Author: Heath Andrews

There’s no predicting the kinds of things that people will leave for donation at goodwill stores. Sometimes you find hidden treasures that make you wonder if someone actually was aware of the value of the item. On the opposite end of the spectrum are things that make you wonder why the store actually made self-space for this crap. Then there are things that make it into the donation bins that never make it onto shelves at all, like a dead body. At approximately 11:00 am on Tuesday, July 8th, police were called to a Pasadena Goodwill store due to reports…

Sometimes people are immortalized in song in a wonderful, beautiful way. Bette Davis of course lives on in the Kim Carnes song, “Bette Davis Eyes,” and both Marilyn Monroe and Diana Princess Wales received tributes by Elton John and Bernie Taupin via “Candle in the Wind.” Then there’s Lizzie Borden. She didn’t get so much of a song as much as she did a rhyme, “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.” It’s not a very fun way to be remembered but it has…

Where does one even start with Fyre Fest? Perhaps with noting that Billy McFarland, the founder of the infamous Fyre Festival, is a convicted felon, and fraudster. No one was surprised when Fyre Festival 2 was “postponed until further notice.” But we WERE a little shocked when the ‘brand’ was going to be licensed as a music streaming service, and laughed when it was demoted to a hotel pop-up experience. But if you thought that was funny, now the rights to the Fyre intellectual property are being sold by McFarland on eBay. There’s a level of absurdity to this that…

In the last couple of years, Microsoft has made a lot of business decisions that seemed promising, only for them to wind up being somewhat odd in the long run. They bought Zenimax/Bethesda to develop exclusive content, but then released “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” for multiple platforms. Microsoft promotes themselves as being all about the games; doesn’t matter where they release, as long as gamers are getting great experiences. That is until they cancel them, like they just did with “Perfect Dark.” In 2000, Rare released the first “Perfect Dark” on the Nintendo 64. At the time, Nintendo…

For as much credit as Fred Rogers gets and deserves for helping shape the landscape of children’s television, there’s another figure who was also there who deserves to be remembered just as fondly, Shari Lewis. Lewis was an entertainer, singer, and puppeteer who rose to fame in the 1960s alongside her signature puppet, Lamb Chop. You’ll probably recall her PBS program “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along” and “The Song That Doesn’t End,” which is now already stuck in your head, you’re welcome. The world lost Shari back in 1998, and nearly three decades later, we’re getting a documentary about her career and…

The world of food and entertainment is still reeling from the passing of Anne Burrell on June 17th. The network that helped make her a star is airing a tribute to her, as well as confirming when the final season of “Worst Cooks in America” will be airing. Since 2010, Burrell has been the mentor of the red team on the cooking competition series. The blue team has seen a rotating series of cooks over the years including people like Jeff Mauro, Rachael Ray, and Bobby Flay. Burrell was the mainstay, helping the show establish itself around her personality, and…

Of the dozens of novels that Stephen King has written, one that is frequently cited as his best and most prolific is 1978’s “The Stand.” The unabridged version of the story is a sprawling epic about a superflu that wipes out most of the world’s population, leaving small groups of survivors to try and rebuild. It’s not exactly a cheery, life-affirming story, but it’s gripping, sweeping, and profound. Its also being set to become a feature film, and for a change it’s not being directed by Mike Flanagan. This time the reins are being handed to Doug Liman. “The Stand”…

The early 2000s were an interesting time for culture and television. In back-to-back years, MTV brought us the series “Jackass” while NBC gave us “Fear Factor.” Both featured people doing outrageous or gross things but for different reasons and in different ways. “Jackass” featured actors doing ridiculous things virtually guaranteed to get someone hurt while “Fear Factor” had people as contestants trying to win money by doing stunts surrounded by safety crews. Those two worlds are about to collide. “Fear Factor” is getting a revival with Johnny Knoxville as host. Knoxville was one of the creative minds behind “Jackass” along…

When it comes to modern plays and playwrights, there are few more well known than “The Phantom of the Opera” and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical hit Broadway in 1988 and didn’t stop until 2023. That’s one hell of a long run for anything let alone a musical. While it’s departure from Broadway was a major blow, the musical will now live on in a new immersive experience called “Masquerade.” You can tell something is going to be a special event when they outline a very specific dress code for it. The details for “Masquerade” are intentionally…

We’ve been following the upcoming “Street Fighter” film for a while now through a number of ups and downs. The adaptation of the legendary Capcom fighting game series was originally supposed to hit theaters in early 2026 until Sony scrubbed it from its release slate. It made sense considering the film was changing directors and hadn’t even announced anyone in the cast. In May, there were some additional names added to the film, and now, one of the franchise’s iconic characters has been cast. Relative newcomer Callina Liang will play Chun-Li. Liang is a Canadian actress who got her start…