Bush Daughter Jenna Lands TV Gig

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

NBC's "Today" show has hired someone with White House experience as a new correspondent--former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager.

Hager, a 27-year-old teacher in Baltimore, will contribute stories about once a month on issues like education to TV's top rated morning news show, said Jim Bell, its executive producer.

The daughter of former President George W. Bush said she has always wanted to be a teacher and a writer and has already authored two books. But she was intrigued by the idea of getting into TV when Bell contacted her.

She'll essentially work tow part-time jobs as a correspondent and in her school, where she will be a reading coordinator this year.

Bell said he got the idea after seeing Hager in two "Today" appearances. She was on the program two years ago to promote her book about an HIV-infected single mother, "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope," and it went so well that a short interview was stretched to nearly a half hour.

She and her mother, Laura Bush, also co-hosted an hour of "Today" around the time their picture book came out.

She "just sort of popped to us as a natural presence, comfortable," on the air, Bell said. Hager will work out of NBC's Washington bureau.

Ang Lee's 'Taking Woodstock'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Director Ang Lee's "likeable, humane" new movie "Taking Woodstock" is not an attempt to re-create the epochal Woodstock Music and Art Fair" of 1969, said Steve Holden in The New York Times. We do get "an immense traffic jam, fields littered with trash and hippies gleefully sliding through mud," but Lee mainly uses his lead character to prove "that contemplation of historic events from the margins can be more revealing than from the hot center."

Most of Taking Woodstock "busies itself with the lead-up to the main event," said Anthony Lane in The New Yorker, and "you can't deny the smiling mood that wafts throught the film like incense." But unfortunately, "not once does a character's show of feeling stir you, send you, or stop you in your tracks, and the loss is unsustainable."

"Taking Woodstock" also "proves that the decade is still prone to the laziest, wide-eyed oversimplifications," said Melissa Anderson in the Village Voice. Lee's "facile" movie features "inane, occasionally borderline offensive portrayals of Jews, performance artists, trannies, Vietnam vets, squares and freaks," and "does nothing more than recycle the same late-'60s tropes seen countless times since the Carter administration."

Family, leaders pay final tribute to Kennedy

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Sen. Edward Kennedy was laid to rest alongside slain brothers John and Robert on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetary on Saturday evening, celebrated for "the dream he kept alive" across the decades since their deaths.

Crowds lined the streets of two cities on a day that marked the end of a political era--outside Kennedy's funeral in rainy Boston, and later in the day in humid, Washington D.C.

"Go now, to your place of rest. And meet the Lord, your God," said the Rev. Daniel Coughlin the House chaplain.

Kennedy died Tuesdsay at 77, more than a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

One son, Patrick wept quietly as another son, Teddy Jr, spoke from the pulpit of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston. Teddy Jr. recalled the day years ago, shortly after losing a leg to cancer, that he slipped walking up an icy driveway as he heated out to go sledding. "I started to cry and I said, 'I'll never be able to climb up that hill," the son said.

"And he lifted me up in his strong arms and said something I will never forget. He said, 'I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can't do."

In life, the senator had visited the burial ground often to mourn his brothers, John and Robert, killed in their 40's more than a generation ago, by assassins' bullets.

"He was given a gift of time that his brothers were not. And he used that time to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow," Obama said in a eulogy that also gently made mention of Kennedy's "personal failings and setbacks."

As a member of the Senate, Kennedy was a "vertiable force of nature," the president said. But more than that, the "baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became it's rock."

Hundreds lined nearby sidewalks, ignoring the rain, as the funeral procession passed.

"I said to myself this morning, 'No matter what the weather, I'm going, I don't care if I have to swim," said Lillian Bennett, 59, who added she was a longtime Kennedy supporter and determined to get as close as she could to the invitation only funeral.

'Final Destination' arrives at No. 1 at box office

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Movie fans have made fear their top destination at the weekend box office.

The horror tale "The Final Destination" debuted as the No. 1 movie with $28.3 million, according to studio estimates today. The Warner Bros. sequel is the latest installment in the franchise about people stalked by death after a premonition saves them from their destined demise.

"Inglorious Basterds," slipped to second place with $20 million. "Halloween II," which opened with $17.4 million came in at No. 3. The movie is Rob Zombie's sequel to his update of the slasher franchise about crazed killer Michael Meyers.

"It's unusual for two horror movies to open over the same weekend. While "Final Destination" and "Halloween II" competed for the same audience, both managed solid receipts.

The weekend's other new wise release, Focus Features' music romp "Taking Woodstock," opened a weak No. 9 with $3.7 million. Directed by Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain"), "Taking Woodstock" is a nostalgic look behing the scenes at the mammoth 1969 rock conert.

Does Facebook ruin friendships?

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Friends, "I love you dearly," but I "don't give a hoot" that you're "having a busy Monday," said Elizabeth Bernstein in The Wall Stree Journal, or about which Addams Family member you most resemble. Call it "Facebook fatigue"--too many of you are breaking a "cardinal rule of companionship: Thou Shalt Not Bore Thy Friends." Facebook was supposed to bring us closer together, but when your posts are obnoxious, it can "hurt our real-life relationships."

If you don't want that "daily sandwich bulletin from your third cousin," said Reader's Digest, "that's what the Hide function is for." In fact, the privacy settings are the most important, "most underused" part of Facebook. The site is kind of like a "real-world get-together"--if that soiree were a "24-hour-a-day cocktail party" with everyone you ever knew in one room, "no host, and few boundaries."

But that's the point of Facebook, said Derek Thompson in The Atlantic, to be a "clearinghouse for your friends' persona lives." So if you don't give "even a hoot" about how your friend's day is going--and "that's kind of an overshare, too isn't it?"--you probably shouldn't use Facebook. Let the rest of us show how boring our lives are to the degree we choose.

But doesn't it dumb down or discourse said Noel Sheppard in NewsBusters, when we adult Facebook members start communicating like "our text message--crazed offspring"? Let's hope this isn't the future of friendship. "How shallow and uninformed will future generations be if this is the extent of their conversations?"

A black comedian and her Jewish mother-in-law walk into a courtroom.....

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

"Thank you, Internet gods," said Gonzalo Cordova in Comedy Central Insider. It's not every day that a humor blogger comes across a story like this: "A mother-in-law is suing comedian Sunda Croonquist for making too many mother-in-law jokes." Croonquist is half black, half Swedish and grew up Roman Catholic. Her mother-in-law, Ruth Zafrin is Jewish and says Croonquist is spreading hurtful lies with jokes like the one about her mother-in-law urging her to name her daughter Hadassah or Goldie something hard to pronounce, like Shaniquah.

Sure, poke fun at Croonquist's mother-in-law, said Ed Morissey in Hot Air. A joke is just a joke, right? "Yes, well, not everyone would laugh about being the subject of that joke, especially when it's their daughter-in-law casting them as a racist." Defamation and slander still hurt even when committed by a comic on stage.

Every comedian makes in-law jokes, said the entertainment blog Pop Eater. And Sunda Croonquist has been making them for years--like the one about how her mother-in-law, the day she met, welcomed Croonquist into her home, then turned and said, "Harriet, put my pocketbook away." But Soonquiest can't be having fun joking about the in-laws any more--maybe it's time for some new material.

'Basterds' Takes In a 'Glorious' $37.6 Million at B.O.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The war effort by Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt has paid off as their history lesson "Inglorious Basterds" claimed victory at the box office with a $37.6 million debut.

"Inglorious Basterds" features Pitt and an international ensemble in a sprawling tale of Jewish commandos and a plot to take out Nazi leaders at a movie premiere during World War II.

The film provided a much-needed boost for Harvey and Bob Weinstein who have managed only lackluster receipts at their new outfit since departing Disney-owned Miramax four years ago.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Inglorious Basterds" $37.6 million.
2. "District 9," $18.9 million.
3. "G.I. Joe," $12.5 million.
4. "The Time Traveler's Wife," $10 million.
5. "Julie and Julia," $9 million.

Today's Tel Aviv

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

There's nowhere else in Israel--or in the entire Middle East--quite like Tel Aviv, said Adam LeBor in Conde' Nast Traveler. Founded on the sands by Zionist pioneers in 1909, Tel Aviv is "more than a city--it's an idea made manifest in bricks and concrete."

Stretching along Israel's Mediterranean coast, Tel Aviv has "grown from nothing to a sophisticated metropolis" of about 390,000 people. Today, the second largest city in Israel "crackles with energy 24 hours a day" and has world-class restaurants, a pulsing arts and media scene, an internationally respected university and an electric nightlife that lasts until dawn.

Tel Aviv stands as the "world's first Hebrew city since the Jews' Roman exile" and remains the center of modern Israeli culture, yet is is "extremely internationally minded." You won't find another city in Israel with a more "tolerant mentality" or a more "hedonistic lifestyle." Most of the city's residents see their home as a melting pot, "a place where cultures meet and evolve."

Less than 40 miles inland, Israelis and Palestinians carry on bitter battles. But in Jaffa, the Arab village that birthed Tel Aviv and is now a suburb of the city, a thriving artists' quarter bustles with shops selling books in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Watering holes like Yafa Cafe'-"a tiny place with a big mission: to bring Jewish and Arab Israelis together to talk"--make you think, for a moment that Tel Aviv could be a model for the rest of Israel.

"If the modern Hebrew city can enjoy a balanced relationship with an ancient Arab port, then perhaps Jews and Arabs can find a model for living in peace in this much-contested land."

Inglorious Basterds: A Holocaust film in which Jews kick Nazi butt

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Quentin Tarantino may have made his "masterpiece," said Chris Kelly in The Kansas City Star. "A kind of revisionist WWII history," Inglorious Basterds strives to rewrite not just the "rules of cinema" but history itself.

The Inglorious Basterds are a unit of American Jews, led by non-Jew Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), who take on the Nazis to rescue their kindsmen. Watching Tarantino's stylish violence applied to righteous ends proves "as cathartic as it is comic, as powerfully exuberant as it is unexpectedly poignant."

In most WWII films, Jews are victims, but Tarantino here is "handing" self-determination back to them. He might think he's doing Jews a favor, with this "revenge fantasy" but he couldn't be more wrong, said David Denby in The New Yorker. His pipe dream of an altered Holocaust is "ridiculous and appallingly insensitive." The history was real and the feelings we Jews have about it are real, said Dan Mendelsohn in Newsweek. For filmgoers to indulge in such fantasy "at the expense of the truth of history would be the most inglorious bastardization of all."

Are Hollywood stars worth the money?

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Stars are falling to earth in Hollywood, said Brooks Barnes in The New York Times. "The spring and summer box office has murdered megawatt stars like Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Eddie Murphy, John Travolta, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell." Economists "have long argued that marquee names are not worth their expense," but don't expect the studios to give up on their biggest names--they'll only try to pay them less.

That's what Hollywood gets for relying on star power to fill theater seats, said Gawker. The real problem this summer was that the movies "sucked." So instead of complaining about how the Internet is destroying their business and how the A-listers need to take a pay cut, maybe the studio bosses should consider focusing on better scripts and making "a product that's entertaining."

The megastar blockbusters have fallen short so far this year, said Nicole Sperling in Entertainment Weekly, but the losing streak will probably be broken this weekend, when director Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds--a WWII revenge fantasy starring Brad Pitt--hits theaters. The film has generated tons of buzz and the studio that produced it--Weinstein Co--is betting on it for a much-needed financial shot in the arm.

Israeli Star, Accused of Plotting Attacks on TV Execs, Kills Self in Jail

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

One of Israel's most famous TV entertainers, Dudu Topaz, has committed suicide in prison, where he was awaiting trial for allegedly plotting attacks on TV execs whom he blamed for his fall from stardom.

Unable to cope with his fading popularity, the one-time "ratings king" of Israeli TV, was charged with hiring thugs to rough up the network bosses whom he accused of ditching him in favor of reality TV shows.

Prison officials said that Topaz, 62, was found hanging from the shower of his cell. Paramedics tried to resusicitate him for an hour before he was pronounced dead..

It was a bitter end for one of the country's most iconic entertainers, a charismatic but erratic star who fell from favor with the public whose attention he craved, and who became consumed with bitterness and obsessed with revenge. Topaz was a suspected criminal charged with ordering an attack on a female channel 2 TV exec, who was beaten outside her home in Tel Aviv and hospitalized with fractures to her face.

'60 Minutes' producer Don Hewitt Dead at 86

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Don Hewitt, the CBS newsman who invented the highly popular TV newsmagazine "60 Minutes" and produced it for 36 years, died Wednesday. He was 86.

A Sunday evening fixture, "60 Minutes" was television's top-rated show four times, most recently in 1992-3. While no longer a regular in the top 10 in Hewitt's later years it was still TV's most popular newsmagazine.

"60 Minutes" won 73 Emmys and nine Peabody Awards during Hewitt's stewardship, which ended in 2004.

Hewitt often said the accepted wisdom for TV news writers before "60 Minutes" was to put words to pictures. He believed that was backward. He also orginated the use of cue cards for news readers, now done by electronic machines. He was the first to "superimpose" words on the TV screen for a news show.

Hewitt had four children. Surviviors include his wife of 30 years, Marilyn.

World's Most Powerful Women

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

German leader Angela Merkel keeps her spot as the world's most powerful woman for the fourth straight year on the annual Forbes list. Other notables in the top 100: Michelle Obama debuts at 40, just ahead of Oprah (41) and Queen Elizabeth (42). Hillary Clinton is 36, down from 28 and just a notch behind Nancy Pelosi at 35. FDIC chief Sheila Bair is No. 2 while Sonia Sotomayor debuts at 54 and Kathleen Sebelius at 56.

The best thing about 'Mad Men'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

There's no question that Mad Men is a TV show with style, said Roger Catlin in The Hartford Courant. But that's not really what created the tremendous buzz ahead of the just-launched third season of AMC's drama about Madison Avenue's 1960s heyday. "What makes it the best series on TV is its insight and storytelling restraint, its insistence to treat its audience as wise knowledgeable fans of story and character."

The "meticulous set decor" in Mad Men said Chantal Lamers in the San Francisco Chronicle, "is almost as captivating as the story line. By paying attention to every detail, the show's look takes viewers back to "early 1960s New York, when around-the-clock cocktails, tie-neck blouses and tapered-leg furnishings were mainstream."

It's all very charming said Ramin Setoodeh in Newsweek, but, judging from the season 3 premiere, some viewers will be turned off by the show's relentlessly "glacial pace." It's cool, but so little actually happens in the offices of Sterling Cooper, that you are left wondering whether "the story will ever kick into high gear." This is "television as an old-fashioned courtship: true love waits."

Ryan Jenkins and the murder of swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The naked body of swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore, 28, was found in a suitcase in a Buena Park, California trash bin, said Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times, and reality show contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins has been named a "person of interest" in the case. Fiore's mother, Lisa Lapore, said the two were dating. And Jenkins, a wealthy 32-year-old Canadian, is believed to be on the run in Fiore's Mercedes.

Dating? They were married said TMZ. TV host Megan Hauserman says Ryan Jenkins met Jasmine at a Las Vegas strip club where Fiore was working as a dancer, right after Jenkins was "booted" off Huaserman's VH1 show, Megan Wants a Millionaire and they were hitched two days later. Hauserman says she's "shocked" by the news, describing Jenkins as "smart" and "nice."

You wouldn't guess that from Jenkins' now-removed Megan Wants a Millionaire profile, said Gawker, in which he says he "has left many amazing women in his life primarily because he wanted more women," and "molds player girls into princesses." This guy was a final contestant in a dating show?

What killed Mozart?

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

There have been a lot of theories about what killed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at age 35, said Doug Stanglin in USA Today. Was it kidney failure? Undercooked pork chops? Poisoning? But a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests the composer may have died from a simple case of strep throat.

This will come as good news to fans of Mozart's "jealous rival, Italian composer Antonio Salieri," said Sue Michaels in Chattahbox. Salieri, after all, is the one rumored to have poisoned Mozart back in 1791. Mozart's death certificate offered little in the way of medical clues, other than to say that he died of severe fever and rash. Maybe that's why the conspiracy theories lasted so long.

Even now the European researchers behind this study say to take their findings with a grain of salt, said Jacob Goldstein in The Wall Street Journal. The fact that Mozart suffered from fever, swelling and rash doesn't point to any specific disease, so the authors of the study looked at community-wide outbreaks of disease at the time to see which "might fit with the great man's death." Strep throat seemed a better fit than scarlet fever--but there's still room for debate.

Disney to remake 'Yellow Submarine'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

According to Variety, Disney and director Robert Zemeckis are negotiating to remake "Yellow Submarine," the 1968 psycheldelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles.

The studio has been quietly brokering a complicated rights deal that would give Zemeckis access to 16 original Beatles songs for a movie he will direct in the performance-capture 3-D digital production format he used for "A Christmas Carol." Disney opens that film November 6, with Jim Carrey playing Scrooge as well as the three ghosts who haunt him in the Charles Dickens tale.

The hope is to have "Yellow Submarine" ready to premiere around the 2012 Summer Olympics, which beings July 27 in London.

Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglorious Basterds'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Quentin Tarantino has done it again, said Rene Rodriquez in The Miami Herald. The director's new film, Inglorious Basterds, "startles you out of your movie doldrums" the way Pulp Fiction did 15 years ago. Beginning with the phrase "Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France," the film, starring Brad Pitt, follows a band of Jewish-American soldiers out to spread fear by collecting Nazi scalps. Tarantino's fable isn't for the squeamish--or history teachers.

That's the problem, said David Denby in The New Yorker. Nobody will call Inglorious Basterds boring, "but it's ridiculous and appallingly insensitive--a Louisville Slugger applied to the head of anyone who has ever taken the Nazis, the war, or the Resistance seriously."

Insensitive is an understatement said Daniel Mendelsohn in Newsweek. Quentine Tarantino seems determined to turn "Jews into Nazis." In one scene, people are locked inside a building and scream after the building is set on fire--only the victims of this "horribly familiar Holocaust atrocity" are Nazis, and the killers are Jews. "Do you really want audiences cheering for a revenge that turns Jews into carboncopies of Nazis, that makes Jews into "sickening perpetrators?"

Tony Danza, Highschool Teacher

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Who's the boss? For a few Philadelphia 10th graders it could be Tony Danza. The actor wants to temporarily transition into teaching as part of an A&E reality show, the Inquirer reports. The major is on his side saying Danza "is dedicated to enriching the young people who enter his classroom."

The legacy of Woodstock

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

It has been 40 years, said Katie Hawkins-Gaar in CNN, but "the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair remains a major cultural touchstone." The three-day festival was huge--with a crowd estimated at 400,000--and it featured the greatest musicians of the era. But the significance of the "peace-and-love filled celebration" seems to grow with every passing year, making "the idea of Woodstock" even bigger than the actual event was.

"Pieces of Woodstock's own crazy world broke off and spun their way into a larger world," said Jeanne McManus in The Washington Post, so even those of us who missed the VW bus have been able to shar in its "infectious" spirit. There's something to be said for working hard and being responsible--but sex, drugs, rock 'n roll, "wet sleeping bags, and chaos" have their place, too.

Woodstock is always over-hyped by peoplel who weren't there, said Mark Hosenball in Newsweek. But "as an authentic Woodstock attendee (or should I say victim?)," I can tell you that the festival was "a massive, teeming, squalid mess," and the incredible music didn't make up for it. So if Woodstock's only legacy is that the masses endured such suffering without becoming violent, "what's the big deal?"

New film version of "The Diary of Anne Frank"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

According to Variety, Disney has acquired the rights to film a new version of "The Diary of Anne Frank." The film will be written and directed by Pulitizer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet.

Mamet will use the famed diary and the original play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, to tell the story of the young jewish girl who hid with her family from the Nazis in an attic in Amsterdam. Mamet brings his own original take on the material that could re-frame the story as a young girl's right of passage.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Legacy

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The world has lost a "tireless campaigner" for people with intellectual disabilities, said Britain's Telegraph. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a younger sister of the late president John F. Kennedy, died Tuesday at 88. The fifth of nine children born to Joseph and Rosemary Kennedy, Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968. At the fifth Summer Games in 1976, she told participants, "What you are winning by your courageous efforts is far greater than any game. You are winning life itself."

Eunice Kennedy Shriver grew up in "a clan embraced as America's royalty," said Bryan Marquard in The Boston Globe. She stood out as the "most intellectually gifted" of Joe and Rosemary Kennedy's daughters--although they steered only their sons into politics. Her ambition helped her overcome "the constraints of her era, gender and social strata," and she became an international leader" in the burgeoning movement to wrest mental restardation from the shadows of hushed conversations."

And what a difference she made said Carla Baranaukas in The New York Times. Senator Edward Kennedy, Shriver's brother, cited as an example of her influence in the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, where 80,000 spectators cheered as President Hu Jintao welcomed more than 7,000 athletes to China, a country with a history of severe discrimination against people born with disabilities. "You talk about an agent of change," Edward Kennedy said in 2007. "She was it."

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Dies at 88

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver died this morning, her family said in a statement. She was 88.

Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at 2 a.m. at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.

As celebrity, social worker and activist, Shriver was credited with transforming America's view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friend, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.

Peter Collier, author of "The Kennedys, An American Drama," called Eunice Shriver the "moral force" of the Kennedy family.

"We have always been honored to share our mother with people of good will the world over who believe, as she did, that there is no limit to the human spirit," her family members said in the statement.

A 1960 Chicago Tribune profile of the women in the candidate JFK's family said Shriver was "generally credited with being the most intellectual and politically minded of all the Kennedy women."

GI Joe Storms to $56.2 Million Box Office Win

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

GI Joe took the box office by storm this weekend, sweeping to a better-than-anticipated $56.2 million win reports USA Today. Julie and Julia stuffed $20 million in the bank, while G-Force scored third place with $9.8 million.

Alternative rock band ACIDIC

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Up-and-coming Los Angeles based alternative-rock band ACIDIC, described as "the youthful exhuberance of Green Day with Coldplay sensitivity," is currently touring in conjunction with the release of their debut CD, "Ironic Dreams."

ACIDIC consists of lead singer and guitarist Michael Gossard, bassist Ted Dubrawski and drummer Matt Whitaker. Seventeen-year-old Michael, the band's primary songwriter, has known Ted since elementary school. They started performing together in their high school's rock band (Crespi) before Michael formed ACIDIC his freshman year. In 2008, looking to add a drummer to their new groups, they conducted a city wide search which led them to Matt Whitaker.

ACIDIC has built a rapidly growing fan base, playing at legendary venues such as The House of Blues on Sunset Blvd., Whiskey A Go-Go, The Knitting Factory, The Palmer House, The Derby, The Canyon Club and Bamboozle Left Festival. ACIDIC's live show with its original melodic music and lyrics and high energy performances is a blast to experience.

Their singles "Break me Down" and "Strata Red" can be heard on radio stations across the country. Music Connection Magazine said of ACIDICS music: "No Name', 'Strata Red' and 'Ironic Dreams' all suggest solid rock power and sensitivity..." Visit http://www.acidicband.com/ for more information.

Tracy Morgan Files for Divorce

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

SNL veteran and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan filed for divorce from his highschool sweetheart yesterday, the New York Daily News reports, making official a longstanding split.

Morgan and his wife, Sabina, have been separated for eight years. "Basically they were divorced without the paper work," says one friend. "It seems like he has had a different girlfriend every five months or so."

Julie and Julia Tasty Despite One Cook Too Many

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Dual biopic "Julie and Julia" would have been a lot better if it had focused solely on Julia Child, say critics, but Meryl Streep's performance as the famous chef more than compensates for the second, weaker storyline about a blogger who tackles Child's recipes.

-Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: Nora Ephron's "ode to food, obsession and finding one's bliss" is "one-half delightful and one-half disappointing; luckily, the delightful part stays with you while the rest fades away."

-Lou Lumenick, NY Post: Meryl Streep makes such a tasty and larger-than-life Julia in a nostalgically evoked late -'40s Paris--and director Nora Ephron depicts food with such mouthwatering relish--that it's worth stomaching the pancake-flat sequences with her supposed early 21st century counterpart, Julie Powell," played by Amy Adams.

-Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Streep "is this film's butter. All the rest is garnish."

JFK's Sister Critical at Mass. Hospital

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and a longtime champion for the disabled, was in critical condition today at a Massachusetts hospital.

Shriver, 88, was surrounded by her husband, children and grandchildren at Cape Cod Hospital in Barnstable, said family spokesman Stephen Rivers.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the husband of Shriver's daughter, Maria, was also there, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor.

Shriver has been weakened in recent years by a series of strokes. She lives in Hyannis Port, near the family compound where her brother, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been staying as he undergoes treatment for brain cancer.

Shriver is the fifth of the nine Kennedy children.

Shriver is perhaps best known for her work to establish the Special Olympics, inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary. She organized the first Special Olympics in 1968 in Chicago.

SNL's Kristen Wiig gets Emmy Nom!

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The SNL star gets a hard-earned nod (her first) for aping finance guru Suze Orman, one-upping the world as competitive Penelope and convincing us that Target is really TURGIT. Head to Hulu for her greatest clips.

'Family Guy' Gets First Emmy Nom

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The Emmy nominations yeilded a few big surprises this year. When we tune in for the 61st annual ceremony, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, the time will come to hand out the best-comedy award and we're liable to see, alongside images of "The Office," "30 Rock," "Entourage," " Weeds," "Flight of the Conchords" and "How I Met Your Mother," a picture of Peter Griffin. "Family Guy" became the first animated TV show to be nominated in this category since "The Flinstones" in 1961.

Sharon Stone Topless on Magazine Cover

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A bare-chested Sharon Stone has hit French newsstands, FOX news reports. The 51-year-old actress poses topless and in bondage gear on the cover of Paris Match.

"I'm a person who feels that if it's appropriate for the character I'm playing or the mood of the piece," she says, then it's "no big thing."

Director John Hughes Dead at 59

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

John Hughes the director who made his name cataloging teen angst of the 1980s, died of a heart attack today at 59.

Hughes created such famed films as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles starring Molly Ringwald. He also made the classic comedy "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" starring John Candy and Steve Martin, before writing and producing the Home Alone series.

The heart attack struck while Hughes was taking a walk this morning in Manhattan. He leaves behind his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons and four grandchildren.

Best Cities for Good Eats

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Paris is for lovers--food lovers. The city came in first on a Forbes list of the world's best cities for eating well, based on a 2009 survey ranking 50 cities. Notably absent from the top 10 are New York and London, which don't boast much of a "local" cuisine.

Paris
Rome
Tokyo
Mexico City
Barcelona
Madrid
Hong Kong
China
Milan

Mel Brooks' inauspicious start in show biz

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Mel Brooks had a rought start in showbiz says Eric Estrin in The Wrap.com. It came when he was 14, while working at a hotel in the Catskills.

"You had to do your normal work, which was waiter, busboy, towboat attendant," says the 83-year-old comic,"but on Saturday night you could be in a play. They were doing a play called Uncle Harry about some crazy serial killer. The only part open was for a district attorney. Now I was 14, and the district attorney must have been 50 or 60. They gave me a beard and a wig and I was supposed to grill this uncle Harry character. I had to casually pour him a glass of water and try to get info out of him."

But when his big moment came, Brooks choked, "I pour him a glass of water and the glass slips out of my hand and breaks. The water goes all over the desk and the stage. I don't know what to do. So I say to the audience, 'Hey, this is my first job as an actor, I'm really only 14,' and I take off my wig and my beard and the audience gets hysterical."

Not everyone laughed, though. "The director leaped on stage in a rage. I think he had a knife in his hand and he chased me through three Catskill resorts. And that was my debut in show business."

Douglas Son Busted for Meth

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Michael Douglas' son has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a large amount of crystal meth with intention to sell, according to the New York Post.

Cameron Douglas, 30, was busted last week at a Manhattan hotel in an undercover operation that allegedly nailed him with some $18,000 worth of the potent drug and thousands of dollars in cash.

Clinton visits North Korea to help imprisoned journalists

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Bill Clinton is in North Korea, where he will attempt to secure freedom of two American journalists imprisoned since March, Reuters reports. "As soon as he arrives, he will be entering negotiations," said a source. Lisa Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced in June to 12 years' hard labor. They work for Current TV, cofounded by Al Gore.

Hugh Jackman to star in 'Showman'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Twentieth Century Fox has attached Hugh Jackman to play American showman P.T. Barnum in "The Greatest Showman on Earth," a musical to be written by Jenny Bicks of "Sex and the City" fame.

Jackman will play the showman with a penchant for hoaxing a gullible public as he creates the three-ring circus that made him famous. The musical also focuses on his infatuation with singer Jenny Lind--the so called Swedish Nightingale.

Jackman, who won the Tony award for "The Boy From OZ," is determined to make several screen musicals, according to Variety.

Netflix is for 'Blobby People'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Like 10.6 million Americans, Time film critic Richard Corliss has a subscription to Netflix, which sends everything from Bollywood musicals to BBC miniseries to his mailbox. "No question," Corliss admits. "Netflix serves a need"--it's super cheap and stocked with titles. But the DVD delivery service has killed off independent stores run by Tarantino-like fans, while we turn into "those blobby people in WALL-E."

And while Netflix's new on-demand service may provide instant gratification, that may not be such a good thing. "You'll be what the online corporate culture wants you to be," Corliss writes: "a passive, inert receptacle for its products."

'Let's Make a Deal' coming back with new host

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The game show "Let's Make a Deal" is coming back to daytime television.

CBS says that an updated version of the show will debut October 5 with Wayne Brady as host. The network says the premise of audience members trying to win cash and prizes by making "wacky deals" will be intact.

Monty Hall, longtime host of the original "Let's Make a Deal," is a consultant on the new show. It will replace "Guiding Light" the soap opera that's ending its more than five-decade run September 21.

Why non-cooks love watching cooking shows

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

When Julia Child came on the scene, she changed the way America cooked. Child inspired women everywhere to try their hands at French cuisine. Today we have loads more food shows, yet the average American spends just 27 minutes a day making food.

"How is it," asks NY Times food critic Michael Pollan, "that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves?"

Maybe it's because today's food shows bear no resemblance to Childs' The French Chef. Half of the Food Network shows advocate shortcuts and convenience. Then at night we watch furious displays of competitive cooking, aimed not at people who like to cook, but those who like to eat. The message of today's prime-time cooking shows is "Don't try this at home."

I just started taking gourmet cooking classes at a place called "Lets Get Cookin'," and the teachers are fantastic chefs. And yes I have to admit, I am in awe of these folks. I too prefer eating to cooking but I'm still in the beginning stages of my class, so maybe that will change. Yesterday my "professors" Phyllis Vaccarelli( the owner of Lets Get Cookin') and chef/caterer Joann Hecht whipped up a mean Osso Buco with a garlicky tasting gravy (delish!!), and California Ratatouille with raisins and pinenuts. I tried to trick my father into thinking I made the Osso Buco myself, but he knew better. "You have some pretty fantastic teachers at that school," he exclaimed. "It's about time you learned how to cook. Just don't burn yourself!"

My class meets Saturday mornings at the store in Westlake Village, California. Half of the classroom is set up like a mini bar where students watch the teachers whip up some grand culinary classics. So far we've made gourmet pizzas, grilled veggies with goat cheese croutans, Crepes Normandy with Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Creme Brueles(the best!). We even got to use the little blow torch on our desserts like they do in all the fine dining establishments. Friday August 14 at 6:30 p.m. they will be holding a "Julie and Julia" style dinner in honor of the new film that is coming out August 7. One of Julia Childs' most famous dishes Lobster Thermidor will be served. Can't wait!

They also have Martini-making classes and different food themes like Italian night, Escape to Casablanca night and a Retro Appetizers and Martinis night as we plan to eat and drink our way through the decades of the 20th century....1920's, 1930's-40's, 1950's and 1960's.

I'm taking the basic cooking skills class, but they also offer more advanced career oriented classes for those students who want to become professional chefs, caterers or involved in the restaurant industry.
The store also has offers catering services for special dinners, holiday parties, weddings and business events. They also boast the best cookware, bakeware, gadgets, knives, aprons and gifts for the cook and gourmand. So get cookin'!

Chubby Mobster Barred From NY Eateries

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A chubby mobster has been barred from eating at New York restaurants known as Mafia hangouts, reports the New York Post. Anthony "Fat Tony" Rabito, 75, was just paroled on gambling, extortion and racketeering charges and he can no longer chow down at a string of wiseguy spots, his probation officer has warned him.

Fat Tony especially likes seafood. "Mussles are my favorite," he gushed. "I'm really going to miss them at the restaurant I usually go to down the street."

Newfound Mozart Works Written in Sister's Book

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Two pieces by a 7 or 8-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went undiscovered for more than a century because they were written in his dad's Leopold's hand, the New York Times reports.

Austrian researchers have disclosed new details about the works after announcing the finding in July: the music consists of parts of a piano prelude and a concerto, and was hastily scrawled in the back of Mozart's practice book.

Spielberg hops onto 'Harvey' remake

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

According to the Associated Press, Steven Spielberg has a giant rabbit on his mind for his next film.

Spielberg is directing a remake of the James Stewart classic "Harvey," the story of a big-hearted eccentric who's branded a crackpot for claiming to have a 6-foot-tall invisible rabbit as his best buddy.

Casting is just getting started, with production expected to begin early next year.

The new version will be a contemporary update of Stewart's 1950 film, which was based on Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

A FOX spoikesman said the studio is looking to have the film in theaters last next year.

Roland Kickinger may be the new 'Conan'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog reports that Lions Gate and Nu Image are in talks with Roland Kickinger-- a 41-year-old actor from Austria to be in the new Conan the Barbarian film.

Like Schwarzenegger, Kickinger is a bodybuilder-turned-actor from Austria and Kickinger also had a role as a T-800 in the current Terminator Salvation. Kickinger also played Schwarzenegger in a movie--the 2005 A&E biopic about the actor-turned-politician called "See Arnold Run."

I've met Roland Kickinger many times and he even made a suprise appearance at our family's Passover seder, and he not only looks like Arnold, but he has the same calm, cool, collected demeanor as Arnold. They're also both 6 ft. 2 inches and even sound the same. Let's hope Roland gets the role!

The deal isn't done yet and few details on the new movie have been revealed, but I'll keep you posted.

'Funny People' takes top spot at box office

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A more serious Adam Sandler didn't turn away Judd Apatow fans Friday as Universal's "Funny People" took the top spot with $8.6 million, overtaking last weekend's No. 1 title "G-Force."

Apatow's films have always shown strong legs at the box office, according to Variety. The flick stars Adam Sandler as a superstar comedian who battles a terminal disease while taking a young stand-up, plyaed by Seth Rogen, under his wing. The film also features Jonah Hill, Leslie Mann, Jason Schwartzman as well as a string of stand-up cameos by Ray Romano, Andy Dick and Norm MacDonald playing themselves.

Disney's tot flick "G-Force" about a squad of guinea pig spies took second with $5.8 million, while Warner Brother's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" placed third with $5.4 million. The romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth" grossed $4.4 million.

Focus Features debuted its South Korean vampire flick "Thirst" from director Chan-wook Park whose credits include the cult pic "Old Boy." The horror title drew $17,000 from four showings.