Senior writer Dennis McCafferty just got back from the Sports Philanthropy Forum, sponsored by Gannett, at our building today, where he caught up with the NBA’s Dikembe Mutombo. In 1999, Dikembe was one of our first Most Caring Athletes that Dennis wrote about. “I’ve done the Most Caring Athlete issue every year since then,” Dennis says, “and Dikembe’s story was always one of the most moving. His mom died the prior year because she couldn’t get to a hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo because the telecommunications system is so bad. The hospitals themselves lacked even the basic supplies.” Since then, Mutombo’s foundation has received many generous contributions, including a great deal from USA WEEKEND readers. “Dikembe is very appreciative,” Dennis says. “This has allowed for him to build a hospital in his homeland. And he’s launched a new fundraising goal: To get 100,000 people to give $20 a month to help people in the Congo.” Click here to find out more about how to help with his foundation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today
Jackie Earle Haley shares one particular idiosyncrasy with his character on Fox’s new action-adventure series Human Target: They both say, “Dude.” A lot. “I hate that I admitted that,” the good-natured Haley says with a laugh. An Oscar-nominated actor and former child star, Haley plays Guerrero, the mysterious computer expert and hired gun who helps out Mark Valley’s do-gooding security specialist Christopher Chance on the show, which airs tomorrow night on Fox and then moves to its usual Wednesday night slot next week. Haley, who recently starred as the masked vigilante Rorschach in Watchmen, talked with reporters today on a conference call about his character and acting comeback after first hitting it big as a fresh-faced 15-year-old in 1976’s The Bad News Bears. Read below for my report, and check out a teaser for tomorrow's Human Target episode.
Photos courtesy of Fox
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Lucy Lawless returns to series TV tonight on Starz’ new action drama, Spartacus: Blood and Sand (10 p.m. ET/PT). The actress — of Xena: Warrior Princess and Battlestar Galactica fame — stars as Lucretia, whose husband, Batiatus (John Hannah), owns a gladiator camp. As you can imagine, there’s lots of gore, and it comes mostly in the form of slow-motion, blood-spatter shots. And there’s lots of skin, too: Those Romans weren’t a shy bunch! Lawless recently spoke with our Jill Golden about her new role, her favorite kind of costume and why she has given up hope of ever playing Xena again. Read below for the Q&A, and check out a preview of Spartacus.
Photos courtesy of Starz
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Look out, Voldemort. Harry Potter fan communities from all over the Internet are uniting with other fellow sites for Lost, True Blood, Firefly and other pop-culture faves this Saturday for Helping Haiti Heal, a very cool online fundraising event for the victims of the recent Haiti earthquake. Airing 2 to 6 p.m. EST tomorrow, the live webcast will feature actors, artists, musicians, activists and others appearing and performing to lend a hand to the Partners in Health organization. Rock out to the likes of Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, and the Remus Lupins, and be sure to break out the checkbook: Those who donate are eligible for more than 100 prizes, including signed items, DVDs, books, comics and lots more neat stuff. Of course, the coolest thing is you’re helping sites such as The Leaky Cauldron, MuggleNet and The Harry Potter Alliance help those truly in need. Click here for more information on the event, performers, prizes and how to donate.
If you consider "fine Mexican cuisine" what you get at your local Taco Bell, then meet the Food Network’s newest personality, Chef Marcela Valladolid. Her show Mexican Made Easy debuts tomorrow morning on the Food Network, where she blends traditional favorites with Mexican flavors she grew up with in Tijuana. It’s not uncommon to find her tossing a little hibiscus juice in caramel while creating peanut brittle, or preparing eggs Benedict with a chipotle hollandaise sauce. Now living in San Diego with her 5-year-old son, Fausto, Valladolid pulls many of the recipes she features on her show from her 2009 cookbook Fresh Mexico, and this is her biggest TV gig thus far, after stints on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (she finished fourth) and her own show on Discovery en Espanol. Read below for my conversation with the bubbly chef, and check out a trailer for Mexican Made Easy.
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's new movie Tooth Fairy is in theaters tomorrow, and time is running out for a chance to win one of two movie posters signed by the movie star and former pro wrestler. If you're not following us on Twitter, click here to sign up, as we'll be picking two followers at random after tomorrow to win these very cool posters. For more information on the contest — and to read my recent feature on Johnson — click here.
Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
He’s captained the Millennium Falcon and saved the Ark of the Covenant from Nazis, but in Harrison Ford's new movie Extraordinary Measures, opening Friday, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones star plays a scientist who has better rapport with formulas written on a chalkboard than he does with other humans. "He exists in the academic world either because he doesn't have strong ambitions or the social skills that would allow him to interact outside the laboratory," Ford says. Extraordinary Measures is inspired by a true story, although Ford's character is an amalgam of researchers who helped discover an effective drug. “I've met some wonderful people who are academic scientists,” he says. “And they suffer from what my character suffers from — a lack of funding. He's not able to prove his theory because he can't get the money. And when he gets the money he doesn't quite have the time, although he was right. My favorite line in the movie — and we proved that it's true — is that the coach of the football team at his university makes more money than his entire science budget. Universities will tell you that it's the football team that pleases the alumni."
Photo by Merie Wallace
It takes a truly cool customer to be a spy. And although he plays one on TV, Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan can say for certain that he doesn’t have the goods to be a true master of espionage. “I couldn’t do it,” he admits. “There is a perseverance, a fortitude, that is unwavering.” At least he still gets to enjoy the globetrotting lifestyle, as Donovan went to Japan, Spain, Morocco, Kuwait and Iraq (where he and castmate Bruce Campbell visited with troops) last fall during a break in production. As “burned” spy Michael Westen, Donovan’s back in Miami tomorrow on the USA Network when Burn Notice continues its third season, which will conclude on March 4. I talked with the Amesbury, Mass., native for an upcoming feature in the magazine, but read below for his thoughts on the second half of the season coming up and about playing a spy on the run. Also, check out this clip from tomorrow’s episode of Burn Notice.
Photos courtesy of USA Network
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Last time we saw Brendan Fraser, it was for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Although he's been an action-adventure guy in recent flicks, such as the Mummy movies and Journey to the Center of the Earth, Fraser returns to more dramatic fare in Extraordinary Measures, a film inspired by a true story that hits theaters Friday. Starring opposite Harrison Ford, Fraser plays John Crowley, a man who suddenly discovers that two of his three children have Pompe disease, a rare genetic disorder that potentially could end their lives before they even begin. Our Nancy Mills talked with Fraser recently in Los Angeles, so read below for her report.
Photo by Merie Wallace
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