By Dan Craft Who is Neil Berg? And why are several dozen shimmering alumni of Broadway musicals constantly orbiting around him, like planets around a sun? It's very simple, actually: Neil Berg is a working composer of off-and-on Broadway shows like "The Prince and the Pauper" and the impending musical adaptations of "Grumpy Old Men" and "The Man Who Would Be King." Neil Berg is also one of the world's biggest Broadway musical buffs, scholars and all-around cheerleaders.

By Dominic P. Papatola, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. Aug. 4--A decade ago, give or take, James Rocco and a few friends were on a beach in Cancun, Mexico, discussing a biography of legendary showman George M. Cohan that most of them had been reading.

"You're a grand old flag, you're a high-flying flag, and forever in peace may you wave ..." From "You're A Grand Old Flag," by George M. Cohan When I was a kid, the only electronic amusement on long car trips was the radio. You couldn't listen to an iPod or play a Gameboy; they didn't exist.

By Chris Hicks Deseret News When I was a kid, growing up in the 1950s and '60s -- also known as The Time Before VCRs -- if you wanted to watch a movie on television, you went with the hand we were dealt. Your only choices were whatever the local TV station happened to have scheduled.

By Dan Craft;dcraft@pantagraph.com Some short-fused thoughts for an explosive holiday weekend: Pyrotechnics a la Hitch In this season of Roman candles and bottle rockets, we're reminded of our favorite, um, fireworks display in a movie.