Critic at large John Powers has been watching the HBO show Entourage -- about a handsome young movie star and his buddies -- and has some thoughts on the way the rich and powerful are often protected from reality.
Jack and Meg White are the singer-drummer duo who make up the White Stripes. Their fifth CD, Get Behind Me Satan, is being hailed as an extension of the raw, energetic sound of their earliest work.
Journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser are with The Washington Post. From 2001 to 2004, the pair, who are married, served as the Moscow bureau chiefs for the Post. The two have collaborated on a new book, Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution.
Writer, actor, lawyer Edwin John Wintle has written his first book, a memoir about what happened when his 13-year old niece came to live with him. His book is Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir.
Journalist John Allen has a book about the new pope, The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected, and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church.
Dr. Sandra Horning and Dr. David Johnson are both oncologists. Horning is the current president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest group of cancer-treatment specialists. Johnson was president before her. Both of them are cancer survivors — the first to lead the 41-year-old society. Horning practices and does research on lymphomas at Stanford. She is also co-chairman of the oncology society's task force on cancer survivorship. Johnson is deputy director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ron Howard. Edelstein says he fell for the shmaltzy flick, "a three-hanky weeper."
Twenty-eight years ago, Mary Clarke left her life as a wealthy divorced mother of seven in Beverly Hills to live and work in a notorious Mexican prison. She became Mother Antonia; Pulitzer-winning authors Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan have written about her story.
Tim Winter is executive director of the Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that speaks out against sex, violence, and profanity in the media.
As a columnist for The New York Times, Frank Rich writes about the intersection of culture and news. His pieces -- often touching on politics, religion and the arts -- are a fixture of the paper's Sunday editions.
Social historian Stephanie Coontz's new book is Marriage, a History: from Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage. The historical review of wedlock reveals an institution that has adapted over centuries — but faces new crises today.
Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every one of Martin Scorsese's movies, from Raging Bull to The Aviator. Schoonmaker has had a front-row seat to see how film editing has changed over the past 30 years.
Comic Tom Kenny is the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon's animated star of television and lately the movies, too. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is now out on DVD. Originally broadcast on Nov. 16, 2004.
Peralta wrote and acts in the new movie 'Lords of Dogtown'. The feature evolved from Peralta's 2002 documentary 'Dogtown and Z-Boys.' Both films are about the community of skateboarders in California in the 1970s who originated extreme skateboarding.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews Mad Hot Ballroom, a new documentary about 11-year-old kids who compete in a New York City ballroom dance competition.
Political scientist Jonathan Oberlander is an expert on health politics and policy. He is an associate professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of the book The Political Life of Medicare. His articles and opinion pieces have appeared in Health Affairs, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times.
Film producer Ismail Merchant died Wednesday at age 68. In conjunction with James Ivory, he produced A Room With a View (1985), Howards End (1992) and other films. Their newest film, Heights, hits theaters in June. (Original airdate: 9/10/87)
The new novel Thirty-Three Swoons by Martha Cooley is a detailed intrigue set in Manhattan, interweaving the worlds of theatre and the perfume industry. Cooley's previous work includes The Archivist. Book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review.
Surgeon and medical historian Ira Rutkow's new book is Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine. Rutkow is also the author of Surgery: An Illustrated History, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
