Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
A huge hit in South Korea, where it was filmed, “Miss Granny” doesn’t have a unique plot. But, director Hwang Dong-hyuk deftly takes an old premise (an elderly woman finds herself magically transformed into a 20 year old) and adds some new twists and social commentary. The result? A charming comedy full of music and scenes that will tug at your heart.
Bestselling author Sara Shepard is best known for her “Pretty Little Liars” books. She says her love of travel often makes it into her books. “If my characters travel somewhere, I generally write about a place I know to give the scenes more authenticity,” she says.
The worst book review I’ve ever read. Maureen Corrigan’s take on a Korean novel reeked of enthocentric entitlement.
So, what the heck is a Pororo, you ask? If you can’t tell by the cover, it’s an adorable little animated penguin. In South Korea, where the “Pororo The Little Penguin” series made its debut in 2003, it’s the show for the preschool/kindergarten set. While it airs in more than 80 countries around the world (including Brazil, Australia, France, India and the United Kingdom), the show never made a concerted effort to break the U.S. market.
“Doggy Poo” is based on Kwon Jung-saeng’s 1968 children’s book of the same name. During that time period, South Korea was still in the process of recovering from the Korean War. It was still decades away from becoming the high-tech, wealthy country it is today. And I can’t help but wonder if the book wasn’t an allegory for how its citizens must sacrifice themselves (brutal work conditions, relentless hours spent studying at school) for the greater good of the country.
Born in Sao Paulo to Korean parents, author Samuel Park is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States. “I left Brazil at age 14 (for Los Angeles), so my Portuguese is pretty fluent, even though I don’t have any Portuguese-speaking friends,” says Park, 36. “But I watch Brazilian soaps obsessively every day! So I can understand the language as well as I did 20 years ago. My Korean, incidentally, is quite weak, and much worse than my Portuguese.”
When bill collectors called the Crews house, they talked to Kambri, the hearing child of deaf parents. Today, Kambri Crews, a 40-year-old author, having watched her charismatic father beat her mother, tells her compelling life story filled with love, hope and fear, in her thoughtful and sly memoir “Burn Down the Ground” (Villard, $25). One of the more unique places that Crews travels to is the Texas prison where her father is serving a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of a girlfriend.
A “critic” at a publication I never heard of suggested that I not write reviews for films that I didn’t like. For real. He really said this. He didn’t seem to understand that at the Chicago Sun-Times (where I was employed at the time), editors didn’t give reporters the option of only writing about things that they liked. He argued with me about it until I finally just stopped responding to his emails. Who was he? Honestly, I can’t even remember.
With multiple best-selling books under the belt, Kyung-sook Shin has rock star status in her native South Korea. Now the 48-year-old author is ready to enter the international market with her latest book, “Please Look After Mom” (Knopf, $24.95). The touching novel — about a family that doesn’t appreciate their mother until after she has mysteriously disappeared — sold more than a million copies in Korea. It has since been released in more than 20 countries and debuted May 1 at number 14 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
“Because I have a lot of property and horses, I am always moving something heavy and rarely sitting down,” says Linda Eder, who’s best known for her work on Broadway in “Jekyll & Hyde.” “I also like to do home remodeling, which is hard work. I’m always overdoing it. So when I go on vacation I like to really go on vacation — meaning I like to rest, without too many distractions. I like to lie in the sun by the ocean, eat great food and relax.”
Seth Webster (James Van Der Beek) is a widowed father trying to raise a pair of unruly boys. When the twins drive off yet another nanny, he hires a kindly and angelic woman named Mrs. Merkle (Doris Roberts) to take care of their household. Before long, the twins are behaving less like feral beasts and more like well-behaved little gentlemen.
Julia Bedford (Linda Hamilton) is not having a great year. When the homemaker divorces her cheating and vindictive husband–who hides his assets and makes sure that she gets almost none of “his” money–she finds herself in a hopeless situation. The bleak and predictable premise is the basis of “Home by Christmas.”
At first glance, “Bones” is a solid crime procedural. But as the series enters its fifth season, it’s clear that “Bones” really works as a romantic drama as well. Not romantic in the mushy sense, but in a way that makes viewers’ hearts skip a beat (from joy at seeing a good coupling, not from the shock of all the gory bodies being discovered, examined, and dissected).
On the seventh season of the Emmy-winning sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” the majority of the episodes revolve around love. And the man nursing a heartache isn’t who you’d suspect. Charlie (Charlie Sheen) has always been a love-’em and leave-’em kind of guy. But now engaged to Chelsea, he wants to settle down. Wait, make that he wants to want to settle down.
Some colleges live for football games. At Atlanta’s tony Truth University, it’s all about stepping. In Stomp the Yard: Homecoming–the straight-to-DVD sequel to 2007’s Stomp the Yard–the film focuses on a young student named Chance Harris (Collins Pennie). Chance is an exceptional dancer who got involved with the wrong group of people.
Scott Simon, National Public Radio host and author, chose a subject close to home for his latest book, “Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption” (Random House, $22). He and his French wife, former film producer Caroline Richard, have adopted two daughters from China and his poignant and witty memoir speaks not only of their family’s experiences, but also those of other adoptive parents, such as “Freakonomics” author Steven Levitt. Simon, 58, resides on the East Coast with Richard and their daughters Elise and Lina. Currently on a nationwide book tour, Simon’s tour dates are available on his website (www.scottsimonbooks.com).
For children’s author Ginger Rue, the best trips are the ones where she can spend time with her two young children. Based in Northport, Ala., Rue, 39, says the best vacation memory she has is of “seeing the unadulterated joy on my daughters’ faces when we took them to Disney World. I’ll always treasure that.” As for the worst? “When my younger daughter got a stomach bug during a car trip to Dallas,” she recalls. Rue’s latest book “Jump” (Tricycle Press, $15.99) chronicles the life of a high school Mean Girl who develops some empathy when she unexpectedly jumps into the bodies of some of the kids she has bullied. “Jump” hits stores on Sept. 14.
The sixth season of “House, M.D.” starts off with a phenomenal two-part episode that sets the tone for the rest of the year. After years of abusing prescription drugs (and colleagues), Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) finds himself in a psychiatric ward as a patient who is not so patient with his own doctor. Smart and manipulative, House tries to finagle his way out of the hospital. But his selfish actions set off a chain reaction of events that manage to shake even his own confidence–temporarily, at least.
The Presidio is about two law enforcement officers who don’t get along but learn to respect each other as they solve a crime. Sound familiar? Lethal Weapon has made a franchise out of this hackneyed formula. But unless the chemistry between the two stars works, the viewer doesn’t care what happens to either of the characters.
In just 128 pages, this juicy paperback springs so much Friends trivia on you you’ll be lousy with the stuff. The factoids come atcha in the form of quizzes, early-years episode recaps and even photo captions. Author Jae-Ha Kim exposes her obsession with NBC’s last true “must-see” TV hit, at the same time drawing out our own obsessions.