This has Smerconish’s fingerprints all over it: A semi-blind item on Drudge with NOTHING to substantiate it but a link to the WPHT site, where there is NO mention of the Imus tryout. Thank god the Supreme Court legalized sodomy, because otherwise all the mutual analingus that goes on in the right-wing echo chamber could land these guys in the pokey. Either way, it would appear we called it first: Does the Inquirer pay you by the word? Because if I was your editor I would tell you that re-printing your resume is NOT […]
ONE SENTENCE EDITORIAL: When an angry loner massacres 32 fellow students JUST SO PEOPLE WOULD PAY ATTENTION TO HIM, you only validate his psychotic reasoning by publishing his self-styled assassin’s portrait; you have rewarded a monster with a glory he should never know and, in the process, you invariably create more just like him.
Stop it! HARRY SHEARER: What is the possible journalistic explanation for splashing Cho’s self-dramatizing poses and self-justifying bullshit over network and cable air? Did we learn anything useful during the spate of interviews of Charlie Manson years ago, except that he was one crazy motherfucker? Cho’s pathetic outpourings deserved to be put back where they came from–in a small room, with FBI guys sentenced to read/see and parse them Instead, a hundred thousand self-pitying mentally ill young men (and women?) have just been shown the road to glory one more time. A society in which it’s easier to become famous […]
MEDIA: Former Inky Newsroom Brass Win Pulitzer
The Race Beat, a masterfully researched account of civil-rights-era journalism by Gene Roberts, former executive editor of The Inquirer, and Hank Klibanoff, a former Inquirer deputy managing editor who is now a top editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has won the Pulitzer Prize for history, the Pulitzer Prize Board at Columbia University announced yesterday in presenting its annual awards in arts, letters and journalism. Subtitled The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (Alfred A. Knopf), the Roberts/Klibanoff book took its two coauthors almost 15 years to complete. The Inquirer’s Michael Bryant was a finalist in […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks just like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his shiny head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking […]
BREAKING: Gunman Kills 32 On Virginia Tech Campus; Gunman Dead, Death Toll Expected To Rise; ‘Worst Shooting Rampage In American History’
DEVELOPING… Gus Van Sant’s Elephant.
Cover Wars: Who Bum Rushed The Show?
As you may have noticed, Cover Wars have been on hiatus for the last coupla weeks. We have been waiting for the other shoe to drop in the PW Sale story because, hey, we feel that people fearing for their jobs don’t need our shit-talking, unless their name is Imus. But that’s just us. While we are waiting to see where PW owner Anthony Clifton’s gold-plated loafer will drop, we’d like to take a minute here to ponder what all this means: First and foremost, the golden age of the alternative weekly is OVER, and the industry is moving from […]
FILM FEST PICKS & PANS: Dante’s Inferno; Wicked Flowers; Book Of The Dead; Severance
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Heading into its last weekend, the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival unleashes the big celebrity guns, giving us this year’s American Independent Award winner, Dermot Mulroney. I spent a few minutes this week trying to stoke a friend’s memory on exactly who the very recognizable Mulroney is, and finally had to give up. His specialty in nearly 20 years of film acting has been in supporting roles, often playing ingratiating nice guys who are romance-bait for the female lead. He’s worked with Altman on Kansas City, with Julia Roberts in My Best Friend’s Wedding and most […]
THE EARLY WORD: Somebody Bring Imus
1915’s “Birth of a Nation” was the film that simultaneously launched the modern movie industry and gave the Ku Klux Klan a foothold in the 20th Century. Friday night is the Philly premiere of a film project that DJ Spooky calls “a digital exorcism” .. taking the original 1915 footage and doing a live 3-screen video/audio remix that turns the tables on the original.. It all goes down this Friday night 4/13 at the Gordon Theater, Rutgers-Camden.. DJ Spooky will be there at 6pm for a FREE roundtable discussion with the RU-C departments of film and African-American studies.. More info […]
HOW THE MSM FAILS YOU: Did You Know Water Is A Right, Not A Commodity? You Didn’t, Did You?
OK, let’s start with this story from KYW: Groups Tell Mayor: Tap Water Is Good Enough by KYW’s Karin Phillips A coalition of advocates, students, and faith organizations is sending a letter to Mayor Street asking him to terminate city contracts with bottled water companies. The letter to Mayor Street is part of the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign by Corporate Accountability International, which is leading a charge against what it calls the marketing muscle of bottled water corporations. Michael Gagne is Philadelphia coordinator: “It calls on him to lead a public education campaign on the quality of our public […]
KYW UNLEASHES TASTE-KILLER COMPOUND AT READING TERMINAL; ‘This Is Horrible, This Is Great’
Sugarest(TM) is a minty tablet which dissolves in your mouth and temporarily blocks and neutralizes the sweet-taste receptors of your taste buds. Simply place a tablet in your mouth for 2 minutes, and sugary foods and sweets lose their taste and appeal, giving a dieter the “instant willpower” they need to keep to their diet. The effect lasts for 20-30 minutes, long enough for a dieter to defeat their sugar cravings and lose their desire for sweet but fattening foods. Additional information may be found on the Sugarest(TM) website. The KYW reporter held a live taste test for Sugarest(TM) at […]
POPPED! FESTIVAL PICKS: BARKING SPIDERS, NORMAL LOVE, BEAR IS DRIVING
NOTE: All week we will be sharing responses to our Popped! band-libs. Barking Spiders 1. We are called Barking Spiders [pictured, above] because it’s what grandpa called farts. 2. No, that is not a stupid name for a band and it is correct of you to say that. 3. We are a band because we are good friends. 4. If we were not a band, we would be another band. 5. People say we sound like lawn mower. 6. But really we sound like jet skis. 7. A year ago we were online dating and now we’re married. 8. If […]
MOJO RISING: Jimbo Named ‘XPN Drive Time Jock
CITIZEN MOM REPORTS: WXPN is finally bringing Roger Jim McGuinn into the fold, moving him from King of Y-Rockism to the “regular” station lineup. McGuinn, the paterfamilias of Gen X radio in Philly, will remain as Y-Rock’s program director, but he’ll move from the Y-Rock on XPN broadcast to David Dye’s 4-7 p.m. on-air shifts, every day but Friday. The Funk remains. Here’s Mr. Dye’s open letter to listeners: Dear Amy, I have an announcement that may seem sudden, but has actually been a few years in the making. About two years ago, I crawled into XPN GM Roger LaMay’s […]
MEDIA: Don Imus Suspended For Calling Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team “Nappy-Headed Ho’s”
BY AMY Z. QUINN This is Essence Carson [pictured, right], a forward on the Rutgers women’s basketball team. She’s also a straight-A student, a music major who plays several instruments, and an athlete who was named the Big East women’s basketball player of the year. But of course, that’s not why she’s in the news today. No, people care about Essence Carson all of a sudden because she’s one of the “nappy headed hos” Don Imus and his producer were talking about the other day. Flanked by her teammates — including South Jersey’s own Rashidat Junaid, a towering center from […]