Nicholas Dawidoff's fourth book, The Crowd Sounds Happy, is the culmination of 22 years spent thinking and writing about baseball and family. After six years working for Sports Illustrated, Mr. Dawidoff wrote his first book The Catcher Was a Read More
A curious (and perhaps shameful) thing has happened since Madonna's single, "Four Minutes to Save the World," off her new album Hard Candy (due out today), hit the Internet almost two months ago. At the time, in this same space, I wrote, "fans could be forgiven for cringing a bit at Madge's cool-as-a-cucumber delivery being Read More
Baby Mama’s (no. 2) opening weekend in Manhattan should have been the cherry to Tina Fey’s box office sundae. As the former lead writer of Saturday Night Live and writer and star of 30 Rock, Ms. Fey is New York’s comedic mistress. She even managed to have the movie open the Tribeca Film Festival, the Read More
There’s something comforting about the predictability of House (Fox, 9 p.m.), which returns tonight. Sometimes it’s nice to have a show where you can set your watch by its familiar plot points, like the show’s every climax where Dr. House has reluctantly ordered some incredibly invasive procedure to cure a patient, only to Read More
When Ashlee Simpson began her rise to fame (and later infamy) in 2004, the last thing the world needed was another pop star in her sister's mold—which was lucky for Ashlee, who does not have Jessica's vocal range (nor, need it be said, her Barbie looks). Packaged and primed, Ashlee was groomed to be the Read More
What Judd Apatow backlash? For every New Yorker who happily proclaimed the end of the producer/director’s run of luck after the flops of Walk Hard and Drillbit Taylor, there was one (if not two, three or four) who ran out to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall (no. 1) this weekend. The comedy racked in $382,590 dollars Read More
OMFG, Gossip Girl (CW, 8 p.m.)! (Is OMFG even appropriate slang anymore? Honest to blog, who can keep up?) Too many murdered brain cells to remember exactly where the show left off? Here’s a primer. Blair’s secret affair with Chuck Bass had recently come to light after her reconciliation with Nate. He’s angry, Read More
There’s no stopping Mariah Carey. Her single, “Touch My Body,” off her 11th studio album E=MC2, and its video have so many cringe-worthy moments—no one above the age of 18 should sing about youTube—that it's remarkable anyone can take this song seriously, let alone have it break the tie between her and Elvis for most Read More
There was a clear division over the weekend between the haves and the have nots—as in those movies that had an audience and those that did not. Each of the top four movies in Manhattan averaged near or over $20,000, while every other movie in the top ten, except for The Visitor (no. 7)—which averaged Read More
There should be something wrong when high-schoolers in Florida start to sound like their geriatric counterparts in Boca Raton. But when it's the stars of MTV’s The Paper [10:30 p.m.], it’s downright heartwarming. Though society seems to be "heading to the Internet and to virtual whatnot," 17-year-old Amanda Lorber, an editor on The Read More
There’s a simple explanation for why George Clooney’s Leatherheads (no. 3) performed well below expectations this weekend: it just wasn’t that good of a movie. Were 21 (no. 1) or horror flick The Ruins (no. 2)—both outgrossed Leatherheads here in the city, with 21 managing to more than double Leatherheads' receipts—that much better? No, at Read More
Start fresh! That’s what ABC is begging its viewers to do tonight with Samantha Who? (9:30 p.m.). Its rookie run had been going swimmingly until the writers strike. Starring Christina Applegate and Melissa McCarthy (Sookie from the Gilmore Girls), the show returns in the midst of a heated battle for Monday nights.
R.E.M. releases its 14th album, Accelerate, today. According to most accounts, it's a return to their Athens, Ga. roots. Spin writes rather breathlessly, "They haven't sounded this surprised with themselves since 1998's Up, haven't made an album this consistent since 1992's Automatic for the People, and haven't redlined so engagingly since 1986's Life's Rich Pageant." Read More
It’s been a decade since Rounders, the last (and perhaps only) good film dedicated exclusively to card-playing. And while this weekend’s box office winner, 21 (no. 1), doesn’t take over that mantle, it does raise the question why Hollywood hasn’t made this their bailiwick more often. Card-playing is always the bridesmaid, never the bride, good Read More
While CBS may be getting shellacked in the ratings war by Fox (who isn’t, really?), that doesn’t mean the network with a reputation for being a little bit stodgy (sorry, Les) doesn’t have a few tricks up its sleeve. How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8:30 p.m.) is a case study in how Read More
