Shark Tank's Robert Herjavec Celebrates a Small Business Revolution

By: Finance Foodie

The other day, I had the honor of attending a special press screening of the new 8 part mini-series Small Business Revolution, which showcases the transformation of Wabash, Indiana through its small businesses.  The online series, available to view now at smallbusinessrevolution.org and set to stream on Hulu beginning October 21, is hosted by the esteemed Shark Tank investor and son of immigrant factory worker Robert Herjavec and the affable Amanda Brinkman of Deluxe Corporation. As the Mister and I are big Shark Tank fans (we DVR every episode!), I obviously had to attend and check it out.

Robert Herjavec and Amanda Brinkman

Lois Lowry's The Giver Gives...And Then Some!

By Anne M. Raso

Not being a fan of science fiction, I was skeptical about seeing The Giver but I quickly fell in love with it--it transcends the genre of sci-fi and teaches the lessons of love, tolerance and forgiveness via depicting a future society that's not so pretty. I had never read the book by Lois Lowry even though it is HarperCollins' top-selling "young adult" e-book of all time. There is mega-star power in The Giver including Meryl Streep as the Chief Elder and Jeff Bridges as The Giver, and it is possibly Jeff Bridges who steals the show as the one "elder" who doesn't act like a robot in a black and white world where everyone is alike in every way and issued orders on how to behave. Love isn't a concept in this new world--everyone just goes about their daily business with assigned jobs and roles in society, live in identical housing, eat identical food for dinner and even have assigned children that come from a stark baby laboratory where defective babies are done away with via shots and disposed like garbage down a shoot.

The entire cast

The Smithereens At BB King’s: A Legendary Gig Gets Better Every Year!

By: Anne M. Raso

The third Saturday of every January marks a special event for Smithereens fans young and old---the legendary group’s annual show at BB King’s in Times Square. (This year it falls on Saturday, January 18th.) What makes the gig special is not only the intimacy of the space but the fact that this is the show the international ‘Reens fans fly in for from all continents; the foreign fans enjoy “meeting and greeting” with the New York tri-state area fans and often form enduring friendships! It’s also a show where the band pulls out many of their “deep cuts,” often speaking to fans in the weeks prior to the show about what they’d like to hear.

BB King's marquee for last year's Smithereens show

Mad About Art: Checking Out The Unforgettable Fountain House Benefit

By: Anne M. Raso

The charity Fountain House, which raises money for mentally ill actors, had a 100-artist Mad About Art auction and cocktail party fundraiser on November 20th at Cedar Lake in Chelsea, and I was lucky enough to attend. The event chairs were John P. Casaly, Rick Froio, Carmel and Brett Fromson, Dario Gristina, Leslie Harwood, Rich Hiler, Louis J. Mantia, Bonnie and Frank Pratt, Jerry Schumm and Gabriel Stefania.

Sign at Entrance

Michael Imperioli for Oldboy: This Time He's Playing The Good Guy!

By: Anne M. Raso

Michael Imperioli is an actor with great diversity, and yet we know him best as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos--a no-good junkie, alcoholic, girlfriend-slapping young mafia soldier who made his boss Tony Soprano seem as sensitive and polite as Mr. Rogers! In Spike Lee's new film Oldboy, he plays the "true blue" old friend and bar owner who's not afraid to stick his neck out for a friend (played by Josh Brolin) who has disappeared for 20 years...and who happens to be a criminal on the lam for killing his wife. (Well, or so we are led to believe--I can't give away any of the spoilers for this film, which is a remake of the 2002 avant garde Korean classic of the same name but with twists and turns added!)

Imperioli at Oldboy Press Day, NYC

James Gandolfini's Last Hurrah: Enough Said Movie Premiere

By: Anne M. Raso

Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to attend the premiere of, sadly, one of the last movies starring the great late James Gandolfini--the Fox Searchlight romantic comedy Enough Said, which hits theaters on September 20th. The movie is simply one of the best romantic comedies to come down the pike this year.

James Gandolfini and Julia Louis Dreyfus, Enough Said

Elvis' "Axe Man" James Burton: A Guitar Legend Bites The Big Apple!

By: Anne M. Raso

This is going to be a big weekend for fans of James Burton, Louisiana native who is most famous for being Elvis and Ricky Nelson's lead axe man and for inventing what has come to be known as the "chicken pickin' style." Burton never seems to play in New York and when I asked him about it, he joked that they don't offer him enough money up here (well, I am pretty sure he was joking, LOL)! The only times I can recall that Burton played here in recent times was when the TCB band--Elvis' backup group from the 70s who still tour together on occasion--played at Radio City as part of an Elvis tribute back in February 2011.

James Burton

Still Happy After All These Years: Howard Kaylan Talks About The Happy Together Tour And His Book, Shell Shocked!

By: Anne M. Raso

I was lucky enough to catch up with the legendary classic rocker Howard Kaylan in New York recently when he was in town promote his revealing autobiography Shell Shocked: My Life With The Turtles, Flo And Eddie and Frank Zappa from Backbeat Books (available on amazon.com). Howard and longtime Turtles partner-in-crime Mark Volman are currently touring all summer long as headliners on the Happy Together Tour where they mix their megahits like “Happy Together,” “You Baby,” “It Ain’t Me And More” along with their comedic chatter about everything from the primetime talent shows like American Idol to recent celebrity scandals to joking about what it is like to have lived through the 60s.

Justin Bieber’s Mom To Teen Girls: ”Learn From My Mistakes”! An Exclusive Interview with Pattie Mellette!

By: Anne M. Raso

Justin Bieber’s 38-year-old mom Pattie Mallette—a dead ringer for Sheryl Crow-- was just 17 when she got pregnant with Justin and now wants to share her turbulent journey with teenagers around the world who might find themselves in the same boat via her book Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber's Mom (Teen Edition) with co-author A.J. Gregory. The original book for adults came out in September 2012 but this new edition for teens includes “discussion suggestions” and sidebars that are of interest to the younger set. Pattie is often asked advice from Justin’s fans that encounter her, so it’s a natural that she do a book in this format. She is always happy to dole out advice.

Winona Ryder: Mob Moll - Q&A On The Ice Man!

By: Anne M. Raso

Winona Ryder has stayed pretty low key in the recent past but you cannot keep a great actress down and in the new mob "hit" The Ice Man, Winona turns in a very real performance as Deborah Pelicotti Kuklinski, the widow of real-life northern New Jersey hit man Richard Kuklinski (played in the film by Michael Shannon) who bragged over 300 hits after being imprisoned even though the cops had the number somewhere more like a modest 100.

Winona Ryder at The Ice Man Press Day

Eva Mendes: All About The Place Beyond The Pines

By: Anne M. Raso

Eva Mendes was looking gorgeous in a polka dotted dress and platform pumps at the press day for The Place Beyond The Pines, co-starring real life love interest Ryan Gosling (headed to theaters nationwide this Friday). Mendes says that like many other actors, she finds on-screen bedroom scenes to be awkward and that she likes to “keep it classy” in this area of thespianism. She wouldn't comment if it was harder or easier to do love scenes with her real life BF or not!

Tina Fey's Candid Admissions On Admission

By: Anne M. Raso

Tina Fey is in peak form in Admission, a social satire on the Ivy League admissions process that undoubtedly hits close to home for a lot of parents helping their smart kids fill out those complex forms right around this time of year! Fey plays Princeton Admissions Officer Portia Nathan, a conservative woman raised by a Susannah, a radical feminist mother (played by Lily Tomlin, sporting a large Bella Abzug tattoo). Paul Rudd plays the handsome and charming John Pressman, head of an alternative high school who has a wild card Princeton candidate for Portia--a kid named Jeremiah Balakian (played by Nat Wolff) with high SAT scores and crappy everything else who just may or may not be the son she gave up for adoption while in college. It's a clever plot and all we can say without giving away spoilers is that Portia's determined to get Jeremiah into Princeton come hell or high water.

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd at The Waldorf Towers, NYC

Not Fade Away: The Sopranos David Chase's First Feature Film Rocks Out 60s Style!

By: Anne M. Raso

I was lucky enough to attend the New York Film Festival screening and Q&A session for The Sopranos creator David Chase’s first feature film, Not Fade Away—not to mention the press conference recently held at NYC’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel this past Sunday.

NOT FADE AWAY, from Paramount Vantage and Indian Paintbrush

The Oranges: A Conversation With Hugh Laurie About His Unusual On-Screen "Squeeze" And More!

By: Anne M. Raso

There are a lot of TV shows set in NJ these days from Jerseylicious to The Jersey Shore to The Real Housewives Of New Jersey--so it comes as no surprise that a bunch of movies set in NJ are starting to come out The Oranges is a dark comedy about two families in the West Orange, NJ area that have been friends for decades. When one family’s rebellious daughter (played by Leighton Meester) returns home for Christmas and has an affair with one of the father figures in the clan (played by Hugh Laurie), it forces everyone to think twice about what happiness really means to them. We obviously can't give away any spoilers here but you can see this quirky comedy soon enough--it starts it's limited run this Friday. (And if you are wondering if it was really shot in West Orange--no! It was shot in New Rochelle, NY, which looks very similar; director Julian Farino wanted to take advantage of the generous tax breaks NYC gives production companies that film there.)

The Cast of The Oranges

30 Years of Grapes and Glory at L’espalier, Hosted by Georges Duboeuf

By: Finance Foodie 

When I was banking on Wall Street, there was a strong culture of status flaunting – it was not unheard of to hear conversations such as, “last night when we were all celebrating with a bottle of Chateau Lafite….” on a regular basis. Although I can – and definitely do – appreciate an expensive bottle of red, I also believe that good wine can be found at a more reasonable price point. And now that the good times are at a halt and bonus have become almost non-existent, I think my fellow financiers should soon follow suit as well.

Freida Pinto Tells All (and More!) on Her New Film, Trishna!

By: Anne M. Raso 

Financefoodie.com was lucky enough to get to talk to Freida Pinto--the actress most legendary for her work in Slumdog Millionaire about her new Michael Winterbottom directed flick, Trishna--about two star-crossed lovers. Stunning dark-maned Freida is one of the few Indian actresses who has made it into mainstream Hollywood thanks to her stunning looks, the ability to choose classy projects, being "low maintenance" (as she was described by Winterbottom to me) and general elegance in both her movement and fashion sense. Freida has been with Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel (six years her junior) for a long time now, and we slipped in a couple of personal questions even though we were supposed to keep the questions about Trishna--her latest film set in India which is based on Thomas Hardy's tragic romance English literature classic Tess--but with modern-day Indian morals presented.

Freida Pinto. Photo: Anne M. Raso

Getting "Goony" Seann William Scott & Liev Schreiber - A Quick Q&A For Their New Film Goon!

By: Anne M. Raso

We were lucky enough to catch up with Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber at the NYC press day for their new minor league hockey comedy and ultimate "boy flick," Goon! We had a chuckle because they were hanging out with the Hanson brothers, the real life Canadian minor league players who starred in the ultimate hockey film Slapshot (but we hear the Hansons advised Scott and Schreiber how to make their characters even goonier)! We suggest that if you see this film, you have a strong stomach for a lot of bloodshed on the ice, and a lot of crude humor. This is not the kind of film Schreiber usually does, but we have to admit--there is something charming about him in a macho handlebar mustache and we kind of wish he kept it, LOL!

Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall Talks Meet Monica Velour, Private Lives and More Sex!

By: Anne M. Raso

Let it never be said that Kim Cattrall doesn't have great diversity in her roles! In her latest film, Meet Monica Velour, Kim Cattrall stars as a down-and-out late 70's porn star now living in a trailer park. She’s unemployable in any sort of “everyday” job, fighting for custody of her young daughter and about to do one last porno in a cheap motel to make ends meet. Basically, Monica is the polar opposite of the chic and sophisticated Samantha Jones from Sex & the City. We caught up with Kim at New York City’s Regency Hotel to ask about the diversity of characters she plays, what drew her to the Meet Monica Velour project (which required her to gain a minimum of 15 pounds), her charity work with Lighthouse For The Blind (where her clothing donations outsell all others at their big annual three-day fundraiser), her future projects (including a possible SATC 3 film and a Broadway run of Noel Coward’s Private Lives which won her accolades on London’s West End).

Anne and Kim. Photo: Anne M. Raso/financefoodie.com

Hanging With The Honeymooners' Joyce Randolph in On Location's Classic New York TV & Movie Sites Tour!

By: Anne M. Raso

On Location Tours just premiered their new Classic New York TV & Movie Sites guided bus tour--so financefoodie.com got to spent a fun-filled afternoon touring the most filmed city in the world -- and totally got a nostalgic behind-the-scenes look at some of everyone's favorite Big Apple classics. This new tour offers a hearty bit of New York’s rich TV & film history and a chance to experience historical landmarks and sites through the angle of a camera lens. We recently took the tour with TV legend Joyce Randolph and on our way to get onto the bus with her, we met up with Sopranos star Jospeh Gannascoli (whom we have met on the On Locations Sopranos Tour twice and since have become Facebook friends with). On our tour with the still-gorgeous Ms. Randolph, we saw sites from The Seven Year Itch, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Apartment, The Honeymooners, Taxi Driver, The Way We Were, Manhattan, The Godfather, and many more.

Charlotte Kandel: Warner Bros. PR Exec's New Book Based on George Clooney, Nicole Kidman and More!

By: Anne M. Raso

Charlotte Kandel, former head of worldwide publicity for Warner Bros. Films, has gone the Jackie Collins route and published a novel based on her experiences in the weird and wacky world of Hollywood called The Summer Girl, A Movie Star Love Story. The protagonist is a PR intern named Lucy who falls for a movie superstar/director she is working with--and can't tell when he is acting or when he is being "real." We spoke to Charlotte about her foray into the world of novels (her last writing effort was the kids' book The Enchanted Riddle, part of the Silk Stockings series), and how much of her tell-all is really a peek at her former world.