Girlfriend Experience Not Much of One

Sasha Grey defends move after parents complain

(NEWSER) - One-time porn star Sasha Grey is defending her participation in a Read Across America program at a Los Angeles elementary school, reports the Hollywood Reporter . When parents found out that the (recently retired) adult-film actress had promoted reading to kids at the school, many complained, notes TMZ . (It has photos of Grey reading in the classroom.) More»

Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet star in Steven Soderbergh film

(NEWSER) - Critics applaud Steven Soderbergh’s latest effort, Contagion, a deeply disturbing imagining of a global pandemic that features an all-star cast (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne):

• It’s “easily the scariest of the disaster films” since 9/11, writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post . What’s more, it “takes great pains to present its situations realistically, and includes a lot of intelligent speculation about what sort of political, economic, and ethical questions would be raised by such a disaster.”

Sasha Grey and friends embrace their inner geeks

(NEWSER) - What might make Dungeons & Dragons more appealing to people not particularly interested in role-playing games? How about adding porn stars, a stripper, and Sasha Grey? Everyone stays clothed and the conversation stays fairly G-rated—there's one double entendre about sucking—as the Escapist, an online gaming magazine, infiltrates a regular game. To watch, click here . More»

Zooey Deschanel, Al Franken among two-field stars

(NEWSER) - We’ve seen lots of celebrities crash and burn in endeavors outside the area where they’ve made their mark; from James Brady Ryan , a look at the top five crossover successes:

• Zooey Deschanel: Following the acting-to-singing trail blazed by “the mostly bland J.Lo, the horrendous Lindsay Lohan, the dog-howlingly awfulness of Paris Hilton,” Deschanel’s band She & Him “produced an album that was sweet, well-crafted, and flat-out catchy.”
• Danica McKellar: “An entire generation’s first crush as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years” was a math major at UCLA and is now the author of books pushing girls to get into math and science.

What will we still be talking about next decade? Britney, for one

(NEWSER) - The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York ’s picks:

• TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things Oprah Winfrey.
• Books: The Da Vinci Code for singlehandedly sustaining the book industry, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for blazing the trail of combining geek lit with high lit.