Jive Recording Artist Bowling For Soup continue to bring their own brand of creative expression with their new video "When We Die," as they cast Lee Majors in a leading role. "When We Die," a the current single from their album, The Great Burrito Extortion Case is a departure from the usual happy go lucky videos that fans may have been accustomed to,

The Good German director Mike Nichols had to double up as a dialect coach, because the expert hired for the movie couldn't speak German. The coach was fired after the film was shown to German speakers and they couldn't understand what was being said.

A special effects assistant testing a mock-shoulder-fire stinger missile on the set of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts' new movie is fighting for his life in a California hospital after the weapon blew up in his face. The 35-year-old man was testing the missile yesterday for a scene in Charlie Wilson's War that was to be shot later today at Downey Studios in the California desert. The assistant is in critical condition.

Moviemaker Mike Nichols had to be drafted in at the last minute to help George Clooney perfect his German in new period thriller The Good German. The director is fluent in German and assisted Clooney when it was clear the lines he'd learned phonetically from a dialect coach were nonsense.

Happy Birthday to hoops star Lamar Odom (1979), Zambian actress Thandie Newton (1972), actor Ethan Hawke (1970), actress Lori Singer (1957), Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (1949), Eagle Glenn Frey (1948), actress Sally Field (1946), director Mike Nichols (1931), baseball player Walter Johnson (1887), and patriotic composer John Philip Sousa (1854).

Meryl Streep mentally "put a dress" on directors Clint Eastwood and Mike Nichols in order to garner inspiration for her hard-bitten role in The Devil Wears Prada. Streep, who plays fashion editor Miranda Priestly in the movie, has always been bemused that toughness in men is always accepted, but in women it is seen in a negative light.

Natalie Portman turns to her Closer director Mike Nichols whenever she struggles to make a career decision or master a movie role. The actress has adopted the revered movie maker as a mentor, and his advice helped her nail roles in films like V For Vendetta and make decisions like the one that led to her switching agencies. Nichols even offers her romance tips.

Movie maker Mike Nichols agreed to "burn" scenes of Natalie Portman in various states of undress because he didn't want them falling into the wrong hands. The sexy actress played a pole dancer in provocative movie Closer and briefly appeared topless, but she reveals there were many saucy scenes which didn't make it into the film.

Happy Birthday to hoops star Lamar Odom (1979), Zambian actress Thandie Newton (1972), actor Ethan Hawke (1970), actress Lori Singer (1957), Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (1949), Eagle Glenn Frey (1948), actress Sally Field (1946), director Mike Nichols (1931), baseball player Walter Johnson (1887), and patriotic composer John Philip Sousa (1854).