Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Born and raised in Chicago, Suzy Nakamura credits her career at The Second City for honing her comedic chops. Her prolific film and television work includes “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Veep” and “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.” Nakamura, who stars opposite Ken Jeong in the ABC comedy series, “Dr. Ken,” will appear alongside Brooke Shields in the upcoming indie film, “Daisy Winters.”
Moviegoers have watched Christina Ricci grow up on screen. After earning rave reviews for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams in 1991’s “The Addams Family,” she transitioned into more mature parts in films such as “Sleepy Hollow,” “Prozac Nation” and “Monster.” Her latest role is portraying Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald in Amazon Prime Video’s “Z: The Beginning of Everything.”
Before retiring, Mark C. Lee flew on four NASA space flights, traveled more than 13 million miles, circled the globe 517 times and did an untethered spacewalk. In 1992, he and his then-wife, Nancy Jan Davis, made history by becoming the first married astronauts to fly together in space.
When George Kourounis decided to get married, he and his wife had their ceremony on top of an erupting volcano. The Canadian adventurer and documentarian (“Angry Planet,” “Volcanic Planet,” “What On Earth?”) counts that as one of his most memorable experiences.
Cam Gigandet (“The Magnificent Seven,” “The Twilight Saga” franchise) stars alongside Donald Sutherland and Jeremy Sisto in AT&T Audience Network’s latest series, “Ice.” In the serialized crime drama, Gigandet’s character is thrown into the world of corrupt diamond trading, murder and dubious cartels. For the series, Gigandet, 34, moved his family from their Venice, California, home to Vancouver, B.C., where “Ice” is filmed.
Based out of Miami, journalist Kimberly Brooks is co-anchor of “Nightline on Fusion.” The TV personality — who got her start working at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios — is also the host of Fusion’s latest documentary, “O Girls,” which checks in on the progress of five of the young women who were amongst the first to graduate from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
I love boots. Besides providing warmth and traction, they also cover up a multitude of sins, such as cankles, unflattering pants and general slovenliness. And not that I’m into cosplay — because I’m not (not that there’s anything wrong with it) — but when I wear boots, I feel spritely. Like an elf. Not the Will Ferrell kind of elf, but the Legolas/Galadriel kind. Anyone else? No? Just me? Alrighty then… Moving on.
Joe Mantegna won a Tony Award for his performance in David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Glengarry Glen Ross,” co-starred in “The Godfather Part III” and is the voice of Fat Tony on “The Simpsons.” But television viewers know him best as FBI agent David Rossi on the CBS procedural “Criminal Minds,” which airs Wednesdays. Born and raised in Chicago, he resides in the Los Angeles area, where he and his wife, Arlene, own a restaurant called Taste Chicago.
If you want me to write about pop culture for a magazine, I will accept (for the appropriate payment). If you want someone to help your kid get into Harvard, do not ask me to look over anything. Hire a professional who specializes in this and who really wants your business (and it is a business — you will have to pay them). You don’t want an overtired, overworked and resentful me saying, “Okay,” because I don’t want to hurt your feelings. Seriously. You get what you pay for.
The very nature of Twitter is that tweets roll by and then disappear — or, rather, get hidden by a mountain of more recent tweets. These are some of the tweets that I would like to remember.
Olympian Kelsey Robinson helped Team USA win the bronze medal in volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, but her love of basketball is evident by the number on the back of her team jersey — 23. The number, of course, is in honor of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, but it also makes her feel close to her Chicago-area roots, says Robinson, 24.
Actor Russell Hornsby is technically based out of Los Angeles, but he has lived in Portland for the past six years working on the NBC series “Grimm.” His latest role is opposite Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in the feature film adaptation of “Fences,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by August Wilson: “We filmed in Pittsburgh, which is the setting for ‘Fences.’ It added a level of authenticity and the city became another character. My father is from there and I had been there as a young child, but it felt like this was my first real time in Pittsburgh. It’s a burgeoning city that came out of the rubble of the steel mill and created a new identity. The city offers so much and has also become a very foodie-friendly city that embraces artists. I look forward to returning.”
Nelufar Hedayat, 28, was just 6 years old when she and her family fled the Taliban and war-torn Afghanistan. Her experiences as a refugee and immigrant helped shape her desire to make a difference. While working for the BBC, she interviewed Malala Yousafzai for the TV documentary, “Shot for Going to School.” Hedayat’s current project is the Fusion docuseries “The Traffickers,” where she delves into subjects such as the illegal selling of human organs and sex.
Lauren Blumenfeld is working on two series, including “Nightcap,” the latest from Pop and Lionsgate. In 2017, you may see her on CBS in the Katherine Heigl legal procedural “Doubt.” When she gets some time off from work, the busy actress says she’d like to head to Tennessee: “I’m a big Dolly Parton fan, so Dollywood is definitely on my list (of places to visit).”
There are a some really great moments in “Cinderella and Four Knights.” But there was an element that made me uncomfortable. When we meet the female lead, she is not yet 18 and is a few months away from her high school graduation. It’s vague how old the Knights are, but since they are all clearly out of college, I’d guesstimate that they range from mid to late 20’s. Ten years isn’t a big difference when you’re a 30-year-old dating a 40something. But when one half of the duo is 17 … I don’t know. It just detracted from my enjoyment of the series.
I don’t need a lot of appliances in my life. Though I have them, I can get along just fine without a blender, waffle maker or a food processor. But, I cannot live without a rice cooker. Though I initially had a love-hate relationship with this Tiger rice cooker, I have come to love it. It makes perfect steamed rice super fast!
Joan Benedict Steiger lived a glamorous life during Hollywood’s golden era. The resilient actress has survived the deaths of two husbands, including Academy Award-winning actor Rod Steiger. Still, she has fond memories of her life that she reflects upon in her memoir, “Brooklyn Baby: A Hollywood Star’s Amazing Journey through Love, Loss and Laughter” (BearManor Media, $24.95).
I’m not gonna lie. When I watch TV, I like to snack. Back in the day when “Golden Girls” was on, whenever the Girls sat around the kitchen table eating cheesecake, I got a craving for it, too. When Angela ate spaghetti that her father lovingly reheated for her on “My So-Called Life,” I wanted to run to the kitchen and whip up some pasta. Thanks to SnackFever, it makes it a cinch to have Korean snacks on hand for binge-watching your favorite K-Dramas!
Broadway star Megan Hilty won rave reviews for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in “Wicked” and was nominated for a Tony Award for her characterization of Brooke Ashton in “Noises Off.” Her latest projects include a holiday CD, “A Merry Little Christmas,” and a co-starring role in the Warren Beatty film, “Rules Don’t Apply.”
Blogger Karen Alpert details the day-to-day humor (and struggles) of raising young children on her Baby Sideburns website. For instance, her son got a painful ear infection during a recent family getaway, “because when you pay thousands and thousands of dollars for a vacation, it’s mandatory that one of your rugrats gets sick.”