Idol Chatter

In the upcoming animated movie “Kung Fu Panda,” a panda named Po is unexpectedly chosen to train among his Kung Fu idols. Although big and somewhat clumsy, Po works to become a Kung Fu master and defend his friends from an evil snow leopard, Tai Lung. Beliefnet has one “Kung Fu Panda” prize pack to…

I still don’t get the NFL draft as a TV event. But apparently I’m in the minority! “According to the NFL, more people will be watching the draft than the NBA playoffs when the two events are being aired at the same time,” said an L.A. Times story this past weekend. Imagine that: if we…

Clay Aiken has been many things. He was an unassuming North Carolina college student, an “American Idol” runner-up, a popular and mega-selling solo artist, a Broadway star, and now… the Messiah? Aiken is currently starring on Broadway in the Monty Python musical “Spamalot.” One devoted fan, who was not idenfied by name, told the New…

For me personally, one of the worst side effects of the writers’ strike has been the lack of fresh “House’ episodes. No other series is so consistently smart, witty, and thought-provoking. On tonight’s episode, I will once again able to revel in the sharp barbs of Gregory House as—in typical House fashion—hislatest medical mystery centers…

So Tom Cruise is heading back to the couch. No, not in the psychiatric sense of the word, heaven forefend, but back to Oprah’s couch. (Although, it could be argued that O is America’s pop psychologist.) It’s been three whole years since the infamous couch-jumping episode and 25 years since the release of the movie…

The movie “Expelled” dropped out of the box-office top 10 this week, but is back in the news thanks to Yoko Ono, who has sued Premise Media, the production company behind “Expelled,” for using a 10-second clip of “Imagine,” by Ono’s ex-Beatle husband John Lennon. Needless to say, the “Expelled” folks, who equate the intelligent-design…

This week on “American Idol,” contestants sang songs from the canon of music theater genius Andrew Lloyd Webber. The field had been narrowed to six contestants, and each worked one on one with Webber to prepare their song. Carly Smithson, an Irish woman (now married to a US citizen) who had auditioned two seasons prior…

The Gospel Music Association’s annual GMA Week is the time every year when industry professionals, media representatives, and aspiring and established artists from every genre descend on downtown Nashville to network, showcase their talent, celebrate the industry, and basically run each other ragged for five days straight. This year’s event was no different, and in…

2008, more than any other year in a long time, will be remembered as the year of the movie sequel. I think it’s possible, though, that it should more accurately be described as the year of—are you ready for this?—The Endurance of the Soap Opera! Let me explain. Indiana Jones (“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom…

With air travel and gas prices going north while housing values and income margins going south, perhaps this is a great summer for going to the local theatre. Sure, you may want to eat at home before plopping down the big dough for snacks, but great movies are there for the seeing and its never…

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