The newest George Clooney vehicle, "The American," opened nationwide on Wednesday, and critics expect huge audiences in the coming days. Clooney plays an assassin, holed up in Italy for one last assignment. Given the film's star, one can expect intrigue and romance along the way, but does the newest Clooney film really show Clooney at his best? And what, exactly, is Clooney at his best?  

We’re looking back at Clooney’s films with two people who know his work well, and we’re asking, what's the best version of Clooney, and what makes Clooney's appeal is so broad?

Andre Agassi is widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, as well as one of the most charismatic players in the history of the game. But despite his record wins and huge prize earnings, which total over thirty million dollars, Agassi admits in his autobiography, “Open,” that he actually hates tennis with a passion.

Agassi joins us to discuss where his true passions lie, the role his family played in pressuring him to be a champion, and how he managed to write so honestly in his new book, “Open: An Autobiography.” 

For nearly two weeks, a stretch of highway outside Beijing saw monster gridlock, which stretched out over sixty miles and trapped drivers on China's National Highway 110 for days. It had been expected to last until mid-September, but last Thursday, after eleven days, the traffic jam suddenly broke.

Many people, of course, are wondering: Where did it go? How did it start? And could this kind of jam happen again?

Equally scared and entertained by "The Last Exorcism," Rafer and Kristen discuss low-budget horror movies, and what can make them so effective.

It's back to school time, when more kids are spending time in gym class and after-school sports. However, it's not all fun and games, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The report is called “Sport Related Concussion in Children and Adolescents,” and it reveals just how dangerous concussions can be to developing humans, interfering not only with physical health, but learning.

For most people living outside of the Gulf, Hurricane Katrina was a tragedy represented by tens of thousands of nameless faces. People waved frantically from rooftops or crowded into the Superdome, returning home only to find their houses and possessions destroyed. However, for fans of the award-winning graphic novel “A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge,” by Josh Neufeld, there are very specific names and faces attached to Katrina. Those people aren't just characters in a book either – they are real people. Five years after the hurricane, we follow up with two of them to see where their lives – and their city – are today.

This weekend, television fans around the world will be tuning into the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast. And if they’re devotees of "Glee," they’ll likely be cheering for Jane Lynch, who plays cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on Fox’s musical phenomenon. "Glee" is nominated for 19 Emmys — including a best supporting actress nod for Lynch. She's also nominated for a guest spot on "Two and a Half Men."

All this week, we've been talking with our friends from Scientific American about endings — how cultures fade, and natural resources dwindle. Today, we’re focusing on something even bigger: the end of human life as we know it — in other words, the apocalypse. The question of course, is how will it happen? Nuclear war? a killer virus, or perhaps an environmental disaster?

Why isn't there a better way to text while driving? That’s a question that Joel Johnson, editor at large of Gizmodo.com asked in a recent column.

So far, he’s received over 500 responses to his column, most of which suggest that people who text and drive should simply give it up, use the phone instead, or die behind the wheel because they deserve to. However, Johnson insists that, in a world where most people text and drive, his question is valid. If we can't stop it, why not make it safer?

What do you think? Should texting while driving be outlawed or be made safer?

Half a billion eggs suspected of carrying salmonella have been recalled in what’s become the largest egg recall in U.S. history. And many people are wondering: How did this happen? Is it the fault of the factory farming industry? Or the government? And what can be done to prevent widespread food contamination from happening in the future?

This week, more state fairs kick off than at any other time of the year. Fairs will open in Nebraska, New York, Maryland, Texas, and Minnesota, which attracts more fairgoers in its twelve days than any other state fair in the country (last year nearly two million visitors passed through the Minnesota fair's gates).

Inspired by this week's "The Switch," Rafer and Kristen consider Jennifer Aniston's highly varied filmography

When an unmarried woman places her child up for adoption, how much say should the reputed father — or putative father, as they’re referred to legally — have?

Courts across the country have been grappling with this question. In Ohio, a man has been fighting to stop the finalization of his child’s adoption for more than a year. Several men in states across the country have been trying to stop the adoptions of their children in Utah, which is widely regarded as the most complicated state for putative fathers who want to claim parental rights. And two other cases have just been settled in Ohio, which gave the putative fathers more leeway than previously existed to stop adoptions.

There’s a new series on AMC that’s been getting a lot of buzz. It’s called “Rubicon,” and its debut earlier this month garnered the highest ratings of any premier in the network’s history, beating “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad. "Rubicon" focuses on the secretive operations of the fictional American Policy Institute in post-9/11 lower Manhattan. It stars James Badge Dale as Will Travers, a code-cracker who can unravel any puzzle, but can’t come to peace with tragedies in his life.

It’s been a brutal summer for movie-goers, with only a few memorable hits and one or two Oscar contenders. Takeaway film contributor and Newsday critic, Rafer Guzman assures us that it will all be getting better soon. He walks us through the movies he’s most looking forward to this fall.

We're looking at whether adulthood is arriving later in life, while adolescence gets longer. The New York Times Magazine looks at the issue this weekend. And we're asking: When did adulthood arrive for you? Complete this sentence: You know you're an adult when... Maybe it's graduating college? Moving out from your parents' house? Getting married? Let us know what it was for you.

Earlier this year, the Pew Center released a study estimating that there is a one trillion dollar gap between what states had promised workers in retiree pensions and benefits, and the money they currently had to pay for it all.

In an attempt to remedy the gap, lawmakers in Colorado, Minnesota and South Dakota have voted to reduce annual cost-of-living increases on pensions. Not surprisingly, retirees in each state have filed lawsuits.

Rafer and Kristen discuss "Eat Pray Love" and the surprising gender-based role reversals it contains.

This weekend’s big movie releases include a highly anticipated adaptation of woman's mid-life memoir, and a highly anticipated adaptation of a comic-book about an angsty musician in love. 

But alongside the self-discovery depicted in “Eat, Pray, Love” and the sensitivity of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” theater-goers have one other big option to choose from: "The Expendables," a violent, punching, shooting, yelling testosterone-fest.

But there’s something funny about "The Expendables." Specifically, all the stars are washed-up geriatric '80s action heroes, including Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and a short cameo by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The books we read as adolescents can have a huge influence on our lives. We talk about the ones that matter to us and the evolution of the young adult novel over the years with Essence senior editor Patrik Henry Bass and S.E. Hinton, legendary author of such young adult classics as "The Outsiders," "Tex," and "Rumble Fish."

And we're asking you, What was the first book that changed your life? What book do you remember most from your youth? Let us know.