DAILY MAIL: Even amid the carnage and despair of Japan’s tsunami victims, the plight of the 30 children at Kama Elementary School is heartbreaking. They sit quietly in the corner of a third-floor classroom where they have waited each day since the tsunami swept into the town of Ishinomaki for their parents to collect them. So far, no one has come and few at the school now believe they will. Teachers think that some of the boys and girls, aged between eight and 12, know their fathers and mothers are among the missing and will never again turn up at […]
Phawker Presents The Eighth Installment Of BLOTTO
BY LANCE DOILY The day started off abruptly enough when I was awakened by the crash of the dumpster being slammed back down to the pavement by the garbage truck, but at least I knew it was still morning. The last thing I remembered before passing out under the stairwell last night was fighting a much older man for a cinderblock, which I ended up using for a pillow. I found him snoozing behind a stack of tires using a sun-bloated possum carcass to rest his head. I checked for a pulse, quickly ran his pockets for valuables (book of […]
Anthony Weiner Congratulates The GOP-Controlled House For Courageously Defunding Car Talk
Well played, sir. RELATED: In a mostly party-line vote, the House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would permanently bar NPR from receiving federal funds, the latest escalation in conservatives’ campaign against the broadcaster. MORE
FUNDRAISING: Help Fund A Koch Brothers Expose And Get A Badass Shep Fairey ‘Kochtopus’ T-Shirt
BRAVE NEW FILMS: With a net worth of 43 Billion the Kochs have already spent decades of their lives and over 324 Million of their wealth exerting their influence. The Kochs accomplish their goals by funding a massive array of right wing front groups, think tanks and tea party efforts. They largely operate outside of the public eye, and target their funding to infiltrate public opinion, the media, judicial decisions and legislation. Over three dozen organizations are funded by the brothers, and they spend additional money lobbying and backing conservative candidates. Everything the Kochs do is to fight for a […]
Charlie Sheen And The Post-Empire State Of Mind
BRETT EASTON ELLIS: You’re completely missing the point if you think the Charlie Sheen moment is really a story about drugs. Yeah, they play a part, but they aren’t at the core of what’s happening—or why this particular Sheen moment is so fascinating. […] Anyone who’s put up with the fake rigors of celebrity (or suffered from addiction problems) has a kindred spirit here. The new fact is: If you’re punching paparazzi, you look like an old-school loser. If you can’t accept the fact that we’re at the height of an exhibitionistic display culture and that you’re going to be […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Wave Of Mutilation
NEWSWEEK: All of those broken bones in northern Japan, all of those broken lives and those broken homes prompt us to remember what in calmer times we are invariably minded to forget: the most stern and chilling of mantras, which holds, quite simply, that mankind inhabits this earth subject to geological consent—which can be withdrawn at any time. For hundreds, maybe for thousands of people, this consent was withdrawn with shocking suddenness—all geological events are sudden, and all are unexpected if not necessarily entirely unanticipated—at 2:46 on this past clear, cool spring Friday afternoon. One moment all were going about […]
HACKTIVISM: Anonymous Takes On The Oligarchy
RELATED: A group of decentralized hacker activists — or “hacktivists” — known as Anonymous announced a new plan on March 14 to take on the Federal Reserve System, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank for International Settlements, the World Bank, and the entire “global banking cartel.” In a video posted on YouTube (watch below), the group said “Operation Empire State Rebellion,” as the effort is being called, would entail “a relentless campaign of nonviolent, peaceful civil disobedience” until the group’s demands are met and “a rule of law is restored.” And it has already announced several demands which U.S. and […]
APPRECIATION: Nathaniel ‘Nate Dogg’ Hale RIP
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Alas, the death of another hip-hop icon— the ever raspy Nate Dogg. He was a frequently phoned-in guest rapper for anyone who needed a pristine hook. His works were catchy, but nothing that pushed away the hardcore fans. He made a name for himself as a singer amongst the G-Unit army and Death Row drones, and still got his props from waves of R&B fans, including R. Kelly, tha Kang himself. He got his two feet on the ground with tracks like “Deeez Nuts” on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (“IIIII can’t be faded.. I’m a nigga from […]
SIDEWALKING: Get Yer Motor Runnin’
13th & Arch, 2:11 PM yesterday by JEFF FUSCO
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In most medical schools, students recite the Hippocratic Oath together to mark the start of their professional careers. The soon-to-be physicians swear to uphold the ethical standards of the medical profession and promise to stand for their patients without compromise. Though the oath has been rewritten over the centuries, the essence of it has remained the same: “In each house I go, I go only for the good of my patients.” But the principles of the oath, says Dr. Gregg Bloche, are under an “unprecedented threat.” In The Hippocratic Myth, Bloche details how doctors are under constant pressure […]
MUST SEE TV: Die Antwoord + Harmony Korine
MOVIELINE: “We need to keep it gangsta and take our sh*t to the next level,” pleads Die Antwoord rapper Yo-Landi to Ninja, her partner in crime in the Harmony Korine-directed short Umshimi Wam (translation: ‘Bring me my machine gun’) . And just how do the South African zef hip-hoppers do just that? By pimping out their wheelchair rides, shooting guns in empty suburban parking lots, smoking comically large joints, and dreaming of life as “Gang$ta number one.” Watch the entirety of Umshini Wam. MORE WIKIPEDIA: Die Antwoord (Afrikaans: “The Answer“)[2] is a rap–rave[3] group from Cape Town, South Africa consisting […]
3rd Man Files Abuse Lawsuit Against Archdiocese
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A third man has filed a civil lawsuit that says officials from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia covered up sexual assault allegations against a priest who molested him in the late 1960s. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the city’s Court of Common Pleas says the man was assaulted as a boy by a priest from St. Francis Xavier parish and Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Only days after three Philly priests and a teacher were charged with raping boys, a new lawsuit popped up against the archdiocese, accusing top church staff of conspiracy. A national advocacy […]
The End Of The Album As We Know It And I Feel Fine
THE FINEST HOUR: R.E.M., The Mann, 6/18/08 [Photos by JONATHAN VALANIA] BLACK RIM GLASSES: Last week marked the release of an album I have been associated with in some form for two years now. That doesn’t mean that I had anything to do with its creation, just that I was associated with it. To that regard, I was there for mixing, marketing and release. The record is from a group of people collectively known as R.E.M. I predict it is the last “Album” they will release. In fact, I predict that 2011 is the last year of the Album (capital […]