Celebrity birthdays: Drew Carey turns 50
Mr. Price is Right Drew Carey turns 50 today, while the lovely Jewel turns 34. And first Dancing with the Stars champ Kelly Monaco turns 32. I'll be celebrating a big birthday this weekend, myself. No, not mine. My friend Rosemary Chalk has a milestone birthday and friends and family are coming from all around the country to celebrate with her Sunday here in Washington, D.C.
What's up this Weekend
It’s been a rough week for me (strep throat will really bring a girl down) so I’m looking forward to a fun, healthier holiday weekend. Here are a few things I'm aiming to fit in my schedule this weekend. Maybe you'll want to fit a few into yours.
If you’ve been living in a temple of doom and aren’t aware, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is in theaters today. Buy your tickets online – chances are lines will be long and theaters full. Or, do what I'm doing, get the DVD set of the first three Indiana Jones movies and watch those this weekend, then see the new one next weekend.
Rather spend your time sitting in the sun? You'll need a good book. I Was Told There’d be Cake, by 29-year-old Sloane Crosley, takes a dry, witty look at all those absurd everyday situations that only a suburban girl in the city could get herself into. For a more motivational read, pick up The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He’s a professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. These are his words on what he wants his legacy to be. Or watch his original lecture on YouTube — it really is moving.
Now that it’s officially swimsuit season, you may want to acquire some healthier eating habits. Try Oprah's 21-day detox plan, which cuts out caffeine, sugar, alcohol and any animal products. She said Day One “wasn’t hard at all.” Oh, yeah? Get back to me on Day Four, O, when the cravings really kick in.
Fun fact: I was a spelling bee champ in grade school, four years running. So I loved the magazine's story about kids who fought to keep their own spelling bees from being shut down.
Looking for someone to spend the weekend with? Hayden Panettiere is auctioning off a chance to go whale watching with her. OK, so that wouldn’t fill your time this weekend, but it’d be something to look forward to.
Put Jesse McCartney's brand new CD, Departure, on your iPod. McCartney, now 21, is no longer just a teen heartthrob. He's matured and his music shows it. Plus, he wrote the Leona Lewis hit Bleeding Love that you've been hearing everywhere, including on Letterman earlier this week.
Make your Memorial Day moving. Watch the 2008 National Memorial Day Concert on PBS Sunday evening. Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna co-host it for the third time. Both are champions of veterans and men and women in active service. The concert airs live from the U.S. Capitol and this year features Gladys Knight, Sarah Brightman, Idina Menzel, Charles Durning and the National Symphony Orchestra, among others.
(Indiana Jones picture by David James/ ™ & © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. Hayden Panettiere photo by Heidi Gutman/NBC)
Adam Sandler's costar, Emmanuelle Chriqui
Canadian Emmanuelle Chriqui (at left) is a bit of a paradox. She’s simultaneously a rising new starlet and hard-working show-biz veteran with a resume boasting projects from both sides of the border dating back to the mid ‘90s. But now Chriqui (pronounced 'Shreeky') is a leading lady in Adam Sandler’s hairdryer-wielding comedy You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, out June 6. Chriqui, 30, is another of the featured actors in our Who's News look at supporting players. Below is more of her chat with Jon Tollestrup about impending fame, the future of her character Sloan on HBO’s Entourage and Zohan himself, Mr. Adam Sandler.
Mamma Mia! star Christine Baranski
This summer, "Greece" is the word for Christine Baranski. The impeccably coiffed comedienne heads to Plato’s stomping ground as Meryl Streep’s girlfriend in the musical Mamma Mia! on July 18 (they're both pictured at right). And honestly, the whole experience sounded more like a holiday than a job. Baranski is another of the supporting players we feature on this weekend's Who's News page. Read on for even more of Jon Tollestrup's interview with her.
Sex and the City newcomer Jennifer Hudson
In 2006 Jennifer Hudson’s show-stopping debut in Dreamgirls
recalibrated the phrase “a star is born.” The singer who did not win American Idol, instead won an Oscar. Come Wednesday we'll see her in her second movie Sex and the City: The Movie so we featured her with a few other famed "second bananas" in this weekend's print Who's News. Read below for our full Hudson interview with Jon Tollestrup.
May 22, 2008
Ugly Betty's move to NYC
Speaking of Naomi Campbell, she guest stars on tonight's season finale of Ugly Betty, along with Lindsay Lohan, who will appear in episodes next year, as well. It's a good career move for Lohan, who needs to be seen actually acting again. And it's a good thing she's bi-coastal, because the show is moving from L.A. to NYC to take advantage of new tax incentives offered by the Big Apple. Betty already is set there on screen — main character Betty Suarez is from Queens, Mode magazine is established in chi-chi Manhattan — and the show will shoot in both. LA writer Brenda Duran bumped into Betty star Eric Mabius recently and asked him about the move, which he says is "pretty intense." Read what he had to say below.
Naomi Campbell is getting older
A.J. Langer, who played "bad girl" Rayanne on the Claire Danes series My So-Called Life, is 34 today. And
model Naomi Campbell is getting up there — she celebrates 38, on good behavior, I hope.
May 21, 2008
Celebrating birthdays: Mr. T
American actress Fairuza Balk (her first name means turquoise in Farsi) turns 34 today, and House's Dr. Cuddy, Lisa Edelstein, turns 41. Meanwhile, The A-Team's Mr. T is 56, which means he was a mere 31 when The A-Team hit the air. Somehow he seemed older than that, didn't he?
DWTS Season Six Winner: Kristi Yamaguchi
And so it's over. Kristi Yamaguchi is queen of the dance floor and my first true Dancing with the Stars experience has come to an end. As I told you at the beginning, I'd never followed a season from start to finish, but because it is the second most watched show in America (only American Idol gets more viewers) I wanted to understand the phenomenon. I was invested from the premiere and lucky enough to go to the ballroom and get a front row seat, plus talk with so many of the contestants and professionals during the 10 weeks of the show. Read my recap below.
May 20, 2008
DWTS sixth season finale: Kristi should win it
Kristi Yamaguchi danced circles Monday night around her competition, my own favorites Jason Taylor and Cristian de la Fuente. And there's no doubt she should be declared the winner tonight. (She's pictured at right with partner Mark Ballas, celebrating their two perfect scores.) But strange things happen on Dancing with the Stars and viewers votes count mightily. Last night's show was watched by nearly 19 million, making it the most watched program of the night (and there were some wild season finales - did you see Bones and House?) Because the show has a majority female audience, some speculate that women vote for men and not the female competitors. Thus men win, even if inferior dancers. Tell me what you think? Do women vote for men, not women? Do men vote for men too? Why has a woman not won in five seasons? Post your thoughts - and your votes - below.
(photo by Michael Desmond/ABC)
