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Buzz News Roundup, 10/17

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:30:37 PDT

Once is going to get a remake as a Broadway musical. - LA Times
Speaking of theater, Will Ferrell will make his Broadway debut in January in the new solo comedy You’re Welcome America. A Final Night With George W Bush. - Variety
Mad Men will be renewed for a third season - but creator Matthew Weiner isn't officially on board yet. - The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Lewis’s nonfiction bestseller Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game will be adapted to film, with filmmakers eying Brad Pitt for the lead role. - ComingSoon
The real Sarah Palin will appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend. - AP
The film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road may not be ready for release until 2009. - The Hollywood Reporter
Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs has passed away at the age of 72. - AP
Kim Cattrall is set to star in a movie titled Miss January. - Variety
Barry Manilow will release an album of '80s covers on Nov. 25. - Billboard

See All the New Celebrity Moms!

Lauren Turner — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:47:10 PDT

Mother's Day is tomorrow, and there is a whole new crop of stars that will be celebrating the special day. There are first time moms like Beyoncé Knowles, January Jones, and most recently, Charlize Theron, while other celebrities welcomed a new baby to their family like Keri Russell. We're recognizing the mothers who've brought little ones along over the last year, so click through to see them all and don't miss out on great Mother's Day gift ideas and more across the network.

Splash News Online, Fame/Flynet, Film Magic

"My Long-Distance Boyfriend Doesn't Want Me to Visit"

Tres Community — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:05:01 PDT

This question is from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I live in Portugal, he lives in Belgium. We first met seven years ago while he was in Portugal for work for a couple of weeks. We dated innocently a few times until I saw his wedding ring. He said that he was unhappy in his marriage and thinking of separating, that he really liked me but I didn't want any kind of contact anymore. Last year he found me on Facebook. He had been divorced for four years and in a few months he convinced me to have a long distance relationship. He visited me twice last year and everything was great all year long, we spoke a lot over the phone, chatted, had video calls. At the beginning of this year he started a new job and very soon our relationship changed completely.

Keep reading for the rest of this dilemma.

Mad Men's 5 Maddest Moments: "Tea Leaves"

Becky Kirsch — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:32:43 PDT

On this week's episode of Mad Men, Betty's back - and in an, um, "big" way. Thanks to January Jones's real-life pregnancy, Mrs. Francis has packed on a few pounds after what appears to be more than one afternoon spent on the couch with a box of Bugles. Things take a dramatic turn when Betty's mother-in-law advises a trip to the doctor, and he finds a tumor in her throat.

As Betty contemplates her mortality, Don and Harry take a little work offsite to a Rolling Stones concert in the name of Heinz. Back in the office, Peggy adds a new copywriter to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and the tension between Roger and Pete continues to build. It's a relatively slow episode ("Zou Bisou Bisou" is a tough act to follow), but let's break down the biggest moments when you

Scary situation: Betty's clearly a bit bored in her life as Mrs. Francis, and as her mother-in-law points out, Betty is starting to let herself go. She heads to the doc in hope of scoring some diet pills, but he finds a tumor instead. Betty begins contemplating what will happen to her kids if she has cancer, and starts having nightmares to go along with it. Ultimately, the tumor is benign, but the scare doesn't shake Betty into reevaluating her life: it only makes her help herself to more ice cream.
Wise beyond her years. Betty's not the only one who's initially shaken up by her tumor: Don is also starting to panic. He's suddenly caring and introspective (perhaps because he recently lost Anna to cancer), but he's also pushing Megan away. When bikini-clad Megan is hurt that he wants to blow off their trip to Fire Island because he's upset about Betty, he tells her that she's 26 and basically insinuates that she's too young to understand. Megan handles the situation nicely, reminding Don that she's old enough to handle death and even manages to convince Don to come along on the trip. Yet another case of Megan proving that Don's temperament doesn't scare her.
Let's spend the night together: Don and Harry head backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in hope of scoring the band for the new Heinz campaign. They basically redefine "fish out of water" standing in their suits and ties among teenage girls smoking joints. Harry gets an in with a groupie, which leaves Don fraternizing with a young fan - and for the first time, Don actually seems fatherly instead of trying to hit on her. It's all for naught though: Harry ends up signing a band called The Trade Winds thinking he got the Stones. Whoops!
Tension in the ranks: Even with his new office, Pete and Roger are still butting heads around SCDP. Pete concedes the Mohawk account to Roger, much to Roger's pleasure - only to essentially take it back at the end of the episode. As he pops a bottle of champagne, Pete announces that Roger will be dealing with the day-to-day, but he'll still be the one in charge. Roger is obviously disgruntled about this and laments to Don that he's starting to feel like he's being shoved out the door at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. This relationship seems like a ticking time bomb, but what will prompt the big blowout?
New guy: With Mohawk airlines back on the client list for SCDP, Roger demands that Peggy find a new copywriter. Enter Michael Ginsberg, whom Stan dismisses as too qualified (he warns Peggy of hiring someone who might be her boss someday), and Roger likes because of his Jewish background. Peggy is immediately turned off when he thinks she's a secretary, and is concerned how Don will feel about his off-putting remarks. As it turns out, Don's completely fine with Ginsberg, and he gets a job. There's just one late-breaking twist: despite Michael's claim that he has no family, friends, or ties of any kind, we learn at the end of the episode that he lives (and cares for) his father. Wonder how this one will affect his promise to live in the office 24/7.

I was happy to see Betty back on the show, but I'm not sure where they'll take her character throughout the season. Plus, it felt like more Betty meant less Joan, and I definitely missed Joannie this week. How'd you feel about the episode?

Photo courtesy of AMC

Why Is Retirement an Uphill Battle For Women?

LearnVest — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:15:02 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

There are a lot of ways that men and women differ, but we bet there’s one you might not guess right off the bat.

Retirement.

Yes, retirement. According to a January 2012 study by Ameriprise Financial, more men than women have determined how much money they’ll need to retire, have set aside money in their investments for retirement, and feel confident that they’ll reach their goals.

In fact, a 2010 study found that 92 percent of women don’t feel educated enough to reach their retirement savings goals, but that 56 percent of them want to be.

Luckily, financial education is our specialty.

We spoke with Stephany Kirkpatrick - CFP, AIF, LearnVest financial planner in residence, and former director of retirement planning at Pension Architects - to figure out why women have such a hard time with retirement saving . . . and how you can get on track.

It’s in the Numbers

Women face some challenges that are purely logistical, like the simple fact that they live longer than men. Today, the average American white male can expect to live 76.2 years, whereas the average American white female can look forward to 80.9 years.

Read on for more

6 Strategies to Save More This Year

Kiplinger — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:27:21 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

Saving doesn't come easily for us young adults. Entry-level salaries don't give you a lot to work with. And, well, we also tend to spend what we make - and then some - on the latest gadgets and flashiest fashions.

But don’t worry. We’re not doomed to frivolity and the wreckage it can make of our finances. Here's how you can start saving smart throughout 2012:

Periodically calculate how much you spend. What better time to review your budget than at the start of a New Year? “It’s really hard to [track your spending] each month, so aim for just once or twice a year,” says Jill Boynton, a certified financial planner in Newington, New Hampshire.

Just be sure when you do it that you track everything. Boynton recommends filling out a spreadsheet with a month’s worth of spending. Or you can try an online budgeting tool such as Mint.com (See our slide show: Which Budgeting Site is Best for You?). But note: Mint works best for those who deal mostly in plastic as opposed to cash. When you make an ATM withdrawal, the site labels the transaction as “Cash & ATM.” Unless you diligently manage your cash transactions (you can manually edit Mint’s labels), you can easily lose track of where the money goes.

The drudgery of tracking spending can pay off when you find surprising expenses you could easily cut. At the end of 2011, I crunched my own numbers and found that I shelled out about $200 a month at Starbucks and other restaurants. I’m sure I could cut that by at least half. That’s like finding a $100 bill every month in my back pocket.

Read on for more strategies.

Rewind: Books to Read Before They're 2012 Movies

BuzzSugar — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:05:00 PST

Need some reading material? Stock up on these 20 books before they're adapted into 2012 movies.
The cast for the upcoming musical Les Misérables is coming together. See who's in so far.
New show alert: find out what we think of NBC's new drama The Firm, new sitcom Are You There, Chelsea?, and Alcatraz, Fox's new sci-fi mystery.
What are we stoked for this January? Take a look at our must haves for the month.
Get pumped for even more Batman stills from The Dark Knight Rises.
Back by popular demand: 10 Hollywood faces we'd love to see more of in 2012.
Missing Middle-earth? Take a peek at the latest pictures from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
We were puzzled by these new pics of Blair in a wedding dress in a Gossip Girl sneak peek.
We revealed the highly anticipated 10 movies we can't wait to see in 2012.

9 Steps to Get Your Finances Back on Track

Business Insider — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:15:01 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Business Insider story here on Savvy!

As the youngest daughter of two borderline baby boomers, like many other Generation Yers, I grew up watching my parents spend cash faster than they made it and had no concept of financial planning whatsoever.

When I scored my first full-time job after college, I'll never forget the rush I felt seeing all those numbers fill up my bank account. I bought new furniture for my apartment, stocked my closet with fancy new work clothes, and spent paydays filling my shopping cart on Amazon.com.

Ten weeks later, my entire department was laid off.

At that point, I had no savings, my credit score was bad, and I had absolutely no backup plan. I scraped by for two months with a few freelance jobs until I took a $10,000 pay cut just to get by.

Things finally turned around, and a couple years later, I found myself in the same place as many of my friends in their mid-twenties. We're paying rent comfortably for the first time and are able to start building our nest eggs. The problem is many of us have no idea how to start doing it.

Rather than turn into some sort of cautionary tale for future generations, I decided after my last birthday that I was going to take a good hard look at my finances.

I asked for tips from a trio of financial whizzes who broke down a few actions us 20-somethings can take today to start to getting our money on the right track. Here's how I did it and you can too.

Know your numbers

I have something akin to post-traumatic stress disorder from my days when I was in constant fear of overdrafting my account or bouncing my rent check.

But Chris Hobart, president and CEO of Hobart Financial Group, said knowing how much debt you have is the first step to chipping away at it.

I laid out how much I owe in student loans and on my two credit cards, set up auto-payments for each, and worked out a plan to start paying off more than my minimum payments each month to get rid of the debt faster and cut back on interest.

Read on for more ways to get your finances back on track.

The Most-Overlooked Tax Deductions

Kiplinger — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:50:44 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

Every year, the IRS dutifully reports the most common blunders that taxpayers make on their returns. And every year, at or near the top of the “oops” list is forgetting to enter their Social Security number at the top of the tax form - or making a mistake when entering those nine digits.

But think about it for a minute: Do you think that’s the most common mistake . . . or simply the easiest to notice?

One thing we know for sure is that the opportunity to make mistakes is almost unlimited, and missed deductions can be the most costly. About 45 million of us itemize on our 1040s - claiming more than $1 trillion worth of deductions. That’s right: $1,000,000,000,000, a number rarely spoken out loud until Congress started tying itself up in knots trying to deal with the budget deficit and national debt.

Another 92 million taxpayers claim about $700 billion worth using standard deductions - and some of you who take the easy way out probably shortchange yourselves. (If you turned 65 in 2011, remember that you now deserve a bigger standard deduction than the younger folks.)

Yes, friends, tax time is a dangerous time. It’s all too easy to miss a trick and pay too much. Years ago, the fellow who ran the IRS at the time told Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine that he figured millions of taxpayers overpay their taxes every year by overlooking just one of the money-savers listed below

Jon Hamm and His Mad Men Hit the Set in Style

Lauren Turner — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:33:10 PST

Jon Hamm wasn't the only small screen star wearing a suit for the Mad Men cameras in LA yesterday. He was joined by John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, and Rich Sommer for filming after the costars returned from their Thanksgiving break. The guys celebrated the beginning of the holiday season, but the cast already had a big highlight back in September when the series was honored with the Emmy for best drama. The leading men partied together post-win, though they were missing their leading lady, January Jones, who had just given birth to baby Xander. She's since been spotted on set and even brought her young son along to meet the cast. Season five doesn't return to AMC until next year, but if you have a fanatic in your life, there are lots of Mad Men gift ideas that would be great to help ease the wait.