BEST PICTURE OF 2006: Because it held a cracked mirror up to the thing that is killing us all: ignorance and all its byproducts — fear, hate, superstition. Because fuddy-duddies may complain “Borat” is mean or crass or contrived, but the fact is nothing is made up, everything is true, sad to say, just exaggerated with industrial-strength absurdity for potent comedic effect. Because Sartre said ‘hell is other people’ and “Borat” is full of ‘other people.’ Because Borat played the MSM like a violin, with the wacky Khazhakstani becoming a constant ghost in the news machine for months before and […]
APOCALYPSE WOW: Why Do My Favorite Films Of 2006 Make Me Hate Myself And Want To Die?
BY DAN BUSKIRK, FILM CRITIC APOCALYPTO (2006, directed by Mel Gibson) CASINO ROYALE (2006, directed by Martin Campbell) DEATH OF LAZARESCU (2005, directed by Christi Puiu, Romania) DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2006, directed by Amy Berg) THE DEVIL & DANIEL JOHNSTON (2006, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig) I AM A SEX ADDICT (2006, directed by Caveh Zahedi) THE KING (2006, directed by James Marsh) LITTLE CHILDREN (2006, directed by Todd Field) MUTUAL APPRECIATION (2006, directed by Andrew Bujalski) WASSUP ROCKERS (2006, directed by Larry Clark) Is not gloom in the very air we breathe, or am I seeing the world through […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Last week CP struck a decisive blow against the tyranny of PW’s seemingly unbreakable Cover Wars winning streak. But this week the Empire has struck back. Hard. So jump down, turn around and pick a bail of cotton, City Paper, because PW is the master now. What’s that you say? ‘Only a master of evil, Darth’? Perhaps, Rabbit. Perhaps. Still, all this is good news for people who STILL read alt-weeklies. Hands down the most singularly disturbing alt-weekly cover of the year, PW’s music issue rocks the dumbly-named Man, Man on the cover, dubbing them Band Of The Year and […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
ON FRESH AIR TODAY: Thom Yorke is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Radiohead which has released six critically acclaimed records and explored the boundaries between rock and electronic music. Spin,magazine named Radiohead’s OK Computer the number one album of the past twenty years. Thom Yorke’s new solo CD The Eraser is his first release without the band. This interview originally aired on Jul. 12, 2006. ALSO: Singer and songwriter Stuart Murdoch is the front man of the indie pop band from Scotland, Belle & Sebastian. The seven-member band includes a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, violinist, cellist, drummer and […]
SMELLS LIKE JOURNALISM: Daily News Puts Boots On The Ground In Drug Trade, Gets To Know Name Behind Faceless Statistic And The Awful Truth Therein
DRESSED IN A black Dickies suit and black Timberlands, the chubby-faced 17-year-old crack dealer paced around the desolate lot working another graveyard shift. In the darkness, a steady stream of addicts ambled toward him to make a buy. Then he saw a familiar face: his close friend’s mom. “I need a nick,” she mumbled to him. Without hesitation, he sold her a nickel bag — $5 worth of crack. “I was surprised that she was a smoker,” Mikey recalled, months after that night. Today he calls it “the deal I will never forget.” “I was thinking that a real friend […]
SHADES OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: You Mean $68 Million Clams Coulda Bought All This Stuff Instead?
FROM ATTYTOOD: 68,000,000: Dollars that could hire 170 new Philadelphia police officers for five years, or 850 officers for one year, based on official estimates of $80,000 a cop for salary, benefits and training. 68,000,000: Dollars that could almost completely close the current yawning budget gap currently faced by the Philadelphia School District, estimated now at $73.3 million. The gap has led to a series of painful cutbacks, such as the elimination of 175 administrative jobs. 68,000,000: Dollars that could hire roughly 124 new social workers for 10 years in city’s Department of Human Services (based on average city salary […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Well, it would appear that the worm has finally turned. After weeks of being shut out by PW, the Daily News and even our own Election Day dead pachyderm cover, CP comes back stronger than ever. Truly, Evan M. Lopez‘s cover illustration is the finest aspirational visual representation of Christmas in the 215 since, like, ever. Seriously, we take our hat off, Sir. Meanwhile, PW‘s cover may well be pink and scrapplicious at first glance, but if you squint real hard you can almost see the marks from the hands-free headset they used to phone this one in. It just […]
Finally, A Magazine For Rich WHITE People
BALA CYNWYD, Pa. — Philadelphia’s famed Main Line is getting the glossy treatment in a magazine debuting next month. The bimonthly publication, called Mainline Magazine, will cover the arts, culture and lifestyle topics. The Main Line is a collection of tony suburbs just west of Philadelphia. The debut January/February issue [NOT pictured, left] includes a peek inside a Vanderbilt mansion, a profile of actor and former Wayne resident Bradley Whitford, and features on Philadelphia 76ers president Billy King and state Liquor Control Board chairman Jonathan Newman. “With its rich tapestry of people, cultures, business models and lifestyles, the Main Line […]
THE MONEY QUOTE: Overheard In The Tower Of Babel
“Perhaps it’s because the mainstream media are too timid to declare the difference between right and wrong. Imagine if journalism consisted of more than a collage of conflicting talking points. Imagine the difference it would make if more brand-name reporters broke from the bizarre straitjacket of ‘balance,’ which equates fairness with putting all disputants on equal epistemological footing, no matter how deceitful or moronic they may be. There’s a market for news that weighs counterclaims and assesses truth value. It just hasn’t kept up with demand. No wonder Jon Stewart has such a loyal audience: He has a point of […]
DEAR PHILLY MAG: Why We DON’T Still Love Rocky
HELLO LARRY, Since you asked, no we DON’T still love Rocky. More on that in a minute, but first let us be clear, we don’t blame you for putting Stallone on the cover — it’s a no-brainer, really. But it’s more than a little sad to watch the global media toady up to Sly, and nobody bothers to ask him why the Hell he only shows up in town when he’s got another dead horse sequel to beat. Instead of Yes Mr. Stallone, right way Mr. Stallone, how about Yo Adrian, where the hell you been? Oh, in a hot […]
COMEUPPANCE: NYT Takes Off Gloves, Explains How Judith Regan, The Queen Of Spleen, Got Remaindered
But then, Ms. Regan has actually been in the celebrity business her whole career, with her ability to sell the tatty and salacious elements of contemporary culture. She formed those skills as a reporter for The National Enquirer, but in a world where many office workers spend their days surfing for a shot of Britney Spears sans panties, that work history was a credential, not a knock. Ms. Regan always lived her public life as if it were one big MySpace page, which she filled with outrageous personal and professional behavior and intemperate words. Part of it seemed like shtick, […]
(THE LAST) STOP THE PRESSES: GUILD Ratifies Contract, Drafts, Passes And Affixes F.U. Resolution Before Sending It Back To THE COMPANY
SGT. BYKO’S FINAL REPORT: After the questions subsided and a motion was approved to start the vote, another motion was presented, and approved after some debate. That motion ?instructs the Local 10 Executive Board to discuss – and pass — a resolution saying the following: ?1- Because of their tight-fisted, slash-and-burn, anti-labor tactics, we have NO CONFIDENCE in the new owners? actual desire to publish great newspapers ?2- Because of the new owners? recent record of poor business decisions, which includes hiring executives while promising layoffs of union workers, we have NO FAITH in their desire to treat employees with […]
SMELLS LIKE JOURNALISM: Inky Rakes Pooper Scooper Thru Gaming Control Board’s Litterbox And Digs Up Some Good Shit
HARRISBURG — Former State Rep. Mark McNaughton, a longtime critic of gambling just appointed as a member of the state’s Gaming Control Board, has won thousands of dollars at casinos in recent years, according to tax returns obtained by The Inquirer. McNaughton, other records indicate, also took several trips to an Atlantic City casino with a lobbyist who represents Boyd Gaming Corp., which until September was vying for one of Pennsylvania’s coveted slots licenses. McNaughton, a five-term conservative Republican from Harrisburg, disclosed his winnings — about $15,500 between 2003 and last year — on federal income taxes but not on […]