Mad Men's Star Jon Hamm Speaks.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Sex. Scotch. Cigarettes. Anyone who's caught an episode of "Mad Men," AMC's stylish drama about advertising in 1960's Manhattan expects to see its sharp-dressed men, sexy secretaries and hot housewives indulging in the era's vices.

Jon Ham, the handsome ad exec in the show had lots to say about his hit role in the show which is up for 16 Emmy nominations.

Q- Did you ever buy anything "as seen on TV?"
A- My dad had one of those Ronco Glass Frosters which gives you instant frosted mugs for beer and I thought "This is badass!" It was probably Freon or something--a terrible idea but it looked cool on television.

Q-Have you appeared in any ads?
A- I think I was in a commercial a long time ago for the Missouri lottery. Jen and I are doing part of the holiday campagin for the Gap. (Jen is his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt, actress and screenwriter of Kissing Jessica Stein).

Q- Have fashion designers been begging you to walk the runway?
A- It's a young man's game, that runway walking. I think there are other people who are better looking and in much better shape than me.

Q- What's the longest two-martini lunch you've taken?
A- John Slattery and I have been known to tip a few martinis. After the Emmy nomination, Jen and I had a celebratory martini--a nice Ketel One with olives. It was delish!

Q- Have you picked your ensemble for the Emmys?
A- Yes. It's going to be off the shoulder in a tasteful red. (laughing). That's just one more reason that it's awesome to be a guy in this industry: The hardest thing you have to think about is what kind of collar is on your tux. No one gets all over you for your red-carpet choices and you're not laughed at by 15 people on Bravo.

Raucous Russian Tabloids are a Hit.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The popular Russian newspaper Pravda, is part of a vibrant tabloid culture that illustrates the complex nature of Russian life under Mr. Putin. As long as they do not threaten the Kremlin or its closest friends, it seems, Russian newspapers can be as raucous as they like.

Their investigative journalism tends toward exposes of incompetent police work, corrupt low- level officials and dirty train stations, everyday problems Russians care about. And according to The New York Times, their standard fare of scandal, entertainment and "news you can use" represents a normalization of sorts in a counntry that for years was too poor to develop a consumer culture and too caught up with political turmoil to dwell on celeb gossip.

Publishers have decided that Russian society is tired of politics and has turned its attention to more mundane topics like shopping and family life. "It's not politics, it's not economics. It's love, tears, what we call Santa Barbara," says Sergei Ponomaryob the region director of Pravda, referring to the hit American soap opera that took Russia by storm in the 1990's.

Under Communism, newspapers were gray government mouthpieces like Pravda, whoe name was Russian for truth. After the Soviet Union fell, they exposed once-forbidden stories of oppression. Now press freedom has dwindled as the Kremlin has consolidated control over the media. A few investigative newspaper reporters still confront the Kremlin. But their work is dangerous--several like Anna Politkovskaya, have died in mysterious circumstances.

Some say the switch to tabloid journalism may be "fun" for the average Russian since they distract readers from fundamental issues like the country's lack of effective political opposition and persistent social problems.

The Bank Job-New on DVD

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The Bank Job is a heist movie with one foot in reality. Based on an actual 1971 British bank robbery, the smart, slick and action-packed film offers up more intriguing characters than most films in the genre. Extras include a short on the real-life crime.

The film is based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in Central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The true story was prevented from being told because of a government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family.

According to the producers, this movie, now out on DVD, is intended to reveal the truth for the first time. The premiere was held in London in Feb of 2008 and is part based on historical facts. The 70's style costumes are eye-catching and the action reminds one of the old James Bond films of that era. The film has grossed $30,060,660 in the United States and Canada.

Mad Men-Best Show on T.V.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

It's Valentine's Day 1962 as this Golden Globe-winning drama begins its second season: Jackie Kennedy is giving a TV tour of the White House, and everything seems to be going just right for ad exec Don Draper. Recently promoted at his Madison Avenue agency, he has a romantic night slated with his beautiful wife (January Jones) at a posh New York hotel. But things are about to get complicated. His subordinates are jockeying for position, his boss wants him to bring in younger talent, and his unsatisfied wife is oddly intrigued by her friend's foray into prostitution. Mad Men continues to use carefully observed details to reveal dark currents of desire and despair beneath the glossy veneer of the New Frontier.
It's also refreshingly politically incorrect as seen by the show's characters who are serial smokers. They smoke in the office, in living room parties and in front of the kids. There's also lots of sexist barbs coming from the big boys at the ad agency who constantly hit on and harrass their female secretaries. By far the best show on television.
Sunday, July 27, at 10 p.m. AMC.

Topless Tourists Arrested

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Dubai police are cracking down on indecent exposure at the bustling Muslim state's posh beach resorts. Authorities said they began the campaign earlier this month, after police detained a British couple for allegedly having sex on the beach.

Since then, according to The Week, nearly 80 people have been arrested for offenses ranging from showing too much skin to public displays of affection. Dubai is installing signs warning tourists in Arabic, English and other languages not to sunbathe topless and it has added undercover officers to patrol the shore.

Natives make up only about 20 percent of the population of Dubai, the rest are expatriates from Asia, Europe, and elsewhere.

Jews and Tattoos

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Old myths die hard and many tattooed Jews in their 20's and 30's say they often are criticized by other Jews, both relatives and strangers for having tattoos. Some say they were tattooed to rebel or even, that they wanted a Jewish tattoo as a way of connecting with their religious and cultural idendity.

According to The New York Times, Andy Abrams, a filmmaker, has spent five years making a documentary called "Tattoo Jew." In his interviews with dozens of Jews with body art, he's noticed the prevalence of Jewish-themed tattoos--from Stars of David to elaborate Holocaust memorials, surprisingly since one reason Jewish culture opposes tattoos is that Jews were involuntarily marked in concentration camps.

Mr. Abrams has even seen tattoos that crack jokes, like the one on the back of Ari B's next: the word "Kosher," above a pig, an ironic statement about identity.

"The people I interviewed are trying to express their Judaism or connect to God or their Jewish roots," said Mr. Abrams, 38, who lives in Los Angeles and calls himself a nonpracticing Orthodox Jew. "They're taking this prohibited act and using it to feel more Jewish."

"For me, it's about cultural pride and connecting to a part of our lives that isn't so tangible," said Mr. Klaven who is now a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and is writing his thesis on tattooing in the Jewish tradition.

"Washingtonienne,"- New Half Hour Series.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

According to "Variety," a new half-hour comedy pilot "Washingtonienne," based on the hit novel by Jessica Culter, who had written a saucy blog based on her sex life with real-life figures on the D.C. political scene will begin shooting this fall. Sarah Jessica Parker is executive producing the series, which is said to be like "Sex and the City," with Washington D.C. as the new trendy locale, instead of New York City.

In her blog, Cutler identified her lovers by their initials. She also wrote that she accepted $400 for sex from a high-level George W Bush appointee. Her I.D. was revealed by the blog Wonkette in May 2004, which resulted in a scandal on Capitol Hill.

He's Your Private Dancer.

By: Vickie J Rubinson

He's on the streets in Mumbai one minute, Northern Ireland the next and then he's in a tulip field in the Netherlands. Sometimes Mr. Harding dances alone. On a Christmas Island beach he has an audience of crabs, and on Madagascar he performs for lemurs.

His name is Matt Harding and he's an amatuer dancer who travels the world performing for a variety of diverse audiences. He's been in the company of South African street children in Soweto, bushmen in New Guinea, Bollywood style dancers in India, some oddly costumed waitresses in Tokyo and crowds of free spirits in Paris, Madrid and Montreal, all copying or trying to imitate his unusual chicken dance.

You can view Harding's fancy footsteps on YouTube. According to The New York Times, "Dancing," is an almost perfect piece of Internet art: "it's short, pleasingly weird and so minimal in its content that it's open to a multitude of interpretations." Or it could be about nothing at all--just a doughy guy dancing all over the world.

The funky video started in 2003 when a friend of Mr. Harding's using a canon pocket camera, shot Mr. Harding doing his dance in Hanoi. It was the equivalent of taking a photo as a souvenir. Long story short....Harding collected all the dancing shots from that first trip in 2003, edited them into a little video with a soundtrack of New age music and posted it on his web site, wherethehellismatt.com.

The idea for the fun dance video first came to him in 2006 when he was dancing with some street kids in Rwanda. "If I had tried dancing with kids in a mall in San Francisco, say, I probably would have got arrest," he said. "But in Africa there aren't any barriers and there's immediate access to this kind of joy and irreverence."

Lewis the Cat: First Time Offender

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A combative cat named Lewis who got his owner into legal trouble two years ago has done so well under house arrest that the case has been scratched. A judge dismissed a reckless endangerment charge against Lewis' owner, Ruth Cisero, on Thursday, concluding that she had met terms of a special probation for first-time offenders.

Lewis, now an indoor pet, is allowed outside only in a cat carrier. "Unlike most of us, Lewis has learned to live with his limitations," said Eugene Riccio, Cisero's attorney. The scratch happy black-and-white cat drew attention in 2006 when Cisero opted for a trial on the criminal charge rather than euthanize of declaw him. It became a national claws celeb and some pet lovers even sported "Save Lewis" shirts. Lewis had a restraining order against him because he bit and attacked numerous neighbors and other cats.

The Death of Yearbooks.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

One fixture of college life is rapidly disappearing. Yearbooks, those beloved annual publications recording the events and people of the academic year, are suffering from plummeting print-runs or are even being dropped altogether in colleges across the country.

According to "The Economist," the phenomenon is due in part to the price of the hard-bound volumes, typically as high as $75. For cash-strapped students facing ever-rising tuition and living costs they are a luxury that many can't afford.

But the main cause is not the cost so much as the replacement of print with electronic media by and for the Facebook and MySpace generation. With social networks linking hundreds of friends and offering digital photos and videos the traditional yearbook looks like a bit of a dinosaur.

Although yearbooks are still hanging on in American high schools, the future is unclear. Parents and students complain about the high prices and a generation that has never known a time before the internet is losing interest. Yet even though today's students find yearbooks old-fashioned, they may one day miss their vanished youth.