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Looking good takes work at any age

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:16 EST

Here is expert advice on how women can address the signs of aging and retain their swagger:

30S-40S: CRUNCH TIME

What happens: Because of the hustle and bustle of life, women in their 30s and 40s can easily be, and begin to look, overwhelmed, says Dr. Henry S. Lodge, co author of "Younger Next Year For Women," (Workman, $12.95).

Opera-loving Scottish widow leaves millions to Met

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:51 EST

A Scottish widow with twin passions for birds and music has left most of her 10 million pound ($16.6 million) fortune to New York's Metropolitan Opera and a British nature charity.

Mona Webster died in August at age 96 and details of her will have recently been made public.

She divided most of her estate between the opera company and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Each will receive a sum reported by the BBC at about 4.5 million pounds.

Linden MacIntyre wins Canadian literature award

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:46 EST

Linden MacIntyre, an investigative journalist who wrote a novel about sexual abuse by Catholic priests, has won one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards.

MacIntyre won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his book "The Bishop's Man" on Tuesday night.

The novel tells the story of a Roman Catholic priest tasked with stamping out sex abuse scandals before they go public. The book is set in Antigonish, Nova Scotia - a place MacIntyre calls one of Canada's most religious communities.

2012' a teachable moment for Maya culture experts

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:41 EST

ORLANDO, Fla. - The world isn't going to end in 2012. Although you wouldn't know it to look at the movie "2012," or online, where doom and "end times" theories roam free.

But the people who know Mayan culture and the infamous "Maya Long Count" calendar that started all this "end days" talk chuckle at the hubbub. And they see the new disaster movie as a "teachable moment."

"The vast majority of what's been attached to that date in 2012 online, in movies and books and on TV, has no basis in the Maya world," says Professor Robert Sitler, a Maya culture expert from Stetson University in Deland, Fla.

NBC enlists prime-time programs in green message

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:11 EST

NBC gives new meaning to the phrase "green screen" next week, spreading a pro-environmental message across five of its prime-time entertainment programs.

"30 Rock," where Al Gore takes a cameo role, leads the way. Environmental themes were also added to the scripts of "The Biggest Loser," "The Office," "Heroes" and "Community."

NBC Universal's three-year "green" campaign has largely focused on off-camera issues like making company facilities more eco-friendly. News and information programs have also been enlisted to do stories on environmental issues, but except for one "30 Rock" episode two years ago, the campaign hasn't touched the prime-time lineup.

Watch concerts free online at BillboardLive.com

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:06 EST

A new Web site allows music lovers to watch concerts for free online, choosing from five different camera angles as they watch.

BillboardLive.com says its new concert-viewing Web site offers visitors different perspectives on performances by Alicia Keys, Usher, David Archuleta, Daughtry and other artists yet to be announced.

Music fans can select from five different views as they take in full concerts by these artists, focusing solely on the drummer or guitarist if they choose.

Ronnie Wood divorced by wife Jo over adultery

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:26 EST

Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood has been divorced by his wife of 24 years on the grounds of adultery.

Jo Wood has been granted a decree that is the first of two stages of divorce.

The divorce becomes final after six weeks and a day.

Hosiery makes a comeback

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16 EST

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cydney Clemons' 4-month-old blog, Raleigh Street Fashion, celebrates style and requires her to be a people watcher. So when asked whether she's seen evidence of one of the season's strongest trends, she has a story.

"Definitely," says Clemons. "I saw a girl the other day with a really interesting pair. They were these textured fishnets with this intricate pattern. She had them on with a pinstripe skirt. I was so mad I didn't have my camera."

It's been building for a few seasons. Since the mid-'90s, women boldly braved the cold with bare legs, free from those saggy, easy-to-run pantyhose and inspired, some say, by the "Sex and the City" ladies.

Stephen King's Under the Dome' tries to capture everyday fears, paranoia

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16 EST

"Under the Dome" by Stephen King; Scribner (1,074 pages, $35)

It's hard not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Stephen King.

Not because he's suffering a dip in popularity, a decline in wealth or a dearth of creativity - rather, his gripping narratives must now contend with the low hum of horror in the everyday background. Whether it's the threat of swine flu, a fragile stock market or the omnipresent spectre of terrorism, reality is often far more nerve-wracking than any imagined boogeyman.

Author re-examines Truman's controversial decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16 EST

"The Soldier from Independence: A Military Biography of Harry Truman" by D.M. Giangreco; Zenith Press (304 pages, $28)

"Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947" by D.M. Giangreco; Naval Institute Press (362 pages, $36.95)

Of all 20th century presidents, four led soldiers in close-combat situations.

Women and their jeans; a love story

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16 EST

Women dominate the denim marketplace, 75 years after Lady Levi's were introduced.

Years before jeans were worn in the boardroom and on the red carpet, they functioned as work wear. Back then, denim was made only for men, and today's popular boyfriend fit for women was developed when women, having no other choice, wore men's jeans.

Seventy-five years after the first jeans made for women, the Lady Levi's, were born, women now dominate the denim marketplace.

Barbara Kingsolver is determined to advocate social change through literature

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:46 EST

When Barbara Kingsolver is not writing, she may be shearing sheep, or harvesting vegetables. Most recently, peppers, tomatillos and cardoons. Cardoons?

"They're like celery on steroids, about 4 feet tall," she said. "You cook and eat the roots of the leaves, like artichokes."

Kingsolver, whose seventh novel, "The Lacuna," came out last week, described farming as "wonderful for the body and spirit. It gets me outside every day, and unlike the gym, you can't blow it off." So each weekday at 7:30 a.m. she pulls on her mud boots and first walks her daughter Lily to the school bus, a half-mile down the lane from her Appalachian farm in the southwestern corner of Virginia between Roanoke and Knoxville, Tenn.

Grace: A well told story of Act 1, at least

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16 EST

"High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly" by Donald Spoto; Harmony Books (303 pages, $25.99)

Grace Kelly, bricklayer's daughter and alabaster goddess, was a stunner who shone briefly, and memorably, on screen before she became Her Serene Highness, Princess of Monaco. Twenty-six when she wed, she was 52 when she died in an automobile accident. Her life divides into two acts of equal length.

"High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly," Donald Spoto's supremely tactful, if lopsided, account of this singular life, has 273 pages of text. All but 30 are devoted to Grace's life before marriage, Monaco, and motherhood.

A novel well worth the wait

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:06 EST

"The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver; Harper ($26.99)

It's been nearly a decade since Barbara Kingsolver's last novel, "Prodigal Summer," was published, and her readers have been antsy. "The Lacuna" was certainly worth the wait - it's her best novel yet.

Before reading it, I would have sworn that 1998's "The Poisonwood Bible" was her masterpiece, not to be surpassed; it was as close to a truly perfect book as I've ever read. This one's even closer to that lofty goal. It's both epic and deeply personal, with Kingsolver masterfully interlacing one man's journey from houseboy to acclaimed writer with the equally tumultuous mid-20th-century courses of the United States and Mexico.

Paging through movie-star biographies

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16 EST

In the "Mad Men" era, they were the pinnacles of sophisticated pin-upry: grown-up, smart and sexy. That's as good a reason as any for the recent explosion of biographies of iconic actresses of the 1950s and '60s.

-"High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly" by Donald Spoto; Harmony (304 pages, $25.99)

Grace Kelly lived a fairy-tale life: from Philadelphia society girl to cover-girl model to Hollywood princess (and Oscar winner, for "The Country Girl") to real-life princess. Or at least that's what it said in the papers.