ARS TECHNICA: The Communications Decency Act basically protects registrars and web hosts from liability for the content that people put up using such services, so the letters to the registrar aren’t so much a legal threat as an attempt to get the website owner’s contact info without a subpoena. And the trademark claims made at WIPO? Levy thinks they sound “preposterous.” But the possibility of a US defamation/libel suit against the anonymous site operator is a real one. Certainly, domain names alone “can be defamatory,” Levy says, pointing out that the first iteration of the site posed the “rape and […]
BRENDAN CALLING: Make It A Federal Holiday
PW: [T]he woman who gave birth to my son was evacuated from the World Trade Center, and ferried across the Hudson to safety. So it is impossible for me, and anyone else who watched the attacks unfold, to forget. And yet to this day, while proclamations are issued and communities gather for memorial events and services, there is no federal holiday memorializing the attacks of September 11, the people who died, or the people who rushed to the rescue. There is something deeply wrong with that. One of my favorite holidays is the Martin Luther King Day of Service, which […]
TONIGHT: Life Is But A Dream
Life is a Dream Aleksandra Berczynski PII Gallery is happy to host Aleksandra Berczynski again for Philly Fringe after a successful debut show last year. Inspired by the 17th Century Spanish playwright Calderón’s play, La Vida es Sueño, Berczynski presents a minimalist, 20-minute, one-woman show where she explores the world of philosophy and learns that beauty, reality and dreams dissolve together in disturbing ways. Will she discover her life is just a dream? PII Gallery 242 Race St $10 / 20 Minutes Sept 9, 11, 18 at 7pm Sept 12 at 5pm Sept 13 at 6pm
FRINGE REVIEW: How Theater Failed America
BY LINDSAY HARRIS-FRIEL Mike Daisey may be one of the great thinkers of our generation. He speaks truth to power, sometimes roaring, sometimes whispering, always entertaining. I can only add to the praise that’s already been heaped upon his shoulders. He’s saying what we already know, but are afraid to say publicly. In his show How Theater Failed America, he’s pointing out not so much that theater has failed America, but that America is failing theater. What makes this magical is not what he says, but how. Daisey’s relentless, nearly two-hour monologue holds two interwoven stories. One, with the stage […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In his new book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, investigative reporter Max Blumenthal theorizes that a culture of “personal crisis” has transformed the Grand Old Party — and threatened its future. A documentary filmmaker and blogger, Blumenthal has written for The Nation, The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Wednesday night, at a joint session of Congress, President Obama made his case for new health care legislation. We’ll talk about public attitudes toward health care with CLAUDIA DEANE of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Then Princeton economist UWE REINHARDT provides an […]
PHAWKER TAWK: Dishing Dirty With Perez Hilton
Perez Hilton Presents: Ladyhawke, Ida Maria, Semi Precious Weapons, Frankmusik Sunday September 13th at The TLA BY AMY Z. QUINN The scariest guy on the Internet plops down next to me on a banquette. He’s sporting a head of pink hair, a dark T-shirt-and-jacket combo, skinny jeans and moon boots — an ensemble that probably nobody else could pull off. He looks tired. I probably don’t have to ask, but I do anyway: “So is it Mario, or Perez?” “Tonight, it’s definitely Perez,” he says, softly. By now anyone with an Internet connection and a celebrity jones knows the backstory: […]
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 […]
POTUS: Speech On Health Care Reform
[CBS: During a special full-length primetime broadcast, President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Congress in order to tackle concerns over the ongoing legislation and debates over health care reform.] * NEW YORK TIMES: There was high drama in the setting and most of all in the timing. After a summer of chaos, criticism and confusion, President Obama stood before Congress on Wednesday night — with three major networks broadcasting live (Fox sat out the speech in favor of the season premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance”) — and tried to seize the last word on health care reform. “And […]
THIS JUST IN: David Sedaris At The Keswick
New York Times best-selling author/speaker DAVID SEDARIS returns for an evening of readings from his own works as well as selections from authors he’s currently championing at the Keswick Theatre, Sun., Oct. 4 @ 7 PM. Known for his sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, DAVID SEDARIS has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice as well as collections of personal essays including Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, each of which became best-sellers. His […]
TONITE: This Won’t Hurt A Bit
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] WASHINGTON POST: President Obama signaled that he would extol the value of a “public option” in health insurance reform when he addresses Congress Wednesday night on the issue but that he would stop short of threatening to veto a bill that does not include the provision. Obama’s much-anticipated nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress at 8 p.m. Eastern time is aimed at providing details and clarification on where he stands as he attempts to push through an overhaul of a system that he says threatens to drag down the U.S. economy over time […]
THE INDOORFINS: Gross Clinic Bounce
Created for the Penn Reading Project 2009. FYI, The Indoorfins hail from Lima, Ohio. RELATED: There Ain’t No Starving Artists In The Afterlife: JEFF SELLS EAKINS PAINTING TO WAL-MART FOR $68 MILLION CLAMS; Natives Grow Restless And Unimpressed, Say Deal Shoulda Been Done With Legal Tender, Not Shellfish RELATED: Twinkle-Toed Footloose Dude Challenges Eakins Buyers To A Dance-Off, ‘For Pink Slips, Bitches!’ RELATED: EAKINS STAYS HOME! HOORAY! OUR RICH PEOPLE ARE RICHER THAN THEIR RICH PEOPLE! HOORAY! RELATED: NOW PLAYING: “Gross Clinic” At The Philadelphia Museum Of Art RELATED: PAFA Sells THE CELLO PLAYER To Buy THE GROSS CLINIC; Buyer […]
THE BEATLES: I’m Only Sleeping (REMASTERED)
RELATED: Remastered Beatlemania Hits 9/09/09 LOS ANGELES TIMES: A team of top engineers, led by longtime Beatles associate Allan Rouse, labored for four years to return the feel that was lost in the flimsy-sounding 1987 compact disc reissues — the way everyone except audiophiles and vinyl hoarders (and, at the spectrum’s other end, YouTube browsers) hear Beatles music. “It’s not smarter or more sophisticated,” Paul McCartney recently said in Billboard of the remastering effort. “It’s just more real — it’s more true to the noise we were actually making.” Grasping the archival essence of this latest Beatles push doesn’t at […]
BETWEEN TWO FERNS: With Charlize Theron
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns And your host, Zack Galifianakis.