Tuesday's News Roundup

At 5:30 Eastern time today, every Starbucks in America will close for three hours.

Why do I get the feeling Rudy Giuliani is going to pop up out of nowhere and yell, "SEE?"


The United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher Christie, gave ex-Attorney General John Ashcroft a no-bid federal job that could pay him up to $52 million dollars. Mr. Christie suspects a medical supply company of fraud, but if they pay Ashcroft to "monitor" their activities, they won't be brought to trial.

Got that? Christie accused a company of something, then told them that if they paid his friend big bucks for protection he'd leave them alone.

I'm sure it's all perfectly legal. And his wife Carmela and daughter Meadow totally agree.


NEW YORK -- Selma Blair is set to go Sapphic in the indie black comedy "Driving Lessons." Blair will star as an unhappily-married high school teacher whose sudden memory loss prompts her to get romantically involved with a female student.

Bravo for Hollywood! I applaud them for taking a stand, for coming out and saying that it's okay to be gay as long as it's prompted by a medical emergency.


Martin Scorcese's next film stars Leonardo Dicaprio and Max von Sydow, and is set on an island that's populated almost entirely by mental patients.

Working title is "Raging Kangaroo."


NEW YORK -- An independent movie producer with rights to several George Romero movies is suing video game maker Capcom Co Ltd, alleging that their popular "Dead Rising" game is essentially a computer game version of "Dawn of the Dead."

Both works are dark, sometimes grimly funny social commentaries that spotlight shopping zombies, the complaint says.

Also named in the complaint are the movie "Shaun of the Dead" and the New York Times "Style" section.


Most Brits remember their first car more readily than their first kiss, according to a new survey.

I remember my first. Cost me two hundred dollars, and the neighbors had to close their windows because the damned thing puttered so loud.

That's why I've got happier memories of my first car.