Sometimes Good Things DO Happen To Good People

As you may have heard, Woodshop Films/Scrapple TV founder Marc Brodzik, our partner in New Media crime, has been awarded a Pew Grant for media art. We could not be more proud or horny. For those unfamiliar with the Big Man, here’s his Pew bio: Marc Brodzik, media arts Born 1967 Marc Brodzik is a documentary filmmaker interested in filming portraits of the common man.  In a recent documentary he focuses on small family owned coal mines and the struggles they face to stay in business in today’s market dominated by large corporations. His work has been screened at the […]

TONITE: Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah

  PORTRAITS IN MUSIC Photographs by Michael T. Regan at the PRIMER Microstudio Opening First Friday, June 5th Doors open at 6:00pm Michael T. Regan is a sucker for heart and soul. At a young age, he discovered that music moved him and, in the next heartbeat, fell in love with the idea of capturing its’ essence on film. With skills honed at NYU’s Tisch School of Art and through hard work, humility and passion, Mike has been fortunate to carve out a successful commercial career shooting portraits for newspapers, magazines, labels and agencies such as URB, XLR8R, Scratch and […]

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS: Mendte Sues Inky & DN

DAILY NEWS: Former CBS 3 anchor Larry Mendte filed a lawsuit late yesterday against two Inquirer reporters and a former Daily News columnist, claiming charges of defamation and false light, according to court documents. […] Named in Mendte’s suit are Inquirer gossip columnist Michael Klein, Inquirer entertainment critic Jonathan Storm and former Daily News columnist Jill Porter, as well as the newspaper’s owner, Philadelphia Media Holdings. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court because the company filed for bankruptcy protection in February. It says that because of the defendants’ stories, Mendte “suffered harm to his professional and personal reputation.” […]

NJ State Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

UPDATE: New Jersey moved closer to allowing chronically ill patients to smoke marijuana to relieve symptoms of pain and nausea. The Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee approved the medical marijuana bill by an 8-1 vote with two abstentions Thursday. New Jersey would become the 14th state with such a law if it passes the Legislature and Gov. Jon Corzine signs it. Corzine has said he would. MORE THE EXAMINER: Just when we thought that New Jersey would be the fourteenth state to ratify laws lifting the ban on medical marijuana, a new obstacle has appeared to slow it down. […]

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 […]

NPR FOR THE DEF: Terry Gross Q&A

SEATTLE TIMES: To the extent that National Public Radio has its superstars, Terry Gross, host and co-executive producer of the interview program “Fresh Air,” is certainly one of them. Heard Monday through Friday on KPLU-FM — which is hosting Gross’ appearance tonight at the Paramount Theatre — “Fresh Air” is noteworthy for Gross’ thoughtful and penetrating questions of artists, politicians, journalists and activists. Q: One of the appealing things about “Fresh Air” is that you don’t just listen to your guests. You listen deeply. A: People think listening is easy. Listening is hard. It’s easy to be distracted by a […]

THE BEATLES: Rock Band

MTV: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took the stage at the Microsoft press conference to talk briefly about the game, made by “Rock Band” creators at MTV-owned Harmonix Music, which is slated for release on September 9 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii. It will be released alongside replica Beatles instruments that connect to the game — and the long-awaited remastered Beatles catalog will be released on the same day. MORE

NEWSPAPER DEATH WATCH: Philadelphia Bulletin, Self-Styled ‘Conservative Voice’, Ceases Publication

ASSOCIATED PRESS: A Philadelphia newspaper founded in 2004 with the goal of providing a conservative voice has suspended publication, the publisher said. The Bulletin couldn’t afford to operate any longer, Publisher Thomas Rice told employees. Rice wouldn’t go into detail Tuesday, but confirmed The Bulletin had “temporarily” suspended publication. Employees were called into a Monday afternoon meeting and told they were being laid off, said John Rossomando, managing editor. The group was told that even though advertising sales were showing some signs of recovery, the newspaper’s costs had proven insurmountable. Rice launched the newspaper with the historic Philadelphia name in […]

Ye Olde Old Media Vs. New Media Debate

STEVE VOLK: The problem is getting “young people” to read newspapers — either in print or online — and personally, it’s not my experience that, as Doctor suggests, we need the brightest minds of the Harvard Crimson to “reinvent journalism” in order to make that happen. I happen to work in a town, Philadelphia, overrun by bloggers. The reinvention of journalism is happening all around us here, where Will Bunch of the Daily News continues to be the hardest-working man in show business, writing a book, stories for his paper, and a blog, Attytood, that makes me feel part of […]

LIVE AND DIRECT: The Inky Yoo Torture Protest

Photo by PHILLYBITS BY KYLEE MESSNER “Phoo on you, we hate Yoo,” chanted Norman Koener, head member of Philadelphia’s World Can’t Wait chapter.  Unfortunately for Koener, a crowd of photographers and Delaware Valley War Veterans were the only ears listening to World Can’t Wait’s pleas to stop torture.  Sporting a mask resembling torture lawyer John Yoo, Koener and WCW carried on with their protest against torture and waterboarding demonstration as planned for the National Day Against Torture.  Hoping to gain support for prosecution against those responsible for committing torture at, the organization laid their attacks on the U.S. government as […]

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 […]

SPECIAL REPORT: The Good News Flower Hour

SPECIAL REPORT: GNFH #23 Today is SAY NO TO U.S. TORTURE POLICY Day. We made this reminder so you don’t forget. You’re welcome. RELATED: Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged. At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having […]

EARLY WORD: Stop The Death Star, I Wanna Get Off

TORTURE IS A WAR CRIME! FIRE, DISBAR AND PROSECUTE TORTURE ARCHITECT JOHN YOO! RELEASE THE PHOTOS! PROSECUTE THE WAR CRIMINALS! EVENT:            Press Conference and Waterboarding Demonstration When:             Thursday, May 28th, 2009            4:30 PM Where:             The Philadelphia Inquirer           400 N. Broad Street (Philadelphia, PA) — In the face of the Obama administration’s refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen (15) U.S. cities will hold visible protests to demand that the government make the […]