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Side Show
By SHARON FINK IT SCREAMS "VARIETY": Burger King says it's not doing a good job of providing customers with variety, so it's adding a veggie burger to its menu. (I can hear it now: "Let's go to BK for a veggie burger and fries" will be on the lips of every fast foot-craving individual across the country.) The vegan burger on a wheat bun was well received during test runs in San Francisco and Canada, Christopher Clouser, the company's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told the Associated Press. "It's something designed with great care, and we think there's going to be a lot of customer excitement," he said. I think they're thinking wrong. Other items to be added in the quest for variety are a King Supreme sandwich (think Big Mac), an English muffin egg breakfast sandwich (think Egg McMuffin) and a thicker milkshake with what the AP report said would be an ice cream base. MEDVED TO THE RESCUE AGAIN! Entertainment critic (some, like me, might say gadfly) Michael Medved, who has been making noise for years about how all facets of the industry lack family values, is introducing his own ratings system. TV programs, movies, video and DVD releases, computer games and music that qualify will receive his Good Entertainment seal of approval, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Medved will introduce the system on his own TV special at 7 p.m. Saturday on Pax and at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. Medved tells the newspaper "important progress" has been made in improving values in entertainment essentially because of him but "there's a lot more controversial TV" (because of cable, movies and the Internet, not him). "What's needed is one rating system with the same standard for . . . all aspects of entertainment," he says. And he's just the man to provide it. THE PEOPLE'S COURT: Moviegoers in Sydney, Australia, have been booing previews of Vanilla Sky, which stars Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz, to give moral support to homegirl Nicole Kidman, MSNBC.com says. Cruise-Cruz, who swear they became a real-life couple after Tom and Nicole split, have said they'll appear at the movie's Dec. 20 premiere in Sydney, but the London Observer says they should be prepared to be booed all the way to their seats. ANOTHER "JERRY MAGUIRE" FLASHBACK: "My two dogs, cat, a parrot and a bunny are always in my contracts. My animals complete me. I love them. They're my family." -- actor Hillary Swank, who has a human husband, actor Chad Lowe.
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