PBS's documentary series has chosen one of the original comedy writers, Mel Brooks, as a salute to the original comedy genius who has created movies that have spanned nearly five decades and still maintain a classic standing, with characters and quotes that remain memorable. Mel Brooks is the last of...

In Steel Magnolias, Dolly Parton said to Olympia Dukaksis about the mysterious Darryl Hannah Character, "If you can achieve puberty, you can achieve a past." Everyone has some sort of past, with all sorts of skeletons in the closet, some we occasionally take out just to shake off the cobwebs...

Mother's Day is less than four days away, and I think it's time to shed light on some of the important women in our lives -- not only our moms but our aunts, grandmothers, cousins and everyone who plays a significant role in our lives, whether it's every day or...

In All the Chaos on Friday in Boston, we didn't have a chance to acknowledge an icon's 80th birthday, Jayne Mansfield, one of the last blonde bombshells after Marilyn Monroe and Mamie van Doren. Although Jayne passed away in 1967, she is still recognized for not only her films and...

Last week in Attleboro, Mass., students at a public middle school were denied lunch by cafeteria workers who claimed that they didn't have enough money in their student accounts, or were supposed to be on the free lunch list entitling them to a cheese sandwich, an apple and...

The last of the original Hollywood legends are slowly fading, those who remember when Hollywood was about the glamour and not who's been arrested or being sent to rehab because of an arrest charge, when being an actor was something sacred and spectacular. The movies of the past were instant...

Everyone has some sort of talent -- whether he/she is artistic, good at sports, or has a unique ability or something that sets him/her apart from the crowd. It's that one thing that makes us, us. In the end, however, it's up to us how we use this unique talent....

Let's preface this by saying I think Gerard is amazingly talented. He's got everything to make a career that will last, talented and able to jump from comedy to drama, creating different characters that show compassion, empathy and it goes without saying, sex appeal. He's like the new Sean Connery...

Everyone has an opinion about everything, from how we dress, act, what we watch and listen to, everything is up for grabs, nothing is off limits, sometimes it feels worse than being a celebrity with the paparazzi in your face. In this day and age there is literally no such...

Everybody knows the story of the Wizard of Oz. The magic story of a young girl transported to a magic land filled with all the goodness in the world, where she makes friends with all different creatures and is given the task of killing off a Wicked Witch in order...

Every kid growing up in the 1970s and 1980s remembers Rita Moreno from the Electric Company, the education program that helped us with counting, writing and learning to tell time through various characters and methods. One of Rita Moreno's best-loved characters was a psychotic little anti-Shirley Temple named Pandora, who...

The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We...

It seems like Thanksgiving barely happened and we were already getting jammed with Christmas music, commercials, ads, everything. It doesn't seem to make the holiday festive so much as even more stressful. Money's tight to begin with, and dealing with the insanity of stores doesn't put me in the joy...

Everyone has visions of the perfect Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving -- everyone gathered around the table looking on as Mom presents the most perfect turkey in the world, Dad standing proudly, ready while everyone smiles in anticipation of the moment. Unfortunately, this perfect Thanksgiving only exists in movies and Hallmark cards.

We all know the standard procedure of what happens when we run into someone familiar but haven't seen in a very long time: an awkward hug, maybe a brief air kiss and idle chitchat for a minute before making the same tired promise of "Let's get together soon," and then...

Halloween is fast approaching and all the excitement that has been building all month is finally going to come to a head on Wednesday, Oct. 31, a night of trick-or-treaters, Halloween parties, monster movie marathons and haunted houses. I admit I'm a total Halloween freak, everything about it excites me...

Rebellion is a natural part of being a teenager -- seeing how much crap you could get away with, without the parental units knowing, and then the smug feeling of knowing you pulled something over on them, of course, the mentality being that you were the first person to ever...

In the past week, there were three high profile murder cases involving a little girl on her way to school, a woman on her way to meet friends and a local guy from Boston found in the river weighed down with a cement brick.

All dominated the news because they...

Ten years ago, Whoopi Goldberg performed a live show, her first in nearly 20 some-odd years, and she portrayed a character that is so afraid of change and what the world is becoming that she considers killing herself because she wants to remember the world as she knows it. She...

Pain is a funny thing. We all the time hurt ourselves and don't even realize it. We accidentally open the door the wrong way and conk ourselves in the face. We trip on something invisible walking across the room, more than often with a minor accident we don't even remember...