FRESH AIR In his new film Outrage, Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) turns his camera on some of the nation’s most powerful policymakers — politicians, in both legislatures and executive suites, who live what some say are closeted gay lives while chalking up what activists describe as deplorably anti-gay voting records. Dick says he wants to “highlight the hypocrisy” by consulting openly gay politicians and journalists for their insights while talking to insiders about what they know. Dicks previous documentary films include This Film is Not Yet Rated, which looks at the byzantine world […]
SIXTH BOROUGH JUSTICE: City Paper Bags Hipster Grifter; Blogs Set Up & Takedown; Deeney Not Amused
CP: Kari Ferrell lies. She has lied about having cancer. She has lied about booking for Golden Voice. It’s been reported that she called the Philadelphia Police Department to turn herself in. I don’t know where that story originated, but that’s a lie, too. How do I know? I’ve been setting her up for the last few weeks. I had her arrested. Here’s how…MORE DEENEY: My name is Jeff Deeney, I’m also occasionally a contributor to the CP. I think the tone of this article is smug and self-congratulatory. I think this is a completely sensational story printed solely to […]
WORTH REPEATING: Tale Of Two Mikes
PHILLY MAG: On Inauguration Day, thousands of Philadelphians had lined up around City Hall just to shake his hand. Our expectations were overinflated. But the Nutter campaign had furiously worked the air pump, posing him as a bold reformer in a city that desperately needed change. In one commercial, Nutter literally tore the top off City Hall, throwing out the “bums … who have been ripping us off for years.” Our savior. But less than a year into office, he lost his brand. Pick an issue: Libraries. Union negotiations. Transparency in government. The budget. Casinos. Nutter either flipped positions or […]
EXIT THE FATMAN: Dom Deluise Dead At 75
WASHINGTON POST: Dom DeLuise, 75, the rotund comic actor whose frequent television appearances in the 1960s and 1970s helped propel a career in films in which he often teamed with director Mel Brooks and actor Burt Reynolds, died May 4 at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He had high blood pressure and diabetes, a family spokesman said. Mr. DeLuise had a broad, slapstick style of physical humor that was derived largely from his idol, Jackie Gleason. He was a master improviser of throwaway lines, gestures and bug-eyed looks of surprise delivered with casually perfect timing. He often played outlandish […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Hipster Grifter Docket
To be honest, we couldn’t give a shit about haven’t had the time to keep up with the the wacky exploits of the The Hipster Grifter, whose obligatory 15 minutes of Internet infamy came to an end Sunday with her arrest here in Philadelphia. But judging by your cards and letters, we can tell this is just the kind of meaningless story that brings meaning to your lives. And so we give you the arrest docket. May it serve you well. [Hat tip to JEFF DEENEY]
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: Historians Insist Gaugin Cut Off Van Gogh’s Ear, Not Van Gogh
THE GUARDIAN: Vincent van Gogh’s fame may owe as much to a legendary act of self-harm, as it does to his self-portraits. But, 119 years after his death, the tortured post-Impressionist’s bloody ear is at the centre of a new controversy, after two historians suggested that the painter did not hack off his own lobe but was attacked by his friend, the French artist Paul Gauguin. According to official versions, the disturbed Dutch painter cut off his ear with a razor after a row with Gauguin in 1888. Bleeding heavily, Van Gogh then walked to a brothel and presented the […]
ACCURACY IN MEDIA: Why Is This Man Lying About How Long It Took Him To Finish The Broad Street Run
UPDATE: We have heard from a number of readers in COMMENTS that the finish time numbers were incorrectly reported. There is further discussion of this over at LETSRUN.COM. Looking into this now, but if true this would amount to the ‘very good explanation’ we referred to in the post. DEVELOPING… Who, you ask, is this handsome young buck with the impressive finish time in Sunday’s Broad Street Run? Why that’s Christopher Wink, aka The Future Of Journalism. We are not kidding about the ‘Future of Journalism’ thing, those are his words not ours — he says so right HERE. And […]
Feds Probe John Edwards Hush Money Allegations
WASHINGTON POST: The news that former senator John Edwards is under federal investigation for possibly using campaign dollars as hush money for his mistress is simply the latest blow to a man who rose faster and fell harder than almost anyone in modern political history. The North Carolina Democrat acknowledged in a statement to the Raleigh News & Observer that the U.S. Attorney’s office is looking into whether any of the money donated to his campaign was used to keep film maker Rielle Hunter, with whom Edwards had admitted an affair, quiet about their relationship. “I am confident that no […]
BOOKS: Q&A With FOUND Magazine’s Davy Rothbart
BY ADAM BONANNI Davy Rothbart’s first window into the lives of others came in a note mistakenly stuck to his car from a pissed off girl to her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend Mario. The excitement of his find sparked Davy to create FOUND magazine, which he dubs a public art project where people submit objects they found that tell a story of their owners. Notes, photographs, drawings, and other forms of personal memorabilia are collected between the covers of FOUND, forming a kind of bread crumb trail to the quiet desperation of hidden lives. Some are funny, some are inspirational, and others are […]
PANDEMIC: Is It Soup Yet?
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A World Health Organization spokesman says the agency may raise its pandemic level to its highest alert, signifying a swine flu pandemic. WHO uses a six-level scale to assess the world’s risk. Last Wednesday, the agency raised the level to 5. Level 6 means a global outbreak of swine flu is under way. WHO spokesman Dick Thompson says Monday the direction WHO will take “will be dictated by the virus.” In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais published Monday, WHO chief Margaret Chan implies the agency might raise the level to 6, but cautions that “Level […]
FAUX NEWS: 100 Days Of ‘Fair & Balanced’
From the indispensable folks at MEDIA MATTERS.
STOP THE PRESSES: NY Times To Close Boston Globe
UPDATE: After reaching tentative agreement early Monday with several unions at The Boston Globe, The New York Times Company has postponed its threat to start the process of closing the paper in 60 days, although talks with the biggest union are continuing. In negotiations that went past the midnight deadline set by the company, deals were struck with three unions representing more than 500 mailers, drivers and press operators. More than ever, the fate of the paper appears to turn on talks with the Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents more than 600 newsroom, advertising and business office workers. The company […]
OFFICIAL: It’s Here — Now What?
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Health officials confirmed Pennsylvania’s first case of swine flu Sunday in a 31-year-old man in suburban Philadelphia’s Montgomery County. Gov. Ed Rendell told reporters at a late afternoon news conference that the man had recently arrived from Mexico but had recovered. State health officials said they are investigating seven more probable cases of the illness, including the first outside of the Philadelphia area , two cases in Philadelphia, two cases in Montgomery County and one each in Bucks County, Lycoming and Luzerne counties. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Everette James urged residents to remain calm and said officials are taking […]