April 08, 2008
Oh, I Almost Forgot
A new book out at the end of the month:
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The horror, the horror.
A great new read for spring! [Wonkette]
Posted by D-Mac at 05:22 PM | Comments (1)
November 06, 2007
Mummers Finally Put White People Into History Books
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Photographer E.A. "Ed" Kennedy III, who is originally from New Orleans, is amazed at how little appreciation Philadelphia seems to have for the Mummers.
"We're tolerating them, we're putting up with them," he said. "There is really an antipathy toward white, working-class culture in the United States."
Kennedy, who is African-American, added, "If these guys had been black, there would have been four or five books like this."
The Mummers are apparently finally getting the respect they deserve, after being held down by the black man for so long. Finally, a win for the white man. Um.
Inside the Mummers [Daily News]
[Photo by andrea2382, CC license]
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April 09, 2007
First Book Ever About Dogs To Be Published
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Schaffer says the book is about "consumerism, pet mania and the domestic-animal-industrial complex" -- cute last one there. It's due out in 2009. You may be aware of my feelings about animals (especially pugs) and how I'm not quite sure I understand why they're awarded a better place than, oh, humans in our society. An explanation of that, at least about dogs, certainly sounds like an interesting book to me.
And then I read this:
Schaffer and wife Keltie Hawkins are the parents of a St. Bernard named Murphy and a black cat named Amelia. Murphy is on doggie anti-depressants. [If you're wondering, dogs' names get bolded in Gross' column just like peoples' do.—dmac]
Earlier today I didn't know doggy anti-depressants existed. I think I enjoyed my life more back then.
Dan Gross | He was a Jolie good fellow [Daily News]
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March 05, 2007
Mark B. Cohen Doesn't Want You To Know He's Secretly Funding Phillyblog's Server Bills
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In his column today on the "reforms" enacted by the state legislature, Daily News columnist John Baer notes Cohen's lone dissent on a bill that would post House expense reports online:
My personal favorite, putting all expenses online, won commission approval by a vote of 23-1. The one "no" was Philly's Mark Cohen, the Babe Ruth of spending, the king of per diems, he who built a personal library with taxpayer money. [...] Cohen says making expenses easily accessible provides "a wonderful source of gossip... reporters can write endless stories on this."
I know, can you imagine the gossip? "Ooooh, did you hear what Mark B. Cohen did? He spent $28 on a lunch at Sizzler and expensed it!" "Ohmigod! I gotta call Tammy!"
John Baer | Harrisburg digging its way out of the muck [Daily News]
Archives: Mark B. Cohen
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February 26, 2007
Mayor Street Upset By Hypothetical Philly Disaster, Still Ambivalent About Current Philadelphia Disaster
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No, he's upset about a new book that hypothesizes about a terrorist attack in Philadelphia. That's not the whole point of Stephen Flynn's The Edge of Disaster -- which "offers a chilling Philadelphia scenario in which terrorists target the Sunoco refinery, causing toxic fumes to drift over Citizens Bank Park packed with Phillies fans" -- but it's gotten Street up in arms nonetheless:
"They ought to be qualified in a way so that they’re not calculated or likely to create any kind of panic in Philadelphia, New York or any other cities."
With any luck, this will happen during a Phillies-Mets game, taking out a bunch of North Jersey residents in the process. Hey, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
New Terrorist Book Upsets Mayor Street [KYW 1060]
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January 31, 2007
Can The Wii Workout Reality Show Be Far Behind?
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And now he has a book deal. He has a book deal from a company that one represented Kafka and Sartre.
I'm assuming the book will be titled Can You Believe I Got A Freaking Book Deal Out Of This? The Wii Sports Diet, but that's just conjecture.
This is awesome. Sometimes things happen that just make you realize what a fantastic, ridiculous world we live in, and this is one of them. Lovely.
Wii Sports Experiment, from Digg to book deal [WiiNintendo.net]
Jan. 19: How I Learned To Stop Running And Just Play Wii Sports
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January 04, 2007
If You Can't Read This, You're From Philly
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Once again, Philadelphia is not in the top 10.
Philly did remain pretty much unchanged this year, though, dropping a spot to a tie for 33rd. Philly's tied with Colorado Springs, who was 19th last year, so that city seemingly had an influx of idiots this year or something.
Seriously, I'm not sure how this works. Last year, Philly was 32nd and Oakland 30th. This year, Philly's 33rd but Oakland's 35th. Take that, Bay Area! We're a little better at reading than you!
In the individual categories, Philly doesn't crack the top 10 and ends up behind Pittsburgh in pretty much everything. Pittsburgh! Do they have a "One Book, One City" initiative? Er.
Philly's rankings: 31st in bookstores (per 10,000 population), 45th in education (down from 33rd last year, whoops), 35th in Internet (somehow down two spots), 33rd in libraries, 39th in newspapers (don't worry, that'll drop even more next year!) and a big 16th in periodicals, up from a tie for 33rd last year. Whoo! Go Phillymag Speciality Publication Division!
The full list is at CCSU's website. We reed good in Filly!
And, hey, we have the top pediatric hospital in the nation. Our kids may not be able to read Moby Dick but we can keep them alive! Eat it, Pittsburgh.
America's Most Literate Cities [CCSU]
Overall Rankings [CCSU]
Magazine Names Philly Hospital Top In Nation [AP/NBC 10]
Dec. 6, 2005: America's Most Literate Cities 2005
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December 19, 2006
About The Best Book Jacket Possible
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Yep. If only the book were photos of puppies and not tales about stupid owners and their stupid dogs. Still: Aww.
Second Chances: Inspiring Stories of Dog Adoption [Amazon]
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December 12, 2006
Yankee Doodle Dandy
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Author Ray Negron's book clearly taught the kids everything they needed to know -- you "shouldn't give up if you are sick, if you are bald, or if you have special needs," said one. In addition to writing Yankee-themed children's books, Negron also works for the Yanks as a personal assistant to owner George Steinbrenner, who hired him originally after he caught him spraying graffiti on the wall of Yankee Stadium.
Allow me to compare the Yankees and the Phillies for a moment. Negron was somehow caught by the team owner defacing the team's stadium. The owner then said he'd give him a chance and somehow he's now The Boss' assistant.
What do you think would happen if the Phillies caught someone spraypainting Citizens Bank Park? A quick arrest, a press release vowing prosecution to the full extent of the law, maybe even a segment on the local news. "Not even... two... year old... Citizens Bank Park... covered with graffiti!"
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Author tells kids to never give up [Bucks County Courier Times]
Photo by wallyg, licensed via Creative Commons
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October 06, 2006
T.O. To Release Kids' Book; Children Scared, Horrified
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I'll pause while you laugh, even if you've heard about it before.
Okay, let's move on. Yes, T.O. is coming out with a series of children's books, each one more horrifying than the next:
"I tried to play outside alone and throw it by myself, but football isn't football unless you play with someone else," Little T tells his mother in the book, the [Dallas Morning News] said.
Owens is writing a number of books with Courtney Parker as part of "T.O.'s Timeout Series." The second volume, "Little T Learns What Not to Say," is due this spring 2007; "Little T Learns To Say I'm Sorry" is expected to hit shelves next fall.
"It's a life lesson for discipline," Parker told the newspaper. "It's ironic because he's considered one of the more undisciplined players in the NFL."
Clearly, the first page of Little T Learns What Not to Say will be something like, "Don't say yes when the officer asks if you were trying to harm yourself."
Owens, friend writing series of children's books [ESPN.com]
Cover image via Galleycat
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September 15, 2006
Leftovers: Go Westbrook!
• Brian Westbrook misses practice today; team says he'll play Sunday. Let's hope so. [Inquirer]
• JGT thinks Larry Mendte has a dark family secret. [Johnny Goodtimes]
• Earlier this week, super-hip/super-awesome Fishtown bar Johnny Brenda's opened, and here's a 411 with how it went from hip dive bar to seemingly awesome music venue in a fairly short amount of time. [Philebrity]
• I have no idea what prompted this quasi-hit piece on Enrico "The 700 Level" Campitelli in the Inquirer from Frank Fitzpatrick today, but I do have an idea of what the Inquirer doesn't get: EVERYTHING. [Inquirer]
• The best part about mocking self-published authors on your blog? Sometimes, they write in the comments. [Citizen Mom]
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July 14, 2006
Mariano: Electrician, Lawyer, Author
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He also was wearing a tank top. (If you have photos of this, please, please, please send them may way.) KYW 1060 has the entire interview on their website as an audio file, but they helpfully transcribed a bunch of it, too. Here are the highlights:
“A big mistake. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you what that mistake was because it’s not what everybody thinks it was. There’s much more to the Rick Mariano story. They’re just going to have to wait until I write the book, I guess.”
Mariano said he is now able to find some good in his conviction on fraud and bribery charges:
“It’s the worst thing that could happen to me or anyone, but it’s actually the best thing because I didn’t like this life. I didn’t like being a councilman and I know it now. There was always an inner conflict inside of me, and I didn’t know what it was. And now I know what it was. I really don’t like this life.” [...]
“Most people have been nice and kind and good enough to me to walk up to me on the El and say they’re praying for me and wishing me good thoughts.”
As for the next six years in prison, Mariano said he hopes to lose 25 pounds and take up a new career:
“I’m going to work on taking the LSATs and becoming a lawyer. I think it's time for me to enter that arena.”
Let me be the first to offer to ghostwrite your book, Rick. I work cheap.
Mariano Reflects on His Trial, Upcoming Prison Term [KYW 1060]
Archives: Rick Mariano
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July 06, 2006
Donovan McNabb Commits Black-On-Black Crime
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The Inquirer's Don McKee, though, is all over it; he has the juicy parts. There aren't many, since TO released his first autobiography just under two years ago. This book is also written by his agent's younger brother, Jason Rosenhaus.
Owens does recount the play that led to the beginning of the Owens-McNabb rift:
He recounts a mini-blowup with McNabb in the New York Giants game on Nov. 28, 2004. The Eagles were 9-1 at that point, coming off a 28-6 win over the Redskins and playing the Giants for the second time that season.
When McNabb failed to see a wide-open Owens in a passing situation, the receiver claims he came back to the huddle and said, in a friendly fashion, "I was open, Dude, and you missed me."
"I never thought in a million years he would say, 'Shut the [expletive] up,' " Owens writes.
Dude. Donovan McNabb is awesome.
Owens is back with enough gripes to fill a book [Inquirer]
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April 25, 2006
How Shameful Joy Can Help You Get A Life, Get Kissed, And Give You A Nice Easy Blog Entry Topic
Yesterday, I noted that I wasn't feeling much, if any, schadenfreude over the resignation and coming jailing of Rick Mariano. Well I've come to tell youse all today with a simple retort: Fuck that.
You see, this morning we're feeling so much schadenfreude we're speaking in the third person and we've copied the word "schadenfreude" so we can keep using it over and over without accidentally spelling it wrong. Schadenfreude, schadenfreude, schadenfreude. See how fun it is?
Oh, so why are we feeling this way? Two things, mainly. First is a national story, one you may have heard about. Harvard sophomore -- and we're going to have to be copying and pasting this too -- Kaavya Viswanathan's first novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life (which she got a $500,000 advance for), happened to not be entirely her work. Specifically, she seemed to have copied passages from two works, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, by Megan McCaffrey McCafferty.
Of course, then she came out and said she merely "internalized" the earlier novels. Oh, sure. That's it.
After that lame-o non-apology, she can only get into more trouble now. Hence the extreme schadenfreude we're feeling today.
The other story we're feeling kind of happy about today is that of Devonzo Dawson, who was arrested yesterday. He was arrested for, oh, telling his daughter that she didn't see anything right before she went to the witness stand.
And not only is that witness intimidation, that's bold witness intimidation. And really effing stupid witness intimidation. And we happen to think it's kind of funny he got arrested. And we're feeling a lot of schadenfreude today.
Ahh, that felt good.
Student's Novel Faces Plagiarism Controversy [Harvard Crimson]
After duplicated words, words of apology [Boston Globe]
Witness' father is charged over her recanting [Inky]
Yesterday: Denoument: Rick Mariano
March 8: Stop snitchin': The saga continues
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April 12, 2006
Quickies: Blogging Just Can't Win
• Money magazine lists the Top 50 Jobs and... blogger isn't among them. Damn anti-blog dead tree media! [CNNMoney.com]
• A local auto dealership in Doylestown has had three tragic accidents, two fatal, in the past three years. Seriously, yikes. [Bucks County Courier Times]
• If you haven't read the New Yorker piece about President Bush possibly attacking Iran with nukes -- no, I don't possibly think he could do that, could he? -- you should give it a lookover. [The New Yorker]
• Just in time for the holidays next year, a kids' book about the War on Christmas will be coming out. Ahh, yes, move over, you liberal Choose Your Own Adventure books! [Inky]
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April 04, 2006
Blogicized: Blogs Gone WIld
• Oh no! Frank Fitzpatrick makes an offhand joke about bloggers! An unfunny columnist doesn't like us, guys? Oh no! Let's get him! He's not relevant anymore! And so forth! This is what you're supposed to do when the mainstream press mentions blogs in a negative light, right? I lost the handbook. [Shallow Center]
• Another side of the baby seal in the Delaware: It this a sign of Philadelphia offering amnesty to seals that could have been clubbed in Canada? Developing! [Badminton Stamps]
• Milkshakes, naah, not that big of a deal. But has Wawa changed its coffee roast? [Life, Family Et Al]
• Congrats to Prep grad Jason Mulgrew, who has approximately 45 projects other than his blog in the oven right now. [Blinq]
• I'll just pass on this rumor without comment: Did Jay-Z just buy a block of South Kensington? [Philebrity]
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April 03, 2006
Made Possible With A Grant From Taxpayers Like You
Yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer -- or "The SUNDAY Inquirer" if you get that weird early edition -- had a fronted a city story about Rep. Mark B. Cohen, a state legislator since 1974. Turns out Cohen's gotten a little too comfy in his slot, since he spent $28,200 of taxpayer money on books last two years.
The paper reports that in 2004 and 2005, Cohen actually spent more himself than the four schools in his legislative district. He bought over 800 books, which would equate more than a book a day. Some of the books purchased included Clinton and Me -- a book we can only assume is a sequel to Marley and Me -- Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America.
Cohen defended his book bill -- as well as his $3,050 magazine and newspaper bill -- by saying this: "I try very hard to be informed on current events. I'm holding myself to standards of excellence. I'm interested in knowing whatever I can about national issues. National issues affect Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is part of the nation."
Wow! Pennsylvania is part of the nation? I bet he learned that from a book! The Inquirer even asked this "voracious reader" for some book suggestions, and he said Stupid White Men by Michael Moore (for liberals) and Who's Looking Out for You? by Bill O'Reilly (for conservatives).
So, despite acquiring over 800 books in a two-year period, Rep. Cohen still hasn't bought himself any taste.
Some of you may be wondering why Cohen has been able to bill over $20,000 in books the past two years to the state. I'll tell you why: He needs them to represent our community! For example, two of the books he purchased were AOL For Dummies and The Zen of Gambling.
Let's do a little legislative fantasy and figure out how these two books helped Mark B. Cohen do his job...
Continue reading "Made Possible With A Grant From Taxpayers Like You"
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March 31, 2006
Where The Wild (Liberal) Things Are
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The third book in the Help! Mom! series -- which had previous titles of Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! and Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper! -- will feature Hillary being arrested, and you can even bid on an eBay auction to get to be the one who apprehends her.
I don't really know why childrens' books are the appropriate audience to bash Hillary Clinton, since kids (1) don't vote and (2) don't care. But, apparently, liberals have been polluting our kids' minds for ages:
"Liberals have been targeting children in their war on traditional values for years," says DeBrecht, a mother of three. "Since they can't persuade adult voters to abandon personal responsibility and embrace the welfare state, they have instead chosen to flood our classrooms and libraries with books about gay kings, socialist fish, and even marijuana use. It's time to put a stop to it - and ironically Hillary is going to help us do just that!"
Holy shit. There are kids books about that? Where's my Choose Your Own Adventure where if I go to page 46, I get to smoke a bowl, and if I go to page 72, I get to chill with a sweet socialist fish? And don't you think a gay king would be a blast to read about? Just think how nice his castle would be!
I feel so cheated.
Hillary's Going To Jail; Charity To Benefit [The Evening Bulletin]
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March 20, 2006
Quickies: You kids can stay on my lawn all you want
• In a piece that I have quickly dubbed The Greatest Article Of All Time Until I Get Old, an economist argues that younger workers are paid too little -- while older workers are paid too much. Viva revolución! [Slate]
• Book retailer Powells.com has teamed up with hip literary/commentary/etc. site The Morning News to judge a bracket of The Best Books of the Year. Somehow, Billy Packer will argue that not enough major conference books were selected for the bracket. [The Morning News]
• A girl angry at her dad's punishment lit a fire that ended up killing her father, a police officer, when he tried to save her. She's being charged as an adult with murder, arson, &c. [DN]
• Sigh. The once venerable I. Goldberg chain is down to one last store. I'm pretty sure it all went downhill when they decided to put one in Franklin Mills. [Inky]
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March 08, 2006
Rick Santorum's Intelligent Design
You have to hand it to Sen. Rick Santorum (at left, with Goliath). With the possibility of a dogfight in the general election -- and with a possible loan scandal, courtesy of Will Bunch -- you might think Santorum would run toward the center. And by "run toward the center," I mean, "avoid saying anything too controversial." Santorum has his views out there views, and I don't think it's political posturing. It seems he actually believes them. And that's fine, he can think what he wants to, &c. &c.
But you might think his handlers would be like, "Hey, Rick, lay off the gays for a little bit." Or, you know, "Hey, Ricky, try not to tell everyone how you communicate directly with God." But, no, Rick doesn't do any of that. In fact, he does the opposite: He writes the foreward to an intelligent design book.
Sigh. Yes, Santorum has written the foreward to Darwin's Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement, which comes out in paperback in late April.
For those of you not in the know, intelligent design is the belief that God created the world and set up everything and bada bing, bada boom. Intelligent design rejects evolution -- so it's not like a Catholic school teaching religion one period and biology the next -- yells "teach the controversy" and wants it taught alongside evolution. Except, well, there isn't much to it besides "Wow, humans sure are complicated. Musta been God!"
Right. And so Santorum has written the foreward to a book of essays honoring Phillip Johnson, who wrote Darwin on Trial and is credited with getting this BS into classrooms. Here's Rick's foreward:
This volume celebrates Phillip Johnson’s leadership in the intelligent design (ID) movement. Scholars who have known Phil best and worked with him most closely assembled in April 2004 at Biola University to present him with a collection of papers in his honor. I wish I could have been there to offer my congratulations and thanks in person. Instead, I have the privilege of writing this brief foreword from Washington.
Since the publication of "Darwin on Trial" more than ten years ago, Phillip Johnson has provided extraordinary leadership for an extraordinary cause, namely, to rid science of false philosophy. The importance of the cause is clear: what could be more important than showing that only a shallow, partisan understanding of science supports the false philosophy of materialist reductionism with its thoroughly unscientific denial of formal and final causes in nature and its repudiation of the first cause of all being? As the decline of true science has been a major factor in the decline of Western culture, so too the renewal of science will play a big part in cultural renewal.
Johnson’s extraordinary leadership also is clear: rather than fall into the trap of building a cult of personality around himself and his own considerable intellectual talents, he has instead helped raise up and promote a whole group of intellectual leaders in the cause of scientific renewal. This kind of selfless Christian leadership is a shining example to us all, young and old.
Speaking of the young, I personally wish to commend Phil for the great help he has given me in my efforts to inject a renewed and unbiased understanding of science and its practice into the curricula of our public schools. There is much more for us to do, but working with Phil’s colleagues at Seattle’s Discovery Institute, we have begun the difficult fight for removing the stranglehold of philosophical materialism on textbook science.
Phil, I congratulate and praise you for your tireless work to return science to a sure philosophical grounding in the nature of things as they really are. Please know that during your Biola celebration, I was with you and your colleagues in spirit. As much as I was delighted when I first heard about this celebration in your honor, I am again delighted now that the proceedings from that celebration have appeared in book form.
Right. Rick thinks evolution isn't science, but intelligent design is. I'm willing to bet there's some sort of creator, some sort of God, but to discount all the evidence for evolution just because it kinda makes you squeamish to think we came from "lower" life forms seems pretty effing stupid. Then again, it's not like Ricky has an important job where it'd be good if he analyzed the evidence or anything. Erhm.
Darwin's Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement [Amazon]
Feb. 21: Rick Santorum loves hot beef
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January 26, 2006
Virgins: So in right now
Here at Philadelphia Weekly, we like to take care of our own. Especially when they're people who have been here a while and are more than nice to little shits like me who have a job blogging while other staffers (like her) are doing more important things.
With that said, it's time for a shameless plug: yesterday, PW contributing editor Lauren McCutcheon was on CBS' Early Show promoting her new book, A Virgin's Guide To Everything.
And, as shown in this photos in the Inquirer (all by staff photographer Ed Hille, and scanned in by me) yesterday, she fared quite well during her first live TV appearance. Her book is interesting, quite funny, and I say these things as a lover of interesting, humorous writing, and not a PW staffer.
You can check out the book's official website here. While I'm at it, another scanned in photo after the jump.
Virginsguide.com
Virgin mirth [Inky]
Continue reading "Virgins: So in right now"
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December 06, 2005
Still, we're being compared to New York again
You know, there's really nothing like a totally subjective list to rile up media attention, and today's totally subjective list is America's Most Literate Cities, put out by Centeral Connecticut State University, which you may remember from the lower seed numbers on your NCAA Tournament brackets a few years back.
America's Most Literate Cities is based on six factors: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources. (Philadelphia, perhaps, hurt by newspaper circulation? Eh, it was 37th, so not really.) Philly didn't crack the top 10 in anything, but finished 32nd, tied with New York (!) and one ahead of Tuscon. (Whoo!) Seattle was No. 1.
So Philly's stuck as the 32nd most literate major city in America. (Oh, yeah, it also finished right behind Omaha.) But know what's weird? Last year, Philly was 46th overall. That means we're on the rise! Even in a bad ranking, everything's coming up Philadelphia!
2005 America's Most Literate Cities
2004 America's Most Literate Cities
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