Issue Date: December 2, 2007
Q: Did the cast of AMC's terrific drama "Mad Men" really have to smoke all those cigarettes? They seemed to have one going in every scene.
Eden Carter, Olympia, Wash.
The actors smoke herbal cigarettes that are free of nicotine and non-addictive, even if they don't taste very good. And there's no quitting yet: "Mad Men" got the OK for a second season, which may begin in the summer of next year.
Eva Mendes, 33, has tried to balance her expanding career between hot and sexy and humorous. So she'll do a comedy like "Hitch," then a drama like the recent "We Own the Night." Next, she gets serious in the thriller "Cleaner," with Samuel L. Jackson. "I play a woman who recently lost her husband, and she's trying to find out what really happened to him," she says. Then it's back to comedy and sex in a remake of the 1939 classic "The Women." "I did the role Miss Joan Crawford did," says Mendes, referring to the part of "the other woman," the one with whom Meg Ryan's husband (in this version) has an affair, "but I didn't copy what she did. I took it on as my own."
Q: Tell me about New York Mets outfielder Lastings Milledge's first name. Is it a family name?
Bev Byer, West Haven, Conn.
Sort of. His mom named him when she realized he would be her last child. He has two older brothers, Tony and Gregory. Milledge, 22, is looking to gain a name as a hip-hop/R&B producer and artist, too. Earlier this year, he recorded a rap song, but it was not a hit with the Mets' general manager because it contained offensive language.
Frank Caliendo's goal is to be funny, and if that means he has to make fun of himself, then so be it. On "Frank TV," his new TBS comedy show, Caliendo does many of the impersonations he has become famous for (keep an eye out for Al Pacino and John Madden) but says he'll "make a lot of fun of myself, too. I think that's only fair." Comedy didn't just bring Caliendo his latest job -- it is how he met his wife. He performed in Cleveland, and "she was in the front row, not laughing at anything I did."
Q: Why did the kids on Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" wear the same clothes all season?
They never changed.
Bruce Weaver, Milford, Del.
You're right. Here's why: "5th Grader" tapes several episodes in one day. To save time and energy, there are no wardrobe changes whenever the show tapes. Also, it allows editors to put together segments from different tapings.
Q: I regularly watch "At the Movies," and I have noticed that they no longer use the thumbs-up or thumbs-down gestures. Why?
Joleen Johnson, University Place, Wash.
Roger Ebert, absent because of health problems, holds the trademark on the thumbs with Gene Siskel's family. Disney, which syndicates the program, says Ebert is withholding permission to use them. Ebert called an offer for continuing use "offensively low." Co-host Richard Roeper tells us that, meanwhile, "we're finding new ways to say, 'I loved this film,' or, 'I'd rather set my hair on fire than sit through this movie again.' "
Q: What ever happened to Vanessa Carlton?
Is she still with Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins?
K. Anderson, Tewksbury, Mass.
Carlton, 27, and Jenkins, 43, broke up earlier this year, though he did help to produce her new album, "Heroes & Thieves." She also got a little help from pal Stevie Nicks, who sang on one track.
Contributing: Leslie Baldacci, Bart Mills, Caren Oppenheim, Kathy Rowings, Jon Tollestrup
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BIRTHDAYS
December 2
Britney Spears, 26
Lucy Liu, 39
December 3
Holly Marie Combs, 34
Julianne Moore, 47
December 4
Tyra Banks, 34
Jay-Z, 38
Marisa Tomei, 43
Jeff Bridges, 58
December 5
Frankie Muniz, 22
December 6
Janine Turner, 45
December 7
Aaron Carter, 20
Larry Bird, 51
December 8
Ian Somerhalder, 29
Dominic Monaghan, 31
Teri Hatcher, 43
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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