5 for Friday: (Almost Entirely) Not My Mom’s Tuna Casserole

Last updated on: February 27, 2015 at 10:43 am By Kate O'Hare

Say “tuna casserole” and people either get all weak-kneed with comfort-food nostalgia or announce that you’re ordering out. Personally, I always enjoyed my mother’s tuna casserole with egg noodles, but when I made it, I tended to amend the recipe with extra vegetables or more cheese or whatever seemed like a good idea at the time. Like last week’s macaroni-and-cheese, tuna casserole lends itself to many variations, five of which are listed below for your meatless-Lenten-Friday enjoyment. * Classic Tuna Noodle... Read more

Terror on TV: Doc to Recall Massacre of Israeli Athletes at ’72 Munich Olympics

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:53 am By Kate O'Hare

Just landed in the inbox today — NEW DOCUMENTARY BY AWARD-WINNING TEAM TO EXAMINE THE FIRST ACT OF MODERN TERRORISM: THE MUNICH ’72 OLYMPIC MASSACRE AND WHAT IT MEANS TODAY Foundation for Global Sports Development Teams with Power Duo: Producer Stephen Crisman and Former Nat Geo Channel Programming Head Michael Cascio For Fall 2015 Film Los Angeles, Calif. – February 26, 2015 – An award-winning production team today announced the development of a new heavy-hitting theatrical documentary short to examine what is widely considered the first... Read more

Breaking: Eddie Ray Routh Convicted in ‘American Sniper’ Trial

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 9:29 pm By Kate O'Hare

From Mashable via the Associated Press: A former Marine was convicted Tuesday in the deaths of the “American Sniper” author and another man at a shooting range two years ago, as jurors rejected defense arguments that he was insane and suffered from psychosis. The trial of Eddie Ray Routh has drawn intense interest, in part because of the blockbuster film based on former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s memoir about his four tours in Iraq. Since prosecutors didn’t seek the death... Read more

The Real Baby News on The CW’s ‘Jane the Virgin’ (Video)

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 7:35 pm By Kate O'Hare

In his TV life as Rafael on The CW’s Monday-night hit “Jane the Virgin,” actor Justin Baldoni is a cancer survivor who is going to be a father — by Catholic virgin Jane (Gina Rodriguez), who was accidentally impregnated instead of his wife during a fertility treatment. In his real life, things are much simpler. Earlier this month, Baldoni and his wife Emily had some news to announce to friends and family that should warm the heart of anyone who remembers that... Read more

PBS Looks at the Byzantine Past and Uncertain Future of Hagia Sophia

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 4:51 pm By Kate O'Hare

From 537 until 1453, Hagia Sophia was a Christian cathedral, mainly for the Orthodox church and briefly for the Catholic Church. Captured by Islamic forces in 1453, it was stripped and transformed into a mosque until 1931, when it was secularized and began being used as a museum in 1935. Its full name in Greek means “Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God,” a reference to the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity, a foundation doctrine of Christianity. Famous... Read more

In Which Russell Brand Gets It Right on Porn … and Quotes a Saint. (Video)

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 2:28 pm By Kate O'Hare

Every now and then, someone you may find generally repellent actually gets something dead right, and credit must be given. There’s also the phenomenon where truth can only be heard when it comes from someone with whom you’re in general agreement. That doesn’t stop actual truth from being true, it’s about dismissing something out of hand because we don’t like the source. And that can be a great loss. I don’t care for Russell Brand, the British comedian, actor and... Read more

‘Restaurant Startup’ Star Joe Bastianich on What He’d Cook for Pope Francis

Last updated on: February 27, 2015 at 12:05 pm By Kate O'Hare

On CNBC’s Tuesday-night reality show “Restaurant Startup,” restaurateurs Joe Bastianich and Tim Love choose between two would-be restaurant owners and pick one in which to invest their own money. Bastianich is already familiar to TV viewers for his role as a judge, alongside chefs Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot, on both Fox’s “MasterChef” and its spin-off, “MasterChef Junior,” which both give amateur cooks — adults and children — a chance to show off their skills for the experts. A native... Read more

Mapping the Oscars Vs. America (Plus Commentary from Plastic Jesus)

Last updated on: February 22, 2015 at 10:44 am By Kate O'Hare

There’s what Hollywood (and New York) likes at the movies, and then there’s what America likes. Every now and then those intersect at the Academy Awards, but often, they don’t. The temptation is to say, “Well, of course! Hollywood’s all a bunch of crazy, coked-up, atheist, liberal libertines!” That’s not entirely true, or it’s true to varying degrees (depending whom you’re talking about), but it’s also not entirely untrue. Shining a light on Oscar’s dark side, on Thursday, Feb. 19, three days before... Read more

The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Brutally Honest’ Oscar Reports

Last updated on: February 21, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Kate O'Hare

What’s behind that velvet Oscars curtain? Let’s take a look … At the Hollywood Reporter, awards blogger Scott Feinberg, along with his regular kudos coverage, is eliciting some anonymous comments on why things are and aren’t being voted for. There’s no telling exactly how “brutally honest” this is, but a lot of it stacks up with conversations I’ve heard around town. And, yeah, there’s obligatory annoying-Christian post. Thank goodness the guy’s not Catholic. I suspect the protester feels he must... Read more

From ‘Buffy’ to ’50 Shades’ — The Romance of Brutality

Last updated on: February 21, 2015 at 12:41 pm By Kate O'Hare

While Googling today for something I’m going to write about a bit later, I came across a link where Gwyn Symonds cited a piece I wrote in her study, “The Aesthetics of Violence in Contemporary Media.” I’ve written so many thousands of stories that I can’t possibly remember them all — but I remember this one. First, here it is: ‘Buffy’ Relationship Tips Into Domestic Violence Fri, Feb 8, 2002 05:35 PM PDT by Kate O’Hare LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – In... Read more

I am an offering without defect, completely burned on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. What am I?