Anna Chapman

Financial District Woman Accused of Being a Russian Spy

Anna Chapman, a 28-year-old Financial District resident, was allegedly working in the Manhattan as a Russian spy.

A redheaded Financial District beauty was among 11 people accused of being a Russian spy Monday after she allegedly passed information to her handlers at locations around Manhattan.

Anna Chapman, 28, lived in a luxury Financial District apartment and ostensibly ran a $2 million online real-estate business. However, authorities charged that the divorced woman's real goal was to infiltrate political circles and funnel information back to Moscow, according to a complaint obtained by the Daily News and the New York Post.

chris brown bet awards 2010

2010 BET Awards Belong To Chris Brown.

Chris Brown, Alicia Keys and Eminem shined the brightest among the star-filled Shrine Auditorium on Sunday night (June 27th), wowing the audience at the 2010 BET Awards in Los Angeles.

Chris Brown put out a sizzling tribute to Michael Jackson, just days after the one-year anniversary of the pop icon’s death, with a medley that included “Remember the Time” and “Billie Jean.” The embattled R&B star’s take on “Man in the Mirror” was measured and emotional, tugging at the hearts of many as Brown broke down during the song’s refrain.

Fabricio Werdum

Shamrock announces retirement from MMA

Lost in the shuffle of Fedor Emelianenko's loss to Fabricio Werdum on Saturday was Frank Shamrock's announcement that he is retiring from mixed martial arts.

Shamrock came to the cage inside HP Pavilion, long considered Strikeforce's home arena, with his family and announced he is done fighting.

Shamrock, backed up one of his many nicknames (The Man Who Brought MMA To San Jose) by consistently drawing in his home city at HP Pavilion. Shamrock's fight with Cesar Gracie in 2006 set a then-North American record of 18,265. His fight with Phil Baroni is considered by many to have one of the most electric atmospheres for a fight in the sport's history. His fight with Cung Le drew 16,326 and a gate in excess of $1 million. His final fight, both at HP Pavilion and in his career, drew 15,211 fans when he fought Nick Diaz in April 2009.

The 37-year old Shamrock will wrap up his career with a 23-10-2 record, a record that includes retiring (the first time) as the unbeaten UFC middleweight champion.

Asian Carp

Invasive Asian Carp caught near Lake Michigan

The nightmare scenario of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes through Chicago waterways is closer to reality as the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee announced today they have captured an invasive bighead carp in Lake Calumet, 6 miles away from Lake Michigan.

The fish’s capture Tuesday bolsters repeated environmental DNA tests which have shown that the carp have evaded an electrical barrier intended to prevent their movement out of canals artificially connecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system.

memphis beat

TV Tonight: Memphis Beat

The Judging TNT's new cop drama Memphis Beat is less a critical question than a philosophical one. In brief, the series, starring Jason Lee, is mostly a standard-issue summertime basic cable cop procedural, somewhat distinguished by less frantic pacing, a touch more attention to character beats, and a smidgen of local color. So the question is: do you give the show credit for slightly changing up the formula it works with, or do you mark it down for doing far less with the setting and cast than it could have?

You can probably guess from how I phrased that where I come down. I don't believe in grading TV on a curve, because I don't watch TV on a curve. So while I like how Lee's laid-back style translates to a police drama, there's not enough here to separate the show from the umpteen other slightly-quirky-guy-solves-crimes cable dramas.

The first sign of trouble: Elvis. I'm not saying this to slight the King, but when you set a show in Memphis and rely for most of your early cultural and musical references on the one artist that 99% of your audience will think of when thinking of your city—here, Elvis songs, Elvis covers, Elvis impersonators—it's not a good sign of your show's imagination. Unlike regional dramas Treme, or Justified, or Friday Night Lights, this is not a show that's trying to get inside its city and make us see it with new eyes; it's just committed to delivering What We Think About When We Think About Memphis.

Here, we're introduced to Memphis detective Dwight (Lee) onstage in a bar, performing, of course, an Elvis cover. As we follow him to work, we find that he's got the same encumbrances as most TV cops, especially a tough new boss (Alfre Woodard) who, of course, is making the old boys in the department uncomfortable by implementing a new set of rules. The first case he picks up ties into Memphis' music heritage by involving an elderly woman who was an early figure in the local music scene, allowing for a further connection to the city's culture. Of course, that means more Elvis references. (The title of the episode? "That's Alright, Mama.")

One possible problem is that the show was largely shot not in Memphis but outside New Orleans, giving the locations a more generic Southernness rather than the documentary-like feel of a show like Treme. And it's a shame, because one thing Memphis Beat does have is a good cast, including, in a supporting cop role, DJ Qualls—whose appearance, however, only recalls the much more vital and distinctive Memphis of the movie "Hustle and Flow."

It's too bad. Memphis Beat had at its disposal the rich culture of a city that hasn't been portrayed to death on TV. But this show needs to find its soul.