Managing Editor

     Everyone knows the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year; Nevertheless, the holiday season can also be not so wonderful when it comes to maintaining your healthy eating routine. Between being bombarded by all the available candy on Halloween to the sugar cookies and fruitcakes that seem to lurk around every corner during Christmas time, preserving a healthy diet is often pushed to the wayside during the holidays. However, before you swear off celebrating the season all together and spend the holidays locked in your room with only a can of almonds to keep you company, I have gathered five tips and tricks that will help you sustain your healthy eating habits and end your love/hate relationship with the celebrating season once and for all.

Tip #1: Under eating often results in over eating. One misconception that is common among holiday eaters is the notion that you can “save up” your daily calorie allotment. Starving yourself throughout the day so you can gorge at the dinner or party you are attending that night is never a good idea. Instead, your body is more likely to over compensate, which translates into over-eating, because it is lacking in essential nutrition and is low in energy. In fact, it is likely you will intake double the amount of calories you would regularly by not eating properly throughout the day.

Trick: Instead of trying to save room in your tummy, try filling it with healthy items before ever leaving your house. By snacking on an apple or a few carrots before attending the party, your body will no longer need to be in a state of emergency. This way, you will be able to make healthier choices during the meal and will likely eat less.

Tip #2: Fill up on guilt-free foods. You know those hefty casseroles, sugary desserts, and fried appetizers you just cannot say no to during the holidays? Say no. In their place, dine on the items you know you will not regret once you have to face the scale. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are all foods you can munch on without needing to concern yourself with counting calories or keeping up with fat content. So when you are stringing up the ole' Christmas tree with popcorn, feel free to sneak a handful for yourself to enjoy. Instead of feeling guilty afterward, you can be confident in knowing you are consuming foods that will supply you will the fiber, antioxidants, minerals and other nutritional substances you need to stay healthy.

Trick: Do not rely on your party’s host to provide you with healthy eating options. Instead, bring a healthy dish with you when attending a dinner or party. Not only will you have a healthy alternative to snack on and earn the appreciation of your fellow healthy eaters, but you will also seem like a more considerate guest. It is a no lose situation.

Tip #3: Do not center your day on dining. When considering the major winter holidays, they do not seem to have many activities in common. There is the dressing in costumes for Halloween, the being gracious aspect of Thanksgiving and all the present exchanging during Christmas. However, what is the main event of most holidays? Unfortunately, it is usually eating. Unhealthy foods are always looming around these festive events, waiting to pull you in with a sneak attack when you are least expecting it. Avoid this by focusing your holiday get-together on something other than the meal you have planned. This way, other activities will be the focal point of the evening, which will prevent you and your guests from having to gather around the food tray for entertainment and conversation.

Trick: Need a few suggestions on how to get the ball rolling without the help of your tasty treats? One suggestion is to do exactly that. By making a physical activity or sport your main source of entertainment, you are distracting yourself from the assortment of foods lounging on the table and are instead burning calories. If outside conditions are not desirable, try playing board games or cards. You’ll be able to socialize with your guests without being tempted.

Tip #4: Slow and steady wins the race. Instead of rushing through your meal, try to take your time when eating. Hey, I get it. There is so much food, it is all so good, and you really want to beat Uncle Ned to the last of the yams, but there are also many benefits to not inhaling your food. Besides the fact that you will not have to feign embarrassment as your family and friends watch you shovel mashed potatoes into your mouth, you will also be less likely to eat more than you really want to. When you eat too quickly, you consume food faster than your body can digest it. Because of this, you are not aware of how full until you have already eaten more than you really need. Have you ever felt sick or like your pants were going to burst after finishing a meal? The goal is to avoid those situations since they are signs of eating too much too fast.

Trick: Between bites, put your eating utensil down. You do not have to be ready to shovel in that next bite the instant you swallow the previous bite. By taking the time to put down your fork and wait for one bite to be finished before preparing for another, you are ensuring that you eat in a timely manner. This way, there will not be a need for unbuttoning your trousers after enjoying a holiday dinner.

Tip #5: Do not even considering dieting. Honestly, your chances of maintaining a diet during the holidays are slim to none. In addition, why would you even want to? Despite what some may believe, eating healthy and dieting are not the same. By eating healthy, you are making a conscious effort to limit the amount of unhealthy food you consume, but you are not prohibiting yourself from enjoying those foods that diets forbid. By trying to keep up a diet when so many temptations are available, you are more likely to give up and binge. Instead, just make sure your portion sizes are low so that after you enjoy a serving of those healthy snacks, appetizers, and entrees, you can help yourself to a guilt-free serving of that apple pie you have been eyeing all night.

Trick: Are you still feeling a little overwhelmed by what is on the holiday menu? Instead of stressing yourself out because you ate that extra bite of bread pudding, just try to relax and enjoy yourself. You may actually eat less once you are no longer trying to. After all, stress often contributes to over eating during the holiday season. The winter holidays only come around once a year. Leave stressing over dieting for Labor Day.

Hopefully, these tips will aid you survive the holidays without having to miss out. If you still feel like you may need some assistance in turning down that milk and cookies, here are some helpful links that may help you in celebrating the season, healthy-style:

• http://helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm
• http://women.webmd.com/guide/nutrition-101-how-to-eat-healthy
• http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-Healthy
• http://www.family.samhsa.gov/be/holidayeat.aspx
• http://www.betterhealthusa.com/public/273.cfm

(MCT)

October 26-November 1, 2009

ARIES (March 21-April 20) Family planning, renovations or ongoing expenses are now a top priority. Recent money restrictions will no longer affect short-term home plans. Discuss all new proposals with loved ones and expect a series of creative suggestions. At present others are highly motivated to improve financial security and lifestyle: don't hold back. After Friday romantic invitations may arrive without warning. Respond honestly: others need to know your ideals, plans and expectations.

TAURUS (April 21-May 20) Recent financial or workplace breakthroughs may be temporarily postponed. Revised group assignments or last minute team projects will now take precedence. Join in and let others witness your flexibility. Trusted employment methods, workplace alliances and promotions schedules will quickly be re-established. Later this week some Taureans may encounter an unusual social proposal or new friendship. Take your time: powerful emotions may soon require expression.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Co-workers ask for special assistance or a renewed commitment to difficult projects. Ongoing paperwork delays or procedural confusion may be bothersome. Your expertise and practical guidance will be noticed and appreciated key officials. Take time to carefully outline complex rules, regulations or standards. Wednesday through Saturday highlights bold discussions with family or friends. Key issues may involve broken promises or revised schedules. Stay focused.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) Business information is unreliable over the next few days. New colleagues may provide mistaken documents or inaccurate dates. Check facts thoroughly for minor errors: your efforts will be rewarded. After mid-week romantic seduction is difficult to resist. Potential lovers may pose key questions or express delicate emotions. Remain attentive. For many Cancerians this week is an excellent time to explore new social and romantic possibilities. Create positive choices: all is well.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Long-term relationships may this week enter a brief phase of intense discussion. Key issues will involve public behavior, workplace flirtation or increased social activities. Important emotional breakthroughs are now available. Rekindled intimacy may be a top priority: express your needs or ongoing expectations and expect an honest response. After Thursday pay attention to the subtle observations or a friend or relative. Financial or business advice will prove invaluable. Stay alert

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Sleep patterns, social awareness and dream experiences are changing. Before mid-week expect sudden impressions and renewed physical energy. Many Virgos will now begin several weeks of intense passion and rekindled faith in long-term commitments. Fast insights may trigger complex social or romantic revelations. Thursday through Sunday accents last minute financial messages and surprising business information. Private opinions are helpful: ask loved ones for comments.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Over the next few days lovers and close relatives may be unusually distrustful of authority figures. Avoid becoming quickly drawn in public debate or family discussion. At present loved ones may need to vent their insecurities before developing added confidence. Stay quietly detached, if possible. After mid-week some Librans may encounter an unexpected financial proposal. Colleagues may wish to explore new partnerships. Remain patient: added information is needed.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Group discussions will this week offer misleading social information. Planned celebrations, marital announcements or private romantic encounters may all be at issue. Relationships are changing: expect friends and work mates to exaggerate all emotional details. Late this week is an excellent time to revise health or exercise regimes. A recent phase of sluggish energy or minor digestive disruptions is now ending. Stay dedicated to new routines: physical vitality may require attention.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Social timing and continuing privacy are now vital in long-term friendships. A lover and close friend may this week announce key lifestyle improvements or family changes. Remain silent. At present, group speculation or public discussion may appear insensitive. Be consistent and take time to clarify all new facts and dates. After Thursday an older colleague or manager may reveal a complex or controversial business decision. Avoid public debate: workplace tensions may be high.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) Revised work schedules may this week cause disagreement between colleagues. An older co- worker may now feel privately threatened by the skills or abilities of new employees. Public roles will soon change. Watch for sudden promotions, renewed group acceptance and a steady increase in workplace debate. After mid-week many Capricorns will experience a powerful wave of romantic attraction and social activity. Trust your instincts: new relationships are highly favored.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21-Feb. 19) Love affairs and intense friendships require careful planning. Someone close may this week feel misunderstood or ignored. Over the next six days social and romantic triangles are almost unavoidable. Ask for extra time or consideration from others and wait for loved ones to acknowledge your emotional efforts. Wednesday through Saturday workplace officials and trusted colleagues may offer incomplete information or vague promises. Remain cheerful: all is well.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) For many Pisceans minor jealousies between co-workers will now fade. Plan group events or team accomplishments and remain attentive to small details. Authority figures will soon opt for revised methods and open discussion. Be flexible. Tuesday through Friday social invitations may dramatically increase. Respond quickly: your reaction will set the tone for others. Later this week rest and pamper the body. Aches, pains and mild infections may be briefly bothersome.

If your birthday is this week...sudden employment changes and fast job proposals are accented over the next 9 weeks. Pay special attention to expanding duties, revised career options or new titles. Almost 11 months of sluggish workplace progress or disagreements with authority will now fade. This is a strong time for quick advancement and creative projects. Don't hold back. After January 5, 2010 romantic decisions are necessary. Loved ones may press for reliable long-term promises or bold public statements. Social or group celebrations are also accented: expect friends, relatives and long-term partners to plan unique gatherings. Early in 2010 repeated patterns need to end. Ask loved ones for concrete commitments and revised schedules.

We are a chattering, communal species, nosy, intensely curious about the joys and travails of others, because they help each of us understand how we fit into the human fabric.

And we are an innovative species, creating marvelous contraptions that can plumb the depths of the universe or analyze the most complex interactions of subatomic particles.

It's not the computer's fault that Americans watched 10 billion (mostly silly) videos on YouTube in August. It's not the television's fault that the spectacle of a little boy floating all alone in the troposphere attracts more viewers than analysis of the Senate health-care bill.

When you buy the newspaper for sports and TV reviews, you get the health-care bill, whether you want it or not. When cable news does the health-care bill, without somebody screaming about it, hardly anybody watches. When cable shows personal peril, everybody watches.

Not only did we create the TV machine that, until recently, was the only one that could bring us all together in real time, we also created the mechanism — 24-hour cable news — that enables the machine to do it instantly, at every moment.

Over and over Thursday, cable reporters from Fox's Shepard Smith to CNN's Kyra Phillips said they were being told there was a 6-year-old in the balloon, that people thought he was there. Nobody ever said it was certain.

Mistakes must be made when the news is instantaneous. Even the sober and principled ABC anchor Peter Jennings got took. He gave air time to a phone call from a Howard Stern-inspired prankster, with a suspiciously ghetto-stereotype voice, claiming to be O.J. Simpson's relative on the night of live coverage of the infamous white Bronco slow-speed chase.

It didn't take a reporter or a scientist Thursday to point out what had to be in the mind of almost everybody looking at the weird device, floating as weightlessly and haphazardly as a flower petal over the Colorado countryside: There's nothing but helium in that balloon.

People watched because they wanted the kid in there. "Imagine the fear of the child." "The poor, panic-crazed parents." Whatever the speculation, the corresponding inner feeling, probably unrealized, was, "Thank goodness my life is more normal, and at the moment, more successful."

It's the same motivation that fueled conjecture about the ruin of the rich and famous sports superstar. "Do you think he's going to kill himself?"

It's the same reason Jon and Kate Gosselin, of moderate interest primarily to young mothers when life was going smoothly for them and their brood of eight, ballooned into gossip superstars after their marriage went south. "How greedy and stupid." "Oh, those poor kids."

When O.J. went motoring — not that long ago — we were pretty much constrained to talk about it at the water cooler, or in similar personal encounters. Now, with the computer and its social networks, we can talk worldwide. The cleverer among us can blog and make videos, and we can talk about them.

The false flight of Falcon Heene was tailor made for revolving treatment in every medium. Before the day was out, someone had created a Hitler Rant on YouTube (http://tinyurl.com/ylxcmlr) in which the supposed president of the Hitler News Network blasts his subordinates for falling for the hoax.

(The Hitler Rant, a YouTube staple, consists of a scene from the 2004 German movie "Downfall" in which Bruno Ganz, playing Der Fuhrer, has a meltdown, augmented by English subtitles that have nothing to do with the film. In different incarnations, Hitler rants about the Cowboys losing the first game in their new stadium, having his shoes being stolen and thrown at George W. Bush, even about the hundreds of YouTube rants making fun of him.)

It used to be someone had to accomplish something, or at least be notably unaccomplished (Zsa Zsa Gabor or Paris Hilton), to make his foibles worth following. Now, there are reality shows, where editors work strenuously to create heightened characters out of Mr. and Ms. Nobody, bringing them one of the precious commodities in an anonymous society: fame.

We all long to be noticed. But reality shows seem to feed a toxic need for fame, a need, it now appears, that drove the Balloon Boy's parents to perpetrate their hoax.

If there were no reality shows, if there were no cable news, if there were no television, this whole thing would have never happened. Certainly, it's not our fault.

You'll soon see comedian Aziz Ansari in "Get Him to the Greek." (Steven Dewall via PopMatters.com/MCT)

You've seen him in "Parks & Recreation" (as sleazeball Tom Haverford), you've seen him in "Funny People," "I Love You, Man" and "Observe and Report," and you'll soon see him in "Get Him to the Greek." You'll probably see him just about everywhere you turn these days.

Indeed, you can't get away from Aziz Ansari even if you try. Named Entertainment Weekly's top 12 future stars of comedy, and Rolling Stone's "Hot Standup" on its Hot List, Ansari recently completed his "Glow in the Dark" Comedy Standup Tour, which concluded in early 2009 with the recording of his first album and special for Comedy Central, "Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening."

Indeed, Ansari has a voracious appetite for performing, eating, and ... just about anything else that is subject to an appetite.

1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?

"Up" came pretty close. The silent montage of the relationship in the beginning was maybe the most amazing, beautiful thing I've ever seen in any movie. I was also surprised to find out that the kid was Asian. I didn't notice that at all! Pixar should make their 3-D depiction of Asians more racist looking so it's easier to tell.

2. The fictional character most like you?

Wow. This is tough. I'll say Dr. Grant from "Jurassic Park." I like to think I'm pretty level-headed and if kids were trapped in a Ford Explorer getting attacked by a dinosaur I would make an effort to save them, as opposed to go hiding in the toilet like that weasely lawyer.

3. The greatest album, ever?

Nelly's concept album, "Sweatsuit." Disc 1, the Sweat Disc, features uptempto party jams and Disc 2, the Suit Disc, is more serious hip hop to listen to when you are in a formal setting.

It's either that or the Beatles' White Album. Actually, yeah, it's probably the White Album.

4. "Star Trek" or "Star Wars"?

"Star Wars." I have to admit when I see the ""Star Wars" version" of things I do get a little excited. You know what I'm talking about? Like the Call of Duty mods that let you play the game as StormTroopers? That would have been dope on "Goldeneye" for Nintendo 64.

Speaking of which, why isn't "Goldeneye" on Xbox Live? Rare and Microsoft need to figure that out or someone needs to make a bootleg version somehow. Wait, what's that sound? Oh, it's the sound of any girl that was interested in sleeping with me changing her mind.

5. Your ideal brain food?

I feel like apples are a good brain food and strawberry yogurt. I eat that on set a lot and it seems good for you. That's based on nothing, though.

Can I just recommend some taco places in LA, instead? I don't know brain food, but I do know tacos. There's a taco truck in Echo Park in L.A. called Taco Zone and they have a great off-menu special called the mulita. Get the carne suadero mulita. So good.

Also, go to the Alibi Room in Culver City and get some Kogi. The Kogi taco trucks have crazy lines, but the Kogi at the Alibi room is the same thing, arguably better because it has an expanded menu. Get the short rib sliders and a spicy pork kimchi quesadilla (not on the menu).

Also, Best Fish Taco in Ensenada on Hillhurst is dope. Get two fish and one shrimp. And the carne asada taco at Yuca's on Hillhurst is great, too.

6. You're proud of this accomplishment, but why?

I once went on a taco tour with a friend who was visiting me and hit up all those taco places I mentioned above in one day.

7. You want to be remembered for ...?

The accomplishments of a more respected, similarly looking bearded Indian man.

8. Of those who've come before, the most inspirational are?

I take a lot of inspiration from the people that are doing my favorite work now.

9. The creative masterpiece you wish bore your signature?

The Thai food at Jitlada.

10. Your hidden talents ...?

Foosball, ping pong, guitar playing, and I'm also great at splitting checks with a large party at a restaurant.

11. The best piece of advice you actually followed?

"You should try the carne suadero mulita."

12. The best thing you ever bought, stole, or borrowed?

The best thing I stole is three Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets that I snatched from a sample tray at a mall food court in Florence, S.C., after already having my one alotted sample. "Yeah, these are for my brother, my dad, and my mom." That idiot, I ate all of them!

13. You feel best in Armani or Levis or ...?

Osh Kosh B'Gosh for Men (it's a hard to fine clothing line, but it's out there).

14. Your dinner guest at the Ritz would be?

The Dalai Lama, but only if he's up for splitting a few things, so we can get a good taste of the whole menu in one sitting. Otherwise, my friend Alan or my friend Jason, they are usually down to split stuff.

15. Time travel: where, when and why?

I would go to right before Marty was about to go into the store where he saw the Sports Almanac and prevent him from ever seeing it or getting that idea, thus preventing them from having to deal with the Biff centric alternate timeline altogether. (That's a reference to "Back to the Future," for those not in the know.)

16. Stress management: hit man, spa vacation or Prozac?

Spa.

17. Essential to life: coffee, vodka, cigarettes, chocolate, or ...?

TACOS!

18. Environ of choice: city or country, and where on the map?

City. Montreal.

19. What do you want to say to the leader of your country?

"Cream on the inside, clean on the outside! Cream on the inside, clean on the outside! Ice- ice- i- -ice cream paint job!" (That's a reference to "Ice Cream Paint Job" by Dorrough, for those not in the know.)

20. Last but certainly not least, what are you working on, now?

"Parks and Recreation" Season 2, my standup special/CD/DVD, "Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening," which should be out in a few months (probably January), other things that aren't fully figured out yet, and getting chubbier because I eat too much delicious food.

First it was Ellen Page, whose role in 2007's "Juno" stoked a craving for young, hip, mostly dark-haired actresses with outsider appeal and an indie-rock sensibility. In rapid succession came Kat Dennings in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," Kristen Stewart in "Twilight" and "Adventureland," and Emma Roberts in "Lymelife."

Next up: Carey Mulligan, the all-but-unknown British star of "An Education." Already, the 24-year-old is the subject of Oscar talk for her nuanced performance as a naive schoolgirl who falls for an older man (Peter Sarsgaard). And there's a wave of young actresses coming up alongside her.

These women are difficult to categorize, which is what's interesting about them. The upcoming teen drama "Dare" stars Emmy Rossum as a wannabe actress exploring a pansexual love triangle. "Tanner Hall" stars Rooney Mara (a descendant of the sports moguls Art Rooney and Tim Mara) as a schoolgirl who crosses the line with a married man. Anna Kendrick more than holds her own opposite George Clooney in the comedy-drama "Up in the Air," due for release Dec. 4. And in the indie film "Paper Man," Emma Stone (already starring in the major-studio hit "Zombieland") appears as a guarded but vulnerable girl who befriends a troubled author, played by Jeff Daniels.

Last week, The Hamptons International Film Festival had these actresses in attendance, save for Stone and Mulligan, though both were officially honored. So far, the common thread between them seems to be their desire to tackle complex roles in character-driven films. That, of course, may change, once success comes calling.

THE SWELL SEASON "Strict Joy" Grade: A-minus

Heartbreak and unease have rarely sounded prettier.

Maybe it's the circumstance — The Swell Season's Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova were a real-life couple before they played one in the movie "Once" and subsequently broke up just as the accolades, including an Oscar for best original song, started rolling in. Or maybe it's that Hansard's weary delivery of raw, introspective lyrics fit perfectly with Irglova's delicate harmonies and the spare, acoustic folk backdrop.

In either case, The Swell Season's latest effort, "Strict Joy" (Anti-), shows how simple arrangements can still communicate volumes about life's complexities. Hansard's vocals and compositions are uniquely flexible, summoning Damien Rice's vocal pain one moment ("Back Broke") and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck ("High Horses") the next, sliding between acoustic Radiohead orchestration ("The Verb") and current country ("In These Arms," which any number of Nashville singers should be lining up to cover right now).

It's no accident that the most joyous moment on "Strict Joy" comes during "I Have Loved You Wrong," where Irglova takes over the lead vocals. After asking for forgiveness for several verses, she builds a bridge of possibility by repeating, "You're every now and then on my mind" as Hansard's harmonies and the accompaniment swell and retreat until the duo is singing a cappella and they seem caught up in a happy memory. Then again, maybe it was an accident. After all, The Swell Season is usually best in its unguarded moments.

TEGAN AND SARA "Sainthood" Grade: A-minus

The Quin sisters — better known as Tegan and Sara — turn down the quirk and turn up the pep for their sixth album, "Sainthood" (Vapor/ Sire), building a pop sound without losing their distinctive sound. Though "Sainthood" centers on relationships, mostly busted ones, everything is surprisingly up-tempo and catchy here, from the electro-tinged relocation-and-relationships single "Hell" to the punk-ish rave-up "Northshore," where they declare "My misery's so addictive." Even "The Cure," which pairs a Robert Smith-sy chord progression with some emotional resolutions, keeps things upbeat. The Quins probably sense that after years of waiting in critical-darling purgatory, "Sainthood" should finally send them shuffling through pop's pearly gates.

HOT SONG

Rihanna returns with "Russian Roulette" (Island Def Jam), an ominous ballad that suggests the emotional toll of her relationship with Chris Brown has left her in a dark place. Sure, she may be playing a role in the song, but outlining the possibilities of shooting or being shot is harrowing enough without the sound effects of chambers clicking and gunshots ringing out. "Russian Roulette" is a boundary-pusher that sounds more like a cry for help with repeated listening.

"Michael Jackson's This Is It" looks beyond the reconstructed face and spindly body of the late King of Pop and basks in his meteoric light.

Culled from more than 100 hours of footage documenting Jackson's preparing for what was to be his farewell concert stand, the film is a privileged peek at the creative process of pop music's Peter Pan.

The show Jackson was putting together was a compendium — and cinematic reimagining — of his greatest hits, from "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" to "Man in the Mirror." The film, directed by Kenny Ortega ("High School Musical"), is an unfinished work, a lyrical and intimate tribute to an unfinished life.

Watching this footage is comparable to being in the kitchen, savoring the smells and sampling tidbits, as a banquet is being prepared, but not getting to see it — or taste it — as it is served.

The digital videos taken at rehearsals are rough, not perfectly lit or focused. And Jackson, who played the scarecrow in "The Wiz," looks positively scarecrowlike. (When not obscured by fedora, sunglasses and tendrils, Jackson's face, reconstructed and Kabuki-pale, has the shock of Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.)

But once he starts dancing with hoofers young enough to be his children, Jackson, who died at age 50, radiates pure energy. It's always a pleasure to watch him move. Just as pleasurable is to see him beam that vitality to dancers and musicians, and see them beam it back.

Jackson comes across as a more robust dancer than singer. In the film, recorded over 10 weeks before his death on June 25, Jackson is not always in voice. He says he's conserving his throat, but he does let it rip for "Human Nature." His appreciation of his musicians, and his subtle direction to hold a beat here for suspense or syncopate there for effect, illustrate his gifts as a musical dramatist.

Jackson didn't make many movies, but his music videos were mini-films with maximum emotional impact. He and Ortega had cinematic concepts for the concert production of This Is It — including a re-do of "Thriller" that would take it from a John Landis vampire frolic to a Tim Burton goth prom.

Influenced by "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," Jackson and Ortega conceived "Smooth Criminal" as a movie in which Jackson sings to Rita Hayworth and dodges bullets shot by Humphrey Bogart.

For Jackson, as for Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, a song was a three-minute drama. Dance and film were not bells and whistles, but ways for him to underscore a song's subject matter.

Because Jackson seems most concentrated, most alive, when he is performing, it would probably be a mistake to call This Is It a backstage movie. Yet there are lovely backstage moments when Jackson serenades Ortega in Spanish or generously gives direction to a guitarist, telling her to amp it up: "This is your moment to shine."

"This Is It" is Jackson's moment to shine. For two hours, he's alive and kicking it.

By Lasha Seniuk/ (MCT)

November 16-22, 2009

ARIES (March 21-April 20) Family history and old romantic memories will this week demand clarity. For some Aries natives, especially those born between 1955 and 1969, a rekindled love affair will captivate extra time. Unproductive patterns need to be resolved: expect dramatic confrontations and complex discussions over the next 6 weeks. After mid-week property contracts, deeds or leasing agreements may be unexpectedly postponed. Remain patient: new information will soon arrive.

TAURUS (April 21-May 20) Old friends or lovers may this week reappear and trigger intense memories. Past relationships will offer unique life lessons. Discuss all observations with loved ones and expect emotional suggestions or romantic speculation from close friends to be helpful. Later this week older colleagues or managers may request fast changes and new dedication. Long accepted policies or practices will soon demand bold improvements. Offer your skills: your talents are needed.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Home discussions will this week help move key relationships forward. In the coming weeks some Geminis will gently expand their family or social obligations. If so, expect relations with older family members to also be a prime concern. Loved ones will need to express their private feelings: remain open and wait for agreement. After Friday a two week period of fast business advancement and new job discussions begins. Ask for all that you want: it's time to expand.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) Before mid-week close colleagues may reveal private information. Marital relations, family disputes or living arrangement are all highlighted. Listen to all revelations but avoid becoming emotionally involved. For many Cancerians workplace alliances will need extra time to properly develop. Friday through Sunday rest and spend extra time with an isolated friend, relative or colleague. Someone close may soon ask for deeply personal advice. Don't hesitate.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Financial and business messages may be misleading this week. Official communications or legal agreements will now be derailed by rare social politics or workplace conflict. Stay dedicated to short-term tasks and expect facts, figures and calculations to require careful scrutiny. Bosses or managers are watching your progress: stay active. Later this week some Leos may encounter a rare social introduction or flirtation. Trust your heart: powerful emotions will soon be revealed.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Educational projects and revised workplace skills are now a top priority. Early this week key officials may demand improved job performance and completed assignments. Don't hesitate to increase your workload. By early December a new career path will be made available. Thursday through Saturday also highlights fast social changes and new romantic proposals. A brief phase of emotional isolation is now ending: use this time to expand key relationships and find new friends.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Key officials will this week rely heavily on your ability to resolve interpersonal disputes. After Tuesday expect minor workplace arguments to quickly escalate. Remain determined to find harmony: in the coming weeks your emotional guidance will be greatly appreciated on the work scene. After mid-week watch also for a subtle compliment or comment from a trusted friend. Yesterday's disappointments or emotional triangles will soon fade. Stay open to new overtures.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Long-term romantic commitments now increase. Over the next few weeks many Scorpios will bring added emotional and financial security into their lives. Renewed family obligations, housing agreements or complex social promises are all accented. Respond quickly to all requests: loved ones will soon outline their goals and expectations. Later this week a recently distant or isolated colleague may ask for assistance or complex negotiations. Find the time: your help is needed.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) After a brief phase of miscommunications, loved ones are now willing to adopt controversial ideas. Home expansion and social planning are a strong concern. Outdated plans and yesterday's aspirations need to fade: after Wednesday thoroughly discuss financial commitments. New daily guidelines are needed. Later this week some Sagittarians will experience a powerful wave of nostalgia and emotional clarity. Unproductive social patterns may require fast decisions: stay alert.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) Several weeks of social isolation will now fade. Before mid-week ask loved ones for added consideration or concrete decisions. Areas affected are housing contracts, family expansion or emotional agreements in the home. Don't be shy. New choices will work in your favor. Thursday through Saturday love relationships may challenge your social plans or family commitments. A trusted friend or lover will soon request a public declaration of love and support. Don't disappoint.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21-Feb. 19) Workplace negotiations will work strongly to your advantage this week. After Tuesday watch for financial speculation to be replaced with timed agreement or complex contracts. In the coming weeks expect key officials to outline new business strategies and daily expectations. Revised rules are bothersome but workable. Stay focused. Later this week a past lover or old friend may demand a second chance. Take your time and consider all consequences: passions will be high.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Business relations now improve. Early this week some Pisceans will be asked to take on a complicated project or new job description. If so, expect the coming weeks to bring fast workplace changes and new financial resources. Before mid-December quick decisions may be necessary. Stand your ground: your ideas are valid. After Thursday ask a friend or relative to participate in family events. Home relations and social harmony will soon increase. Stay dedicated.

If your birthday is this week...over the next three months love relationships will experience serious discussions and new emotional rules. Home agreements or family goals may need to be publicly resolved. Respond quickly to complex proposals. After January 16th pay attention to property negotiations and financial restrictions. Money planning will inspire group speculation before early March. Use this time to settle outstanding debts or contracts. Throughout the spring and summer months family and romantic intimacy will increase. Remain open to new invitations. Much of the coming year will surprising social contacts and a steady expansion of romantic commitments. Stay open to new possibilities.

For private consultation, please visit www.mysticstars.net.

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(c) 2009, Tribune Media Services Inc.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

 The music industry is trying to survive and possibly reinvent itself. Artists want to get paid. And consumers want music quickly, with no strings attached. Are all three goals achievable, and if not, who will lose out? Can unfettered access to the Internet co-exist with artists' desires to get paid for their music? Can the music industry hack its way through a maze of legal obligations and create a new business model that entices fans before they disappear into the digital underground, where music runs wild and free?

These questions dominated the Future of Music Policy Summit Oct. 4-6 in the nation's capital, an annual gathering of some of the industry's leading thinkers and innovators, alongside representatives of the music, technology, business and government communities.

The conference addressed the biggest question in music today: how to create a legitimate digital marketplace for music. How that question is resolved will determine how music is distributed and by whom, how fans will hear that music and at what price, and how artists will get paid — if at all.

The summit's driving force is the Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit education, research and advocacy group for musicians. The coalition has been a consistently progressive and forward-looking voice during a difficult decade for the music industry, when sales of recorded music plummeted even as more listeners gained access to more music than ever through countless digital platforms, many of them unsanctioned.

At the top of the summit agenda was Net neutrality, the principle that keeps the Internet equally accessible to all users. A few major corporations have advocated tiered access to the Internet based on the ability to pay, a notion strongly rejected in keynote speeches by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski, who will oversee the rule-making process on Net neutrality getting under way in the next few weeks. But Franken and Genachowski also said any Internet activity that violates artist copyright could not be tolerated.

"Enforcement of copyright and laws of network openness can and must coexist." Genachowski said, but how file-trading could be monitored for illegal activity while unimpeded Internet access is maintained remains to be seen.

Several European governments have approved or are considering regulations that would restrict or deny Internet access to users deemed to be swapping copyrighted files. President Barack Obama recently appointed an overseer of copyright, Victoria Espinel, but she is expected to steer a moderate course on Internet usage. After a decade of punitive but largely ineffective measures against file sharers, many industry veterans are calling for business models that embrace the historic tide of music listening enabled by the Internet.

"Copying can't be stopped," said artist manager Peter Jenner, whose best-known clients include or have included Billy Bragg, Pink Floyd, the Clash, T. Rex and Robyn Hitchcock "I have an interest in getting paid, but we have to stop thinking of the Internet like a shop and more like a radio station." The industry is clinging to a business built on mass-produced "small bits of plastic" sold inside physical stores.

"The less we think about how we did it in the past, the faster we'll figure out how to make money," he said.

The Future of Music Coalition argues strong guidelines that favor Net neutrality will make Internet access less costly and more widely available to more people, and drive consumers to legitimate digital music stores that will put more money in the pockets of artists. But first there must be stores that offer more attractive products than free peer-to-peer networks. As U.K. singer-songwriter Billy Bragg wrote in a recent editorial, "We will not be able to marginalize the pirates until we can offer accessible, easy to use, fairly priced alternative business models that people will actually want to buy their music from."

One such service could be Spotify, which debuted in Europe last year. Daniel Ek, the Swedish founder of Spotify, has created a music platform that is fast, easy to use and more versatile than traditional music stores. It offers consumers a variety of options in accessing, paying for and sharing music, and shares revenue with artists from a pool of revenue created by downloads, advertising and subscriptions.

But Ek said the service's U.S. debut is still a few months off as it works through a maze of licensing issues with publishers, labels and collection agencies. To create a new above-board music platform in America under current copyright law requires big reserves of money, lawyers and perseverance.

"The Internet is a simple distribution platform ... (but) we've made things unnecessarily complex," said Johanna Shelton, senior policy counsel of Google Inc. Calls for a music-rights organization, a one-stop shop to deal with all licensing issues, have gone unheeded. Meanwhile, artists who have moved outside traditional record deals are forging alliances that allow them to be more agile in responding to consumer behavior.

Radiohead, which released its latest album, "In Rainbows," through its Web site and ended up selling more than 3 million copies, has been leading the way. Since then, the British quintet has released a steady stream of digital music, some of it free, and engaged fans to participate in making videos. Brian Message, a member of the band's management team, said, "There's a globe out there to be reached. It's not about protecting the copyright-trading game. Sometimes it can be good to give away music."

He sees a more fluid, flexible relationship involving bands, fans and investors, "merged together with no rules." Somewhere between the flexibility of the world's Radioheads and the rigidness of 20th century rights-holder lies the path to a new business model.

Pop culture moves on two tracks simultaneously — the fast-paced, ever-quickening one that picks stuff up, lifts it to the heights of popularity then replaces it with something new, and the one where truly significant, long-lasting artistic endeavors continually chug along.

Which is which? Well, figuring that part out is the challenge.

This year's edition of VH1's "Hip Hop Honors" series, which debuts Tuesday night, offers examples of both as it celebrates the 25th anniversary of Def Jam Recordings by making it the first record label to be inducted. The historic hip-hop label, famously started in an NYU dorm room by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, has built careers for everyone from LL Cool J and Jay-Z to Rihanna and Ne-Yo in the past 25 years.

The show's host, Tracy Morgan, opens the evening as a preacher, extolling the virtues of the label while backed by a choir that eventually busts into Kanye West's "Jesus Walks." "Def Jam became the voice of hip-hop," Morgan says, before dubbing it "the greatest hip-hop label of all time."

He mentions as an aside, "The Lord forgives you, Kanye," referring to the now-notorious incident at MTV's Video Music Awards last month where West took the microphone out of Taylor Swift's hand, just as she was delivering her award acceptance speech, to complain that her award should have gone to Beyonce. It's a moment — along with rapper Wale's "Peace, Taylor Swift!" interjection into his version of West's song "Touch the Sky" — that seems a little played-out, though, to be fair, the show was taped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Sept. 23, while the Kanye controversy was still red hot.

What a difference two weeks — and new scandals from David Letterman and the Gosselins — make in today's culture. But that little lapse in timeliness only makes the timeless contributions of Def Jam all the more awe-inspiring.

"I wanted to make loud-ass records," Simmons says to explain the roots of the label in a taped interview.

Rubin adds quickly, "It was a musical revolution, so anyone who was part of the old guard, to them, it wasn't even music. People who liked us and wanted to work with us would tell us it wasn't music. ... They didn't understand."

Public Enemy made any further explanations unnecessary, though, with its powerful performance of "Rebel Without a Pause," backed by The Roots, Street Sweeper Social Club and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Sure, it was music, but it sounded more like chaos — a dizzying mix of thunderous rhythms, Chuck D's revolutionary rhymes and Flavor Flav's comic relief.

(Equally stunning is Simmons, now a Phat Farm, multimillionaire mogul in several different industries, delivering the heart of Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" off the top of his head, complete with expletives and disses for Elvis Presley and John Wayne.)

"You could always recognize a Def Jam record back in the day," explained Kid Rock. "A Def Jam record was always louder, bolder, colder than the rest. Being on Def Jam meant you spoke your mind."

Former Def Jam president Lyor Cohen, who now runs Warner Music Group, explained how the label would be different from its competitors. "We're gonna be the Aamco of this," Cohen recalls telling a companywide staff meeting. "Artists, labels, they come in for a transmission job. You think Death Row with their swollen muscles can squeeze underneath that car? You think that Bad Boy with their shiny Versace suits are going to risk getting some oil dripped on them? We're going to be the blue-collar hard workers of this thing. From now on, everything you do, you do it for the logo."

That work ethic, combined with Def Jam's appeal to both the streets and the suburbs, helped guarantee its success. The "Hip Hop Honors" producers paid tribute to the Long Island roots of Def Jam — not just Rubin and Public Enemy, but also LL Cool J and EPMD, who performed, as did Ashanti, who delivered her chart-topping "Always on Time" with Ja Rule, and Chrisette Michele, who sang the hook on Ghostface Killah's "Back Like That."

In fact, Michele is part of Def Jam's current roster of hitmakers, landing her first No. 1 this year, along with Rick Ross, who rolled out his hit "Hustlin'." This year's "Hip Hop Honors" winners prove that great artists, with the help of great labels, can deliver on both of pop culture's tracks. They can deliver both heat and light.