Busted Halo » Entertainment & Lifestyle

Holden Caulfield’s Moments of Grace

Ginny Kubitz Moyer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:00:43 +0000

Midway through J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, notices a child walking along the streets of New York City. Even though Holden is in a bad way — he’s flunked out of school; he feels isolated from nearly everyone he knows — the child lifts his spirits. “He was making [...]

The 3rd Annual Oscar Smackdown!

The Editors — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:00:39 +0000

You’d think they would have given Up by now. After two consecutive years of getting An Education in Oscar prognosticating, Fr. Jim Martin SJ and Tim Reidy — the Precious cinephiles at America magazine, the national Catholic weekly run by the Jesuits — asked to go head-to-head for a third round with BustedHalo.com’s editor-in-chief Bill [...]

George Carlin’s Last Words

Bill McGarvey — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:30:02 +0000

When George Carlin died in 2008 at the age of 71, American comedy lost one of the sharpest and truest voices it had ever known. Over five decades, Carlin forged a body of work that is awe-inspiring in terms of its breadth, intelligence and relevance. The Irish Catholic kid from Corpus Christi parish in Harlem–with [...]

Living and Dying with Tuck Everlasting

Carolyn J. Martone — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:01:57 +0000

For Kathleen Erin Daly The outside cover of Natalie Babbit’s 1975 novel Tuck Everlasting poses just one question — what would you do if you could live forever? I asked myself this very question in1982, a complicated time when I was ten and on an impossible mission to understand not only death, but the litany of [...]

Family Goy

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:00:43 +0000

A ventriloquist’s cartoonish dummy can vocalize insults that would earn the ventriloquist himself a punch in the nose. In much the same way, on “harmless looking” adult animated comedy shows humorists can get away with things they never could on a live-action program. As a rabbi with a lifelong passion for comedy, I often find myself [...]

Faithful Departed — Roy E. Disney

Phil Fox Rose — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:00:13 +0000

Did any among us not grow up with Disney? Children of the 40s marked their years with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. For boomers, it was Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Jungle Book. By the time I [...]

A Drop of Blarney to Get Him into Heaven

Max Lindenman — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Also check out the latest Busted Halo Cast about Frank McCourt.Deanna, my ex-girlfriend, grew up in Boston. Recalling her early home life, she would sing a litany of parental neglect, substance abuse and financial mismanagement. Apparently, the one bright moment came when she saw one of her friends break most of her toes [...]

Faithful Departed — Andy Hallett

Mirlande Jeanlouis — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:00:25 +0000

Hallett during better timesI love a good rags-to-riches story. A vampire spin-off is not the usual definition of riches, but for the millions of people who love the Buffyverse, Andy Hallett was a success. Hallett started his career in Los Angeles as Joss Whedon’s wife’s personal assistant. For those who don’t know, Joss Whedon was [...]

Faithful Departed — Patrick Swayze

Mirlande Jeanlouis — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:19 +0000

There are some famous people that seem so kind and so genuine that I am glad they are somewhere in the world. I don’t need to meet them or visit their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I just want to know they exist in the madhouse of entertainment and keep their heads while [...]

Faithful Departed — Jim Carroll

Mirlande Jeanlouis — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:00:56 +0000

It is impossible to create and not expose yourself. In fiction, music or memoir, there is the beating heart of the writer’s own life experiences between every line. Fear of exposing themselves in the way that is necessary for others to connect keeps some writers from ever being publishing, or taking their talent to the [...]

Faithful Departed — Ed McMahon

Tom Gibbons — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:00:38 +0000

During that third week of June when we lost King of Pop and the Queen of Pinup on the same day, it was easy for the death of someone who spent most of his life as a sidekick to be brushed aside. It was easy for the shock of losing two people Generation X once [...]

Captain Lou Albano, “Nice Italian Boy”

Catherine Perry — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:00:46 +0000

“Captain” Lou Albano (1933-2009) — professional wrestling legend and star of Cyndi Lauper videos — was what my grandmother called “a nice Italian boy.” Never mind that by the time she met him, he was in his 50s; and, that to an entire industry of professional wrestlers, being called “nice” would have been the kiss [...]

Faithful Departed — Nick Adenhart

Marc Adams — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:00:15 +0000

It was just the beginning of the season… the April dew still lingered on the short blades of grass, the electricity and excitement for a year full of potential filled the air, and just a few hours earlier, a young Angel pitcher by the name of Nick Adenhart had thrown six shut out innings in [...]

Faithful Departed — Michael Jackson

Annie Reuter — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:00:37 +0000

While music fans often cling to memories of their first concert experience, I vividly remember the very first music video I watched — Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” It was at my cousin’s house sitting on her mom’s plastic covered couch while our parents sat in the dining room having coffee. “Thriller” gave me nightmares for weeks, [...]

Faithful Departed — John Updike

Jeff Guhin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:00:08 +0000

I read John Updike’s Rabbit series when I was 22, living with nuns in the North Bronx. Perhaps needless to say, I had a lot of free time after around 8:30 every night, and I tore through all the novels I didn’t have time to read in undergrad. Of course, what I read still had [...]

Faithful Departed — DJ AM

Annie Reuter — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:00:17 +0000

After collaborating with numerous musicians and dabbling in acting, it was DJ AM's last project that was his most memorable.

Adam Goldstein, best known as DJ AM, battled with addiction for much of his life and remained clean for 11 years. In his last months he filmed Gone Too Far, a series on MTV where he provided intervention for those who struggled with addiction.

An intense series, the show explicitly reveals a day in the life of an addict while offering help to those willing to change their lives. While I've never dealt with addiction personally, the show really made an impact on me and restored my faith in the music industry.

Being a music journalist, I've heard the horror stories of bands dropped by major labels and the destruction that the touring lifestyle causes on loved ones. However, I've hardly ever read about a musician that is truly selfless and making a difference in society. Goldstein changed this. He provided hope and help to numerous addicts and their families and his spirit lives on in those lives he saved.

The Perfect Gift for the Seeker on your List

The Editors — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:53:38 +0000

BUSTED HALO® SPIRITUAL SEEKERS ADVENTURE 2010 Last year we had an enormous response to the Spiritual Seekers Adventure trips we were offering to the Camino in Spain as well as our arts & culture trip to Paris. Busted Halo® is happy to announce that we are offering these same journeys again for March 2010 at a [...]

Going Mad for Busted Halo this Christmas

The Editors — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:00:33 +0000

Interview: Anne Rice

Brett Siddell — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:00:31 +0000

Father Dave talks with the incredibly talented author, Anne Rice! One of America’s most read and celebrated authors, Anne Rice is known for weaving the visible and supernatural worlds together in epic stories that both entertain and challenge readers. Her books are richly filled with history, belief, philosophy, religion, and compelling characters that examine and [...]

Unholy Waterfront

Bill McGarvey — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:49 +0000

With a shock of sandy blonde hair that perpetually seems to be on the verge of revolt and a conversation style that is best described as a benign form of rapid-fire free association, it’s easy to picture Professor Jim Fisher, 52, as the young taxicab driving college dropout living in Hoboken, N.J., that he once [...]

Corny and Profound

Ginny Kubitz Moyer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:19 +0000

For Christmas one year, when I was in high school, my grandpa gave me the video of The Sound of Music. I was thrilled: my favorite movie, the one I’d loved since childhood, was mine to watch at will. My cousin Mark, in his early twenties at the time, regarded my new tape with good-natured [...]

Viewing America Through Michael Jackson

Mirlande Jeanlouis — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:13:19 +0000

The sudden death of Michael Jackson this past summer took the world by surprise and led to spontaneous fan tributes around the globe and countless conversations about the King of Pop’s place in popular culture. Many of those conversations are bound to be revisited with the release this week of This Is It, a film [...]

God Doesn’t Like Ugly

Bill McGarvey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:00:28 +0000

Throughout the side chapels and the interior of St. Paul the Apostle Church in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, the historically significant artwork on permanent display now shares space with a compelling and eclectic mix of contemporary pieces. God Doesn’t Like Ugly, as the exhibition is titled, is the third major group exhibition presented [...]

The Family that Plays Together

Bill McGarvey — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:00:27 +0000

In the white-hot glare of worldwide celebrity there are no shadows, there are only outsized figures of triumph or scorn. They are presented to us as fully formed creations, media amplified surfaces without depth who occupy our fantasies until something else inevitably takes their place. This strange and rare sort of fame — which basketball [...]

Busted: Charlie Louvin

Matt Fink — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:00:13 +0000

One of country music’s great survivors, Charlie Louvin has a career that reads like a Southern gothic novel. He grew up singing sacred harp music — a harmonically complex form of Southern congregational music — with his brother Ira, and the duo would help lay the foundation for the country-rock movement with their close harmonies [...]

A Tale of Two Transfers

Erin Kouwe — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:33:32 +0000

Often it’s the things that don’t turn out the way we’d planned that teach us the most about ourselves and what’s important. A more philosophical way of putting it—experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. Patti started out at small women’s college. She made some great friends right off [...]

Confessions of a Celebrity Gossip Columnist

Kristine Gasbarre — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:42:35 +0000

I knew I was in trouble the day I wrote a headline about Michael Jackson being a gay crossdresser. He wasn’t even in the ground yet, his dear family was mourning, and here I was exposing an intimate speculation about his life for the whole world and their grandma to read. This was Michael Jackson. I [...]

Busted: Deanna Witkowski

Bill McGarvey — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:38:08 +0000

Kill Adolf

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:42:12 +0000

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you hadn’t taken that job, or gone to that school, or moved to that neighborhood? In other words: what if you were living in an alternative reality? Alternative history is a genre with a long pedigree, especially in the realm of science fiction. After all, who can [...]

Jon and Kate + Commiserate

Dr. Christine B. Whelan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:31:15 +0000

Recently, I’ve been tuning in to Jon & Kate Plus Eight at the gym. I watch on the sly like I’d rubberneck on the highway: The crash is too gory to view directly, but I can’t take my eyes off the drama. Some research suggests viewers watch reality TV because deep down they believe, someday, [...]