Alan Pergament
- Walters gets a pass on her racy revelations
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Alan Pergament
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM It wasn’t that long ago that Miley Cyrus had her 15 minutes of fame with Barbara Walters in an Oscar night interview.
- Turning a blind eye to a brutal abuse case
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By Alan Pergament
Updated: 05/08/08 6:57 AM The star power of Ellen Page of “Juno” fame makes Showtime’s premiere of the disturbing independent film “An American Crime” a bigger deal than it otherwise might have been. The 21-year-old actress again plays a teenager in trouble, but there’s no levity associated with her problems this time.
- Alan Pergament: Why are ‘Idol’ ratings really slipping?
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Alan Pergament
Updated: 05/07/08 9:13 AM In her defense of Paula Abdul’s critique of a song that hadn’t been performed and the declining national ratings of “American Idol,” producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz said the slip is part of a “huge decline” this year in television in the aftermath of the writers’ strike.
Carolyn Hax
- Carolyn Hax: Suspicious of in-laws’ motives
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Carolyn Hax
Updated: 04/30/08 8:36 AM D ear Carolyn: We are a family with one toddler and one child on the way. Our relationship with my in-laws was fraught with tension even before our marriage but got really bad after our first child was born.
- Carolyn Hax: Troubled by trade-in of ring
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Carolyn Hax
Updated: 04/23/08 8:56 AM Dear Carolyn: I’ve been married more than 30 years. About 20 years ago, my wife and her friend took a trip, and my wife called me one afternoon and asked if I would mind if she “traded in” her wedding ring for a bigger, prettier one. Not sure if those were her words. I said OK. But it has bothered me over the years, and I’m sure her friend talked her into it. I have not really liked her anyway and am not sure if that is part of the problem. But it could be.
- Carolyn Hax: Getting to the root of jealousy
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By Carolyn Hax
Updated: 04/16/08 10:16 AM Dear Carolyn: What can you do if you are that jealous, overbearing mate – and you recognize it and want to stop? Hearing about my girlfriend hanging out with other guys just as friends makes me freak out internally and, as much as I try to keep that internal, it sometimes gets out.
Dear Abby
- Woman is nothing but a gold digger
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Abigail Van Buren
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM Dear Abby: A man I know is engaged to a woman 20 years younger. I think she’s a gold digger, and here’s why: She waved his credit card around after he gave it to her saying, “Look what I’ve got!” (He was not present.)
- Time to tune out the negativity
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Abigail Van Buren
Updated: 05/08/08 6:32 AM Dear Abby: I have been reading your column most of my adult life, but I don’t ever remember seeing any letters from people who are just afraid of life.
- Grandma’s comments out of line
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Abigail Van Buren
Updated: 05/07/08 6:40 AM Dear Abby: My mother-in-law — I’ll call her “Irene” — refers to our 3-year-old daughter, “Amber,” as “sexy.” When she buys clothing for Amber, she will say, “This is sexy.” When Amber was younger and would pull up her dress in play, Irene would say, “Are you trying to be sexy?” Luckily, when it has happened, Amber either didn’t hear or remember her comments.
Janice Okun
- Janice Okun: Plan ahead to save at the supermarket
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Janice Okun
Updated: 05/07/08 9:16 AM Food shopping hints are the thing right now and will continue to be for quite some time. Anything you’re reading or seeing about cooking talks about saving money. Every publication from Gourmet magazine to the Farmers Almanac is on the case.
- Gourmandise /By Janice Okun
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Janice Okun
Updated: 05/04/08 6:47 AM Vernor’s Ginger Ale always was a drink that was different. Half sweet/half spicy/very fizzy, it was first
- Gourmandise
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Updated: 04/20/08 6:59 AM show. Sleek and handsome in silver and black, it’s part of the Zutto line manufactured by Zojirushi, Japan’s well-known rice cooker manufacturer. The two-slice appliance accommodates a variety of breads and, best of all, comes complete with a terrific cover that protects the inner components when the toaster is not in use.
Jeff Miers
- Jeff Miers' Sound Check: Derringer and Co. soldier on
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BY JEFF MIERS -- News Pop Music Critic
Updated: 04/18/08 8:59 AM We don’t expect, these days, for teen idols to have particularly long shelf lives. Get a hit before you’re 20,
Jeff Simon
- Jeff Simon: Miley teeters on the cusp of adulthood
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Jeff Simon
Updated: 05/04/08 7:02 AM The movie line at the Transit Road Regal Theater was huge. It was also full of more little girls and their mothers than I’ve seen in one place since I did chauffeur duty for my daughter when she was on the preteen birthday party circuit.
- Jeff Simon: Can truth be stranger than this?
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Jeff Simon
Updated: 04/29/08 8:59 AM The following is NOT a true story. It’s pure conjecture, based on fact. In other words, I made it up while I was dodging bullets in Bosnia (actually, I was watching the chattering classes on Sunday TV a few weeks back).
- Jeff Simon: TV viewers find it’s all in the game
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Jeff Simon
Updated: 04/28/08 10:32 AM Ahhh, the playoffs. We’re not just talking about the NBA and the NHL, we’re talking about all the TV reality series that are in their final days, or thinking about them — “Survivor,” “Big Brother,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “American Idol.”
Liz Smith
- Cruise is a stubborn man
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Tribune Media Services
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM We don’t think Tom Cruise is crazy. He just ... wants his way. Why not? He works hard for it. (And he knows when it is politic to alter his views. In his most recent sit-down with Oprah, Tom said he’d misjudged the depth of postpartum depression. You all remember his set-too with Brooke Shields over that matter!)
- Going bonkers for ‘Boeing’
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Tribune Media Services
Updated: 05/07/08 6:40 AM “Happy people don’t need to have fun,” wrote the late great writer Jean Stafford.
- An intellectual Bond
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Tribune Media Services
Updated: 05/03/08 6:41 AM There have been some interesting villains in the James Bond movies through the years — Christopher Walken, Jonathan Pryce, Max von Sydow, Telly Savalas, Louis Jordan and Lotte Lenya. But the next big bad guy to confront Daniel Craig’s 007 will be an actor who remained motionless in his last acclaimed movie.
Miss Manners
- Political e-mails can cross the line
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Judith Martin Judith Martin
Updated: 05/08/08 6:32 AM Dear Miss Manners: A neighbor and I do not share the same political beliefs. I try to be respectful of his political leanings. He, however, has been bombarding me with e-mails that include attachments that smear the candidates of my choice. Most are not backed by sound research, but he believes they are based on fact.
- Miss Manners: Situation is definitely awkward
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By Judith Martin
Updated: 05/06/08 11:45 AM Dear Miss Manners: I believe I have made an invitation mishap. My family and I just moved into a new house over the weekend, and some of our friends came to help in one way or another. My husband is in the Air Force, and one of the men and one of the women he works with came to help.
- Mom’s Day not a gift grab
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Judith MartinMiss Manners BY JUDITH MARTIN Judith Martin
Updated: 05/04/08 6:47 AM Dear Miss Manners: I a ma middle-aged man dating a middle-aged woman. She is a mother of three and is under the impression that I should buy her a gift on Mother’s Day.
Susan Martin
- Susan Martin: New dog’s loving life – even the cats
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Susan Martin
Updated: 05/09/08 8:31 AM Since I wrote about the dog we adopted from the SPCA a few months ago, a number of readers have asked me to write a column about how he is doing.
- Susan Martin: A good reason for the kids to get dirty
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Susan Martin
Updated: 05/02/08 8:16 AM Kids and gardening go together. Any parent who has seen the face of a child whose seed has sprouted knows this.
- Susan Martin: Spring, and the changes it brings
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Updated: 04/25/08 8:09 AM Spring is here, and we all are getting outside more, rediscovering our neighborhoods and taking a closer look at our own homes and what needs to be done in the coming weeks and months.
Other Life Columns
- Cruise is a stubborn man
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Tribune Media Services
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM We don’t think Tom Cruise is crazy. He just ... wants his way. Why not? He works hard for it. (And he knows when it is politic to alter his views. In his most recent sit-down with Oprah, Tom said he’d misjudged the depth of postpartum depression. You all remember his set-too with Brooke Shields over that matter!)
- The best recessed lights
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Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM Dear Jim: I have always liked recessed light fixtures, but I have heard they are leaky and inefficient. Are there any new types that are more energy efficient? Are they difficult to install myself? — Mike M.
- A cute tale of ‘Honor’
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Updated: 05/08/08 6:32 AM “Made of Honor” (PG-13, 1 hour, 41 minutes)
