James Gandolfini, star of the ground-breaking television series The Sopranos, passed away suddenly yesterday in Italy at the age of 51. His role as Tony Soprano, the complicated and brutal New Jersey Mafia boss, set a new standard for television characters. The outpouring of tributes to his unexpected passing continues. Read about him in the […]
Thrifters, hipsters and shoppers on a budget know the value of thrift store shopping. Frugal fashionistas spot vintage treasures, retro items get a re-boot, and recycled items can be used to outfit homes at a low cost. American rappers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' monster hit, Thrift Shop, is a hip-hop anthem against corporate price tags […]
Waiting to be Heard: a Memoir by Amanda Knox promises to tell her side of a particularly brutal story. Knox, an American student living in Italy, was sentenced to 26 years for the 2007 murder and sexual assualt of her British roomate, Meredith Kercher. Knox's boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted for his role in this […]
The Mary Tyler Moore Show almost didn't make it after all. Jennifer Armstrong's Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted reveals that early audiences gave it a chilly reception. 36 years later, The Mary Tyler Moore Show is cited as setting the bar for television comedy and for women's roles on TV. Without Mary Richards, […]
Angel fiction is all the rage. Fans of Danielle Trussoni's best-selling Angelology, a tale of secret societies, ancient libraries, and fallen angels, eagerly await the upcoming release of Angelopolis. If you like books by Dan Brown, you must check this series out. Even more exciting, Will Smith has signed on to produce the film adaptation. […]
F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald ruled the Jazz Age. Rich, talented, beautiful, and outrageous – Scott and Zelda partied like it was 1925. Both continue to fascinate the public and inspire novelists, filmmakers and artists. Director Baz Luhrmann's upcoming The Great Gatsby and the recently published Z: […]
Chinua Achebe, the father of modern African literature, has died at the age of 82 in Boston. Born in Nigeria in 1930, Achebe's first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958) took the world by storm and set the stage for Africa to reclaim the literary voice usurped by her colonizers. Novelist, critic, political activist, professor, […]
Just perfected your Gangnam gallop? Forget it – the Harlem Shake is where it's at. Baauer, a Brooklyn producer, released this electronic dance groove last May. This month, a 30-second concept video set to Baauer's song went viral. Not only that, 40,000+ videos have since been posted to YouTube by people doing their own version. […]
The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet by Dara-Lynn Weiss is the latest paren’ting memoir causing controversy with supporters and critics eager to weigh in. Weiss put her overweight daughter on a strict calorie-based diet which she policed vigorously and very, very publicly. So public, in fact, that Weiss, a free-lance writer, got her […]
Victor Hugo has a lot to answer for. His 1862 novel, Les Misérables, has been adapted for stage, screen, and radio, inspired music and art, and infiltrated popular culture with Susan Boyle, Sideshow Bob, Glee, and countless internet memes. Tom Hooper's recently-released film based on Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's musical has readers storming the […]