It's very easy to see actors who have died young and feel that it must be real rough to be an actor. These are people like Chris Farley, John Belushi, River Phoenix, and more recently actors such as Brad Renfro, and of course, Heath Ledger.

Of course, people die young all the time, and sometimes through overdoses or some other health issue. But since so many people have been entertained by younger actors' work, it's easy to notice their death more than others who may not have been famous when they died.

One of the hardest non-family member deaths I had ever had to endure was that of my best friend growing up. His name was Aaron, and he literally lived in a house just behind mine on a different street. It was always fun to hang out with Aaron, because not only was he someone who cared deeply about his friends and treated his friends like kings whenever they were around, but he also had the biggest yard in the neighborhood which was great especially for a kid like me whose total yard is about the size of most people's closets.

Man wounded by gunfire on Uptown parade route, police say

This was the same area of town where a young mother watching the parade with her young son (maybe 4 or 5) and her infant in a stroller left both of them alone for about 20 minutes while she went to go buy cigarettes. Crap like this will continune as long as these kids are pouring back into the city without their parents. Here is an easy fix: Pass a law that prohibits kids under 18 from being at a parade without adult supervision. Then round them all up, impound their skittles cars and fine their parents.

See first part of nominees list

Nip/Tuck," (Ben White), FX Network, The Shephard/Robin Company in association with Warner Bros. Television Productions, Inc.; Liz Kay, production designer; Ellen Brill, set decorator
"Rome," (Caesarion, Triumph, Kalends Of February), HBO, HBO Entertainment in association with the BBC; Joseph Bennett, production designer; Domenico Sica, art director; Cristina Onori, set decorator
"Six Feet Under," (Hold My Hand, Singing For Our Lives, Everyone's Waiting), HBO, Actual Size and the Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO Entertainment; Suzuki Ingerslev, production designer; Kristan Andrews, art director; Rusty Lipscomb, S.D.S.A., set decorator

ART DIRECTION FOR A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
"Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS, A BBC WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep Indigo; Simon Elliot, production designer; Bill Crutcher, art director
"Elizabeth I," HBO, Company Pictures and Channel 4 in association with HBO Films; Eve Stewart, production designer; Leon McCarthy, art director; Sarah Whittle, set decorator
"The Girl In The Caf," HBO, Tightrope Pictures and BBC Wales in association with HBO Films; Candida Otton, production designer; Andrea Coathupe, art director
"Into The West," TNT, Dreamworks Television Marek Dobrowolski, production designer; Rick Roberts, art director; Guy Barnes, art director; Paul Healy, set decorator; Wendy Ozols-Barnes, set decorator
"Stephen King's Desperation," ABC, Touchstone Television; Philip Dagort, production designer; Jason Weil, art director; Marcia Calosio, set decorator

ART DIRECTION FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC PROGRAM OR SPECIAL
"78th Annual Academy Awards," ABC, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Roy Christopher, production designer; Greg Richman, art director
"American Idol," (Episode 519), FOX, FremantleMedia N.A., Inc.

Farai Chideya, NPR Biography

Farai Chideya is a multimedia journalist who has worked in print, television, online, and radio. Prior to joining NPR's News & Notes, Chideya hosted Your Call, a daily news and cultural call-in show on San Francisco's KALW 91.7 FM. Chideya has also been a correspondent for ABC News, anchored the prime time program Pure Oxygen on the Oxygen women's channel, and contributed commentaries to CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and BET. She got her start as a researcher and reporter at Newsweek magazine. In 1997 Newsweek named her to its "Century Club" of 100 people to watch.

Chideya, who was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated with a B.A. from Harvard University magna cum laude in 1990, is also the founder of PopandPolitics.com, an online journal for younger Americans based at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications.

August 2006 Archives

Here are my random thoughts while I'm watching the VMA pre-show. Hopefully some of you are watching along and will post your comments too...

7:29: Jennifer Lopez looks like a mummy -- wrapped head to toe. Truth be told, she is so glam. I could never pull most of that off.