FRESH AIR How do you make a realistic film about a notoriously “fake” sport? That was the question Darren Aronofsky faced when he agreed to direct The Wrestler, a movie starring Mickey Rourke as a gnarled professional wrestler whose glory days are gone. Both Rourke and supporting actress Marisa Tomei have received Oscar nominations for their work in the film. Aronofsky’s previous directorial credits include Pi (1998) and Requiem For A Dream (2000). RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Last week, President Obama ordered the suspension of all trials at Guantanamo Bay and signed an executive order to close the detention center […]
WINGBOWL: The Feel Bad Video Of The Year
[Dir. by SCOTT COLAN]
INJUSTICE DEPARTMENT: Was The Spitzer Probe The Ultimate Fed Take Down Of A Dem Whistleblower?
GLOBAL RESEARCH: Let us now consider the financial crisis and the panic bailout. No one should think that the crisis was unforeseen. Back in February Eliot Spitzer, in one of his last acts as governor of New York, warned about the impending crisis created by predatory lending, and reveled that the Bush Administration was blocking state efforts to deal with it. His extraordinary warning, in the Washington Post, is worth quoting at some length: Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices […]
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: Romantic Rivalry Escalates To Deadly Stabbing On South Street
DAILY NEWS: A student at the Art Institute of Philadelphia was stabbed to death Saturday morning in Society Hill, just across the street from the Engine 11 Firehouse. Medics returning to the firehouse about 6 a.m. from an unrelated call found the body of Reo Dennis, 22, of McLean, Texas, [pictured, above] on 6th Street near South. They immediately took him to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:43 a.m., Homicide Sgt. Tim Cooney said. By last night, police had charged 22-year-old Alex Naranjo, who lives on Randolph Street near South, just a block away from […]
GREENING OF AMERICA: Obama Set To Allow States To Regulate Auto Emissions, Raise Fuel Efficiency
NEW YORK TIMES: President Obama on Monday will direct federal regulators to move swiftly to grant California and 13 other states the right to set strict automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening. The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and marks a sharp reversal from Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions is one of the most dramatic actions Mr. Obama can take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy. The presidential orders will require automobile manufacturers to begin producing and selling cars […]
SHOCK: Nazi Pope Reinstates Holocaust Denier Bishop
REUTERS: The Vatican said the pope issued a decree lifting the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops who were thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 for being ordained without Vatican permission. The four bishops lead the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which has about 600,000 members and rejected modernisations of Roman Catholic worship and doctrine. One of the four bishops, the British-born Richard Williamson, has made a number of statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians. In comments to Swedish television broadcast Wednesday, he said “I […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Five Things You Should Know About Devotchka At World Cafe Live Friday Night
1. Devotchka’s cover of The Velvet Underground classic “Venus in Furs” may actually be better than the original. Their rendition had a vocal languor that countered the darkness of the original as the band turned a psych-rock-proto-shoe-gaze classic into gypsy-folk-trance-rock-hoedown and back again. Believe it or not, I could have probably used more hyphens to try to accurately describe this rendition. 2. Devotchka can bring an orchestra’s worth of sound with just four people. There are so many multi-cultural influences, spanning at least 12 different instruments and at least 12 different nations, it’s hard to believe they so honestly replicate […]
THEATER: Five Reasons To See Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire At The Walnut St. Theater
1. Blanche DuBois is the first lady of the American stage. Whereas the motion picture of Tennessee William’s A Street Car Named Desire draws attention to Brando’s gritty portrayal of Stanely Kolwalski, it seems as though Williams intended Blanche Dubois, played with gravitational pull by Susan Riley Stevens, to hold center stage for playhouse productions. The production was all of three hours long, which can be demanding even for the most ardent theater-lovers, but Stevens entertained, intrigued and beguiled effortlessly for the entire production, and could have done so longer. And this was no small feat. Stevens delivered more than […]
TONITE: To Beard Or Not To Beard?
This note is about WOLFDOGBIRDMAN. We do LOTS of different shows at Connie’s Ric Rac and this ONE in particular I have been most excited for to be quite frank. I found this band on myspace and they are coming to Philly this saturday night to play a seriously awesome rock show! They are called WOLFDOGBIRDMAN and I don’t know why I’m so into this band that I have never seen. I think it’s the energy, the mystery and the beards. Go check out their Myspace. WOLFDOGBIRDMAN. One word. Tell me what you think? I know, I don’t have a […]
AMEN: Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant
LOS ANGELES TIMES: In October 2001, the Bush administration took an administrative action that would prove sadly symptomatic of its rule. John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, issued a memorandum warning against casual release of information to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. Such releases, Ashcroft said, should be made “only after full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial and personal privacy interests that could be implicated.” In case anyone missed the point, Ashcroft added that any bureaucrat who said no to such a request could “be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions […]
WEEKEND UPDATE: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #6 All the news that fits — in a five minute week-in-review read by a cartoon flower that sounds…wait for it…JUST LIKE ME. Enjoy.
CINEMA: Girl, Interrupted
WENDY AND LUCY (2008, directed by Kelly Reichardt, 88 minutes, U.S.) THE LITERARY WORLD OF FRANK & ELEANOR PERRY (This weekend at The International House) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC A film so internalized as to barely exist at all, Heath Ledger’s widow Michelle Williams mourns soulfully for her lost dog in the latest film from Kelly Reichardt, Wendy & Lucy. The plot is so slender it is almost high-concept, in its own modest way. Michelle Williams is Wendy, a twenty-something woman driving solo to work in Alaska’s fisheries when her dog disappears in a sleepy Oregon town. She feels […]