Fascinating interview with Bob Dylan by Bill Flanagan over at NEWSWEEK’s blog, which is also streaming the track “Feelin’ A Change Comin’ On” from the forthcoming Together Through Life. Here he is explaining his mystical attraction to Obama: Bill Flanagan: You liked Barack Obama early on. Why was that? Bob Dylan: I’d read his book and it intrigued me. “Audacity of Hope”? No, it was called “Dreams [From] My Father.” What struck you about him? Well, a number of things. He’s got an interesting background. He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas […]
DENIED: Supreme Court Refuses Mumia Appeal
INQUIRER: Death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a city police officer after the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up the case. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther and one-time radio reporter, had claimed prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering white Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Abu-Jamal’s attorney, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, called his client’s trial “a mockery of justice” and said Monday he would seek a rehearing by the high court. But prosecutor Hugh Burns said that […]
Wonder If Sarah Palin Can See This From Her House
Pretty awesome pix of Alaska’s Mt. Redoubt eruption HERE. TANGENTIALLY RELATED: L’AQUILA, Italy — More than 150 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook central Italy early Monday, seriously damaging historic buildings in the medieval hill towns of Abruzzo Region east of Rome, officials said. Most of the deaths and damage were centered in L’Aquila, a picturesque fortress town at the quake’s epicenter. Outside a damaged convent, a dozen nuns still dressed in bright orange and blue bathrobes climbed into a van headed to an assistance center. Sister Lidia, the mother superior, […]
RADIOHEAD: Nude
Wow.
HARD LUCK WOMAN: Farrah Fawcett Hospitalized
BBC NEWS: Farrah Fawcett, who has been battling cancer for almost three years, has been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital, according to reports. The 62-year-old Charlie’s Angels star has been in an unidentified hospital since Thursday, People magazine said. A spokesman for the actress has not yet commented on her condition. Diagnosed with anal cancer in September 2006, Fawcett declared herself cancer-free four months later, only to have the disease return in May 2007. She shared her experiences of battling the disease with footage she released to the media in 2008. Her big TV break came in 1976 when […]
War Dead Photographed For 1st Time In 18 Years
NEW YORK TIMES: For the first time in 18 years, the Pentagon granted the news media access on Sunday night to cover the arrival of a coffin to Dover Air Force Base from overseas. The coffin, draped in a flag and bearing the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va, was unloaded from a government aircraft by the military honor guard. Sergeant Myers, 30, was killed by an improvised explosive device near Helmand Province in Afghanistan on April 4, according to the Defense Department. A ban on news coverage of returning war dead, which had been […]
TONITE: Play Ball!
PHILLY.COM: We Got Pictures UPDATE: D’oh!
PRESETS: Steamworks
So catchy, I almost danced. Almost. [Hat tip to EVA LIAO]
COMMON SENSE: Just Sayin’
TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE: Five children between ages 7 and 16 were found shot dead, allegedly by their father, in their home southeast of Tacoma, Wash., authorities said Saturday night. The body of the children’s father was discovered Saturday morning in his car near a casino about 25 miles away. The man had apparently killed himself with a rifle, authorities said. The discovery prompted Pierce County sheriff’s deputies to check on the children at a mobile home park near Graham, Wash., said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department. He identified the dead children as four girls and a boy. […]
CINEMA: Our Daily Film Fest Picks
JULIA (2008, directed by Erick Zonca, 140 minutes, France) In his first English language film, Frenchman Erick Zonca (The Dreamlife of Angels) follows another desperate character to the brink. Here, Tilda Swinton is Julia, a manic shit-storm whose life is spiraling out of control due to her alcoholism and unnamed demons that are spurring her towards self-destruction. She meets a mentally ill woman named Elena at AA and she convinces Julia to help her kidnap Elena’s son from his wealthy industrialist grandfather. If the joy of crime films is the vicarious thrill of watching people successfully flout the law, following […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Top Five Things You Should Know About Vivian Girls At Johnny Brendas Last Night
GIRLS KICK ASS: The Vivian Girls, Johnny Brendas, Last Night 1. When did this band get so good? Well, as good as sloppy punk and playing completely open fretted can be perfected — the Vivian Girls have everything from their debut album down. I wonder if they hate these songs yet. 2. These gals are effortless to appreciate when not opening for M. Ward. Their last show at the Troc was just plain awkward in that no one cared. But when the entire JB’s crowd is mostly nodding their head and you’ve got alt-frat boys desperate for Kickball Katy’s attention, […]
I, GAMER: Is The Future Of PC Games PC-Free?
BY ADAM BONANNI The annual GDC (Games Developer’s Conference) has come and gone, and even though it’s called Game Developer’s Conference, that didn’t stop bloggers and the press from breathing on the figurative glass window to scoop up some pretty neat stories. One of the most intriguing and unexpected bits of news comes in the form of Rearden Studio’s OnLive, a service that will theoretically allow gamers to stream any number of games from a high power server to play on any computer capable of handling at least YouTube. Sound like the death of high-end PC’s? Great. I just bought […]
TALE OF TWO OBAMAS: Tough Talk To CEOs, Soft Pedaling On Bailout Oversight, Advisers Compromised
POLITICO: The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States. Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves. “These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.” But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to […]