Happiness for $10 or Less

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In a tasting of 25 red wines all $10 or under, we tried to pick out not only the best bottles but also the best regions to explore for good values.

Let’s face it, you can find hundreds if not thousands of bottles in this price range, down to the lowest of the low. We cannot try them all and say, “Here are the 10 best.” But we can give you some suggestions as to where to look, while offering up some good examples.

For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Jill Roberts, a portfolio manager for Valckenberg, an importer of German wines, and Chris Goodhart, the wine director of Balthazar in SoHo.

Frankly, the $10-and-under price range may represent the cheapest wines, but I feel the best values are in the $10-to-$20 range, where you can find sensational wines made by small producers using traditional techniques. These sorts of wines are much harder to find at $10 and under.

But this is September, that time of the year when the reality of summer vacation bills dims the hope of Christmas splurges, so right now every dollar helps. Here’s what we know: New York Times

Another Season of Simmons? Hell-to-the Yes!

The suave and made-for-the lens Henry Simmons returns for another season of the CBS crime and courtroom drama Shark. Will he remain the object of affection for Sophina Brown‘s character?

Shark, Sunday on CBS.

If you’re like me and hope your DVR will have a nice recording waiting for you, beware. Due to NFL on CBS it will most likely get pushed back. This means you’re not going to have the full program recorded unless you add extra recording time. Of course that means all other programs to be recorded on that channel will suffer the same fate as who knows how much time to add? Could public protest be far away? Will show producers storm the network execs ivory tower? Stay tuned.

The Game: Pooch Hall

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Q. Why should viewers be taking the time to tune in?

A. I think what we have is something that’s real. We have a lot of different shows on and I think with us, we have something a lot of people want to check out. What goes on with athletes and entertainers behind the scenes. What are their girlfriends thinking, what are their moms thinking. What are their wives thinking, what goes on in a player’s locker room for real. I think having those components, I think Mara said “Okay cool, we can touch on some things. But, we’ll make it funny, we’ll make it enjoyable and real so that people can be entertained without being afraid.” There are also a lot of girlfriends and wives who are married to entertainers and they can imagine what goes on, but at the same time some people don’t want to know the truth and at the same time they do. I think with “The Game” we can give them a lot of the truth with some humor. So that some people who are really in it aren’t offended or could be put at ease. They can be like okay, that is how it is. I know the writers do a lot of research as far as getting the realness of certain issues that go on with their wives, girlfriends and moms. I think that’s what is huge because if you have this world, everyone tunes in to the news when they find out something is going on with a football player. Or a football player and his wife are splitting up or the football player got caught cheating or the mother of the star football player is negotiating a huge deal with a football team, basketball team or baseball team. Every time that happens everyone tunes in to find out what’s the what in what goes on with that world. I think with “The Game” people can get a taste of what goes on but on a level where it is enjoyable. Starry Constellation

The Game returns in October on CW.

Lauryn Hill Needs to See a Psychiatrist?


September is a tough month for Wyclef Jean. On the Sept. 11, 2001, he could see, from where he was in Jersey, the smoke billowing from what remained of the World Trade Center twin towers. Just four days before, his father, a reverend, died in a car accident. ”It was the most painful era for me,” he says. While the 34-year-old has persevered, others from his past have not, namely a certain former Fugee collaborator. Clef, as he sometimes refers to himself, lives in between Miami and Haiti, but was in New York on Sept. 12, following a rainy and somber 9/11 anniversary. He met with EW to discuss his new album, titled The Carnival II: Memoirs from an Immigrant, his humanitarian efforts as an ambassador of Haiti, and explains why Lauryn Hill ”needs to see a psychiatrist.” Entertainment Weekly