As American economists and diplomats continues to speculate about the end of the recession, one global power has emerged from the difficult times a runaway winner: China. And with all the money that the United States owes to its lending partner, many are wondering how long...

One of my major frustrations about the Internet is how little information is available from the pre-Internet days. Google News has archives of old articles, yet many of the articles are blocked by a paywall. As a result, if you want to read and learn more about a subject from...

As the last set of 2009's heavyweight flicks turn up at movie theaters this weekend, it's time to move our attention to the next wave of films, to debut in January. January is notoriously a slow month since it's the furthest movies can be to the Oscar-focused fall season. So,...

The Hollywood community is stunned today by news of the death of actress Brittany Murphy. Murphy, 32, was best-known for her roles in Clueless, 8 Mile, and most recently, Sin City. (TMZ was the first to report the death, with Wikipedians hard at work searching for a more...

In an interview that aired on Sunday night, Barack Obama told Oprah that he deserves a B+ for his work in his first year as President. If health care passes, it'll rise to an A-. Both Republicans and Democrats were left scratching their heads over the self-appointed grade, as there's...

Throughout the Tiger Woods scandal, the major papers and news outlets have referred to the golf star as "Tiger Woods." It makes sense since nobody calls the golfer his birthname, Eldrick Woods. But nobody seems to acknowledge that "Tiger" is a nickname. I recall that people grew accustomed to calling...

Entry into the final month of the years officially ended an annual tradition: Movember. Every year since 2003, men around the world grow mustaches in November to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer prevention. On December 1, men said their last farewells and shaved off their finely-combed friends....

After Michaele and Tareq Salahi surfaced late last week as the now notorious White House crashers, their publicity requests went through a woman by the name of Mahogany Jones. While Jones turned down all press requests, her presence in the Salahi affair opened up a new set of questions...

Chalk it up to a coincidence, but within the span of a week the New York Times ran obituaries for two people named John J. O'Connor.

The first announced the death of the husband of former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired from the Supreme Court to care for...

As the decade comes to a close, it's worth taking a nostalgic look back at what we lived through in the first 10 years of the new century. A list of the top films that have come and gone over the past decade, though, brings some lessons and signs that...

Sesame Street celebrates its 40th anniversary this week with much fanfare and Muppet mania. People are reminiscing about and putting together their favorite moments from the show's longtime run on PBS. The show's icon, Big Bird, has shared many memories on Sesame Street with his...

Congress members Michele Bachmann and Alan Grayson have seized the power of YouTube to increase their mass appeal. At the same time, they've alienated themselves from others and even made some enemies. Yet that might just be the name of the game in politics today. If you can...

It looks like the breakout hit comedy of the fall has been ABC's Modern Family. A month ago, a Salon reviewer said, "[T]his dysfunctional family comedy really is its own unique, brilliant gem, shining among an otherwise uncomfortably mediocre haul of cheap comedic rhinestones." The show's writing and...

Some writers are big enough celebrities that they can draw sizable crowds to their promotional book readings. However, most other writers nervously brace for what they expect to be a small turnout.

Tonight, I heard Adam L. Penenberg, author of Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest...

Last week, Robert Gibbs presented a photo of President Obama stuffing Reggie Love during a pick-up basketball game. It made headlines because Love played college ball at powerhouse Duke. But it was also the latest in a series of photos taken of the President playing his favorite sport where he's...

Snoop Dogg will appear in tonight's episode of "Brothers" (Fox, 8 ET) as a debt collector. For a well-known hip-hop artist, Snoop seems to spend a lot of time making cameos on TV. In his guest roles, he always brings his own brand of humor - and vocabulary - to...

We've long known that bloopers are one of the great and inexplicable pastimes in television. We learned recently with Fox's Ernie Anastos that at the height of those unexpected gaffes is catching someone cursing on air.

So when "Saturday Night Live" cast member Jenny Slate accidentally uttered a...

As online video becomes more mainstream and ubiquitous, rebroadcasts of television programs are likewise increasing in popularity. Rather than identify online video as a rival - a source for original Web series drawing advertisers away from more traditional TV partiality - television executives and producers have instead jumped on...

All About Steve opens this weekend across the country. The title is a play on words of the classic 1950 film, All About Eve. In the movie's honor, I've assembled a timeline of movies that showcase lead characters names in the titles in both odd and clever pun-driven...

I first noticed it when watching last week's episode of "Shaq Vs." on ABC.

The athlete/celebrity faced off with beach volleyballers Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Shaq and others gave attention to May-Treanor's Achilles injury that she endured last year. But nowhere in the broadcast did they reveal...