NEW YORKER: David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” an intentionally overripe comedy about corruption, duplicity, loyalty, and love, is a series of astonishments. Russell, rewriting a script developed by Eric Singer, takes off from the Abscam affair—the bizarre criminal investigation of the nineteen-seventies in which the F.B.I. called on a swindler named Mel Weinberg to help ensnare public officials. (Six congressmen and a senator were among those ultimately convicted.) The bureau’s elaborate sting involved two “Arab sheikhs” (both F.B.I. employees) eager to invest in Atlantic City’s nascent casino industry and willing to bribe officials in order to procure operating licenses. […]
Search Results for: stop the presses
VOTER GUIDE: Throw The Bums Out
BY MIKE WALSH In the big picture, the Democrats and the Republicans are just two different sock puppets on the same rich man’s hand. Elections will change nothing until the swamp of de facto bribery that is our current campaign contribution model is drained and elections are publicly financed. Only then will elected officials be responsive to the will of the electorate instead of the corporate paymasters that put them in office. Likewise, this country will continue to slide into a Second World Power until the two party stranglehold is broken and elections are opened up to the marketplace of […]
WORTH REPEATING: ‘Another Texas Idiot For Sale’
ABC NEWS: When Rick Perry arrived in New Hampshire one day ago, he repeated the state’s “live free or die” motto, telling an audience, “You’ve got to love that. What Perry may not have loved, however, is the treatment he received just 24-hours later at a meet-and-greet stop in this picturesque Seacoast town where he encountered about two-dozen protesters who shouted at him, held signs with slogans like “Another Texas idiot for sale,” and followed him into a cafe to yell some more. The protesters, some of whom were senior citizens and members of the New Hampshire Alliance For Retired […]
WORTH REPEATING: It’s A Wonderful Life
It’s a Wonderful Life Final Script Opening sequence/George saves Harry FADE IN –– NIGHT SEQUENCE Series of shots of various streets and buildings in the town of Bedford Falls, somewhere in New York State. The streets are deserted, and snow is falling. It is Christmas Eve. Over the above scenes we hear voices praying: GOWER’S VOICE: I owe everything to George Bailey. Help him, dear Father. MARTINI’S VOICE: Joseph, Jesus and Mary. Help my friend Mr. Bailey. MRS. BAILEY’S VOICE: Help my son George tonight. BERT’S VOICE: He never thinks about himself, God; that’s why he’s in trouble. ERNIE’S VOICE: […]
UP IN SMOKE: Cali Ballot Battle Too Close To Call
WASHINGTON POST: For those who have long argued that smoking marijuana should not be a crime, a potentially historic turning point is just weeks away. Voters in California will decide Nov. 2 whether to make their state the first to legalize the growing, selling and recreational use of marijuana. And polls here – the nation’s most populous state – suggest that residents are about evenly split on the issue. Proposition 19, as it is known, would take away criminal penalties for people 21 and older for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana. MORE WASHINGTON POST: As the Obama […]
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: The Nuclear Option?
CBS NEWS: Russian science editor Vladimir Lagowski has written a column in which he claims that the U.S.S.R. used nuclear devices to plug underground fissures several times with success – most of the time. The author cites one failure, where a 1972 gas blowout was not extinguished by a nuke. But at least it was only 4 kilotons. This peaceful use of nuclear detonations fell under the Soviet Union’s Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy program. The Russian Analytical Center for Non-Proliferation lists 67 underground nuclear explosions conducted by the U.S.S.R. in the interests of its national economy between 1965 […]
MEDIA: Conan Vs. The Barbarians
UPDATE: Hours after releasing a statement that he will not do “The Tonight Show” if his new airtime is 12:05 a.m., late night comedian Conan O’Brien took to the airwaves pulling no punches. After receiving more applause than usual, O’Brien urged his fans to settle down, quipping that “I may not have that much time.” His employer, NBC, had planned to unceremoniously oust the host from his 11:35 p.m. ET time slot come February to make room for a Jay Leno program. “My name is Conan O’Brien and I may soon be available for children’s parties,” he announced. He then […]
PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF: The Straight Dope On Kelloggs, Masturbation, Enemas And Circumcision
BREAKING: Eight people connected to a South Carolina party where Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was allegedly photographed smoking pot from a bong have been arrested, WIS-TV reported. Officers from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department arrested seven of the suspects for possession of marijuana and the eighth for dealing, according to the station. One arrest included the suspected owner of the bong — who wasn’t even at the party, but was allegedly trying to sell the pipe on eBay for $100,000, WIS reported. The record-breaking Olympic gold medalist has not been charged in the case. But he has lost an endorsement […]
HOW WORLD WARS GET STARTED: Georgian Crackdown On Pro-Moscow Separtists Prompts Massive Retaliation From Russian Army; Bush Plays Volleyball
ASSOCIATED PRESS: GORI, Georgia — Georgian troops retreated from the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Sunday as their U.S.-allied government ordered a cease-fire and pressed for a truce, overwhelmed by Russian firepower in a conflict that threatened to set off a wider war. Russia deployed a naval squadron off the coast of another of Georgia’s separatist regions, Abkhazia, and its jets bombed the outskirts of Tblisi, the Georgian capital. Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said its soldiers were observing a cease-fire on orders of the president and notified Russia’s envoy to Tbilisi.”Georgia expresses its readiness to immediately start negotiations with the […]
CINEMA: The Evil That Men Do
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (2008, directed by Errol Morris, 118 minutes, U.S.)BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC He sure has come a long way since pondering why people bury their critters in pet cemeteries. Esteemed documentarian Errol Morris may have started out with whimsical examinations of the American psyche, but as his career has progressed his subject matter has gained gravitas, culminating in 2003’s Fog of War, a profile of Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara. Although the events covered in Fog of War were 40 years old Morris, was able to concentrate on the disturbing reality of executing a war in a […]
HEAR YE: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
Now playing on Phawker Radio! Why? Because love you, ya big dummy! BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT I dodged a bullet recently after having applied some of my tough love to the latest platter from The Raconteurs. Maybe you heard. A handful of Jack White’s biggest fans jumped me in a cubicle, took a red pencil to my draft — marking Roman at each instance of boldfaced text. “It’s my editor’s idea of a parody of a gossip column!” I pleaded, but that wouldn’t stop them. They called me names then shoved their iPods in my face, making me recite […]
MEDIA: Dumb & Dumber
BY AMY Z. QUINN For reasons that continue to elude us — newsroom cutbacks, perhaps — The Ottawa Herald, in the great state of Kansas, invited one of their pressmen (the guys that actually operate the giant presses that print the paper) to write a guest Op-Ed about Barack Obama. In the process, all involved manage to perpetuate every bullshit scary Obama The Islamo-Fascist Manchurian Candidate Internet meme in one giant, paranoid, journalistically-retarded swoop. From Wonkette: Well, now comes another bad idea … maybe even worse. The Democratic Party actually intends to put a Muslim fundamentalist in the White House. […]
GAY OLD PARTY: Craig Denies Gayness; Says He Pled Guilty Because He Is Innocent; Dumped By Romney
NEW YORK TIMES: Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review. It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of […]