PHILADELPHIA — A 23-year-old Philadelphia soldier died Friday in Baghdad, the Department of Defense announced Sunday. Pvt. Wesley J. Williams’ death was the result of a non-combat related injury while he was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, a DOD press release states. Williams was assigned to the 163d Military Intelligence Battalion of the Army’s 504th Military Intelligence Brigade, based at Fort Hood, Texas. NBC10: He Also Served ASSOCIATED PRESS: BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide car bomber turned a venerable book market into a deadly inferno and gunmen targeted Shiite pilgrims Monday as suspected Sunni insurgents brought major bloodshed back into the […]
Translation: Rubber Ducky, You’re The One
Santorum Finally Gets A Goddamned Job
FishbowlDC has learned that former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) has signed on to be a contributor to Fox News Channel. And now, a word about the choice of artwork to illustrate this breaking news story: we fully realize that depicting the ex-senator as Adolph Hitler is a tad inflammatory and, in some quarters, will be seen as “a bit much” or even a hair “over the top,” possibly even “offensive.” A little “too Michael Moore,” even. Too bad. Fact is, when we went through our photo archives looking for a sympathetic picture of Rick, well, let’s just say the […]
FORECAST: Total Eclipse Of The Heart
[Courtesy of NASA]
TOM WAITS For No Man
An animated film starring Tom Waits. Performed for us live (at the La Brea stage in Hollywood, 1978), and rotoscoped — a process that traces back the live action frame by frame and turns it into animation. The original live action was shot with 5 cameras — 2 high, 2 low and one hand held. The music from “The One That Got Away” blared in the background as Tom sang karaoke style different lyrics on each take. Two strippers, 6 takes and 13 hours of video footage were edited to make a 5 1/2 minute live action short which we […]
[Courtesy of Married To The Sea]
REVIEW: BLACK SNAKE MOAN
(2007, Directed by Craig Brewer, 115 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I can’t remember the last time a movie poster stopped me dead in my tracks. Laid out to look like the cover of a Marvel comic book, here’s Samuel L. Jackson looking like a Southern sharecropper, holding a chain that has Christina Ricci dressed up like Daisy Duke attached at the end. What is this, a cross-racial Last Tango, a sexually sadistic Saw? Is the chain merely metaphorical? Nope, nope and nope. The poster is unambiguous truth in advertising: Black Snake Moan actually is about impoverished, guitar-playing […]
BREAKING: SECRETARY OF THE ARMY RESIGNS
DEVELOPING… PREVIOUSLY: Head Of Walter Reed Relieved Of Duty PREVIOUSLY: Walter Reed Mess Hall Now Serving Up Big Steaming Bowls of SHUT THE FUCK UP PREVIOUSLY: Iraq Amputee Disinvited From Bush Photo-Op For Wearing Shorts In Summer Time
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Back when we were starting a band, the guitar player wanted to call it One Percent Off. Walking through the produce aisle of the grocery store one day, he said, he saw a sticker on some arugula that said 1% Off and it struck him as a eureka moment. “The whole goddamn world is one percent off!” he said. Unfortunately we went with The Floating Doo Doo Balls instead, which in part explains why you never heard of us. But the good news is that boy finally got the help he so obviously needed. We bring this up because it’s […]
THE EARLY WORD: Meet The Phawker
For reasons that continue to elude us, the folks hosting this event asked us to be one of the so-called celebrity judges. And for reasons that, again, continue to elude us, we said yes.
NPR FOR THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR Melle Mel was the original vocalist on The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. This month Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five will be the first hip-hop act inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many rappers regard The Message as an inspiration, as well as a political message. Melle Mel also rapped on the updated version, The New Message. DJ and hip-hop forefather Grand Master Flash broke out more than 20 years ago with hits that included “The Message” and “White Lines (Don’t Do it).” Part of his success came out of […]
GAYBO: Horny Weather At The Prince
BY TOMMY ZANE “Leslie, Lena. Lena, Leslie.” Dropped by the Prince Music Theatre to catch a sold-out performance of Stormy Weather: Imagining Lena Horne, starring the incomparable Miss Leslie Uggams and a strong supporting cast. The era of Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s Stormy Weather was an ugly period in American race relations, i.e. separate water fountains for blacks, etc. Lena Horne is the first black woman to sign a major contract with a Hollywood studio (MGM) and dared to forge a career as a Leading Lady in Hollywood at a time when black performers were resigned to play mammies and maids, […]