Life Interrupted -- My Experience at the Jerusalem Film Festival
As Director of Film Programs at The JCC in Manhattan, one of the most important festivals for me to attend is the Jerusalem Film Festival, Israel's leading film festival. I not only get to spend a week...
View ArticleEXCLUSIVE: BET Responds After Coming Under Fire from Journalists and Publicists
It appears that many journalists and publicists were angered, but NOT surprised by the snubbing of legendary photographer Bill Jones at the recent record-breaking BET Awards show. Since the posting of...
View ArticleGarth Brooks, Superfans, and Millennials: Why the World Will be Watching...
Photo courtesy Pearl Records Last week, Taylor Swift got a lot of attention for an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about her predictions for the future of the music industry. She remarked (and sales...
View ArticleMegan Fox, and 9 Other Women Michael Bay Added to Our Desktop Wallpapers
Nicola Peltz is pretty cute, but she's no Megan Fox. That's what Michael Bay has turned my thoughts to these days. Damn him. With the cacophony of explosions and annihilations, the ultimate Hollywood...
View ArticleNude Magazine Covers: Not Just for Celebrities
Comparing your own body to a naked celebrity on a magazine cover can make you depressed enough to run straight to the fridge to eat a full pint of ice cream. (It did to me, just now.) That is, unless...
View ArticleNadia G Wants You to 'Bite This' and Tells You Why Her 'Bra Don't Fit No More'
"I've always loved mixing comedy and food. A road trip version of Bitchin' Kitchen seemed like the natural evolution of the show," Cooking Channel's Nadia G said Wednesday in an interview with The...
View ArticleTop 10 Love Lessons From The Bachelorette (Andi's Fantasy Suites)
We always look forward to the Fantasy Suite episodes -- contestants get naked, both literally and figuratively, and sh*t gets real. The Bachelor or Bachelorette may or may not sleep with three hopefuls...
View ArticleSummer in New York City: Keep Cool With Brazilian Music
The World Cup is over but Brazilian music has an extra period for fans in New York. For the multi-venue Brasil Summerfest, one of the headliners is Bebel Gilberto, who plays Celebrate Brooklyn at the...
View ArticleHeavy Metal Movies
This piece first appeared on bazillionpoints.com I recently did an interview with Mike "McBeardo" McPadden about his book Heavy Metal Movies: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos & Cult Zombies Amok In...
View ArticleWho Betcha? The Sociology of Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin has called for President Obama's impeachment. "Enough is enough of the years of abuse from this president," Palin wrote on a politically conservative website. "His unsecured border crisis...
View ArticleTyrants on Television
With a brutal civil war in Syria, an Islamist army marauding across Iraq, Israel and Gaza trading rockets, Egypt simmering, and Jordan the only sane oasis in a crescent of Arab countries, why not a TV...
View ArticleThe Crime Buff's Guide to Comic Con International: San Diego 2014
Comic Con International: San Diego 2014, the four-day extravaganza of all things "comics and related popular artforms" taking place July 24-27, has a decidedly dark bent to it, as do many of the works...
View ArticleMasterChef Recap: Diners, Dignity, and Dan Wu
Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 5, Episode 8 of FOX's MasterChef, titled "Top 14 Compete." Let me tell you one thing, MasterChef fans: cooking on a line is no joke. I thought I was...
View ArticleThe Leftovers Recap: Dude, Where's My Church?
Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 1, Episode 3 of HBO's The Leftovers, titled "Two Boats and a Helicopter." Are you interested now, or what? This week, we found out that it's not just...
View ArticleDolly Parton Talks Fame, Fans and Dance Music
Country music has but one queen, and she has no intention to abdicate the throne. Dolly Parton has entered a new phase of increasing cultural relevance. Her latest studio album Blue Smoke is the...
View ArticleParticle Fever Hits VOD: How Indie Cinema Happens
This summer may pack plenty of silver-screen explosions, but how many of them tell you what you're made of? In the heat of the blockbuster season we find an altogether different kind of explosion:...
View ArticleStill On The Levee & The Boat That Carries Us: Conversations with Peter...
A Conversation with Chris Smither Mike Ragogna: You've got a newly recorded, two-disc retrospective, Still On The Bayou. You've had this wonderful career that the masses... Chris Smither: ...don't...
View ArticleDisneytoon Studios worked closely with CalFire to make "Planes: Fire &...
"Do your research." That is the lesson that John Lasseter -- Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney & Pixar Animation Studios -- has repeatedly drilled into the artists that he works with. That...
View ArticleSaraya Abdeen: TV Serial Vexes Egyptians, Historians
Barely halfway through its month-long run, the TV serial Saraya Abdeen had already ruffled Egyptian feathers, irked historians, and upset the surviving son of Egypt's ousted King Farouk whose forebears...
View ArticleHappy 50th Birthday, Wendy Williams!... How U Doin'?!
"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?"... Paul McCartney; John Lennon Wendy Williams is the real deal. Best known for her five-year stint hosting her own daily TV talk...
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