Kidman, Streep celebrate birthdays
Expectant mother Nicole Kidman turns 41 today and grandpa Lionel RIchie turns 59. But look who celebrates birthdays this weekend. Prince William turns 26 - marrying age? - on Saturday, the same day Juliette Lewis turns 35. On Sunday, Meryl Streep turns a beautiful 59, Cyndi Lauper turns 55 and Carson Daly turns 35.
Weekend Outlook
What are you doing on this first weekend of summer? Whatever it is, make time to read USA WEEKEND to catch up on singer Mary J. Blige and to listen in on our phone conversation with Dirty Harry himself, Clint Eastwood. Blige 
is the cover story; Eastwood a quick interview. One bit from Clint that didn't make the story: Whether he's going for McCain or Obama. "I’ve been watching some of this stuff, but I must say I’m not excited about the whole thing," says the ex-mayor of Carmel, Calif. He says his wife, a former TV reporter, worked in Arizona and got to know McCain so the Eastwoods were enthusiastic about McCain eight years ago. "We still like him, so we'll see what happens."
If you get your election news from television, you must not miss the piece in this week's New Yorker on MSNBC's angry anchor Keith Olbermann. As one of Olbermann's "worst person in the world" subjects, I had a particular interest, and was just slightly surprised to find that even Olbermann's bosses think he's crazy.
While we're talking magazines...I plan to make time this weekend for The Atlantic's cover story "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Don't worry, I'm not abandoning my low-brow ways. I'll catch up with my tabloids, too. Got to get the details on Jamie Lynn Spears baby girl and the John Mayer-Jennifer Aniston romance. Does anyone else wonder what Aniston is thinking dating that cad?
Speaking of summer and reading, don't tell my book club because I'm supposed to be engrossed in the well-reviewed novel I Am Madam X but I'm so caught up in Girls Like Us, about Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Carole King, that I read until I fall asleep with it on my head every night. And I can't wait to start the new David Sedaris book When You Are Engulfed in Flames, even if Entertainment Weekly didn't much like it. Because I can't get enough of old Hollywood, I'm making my way through the Doris Day biography I told you about yesterday, which reminds me that while I was in NYC for the Tony Awards last weekend I heard about Robert Wagner's tell-all autobio coming in September. Much good gossip and names named, so I'm told. What are you reading? Tell me by posting below. I love new recommendations.
Tonight I'm heading out for a girls movie night; we're thinking about Get Smart. I SO wanted to be agent 99 when I was a kid. But if you are staying in and want an excellent rental, get Stop-Loss with Ryan Phillippe. I rented it last weekend and was stunned by the performances and the story it tells.
Celebrities, they're just like us, right? Brad Pitt took in a Radiohead concert in Milan on Wednesday night, flying there from the south of France on a private jet. Oh, yeah. Just like me.
Extra: Doris Day's biographer shares details
Doris Day is not hot. She is no longer a big star. But she is a remarkable and talented woman who made her mark on Hollywood at a time before TMZ, when public and private lives were separate. In public she was the all-American girl. In private it was a different story and that's the one biographer David Kaufman tells in his new book Doris Day:The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door. Our Jon Tollestrup had an extended conversation with Kaufman about the woman and the book, which hit stores earlier this month.
To read our revealing interview with Doris Day's biographer, click on the Read More link.
June 19, 2008
Celebrate Paula Abdul's birthday
Wow. American Idol's,Paula Abdul is gettin' up there. She turns 46 today. And Kathleen Turner - she of Body Heat and War of the Roses fame - is 54.
June 18, 2008
'Black Gold' on truTV: a series that's relevant
Because gas prices are creeping toward $5 a gallon, I thought we might find truTV's new series Black Gold the most relevant new show of summer. Watch just one epsiode (it's on Wednesday nights) and let’s just say you’ll have a whole new appreciation for that tank of gas. So I asked writer Jon Tollestrup to talk to oilman Mike LaMonica (at left) -- the star of the show, so to speak. Here's what Jon learned.
* LaMonica, 53, at first didn't want to let the cameras in because “Every time television or movies portray oil people it’s always in a bad light, like we’re terrible people who are greedy and want to ruin the environment.”
* Matthew McConaughey's brother "Rooster" McConaughey, a pipe vendor, is one of the featured players. Plus he checked out the producers to assure LaMonica they were legit.
* Every hour an oil rig lays dormant costs LaMonica’s company about $2,000, which adds up to nearly $50,000 a day. And with a myriad of moving parts, it’s not uncommon for the tiniest cog to paralyze the whole outfit. But the money doesn't compare to the constant threat to life the crew members dodge each day on the rig.
* On weekends, LaMonica is a deacon for the Catholic Church, a practice that has helped offset the occupational stresses. “We have a room where people voluntarily come and share things that are going on in their lives and we pray for the safety of the workers, so it’s a very different environment here,” says LaMonica. “We also treat people ethically. Doing the right thing and not the thing that will make you the most money is a constant in our company.”
American Girl movie is a chick flick for sure
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl may be the ultimate chick-flick — it is, after all, a tale based on a popular American GIrl doll. Which is why actor Chris O'Donnell's three sons — Christopher, 7, Charles, 5, and Finlay, 2 — don't even want to go to dad's big opening. "My boys asked, 'Do we have to go to the premiere?'" says O'Donnell, who put some gray in his hair to play Kit's father, a car dealer who loses his job. "I wouldn't go to a movie called An American Girl. It is a movie for girls. But my boys will go, and they'll like the film. They'll also like the popcorn." O'Donnell's next film, Max Payne, is not one for kids. Co-starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis and opening this fall, it's a crime thriller set in New York.
Paul McCartney, Roger Ebert turn 66 today
Very happy birthday wishes go out to Sir Paul McCartney and Roger Ebert, both of whom turn 66 today. Actress Carol Kane also celebrates today -- she turns 56.
June 17, 2008
Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb share stories
My boss, Jack Curry, the Editor of USA WEEKEND, is always pushing me and the rest of the staff to find unconventional ways to tell our stories, especially the familiar ones. So I can hardly wait to read what he got from his interview with new Today show co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. Here's how it went down, according to Jack. (That's him pictured below with the ladies and our deputy photo editor Sarah Claxton.)
"Interviewing the interviewers can be easy or tough. Years ago I talked to the then-hot Garry Shandling and he was a petulant, rambling boor. I've actually been on Bill Maher's old talk show and he was as polite and hospitable off screen as he can be pugnacious on air. Yesterday when I sat down with Kathie Lee and Hoda or an upcoming cover story on Today I got a) flirted with, b) red-faced — they are dirty! and c) thoroughly entertained. Kathie Lee told a story with references to what happens to Eastern European men when they swim naked in cold water (figure it out) that, though she claims she told on air, I can't repeat here. Hoda says the most emails she has gotten from viewers was when on a recent show she revealed her weight, so I will do the same and hope we get the same reaction: 146. Check out that photo and maybe you can see Mrs. Gifford checking out my muscles -- cool with me but you've got to wonder what Frank is going to think. All in all, a fun time and I think good material for what I hope will be USA WEEKEND's fresh look at this well established show in the July 13 issue."
Cybill Shepherd on 'Psych' and her exercise bike
Speaking of Psych, Cybill Shepherd (at right) joins the cast for at least four episodes this season playing James Roday's mother, Corbin Bernsen's ex. Shepherd is breathless as she talks to our L.A. writer Bart Mills -- while doing a phone interview for our Who's News page, she’s putting in time on her stationary bike. She's always been a woman who wastes not a minute of time. I interviewed her years ago within months of her having twins Ariel and Zach. I arrived to meet her in her hotel room here in Washington, D.C., and was ushered into the bedroom, where Cybill had just been awakened from a needed nap. No makeup, suffering from a bad case of bed head, she stayed under the covers while I sat in a chair at the end of the bed. No vanity, no holds barred.
But back to the current interview. Cybill tells Bart she'll return in the next season of The L Word. She gasps (still on the bike), “The bad news is that next season is the last season. The good news is that I’ll do two of the last eight episodes. And more good news is that my daughter Clementine (Ford) will be in two episodes, too, playing my daughter again. It’ll be thrilling to work with her again because she’s really good and it’s really brought us together.” Read more about Cybill's upcoming projects below.
'Psych' duo's Ebony & Ivory
If you like the USA Network comedy Psych and its hilarious outtakes known as "Psych-outs," then you must click here to see the stars, Dule Hill and James Roday, doing their version of the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder song Ebony & Ivory.
