Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe and based on the book by Patrick O'Brian.
Mike Lazzo is senior vice president for the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim –- a three-hour block of cartoons targeted to adults. It includes original and acquired animation. Lazzo co-created the network’s first original series in 1995, Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Another Adult Swim series is Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, which borrows Hanna Barbera cartoon characters from the '60s, including the obscure Birdman, a masked crusader with wings who defends cartoon characters like Fred Flintstone and Scooby Doo.
His novel, The Known World, is receiving critical acclaim and has been selected as a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction. It's about a black farmer and former slave who becomes a slave owner. Jones made his literary debut more than 10 years ago with Lost in the City, a collection of short stories about struggling black residents of Washington, D.C. It won the Lannan Literary Award. Until recently Jones made his living as a proofreader for the trade magazine Tax Notes.
His new book is An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. It explores Washington's moral struggle with the issue of slavery. Wiencek won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography for his book The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White.
Ettlinger's portrait photography appears on many book jackets. Over the years her subjects have been Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe, William Styron, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates, Sue Miller, Sarah Vowell and many more. A collection of her portraits, Author Photo: Portraits, 1983-2002 has just been published.
From May of this year until September, he was in Iraq helping with the reconstruction of the Iraqi police, forming a special enforcement and investigations team, developing informants and arresting individuals on the coalition forces wanted list (those whose faces showed up on the most-wanted deck of cards). Shubbar was born and raised in Baghdad, and fled the country in 1981.
He's starring in the new film Die Mommie Die! directed by Mark Rucker and written by Charles Busch, who also stars in the film. The film blends melodrama, mystery and comedy. Hall has also appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's films Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He also played a Joe Friday-type cop in an episode of Seinfeld, on the trail of overdue library books.
She had several hits in the late '50s and early '60s, including "Mean Mean Man," "Let's Have a Party" and "Fujiyama Mama." In the '70s she kept recording music, mostly gospel. She's 65 now and still touring. She's just released her first studio recording in 15 years, Heart Trouble. Guest musicians, including Elvis Costello and The Cramps, join her for several tracks.
His career got a jumpstart with his role as a bail bondsman in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. He's starred in Mulholland Dr., Me, Myself & Irene and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. He plays Marshall Sisco in the new ABC series Karen Sisco.
The Oscar-nominated actor, who died Oct. 11, often played police officers and private eyes. "These guys are straight shooters," he said in 2003. "I take the mantle of that and pretend it's me."
Summer grew up singing gospel in church choirs in Boston and, in her teens, joined the German cast of Hair. While abroad she recorded Love to Love You Baby, which became a huge hit. She returned to the United States a disco star. Her other hits include Bad Girls and Hot Stuff. She's written a new memoir about life in the disco spotlight called Ordinary Girl.
He became a star for his role as Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He's been nominated for numerous Academy Awards, and he stars with Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins in the suspenseful drama Mystic River.
Kahn was only 11 years old when his father, legendary architect Louis Kahn, died. We talk with Kahn about My Architect, the award-winning documentary in which he attempts to understand his father through his buildings and his relationships.
