information infinitely more accessible to hundreds of millions of people. Few companies have left such an indelible mark in such a relatively short period of time. But can the Mountain View, Calif., online Goliath continue its winning streak for another […]
45 YEARS AGO TODAY: A Man Had A Dream
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former […]
HEY BIG SPENDER: We Are The Biggest Tipper
INQUIRER: “Philadelphians are the most generous tippers in the nation,” according to a news release from Zagat, announcing the official publication today of its 2009 guide to Philadelphia area restaurants. According to Zagat — or at least the 5,507 local diners who reported on their preferences and habits to Zagat — people in the Philadelphia area leave an average tip of 19.6 percent. New Yorkers leave 19 percent — the national average — while folks in L.A. leave 18.4. MORE
THEATER REVIEW: Romeo Void
BY AARON STELLA As enjoyable as modern reproductions of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” can be — especially those flush with glamorous nuances, such as Leonardo DiCaprio dueling in the streets of Verona with pistols instead of rapiers— these reproductions often evoke but a fleeting fondness. By comparison, Shakespeare’s R&J — which closed out an auspicious four-week run at the Adrienne Theater last night — is the stuff of true love, a remake unlike all the rest. Shakespeare’s R&J, prepared under the thespian expertise of Peter Reynolds, Director of the Mauckingbird Theater Company and of Temple University’s new musical theater program, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR After he won the presidency, Abraham Lincoln brought three of his rivals for the Republican nomination into his cabinet. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin‘s book, Team of Rivals, recounts the life and work of our 16th president — and the principal characters of his administration. Goodwin won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, No Ordinary Time, about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. She has also written books about Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedys. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: When Lyndon B. Johnson took office as president, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he began making daily recordings of his private conversations. Historian […]
HOAX: This Stinks Worse Than Bigfoot’s D*ck
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: This afternoon at 3 pm, Eastern time, a police officer named Matt Whitton plans a news conference with California resident Tom Biscardi and former corrections officer Rick Dyer in Palo Alto to show photographs and the results of DNA testing. They say it all will prove the existence of the legendary man-ape found in north Georgia [pictured, above]. And for once this week, we mean the state, not the battleground over in Europe. Whitton tells the Clayton News Daily that people who call the creature a hoax are just jealous. According to the newspaper, “Whitton and Dyer […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
DOG DAYS: Dr. Dog, Rittenhouse Square, Last Night [Photo by TIFFANY YOON] THE WORLD CAFE Dr. Dog David Dye welcomes Dr. Dog for a special session mixed by the celebrated producer, Steve Lillywhite, at Avatar Studios in New York. Fate, the fifth album from this Philadelphia based five-piece is already drawing stellar reviews. As the band’s national recognition continues to grow, they’ve remained true to their bouncy rock style, mixing intricate harmonies with ’60s pop beats driving each song forward. They also aren’t afraid to come back with another concept album, manifesting the theme of fate creatively throughout the record. […]
CENSUS BUREAU: Whites Will Be Minority By 2042
NEW YORK TIMES: Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation’s population in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections, a transformation that is occurring faster than anticipated just a few years ago. The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Four years ago, officials had projected the shift would come in 2050. The main reason for the accelerating change is significantly higher birthrates among immigrants. Another factor is the influx of foreigners, rising […]
OLYMPIAD: Meet Dara Torres — Mom, Medalist, MILF
BY ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH OLYMPIC CORRESPONDENT Well, hopefully this is not news to you – if it is, my columns have not sparked the appropriate level of US Olympic Swimming ardor that I’m looking for from all of you. Phelps won his fourth and fifth gold medals yesterday, in the 4×200 free relay and the 200 butterfly. The relay was the fun race to watch because the US team didn’t so much as beat their opponents as they did spank them silly. USA! USA! So Phelps took the lead over the four Olympians who were tied for the most golds […]
BREAKING: Bigfoot Discovered In The Other Georgia
BOING BOING: Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo writes about the Bigfoot body purported to be discovered in the woods in Northern Georgia. The guys who claim to have discovered it are holding a press conference in Palo Alto on Friday. “Is it real? It certainly looks like the real deal, and with a surprising variety of features. The hominoid (please note, not hominid) body, found in the Georgia woods, is now in a secure location, under armed guard, and set to be examined by a battery of academic scholars, skeptical scientists, Bigfoot researchers, and debunking writers.[…] The body doesn’t look exactly […]