Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
There is a concept in tort law called “duty to rescue,” where a party can be held liable for failing to help a person who is in peril. It was the basis of a plot line in the season finale of “Seinfeld.” It kind of boggles my mind that there needs to be a law to cover this. At what point does a person take it upon themselves to help a stranger who may be in need?
Filmmaker and New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs is best known for his “Miss Peregrine” books. An avid traveler, Rigg says his ideal vacation is to “somewhere I’ve never been before, and preferably, someplace I can’t pronounce. Madagascar has been on my list for a long, long time. While I can pronounce the name of the country, just give its capital city, Antananarivo, a try.”
No matter how rushed I am or what ailments I may have, I am having my cake and eating it, too — in every sense of the expression. And it feels really, really good.
Three years ago, musician Brian Culbertson and his wife started the Napa Valley Jazz Getaway. “It’s what I call a lifestyle event where you come in for several days and listen to great jazz concerts, enjoy meals and hang out late at night,” says Culbertson, who splits his time between the West Coast and Chicago.
My son is learning the concept of, “Ladies first.” We’ve been telling him that as he grows up, it’s polite to let girls and ladies go first. And that everyone should let the elderly go ahead of them.
On his Travel Channel series, “Trip Flip,” comedian and on-air personality Bert Kreischer surprises people with action-packed vacations that are designed to fulfill items on their travel bucket list. Kreischer, 41, resides in Los Angeles with his family. Of California, he says, “I absolutely love it. It stinks that I’m not here enough!” His book, “Life of the Party” (St. Martin’s Press), will be in stores on May 27.
Vincent Chin’s murderers served no jail time. They killed him, but the legal system allowed them to literally get away with murder.
Actor Sean Astin encourages travelers to “look up. It might sound like a simple thing to say, but don’t have your face in a map or your phone or your stuff. I think most people get to wherever they think they need to get to and then they look up.”
News organizations are making the claim that Korean culture is partially to blame for the Sewol ferry disaster. Some even insist that had these been American children onboard, they would’ve escaped death. Shame on them for blaming the young victims of this tragedy.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, sisters Tegan Rain and Sara Keirsten Quin are better known as the musical duo of Tegan and Sara. The twins, 33, won three Juno Awards earlier this year in Canada for their work on their seventh studio album, “Heartthrob.” But the song that has helped earn them a new (and young!) fan base is “Everything is Awesome.” They recorded the infectiously catchy song for “The LEGO Movie.”
Talk show host Wendy Williams’ idea of a vacation doesn’t include sightseeing: “We’re that family that doesn’t care about seeing ancient ruins or centuries old landmarks. All we want to do is lay down on the beach and eat $12 M&M’s from the minibar.”
I found this photo when I was looking for something to put up for Throwback Thursday. I love this picture. I see a little girl who loved getting dressed up and having her picture taken. That’s what I remember. That even during a time of turmoil, a less than pristine backdrop was the worst part of my childhood.
Musician James Durbin remembers taking “road trips to visit with my oma and opa (grandparents). We’d load up the RV and see the country with them. It was their RV. We rode on a ferry when I was three or four years old in Kentucky. I also remember going to Kentucky to stay at my great aunt’s house for a month and that was cool.”
Back in the day, Joseph Simmons was best known to music fans as DJ Run, one of the founding members of Run-D.M.C. Now 49 and a practicing minister, Simmons is familiar to a new generation of fans as Rev Run, the television personality. He and his wife, Justine, star in their current HGTV reality series “Rev Run’s Renovation.”
I was at a record release party for Elton John (back when they were actually records, rather than CDs even) and he was taking pictures with fans. I was off to the side observing. He must’ve mistook me for a fan, ’cause he grabbed my arm and put his arm around me, smiled that smile et voila! Just as I was about to say, “Hi,” he kind of just shoved me aside so he could take a photo with the next person in line.
“Raising Hope” star Lucas Neff says he prefers traveling to “someplace new. I hate returning to the same place. I always feel like I’m missing out. The unknown offers far more. I’m less about vacation, more about experience. I try to avoid places where beheadings are popular though.”
“Greece is unbelievable, and not just because it’s the motherland,” laughs Maria Menounos. “The food there is amazing. I was eating so much homemade food that had fresh ingredients in it.”
I have a slew of press passes from concerts and red carpet events. The event that I was thrilled to cover was the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. John Kennedy Jr. was there and, as could be expected, he was very charismatic and charming. But the celebrity I was most excited to see was…Chris Rock! He and his date were alone behind a roped off area.
Ballerina Misty Copeland has the distinction of being one of the few African-American soloists in the world of ballet. In her newly released memoir “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina” (Touchstone Hardcover, $24.99), Copeland chronicles her tumultuous childhood, a late start in dance (she was 13) and joining the American Ballet Theatre’s corps de ballet as a teenager.
