"I am calling from paradise," husky voiced singer Ivete Sangalo said when she phoned from her weekend home in Bahia, a large state on the eastern side of Brazil. It was a rare moment of peace and quiet for the 38-year-old South American superstar who has sold out concerts all over the world.

“It’s a dying art,” says local emcee Nabo Rawk, describing the state of hip-hop. The wordsmith and music producer recently released his third solo album, “Bizarro World,” which reflects the gritty and nostalgic sounds of hip-hop’s prehistoric times.

Katy Perry is a California Gurl all the way. She’s undeniable, sporting her Daisy Dukes and bikini on top — or whatever else she’s wearing, e.g., whipped cream-shooting bra and blue hair from the video for “California Gurls.”

Remember when Rob Reiner used to win Oscar nominations instead of jeers for his films? Nope, I can’t remember, either. But the man formerly known as “Meathead” is trying to make a comeback with this coming-of-age yarn about two mooning tweeners (Callan McAuliffe and Madeline Carroll) discovering first love.

For more than a decade, Rob Reiner's directorial career has been as cold as a cadaver on a morgue slab. His resume has included "Rumor Has It..." "Alex & Emma," "The Story of Us" and "North," films that the public, critics or both found as enjoyable as a prostate exam. Considering his films before this dry spell included "This Is Spinal Tap," "Stand By Me," "When Harry Met Sally," "The Princess Bride" and "Misery," that's quite a comedown.

Sly Stallone’s sham action flick “The Expendables” topped the box office take with $16.5 million. Sly, you sir are a liar and a fraud. Second place was another joke — “Vampires Suck.”

He’s the cover guy for the August issues of Ebony and Upscale magazines, and the message board posts call the photos of British actor Idris Elba “steamy,” “smoldering” and “yum.” However, sitting in a meeting room at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston to promote his latest film “Takers,” Elba is more guy next door than sex symbol. He looks like any guy you might see walking around town. Except he’s not. He’s Stringer Bell – the drug kingpin from “The Wire.” He’s Mumbles from Guy Ritchie’s “RocknRolla.” And he’s the guy who caused the cinematic cat fight between Beyonce and Ali Larter in “Obsessed.”

More so than any film in recent memory your enjoyment of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” hinges entirely upon what generation you’re a part of. It’s a nonstop barrage of pop culture references, and it is filled to overflowing with video game throwbacks and comic-book storytelling. It speaks very specifically to one age group; if you were born during the 1980s, you’re in the wheelhouse.

When it comes to young bluesmen, there are lots of pretenders and few contenders. Success and affirmation do not come overnight, as Joe Louis Walker can attest. Which is one reason Walker, 50, is happy to share his hard-earned headliner status with a younger guitarslinger like Murali Coryell.

As cartoonist Robert Crumb explains at the beginning of the documentary “Crumb,” he’s most famous for three things: that “Keep on Truckin’” drawing, the cover of Janis Joplin’s “Cheap Thrills” album and the X-rated animated cartoon “Fritz the Cat.”

Even if you don’t give an Aswan Dam about Egypt, it’s hard not to be swept up by the grandeur of one of its most beautiful and mysterious metropolises in “Cairo Time.”

In the years since her most famous song, “One of Us,” became a radio hit in 1995, Joan Osborne’s kept busy and kept a low profile, and grown her fan base in pockets.

First there was “The Nanny Diaries.” Now we have what can best be titled “The Nanny Diarrheas,” or as image-conscious Universal Pictures prefers to call it, “Nanny McPhee Returns.”

At the height of the hard rock era – with heavy sounds and serious, dramatic lyrics - came a band from Athens, Ga. Their signature style then as now is marked by frenetic, retro outfits and hairdos, syncopated keyboards and disarmingly daffy verses about interplanetary travel in the name of love, an ungrateful dog dyed green, a rock lobster, and one’s own private Idaho.

Here's the good news: "The Switch" is better than Jennifer Aniston's last romantic comedy, "The Bounty Hunter." Here's the bad news: A test pattern would have been better than "The Bounty Hunter."