Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
The last time Brad Pitt graced the cover of Vanity Fair, the flaxen-haired movie star was in his “Legends of the Fall” mode. This time around, in the November issue, he’s sporting a more clean-cut, well-muscled look.
Chung Goo Ho remembers of the Korean War, “When it got dark, the soldiers aimed searchlights on us. Then they began shooting at the crowd. . . . To dodge the bullets we tried to hide behind the corpses. . . . My mother was shot. At the time, she was hugging me and my younger sister to her breast to protect us from the gunfire. She was killed by four bullets to her head and her back. My sister and I could do nothing but wait. We had nothing to eat and we drank bloody water out of a nearby stream.”
The women have Lilith Fair. And if singer-songwriter Steve Poltz gets his way, the men will have Frasier Fair.
Multimedia star Oprah Winfrey can add cover-girl queen to her list of credits. A longtime fixture on TV Guide, People and women’s magazines, Winfrey graces the cover of both the October Vogue and this week’s Time magazine. Both are timed to hype the opening of her film “Beloved” next month.
“No land on Earth possesses more wonder than Egypt,” narrator Omar Sharif notes in “Mysteries of Egypt,” the latest Omnimax film to play at the Museum of Science and Industry. And the film certainly plays up some of those wonders: the ancient Pyramids, King Tutankhamen’s sacred tomb and the glorious, winding stretch of the Nile. But what the movie lacks is the excitement and splendor of previous Omnimax films such as the superb “Everest.”
There’s one thing I don’t ever want to see in a women’s room — a man. Ever since “Ally McBeal” hit it big on Fox, talk around the water cooler has centered on two things: the brevity of our heroine’s hemline and the uncomfortable concept of the coed bathrooms that the attorneys share on the show.
Imagine that the Russians took over America in 1957, nirvana is a place called Lost Vegas and the leader of the Western world is Elvis Presley. When he dies in 1997, every guitar-playing, sword-swinging maverick worth his weight in blue suede shoes heads to Vegas to become the next King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The October issue of Playgirl screams “Leonardo DiCaprio Nude!” But that’s not the whole truth. The slender star did not pose nude for the magazine. Rather, the magazine printed stills from 1995’s “Total Eclipse,” a little-seen art-house film in which he portrayed bisexual poet Arthur Rimbaud.
You have seen “Knock Off” before. And you didn’t like it then, either. Sure, it may have had a different title and maybe a Dolph Lundgren or a Brandon Lee in the starring role instead of Jean-Claude Van Damme. But the premise has always been the same: The charming, vaguely shady hero is caught in a web of deceit where no one is what they claim to be. (In Van Damme’s case, that would be an actor.)
This spare duo delivers a cohesive, 15-track follow-up to 1996’s As Good as Dead. Equal parts sardonic brat (”All the Kids Are Right”), realist (”She Hates My Job”), and dreamer (”Lucky Time”), vocalist Scott Lucas also cranks out the best crunchy guitar licks since Cheap Trick’s heyday. Grade: A-
Cathy Rigby is a two-time Olympian and a Tony Award nominee. But ask the former gymnast what frightens her the most and she’ll answer without missing a beat. “The thought of my 16-year-old daughter driving . . . alone,” Rigby said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “I’ve been through it before, but you never really get used to it.”
Movie soundtracks have become music to record companies’ ears. Once studios discovered that popular music from such artists as Simon and Garfunkel and the BeeGees could help sell a film, the lush orchestral scores that were the high-water mark of the ’50s all but disappeared. These days, soundtracks have become far more than promotional tools for hyping a movie. They are thriving independently of the films that spawn them to become a force on the album charts – with some even outliving their big screen brethren.
There was one scene in “Dead Man on Campus” that elicited a really good laugh. But I’m not sure whether it truly was funny, or if I was just so bored that it seemed funny at the time. The premise of the “comedy”: A couple of irresponsible college freshmen slack off all semester and freak out when they realize they are about to flunk out of school. So instead of hitting the books and getting tutors, they do what all 18-year-olds do in that situation: They try to find a suicidal third roommate.
What’s wrong with this picture? The reigning single this summer is “The Boy is Mine,” a sultry duet by teen divas Brandy and Monica fighting over a slick, two-timing beau. The tune is catchy enough. But its comparatively moody lyrics and subtle delivery are a far cry from the season’s usual sunny songs.
Vincent Gallo wrote, directed and starred in “Buffalo ’66.” But ask him which of his talents he’s proudest of and Gallo will answer, “Well, I’ve acted in 18 movies, but I would never call myself an actor. I’m not Steve McQueen. More than anything else, I’m probably best as a stylist.” This is the enfant terrible described by some as a “loose cannon”? “I am a bit vindictive and unforgiving to people who behave inappropriately against me,” Gallo said softly in an interview from his Los Angeles home. “But I’m not really mean to anybody.”
What’s wrong with this picture: Roger Daltrey not playing to a full house Tuesday night at the 4,200-seat Rosemont Theatre. I’m not sure how all the no-shows knew they’d be better off staying home that evening, but they had the good fortune of missing a stinker of an event called the British Rock Symphony.
Here are a few factoids I picked up at the Backstreet Boys concert Saturday night at the New World Music Theatre in Tinley Park: Nick Carter, the youngest (18), tallest (6-foot-1) and blondest of the five Boys, is the most popular. The Backstreet Boys say “Wassup?!” a lot. They are the male equivalent of the Spice Girls: young, good-looking and blandly appealing as singers.
There were three rules for the 250 or so Hanson fans who finagled their way inside Planet Hollywood Friday afternoon for the popular pop trio’s press conference. No screaming. No standing. No flash photography. All three rules were broken quicker than you could say “MMMBop” when 15-year-old Taylor Hanson announced that his secret, unfulfilled fantasy was “to meet every single person here.”
Richard Ashcroft had his work cut out for him when the Verve kicked off their American tour in Chicago. Instead of performing at the 13,400-capacity Rosemont Horizon as originally planned, poor ticket sales forced the Englishmen to move the show to the Aragon Ballroom, a venue one-third the Horizon’s size. Then, too, the quintet performed minus lead guitarist Nick McCabe, who had announced earlier this month that he would not go on the road with his bandmates.
“It’s OK if people make fun of us because we’re young or whatever,” says 15-year-old Taylor, the keyboardist and lead vocalist. “Howard Stern makes fun of our music, but it’s cool because he makes fun of everyone. We enjoy making music and performing together, but we have a sense of humor about all of it, too. You can’t take it all too seriously.”