Dubai, UAE...Who murdered Hamas commander?

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Mystery surrounds the assassination of a Hamas commander alleged to be in charge of smuggling arms from Iran into Gaza. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed last month in a luxury hotel in Dubai. The hotel has released surveillance camera footage of 11 suspects who apparently trailed Mabhouh or entered his room, but all were wearing disguises. This week, Dubai authorities identified the suspects through the passports they had used and it put out warrants for the arrest of 11 Europeans, including six from Britain.

But the British government said the passports were fraudulent and that some of them seemed to be forged copies of actual people's passports. That allegation immediately placed supicion on Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, which is believed to have used fake passports in carrying out assassinations in the past. Israel would neither confirm nor deny any Mossad involvement.

Byblos, Lebanon's rediscoverd playground

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Byblos, Lebanon's ancient port, has been reborn, said Lionel Beehner in The New York Times. For centuries, the "powerful lure of its 7,000-year-old history" was enough to attract visitors from near and far to its Crusader citadel, Phoenician ramparts and Bronze Age ruins of "L-shaped temples scattered along a seaside bluff like over-size Lego blocks."

Now after decades of political upheaval, this city just up the coast from Beirut is regaining its status as a "jewel of the Mediterranean"--and drawing a much different crowd as it transforms itself from sleepy seaport into "gated playground for Lebanon's nouveau riche."

Party yachts share its white beaches with fishing boats. "Arab starlets and their hangers-on" pour out of the open-air bars and restaurants, which serve up fresh seafood to an international clientele. With more hotels and villas opening this summer, things are just heating up.

'Dear John' bumps 'Avatar' with $32.4 million debut

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A sci-fi love story has given way to an earthbound romance at the box office, livening up typically slow times at theaters over Super Bowl weekend.

Released by Sony's Screen Gems banner, "Dear John" debuted as the No.1 movie with $32.4 million, knocking off "Avatar" after seven weekends in first place, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"It is very cool to know that it was our movie that audiences just totally embraced and made No. 1 for the weekend," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony. As for runaway blockbuster "Avatar," he quipped, "I think they're going to be fine in the long run."

"Avatar" slipped to No. 2 with $23.6 million. The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's spy story "From Paris With Love," opened at No. 3 with $8.1 million. The movie stars John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as CIA men trying to crack a terrorist plot.

Fox Searchlight's acclaimed country-music tale "Crazy Heart" expanded from narrow release and broke into the top 10, coming in at No. 8 with $3.7 million. Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal have acting Oscar nominations for the film, which follows a boozy country star trying to turn his life around.

According to the Associated Press, Hollywood could use more fresh hits like "Dear John" if it hopes to match 2009's record box office pace.

Why Americans love 'Jersey Shore'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

In a matter of weeks, MTV's unlikely hit series "Jersey Shore"--documenting the doings of ten self-described "guidos" and "guidettes" during a month living together in Seaside, New Jersey--became a cultural phenomenon. The show's participants, with self-styled handles like "Snookie" and "The Situation," have become household names, fascinating their audience by proudly embodying the superficial values of a local subculture obsessed with fake tans, buff phsyiques and spikey hair. What is it about "Jersey Shore" that millions of fans find so compelling?

Audiences appreciate "Jersey Shore"'s unashamed embrace of trashiness says Brian Moylan at Gawker. We've all acted like the cast "at one point in our lives"--drunkenly engaging in questionable exploits while on vacation--but most of us have the sense to be ashamed by our behavior. The cast's guileless embrace of trash turned them into "media avatars, acting in irresponsible ways we could only dream about."

Watching "Jersey Shore" makes us feel like we're "anthropologists secretly observing a new trible through a break in the trees," says Nancy Franklin at The New Yorker. Blend the cast's outlandish behavior with a "particulary heavy load" of "Guido" stereotypes--"attitudes, looks, poses, burdens and aromas of Italian American culture"--and you have a perfect recipe for reality-TV mockery.

The "train wreck" characters of "Jersey Shore" provide a healthy dose of schadenfreude for the overburdened, unemployed masses, says Lakeia Brown at The Root. When we think things couldn't get worse, we only have to "flip on the TV and "meet 'The Situation'...and realize it could be worse--a lot worse." We mock them to forget out own sad lives.

"There's something condescending about singling out the cast of 'Jersey Shore' for special scorn," says Joanna Weiss at The Boston Globe. Their behavior isn't more reprehensible than the "rick kids" and "skeletal" wives of Orange County--but they're more fun to watch. "Bacchanalia as identity politics" just makes for utterly fascinating TV. "They're fools, but they're our fools: Born in the USA."