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Push Girls: The Best in Reality TV

If you need a shot of inspiration, a dose of courage, or a kick in the butt, tune into Push Girls on the Sundance Channel Monday nights at 10:00 p.m.

The show stars Angela Rockwood, Auti Angel, Tiphany Adams, and Mia Schaikewitz, four hot, fearless friends who, through accident or illness, are paralyzed from the neck or waist down.

Forget the Real Housewives of New York, Atlanta, Beverly Hills or anywhere else. If you want to come away feeling good, filled with gratitude for your life and ready to tackle the world, Push Girls is it.

Angela, Auti, Tiphany and Mia’s motto is “IF YOU CAN’T STAND UP, STAND OUT” and boy do they. These women know who they are and they don’t waste one moment feeling sorry for themselves. They are fully engaged in life. That’s something we can all stand to remember.

“The Help,” Read it, Watch it!

By Marsala

"The Help" Thankfully, first-time author Kathryn Stockett did not give up when her novel “The Help,” was rejected 60 times. When someone finally had the wisdom to recognize its worth, and it was published in 2009, the book sold more than three million copies and spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Millions more of us devoured the brilliantly-written, masterfully-plotted book that is based on Stockett’s own white, Christian, southern upbringing and her close relationship with the family maid who died when she was 16. Years after moving to New York City, Stockett decided to write about that relationship that was so intensely influential in her life. It took five years for her to paint a vivid picture of the humiliation black maids in Jackson, Mississippi endured in the early 1960s by their white employers who trusted them to raise their children but often times not to polish the silver.

Jane Seymour: A Connection That Transcends Time

By Marsala

Jane Seymour - Up Close and Personal with Marsala Rypka Royal Wedding Mania has gripped America and ardent fans are anxious for newsy details about anything and everything that has to do with the historic day when Prince William takes Kate as his Princess Bride this coming Friday April 29, 2011.

Jane Seymour, the official British correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, has been happy to oblige – reporting on speculation about the wedding gown designer, the chic custom-made hats for the ladies attending the wedding, the royal carriage ride from Westminster Abbey, the kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, the wedding ring forged from Welsh gold, the tiara, and on and on.

Seeing Jane in London so often this past week reminds me of the interview I did with her in 2007 about six weeks before she appeared on Dancing with the Stars We had a special connection at the time that we spoke. We were two daughters commiserating about the health of our ailing parents. My father who had bladder cancer died ten days after that interview, and Jane’s mom, who had recently suffered a stroke, passed away while Jane was on DWTS about ten weeks later. In my mind there will always be a heartfelt connection that links Jane Seymour to the last few precious days I had with my dad.

Ed Begley Jr.: Honoring the Earth

By Marsala

Ed Begley, Jr. - Up Close and Personal Long before the movie An Inconvenient Truth educated the world about global warming, and long before it was cool to be green, Ed Begley Jr. was walking the talk. Back in 1970, before most of us understood that our very survival depends on our protecting and preserving the planet, Ed was recycling his garbage, driving his first electric vehicle, and eating vegan. And he was only 21 years old!

Sinatra and Sammy Remembered!

By Marsala

On December 11, 2010, the night before what would have been Frank Sinatra’s 95^th birthday, I was at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas for the premier of SINATRA: Dance With Me, a show conceived, choreographed and directed by the renowned classical, jazz and contemporary dancer and choreographer, Twyla Tharp, who I interviewed in January 2008.

SINATRA: Dance With Me follows four couples who fall in and out of love at a night club. The show, which has no dialogue, blends the original master recordings of Frank Sinatra with a 17-piece orchestra and performances by 14 of the world’s most talented dancers who weave romance and seduction into classic standards like Fly Me to the Moon, That’s Life, and My Way.

As I sat transfixed by the artists’ fluid movements and Sinatra’s famous phrasing, the Ghost of Christmas Past brought me back to another time when Las Vegas was still a small, mob-style glamour-town rather than a sophisticated, cosmopolitan city.