Weinberg's outsiderness also allowed him to play the classic "middleman minority" role. One of the reasons that the Parsi in India, the East Asians in Africa, the Chinese in Southeast Asia, and the Lebanese in the Caribbean, among others, have been so successful, sociologists argue, is that they are decoupled from the communities in which they operate. If you are a Malaysian in Malaysia, or a Kenyan in Kenya, or an African-American in Watts, and ...

Months ago, when we first heard that Steven Soderbergh was looking to cast an adult film actress as the title role in "The Girlfriend Experience," we offered up Sasha Grey (and, okay, a bunch of other stellar pornstars) as a prime contender for the role. It seems we were right to suspect that Grey might be headed for more mainstream exposure: she's just been announced as Soderbergh's star—and frankly, we couldn't be more thrilled. If ...

Jon was freaked out when flying on Jetblue and his flight came in close proximity to another aircraft. He wonders if he should, and how he might, report such an incident. His story, and advice we got from an Air Force Pilot, inside... Jon writes: We were about 20 minutes into the flight when the plane made a very sharp (~30 degree) bank to the right and went nose down. A few seconds after the ...