Phil Hall Superstar - ProfilesArchive

About Me

A man of too many talents:I am a writer (contributing editor for Film Threat, editor of the monthly newspaper Secondary Marketing Executive, author of the books "The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies" and "Independent Film Distribution" plus the upcoming "The New PR" -- and a free-lancer with credits in the New York Times, Wired Magazine, Hartford Courant, EDGE Boston, Video Librarian and New York Daily News). My book review column for the New York Resident weekly newspaper was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. I am also a broadcaster (I was a United Nations correspondent for Fairchild Broadcast News and a former contributor to "Stars of PR" on VoiceAmerica.com -- and I've been known to turn up on "The King Christopher Show" on AllTalkRadio.net). I have weekly column called "The PR Gospel According to Phil" on the popular web site Strumpette. Plus, I am an actor (VH-1's "BSTV" and the indie flicks "The Land of College Prophets," "Matutinal Reverie," "Bikini Blood Bath," "Bikini Blood Bath Car Wash" and "London Betty"). Even better, I am a theologian (ordained minister with Universal Life Church -- okay, it's an Internet church, but I can still marry or bury you). And I am also a business consultant (former president of the PR agency Open City Communications).

My Interests

Writing, traveling, learning, laughing.

I'd like to meet:

Interesting people.

Music:

Open to all sounds.

Movies:

"Rashomon," "Open City," "Casablanca," "Fantasia," "Gone with the Wind," "Hiroshima Mon Amour," "The Producers," "Yellow Submarine," "The Third Man."

Television:

"The Banana Splits," "The Twilight Zone," "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "Washington Week."

Books:

Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," Evan S. Connell's "Son of the Morning Star," the poetry of R.S. Thomas, Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," Michael J. Weldon's "The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film" and (of course) the books I wrote.

Heroes:

Pope John XXIII, the Three Stooges.

My Blog

Phil at the National Book Expo

Yesterday, I went into Phil Hall Superstar mode to sign copies of my latest book, "The New PR," at the National Book Expo, which was held at the Javits Center in New York City.Right before showtime, h...
Posted by Phil on Sat, 02 Jun 2007 04:57:00 PST

Phil gets a health scare (update)

Earlier this month, I posted a blog entry detailing an unwelcome discovery: my blood pressure was in ascension and was reaching the border of the danger zone.I could say that was a bit of bad news, bu...
Posted by Phil on Tue, 29 May 2007 05:40:00 PST

The Tragedy of Jerry Falwell

Some things just don't go together: oil and fire, peanut butter and sardines, electrical outlets and forks, and (at the risk of being surreal) religion and politics.Unlike most lethal combination no-n...
Posted by Phil on Wed, 16 May 2007 05:51:00 PST

Elegy for Dewi

This morning I discovered that my pet betta fish Dewi was dead. I went to give him his breakfast and he was laying horizontally at the bottom of his tank.Now you may think that this is rather insigni...
Posted by Phil on Fri, 11 May 2007 07:53:00 PST

Phil becomes a criminal

Okay, I get to become a make-believe criminal.It's my new acting gig: I play Galen Conrad, a mysterious and possibly dangerous engineer for the secretive Verity Corp., in the new Internet sci-fi serie...
Posted by Phil on Wed, 09 May 2007 09:57:00 PST

Phil gets a health scare

Today hasn't exactly been a yippie-skippie day for me. I barely slept last night due to sinus congestion and post-nasal drip. Whether that was the result of a cold (which I am prone to get) or seasona...
Posted by Phil on Thu, 03 May 2007 07:35:00 PST

Phil and the Annoying Person with the Extensive Vocabulary

Okay, we're taking the way-back machine to my high school. That's John F. Kennedy H.S. in the Bronx, N.Y. I am a senior.One day, during the afterschool planning session for the student newspaper, I ...
Posted by Phil on Wed, 02 May 2007 06:40:00 PST

A beauty contest story

Kudos to my pal Justin for sharing this one:Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, and Quasimodo were all talking one day.Sleeping Beauty said, "I believe myself to be the most beautiful girl in the world."Tom T...
Posted by Phil on Tue, 01 May 2007 01:37:00 PST

Phil's favorite prayer

My favorite prayer comes from Dylan Thomas and his play "Under Milk Wood." Here it is: Every morning when I wake, Dear Lord, a little prayer I make, O please to keep Thy lovely eye On all poor crea...
Posted by Phil on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 06:31:00 PST

The duck in the movie theater

I am reminded, for no very good reason except to kill time and occupy space, of a man who was very much in love with his pet duck. He would take the duck everywhere he went. One day, the man sought to...
Posted by Phil on Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:49:00 PST