The Suicide Of A Legacy

How Penn State should do right by victims, not Paterno

The release of the Freeh Report on July 12 was another small victory for the victims of Jerry Sandusky, but a gut-punching blow to the blue and white fan boys and girls across the country. Revealed in the 267-page independent investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh was a comprehensive account of Penn State’s severe mishandling of Jerry Sandusky and the deplorable accusations against him. Freeh deep-seated what many speculated Joe Paterno took with him to his grave. Paterno was, in fact, aware of the Sandusky accusations, and part of the internal blunder to handle it, as early as 1998. Now the soil around Paterno’s grave is burdensome. His headstone is more imbued than before. His only disguise is the rising grass that surrounds …

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MTV Fails Teen Dads

What the network can do to help corral teen fatherhood abandonment

“Fatherhood will cramp my style. Likely, I will have to change my Facebook relationship status to ‘it’s complicated.’ That will certainly make me less attractive to the cheerleaders. I will never sleep eight hours again, so I’ll just have to drop out of school. My friends will replace my Modern Warfare 3 character with someone who doesn’t have to keep stopping, mid-attack, to change a soiled diaper. Before you know it, I will have to turn to criminality to make any sort of beneficial income for my child.” If we allow teen fathers the royalty of such conviction without proper custody, then ignorance is king — dictating and narcissistic. Since 2009, MTV has been responsible for two lucrative momumentaries: Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. Each …

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A Growing Pain: Homophobia and Kirk Cameron

When rinsed and dried celebrities look to soak in fifteen more minutes of fame

Within the 31 years of my existence, there's 20 years or so I have full comprehension of. And of the many things I've learned from others, or the trial and errors of my own explorations through those years, there's three consistent topics I've realized are taboo in casual conversations. Religion, politics, and whether Revolver or Abbey Road is the better Beatles album. Last week, former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron, decided to come out of the closet to speak out against those who come out of the closet. Only difference is, Cameron's closet is also known as irrelevancy. On CNN's Piers Morgan Show, Friday night, the evangelical former teen idol voiced his opinion on homosexual rights. “I believe marriage was defined by God," said Cameron…

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marko_cal

5:39 pm on Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Bingo, Jay.   more ›

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The Mob Wives Therapy

Sometimes the hell of some is heaven to others

When you think of the name Big Ang, there’s a Perry Como soundtrack playing lightly in the background of your mind’s canvas. If you think of the name Big Ang, you think of a stuffy Macanudo’s, choking from the smoke during a Sunday dinner. You think of roast pork with broccoli rabe. You think of men’s men holding court outside of a social club on 6th and Catherine, on a pungent July afternoon in the raspy lungs of South Philly. But, leave it to reality TV to remind you that they paint the pictures. On VH1’s Mob Wives, Big Ang is a less than elegant woman, with a voice as rugged as Adam Levine’s five o’clock shadow. Her f--- you pay me attitude is only out dueled by her oversized pucker. “I had my lips done eleven years ago,” Big Ang told …

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Someone Like You: The Reassurances of Adele

Adele wears her crown of thorns like a tiara

While waiting to exhale the remnants of grief over the loss of one songstress, we captured the fresh air of a new one. The tone of Sunday night’s Grammy Awards was understandably somber. Saturday night, the day before the most prestigious award ceremony in music was set to take place, music lost another voice. A night meant for celebration was quickly altered by the contemplation of a legend lost. Whitney Houston meant so much to music that her impact could be felt on the stage and in the seats of the Staples Center. It was heard in Jennifer Hudson’s bellowing homage. Even Rihanna’s hair had the shape and texture of an I’m Your Baby Tonight, Whitney. It all brought back the memories of a voice as big as church steeples, with a sexiness …

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