Sarsgaard portrays editor Chuck Lane in the new film Shattered Glass. Previously Sarsgaard played the sweet-faced killer in the film Boys Donât Cry. His other films include K-19: The Widowmaker and The Man in the Iron Mask.
Actress Lupe Ontiveros stars in the new film Real Women Have Curves as a mother at odds with her two teenage daughters. She recently starred in the independent film Chuck and Buck. Her other films include Todd Solontzs Storytelling. and James Brooks As Good as it Gets. In 1983 she had a major role in the movie El Norte. Ontiveros is a founding member of LAs Latino Theatre Company.
Arab-American stand-up comics Ahmed Ahmed and Maz Jobrani. They've changed their routines since Sept. 11, cracking jokes about attending flight school and the like. Both have had small parts as terrorists in action films. Jobrani was in a Chuck Norris film and Ahmed was Terrorist #4 in Executive Decision. They live in Los Angeles.
Author Lisa Servon says a growing number of Americans are giving up on traditional banks and relying instead on alternatives, including prepaid debit cards, check-cashing centers and payday lenders.
Actress Lauren Ambrose plays daughter Claire Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. Her other roles include a teen introvert turned popular surfer chick with multiple personality disorder in the film Psycho Beach Party and a star student of Kevin Kline's in the film In and Out. Also a classically trained opera singer, Ambrose appeared on stage last year in the Sam Shepard play Buried Child at London's National Theatre.
The cease-fire that's kept Shiite militias in check for months is in danger of unraveling. And some U.S.-backed Sunni militias are growing restless. Patrick Cockburn, author and Iraq correspondent for The Independent in London, offers observations on war in Iraq.
We check back with James Adams, the defense correspondent for The Sunday Times of London. He's been covering the war from the Pentagon, and talks about the strategies that clinched victory for American forces.
Jackson is the director of Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project that aims to reduce deception and confusion in U.S. politics. Jackson will talk about present-day political ads. Jackson reported on Washington and national politics for The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and CNN. He is the author of Honest Graft: Big Money and the American Political Process.
Doug Spreen is one of the official trainers for the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) and has worked with the world's top tennis players, including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick. He is responsible for the health of the players, deals with their injuries before and after competition, and tends to them while they are competing. Spreen often has to run onto the court and check on athletes who are injured during play.
Journalist Mike Spies says the NRA's push to allow guns on college campuses, daycare centers and bars is part of an effort to "normalize gun carrying as much as possible in American public life."
Neely has brought a strong African-American female voice to the genre. The heroine of her debut book, "Blanche on the Lam," is Blanche White, a 40-year old housekeeper with big thighs, a wry sense of humor, and a jaundiced view of the rich. Blanche is on the lam from a 30-day jail sentence for a bad check; she can hide in plain sight, because of her invisibility as a black housekeeper. One reviewer writes though the book works well as a crime novel, it's "less about a mysterious murder. . .
In a transitional period between different groups with Miles Davis and Anthony Braxton and his fusion band, Return to Forever, Chick Corea recorded a series of solo piano improvisations in 1971. Those recordings and a 1983 follow-up have been reissued in a three-CD box set.
Critic John Powers has a theory: The best movies to give are seldom the recent hits. Instead, a good gift DVD should transport you into a different world that you can immerse yourself in over and over. Check out his favorites for this holiday season.
Author and long-time observer and student of China Orville Schell. Schell is correspondent for "Red Flag over Tibet," which will air tonight on PBS's Frontline (February 22 at 9 P.M. check local listings). In "Red Flag over Tibet," SSchell takes the viewers to that mysterious and isolated country on the "Roof of the World." He explores the question: Will Tibet survive its 40 years of occupation by China? He explains why the survival of Tibet--its people and its culture--has become an international issue.
TV Critic David Bianculli previews the new PBS series "Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home". Journalist Bill Moyers takes an unprecedented look at addiction and recovery in America with the five-part series Moyers On Addiction: Close To Home, premiering March 29, 1998, at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS. (Check local listings.)
It's hard to focus right now. So recommending a book can seem, well, out-of-touch. Unless, that is, the recommendation is for a novel that's so absorbing, so fully realized that it draws you out of your own constricted situation and expands your sense of possibilities. For me, over the past 10 days or so, the novel that's performed that act of deliverance has been The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel.
After six years on Saturday Night Live and many supporting film parts, Kristen Wiig has her first starring role in the romantic comedy Bridesmaids, which has been touted as a Judd Apatow movie for ladies. Critic David Edelstein says it's likely to be a hit with both women and men.
Bedbugs virtually disappeared from the U.S. by the 1950s, but now they're back -- in homes, hotels and schools. Entomologist Michael Potter, who specializes in pest management, explains how to check hotel rooms for the "perfect parasite" -- and what to do if you suspect an infestation.
