Baldwin brothers are taking over TV

The Baldwins aren’t coming. They’re here.

Over the past few years, the quartet of movie-star brothers has worked its way from the big screen into your living room. With Alec and William Baldwin already appearing regularly on network shows, Stephen and Daniel have joined up in recent weeks with roles on “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Celebrity Rehab,” respectively. If that doesn’t make you love reality TV, nothing will.

But it all begs the question: How many Baldwins are too many Baldwins? And what it is about TV today that ensures a place for every Baldwin?

This, of course, isn’t the first time the Baldwins have made their way onto television. Alec’s career began in earnest with a spot as a crazy preacher on “Knots Landing,” while Daniel’s most notable career role was a two-year stint on the critically adored “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

But the recent influx of Baldwins on TV ??” and the fact that they’re all on active shows at the same time ??” is notable.

It started, as most Baldwin movements do, with big brother Alec turning heads two years ago by taking a regular part on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock” as Jack Donaghy, the fictional GE vice president of East Coast television programming and microwave ovens. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC Universal.) Critics were in such amazement at his taking a TV job that one of their first questions to “30 Rock” creator Tina Fey upon the show’s introduction was, “Will Alec Baldwin be on every show?”

He’s not only on every episode, but the notoriously liberal Baldwin gets to flex his comedy muscles while playing a staunchly conservative New York Republican who brings a photo of Ronald Reagan to his barber for reference purposes.

In typical Alec fashion, he tested the waters of the current TV world, gained critical acclaim, won a Golden Globe, was nominated for an Emmy and told his brothers to come on in.

William arrived this fall on TV’s juiciest new drama, ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money,” which follows a rich New York family of five siblings and the kind of shenanigans that come along with extreme wealth and public exposure.

William, who once worked for a New York congressman in D.C., plays New York’s attorney general. He??™s a married man who’s looking to make a run for a Senate seat, but has a transsexual girlfriend, which might throw a wrench into those plans. It’s a part that benefits from the cool and panicked touches that a Baldwin can deliver, and William could soon find himself on award ballots for it.

But that brings us to the lesser-known brothers, who’ve benefited from desperation on a couple of different levels. Stephen Baldwin was in the right place at the time when the floundering “Apprentice” franchise decided to try a celebrity edition.

At the same time, Daniel joined seven other fallen stars on VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.” Both are admirable, if surprising, ventures that could yield positive results in many ways.

Stephen, the youngest member of the Baldwin clan, is best known for his roles in “The Usual Suspects” and, of course, “Bio-Dome.” He previously appeared on “Fear Factor” and, you’re forgiven if you’d forgotten about this one, “Celebrity Mole.” The initial shots at career re-invigoration via reality TV apparently didn’t take, and he’s now playing “Celebrity Apprentice” with 13 other celebrities ??” and former “Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault Stallworth.

Stephen has already done some good on the show. As team leader during the first episode, he guided his team to victory in the first challenge put forth by Donald Trump: selling hot dogs in Manhattan. For the victory, Stephen received nearly $70,000 (the total amount of money earned by both teams in hot dog sales) for his charity, The Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, and his mother appeared to accept the donation.

Last week, Alec made a cameo on “Celebrity Apprentice” to buy some printers for $1,000 each from his baby brother and bring a little star power to a Kodak printer display the team had set up on a New York sidewalk.

“It was very good to have Alec Baldwin there because, actually, it showed everyone what a real Baldwin is,” said ???America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan, who is Stephen’s teammate, even though they have a brewing rivalry. “Because, choice: Alec Baldwin, massive TV star; Stephen Baldwin … ?”

The stakes are more than fun and games for Daniel Baldwin, who’s had a rough go of it since appearing on VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club” in 2005. Baldwin’s widely reported problems apparently stem from a cocaine addiction he once told People magazine he’s been fighting since 1989. In late 2006, Baldwin was arrested for stealing a friend’s SUV, which resulted in a famously embarrassing mug shot that was featured in the series premiere of “Celebrity Rehab.”

Baldwin, who said in the premiere that he’s been sober since November 2006, is participating in the rehab program (that’s being documented for the series) in order to maintain his sobriety, which he says is a constant struggle. As a longtime addict who seems to be on a genuine quest for sobriety, Baldwin looks to play a key role as he doles out advice to the other celebrity addicts in what turns out to be a genuinely captivating hour of television every Thursday.

The Baldwin crew has overtaken practically every aspect of television ??” the sitcom, the drama, the reality competition and the voyeur reality show. Alec might even have a future as a talk-show host, as he’s scheduled to interview Gene Wilder on TCM’s “Role Model: Gene Wilder” on April 15. All that remains is for mom Carol to start hosting a cooking show on The Food Network.

But as each of them fills his role so effectively across the spectrum of genres television has to offer, it turns out that TV is big and diverse enough to accommodate every Baldwin that comes our way.

And anyway, can you really ever have too many Baldwins?

Victor Balta lives in Philadelphia and is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.

Remote Destination – Best of 2007

So it obviously took long for me to come up with thoughts on 2007. But it was difficult to do,.2007 wasn’t a good year for television. It had numerous things going against it. There were the cancelled shows (Rome, Deadwood, Thief) that I felt should have made return engagements this year which left a huge void to fill.

Then there were the awful shows that, for some reason I ended up watching complete seasons of. Dirt and Californication spring immediately to mind.

And of course there was the WGA Strike which took a toll on the Fall Season and threatens the next fall’s too.

But there were some high points too. And thus I give you my Top Ten TV Shows of 2007.This was the crown jewel of 2007. There was no finer program broadcast on television last year. Hands down.

Mad Men is both a look at the past and a mirror for the present. It illustrates how far we’ve come in terms of childcare (both pre and post-natal) but it also offers up a myriad of examples of how little how gender politics have changed in the past 40-odd years despite the dressing of political correctness.

It’s expertly written and superbly acted. Even the least likable of characters earn their moments of sympathy. It’s a show that revolves around white males yet addresses anti-Semitism, race, homosexuality, sexual politics and issues of identity without missing a beat.

Mad Men is a testament to the notion that commercials and censors needn’t be a hindrance to making great televison.As a general rule I loathe sitcoms. They’re formulaic, poorly acted and worst of all, insulting. But 30 Rock is one sitcom that I refuse to miss.

It’s probably because it’s fearless. The scene with Jack (Alec Baldwin) and Tracy (Tracy Morgan) at the therapist that’s been talked about ad nauseam had all of the ingredients for public outcry. A white guy doing vulgar caricatures various minorities. But it worked because it was so over the top funny and right within the tone of the show.

The writers are the really the stars of the show. The comedy is simultaneously smart, subversive and self-deprecating. Every episode has moments that caused me to marvel at boundaries being pushed and laugh out loud. The actors sell the words perfectly, but anyone who enjoys the show is really a fan of the writing.

Still, how in the hell did Fox Mulder beat out Alec Baldwin at the Golden Globes?Showtime’s Brotherhood is a tersely written tense hour of televison. The debut season introduced us to characters of The Hill and ended on a hell of a cliffhanger. Season two magnificently followed up on everything and actually upped the ante.

Much like HBO’s The Wire, Brotherhood tells the tale of a city, in this case Providence, R.I., though various angles; criminal, police and political. It revolves around the Caffee family and how they are at intersection of all that occurs in Providence.

There’s really not a weak link in Brotherhood. Whether it’s Deco’s descent into the underbelly being a dirty cop or Tommy’s dalliance with adultery every storyline drew you into complete investment. Michael’s attempt to overcome the injury he sustained in the first season finale was probably my favorite, especially when his dreams fell apart.

But the Thanksgiving episode was probably my favorite holiday themed episode in recent memory. It was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Brotherhood is one of television’s finest crime dramas out.Sometimes television is for escaping. And while is usually look for the adjectives "harsh", "stark" or "realistic" when it comes to my hour long dramas, Pushing Daisies won me over based purely on it’s whimsical tone.

I loved doomed romance so the very notion of longing for someone you can’t touch because that touch would mean instant death is right up my alley. Hell it’s a story set in a town where everything is vibrantly colored, women still wear dresses and making pies is a viable vocation. What’s not to like?

And as if having a character who has a Lazarus touch and a character who’s formerly dead weren’t enough, there’s also a surly P.I. who’s hobby is knitting and a former jockey who pines her boss. Quirky barely does this cast justice.

It’s also a fun show that I looked forward to week in and out. I couldn’t wait for it to come on, so I could sit on the couch with my roommate and take a trip to some place away from the real world.I’m leery of cop dramas. Far too often they’re procedurals with happy endings. But Life offered something different; and interesting character and a mystery that, while intriguing, wasn’t all encompassing.

The pilot for Life raised plenty of questions; why was Charlie in jail? Why did he return to the police force? How did he return to the police force? Was there an actual conspiracy? The mystery wasn’t a lingering one like say, Lost is was usually relegated to the B story. The answers to those questions were doled out over the episodes that aired, never requiring the view to take anything on faith.

Damian Lewis plays Charlie Crews as a peculiar guy who is inquisitive yet wise. He’s an interesting character who’s quirks never overwhelm the character. He’s much more a character with quirks, rather than a collection of quirks in the form a character. He’s the star and he makes watching mesmerizing.I really wanted to love this season of Weeds, but I couldn’t; it had flaws. U-Turn was written off too soon (though it was a well written exit.) There didn’t seem to be nearly enough Doug. And the lack of the brilliant Heylia/Nancy chemistry really didn’t help things.

But there were good moments too. Anything involving Andy was sure to was sure to inspire laughs. Nancy and U-Turn moments, as brief as they were, never disappointed. Sanjay’s blooming sexuality was never ignored. And then there were the sex scenes.

I wish the season had a stronger ending and that more of the interesting threads had been developed (biker rivals, Shane in summer school.) Still, Weeds began the season with a boom.Summer fare is notoriously unreliable. That’s probably why Burn Notice was so refreshing. Using a Miami as a backdrop for a noir tale about a former spy seemed like a sure miss. But Jeffery Donovan really sells it.

Donovan can shift from boyish innocence to brutal menace with no warning and that’s where the charm in the show lies. Much like Life there’s a mystery, but it’s not an overwhelming one. I’m curious why Michael got :"burned" but I’m equally interested in seeing him establish himself in his new surroundings.

Burn Notice has plenty of lighthearted moments. It’s also got some great action scenes. But my favorite part (after Donovan) would have to be the tips that Michael shares with the viewer, like how to win a bar fight or how to secure a domicile. Learning has never been so entertaining.I wasn’t supposed to watch this show, much less like it. I just so happened to have an hour to kill on the Sunday after it debuted, when that debut replayed. I caught it and enjoyed it. Actually I more than enjoyed it, I was hooked.

I think I was just impressed at how a show on ABC Family managed to do a decent job of capturing college life. There’s underage drinking and premarital sex and of course the combination drunken hook ups.

What’s more is that I cared about the characters. I grew fond of Cappie and Rusty. I really felt for Calvin and even Dale grew on me. Sure the show took some short cuts (the "two-fer" of having the Black male also be gay) but Greek was probably my biggest surprise in 2007.Damages was flawed, but featured flawless acting. The pacing was off at times and the ending was a bit anticlimactic, but the acting always delivered. Glenn Close and Ted Danon got all of the acclaim, but for me I was most struck by David Costabile as "Bearded Man." He was a foreboding presence that just exuded menace. Whenever he was on the screen I was riveted. But my second favorite was Zeljko Ivanek, who’s always underrated.

I didn’t really care for the whole mystery of the season. I was more interested in the ride and all of the numerous twists and turns. I liked trying to figure out if Patty Hewes or Arthur Frobisher was the "bad guy" of the story. It was a guessing game every week and for me that was a selling point.

And since the show got picked up for a second and third season it looks like I’ll be getting more ambiguity in the years to come. I just hope that the writers keep the writing on par with the acting.The show definitely faltered this season. The inclusion of the political angle felt forced and Kevin Hiatt always felt temporary. But Shane’s descent into the darkness fueled by his guilt is really what pulled this season through for me.

I was a fan of Kavanaugh’s character so to see him have such a diminished role this season was a letdown. But having Vic and Shane as adversaries pretty much picked up the slack. Seeing Shane struggle to keep one step ahead of his crumbing life was intense and actually made the character sympathetic, to a degree.

The season didn’t quite end on a note that left he craving the show’s final season, but I am interested in seeing how things wrap up. And while 2007 wasn’t The Shield’s best season, even a sub par off The Shield is better than 90% of what’s on other channels.

And thus you’ve got the TV shows that I really loved in 2007. But I’m curious what not only what you think about my list, but what shows you thought were the best 2007 had to offer.

Alec Baldwin Talks About Being on '30 Rock'

Alec Baldwin has had a successful career in the film industry, but being a big movie star didn’t dissuade him from signing up for a regular television stint — a starring role on the Emmy Award winning comedy series, 30 Rock – nor did it stop him from agreeing to continue on with the gig. “I think everybody is very grateful to come back and do it again, and hopefully do it after that,” Baldwin told The Wave Magazine.  “I mean, if you get lucky and this thing runs and run and runs, it’s a great opportunity.”Alec Baldwin didn’t blindly sign on to 30 Rock, however. Knowing the people behind a show is an important factor, he said, and in this case, it’s Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels and comedian/actress/writer Tina Fey. “Lorne Michaels… [is an] old, old friend of mine. I’ve done SNL many times,” he said.  “His company and Marci Klein, his associate there, they asked me to do the show and Tina was the writer.  I knew Tina was funny, I knew she was very funny.  So I did the pilot.” On 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin plays NBC executive Jack Donaghy.  The character has his fair share of quirks, including having once been the proud owner of an extensive cookie jar collection. “Everybody is a little nuts, but we try to keep it in a certain range.  Sometimes we go beyond that range,” Baldwin said.  “Speaking for myself, sometimes I do go too far, but we think it works best when we try to keep it as real as we can.” Sharp humor combined with realism is what Alec Baldwin said has made the show gain more momentum with its second season, and he commends their writers, who are still on strike, for a job well done. “We still make it a little nutty, but I think everybody really tries to make it funny, and yet make it more honest,” he explained.  “What has really been great for me is just how great the writers are, and how funny the material is.  It’s almost actor-proof in that way, that if you just get out there and do it, it’s very funny.”-Lisa Claustro, Buddy TV Staff Columnist Source: The Wave Magazine

Witness: Smith Son Unhappy in Her Shadow

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — The late son of reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith was a gifted but anguished 20-year-old who longed to be more independent of his celebrity mother, a family friend testified Tuesday at an inquest into his death.

Ford Shelley, the son-in-law of a developer who was embroiled in an ownership dispute over the estate where Anna Nicole lived in the Bahamas before her fatal Feb. 8 overdose, described Daniel Smith as a “brilliant” young man who was “living in a shell” due to his mother’s fame.

“He wanted to break free,” Shelley said. “He loved his mother but didn’t want to be known as her son.”

Daniel Smith died Sept. 10, 2006, while visiting his mother three days after she gave birth to her daughter, Dannielynn, in the Bahamian capital of Nassau.

Shelley, who testified that Anna Nicole kept her drugs in a duffel bag, said he saw prescription bottles — including the painkiller methadone in pill and liquid form — made out to at least four different aliases when he unpacked her luggage during a trip she made to South Carolina to visit developer G. Ben Thompson, a former boyfriend.

He testified that he believed Daniel Smith could not have been a drug addict because he was “afraid of his own shadow” and “couldn’t even hold his liquor.”

Cross-examination by a lawyer for Anna Nicole’s attorney-turned-boyfriend Howard K. Stern, who was also in the hospital room the day Daniel died, tried to cast doubt on the closeness of Shelley’s relationship with the Smith family.

Earlier in the day, the lab director for the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office testified that a large dose of methadone taken by Daniel Smith was the primary factor behind his death.

“But for the methadone he would not have died,” said Dr. Lee Hern, who added that he did not believe the young man was a habitual user of the drug.

Under questioning by Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Turner, Hern said he felt the 20-year-old’s death was the result of an “intentional” overdose because the methadone ingested was such a large amount taken in such a short period of time.

The coroner’s court session was attended by Stern and Anna Nicole’s long-estranged mother, Virgie Arthur.

The inquest continues Wednesday, with testimony expected by Thompson, the South Carolina developer, and two nannies who worked in the waterfront home where Anna Nicole Smith and Stern lived in Nassau.

So far, about 30 witnesses have testified at the inquest before a seven-member jury, which will formally determine what killed Daniel Smith and has the power to recommend criminal charges if it finds evidence of wrongdoing.

Police have said there is no evidence of homicide, and an autopsy found the likely cause of death was a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants.

Alec Baldwin says time is not right for protracted Hollywood strikes

BANFF, Alta. – Actor Alec Baldwin says his latest trip to Canada shows exactly why the writers guild needs to ends its strike and follow “right behind” a tentative deal between major film and TV studios and the directors union.

“I came up here and for the first time I gave a guy $100 American and he gave me back 96 Canadian dollars,” he said. “America’s not in good shape right now.”

Baldwin said he remains “totally supportive” of what the writers have been seeking in their 10-week-long strike that’s stopped most new episodes of television’s most popular programs.

But he believes that the timing is wrong with the U.S. still mired in a costly war in Iraq and teetering on the edge of a recession.

Baldwin, who has played dozens of hard-nosed movie roles over the last 20 years, is one of the best-known actors attending this weekend’s Waterkeeper Alliance fundraiser hosted by Robert Kennedy Jr. in the Canadian Rocky Mountain resort town of Banff, Alta.

“I’m not against strikes, but I’m against strikes when we’re in a time of war. People pretend they’re not, but we’re at war in my country.”

Baldwin says it’s past the time for picking sides or laying blame in the strike. “People need to regroup and decide that it’s probably in everybody’s interest if we go back to work soon.”

The labour dispute between writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has dragged out since Nov. 5, primarily over the writers’ shares of potential profits from Internet programming and other new media.

Mainly played out below the radar, the strike has begun to garner more attention as many of television’s most popular shows such as “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” have run out of new episodes.

Last week’s Golden Globe awards were stripped of their star power and turned into an anticlimactic press conference when actors refused to cross threatened picket lines.

The hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing has already started over fears the same fate could befall the Oscars. Hollywood’s biggest bash of the year looms little more than a month away on Feb. 24.

While the studios and the writers stopped bargaining in early December, the union representing Hollywood directors hatched a tentative deal Thursday after less than a week at the table.

The directors guild called the deal “groundbreaking and substantial,” and made headway where the writers could not, including a three-year agreement that sets up key provisions to compensate directors for programs available on the Internet.

The writers guild, which had previously stated that the directors did not represent its members’ interests, said it would evaluate the terms of Thursday’s deal.

Other actors who attended a Thursday night cocktail party in Banff also said they hoped the directors’ deal meant an end to the writers strike was near at hand.

“I hope that’s good news – that’s heading in a positive direction,” said Dennis Franz, best known for his marathon role as gritty cop Andy Sipowicz on “NYPD Blue.”

“It’s the guys on the crews that have to come in on a daily basis, and they go from day to day – they’re the ones that this has done a great deal of damage to, and it’s been very hard on them.”

Actor and director Chad Lowe, brother of actor Rob Lowe, said he hoped both the writers and producers would see the directors’ deal as a potential solution.

“I think it gives both sides an opportunity to save face.”

And Lowe said he hoped it would also form the basis of a new deal for the Screen Actors Guild and avoid another labour dispute when that contract expires in June.

“I don’t know if anybody’s going to have the stomach for a fight anymore after this, not for a little bit,” he said.

“And I think after three years, we can revisit the issues. We’ll have a lot more information on the table.”

A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a lawyer’s request Tuesday for immediate access to the medical files of a Guantanamo prisoner who says he has AIDS.

Chicago attorney H. Candace Gorman said she needs access to her client’s records as she wages a legal fight to make sure he gets adequate medical treatment at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba.

The court rejected the request without comment. Gorman had said earlier this month that her client, Libyan prisoner Abdul Hamid Abdul Salam Al-Ghizzawi, told her in a letter that a Guantanamo doctor had diagnosed him with AIDS.

Gorman said Al-Ghizzawi, who has been held at Guantanamo without charges since June 2002, appeared seriously ill when she visited him in December but has not been able to confirm whether he has AIDS. She said she previously confirmed he had tuberculosis and Hepatitis B.

The U.S. military has declined to comment on Al-Ghizzawi’s health, citing privacy restrictions, or to say whether any detainees have AIDS. Officials insist, however, that all prisoners have access to complete medical treatment.

The U.S. holds about 275 men at Guantanamo on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban and says it plans to prosecute about 80.

A 68-year-old Afghan detainee died from cancer at the prison Dec. 30, and four prisoners have committed suicide.

BAHAMAS: Anna Nicole Smith’s son was unhappy living in her shadow, family friend tells inquest

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) – The late son of reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith was a gifted but anguished 20-year-old who longed to be more independent of his celebrity mother, a family friend testified Tuesday at an inquest into his death.

Ford Shelley, the son-in-law of a developer who was embroiled in an ownership dispute over the estate where Anna Nicole lived in the Bahamas before her fatal Feb. 8 overdose, described Daniel Smith as a “brilliant” young man who was “living in a shell” due to his mother’s fame.

“He wanted to break free,” Shelley said. “He loved his mother but didn’t want to be known as her son.”

Daniel Smith died Sept. 10, 2006, while visiting his mother three days after she gave birth to her daughter, Dannielynn, in the Bahamian capital of Nassau.

Shelley, who testified that Anna Nicole kept her drugs in a duffel bag, said he saw prescription bottles – including the painkiller methadone in pill and liquid form – made out to at least four different aliases when he unpacked her luggage during a trip she made to South Carolina to visit developer G. Ben Thompson, a former boyfriend.

Earlier in the day, the lab director for the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office testified that a large dose of methadone taken by Daniel Smith was the primary factor behind his death.

Under questioning by Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Turner, Dr. Lee Hern said he felt the 20-year-old’s death was the result of an “intentional” overdose because the methadone ingested was such a large amount taken in such a short period of time.

PUERTO RICO: Activists protest proposal to build windmills in US territory

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Plans to build 25 windmills near a protected forest in southern Puerto Rico are drawing outrage from activists who warn several endangered bird species will be stripped of their pristine habitats.

The wind farm, to be built by the Puerto Rican-based company Windmar to produce electricity, would sit atop three isolated mountains in the coastal town of Guayanilla, home to the sprawling Guanica State Forest, where endangered nightjars and other birds breed and nest.

Windmar president Victor Gonzalez said the project would cover about 15 percent of the 800 acres (324 hectares) he owns adjacent to the forest, while the rest of his land remains undeveloped as mandated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The 25 windmills would produce an estimated 120,000 kilowatts a year, enough for 20,000 households in the U.S. Caribbean territory, he said.

But a study by the U.S. agency found the project would destroy several acres (hectares) of habitat used by the nightjar, a gray robin-size night bird. It said, however, that the windmills’ spinning turbines would not harm the birds.

Wildlife officials in 2006 ordered Gonzalez to paint the mills’ rotator blades and reconstruct trampled bird habitats if his project is eventually permitted, said Marelisa Rivera with the Fish and Wildlife office.

Environmental activists in Puerto Rico, where oil-burning power plants provide most electricity, say the project belongs elsewhere.

US VIRGIN ISLANDS: Former pension director arrested in fraud probe

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The former chief of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ ailing pension program was arrested for allegedly paying himself a second salary, the territory’s attorney general said Tuesday.

Willis Todmann, who resigned as chief of the US$1.3 billion (euro880 million) Government Employees Retirement System in March amid reports of financial irregularities, turned himself in to investigators at the islands’ Department of Justice on Monday.

Todmann, who was appointed administrator in 2004, collected his full annual salary of US$108,750 (euro73,614) while allegedly drawing another US$127,905 (euro86,580) as an “acting administrator” for the agency, Attorney General Vincent F. Frazer said.

A nine-month investigation showed that Todmann had submitted a forged memorandum authorizing the additional payment, Frazer said.

Toddman was charged with fraud, forgery, embezzlement and grand larceny.

Telephone calls to Todmann’s home in St. Thomas went unanswered Tuesday. He was due in court on Wednesday. An attorney for the pension program’s current chairman, Vincent Liger, said his client would not comment.

The pension system, which has a US$1 billion (euro676 million) shortfall, is struggling to keep pace with growing retiree rolls, as early retirement programs kick in and decisions not to replace 4,000 civil servants who retired between 1999 and 2005 shrink funds.

SOCCER: Haiti, El Salvador play to second scoreless draw in four days

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Haiti and El Salvador played to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday, their second goalless draw in four days.

The last of the two-match friendly series was staged in St. Marc, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

El Salvador will face Angullia on Feb. 6 in the first leg of first-round World Cup qualifier against Anguilla while Haiti faces Venezuela twice in February before beginning its qualifying campaign in June.

 

Voice mail has no rule – forget them at your peril

If you would like to leave a long, rambling message with no apparent point, please hang up now. If you are calling to verify that your e-mail has been received, please go outside and do five laps around the block. If you’d like to leave five numbers and the different hours of the day you might be reached at those numbers, please quit your job, begin taking daily yoga classes and move to Santa Fe.If you are Alec Baldwin, please hang up and call your attorney. Voice mail used to be so useful. But somewhere along the line it drifted from brief messages saying, "Hello, it’s Jordan. We have reservations at 6:30 at Savoy for dinner. See you there," to painful, musing, hard-to-comprehend monologues. And we’re not just talking about Baldwin’s voice mail-heard-round-the-world to his 11-year-old daughter, calling her a "thoughtless little pig." We’re talking about the business world.Greg Brown, editorial director at Newsmax Media Inc., based in West Palm Beach, Fla., said he follows specific rules when leaving a voice mail message, saying his number twice, slowly, then his name with a brief message, then his number, plus an e-mail option. Why? "Because I am so annoyed at this message, which I get 15 times a day," he said. -"’Hiiiii, Greg, this is Allan, well I was thinking about our, uh, conversation and I think that maybe a good way to do the next step might be uh (long pause while he fiddles with a door, or something) get together and talk about it, maybe get a drink, I dunno … hey, maybe we could involve the people in marketing, too, well, maybe, it’s a thought. Anyway, give me a call. …" Then, there are the mystery callers. "People leave a message saying, ‘Hey, it’s me. I can’t wait to tell you something. Call me back,’" said Honor?e Corpron, an executive coach based in Las Vegas. "And I play it over and over, wondering, ‘Who is this?’" In the age of caller ID, it’s somewhat easier to figure out, but not always. "I had a woman call recently, saying, ‘Hi. It’s Cathy.’ We had a bad connection, I called her back and got her outgoing voice mail that said, ‘Hi. It’s Cathy.’ There are days when I talk to 200 people. Cathy is not an uncommon name. Is it Cathy my neighbor? Cathy the Realtor? I still don’t know who she is," Corpron said. As we clean our desks and promise to start the new year fresh, perhaps it’s time to rethink how we handle voice mail. Some tips: – Nix the list of alternate numbers when you leave a message. "Forward your phone instead," said Caroline Ceniza-Levine, who co-owns a New York-based career coaching company called Sixfigurestart.com. "Don’t ask the caller to hunt you down. It’s disrespectful of their time. They already tried to reach you once." – If you can’t keep your outgoing voice mail message short, give callers a way to bypass a long message. "There are people who, when I call them, I make sure I have five minutes: Three minutes to listen to their outgoing message, two minutes to leave a message," Corpron said. – Leave brief messages. "Never leave voice mail longer than 30 seconds," said Chris Carpinello, a software engineer at Lancope, a network operations company based in Atlanta. "If you can’t convey why we need to chat in that time, you are not communicating effectively, which is tantamount to wasting my time. Think of voice mail like a r?sum?. Efficiently ’sell’ yourself to me and provide a compelling reason to follow up with you." – If you have vast amounts of information to convey, send it another way, like e-mail.Finally, if you’re not in a job where doing so could get you fired or indicted, you might want to have some fun with your voice mail. National Discount Brokers was well known around 2000 for its voice mail instructions, which ended with, "If you’d like to hear a duck quack, press 7." So many people did that it became part of the company’s marketing. Corpron said she’s left an outgoing message saying, "Hi, it’s Honor?e. I’m out doing my Christmas shopping and I need some additional cash. Please leave your name and your American Express card number." "People do it!" she said.

Suburban Girl (2007)

Suburban Girl is the story of a young, ambitious book editor living in New York City, named Brett Eisenberg (Sarah Michell Gellar). Tired of being passed over for promotions, Brett decides that it is time to start rubbing elbows with literary elites, including mogul Archie Knox (Alec Baldwin). She and Archie hit is off famously, despite an uncomfortable moment where she discovers that Archie is a diabetic. A similar moment reveals that Archie is also an alcoholic, 10 years sober.

Meanwhile things at work take a turn for the worse for Brett when her boss is fired and replaced by a renowned literary tart Faye Faulkner, who appears to enjoy making those who work beneath her miserable. Faye dumps menial assignments and horrible manuscripts with no chance of being published on Brett, which gives her a career meltdown.

Brett quickly enlists the guidance of Archie, who is not afraid to offer his assistance. Brett and Archie’s student/teacher connection moves in a sexual relationship. Archie is a smooth talking, well-connected socialite who not only helps teach Brett how to become a better editor but also how to present herself with the grace around the painfully pretentious literati. Brett allows herself to be taken in by Archie’s charms and influence and she soon moves in to his house.

During a bit of snooping around her new digs, Brett discovers that Archie has a photo album stuffed with pictures of old girlfriends, all of whom are just as young and attractive as Brett. Their relationship proves to be stormy with a drunken Brett creating a scene during a high society party and Archie falling off the wagon, causing them to breakup.

During their hiatus, Brett’s father announces that he has cancer and a limited amount of time to live. Faye continues to torment Brett, sending her to meet a rock star to discuss his upcoming biography. Brett is in way over her head but is rescued when Archie swoops in for the save. Archie and Brett reunite and Brett finally introduces him to her parents, who give him a cool reception, being that he is a mere seven years younger than Brett’s father. Now Brett must deal with the disapproval of so many who frown on her dating a man several years her senior.

Suburban Girl is not blazing any new territory in the world of cinema. The story of the young, somewhat lost girl struggling to find her niche in the world, taken in under the wing of an older, charismatic gentleman with his a set of his own demons has certainly been done before. The film Guinevere for example, starring Sarah Polley and Stephen Rea, was released in 1999, and unfortunately for the filmmakers behind Suburban Girl, was a much better film. That is not to say that Suburban Girl does not have its merits. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin both give strong performances. Alec Baldwin does an extraordinary job as the pompous socialite with a slew of demons. Sarah Michelle Gellar also does a good job as the conflicted career girl by day and the wantonness by night.

However, despite strong performances from the two leads, the film is a let down. First, the overuse of an editor’s marking definitions to indicate plot points is aggravating. The writing is forced and seems to have been rewritten to accomplish directorial goals. For example, despite the fact that Brett is a career-oriented bookworm, her best friend, Chloe (Maggie Grace), is a lingerie designer. At one point, Chloe conveniently demands that Brett try on her latest creation. Superfluous? Yes, but perhaps a few more tickets will be sold when Buffy fans find out that Sarah Michelle Gellar has a scene in lingerie. Ultimately, the film’s negative aspects outweigh the positives, rendering the film a sub-par view.

The film is available in Widescreen and on Blu-Ray. It is presented in 5.1 stereo surround sound. The disc’s special features include an audio commentary by director Marc Klein and a theatrical trailer.

Anita Creamer: With Britney Spears, are we again seeing the dark …

Let’s flash back a year to the world as it was early in 2007, when a tabloid TV- infested nation received daily updates on Anna Nicole Smith, in what amounted to a pop culture death watch.

The tabloid shows in question would never put matters quite that bluntly, but you know it’s true.

Frankly, celebrity gossip seems a whole lot less juicy when it amounts to peering in on an emotionally unstable star’s downward spiral.

Only the most callous among us could find joy in stars’ usual self-involved high jinks – Suspected substance abuse! Rocky relationships! Custody issues! – when the celebrity in question is so clearly heading toward the brink.

It’s one thing to find a certain amusement in teary, spoiled Paris Hilton being carted off to jail. It’s another to play the catty voyeur while unmistakably troubled stars struggle with the hardships they’ve created for themselves.

Which brings us, of course, to Britney Spears, this year’s celebrity train wreck, whose every move is assiduously documented by the paparazzi and the tabloid media – Internet, TV and print alike.

They’re doing it again: waiting like vultures for a star to collapse into disaster, to implode and to crash.

And once again, we’re watching it happen.

I don’t rule out the possibility here that Spears, like other stars who are addicted to acting out in public to attract attention, alerts the paparazzi in advance to her shopping sprees and night-crawling adventures.

Likewise, it’s possible that the country saw so much of Smith in her pathetic last months because she was being handsomely compensated for her tabloid show appearances. Maybe there’s a reason that particular Internet rumor has staying power.

(Really, was her pre-2007 fan base so large that the public needed to have her life crammed down its throat every day? Who, exactly, was hanging on to every minute detail of poor Anna Nicole’s final months of existence?)

That’s often the way the symbiotic celebrity publicity game is played.

And Britney is big business. As Portfolio magazine has reported, she contributes a reliable $110 million a year to the jittery American economy, most of it through the publication and sale of tabloids bearing tawdry details of her descent into scandal.

The lurid coverage comes oozing into our homes slick with tabloid TV hosts’ fake compassion, so all of us – audience and tabloid professionals alike – can pretend we’re only wallowing in the stories because we care so much.

A kinder explanation for the public’s interest is that in this disconnected age, in which neighbors are strangers and family is far away, we know more about celebrities than about people we’ve actually met.

They populate our daily existence, these famous virtual playmates, these stars whose lives we think we know from paparazzi photos and well-placed gossip column items.

Internet chat rooms have replaced the backyard fence as the base of chatterbox culture.

And somehow it feels less mean – and less morally complicit – to watch a tabloid show speculating on Britney’s mental state than to spread rumors about real acquaintances who are falling apart.

But is it?

On my way home from an interview in the suburbs a few weeks ago, I waited at a stoplight as an oncoming car ran the light, smashed into a truck and careened across the busy intersection, bouncing one vehicle into another and another, almost in slow motion. All I could do was watch, hoping my car wouldn’t be hit next. (It wasn’t.)

The unfolding of celebrity meltdowns feels much the same – beyond our control, leaving us powerless gawkers. Bystanders in disaster.

The thing is, we’re not powerless at all: Death spiral or no, we don’t have to watch.

About the writer:

• Anita Creamer’s column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in Scene. Call her, (916) 321-1136. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/creamer.

What??™s black and white and goes to bed hungry?

What’s black and white and goes to bed hungry?

[2 Comment(s)]

The answer: Heath Ledger’s cat. I heard this joke from no less than 6 different people over the last week. In fact, Ledger’s body was probably still warm when jokes like this, and far less tasteful ones, began circling the internet with hurricane-like speed. Honestly, I laughed pretty hard the first time I heard the joke, which immediately gave way to a feeling of guilt for laughing at a person who just died. "Oh man, too soon," said a nearby student at the bar, despite his own laughter.

Just how soon is ‘too soon’ to make a joke about a dead person… or is there even such a thing in today’s celebrity-crazed society? It’s apparently okay if we ask "How did Batman defeat the Joker?" but if anyone dare made a crack about your dearly departed mother, there’s not a person among us who wouldn’t dole out an ass-kicking.

Then again, how much shock and outrage was there about Anna Nicole Smith jokes when the former playmate kicked the bucket this time last year? It’s not exactly like a lot of us stood up and shouted "No, please stop with the TrimSpa jokes… it’s time for America to heal." Then again, most of us hated Anna Nicole Smith.

"Is Anna Nicole Smith still dead," CNN commentator Jack Cafferty asked Wolf Blitzer live on the air, summing up most of America’s disgust for the media frenzy following the death of a chick who was in Playboy 15 years ago.

"Yes," replied Blitzer, caught off guard. "We’re going to be updating our viewers coming up shortly on…"

"I can’t wait for that," Cafferty interrupted.

I can’t begin to imagine the sh*tstorm that would ensue if a similar exchange occurred last week on a live news program, but about Heath Ledger instead of an E! reality TV star who was quoted as saying "fried chicken" when asked what her Playmate diet was.

Granted, there will always be that minority among us who find it necessary to be as inappropriate as possible during any given situation. You know, that friend of yours that’s always making the dead baby jokes and likes to escalate every tense situation to its breaking point. If you don’t have one of these people in your group of friends you either a) are not in the Arts college or b) are, in fact, that person. I know one of these guys, let’s call him Matthew (since no one calls him by his first name anyway). Matthew was the first person I expected to make a dead Heath Ledger joke last week, I was waiting for it – expecting it. Matthew let me down though, of my dearest and most offensive friends, Matthew never cracked a single Ledger joke. This leads me to believe that either he wasn’t watching the news at all last week, which, granted, is a distinct possibility, or that maybe there’s hope for mankind after all. If one of the crudest people you know manages to stay tasteful during a celebrity death while the network news switches into round-the-clock coverage and proceeds to tell us what a great loss this is, then maybe America isn’t on as bad of a track as I thought it was. It’s quite possible that not every American wants to see a Britney or a Lindsay fall from grace and hit rock bottom. Maybe we’re not bloodthirsty for the latest gossip on TMZ or keeping our eyes peeled for the next celebrity deathwatch.

Then again, maybe Matthew just hadn’t heard about Heath’s cat yet.

Originally Published: Issue 620 – January 30, 2008