[Yue Minjun, Woodcut 1 from The Grassland Series, 2008. Woodcut on paper.] BY CAROLINE SCHMIDT February 4th marks the birthday of Alice Cooper (1948), Rosa Parks (1913), and Fernand Léger (1881). It is also the day Neal Cassady died (1968), along with head of Soviet NKVD Nikolai Yezhov (1940). It is also first Friday in Philadelphia (2011). Here is a list of top five gallery picks, selected by yours truly, in no particular order. Post-Mao Dreaming: Chinese Contemporary Art (pictured above), the current exhibition at The University of Pennsylvania’s Arthur Ross Gallery is well worth the trip to the wild […]
iPhone 5 To Usher In The New Paradigm Of Search?
[Artwork by C. LaRochelle] NEW YORK TIMES: Among Apple’s other high-profile acquisitions was April 2010’s buyout of Siri, a personal mobile assistant that was spun out of SRI International, and whose core technology came from a DARPA-funded artificial intelligence project called CALO. Siri was transformed into an iPhone application that could listen to questions either spoken aloud or typed in and then provide answers. At first, the focus was on the sort of out-and-about questions you may have, e.g. When does that movie show? What Chinese restaurants are nearby? Can I get a table at my favorite Italian place? What’s the […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Spanish actor Javier Bardem burst into the American moviegoing consciousness in 2007, when he played a very bad man with a very bad haircut in the Coen brothers’ film No Country for Old Men. He won an Oscar for his trouble, then turned up again as a romantic Spanish artist in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Bardem recently received his third Academy Award nomination — his first was for the 2000 film Before Night Falls — for his performance in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s new film Biutiful. Bardem plays Uxbal, a small-time Barcelona criminal managing a crew […]
RIHANNA: S&M
RELATED: Perez Hilton doesn’t get all the fuss. The influential blogger is trying to make sense of the dizzying controversy surrounding Rihanna’s tongue-wagging video for her new single ‘S&M.’ The kinky clip features the raven-haired hell-raiser sporting a skin-tight pink latex outfit and other bondage clothing while being hounded by reporters wearing ball gags. The fallout? ‘S&M’ has already been flagged by YouTube, reportedly banned in 11 countries and edited down by MTV. Hilton appears in the clip, playfully being walked like a dog (leash and all) by Ri-Ri and pretending to pee on a fire hydrant. MORE
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
FEELS GOOD: DeSean Jackson Presents Jersey To Bullied Boy From Upper Darby On The View
PREVIOUSLY: A 13-year-old boy who was attacked while walking home from school earlier this month in a Philadelphia suburb said Tuesday that he had been bullied since the beginning of classes. Seven teenagers were in custody Tuesday in connection with the videotaped beating of the teen, authorities said.A video taken on the cell phone of one of the suspects shows the boy being kicked, dragged through the snow and stuffed into a tree, then hung from his jacket on a tall wrought-iron fence. On the video, the boy can be heard screaming as his attackers laugh. MORE BLEEDING GREEN NATION: […]
SCHOLAR: Mona Lisa Was A Dude
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A male apprentice, longtime companion and possible lover of Leonardo da Vinci was the main influence and a model for the “Mona Lisa” painting, an Italian researcher said. But the researcher, Silvano Vinceti, said Wednesday the portrait also represents a synthesis of Leonardo’s scientific, artistic and philosophical beliefs. Because the artist worked on it at various intervals for many years, he was subjected to different influences and sources of inspiration, and the canvas is full of hidden symbolic meanings. “The ‘Mona Lisa’ must be read at various levels, not just as a portrait,” Vinceti said. This is one […]
WHITE STRIPES: Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground
RELATED: The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011, their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live. The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health. It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve What is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way. Meg and Jack want to thank every one of their fans and admirers for the incredible support […]
How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Packers
BY REBECCA GOODACRE When I was told that the Super Bowl was taking place during the first week of February, all I could think about was the time that Justin Timberlake revealed the nipple-tasseled right breast of Janet Jackson to 95 million people. As controversial and unforgettable as this moment was, the Super Bowl it turns out is not just an event to facilitate public nudity. So, if it’s not just about showcasing Miss Jackson’s purple-nerple, it must be about the raw talent of two teams of highly-trained and talented football players going head to head. The best playing against […]
EMPEROR STRIKES BACK: 5 Killed, Hundreds Wounded As Pro-Mubarak Thugs Clash With Protesters
[Photos by Sarah Carr] JERUSALEM POST: Machine gunfire was heard on Wednesday night, shortly after Egyptian state television ordered all demonstrators to evacuate Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square. A spokesman from the Egyptian Health Ministry on Wednesday said that 600 people were injured and one man was killed in the recent round of clashes that erupted in central Cairo earlier in the day. Numerous explosives were hurled as the pro-regime mob attempted to push through a no-man’s land towards the anti-Mubarak protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square. As Supporters and opponents clashed, raining stones, bottles and firebombs on each other in […]
China Pulls Plug On Penn Museum Silk Road Exhibit
Details are scant, but news came through earlier today that Chinese authorities have withdrawn their support for the Silk Road exhibit that was due to open this weekend at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology after months of pre-opening promotion, including right here on Phawker. Apparently the Chinese have taken their mummies and related artifacts and gone home. The press preview scheduled for Friday has also been canceled, and thousands of pre-sold tickets will be refunded. The museum’s spokesperson has not responded to a request for comment beyond the press release we’ve posted after the jump…DEVELOPING
REVIEW: Theophilus London’s A Lover’s Holiday
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Rather than glamorizing a past-life of blood-drenched mobster-isms or a history entrenched with money counting machines, Theophilus London boasts a Wildean lifestyle with a confidence akin to Prince in the mid-‘80s. He talks about chic German-built cars, rendezvous with unnamed women at lavish hotel rooms and having casual meetings with music elites, such as Mark Ronson and Damon Albarn— two of his benefactors. His fashion style is enigmatic, donning a thick-rimmed pair of expensive plastic shades and a baseball cap that looks fresh outta ’92. His personality and style seem to shoot directly into the already-dug-out vein […]