RELATED: BBC Winter Olympics Promotional Spot NEW YORK TIMES: A luge athlete from Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, was killed in a crash in training on the Olympic track at the Whistler Sliding Center on Friday, an Olympic luge official at the track confirmed, the worst-case scenario developing on a track that many competitors have said is too fast.Kumaritashvili, 21, lost control of his sled 48 seconds into his run, near the end of the track. According to the speed clock on the broadcast, he was going 143.3 kph — 88 mph — and was propelled over the track wall. He slammed […]
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION: Armed And Dangerous Teabagger Says Sarah Palin ‘On A Mission From God’
TALKING POINTS MEMO: The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent “Armageddon” appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a “righteous ‘Mission from God,’” as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society. As we reported yesterday, Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who […]
SIDEWALKING: One Is The Loneliest Number
Third & Market, 9:06 AM by JEFF FUSCO *
CINEMA: Starling In The Slipstream
FISH TANK (2009, directed by Andrea Arnold, 123 minutes, U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The metaphors in Andrea Arnold’s acclaimed coming-of-age story Fish Tank are so blatant they threaten to smother the film itself. The “fish tank” of the title is an ugly public housing complex that’s home to Mia, a fifteen year old brooding, feral teen who wanders around friendless, vulnerable and spitting profanities beneath overcast English skies. Arnold’s direction keeps the camera tightly on the first-time actress Katie Jarvis, who plays Mia, trapping her in the claustrophobically square frame. Often shot in the blue light of night, […]
OPEN LETTER: Dear Kim Basinger…
Dear Kim Basinger, Please stop driving Alec Baldwin batshit crazy. Pretty please? We’re sure you have your reasons, but despite all that, and perhaps because of it, he is a deeply funny man. He makes lot of people laugh, hard to be exact. The world needs men like him. Most of us don’t have much these days, and when you get right down to it, for a lot of us laughter is all we got. We don’t ask for much, just this: please don’t kill the funny. Sincerely, The Phawker PREVIOUSLY: Baldwin’s bizarre outburst capped a day that began at […]
SEPTA GIRL: Ghosts In The Machine
BY PHILLYGRRL The white boys on the 47 bus are talking about Jews. They are young, most likely Temple students and they are talking about Jews for Jesus. “He asked me if I was Jewish and I said ‘yeah’ but of course I’m not,” said the boy. “I ain’t no Jew.” His companions chortle and look over at me. I adjust my headphones and grasp the box of cupcakes tighter. I’m worried about where this party is located and if this is the right bus to ride. In the spirit of adventure and thriftiness, I impulsively boarded the 47 […]
BREAKING: Bill Clinton Rushed To Hospital
[Portrait by CHUCK CLOSE] MSNBC: Former President Bill Clinton was hospitalized Thursday in New York City after experiencing chest pains, according to a spokesman. “Today President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest,” adviser Doug Band said in a statement. “Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries.” “President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,” said Band. NEW YORK […]
OLBERMANN: Yes, Virginia, There ARE Death Panels
DAILY NEWS: Kyler has neuroblastoma, a rare and deadly form of childhood cancer that attacks the nervous system, creating tumors throughout the body. Diagnosed at 2 1/2, he endured more than a year of treatment at both St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. […] Unbelievably, Kyler’s insurance carrier, Harrisburg-based HealthAmerica, has denied coverage for the treatment, which it considers “investigational/experimental” because there is “inadequate evidence in the peer-reviewed published clinical literature regarding its effectiveness.” The therapy is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, another criterion that HealthAmerica requires. “It’s considered experimental because not […]
NYT: How Christian Were The Founding Fathers?
NEW YORK TIMES: LAST MONTH, A WEEK before the Senate seat of the liberal icon Edward M. Kennedy fell into Republican hands, his legacy suffered another blow that was perhaps just as damaging, if less noticed. It happened during what has become an annual spectacle in the culture wars.Over two days, more than a hundred people — Christians, Jews, housewives, naval officers, professors; people outfitted in everything from business suits to military fatigues to turbans to baseball caps — streamed through the halls of the William B. Travis Building in Austin, Tex., waiting for a chance to stand before the […]
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 […]
EARLY WORD: Requiem For A Kensington Bluesman
[Click to enlarge] PREVIOUSLY: Jack Rose, Kensington Bluesman, Dead At 38 *
WORTH REPEATING: Bissinger Lowers The Boom
BUSS BISSINGER: The cause for celebration is the announcement Monday that Williams charged recently fired police officer Frank Tepper with murder in the November shooting death of 21-year-old Billy Panas. Williams bypassed the laughable grand jury that Abraham had impaneled to investigate the killing, which in all probability would have taken months and, based on past history, failed to do anything anyway, even though Panas was unarmed and defenseless. Williams’ decision was neatly prefaced by Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey’s swift firing of Tepper several weeks earlier. That was another remarkable move given the city’s slow and Byzantine police disciplinary […]