[portrait by ROB MUNRO] BY ROB LOWE FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST Harassment in the workplace, sexual or otherwise, is something I take very seriously. In my home and on the set, I have been surrounded for years by hardworking women (and men) whom I respect and whose rights are to be protected. But when people make false claims of harassment particularly for financial gain, it must be defended vigorously and openly, for it weakens the claims of legitimate victims. A former employee is demanding my wife Sheryl and I pay her 1.5 million dollars by the end of the week […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Inanity Of Evil
SALON: Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days: “Yoo and torture” – 102 “Mukasey and 9/11” — 73 “Yoo and Fourth Amendment” — 16 “Obama and bowling” — 1,043 “Obama and Wright” — More than 3,000 (too many to be counted) “Obama and patriotism” — 1,607 “Clinton and Lewinsky” — 1,079 [MORE]
WORD: Of Chickenhawks & Hi-Tech Lynchings
[“The Negro Soldier” by THOMAS HART BENTON] By Lawrence Korb and Ian Moss April 3, 2008 [via THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE] In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines. In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.) The […]
TONITE: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
TO MY GREAT CHAGRIN: THE UNBELIEVABLE STORY OF BROTHER THEODORE (2007, directed by Jeff Sumerel, 90 minutes, U.S.) Artlessly cobbled together, TO MY GREAT CHAGRIN tells us the story behind Brother Theodore, a one-of-a-kind act who delivered intelligently insane monologues in a ranting thickly-accented voice, most memorably on the NBC version of Letterman’s late night show. Brother Theodore never broke character on stage, so it does satiate the curiosity fans might have had about just who this madman really was. His story is stranger then you might imagine; once a German playboy, the son of fashion magazine magnates, WW2 took […]
WORTH REPEATING: When The Internet Disappears
[via THE CRAP I WAS THINKING] I’ve been without access to most of the web via my Comcast broadband service for about 5 hours now. This is an extra pain this weekend, because I need to log in to my work VPN to do some system maintenance, and I can’t get there from here. My wife, who never likes being without the web, called in to Comcast, and after an excruciating 40 minutes listening to the 20-second hold music loop, got a tech rep who said that the AT&T backbone is down for all of Pennsylvania. It does seem like a […]
TAWK RADIO: Q&A With WIP’s Anthony Gargano
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] PREVIOUSLY: “Just wanted to give a little positive feedback — amazing blog! I stumbled on to the site a little while back, and it’s very well done. I think the site is thoroughly enjoyable, creative and rich! I enjoy something that will make people think or explore, that will reach them on another level. I’ve always tought if you truly want to reach people and express yourself, why settle for the topical? Reach them in a place where you force them to think. I’m not talking negatively or positively — I’m talking both, talking inspiration, whether […]
PAPERBOY: ‘The Bitch Is Back’ Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN 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 […]
JUST DO IT: The Dissident Olympics
Beijing 2008 Olympics Live Video Coverage Uploaded by Podrovnik [Hat tip to KEIKO KETSUGO] CHINA ASKS U.S. TO PUBLICLY SUPPORT THE MILITARY CRACKDOWN IN TIBET BLOOMBERG NEWS: The U.S. should understand the real motives of protesters in Tibet and support China’s moves to control unrest, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. Yang made the comment after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Beijing, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported late yesterday. China blames separatists backed by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, for last month’s unrest in Tibet and neighboring provinces, the most serious protests in 20 […]
SOLD AMERICAN: Live Nation Buys Jay-Z 4 $150 Mil
NEW YORK TIMES: In a move that reflects the anarchy sweeping the music business, the superstar rapper Jay-Z, who released his latest album to lukewarm sales five months ago, is on the verge of closing a deal with a concert promoter that rivals the biggest music contracts ever awarded. Jay-Z plans to depart his longtime record label, Def Jam, for a roughly $150 million package with the concert giant Live Nation that includes financing for his own entertainment venture, in addition to recordings and tours for the next decade. The pact, expected to be finalized this week, is the most […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Cocaine For Your Eyes
Cops Seize $28 Million Worth Of Blow; Still Can’t Buy Jay-Z PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police said they found 600 pounds of cocaine and are calling it the largest drug bust in the city’s history. Officers found it at a home along the 2600 block of Federal Street in South Philadelphia Wednesday morning. If it were sold on the street it would be worth about $28 million. “Getting this amount of drugs off of the streets whether it’s the poundage or the kilo count or the street value all of this active is what leads unfortunately to the daily death and […]
THE STYLISTICS: Join The Switch
1982 promo for channel 10 news featuring …wait for it… Larry Kane! From the look of it, the band got paid in Members Only jackets. Seems like a fair trade.
APRIL’S FOOL: Larry Kane Will Make Obama Bigger Than Jesus, The Beatles & Frank Rizzo Combined
Humbly submitted for your approval, dismissal or snickers and chortles of derision, is the following HOT DOCUMENT. It’s an email from Larry King Kane to the Obama Pa. campaign — mistakenly sent out to the press — wherein Larry makes a full-court press for the ultimate Philly ‘get’: A one on one with Senator Barack Obama. It would get ‘super wide play because I am involved,’ he assures the Obama folks. Larry Kane the great and powerful Philly Media Oz? Maybe once upon a time, but these days? At a certain point we all gotta look in the mirror and […]