Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) leaves behind McDreamy, McSteamy, and McSeattle to join California’s Oceanside Wellness Center, a private practice that was founded by two best friends from med school. But if she’s expecting a drama-free existence, she’s in the wrong place.
Even Rick Springfield is surprised that his latest album — “Venus in Overdrive” — has charted higher than his 1982 breakthrough record “Working Class Dog.” The latter spawned the hit singles “I’ve Done Everything for You,” “Love is Alright Tonite” and, of course, “Jessie’s Girl.” As well known for his singing as his tall, angular good looks, Springfield is back on the road to promote “Venus.”
Paul Feig has made a career out of capturing children’s angst. As the creator of the critically acclaimed but short-lived TV series “Freaks and Geeks,” Feig succinctly captured the lives of teenagers. With Ignatius MacFarland: Frequenaut!, Feig tackles his first children’s book.
Alfre Woodard is Alice Pratt, a modest woman who owns a small, homey diner. Kathy Bates is Charlotte Cartwright, the much-divorced board member of a top corporation founded by one of her husbands. Viewers are asked to suspend their beliefs in reality that this mismatched pair from different socioeconomic, moral, and ethnic backgrounds could have enough in common to put up with each other, much less be best friends. And yet in his homespun way, writer-director Perry–who also has a small role in the film–makes it work.
Filled with intriguing story lines and a smoking hot cast, Dirty Sexy Money focuses on a idealistic attorney wrestling with his father’s death and the family that may be responsible for it. Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) stars as Nick George, whose father was the legal counsel for the Darling family and good friends with patriarch Tripp (Donald Sutherland) and his wife Letitia (Jill Clayburgh).
The second season of Ugly Betty finds the titular heroine juggling the affections of two men, embroiled in ongoing chaos at work, and dealing with some serious drama on the home front. And yes, this truly is a comedy. First there’s the aftermath of Santos’ death at the end of last season just as he and Betty’s sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz) were reconciling. Hilda deals with her grief by befriending a group of senior citizens, while her son (Mark Indelicato) turns from Broadway-loving good boy to leather-wearing bad boy almost overnight.
Born in the United States to Korean parents and raised in Canada — where she calls Vancouver home — Grace Park got the travel bug early. Though concurrent roles on “The Cleaner” and “Battlestar Galactica” — as well as the Canadian series “The Border” — preclude her from taking as many vacations as she’d like, Park says visiting new countries is one of the joys in life she shares with her husband, Phil Kim. India and Brazil hold special places in Park’s heart, but her favorite destination thus far is Italy’s quaint Vernazza.
Emo Philips has fond memories of Chicago. The Downers Grove native may be based in Los Angeles now, but he credits the Windy City for giving him his big break.
Loosely based on the 2001 Korean romantic comedy of the same name, My Sassy Girl follows a young couple that was brought together by unusual circumstances. Charlie (Jesse Bradford, Flags of Our Fathers) finds Jordan (Elisha Cuthbert, 24) drunk and passed out in a subway station. Worried that she’ll be harmed, he makes sure she gets home safely.
The Chicago Carifete celebrated its 13th anniversary Saturday in Hyde Park with music, costumes and a parade. But it was the mouth-watering Caribbean dishes that attracted some of the fest’s most loyal attendees. “We love the food because it tastes really authentic,” says Arlene Levels of Indianapolis, who traveled with three bus loads of foodies for this year’s Carifete. “And it tastes really authentic because the vendors are all from the Caribbean. This isn’t something you can get in a mall.” She and her friends Carla Lewis and Baretta Shannon began their day eating Jamaican beef patties—a dish traditionally made with beef, hot peppers, thyme and paprika stuffed into a doughy pocket.