PW: After his arrest, Johnson negotiated with the commonwealth for a plea deal that spared his life; the state offered life plus 40 to 80 years. But the day he was scheduled to sign, Johnson surprised the court by firing his court-appointed attorney, hiring a private lawyer and rejecting the plea. Then, in a hearing last year, Judge Renee Cardwell-Hughes had to advise Johnson that he technically had no counsel, since his new attorney had not been paid. Now, court-appointed attorneys Lee Mandell and Gary Server are representing Johnson. Server introduced three last-minute strategies designed to save Johnson’s life. Two […]
COMMON SENSE: A Man With A Gun Does Not Cry Out For Help Right Before He Pulls The Trigger
MSNBC: The voice heard crying for help on a 911 call just before Trayvon Martin was shot to death was not that of George Zimmerman, according to two forensic voice identification experts, one of whom told MSNBC on Sunday that he believes the evidence is strong enough to use in court. “The tests concluded that it’s not the voice of Mr. Zimmerman,” Tom Owen, of Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, told MSNBC. Asked if he thought such tests would be admissible in court, Owen said “yes” and noted he had recently used […]
TENDER MERCIES: The Better Angels Of Batman
PREVIOUSLY: Montgomery County Police have released dash cam video of a Batman impersonator being pulled over in Silver Spring last week. It didn’t take long for the jokes to start, especially when the dispatcher asked if the officer needed backup. “You can send me Robin if you wish,” said the officer. Lenny Robinson was driving his Lamborghini “Batmobile” but was pulled over for not displaying his license plate. Robinson may not be a real superhero, but he is using his powers for good. He dresses up in the batsuit to visit children in local hospitals. When Robinson showed officers the […]
DUI DUDE: Bohemian Rhapsody
NATIONAL POST: He makes it thorough almost the entire song before what appears to be an RCMP officer tells the man to calm down. “I can’t. . . . Cuz nothing really matters,” he responds in the video. “Anyone can see. Nothing really matters . . . even the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police]!” As he exits the police car, he asks the officer if he has to be handcuffed. “Are you going to get physical?” the Mountie replies. “Physical violence is the least of my priorities,” he says. The song was originally recorded by British rock band Queen in 1975. […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Wild Flag At The Troc
OK, we got ’em, you want ’em, let’s make this easy on everyone involved. We have a pair of tickets to see Wild Flag at the Trocadero on Tuesday April 3rd to give away to the first lucky Phawker reader that can answer the following Wild Flag trivia question: What is the name of Carrie Brownstein’s first band (circa ’93-’95)? Hint: it ain’t Sleater-Kinney. Email your answer to FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the words WILD FLAG in the subject line. Please include a mobile number for confirmation. Good luck and godspeed you black emperors! UPDATE: We have a winner! If you haven’t […]
MEDIA: The Revolution Has Already Been Televised
This is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is The Massage International House , March 31 at 8pm (Dir. Ernest Pintoff, US, 1967, 16mm, 56 mins, color) Originally broadcast in 1967 as part of NBC’s “Experiments with Television,” this portrait of Marshall McLuhan is far from the typical television documentary. Featuring performances by Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman, commentary by Allan Kaprow and Malcolm Morely and a host of pop culture icons, This is Marshall McLuhan innovatively captures the media environment McLuhan so eloquently describes. This event is free to attend. Please RSVP by clicking HERE RELATED: Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC (July 21, […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: You Don’t Have To Be An M.D. To Understand That Health Care Ain’t Broccoli
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Yes, I know it’s been debated nearly to death, but a careful reading of some of the more visceral right-wing commentaries (and that includes those of a certain four Supreme Court Justices — I’d say five but one is a mute) in support of a rollback of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (that’s ObamaCare for you cliché conservatives) has lead me to wonder why the media haven’t examined more closely these naysayers’ rather “feeble and infirmed” arguments. So, break out the Extra Strength Excedrin, Tea Partiers, Dr. William is about to offer a few informed rebuttals and interpretations on the subject. Oh, and by the way, […]
CINEMA: The Anchorman Cometh, Again
WASHINGTON POST: Will Ferrell, dressed as the mustachioed newsman Ron Burgundy, made a surprise appearance on “Conan” Wednesday night to make dirty jokes, play the flute and tell O’Brien he looks awful. (“You look like someone put a bright red fright wig on a skeleton and chucked it out of a helicopter.”) Oh — he also announced that a sequel to “Anchorman” is in the works. Few details are available. But, according to the Associated Press, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell are expected to return, as are director Adam McKay and producer Judd Apatow. Deadline reports that David Koechner is […]
Harry Crews, Dark Lord Of Rural Noir, Dead At 76
[Artwork by KINGDOM KILPATRICK] ASSOCIATED PRESS: Harry Crews, an author best known for his gritty tales of the rural South, died Wednesday in Gainesville, Fla. He was 76 and had suffered from neuropathy, said his ex-wife, Sally Ellis Crews. “He had been very ill,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday. “In a way it was kind of a blessing. He was in a lot of pain.” Crews, author of 17 novels and numerous short stories, also taught graduate and undergraduate fiction writing workshops at the University of Florida from 1968 until his retirement in 1997. In a 1992 interview […]
Talking JFK Blues With Hardballer Chris Matthews
[Illustrations by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA We got the former Nor’easter and current Hardball host on the horn to discuss his recently-published Kennedy bio Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. Discussed: Joseph Kennedy’s Nazi apologia; the largely unheralded basic decency of Richard Nixon; why Chris Matthews’ mother was rooting for Joe McCarthy; why JFK banged everything that moved; who really killed Kennedy and why; how the Vietnam war would not have happened Kennedy had he lived to serve a second term; and why the myth of Camelot continues to make a chill run up the leg of the nation. Plus, who […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR When Paul McCartney was a little boy, he always looked forward to New Year’s Eve — the biggest social event of the year in Liverpool. “The family would all gather, my dad was the pianist, and … drinks would appear and people would start singing,” he tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “And apparently never stop until we all ran out for New Year’s.” McCartney’s latest album, Kisses on the Bottom, is filled with songs he associates with his father and his father’s generation, including “Home” and “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” “These songs […]
BRB: On The Phone With This Guy
More on this later. WIKIPEDIA: Ravi Shankar (Bengali: born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury on 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the most known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.[1] Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar […]
Police Surveillance Footage Shows Trayvon’s Killer With No Apparent Wounds On His Head Or Face
ABC NEWS: A police surveillance video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who says he shot Martin after he was punched in the nose, knocked down and had his head slammed into the ground. The surveillance video, which was obtained exclusively by ABC News, shows Zimmerman arriving in a police cruiser. As he exits the car, his hands are cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is frisked and then led down a series of hallways, still cuf Zimmerman, 28, is wearing a red and black fleece […]