Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Kirstie Alley to Star in Weight Loss Reality Show


The famous yo-yo dieter will document her struggle to drop the pounds with a new A&E reality show.

Kirstie Alley is gearing up to document her weight struggles in front of the nation with a new reality series for A&E.

Alley, 58, has signed on for 10-episode series which will follow her as she works hard to get back in shape while raising two teenagers in Hollywood, according to People magazine.

In May, the former “Cheers” star admitted she had gained 83 pounds after trimming down to 145 pounds with Jennie Craig in previous years.

The move to reality television seems a likely next step for Alley, who has become best known for her up and down struggles with weight.

Robert Sharenow, a VP for A&E, said it is precisely Alley’s willingness to share her story that makes her “exactly the kind of star” the network is drawn to.

“Her personal life has been playing out in the media for years, but this will be the first time she’ll be opening up her home to reveal her real life for the cameras,” Sharenow told People.

The still untitled show is set to debut in 2010.

Obama's Half Brother Breaks Silence. Mark Ndesandjo Says Their Father Was Abusive


Mark Ndesandjo Says Their Father Was Abusive

President Barack Obama's half brother has broken his media silence to discuss his new novel — the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir.

In his first interview, Mark Ndesandjo told The Associated Press that he wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen" in part to raise awareness of domestic violence.

"My father beat my mother and my father beat me, and you don't do that," said Ndesandjo, whose mother, Ruth Nidesand, was Barack Obama Sr.'s third wife. "It's something which I think affected me for a long time, and it's something that I've just recently come to terms with."

Like his novel's main character, Ndesandjo had an American mother who is Jewish and who divorced his Kenyan father. The novel, which goes on sale Wednesday by the self-publishing company Aventine Press, is one of several books in the works by relatives of the president.

President Obama's parents separated two years after he was born in Hawaii in 1961. The senior Obama, a Kenyan exchange student, divorced the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, in 1964 and had at least six other children in his native Kenya.
For the past seven years, Ndesandjo has been living in the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, and has refused all interview requests until now.

Ndesandjo, who said he attended Obama's inauguration as a family guest, declined to discuss his earliest memories of the president or describe their relationship over the years. However, he said he plans to meet his brother in Beijing when the president makes his first visit to China on Nov. 15-18.

"My plan is to introduce my wife to him. She is his biggest fan," he said.

Shortly after divorcing the president's mother, Obama Sr. met Nidesand while studying as a graduate student at Harvard University. Nidesand returned with Obama Sr. to his native Kenya in 1965, where Mark and his brother David were born and grew up. David later died in a motorcycle accident.

In Kenya, Obama Sr. also had four children with his first wife, Kezia, some of them while he was still married to Nidesand. Nidesand and Obama Sr. eventually divorced amid allegations of domestic abuse. Nidesand returned to the United States and later married a man whose surname Mark Ndesandjo took.

Obama Sr. died in an automobile accident in 1982 at age 46.

President Obama saw his father only once after his parents' divorce, when he was 10 years old. In a best-selling memoir, "Dreams From My Father," Obama wrote about his fatherless upbringing and search for identity.

In it, Obama described a visit to Kenya to meet his half siblings and learn more about his father. While painting his father as abusive, he called Obama Sr. a gifted but erratic alcoholic who never lived up to his intellectual promise or his family responsibilities.

Obama, in his book, also quotes Ndesandjo criticizing their father, saying, "I knew that he was a drunk and showed no concern for his wife and children. That was enough."

Ndesandjo, who is an American citizen, spent most of his childhood in Kenya before moving to the U.S. to go to college and work in telecommunications and marketing. He has a bachelor's degree from Brown University in physics and a master's degree in the same subject from Stanford University. He also earned an MBA from Emory University in Atlanta, he said.
"I see myself in many ways as a person who has many places, has feet in many places," he said.

Intensely private, Ndesandjo declined to answer several questions about himself. He even refused to give his age, saying only that "I'm younger than Barack."

With a trim, athletic physique, he has a strong resemblance to his taller brother in Washington. His left ear is pierced, and he wore a black crew neck shirt under a dark jacket to the interview last week.

Ndesandjo moved to China after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when his job was cut in the rocky U.S. economy. He taught English, immersed himself in the study of Chinese culture and volunteered as a piano teacher at an orphanage.
He now speaks Mandarin and said he earns a living as a consultant in strategic marketing, though he would not elaborate on his business.

Ndesandjo said the White House was aware of the book project. A White House spokesman declined to comment on Ndesandjo's interview or to discuss President Obama's relationship with his half brother.

The author said 15 percent of the book's proceeds would be donated to charities for children.

Closely patterned on Ndesandjo's own life, the novel depicts David, an American who leaves the U.S. corporate world after the 9/11 attacks to create a new life in China. He falls in love with a Chinese dance instructor and develops a bond with an orphan who is a gifted pianist battling a serious illness.

In the book, David also writes letters to his American mother asking for details about her failed marriage to his late abusive Kenyan father.

In one passage, Ndesandjo writes, "David easily remembered the hulking man whose breath reeked of cheap Pilsner beer who had often beaten his mother. He had long searched for good memories of his father but had found none."

Ndesandjo said such passages were drawn from his own experience.

"I remember situations when I was growing up, and there would be a light coming from our living room, and I could hear thuds," he said in the interview, tears welling in his eyes. "I could hear thuds and screams, and my father's voice and my mother shouting. I remember one night when she ran out into the street and she didn't know where to go."

Ndesandjo said his mother often called Obama Sr. "a brilliant man but a social failure."

The novel never mentions other wives David's father might have had. Nor does it include a half brother who would become the first black U.S. president.

On Wednesday, a week after speaking to the AP, Ndesandjo said at a book-launching news conference that his brother's election victory, among other recent events, helped "peel away the hardness" that he developed emotionally during his difficult childhood.

"I became proud of being an Obama," he said.

Since the election, he said the extra attention has changed his life, but he has coped by focusing on things that are important to him: music, writing, calligraphy and teaching piano to disadvantaged children.

"The simple things sort of help pull you through," he said.

Ndesandjo told the AP he didn't want to touch on any political themes in the book. "I think my brother's team is doing an extraordinary job, and I really don't want to cause him additional heartburn," he said.

Besides the inauguration, he said he last visited his brother in Austin, Texas, before a debate last year with then-Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"He came up to me, and we hugged. I gave him a gift, a gift of calligraphy," Ndesandjo told the AP. "I was just thinking of how happy I was and how proud and how much I loved him."

"It was a very powerful experience."

Another of the president's half brothers, George Obama, 27, of Huruma, Kenya, has penned a memoir that will be published by Simon and Schuster in January 2010.

Other Obama relatives working on books include a half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, daughter of Obama's mother and her second husband, Lolo Soetoro; and Craig Robinson, first lady Michelle Obama's brother.

The Greatest Generation (of Networkers) - By JEFFREY ZASLOW


A 17-year-old boy, caught sending text messages in class, was recently sent to the vice principal's office at Millwood High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy he needed to focus on the teacher, not his cellphone. The boy listened politely and nodded, and that's when Mr. Gallagher noticed the student's fingers moving on his lap.

He was texting while being reprimanded for texting.

"It was a subconscious act," says Mr. Gallagher, who took the phone away. "Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It's compulsive."

Because so many people in their teens and early 20s are in this constant whir of socializing—accessible to each other every minute of the day via cellphone, instant messaging and social-networking Web sites—there are a host of new questions that need to be addressed in schools, in the workplace and at home. Chief among them: How much work can "hyper-socializing" students or employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with friends via text-messaging, or are obsessively checking Facebook?

Some argue they can accomplish a great deal: This generation has a gift for multitasking, and because they've integrated technology into their lives, their ability to remain connected to each other will serve them and their employers well. Others contend that these hyper-socializers are serial time-wasters, that the bonds between them are shallow, and that their face-to-face interpersonal skills are poor.

"The unspoken attitude is, 'I don't need you. I have the Internet,'" says P.M. Forni, the 58-year-old director of the Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, which studies politeness and manners. "The Net provides an opportunity to play hide-and-seek, to say and not say, to be truthful and to pretend. There is a lot of communication going on that is futile and trivial."

That's far too harsh an assessment, says Ben Bajarin, 32, a technology analyst at Creative Strategies, a consulting firm in Campbell, Calif. He argues that because young people are so adept at multimedia socializing, their social skills are actually strengthened. They're good at "managing conversations" and getting to the pithy essence of an issue, he says, which will help them in the workplace.

While their older colleagues waste time holding meetings or engaging in long phone conversations, young people have an ability to sum things up in one-sentence text messages, Mr. Bajarin says. "They know how to optimize and prioritize. They will call or set up a meeting if it's needed. If not, they text." And given their vast network of online acquaintances, they discover people who can become true friends or valued business colleagues—people they wouldn't have been able to find in the pre-Internet era.

It's hard to quantify whether the abbreviated interchanges of text messaging are beneficial in the workplace, but this much is known: Young workers spend more time than older workers socializing via their devices or entertaining themselves online. In a 2008 survey for Salary.com, 53% of those under age 24 said this was their primary "time wasting" activity while at work, compared to just 34% for those between ages 41 and 65.

Online social networking while at work hampers business productivity, according to a new study by Nucleus Research. Almost two-thirds of those with Facebook accounts access them at their workplaces, the study found, which translates to a 1.5% loss of total employee productivity across an organization.

A study this year by psychology students at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., found that the more time young people spend on Facebook, the more likely they are to have lower grades and weaker study habits. Heavy Facebook users show signs of being more gregarious, but they are also more likely to be anxious, hostile or depressed. (Doctors, meanwhile, are now blaming addictions to "night texting" for disturbing the sleep patterns of teens.)

Weaned From Facebook

Almost a quarter of today's teens check Facebook more than 10 times a day, according to a 2009 survey by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that monitors media's impact on families. Will these young people wean themselves of this habit once they enter the work force, or will employers come to see texting and "social-network checking" as accepted parts of the workday?

Think back. When today's older workers were in their 20s, they might have taken a break on the job to call friends and make after-work plans. In those earlier eras, companies discouraged non-business-related calls, and someone who made personal calls all day risked being fired. It was impossible to envision the constant back-and-forth texting that defines interactions among young people today.

However, now that these older workers are managers, they're being advised by consultants to accept the changed dynamics, so long as young employees are doing good work and meeting deadlines.

Educators are also being asked by parents, students and educational strategists to reconsider their rules. In past generations, students got in trouble for passing notes in class. Now students are adept at texting with their phones still in their pockets, says 40-year-old Mr. Gallagher, the vice principal, "and they're able to communicate with someone one floor down and three rows over. Students are just fundamentally different today. They will take suspensions rather than give up their phones."

It may feel like a strange new world, but Mr. Gallagher's wife, Holly, is among those who say it's time for educators and employers to embrace it. As a human-resources manager, she believes that as the generation now aged 15 to 24 enters the work force, managers must adjust to the new ways they socialize and communicate.

For instance, past generations accepted that corporations were hierarchical. There were supervisors, managers and senior managers, and you communicated your questions to your immediate superior. "Young people today want accessibility," says Ms. Gallagher, 41. "If they have a problem or suggestion, they'll email or text senior managers, or even the CEO. They don't have the old-school notion that there are appropriate communication models. They've grown up in a freedom-of-information era."

Preparing for Work

She thinks the constant text messaging among teens can serve as good preparation for workplace interactions. "In a lot of corporations, if something goes wrong, it's because so-and-so didn't talk to so-and-so," Ms. Gallagher says. "But with young people, simultaneous conversations are always happening. This reduces the chances of not reaching success because the right people didn't connect."

More schools are now allowing students to use their cellphones between classes, or even as a learning tool in the classroom. Some teachers are having students text their friends during classes to share feedback on what's being taught. The mantra among educators who try to be enlightened: It's no longer about attention span. It's about attention scope—being able to concentrate on many things at once.

Steve Gallagher is finding it futile to argue with his students that they should go a seven-hour school day without their texting devices. As he explains: "It's like talking to kids about why they don't need air."

—Email: Jeffrey.Zaslow@ wsj.com

How Tough Times Yield Model Children - By ANJALI ATHAVALEY

This article in the WSJ was passed along to me through a friend -- let me know what you think and I'll chime in sometime along the way...



Natacha Andrews recently signed up her 4-year-old daughter, Anaya, with a modeling agency. Anaya says she wants to be "like Tyra"—that is, model-turned-media-personality Tyra Banks.

Her mother, a 36-year-old Phoenix attorney, has another motivation. "I know people who successfully saved money this way," she says. In a weak economy, with five kids' college tuitions to plan for, Ms. Andrews says, "I want to make the most out of whatever resources we have."




More parents are signing their children up with modeling agencies and talent classes, in search of fame and, even better, a little extra money in a weak economy. Agencies like Wilhelmina International Inc.'s Wilhelmina Kids and Teens and Funnyface Today Inc. in New York City and Peak Models & Talent in Los Angeles say they have seen the numbers of child applicants grow in the past few years. Charlie Winfield, head booker at Funnyface, estimates the agency's children's division has seen a 50% increase in applicants in the past three years. Modeling Camp in Tyson's Corner, Va., saw a 30% increase in attendance at its workshops last summer from the year earlier and plans to expand to New York and Florida next year.

The economy is driving the trend, says Funnyface's Mr. Winfield. The agency is getting more calls from parents who are out of work and now have the time to take their children to auditions. With kids' modeling wages typically about $100 to $125 an hour, he says, "it's another way to subsidize their income."

Also contributing to the growing number of mini-models are reality-TV shows featuring children, agencies say. Such shows have transmitted the culture of fame-seeking; some shows—"Toddlers and Tiaras" and "Little Miss Perfect"—even follow the lives of child pageant contestants. Page Parkes Corp., a talent agency in Houston, Texas, is just one of the agencies seeing more interest from parents who want their children to be on television. Separately, modeling and acting jobs have become increasingly open to many ethnicities, encouraging a broader swath of families, such as Latinos and Asians, to pursue careers in entertainment.

There's just one problem: As advertisers cut their budgets, there are fewer modeling jobs available. "The quality of jobs and how many options are out there is definitely lower this year," says Jason Jeffords, owner of Puddletown Talent, a Portland, Ore., agency representing 300 kids ages 15 and under.

That means more competition—and, for the kids, more rejection. Carol Stevenson, a public-relations consultant, signed her three kids up with Peak Models & Talent because she wanted them to start saving for college. But she has felt the effects of the job market at auditions. Since June, they have gone to about 12—fewer than she expected. "It's been painfully slow," says the 39-year-old from Stevenson Ranch, Calif. While Jacob, 9, and Annika, 8, have landed a photo shoot for a catalog, her 6-year-old daughter, Sabrina, has yet to get a job.

Breaking the news to children when they don't make the cut can be tough. Sabrina is "a little sad," Ms. Stevenson says. "We've explained to her the best way that we can that for different reasons they are looking for different looks."

Still, parents are flocking to the business. TheCuteKid.com, a site that lets parents submit photos that are judged by casting agents, saw its membership double to two million in the past year. The site was launched by Internet marketing company Parent Media Group Inc. in 2006.

The Cost of Breaking In

In the best of times, modeling is a challenging business. Many parents don't anticipate the initial costs. Funnyface and Peak say parents spend between $200 to $400 for a photo session plus about $100 for composite cards—resumes of sorts that display models' height, weight and photos. (Only some parents of babies—who change so quickly that photos are soon out of date—can get away with using their own snapshots.) But photographers' charges vary wildly, so some families pay far more.

Ms. Stevenson paid about $1,000 per kid for the photo sessions, composite cards and separate photo prints. What's more, parents generally have to spring for new photos as children's looks change. "Getting into this industry is so much more expensive than I expected," says Ms. Stevenson. So far, she's spent more than her kids have earned.

Families also face costs for things like travel and grooming. Cynthia Serra, 42, of Lewis Center, Ohio, registered her two daughters, Jennelle, 7, and Arianna, 9, for the Actors, Models & Talent Competition, a convention that links participants with casting directors and agencies, in Orlando, Fla., next January. She plans on looking for seasonal work to help pay for the travel and hotel rooms for her family of five. "I will be getting a second job to pay for it all between now and January," she says.

The opportunity, she says, is worth the expenses. "I believe they'll do a wonderful job with it," she adds. "My girls are very excited."

Consumer advocates caution that parents who are new to the business may be vulnerable to schemes that seem to guarantee fame and fortune but fail to deliver. Last month, the New York State Consumer Protection Board urged parents to be careful when signing contracts with talent agencies that promise stardom.

"Everyone wants to think that their darling is the most talented," says Mindy Bockstein, the agency's chairperson and executive director. "They get inflated promises or ideas of grandeur. Sometimes that gets the best of them."

For instance, some outfits pressure parents to leave a deposit or to purchase head shots or acting lessons from the agency or an affiliate. The Consumer Protection Board recommends that parents ask for a list of its successful client representations and request written references about the company from clients. They should be wary of agencies that ask for money up front.

Critics of the industry say that child modeling can do more than just break the bank. Kids don't know to anticipate potential rejection, which could hurt their self-esteem in the long run.

'You May Not Be Wanted'

"Children at a really young age have no idea of what is conceptually involved in this," says Syd Brown, clinical and neuropsychologist in Bethesda, Md. "They don't know that if your body changes in the wrong way, you may not be wanted anymore."

Plus, he says, a few parents' reasons for getting their kids involved may not be entirely altruistic. "Is there some sort of narcissism involved on the part of the parents? That's probably true in some cases."

Indeed, some parents worry about what they are teaching their kids. Ms. Andrews, the mother of the 4-year-old who aspires to be a supermodel, says she is concerned about sending her daughter mixed messages. "Teaching her that how people look is not supposed to be the most important thing, and then saying, 'Oh put on your pretty clothes and smile,' it's a bit of a contradiction," Ms. Andrews says.

But others say that they see no harm. "It's something that I think is fun, and it doesn't hurt the child," says Jennifer Ormond, of Quincy, Mass, whose two youngest children model. "It's a way that they can have a little money set aside, and if it's not touched for 18 years, I think that's a good chunk of change."

Unexpected Benefits

In fact, she says the industry gave her an unanticipated benefit: She was able to get some one-on-one time with her 4-year-old daughter, Julia, in April, when the girl was selected for an ad in an L.L. Bean catalog that paid $600. Ms. Ormond left her other kids with her husband and traveled with Julia to Maine for the shoot. "That was awesome, because it was three days of me and my daughter."

Julie Dines, 42, reaped another surprising gain: When she took her two children to meet with Funnyface's Mr. Winfield, he asked if she had ever considered modeling herself. "I said, 'I think I'm way too old for this stuff,' " Ms. Dines says. But she tried anyway and became the first one in the family to get work through the agency. "Ironically, I'm the first one that gets an assignment for a print ad in Oprah magazine," she says. "We were cracking up."

Her kids' feelings are more mixed. "I'm happy for my mom because she got a job," says her 12-year-old daughter Lauren. "But there was also a little jealousy."

Write to Anjali Athavaley at anjali.athavaley@wsj.com

Much-hyped 'V' arrives, but what's next?


It was pretty much impossible to avoid the promos for ABC's remake of the 1980s miniseries-turned-series "V" the past few weeks. And at long last, it was unleashed on the viewing public Tuesday night.

The basic plot, as anyone who saw the original knows, involves a massive invasion by dozens of alien ships, whose passengers, the Visitors, "come in peace," merely wanting to meet other, newly-discovered forms of intelligent life, and to borrow some of their resources. The reality, of course, is something far more sinister.

Fans of the original probably won't miss the '80s hair, the aliens' orange jumpsuits or the oftentimes wooden acting. But many of the trademarks are there: Reptilian skin underneath human-like features, check. Weird alien technology and weapons, check. A slowly-forming resistance to the Visitors, check. A big fight/shoot-out between resisters and Visitors, check.

No doubt the special effects, and indeed, most of the performances are better than the original. "Lost's" Elizabeth Mitchell shows she can probably carry this series as a suspicious FBI agent. Logan Huffman, plays her son, a wide-eyed teen all too happy to sign up with the really, really ridiculously good-looking Visitors. "Firefly's" Morena Baccarin strikes just the right tone, as the Visitors' charismatic yet creepy leader. "Party of Five's" Scott Wolf has the toughest job here, as a well-coiffed reporter who sells out his principles for fame.

Like most remakes, it has to strike the right balance between pleasing the fans and bringing enough originality to the table to make it all worthwhile. The last 15 minutes or so of the series certainly did that by adding some twists (the spray-painted "V" now has the opposite meaning, Mitchell's closest friend is a Visitor, and the Visitors have been among us for years). The problem will be sustaining that for an ongoing series, and keeping the suspense up week after week for an audience used to the brilliance of "Lost." After a while, "Whoa! That person was a Visitor the whole time!" will get old. And with only three more weeks to prove itself before going on hiatus, the pressure is on.

Did you watch the premiere of "V?" Will you be watching again? And if you saw the original, how do you think it measured up?

A Year Later -"Change" is slow...



The list of the undones is long, varied and mostly difficult -- immigration reform, new financial market regulations and a game-changing energy bill.

And compounding problems on the president's lengthy to-do list is that 2010 is an election year, generally an inefficient time for lawmaking.

Palin gives details on book tour


Sarah Palin says she's gearing up for her highly anticipated book tour later this month, writing on Facebook Tuesday she is "very, very excited to travel the country as she promotes her forthcoming memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

The former Alaska governor hinted she'd likely sit down with a string of friendly faces during the tour that begins in two weeks, a list of conservative television hosts that include Fox's Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck. She also wants to appear with Fox host Greta Van Susteren.

Palin added she'll likely appear on the radio programs of conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Dennis Miller, and Laura Ingraham, and Tammy Bruce.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee already has a high-profile sit down on The Oprah Winfrey Show November 16 - the day before her memoir is released.

The Alaska Republican said she also wants to sit down with legendary interviewer Barbara Walters during the tour.

A comic book stash worth $1 million was found in the basement of a $65,000 home

Mariah Carey reveals to CNN's Larry King her difficulties getting out of an emotionally abusive situation

Heath Ledger's Final Film Premiere: Where Were His Three Best Friends?


Three of Ledger's best buddies were noticeably absent from the premiere of his last appearance on screen.

It’s been almost 22 months since Heath Ledger's death, however Monday evening marked the last time the young actor would ‘star’ at a Hollywood Premiere. Ledger was amid filming the fantastical tale "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" when he died, prompting his close friends Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to step in and finish where Ledger left off.

However the three big wigs were notably absent from the gala festivities, prompting many to question the whereabouts of his three buddies that so graciously took over the role. It turns out Farrell was busy playing dad as his girlfriend just gave birth over the weekend, Depp is apparently busy filming and Jude Law instead spent the night at the “Only Make Believe” 10th Anniversary Gala in NYC. But according to a source close to the film, his pals still find the topic emotional and it is not something they want to openly discuss.

Photog Dies After Taking Lady Gaga Pics



Lady Gaga stepped onto the red carpet on Monday night sporting a widow-esque black veil (above, left), and minutes later, celebrity photographer A.J. Sokalner was dead. Sokalner (above, right) was working the red carpet at the ACE Awards that the 'Poker Face' singer was attending in New York City when he collapsed just minutes after Gaga took to the carpet. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital shortly after, and the owner of ACE Pictures, who Sokalner worked for, says emergency workers said he had suffered a heart attack. He was in his late 50s.


Philip Vaughan, the owner of the ACE Pictures agency that Sokalner shot for, told PDN.com that A.J. "was very well liked, he was very well respected ... He was a real photographer and he did it because he loved it."

Fellow photographer Brian Lamb says he was just feet away from Sokalner when he fell ill.

"By the time I saw him, he was already blue and people were starting to give him CPR," according to Lamb. Other photographers on the scene say Sokalner hit his head when he collapsed.

Sokalner's friend Dennis Van Tine says he was also at the event, but by the time he got word of the incident, his friend was already being loaded into an ambulance.

Van Tine calls Sokalner "one of those silent guys who goes out and shoots every day." He adds that his friend "was a cynic in the great New York tradition ... He knew what was right, he knew what was wrong, he knew who the crooks were."

Little-Known Strategies to Maximize Your Social Security Benefits


More than 50 million Americans receive monthly Social Security benefits. For more than 20% of married couples and 40% of singles, Social Security is their sole source of income in retirement.

Maybe that’s why the government’s recent announcement that there will be no cost of living increase (COLA) for Social Security recipients next year -- the first year without a raise since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975 -- hit so many seniors so hard.

Even if Social Security is only one piece of your overall retirement nest egg, it's important that you make the most of it. Personal finance experts Ken and Daria Dolan of Dolans.com are going to show you some little-known strategies that can help you maximize your Social Security benefits (the last one is a real doozy!).

Ignore the No. 1 Social Security Myth

Time and time again we hear people say that their Social Security benefit is based on your last five years of earnings. WRONG! This is one of those nasty rumors that just won't die and it's flat out not true.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses your highest 35 years of earnings to calculate your benefits! So, for the sake of example, if you have worked for 39 years, the SSA will throw out your 4 lowest earning years.

Check Your PEBES

Every year, you should receive a copy of your Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement (PEBES) from the Social Security Administration. This statement lists the number of years that you have been credited for working and the amount of income reported.

These two critical pieces of information are used to calculate your future SS benefits so it's important that you be sure they are reported correctly.

Your PEBEs statement is also helpful in your retirement planning since it gives you a projection of future Social Security benefits.

If you haven’t received one, here's how to order your PEBES statement and check it for errors.

Know Your Real Retirement Age

There's a huge financial plus to delaying your Social Security benefits. But your strategy depends highly on your age since the "normal" retirement age ranges from 65 to 67 depending on when you were born.

Although you may start taking Social Security benefits as early as age 62, you would then only receive 75% of your full benefit. By waiting to age 70, you’ll get 132% more in benefits!

Many people still mistakenly think that 65 is the official retirement age, but that's not true.

Use this handy Social Security retirement age chart to find the full age at which you can start taking full Social Security benefits.

Tap into Your Ex's Benefits

We're about to share several little known strategies to make the most of your Social Security benefits if you are married. But before we get to those, let's talk about a special strategy if you are divorced.

Not many people realize this, but you can collect benefits based on your ex-spouse's earnings. The spousal benefit is the same as if you were married -- 50% of your ex-spouse's benefits at age 65. There are, of course, some rules:

· You must have been married for at least ten years
· You cannot be married to someone else
· The benefit you receive based on your ex-spouse's work record must be larger than the benefit that you would receive based on your own work history; and
· If your ex-spouse has not yet signed up for Social Security, you must have been divorced for at least two years before your make your claim.

If your own earnings were sporadic or low, this strategy could pay you a larger benefit than your own work history. You can start collecting this benefit as early as age 62, even before you ex-spouse retires. Your claim will not affect the size of your ex's Social Security payments -- in fact, your ex doesn’t even have to know you're collecting these benefits!

Maximize Your Spousal Benefit When One Spouse Didn’t Work

Here's a strategy if you or your spouse didn't work, or does not have enough credits to claim Social Security benefits based on your own earnings record.

You can maximize your benefits using what’s called a "claim and suspend" strategy. Here's how it works: once the higher earner reaches full retirement age, he claims and immediately suspends his retirement benefits. By doing this, the spouse receives a spousal benefit based on the working spouse's earning record.

Remember, if the higher earning spouse (often the husband) dies first, the lower earning spouse can then switch to the survivor's benefit which is 100% of the benefit received by their spouse.

Maximize Your Benefits When Both Spouses Are Eligible for S.S.

If you and your spouse are each eligible for benefits based on your individual earnings, you can actually claim Social Security twice. Really. Here are the caveats: You must both have significant earnings, and at least one of you must delay claiming your Social Security benefits until age 66. When you wait until your full retirement age to start your benefits, you can choose whether to receive benefits based on your earnings record or that of your spouse. You can even receive both at different times.

For example, if a husband claims his benefits at age 70, his 66-year old wife (who is at her full retirement age) can file for a spousal benefit based on his working record equal. You get to collect 50% of his benefit.

The wife continues working and contributing to Social Security for four more years until she is 70. Then she stops receiving the spousal benefit and starts receiving Social Security benefits based on her own working record.

She gets to start collecting the spousal benefit PLUS she boosts her Social Security checks because she delayed her claim PLUS she potentially increased her payment because she added higher earning years to overall work record.

Ask for a "Do Over"

Now for a strategy that only a fraction of a fraction of Social Security beneficiaries have ever heard of!

We already told you that it's smart for many people to wait until their full retirement age to start taking Social Security benefits. But what if you didn't? What if you start your benefits and change your mind?

Well, most retirement decisions are hard to reverse, but this is one time you get a "do over."

Here how it works: The Social Security Administration allows seniors who have started taking their monthly benefit to stop their benefits and start again later.

You simply repay the full amount in benefits received to date with NO interest, then you "re-start" your benefit at a later date (and probably a higher amount) as though you had deferred taking their benefits in the first place! For example … if you began receiving benefits at age 62, but then changed your mind and wanted to wait until age 70 to begin collecting benefits.

Using this strategy, you could increase your Social Security payments by more than 70%!

Knowing how to maximize your Social Security benefits can make a big difference in your retirement income.

Instant verdict, please: What did you think of the first episode of 'V'?


Okay, if you’re reading this, chances are you watched the premiere of V.

Here’s my B+ review to read, so you know where I stand. In brief: I liked it, I thought it had a lot of clever things to say about media cynicism and human-race optimism, I thought Elizabeth Mitchell was terse-tough good and Scott Wolf masterful at playing a soulless, ambitious guy with whom we could still identify.

But I’d be very curious to know what you thought, because sci-fi or fantasy shows on major networks are always dicey, sometimes-devisive affairs. For every Lost, there’s a Manimal, know what I mean?

I’m particularly interested in whether you thought the V writers handled the whole here’s-how-America-would-react-to-aliens stuff. Would we really look up in the sky, see a pretty woman with a soothing voice, and burst into applause, or would something NRA-ish in our hearts and minds get stirred up?

Obviously, if you haven’t had a chance to watch V yet: DON’T READ THE COMMENTS BELOW, BECAUSE I’M INVITING YOU TO DISCUSS THE ENTIRE SHOW, SPOILER-DETAILS AND ALL!

Let me know what you think below, please. Thanks.

Watch the Trailer for 24's Upcoming Season

FOX has released the trailer for 24's upcoming season, which returns on January 17, 2010 with a two-hour premiere (and continues on January 18 with another two-hour episode, making the Season 8 debut a four-hour television event).

The clip opens with our old buddy Jack Bauer as a family man, insisting that he's retired from government bad-assery -- but we all know things won't stay that way for long. Are you excited for the new season?

Check out the clip and let us know what you think!