It turned out to be a birth week instead of a birthday. There were two planned events and two surprises and I have had more pieces of cake and Beau Joie Champagne than I can count on my fingers, toes, and other body parts. Tomorrow I will take a rare venture out of town - a car trip to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. MASS MoCA (as it is known) is genius. I will not be watching the Super Bowl this weekend since I don't care a lick, but if I was I would surely go to Brooklyn Bowl or maybe The Brooklyn Star. The word "Brooklyn" is key. Manhattan will not see me again until Monday. You see, I legitimately got a little older yesterday and I am feeling it.

Viva Biana returns to 'Spartacus' with a new co-star. She's still not thrilled about the nude scenes.

Actor/director Ed Burns talks about his busy year being on both sides of the camera

No one knows what to expect at Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show, but Sakchin Bessette has an idea.

Shailene Woodley on 'The Descendants,' eating clay to fight radiation, and her group of super humans.

Meet Mike O'Brien, the 'SNL' writer who's turned a nondescript closet on 59th St. into his own personal makeout pad. Or something like that.

With 'Shame,' British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen has crafted one of the year's most talked about films ...

Everybody's talking about Rooney Mara and her upcoming role as that chick with the tattoo that looks like a dragon. But well before Ms. Mara brought Lisbeth Salander to life, a fetching actress by the name of Noomi Rapace made the character her own in the original Swedish adaptations of the Millenium trilogy. Rapace, who is also Swedish, wasted no time in parlaying that success into some pretty big gets as far as movies are concerned. This Christmas, she'll match wits with Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and has already wrapped on Ridley Scott's mysterious Alien prequel, Prometheus. Rapace's greatest role however, comes this month, when she stars as our brand new cover girl. Believe it. 

Katy Perry is no stranger at playing dress-up and acting all a fool. You all remember Kathy Beth Terry, don't you? Well, it was just announced that on December 10, the Teenage Dream singer will get her chance to yuk it up with the big boys when she makes her debut as the host of Saturday Night Live. 

Like most character actors, John Hawkes has forged a career out of film and television roles that beg for color. Hailing from rural Minnesota, he wears his 52 years on his ruggedly handsome face. In 2010, he earned an Oscar nomination for his role as the meth-addicted Teardrop in Debra Granik's backwoods noir, Winter's Bone. But while the character's violent veneer masked genuine tenderness, Hawkes' turn as Patrick, a cult leader in the 2011 Sundance hit Martha Marcy May Marlene, is pure id.