Police have arrested a group of young people–mostly teenagers–for robbing celebrity homes. Last week police charged Nicholas Prugo, 18, with robbing Lindsay Lohan and Audrina Partridge. He’s accused of stealing $170,000 worth of clothes and jewelry. The others–three 18-year-olds, one 19-year-old and one 27-year-old–were arrested on charges of residential burglary. Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Rachel Bilson are also burglary victims.

But the interesting thing is the alleged burglars’ possible motives. A Los Angeles police officer said, “They were rabid consumers of everything celebrity” and were motivated by “profit and celebrity worship.” They allegedly used the internet to learn the layouts of the stars’ homes and to find out when they would be gone.

Blair Berk, an attorney for some of the celebrities, told the LA Times the paparazzi is to blame: “There are only so many shots of a star’s back gate before someone, be it a stalker or burglar, goes through it.”

When I was growing up in the 1960s, it seemed like every time you turned on the TV Soupy Sales was getting plastered with a pie. The well-liked comedian died last night at age 83.

WORLD movie reviewer Megan Basham gives us the lowdown on the much-anticipated film Where the Wild Things Are, which opens in theaters today:

You could certainly be forgiven for assuming that director Spike Jonze’s new film . . . is an adventure movie intended to capture the hearts of kids. After all, the film is based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, and the exhilarating trailer, with it’s brilliantly rendered Henson-worthy creatures, flashes of forest romps and desert treks, and taglines like “Inside each of us is . . . fear” and “Inside each of us is . . . hope” advertises nothing if not a roaring adventure film. But this subtle, emotional allegory is a long way from a children’s movie, and it’s likely the 10 and under set won’t understand much of what happens on screen despite those lovable looking monsters.

Read Megan’s review in its entirety here.

WORLD movie reviewer Megan Basham writes that although the film is played for laughs, The Informant! leaves out an important aspect of Mark Whitacre’s life story:

[W]hile Whitacre’s foibles offer great satirical material and [Matt] Damon’s performance will have those who like their humor offbeat rolling, toward the end The Informant! starts to feel more cruel than clever. Scenes that trade on Whitacre’s bipolar disorder for laughs are particularly cringe-inducing. And though the film disclaims at the outset that it was inspired by one reporter’s interpretation of events and is not even a point-by-point recounting of that, it is still disappointing that it never alludes to Whitacre’s redemption. In fact, till the very end it shows him persisting in his lies, a portrayal at odds not only with interviews Whitacre has given but also with the statements of the FBI agents involved. (A cynical reviewer might even wonder whether Soderbergh and executive producer George Clooney treat Whitacre with more scorn than they otherwise would have because of his faith.)

Read Megan’s review in its entirety here. Also, to get the other half of Mark Whitacre’s life story, read Marvin Olasky’s Q&A with the noted whisteblower.

To view a video of Mark Whitacre’s recent appearance at The King’s College in New York, click here.

Bob Dylan made the news twice this week.

First, Columbia Records will be releasing Dylan’s first-ever Christmas album on October 13, with the U.S. royalties being donated to the charity Feeding America.

Second, Dylan is in talks with two car manufacturers who want to secure his voice for their in-car navigation systems. As one reporter quipped, “Insert your own Dylan-lyric pun here about ‘no direction home’ or ‘there must be some way out of here’ or ‘how many roads…’”

Or perhaps, it’s easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred.

Monday’s unveiling of Dancing With the Stars’ newest cast members included one name that surprised many fans: former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay, who left Congress in 2006 after he was indicted on money laundering charges, said he jumped at the opportunity: “Conservatives can have fun too. Conservatives can let their hair down… and put on some dancing shoes.”

He said he’s in it to win–a goal analysts say is probably also aimed at remaking his image: “You’re reaching an audience that otherwise is going to tune out politicians,” Stuart Roy, a former DeLay spokesman, told ABC News. “What people don’t see — but political people will — is that the promotion of the show goes far beyond putting out a press release.”

But can he really dance? According to DeLay’s wife, Christine, he has already mastered the two-step, polka, waltz, country swing, and disco. His daughter, Dani, also indicated that he has lost 12 pounds from exercising in preparation for the show. But I guess we’ll just have to wait until the show’s Sept. 21 season premiere to judge for ourselves whether “The Hammer”–as he was known during his congressional days–has a shot at dancing his way to victory.

Back in my younger days—when I wanted to be a rock ’n’ roll star and play lead guitar—the guitar I wanted to strap over my shoulder was a Gibson Les Paul. The man behind that electronic marvel that guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Frampton, Pete Townshend and countless others (but not me) coaxed incredible solos out of, died today at age 94.

Guitarist Joe Satriani called him “the original guitar hero.” Terry Stewart, president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, added, “Without Les Paul, we would not have rock and roll as we know it. His inventions created the infrastructure for the music and his playing style will ripple through generations. He was truly an architect of rock and roll.”

New York Times’ columnist Ross Douthat, always worth reading, today put forth a review of Judd Apatow’s new movie “Funny People.”

I haven’t seen Apatow’s previous films – “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” or “Knocked Up” – but Douthat provides the gist of them as he explains why the current “Funny People” will not do well at the box office.

He says Americans won’t like this film because in it “love doesn’t conquer all,” and “doing the wrong things for too long has significant consequences.” Douthat argues that this is “the first Apatow film in which you get punished for your sins.”

Without pulling any punches, Douthat goes on to indict social conservatism as a movement high on theory and low on practice:

“More than most Westerners, Americans believe – deeply, madly, truly – in the sanctity of marriage. But we also have some of the most liberal divorce laws in the developed world, and one of the highest divorce rates. We sentimentalize the family, but boast one of the highest rates of unwed births. We’re more pro-life than Europeans, but we tolerate a much more permissive abortion regime than countries like Germany or France. We wring our hands over stem cell research, but our fertility clinics are among the least regulated in the world. In other words, we’re conservative right up until the moment that it costs us.”

Though I am not interested in seeing the movies, I am interested in Douthat’s critique of social conservatism. What do you think?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth theatrical installment of J.K. Rowling’s hit Harry Potter series, opens in theaters nationwide today. WORLD’s Megan Basham says this latest film may be the best in the series yet, particularly for its demonstration that dabbling in witchcraft has serious consequences:

The upside of this subplot for Christian parents who have cautiously allowed their children to read the books or watch the movies is that for the first time in the series, kids get a tangible example of the serious consequences of dabbling in witchcraft. The downside is that by prioritizing what is a rather unimportant thread to the whole series, director David Yates has little time to develop a far more significant one.

Read the rest of Basham’s review here. Anyone planning to see the movie today?

Yesterday’s public memorial service remembering Michael Jackson concluded without any security disturbances–thanks in part to the approximate 3,000 police officers scheduled to be on hand for the event, which was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 

Although Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry had said the city would pay for the security efforts needed at the public memorial service, Councilman Dennis Zine argued that the public should not have to foot any of the bill since the city already faces a budget crisis and has amassed $530 million in debt. The security effort reportedly cost as much as $4 million. Instead, he suggested that AEG, the company that owns the Staples Center, should cover all security costs since the company volunteered to host it at the center. 

While some individuals are questioning why the Jackson family isn’t helping to pay for the security efforts, the city has since established a website seeking donations from the public to cover the costs.