entertainment

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Liberace’s 15 Most Extravagant Possessions

While Liberace’s talents on the ivory keys made him famous, it was his showmanship that made him one of the world's highest-paid entertainers throughout the fifties, sixties and seventies. But it was his flamboyance that shaped his legacy. In honor of the late performer’s birthday (May 16), let’s take a look at some of the extravagance that helped make a legend. 1. Singing In... READ ON

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The Early Movies: Songs Prince Wrote But Others Made Famous

(Note: due to technical problems last night, this post was delayed. This morning, I've got some Prince for U!) Prince has written dozens of hits over his decades in the music business -- and many of his hits have been popularized by others. In many cases, Prince had a hit, then another artist covered his song and made it a hit again -- a good example is "Kiss," which was a #1 US hit for Prince in 1986 and a top-ten UK hit for Art of Noise (featuring Tom Jones) in 1989. In tonight's roundup, I've put... READ ON

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11 Famous Illeists

Note: Server migration week continues, so forgive us for reposting a few oldies/goodies. This article was originally published in 2009. An illeist is someone who refers to himself in the third person, as Richard Nixon famously did when, after losing the bid for the California governorship in 1962, he said, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." Today, Nixon's sound bite is remembered as much for his use of the third... READ ON

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Portlandia Begins Tonight

Tonight, welcome to my world: Portlandia. I've lived in the real-life analogue of Portlandia for eleven years, and it's a place of dreams -- dreams of sleeping late, of opening a yarn store, of becoming a freegan, of getting rid of your car and becoming a bike commuter who only wears natural fibers while working quarter-time at a gluten-free bagel shop. It's a city where young people have come to get away from being in a city. As Fred Armisen (now famously) says in the first episode of Portlandia,... READ ON

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Exclusive Jane Fonda Interview

A colleague of mine, the YouTube sensation Lisa Nova, scored a rare, personal interview with Jane Fonda last week after the two connected via Twitter. Check out the teaser vid below or the whole story at... READ ON

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What Should I Ask the Mythbusters?

mental_floss has been offered an interview with three of the Mythbusters: Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, and Kari Byron. There's a new season of Mythbusters starting in two weeks, and Kari Byron is also hosting the new science show Head Rush, a commercial-free hour of experiments on the Science Channel every weekday at 4pm. Anyway, for this interview -- while I've got some nerdy thoughts of my own, I want to know what your burning questions are. Got a favorite myth you want to see busted? Want to pick... READ ON

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8 Alternative Fantasy Leagues

In honor of tonight's mental_floss fantasy football league draft, here's a story on alternative fantasy leagues that first appeared last summer. Fantasy football drafts are firing up, and workplace productivity will soon grind to a halt as half the office spends half the day managing their rosters in an attempt to get the next Steve Slaton off the waiver wire. Just because you're not a football fan doesn't mean you have to be left out of the fantasy mania, though. There are all sorts of alternative... READ ON

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Why Do Soap Operas Look Different From Other TV Shows?

Soap operas, "soaps" or "my stories," as many a grandmother has called them, are dramas presented in a serial format on daytime television or radio. Their name comes from a time when old serial dramas broadcast on radio had soap manufacturers (Procter & Gamble and Lever Brothers, to name a few) as sponsors and/or producers. They also, you might have noticed, look really really crappy. There are two main reasons for this lack of visual quality, both of which are rooted in the problem of soap operas'... READ ON

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Dustin Hoffman - Up Close & Personal

Dustin Hoffman's 42-year stage and screen career is legendary. From his edgy breakthrough performance in The Graduate, which paved the way for ethnic-looking actors in male leading roles, to his comic portrayal of both Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie, Hoffman's impact on American cinema is almost unequaled. These thoughts are from an informal interview/talk Hoffman gave that I was fortunate to have attended. On becoming an actor I never thought about being an actor when I was growing up.... READ ON

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An interview with Jason Alexander

Jason Alexander is known to TV audiences around the world, of course, as George Costanza on Seinfeld, a role which garnered him six Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations, an American Television Award and two American Comedy Awards. He's also appeared in numerous films like Pretty Woman, in TV commercials, and in Broadway musicals where he won a Tony for his role in Jerome Robbins' Broadway. He also starred alongside Martin Short in the acclaimed L.A. production of The Producers. More recently, he's... READ ON