When Movies Were Movies and Stars Were Stars: New Books On Mabel Normand and...
"YOU MIGHT say everything that ever happened in pictures, good and bad, happened to Mabel first. She had the first ride, and she paid." That is from the new book Mabel and Me: A Novel About The Movies...
View ArticleBlurred Lines
High school has always been a special kind of purgatory for angst-ridden teens. Popularity rules all and those who aren't in the golden circle dream of ways to get in. Try as hard as you can; it's a...
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Attack of the Crab Monsters: Mighty Movie's Temple of Bad
I for one welcome our crustacean overlords. Even if you've never seen Attack of the Crab Monsters, you probably still know it by heart. It is the perfect model of the drive-in B-movie, a sublime mix of...
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Bettie Page 'Revealed All' to Mark Mori, Director of Sexy, New Biopic
Few swimsuit models have set the culture on fire quite like Bettie Page. In the early 1950s, when bikinis could not be bought in stores and photographers could be arrested for sending nude pics through...
View ArticleMy Take on 'The Americans'
Back in the early, one might say naïve, days of the CIA, we entered the clandestine ranks as Junior Officer Trainees (JOT's). We had a short orientation in Washington, followed by an overlong six...
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Why Did Solange Knowles Attack Jay-Z?
This question originally appeared on Quora: Why did Solange Knowles attack Jay-Z?. Answer by Abbe Diaz, Best-Selling Author of PX This. (diary of the "Maître d' to the Stars"), former "maitre d' to the...
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Belle: A Lesson in the Timelessness of Racism and Misogyny Against Black Women
It's not often that audiences are exposed to a portrayal of racism that is viewed through the lens of black women. Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mixed-race woman in 1700s England, was the daughter of an...
View ArticleOh Wow Another NYC vs. LA Blog!
Admit it. You've considered ditching NYC for LA. I escaped the rock 16 months ago, and though it's taboo to say, I actually loved it. Not only are some of the most incredible people I know life-long...
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A Letter Home: A Conversation with Neil Young
A Conversation with Neil Young Mike Ragogna: Neil, your new album A Letter Home, might be the most personal album of your career. You recorded singer-songwriter classics that are dear to you with an...
View ArticleLet's Make HPV Vaccination a Public Health Priority
Two distinct but very different emotions often dominate our minds and our discussions surrounding cancer: fear and hope. As a cancer survivor, I have known fear. You can process very few emotions other...
View ArticleKeep Your Friends Close... and Your Frenemies Closer
"What do you think about frenemies?" "I say, keep your friends close, and your frenemies closer." That's how the saying goes. #BFF, #Biffle, #BestFriendsForever... All these tags have got me thinking...
View ArticleArthur Hailey Was My First Love
I am a sucker for the disaster movie. Any movie (good or bad) that the world is destroyed by earthquakes, asteroids, aliens, floods, tidal waves, giant spiders... I will watch. I once sat through an...
View ArticleWhy "Happy" Makes Me Unhappy
I need to come out of the closet. This is something I've wanted to say for a long time. I don't want you to feel like I've purposefully tried to hide who I am from you all. I've just been grappling...
View ArticleCanne Film Festival Diary 2014
This is an unbelievable year for Canada at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition to our film The Captive by Atom Egoyan, there are two other Canadian films in competition (Maps to the Stars directed by...
View ArticleBill O'Reilly's Killing Jesus Illustrates the Problem With the Gospels
If the irresistible temptation to fashion Jesus in one's own image persists today, nearly 2,000 years after the crucifixion, it must have been even more tempting for the gospel writers, translators,...
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On Donald Glover, Weirdos and the Myth of the Black Male Narrative
Photo courtesy of Flowtography by @PhenomBlak I was raised in the Bronx in the '80s at the height of both the crack and AIDS epidemic. My neighborhood gave birth to Pistol Pete and the Sex, Money,...
View ArticleBonnaroo Lets Social Media Choose Next Performer At Upcoming Music Festival
Ever dreamed of rocking out with your band at Bonnaroo? How about sprouting wings and taking flight over the crowd at Bonnaroo like an eagle? Well, we are prepared to make ONE of these dreams come...
View ArticleHit and Myth: Belle
What does it mean in a young woman's life to be constantly stared at and treated as "the Other?" Belle, directed by Amma Asante and written by Misan Sagay, has a lush, gorgeous look from the costumes...
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6 Reasons Why Carrie Bradshaw Should Not Be Your Role Model
Who doesn't love a good Sex and The City binge right before going out for a night with your friends, or when you're sitting home by yourself on a lazy Sunday afternoon? The show was definitely one of...
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Farewell to Syfy's 'Warehouse 13' -- A Chat With Showrunner Jack Kenny
After five seasons, The Syfy Network's Warehouse 13, one of TV's most inventive science fiction series -- a smart, entertaining mix of drama, humor, the supernatural and time travel -- will air its...
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