PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI: Men’s Room Wall, Drug Court, 1401 Arch St. 3:43 PM [Photo by JEFF DEENEY]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Nobel laureate Paul Krugman believes that increased public spending — akin to the efforts of the New Deal during the Great Depression — is the best way to escape the financial crisis and regain American global leadership. In his Oct. 16 column in The New York Times, Krugman writes, “It’s politically fashionable to rant against government spending and demand fiscal responsibility. But right now, increased government spending is just what the doctor ordered, and concerns about the budget deficit should be put on hold.” Paul Krugman is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, and the […]
Q&A: The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA If there’s anything missing from Stephin Merritt’s encyclopedic oeuvre — a kitchen-sink catchall that includes everything from wry country twang and sincere synth pop to tortured torch songs and prancing show tunes — it’s Stephin Merritt. A remarkably dexterous stylistic quick-change artist — for my next trick, ladies and gentlemen, I’ll pull the Human League out of Cole Porter’s top hat — he’s a master illustrator of character sketches, meticulously cross-hatching two-minute melodramas out of the delicacies and detritus of 20th-century popular song. But for all their rapier-like wit and chameleonic genre-hopping, Merritt’s […]
EARLY WORD: Let’s All Go To The Lobby, The Lobby
And get ourselves some snacks!
INGLORIOUS BASTARD: Meet Lieutenant Aldo Raine, Nazi-Hunting Hillbilly Jew & Dead Ringer For Brad Pitt
WIKIPEDIA: Entering the 21st century, director Quentin Tarantino had been penning several scripts, including one for the World War II adventure film Inglorious Bastards. Tarantino described the premise in October 2001, “[It’s] my bunch-of-guys-on-a-mission film. [It’s] my Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare or Guns of Navarone kind of thing.”[5] The premise had begun as a Western and evolved into a World War II version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly set in Nazi-occupied France. The story changed to be about two maverick units from the United States Army that had “a habit of scalping Germans” before changing […]
OUR DUNGEON IS SCARIER THAN YOUR DUNGEON: Eastern State Penitentiary Voted Scariest Haunted House In The Entire Recorded History Of Scary
[Photos by JAMES G. MUNDIE] PR NEWSWIRE: AOL City Guide has ranked Terror Behind the Walls as the No. 1 Haunted House in America. “To be chosen by America Online as the number one haunted attraction in the country is the pinnacle achievement for a haunted attraction,” said Timothy Gavinski, President of the International Association of Haunted Attractions (IAHAWEB.com). “The AOL list represents the best of the best and this top honor is rightly deserved by Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls.” Eastern State Penitentiary, located at 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia, has scheduled a Pumpkin Champagne […]
ARTSY: Vlad The Impaler Was A Pain In The Neck
Vlad The Impaler [courtesy of the ROSENBACH MUSEUM] ‘Tis the season of the macabre, what with Halloween right around the corner and John McCain trying to scare as many white people as possible, and nobody was more macabre than Vlad The Impaler, the historic template for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As governor of a region of what is modern-day Romania, Vlad was one of those guys that today we would refer to euphemistically as a ‘strong leader.’ A real hardcore ‘law and order’ kinda guy, Vlad ruled with an iron fist, or, more accurately, a sharp stick. According to Wikipedia: His […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Lee Atwater, the political operative who ran George H.W. Bush’s 1988 campaign — and introduced the nation to Willie Horton — was a man with a knack for bare-knuckle campaigning and a voracious appetite for life. A “guitar-picking rascal from South Carolina,” in the words of documentary filmmaker Stefan Forbes, Atwater could seem like a conundrum: He could share a nightclub stage with legendary bluesman B.B. King on the one hand while masterminding “vile and racist” political dirty tricks on the other. But these are the well-known things about Atwater: For his film Boogie Man: The Lee […]
HOT DOCUMENT: The Revolution Will Be Digitized
RADIOHEAD: IN RAINBOWS SALES DATA REVEALED Little more than a year since Radiohead’s October 10, 2007 pay-what-you-like self-release of its seventh album, In Rainbows, some conclusive statistics were made available at the recent “You Are In Control” conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.For those who missed coverage of the conference while engrossed in something as trivial as the Presidential Debates or the world economic collapse, the following is a summation of key answers to FAQs:* In Rainbows has sold three million copies thus far, a figure that includes downloads from Radiohead.com, physical CDs, a deluxe 2-CD/vinyl box set, as well as […]
Inquirer Editorial Page Editor Responds To Our Questions About The Paper’s Split Endorsement
HAROLD JACKSON: To answer your questions: Like most, if not all, editorial boards, we do not divulge our votes. Besides, in most cases, as it was in this one, we reach consensus rather than taking a formal vote. Secondly, like most editorial boards, we do not identify the writers of editorials, because the editorials represent a consensus opinion and not necessarily the opinion of any specific writer. Thirdly, almost every decision the board reaches on any topic is a split decision in that different points of view are expressed before consensus is reached. The Obama endorsement was no different. The […]
THE DUPLICITY OF NOPE: Vetting The Inquirer’s Cruel And Unusual McCain Sub-Endorsement
Today the Inquirer editorial board endorsed Senator Barack Obama, sort of. For reasons that remain unclear, the editorial board saw fit to issue a dissenting opinion, as if it were the Supreme Court. What the Inquirer editorial board is supposed to be is the conscience of a newspaper — in this case, a newspaper that is struggling to maintain relevance in a city that is overwhelmingly pro-Obama. On the day that lifelong Republican Colin Powell put country over party, reached across the aisle and endorsed the Democratic candidate for president, the Inquirer couldn’t even throw a bone to the dogs […]
THE POWELL ENDORSEMENT: Yes He Can
NEW YORK TIMES: Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president on Sunday morning as a candidate who was reaching out in a “more diverse and inclusive way across our society” and offering a “calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach” to the nation’s problems. The endorsement, on the NBC public affairs program “Meet the Press,” was a major blow to Senator John McCain, who has been a good friend of Mr. Powell for decades. Mr. Powell, a Republican, has advised Mr. McCain in the past on foreign policy. MORE POLITICO: Once considered a potential running mate […]
GAYDAR EXTRA: A ‘Big Time’ At Valanni
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR Never would I have thought that Valanni with its skinny little waist could birth such a heifer of an event as “Big Time” fashion show, but such was the case Thursday night. Designers from around Philadelphia showcased their reinventions of chestnut fashions from the ’80s, from the big hot pink hair, to the clunky jewelry, right down to the pastel spandex. Emceeing the event was interior-design debutante Brini Maxwell, bringing yet another lustrous layer of chic to the homage to retro. Well-wishers, admirers and fashion enthusiasts arrived in droves, dressed to the nines and pack […]