Bob Andelman Interviews

Gail Simmons lends her strong culinary expertise as a judge and critic for Bravo's "Top Chef: New York," tasting and critiquing the competing chefs' creations each week. Gail has been with Food & Wine magazine since 2004, currently in charge of special projects for the epicurean magazine. In this role, she oversees the brand's signature event, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the country' s premier culinary event. In addition, she works on the publication's chef-related events and programs. Gail began her culinary career writing food articles for Toronto Life magazine and the National Post, Canada's national newspaper. In addition, she served as the research and recipe Assistant to food critic Jeffrey Steingarten at Vogue magazine and apprenticed at both Le Cirque 2000 and Vong restaurants. Prior to joining Food & Wine, Gail most recently worked as the Special Events Manager for The Dinex Group, Chef Daniel Boulud's acclaimed restaurant empire. She has also contributed to several cookbooks including It Must've Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten, (Knopf 2002), Daniel Boulud Cooking in New York City (Assouline 2002) and The New American Chef by Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg (Wiley, John & Sons, Inc. 2003). She graduated summa cum laude from McGill University in Montreal and received her formal culinary training at what is now the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

The B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre-Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love, which presents the most offbeat, unpredictable, and idiosyncratic films ever to reach the big screen. Most of these movies haven’t won Oscars, but they’ve won-over audiences throughout the world—at art house cinemas, in dorm rooms, at midnight showings, and even at mainstream theaters.In this collection, the nation’s most prominent critics reveal their love of “films that fall outside the mainstream by dint of their budgets, their visions, their grit, and occasionally—sometimes essentially—their lack of what the culture cops call ‘good taste.’” The thirty-five critics—including luminaries like Roger Ebert, Kenneth Turan, and Peter Travers—discuss everything from westerns to noir, science fiction to slashers. Pink Flamingos, Grindhouse, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Platoon, Reservoir Dogs, The Fly, Videodrome, Night of the Living Dead, The Buddy Holly Story, Eraserhead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers—all the best B movies are represented here. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of these cult classics or just want to know what the buzz is about, The B List is indispensable. David Sterritt is chairman of the National Society of Film Critics and a film professor at Columbia University.

Whatever Hollywood! Suri, Apple and Shiloh are three best friends who are taking Hollywood by storm and playing by their own rules. Tune in to their self-described fun and silly short films (many featuring their own original music), as well as the reality-style “Whatever Show.” As smart as they are beautiful, this talented trio hates waiting for Hollywood to answer their calls … so they decided to do it for themselves. Whatever, Hollywood! More than a TV host, Suri is the nocturnal brains behind WH's editing. A Stanford grad with a flare for drama, she laments the horrors of production while secretly loving it. She claims to be cool (sorority social chair 3 years running) but new computer programs actually make her eyes light up. In her spare time, Suri enjoys being cruel to adoring guys, reading the Wall Street Journal (or anything with dollar signs), and dreaming of maid service. WH has officially opened a t-shirt store in her bedroom. The actress, writer, and eternal optimist, Apple champions the trio's efforts with the fervor of a southern cheerleader (though she grew up in N. Cali and was never actually a cheerleader.) This Dartmouth grad has trekked all through Europe and Central America and polished her impressive Spanish skills while volunteering in Costa Rica. She enjoys yoga, scrapbooking, drugstore shopping, and clever banter.

Bill Romanowski is a 4-time NFL Super Bowl Champion who put his body through the most extreme physical demands during his 16-year NFL career. In his quest to continue to be one of the best and most durable linebackers to ever play the game, Romanowski turned to nutrition, collaborating with elite nutritionists to find supplemental answers to his cognitive and physical performance needs. This research process sparked the concept for a company based on ultimate life performance. Neuro1™ was the Company’s flagship product, which helped Romanowski recover from his cognitive challenges resulting from his NFL career. Now retired from the NFL, Romanowski has written a New York Times bestseller, Romo: My Life on the Edge: Living Dreams and Slaying Dragonsstarred in Hollywood movies and been a regular on several television and radio sports shows. His primary focus is to give back by providing nutritional supplements that are focused on the three main areas of life performance- energy and focus, sleep, and body composition.

As the star of "WORST WEEK," the 2008-09 TV season's funniest (and sometimes most painful!) new sitcom, Kyle Bornheimer plays Sam Briggs, an entertainment editor who endures some of the worst luck and circumstances (usually of his own making) in pursuit of marriage to his beloved, pregnant fiancee, Melanie (Errin Hayes). Standing in his way is Melanie's father, played by Kurtwood Smith ("That '70s Show") and Melanie's Neidermeyer-like brother-in-law. Them—and the laws of physics and Murphy. The show is a slapstick

Just in time for Christmas! Who made the first snowman? Who first came up with the idea of placing snowballs on top of each other, and who decided they would use a carrot for a nose? Most puzzling of all: How can this mystery ever be solved, with all the evidence long since melted? The snowman appears everywhere on practically everything -- from knickknacks to greeting cards to seasonal sweaters we plan to return. Whenever we see big snowballs our first impulse is to deck them out with a top hat. Humorist and writer Bob Eckstein has long been fascinated by this ubiquitous symbol of wintertime fun -- and finally, for the first time, one of the world's most popular icons gets his due. A thoroughly entertaining exploration, The History of the Snowman travels back in time to shed light on the snowman's enigmatic past -- from the present day, in which the snowman reigns as the King of Kitsch, to the Dark Ages, with the creation of the very first snowman. Eckstein's curiosity began playfully enough, but soon snowballed into a (mostly) earnest quest of chasing Frosty around the world, into museums and libraries, and seeking out the advice of leading historians and scholars.

David Wild is a music and TV writer and critic, and a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. Growing up in New Jersey in the ’60s and ’70s, David Wild found his childhood shaped by the music of Neil Diamond—who, as he says, “was big in Jersey well before Bruce Springsteen became The Boss.” Later, as a rock critic for Rolling Stone, he remained a staunch admirer while his fellow music writers dismissed Diamond as terminally unhip. When Wild first interviewed him for the magazine, Diamond posed the question that would later become the articl

Alana De La Garza returns to the esteemed cast of NBC's Emmy Award-winning series "Law & Order," now entering its 19th season. De La Garza reprises her role as the Assistant District Attorney Connie Rubirosa. In 2008, she also became the new face of Garnier Nutritioniste cosmetics. De La Garza was seen on "CSI: Miami" as the wife of police officer Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and on the series "The Book of Daniel." Born in Columbus, Ohio, to a Mexican-America

While attending college at ASU, Craig Glazer and his pals pulled off 30 stings posing as law enforcement and rob drug dealers. The stings become so successful that the Attorney General offers Craig a job as an undercover agent (Special Agent with a badge) and he became America's youngest special agent at age 20. From there, Glazer's partner is killed by Colombian drug dealers; so Craig sought revenge and posed as the Mafia to set up Colombian drug dealers in a money laundering sting, but they turn out to be the Federal Task Force (FBI, DEA). Glazer was sent to prison

Every actor has their own story of discovery, but can anything top cutting class and getting discovered at age 15 in a soda shop? It sounds made up, something out of a movie, and yet that’s exactly how Lana Turner, formerly Julia Jean “Judy” Turner, got her start in Hollywood. Lana was the ultimate personification of the term “movie star”—a world-class beauty who lived a glamorous lifestyle, one that included seven marriages and a murder that would make her and her daughter infamous. In

International hip-hop star Emanuel Jal was a child soldier in Sudan who overcame the violence and fled after being forced to fight as young as 8 years old. Jal has a book, CD and documentary film about his life coming out and has also been nominated for an MTV award. The documentary won viewer’s choice at the Tribeca Film Festival; it premiers in New York the week of November 10th and after that will roll out in DC and LA. Joining Jal in the Mr. Media interview will be executive producer Dal LaMagna. www.warchildmovie.com

In 1994 Patrick McDonnell created the comic strip MUTTS which now appears in more than 700 newspapers and 20 countries. MUTTS has been described by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz as "one of the best comic strips of all time." McDonnell has received numerous awards for this strip, including the National Cartoonists Society’s highest honor, The Reuben, for Cartoonist of the Year. In 2005, McDonnell embarked on a children's book career. His first children’s book, which featured the MUTTS characters, The Gift of Nothing, quickly became a New York Times bests

Ethan Suplee plays Randy, brother of Jason Lee's character Earl in "My Name Is Earl," on NBC TV. He has established himself over the past decade as an actor of considerable talent and accomplishment. His diverse and eclectic resume ranges from hilarious roles in such comedies as Mallrats (1995) and Without a Paddle (2004) to hauntingly dramatic performances in intense features such as

Former soccer star Brandi Chastain and former gymnastics sensation Kerri Strug will trade in their old Team USA uniforms for orange running jerseys as they take on their next athletic challenge -- the 2008 ING New York City Marathon. On Sunday, November 2, 2008, Chastain and Strug will partner with global financial services leader ING as they join nearly 40,000 participants for one of the world’s premier distance running events. The two will also serve as ambassadors for the ING Run for Something Better, a national program that promotes youth fitness and pr

Philip Winchester stars as the optimistic and resourceful Robinson Crusoe in NBC's new show "Crusoe." The action and adventure drama is based on the classic novel by Daniel Defoe. Winchester was first discovered when the television movie "The Patriot" was casting in his then home state of Montana. He won a supporting role in the movie at the age of 14. He later went on to train at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramati