Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Broadway star Megan Hilty won rave reviews for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in âWickedâ and was nominated for a Tony Award for her characterization of Brooke Ashton in âNoises Off.â Her latest projects include a holiday CD, âA Merry Little Christmas,â and a co-starring role in the Warren Beatty film, âRules Donât Apply.â
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, âbecause when you pay thousands and thousands of dollars for a vacation, itâs mandatory that one of your rugrats gets sick.â
I always viewed “The Heirs” as a much-better followup to “Boys Over Flowers.” Park Shin-Hye and Lee Min-Ho share amazing chemistry as the lead couple.
What would you do if you knew that you had three months left to live? Would you spend it with the ones you love, or would you try to right the wrongs in which you played a part? That’s the dilemma for Korea’s top Hallyu star Joon-Young, who is dying. I don’t feel bad about revealing this bit of information, because it’s revealed early on in this series.
“Impastor” actor Michael Rosenbaum says, “I always remember going to New York for the holidays with the family. It was always hell, but there were a lot of good times. Just waking up at my grandmother Ruthyâs house in Long Island on Christmas morning and driving into a rarely empty Manhattan was pretty memorable. Thereâs nothing like New York during Christmastime â ice-skating, Central Park, hot chocolate, Macyâs, FAO Schwarz. I bought a fake Rolex on the street. It didnât work then and it doesnât now.”
Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Dontari Poe loves football almost as much as he enjoys helping children. His Poe Manâs Dream Foundation started off with an annual free football camp for kids in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn. It has since grown into a program for children in Memphis and Kansas City, Mo., where they are given support with tech events and a three-month program called Dream Big Build Strong. âThat program teaches them about healthy living and eating, and provides additional educational support,â says Poe.
One of the privileges of being a citizen of the United States is enjoying the rights that were fought for by those who came before us. I know. I sound a bit ridiculous stating the obvious, right? But, really … Get out there and vote. If you’re worried about the anticipated long lines on November, get out there and vote early.
Richard Schiff says that until âWest Wing,â most people couldnât pinpoint who he was or why they recognized him. Those days have changed. In the past year alone, the Emmy Award-winning actor has worked on multiple films and television series. Schiff just ended a run as an attorney on DIRECTVâs âRogueâ and can be seen in BBC Americaâs âDirk Gentlyâs Holistic Detective Agency.â
In a review that ran in the New York Times, film critic Jeannette Catsoulis gave “Ode to My Father” a big thumbs down for being “syrupy” and for having “packaged pain … likely to leave Western audiences cold.” While there is no doubt that director Yoo Je-Kyoon would’ve loved for American audiences to embrace his movie, it’s also undeniable that this film was not made with Western moviegoers in mind. It was made for Koreans.
âAfter the fall of the Berlin Wall, a TV station in Japan raised funds to send over cherry blossom trees to Berlin,â says “Berlin Station” actress Tamlyn Tomita. âI was lucky enough to witness the first pink-and-white blossoms in Berlin and to see so many Berliners underneath the beauty of these flowers. It made me proud to view this sight as an American whose fatherâs parents were from Japan, a former axis country, extending a grand gesture of peace toward another former axis country and showing the world how true progress and partnership can be nurtured and sustained.â
When Randall Park was a student at UCLA, he thought about pursuing a career in academia. Thanks partially to some creative writing classes â in which he wrote a part for himself in a student production â he decided to try acting instead. After playing a governor on âVeepâ and North Korean dictator Kim Jung-Un in the controversial film, âThe Interview,â Park landed the role of family patriarch Louis Huang on the ABC sitcom, âFresh Off the Boat.â The third season premiere will air on Oct. 11.
Best known as one of the most famous supermodels of the â90s, Christy Turlington Burns is the founder of the nonprofit organization Every Mother Counts, which is dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for mothers. After experiencing childbirth complications herself, she directed the documentary, âNo Woman, No Cry.â
As we were walking home from school, I listened as some of the children voiced their opinions as to who should (and should not) have been elected to student council. According to my chatty informants, one little girl’s older sister wrote her speech for her. Another boy’s father re-wrote his. Gleefully, they named names. “How do you know this?” I asked. And the kids said that the winners told them so. (You have to love children’s honesty!)
The combination of slapstick humor and witty banter makes “Running Man” a fun viewing experience, even for those who don’t understand Korean. For instance, there is a recurring game where participants will stand in front of mike stands that are rigged to blast air in their faces if they answer incorrectly. My son, now 8, has no comprehension of what’s being asked, but he will search these episodes out to laugh at the slo-motion expressions on the cast members faces when they are “punished.”
“Doctor Crush” is full of bad characters full of bad intentions: the money-hungry father-son duo trying to take over the hospital; Ji-Hong’s uncle, who steals his inheritance and then dumps him off at an orphanage; Hye-Jung’s father, who abandons her; and even Hye-Jung’s raison d’etre for much of the series: revenge.
An avid traveler, Piper Perabo credits her trips for getting her involved with the International Rescue Committee. âI was working in Istanbul and there were so many Syrian refugees there,â she says. âUntil then, it hadnât hit me how far many of them had walked with their families to try to find safety and work. That was an awakening for me.â
Though Sterling K. Brown has been acting for 15 years, he earned âovernight sensationâ status with his Emmy-winning performance as Chris Darden in the FX miniseries, âThe People v. O.J. Simpson.â He returns to television in the new NBC series âThis Is Us,â which premieres on Sept. 20. The actor also will appear in the films âMarshallâ later this year, and, in 2017, M. Night Shyamalanâs âSplit.â
This is the time of year many people start planning their winter vacations. If you want to travel out of the country, it’s important to have a valid passport. But, what many people don’t realize is that depending on which country you’d like to visit, your passport may not be “valid.” Confused? I hear you.
Traveling the world is an incredible experience, but San Francisco-based musician Frances England says that thereâs also adventure to be found in your own backyard. On her latest CD âExplorer of the World,â the songwriter features songs that include snippets of sounds she recorded when she took walks around her local neighborhoods.
After playing a lycanthrope on âTrue Blood,â Kelly Overton gets to hunt vampires in the title role of the new Syfy series, âVan Helsingâ (which premiers on September 23). Based out of Pasadena, Calif., the actress has also started a jewelry brand called Benevolence LA, where the proceeds go toward charitable causes worldwide.