CHICAGO – Oprah Winfrey has blessed the book world’s eternal underdog: the short story. Publishing’s surest hitmaker announced Friday that her latest pick was Uwem Akpan’s debut collection “Say You’re One Of Them,” practically guaranteeing hundreds of thousands of sales, numbers generally unthinkable for short stories beyond works by Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever and other […]
McDonald’s says no way Ronald will retire
Retire Ronald McDonald? No way. That’s the message McDonald’s Corp.’s CEO Jim Skinner gave Thursday to the red-haired clown’s critics who say the cartoon promotes unhealthy eating and should go the way of the Marlboro Man and Joe Camel. “The answer is no,” Skinner told a room full of shareholders who gathered for a meeting […]
‘Idol’ Can Transform Ya: Biggest ‘AI’ Makeovers Ever
Most American Idols are made, not born. Sure, their singing ability may have been there from the start, but they walked into that audition room looking like just any boy- or girl-next-door. It was only after they were manhandled by a 19 Entertainment-supplied dream team of stylists, hairdressers, makeup artists, personal trainers, and cosmetic dentists […]
Volcano in Iceland
The eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull has resulted in dangerous amounts of volcanic ash in the sky, huge headaches for travelers, and, it should be stated, unexpected beauty. Flickr members have captured a slew of photos of the ash and the resulting chaos. The eruption caused a 3.7 mile high plume of ash, […]
Bandmate slams Steven Tyler’s ‘Idol’ gig
Steven Tyler’s ‘Idol’ Gig Means Aerosmith May Take A Permanent Vacation The drama surrounding the ever-revolving “American Idol” judges’ table continues this week, with the confirmation of persistent rumors that Kara DioGuardi has indeed “resigned” and won’t return for Season 10, and Variety reporting that Fox will formally announce the new judging panel in just […]
Lindsay Lohan released from jail
Lindsay Lohan has been released from jail, but she’s not exactly a free woman. The actress was discharged at 1:35 a.m. Monday after serving 14 days of a 90-day sentence for violating her probation in a 2007 drug case, a sheriff’s spokesman said. She is now required to begin a three-month stint in rehab. A […]
Billionaire Aids Charity That Aided Him
Were it not for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, there might be no Google. Thirty years ago today, Sergey Brin, a 6-year-old Soviet boy facing an uncertain future, arrived in the United States with the help of the society. Now Mr. Brin, the billionaire co-founder of Google, is giving $1 million to the society, widely […]
All That’s Jazz
TOKYO — Jazz musicians have often been called “swinging cats.” But Jiken Miyazaki, founder of Café Samurai, takes it literally. His “jazz kissaten” (coffee shop) is crammed with 5,000 varied maneki neko, traditional lucky statuettes of a smiling feline with a beckoning upraised paw. “These cats and the music I play have a common spirit […]