20 YEARS AGO: The More Fiends Vs. The Berlin Wall

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Philly punk band More Fiends was founded by Allen and Elizabeth Fiend (host of BiG TeA PaRtY Sustainable Living) . BY ELIZABETH FIEND It was November 9th 1989 and More Fiends had been on tour already for a grueling seven weeks. I was lying on an old mattress on the floor of a narrow bedroom watching Happy Days which had turned incredibly funny because in the German dubbed version The Fonz had a whiney, high pitched voice. Plus, come on, Fonzie was speaking German. The program was interrupted by what seemed like some sort of special news […]

WORDS WORTH: What The President Said

[via POLITICAL JUNKIE] If Bobby Jindal saying ‘Look, I’m not white either!’ and then re-writing the history of Katrina with warmed-over Reaganism is the best the GOP can do in this our darkest hour, well, all I can say is ‘Heckuva a job Bobby.’ In related news, THIS is hilarious:   The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c Clusterf#@k to the Poor House – GOP Govs at Odds Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things With Demetri Martin Funny Political News Joke of the Day (Complete White House transcript of the President’s remarks after the jump.)

PHAWKER TAWK: Q&A With Tim and Eric

BY SCOTT COLAN With hack ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and his quasi-racist puppets scoring unprecedented ratings on Comedy Central, you could assume that the state of comedy in America is in as bad a shape as the national economy. Fear not, Philadelphia’s own Tim & Eric and their show “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” provides respite from the mouth breathers and the ankle biters. Their dark comedic surrealism puts them among the latest in a lineage that stretches from Monty Python to SCTV to Kids in the Hall to Bob and David. And now the torch has been passed […]

TURNING JAPANESE: In The Land Of The Rising Sun

BY ELIZABETH FIEND LIVING EDITOR To celebrate my 50th birthday I’m taking a trip to Japan. I’m also taking my brand new Nikon D40 digital SLR camera and telephoto lens. Expect great photos when I return as well as the occasional blog post directly from Japan. Check back here at least once a week and leave comments or messages for me in Comments at the end of the post. We fly out of Philly on December 12 and return just in time for New Years and the Mummer’s parade. How do working class people such as The Fiends afford an […]

WORTH REPEATING: Hey, Mr. Spaceman*

*First appeared in the December 2001 issue of Magnet. Spiritualized play at the TLA tonight. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Somewhere Over The North Atlantic, Sept . 25, 2001 Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space—35,000 feet above the Earth, to be exact. We’re on our way to Ireland to tag along on a Spiritualized tour. It’s gonna be fun, but there are some risks involved. As Americans, we’re traveling under the threat of death from Osama bin Laden, The Evil One, who lives in a cave. During the course of our trip, you might feel a little like Salman Rushdie […]

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES: Dumb & Dumber

BY JEFF DEENEY Last night Susan Jacoby spoke to a full house at the Free Library about her book, “The Age of American Unreason.” Jacoby is a Pulitzer Prize finalist who over 25 years has contributed regularly to the Post, the Times, Harper’s, etc. Jacoby’s book picks up where late Columbia professor Richard Hofstadter‘s Pulitzer winning Anti-intellectualism in American Life left off in 1963. Fresh off the McCarthy-era, Hofstadter’s book argued that America’s intellectual life was in decline. Since Hofstadter’s day, Jacoby claims, America’s intellectual life hasn’t been in decline so much as it has fallen off a cliff. She […]

YEAR OF THE RAT: Mattel CEO Is Sorry, So Sorry

On Monday, Elizabeth Fiend will school you on why Polly Pocket might have something to do with why Sally Can’t Read. But in the meantime — say, while you’re dismantling the Chinese crib of death — cogitate on which of the Mattel CEO’s three (so far) apologies for the lead-paint debacle you believe. Your choices are: * The one from a few weeks back aimed at U.S. consumers who really need to get started on the Christmas shopping * The one proffered Friday to Chinese officials * The one he says he really meant The state-run New China News Agency […]