Zagat Survey ( /zəˈɡæt/)^[1] was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. As of 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals reporting over the years. In addition to restaurants, Zagat guides rate hotels, nightlife, shopping, zoos, music, movies, theaters, golf courses and airlines. The guides are sold in book form, and formally as a paid subscription on its web site.

As of May 2012, as part of its acquisition by Google in September 2011, Zagat reviews and ratings became tightly integrated into Google's services, and the Zagat.com site became free to use.

Rating system[link]

The ratings are on a 30-point scale, made up of ratings for defined areas including food, decor, service, and cost. In addition to numeric scores, the survey also includes a short descriptive paragraph that incorporates selected quotations (typically a few words) from several reviewers' comments about each restaurant or service, as well as typical pricing and other information.

Ownership[link]

Private equity firm General Atlantic bought a third of parent company Zagat, LLC for $31 million in February 2000 and installed non-Zagat family member Amy B. McIntosh as CEO.^[2]

In 2008, the company was on the block for $200 million. After there were no takers, the company announced in June that it was no longer for sale and that it would seek an organic growth strategy.^[3]

On September 8, 2011 the company was acquired by Google for a reported $151 million. Google planned to use the acquisition to provide more content and reviews for its locally-oriented services. Google had initially planned to acquire competing site Yelp instead.^[4][5] On May 30, 2012, Zagat was officially integrated into Google's services, with its reviews now appearing on Google Maps and Google+ Local pages for relevant restaurants. Additionally, the Zagat.com service became free to use, but now requires a Google+ account to register.^[6]

See also[link]

• Consumer Reports
• Gault Millau
• Harden's, a similar London and UK guide
• Michelin Guide
• Restaurant rating

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zagat Survey Web site
• Zagat Survey Mobile Web site
• Zagat To Go for iPhone and iPod touch (iTunes link)
• Zagat To Go for Smartphones Web site
• Nina and Tim Zagat on the beginnings of the Zagat Surveys
• Zagat Dating & Dumping Guide
• Zagat on Facebook
• Zagat on Twitter
• Zagat Photo Contest
• Works by or about Zagat in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Zagat collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, food writer and television personality, and is the Special Projects Director with Food & Wine magazine. In addition to her role with Food & Wine, she is a regular judge on the television show Top Chef and hosts its spin-off, Top Chef: Just Desserts.

Prior to joining Food & Wine, Gail was the special events manager for chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurant empire and worked for food critic Jeffrey Steingarten at Vogue.

She was born in Toronto, and graduated from McGill University in Montreal, where she majored in anthropology and Spanish. She began her food journalism career writing restaurant reviews for the McGill Tribune^[1] before moving on to the monthly magazine Toronto Life and later to the daily National Post newspaper.

Simmons attended culinary school in New York City at the Institute of Culinary Education and apprenticed at Le Cirque and Vong.^[2][3][4]

Gail’s first book, her memoir Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater, was published by Hyperion in February 2012.

Gail is an active supporter of Common Threads, an organization that teaches low-income children to cook wholesome, affordable meals. She was a founding member of Food & Wine’s Grow for Good Campaign to raise funds and awareness for sustainable agriculture programs in the United States. She also sits on the boards of City Harvest, Hot Bread Kitchen, the American Institute of Wine & Food, the Institute of Culinary Education’s Alumni Committee, and the Women at NBCU Advisory Board.

She was selected for the 2010 Forward 50 by The Jewish Daily Forward.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gail Simmons at the Internet Movie Database

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Wilson Phillips
Wilson Phillips at Cerritos Arts Center, Artesia, California, August 2011
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop rock, Adult contemporary
Years active	1989–1993 2004–present
Labels	SBK Columbia Sony
Website	www.wilsonphillipsmusic.com
Members
Chynna Phillips Carnie Wilson Wendy Wilson

Wilson Phillips is an American vocal group consisting of Carnie Wilson, Wendy Wilson, and Chynna Phillips.

Their 1990 self-titled debut album sold over 10 million copies worldwide and scored three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, making the trio the best-selling female group at the time. In 1990, the group won the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year for "Hold On," and in addition was nominated for four Grammy Awards and two American Music Awards.^[1]

Early life[link]

The Wilson sisters and Phillips grew up together in Southern California in the 1970s and 1980s. The three shared a love of music and songwriting, and developed their own style of vocal harmonies. In 1989, the trio signed with SBK Records.

The group is also known for being the offspring of prominent musicians; the Wilsons are the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, while Phillips's parents are John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas.

Chart success[link]

Wilson Phillips released their debut album, Wilson Phillips, in 1990. Their debut single, "Hold On," hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1990, bumping Madonna's "Vogue" off the top spot. The single was also #1 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary and became a worldwide hit, peaking at #2 in Australia, #6 in the UK, #7 in Ireland, #10 in Sweden, and at #15 in the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. The single also won Wilson Phillips the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year for 1990.

The second and fourth singles from the album also became number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Release Me" (2 weeks) and "You're in Love" (1 week). The singles "Impulsive" and "The Dream Is Still Alive", peaked at #4 and #12, respectively, on the Hot 100.^[2]

In 1991, they contributed a cover of "Daniel" to the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. While not released as a single, peaked at #7 in the US Adult Contemporary chart due to strong radio airplay.

In 1992, Wilson Phillips also made history as Billboard declared their debut album the best selling album of all time by an all female group, peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and selling over 5 million copies in the US and over 10 million copies worldwide, which also made Wilson Phillips, at the time, the best selling female group of all time for a single album, breaking the previous record set by The Supremes.

Chynna Phillips and her mother Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas are the only mother/daughter combination to perform on separate songs that reached number one on the Billboard Charts. The Judds, Naomi and Wynnona, did it together on songs but never on separate songs.^[3]

In June 1992, Wilson Phillips released their second album, Shadows and Light. The album was deeply personal and adopted a more serious tone, with tracks exploring issues such as child abuse ("Where Are You") and their estrangement from their fathers ("Flesh and Blood", "All the Way From New York"). The first single, "You Won't See Me Cry" peaked at #20 in the US and #18 in the UK, the first time they had a higher-ranking single in the UK than in the US. The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in the US, and double platinum in Canada.

Shortly after the release of Shadows and Light, Chynna Phillips announced plans for a solo career, and the group decided to disband.

Hiatus (1993–2003)[link]

During the next decade, the group went separate ways. In 1993, Wendy and Carnie Wilson released the Christmas holiday themed album, Hey Santa!, a collection of classic holiday themes with an original song (the title track). In 1995, Chynna Phillips released a solo album, Naked and Sacred. The same year, Carnie went on to host her own short-lived syndicated television talk show entitled, Carnie!.^[4] In 1997, Carnie and Wendy, along with their father, Brian Wilson released The Wilsons and the single, "Monday Without You."^[5]

A Greatest Hits album was released in 2000, although the group did not officially reunite for the release. On March 29, 2001, they reunited to perform the Beach Boys' song "You're So Good to Me" at a tribute show to Brian Wilson held at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Chynna Phillips dedicated the performance to her own father John Phillips who had died a few days earlier.

Reunion in 2004[link]

Wilson Phillips reunited in 2004 to release California, an album of cover songs. A single, "Go Your Own Way," a song originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac, peaked at #13 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The album debuted at #35 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with 31,000 copies sold in its first week of release.

In New Zealand, the album was a surprise hit, reaching the top 10 and amassing gold sales after "Go Your Own Way" topped the country's adult contemporary radio chart for several weeks.^[6]

2008 to present[link]

In November 2008, Wilson Phillips reunited on stage for two shows in California. The shows were not publicized heavily, but were very well received by the audiences. Songs from a new album to be released in 2010^{[dated info]} were performed. These 90-minute shows were the longest the group have ever performed, and featured tracks from throughout their career, as well as some covers of Beach Boys and ABBA classics.

On May 5, 2010, the trio performed to an audience of 350 people at the 79th General Meeting of the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors in San Antonio, Texas.

On August 21, 2010, Wilson Phillips announced their new Christmas album, Christmas in Harmony, which was released on October 12, 2010. The album yielded a single, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday," a cover of the popular seasonal tune that first was a hit in 1973 for English glam-rock band Wizzard. As of April 12, 2012 this album had sold 71,286 copies in the US according to SoundScan.

The band appeared in a cameo and performed "Hold On" in the 2011 film Bridesmaids.

Bandmember Chynna Phillips was a contestant on Season 13 of ABC's Dancing With the Stars, and explained that "Hold On" was written by her and bandmates Carnie and Wendy Wilson about her recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Phillips was eliminated after week 4.^[7]

On March 20, 2012, the group appeared on QVC to promote their 2012 release Dedicated, a new studio album made up of covers of songs by both The Beach Boys and The Mamas and the Papas. QVC took advance orders for the album. On April 3, 2012, the group released Dedicated, which debuted at #29 on the Billboard Albums chart with 16,283 copies sold in its first week of release. On April 7, they appeared on the CBS This Morning|Saturday with Rebecca Jarvis & Jeff Glor to perform some music from the album.

They completed their own reality show, Wilson Phillips: Still Holding On, which appeared on TV Guide Network in April 2012.^[8]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Singles[link]

Other charted songs[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Eliza Dushku
Dushku at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born	Eliza Patricia Dushku (1980-12-30) December 30, 1980 (age 31) Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	American, Albanian[1][2]
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Partner	Rick Fox (2009–present)

Eliza Patricia Dushku ( /ˈdʊʃkuː/;^[3] born December 30, 1980) is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer^[4] and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse.^[5] She is also known for her role in films including True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,^[6] as well as her voice work on video games.

Early life[link]

Dushku was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughter of Philip R. Dushku, an administrator and teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and Judith "Judy" (née Rasmussen), a political science professor.^[7] Dushku's father is Albanian and her mother is of Danish and English descent.^[8][9] Dushku attended Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and graduated from Watertown High School. She was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the faith of her mother, though she is not practicing.^[10] She has three older brothers: Aaron, Benjamin (Ben), and Nathaniel (Nate). Her parents divorced when she was an infant.^[11]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Dushku came to the attention of casting agents when she was 10. She was chosen in a five month search for the lead role of Alice in the film That Night. In 1993, Dushku landed a role as Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life, a role that she said opened a lot of doors. The following year, she played the teenage daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies. She had parts as Paul Reiser's daughter in Bye Bye Love, as Cindy Johnson in Race the Sun, and roles in a television movie and a short film.

Dushku took time off from acting to finish her junior and senior years of high school. She was accepted to the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and Suffolk University in Boston, where her mother serves as professor of government and previously served as dean of the campus in Dakar, Senegal.

Later roles[link]

Dushku at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.

After completing high school, Dushku returned to acting with the role of Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a Slayer much more troubled than the main character Buffy Summers. Though initially planned as a five episode role, the character became so popular that she stayed on for the whole third season and returned for a two-part appearance in season four, after which the remainder of her original story arc was played out as part of the first season of the Buffy spin-off series Angel. Repentant and rededicated, Faith returned as a heroine in other episodes of Angel and in the last five episodes of Buffy. Dushku was inundated with piles of fan mail from legions of prisoners. She said:

I've been getting fan mail from maximum security penitentiaries and death row. What are the authorities thinking of in playing a show with young teenage girls to Death Row inmates? They write everything – disgusting things that you don't even want to know about. And they send me pictures – "Oh, here's a picture of me before I was incarcerated!" – and there's some guy sat on the sofa with a bottle of beer and a moustache, and a big gut. It's so creepy. Way more creepy than Buffy.^[12]

In 2000, Dushku starred in the hit cheerleader comedy Bring It On.^[6] She followed that up with Soul Survivors,^[6] reuniting her with Race The Sun co-star Casey Affleck. One reviewer described the film as "84 minutes of everyone's wasted time".^[13] In 2001, she appeared in The New Guy with DJ Qualls and City by the Sea with Robert De Niro and James Franco.^[6] The latter film garnered attention from a wider adult audience and several good reviews. The same year, Kevin Smith invited Dushku to be a part of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.^[6]

In 2003, Dushku starred the horror film Wrong Turn,^[6] and The Kiss, an independent comedy-drama. Starting that same year, she starred in a new Fox TV series, Tru Calling, where she played the main character, medical student Tru Davies. After having a grant pulled out from under her, Tru is forced to take a job at a local morgue where she discovers her power to "re-live" the previous day over again if one of the deceased asks for her help to change what has happened. Dushku turned down a role in a spin-off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer which would have been about Faith. She has had many roles as a "bad girl" in movies and relishes the opportunities. In an interview with Maxim in May 2001, Dushku says of her roles, "It's easy to play a bad girl: You just do everything you've been told not to do, and you don't have to deal with the consequences, because it's only acting."^[10]

Dushku starred in an Off-Broadway production entitled Dog Sees God from December 2005, playing "Van's sister", a character paralleled with Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts comic strip on which the play production is based. She quit in February 2006 along with other members of the cast amidst rumors of abuse from the producer (which were later dismissed).

She played the lead character on Nurses, a hospital comedy/drama for Fox. This was the second Fox pilot in which she was cast, but not broadcast.^[14] She appeared in the Simple Plan music video, "I'm Just a Kid", as the band's love interest, as well as Nickelback's video for "Rockstar".

Dushku has roles in two video games. She voiced the role of Yumi Sawamura in the English language version of Yakuza for the PlayStation 2, which was published and developed by SEGA, and released in September 2006. Dushku also stars as Shaundi, one of the lead characters in Saints Row 2, which was developed by Volition and published by THQ.^[15] It was released in North America on October 14, 2008, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. She was the voice talent for the role of Rubi Malone, the main character in the game WET. She appeared at Spike TV's 2008 Video Game Awards in December 2008.^[5]

Recent work[link]

Tribeca Film Festival, April 2007

On October 1, 2005, she announced at Wizard World Boston that shooting had begun for Nobel Son in which she would star with Alan Rickman, Danny DeVito, Bill Pullman, and Peter Boyle. The movie was released at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.^[16] Another project is On Broadway, an independent movie filmed in her native Boston. The movie is receiving great reviews^[17] and a few of them highlight Dushku's performance. It is shown in independent film festivals and has won six awards.

Variety announced on August 2, 2006 that Dushku would co-star with Macaulay Culkin in Sex and Breakfast, a dark comedy written and directed by Miles Brandman. A reviewer described Dushku as "charming" and giving the character "an edge."^[18] The movie was released in Los Angeles on November 30, 2007 and on DVD on January 22, 2008. She starred in Open Graves, a 2008 horror-thriller about a satanic game co-starring Mike Vogel. She played the main character in The Thacker Case and The Alphabet Killer, both thrillers based on real-life events, one of them directed by Rob Schmidt with whom she had worked on Wrong Turn. Both movies were released in 2008.^[19] The Alphabet Killer contains Dushku's first topless scene.^[20] The film earned mixed reviews, but reviewers praised Dushku's performance, commenting "Eliza Dushku commands the screen but cannot reconcile the script's conflicted and increasingly idiotic agendas."^[21] She appeared in Bottle Shock, a drama about Napa valley wine.^[4] The film was directed by Randall Miller, who helmed Nobel Son.^[4][22]

On August 26, 2007, Dushku signed a development deal with Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox. Under the pact, the network and the studio would develop projects tailor-made for the actress. They approached her with existing pitches and scripts.^[23]

Consequently, it was announced on October 31 that Dushku had lured Joss Whedon, of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, back to TV, as they agreed to create a show called Dollhouse. Dushku produced the show and played the main character, 'Echo', which aired on Fox during the 2008–09 TV Season. One TV reviewer said Dushku "does wonderful things to a tank top, but her grasp of this vague, personality-changing character is a bit of a muddle."^[24] In an interview, Dushku talked about how Dollhouse, and how her reconnection with Whedon came about:

I invited Joss Whedon to lunch after I did the business deal with Fox. We'd had a cool relationship in the past and I so wanted to do something else, and I wanted to get back into a television show. I had him on the brain for sure but I hadn't called him yet, but I sort of took a leap of faith and set things up with Fox and then called Joss. We went to a four-hour lunch where I just sort of used my womanly wiles. No, we've become such good friends, kind of like brother and sister and kind of like he was my watcher, my handler from when I first moved out to L.A. when I was 17 and I was a little bit of a wild child. He's watched me and helped me and taught me over the years. I told him how bad I wanted and needed him back and he accepted and here we are.^[25]

Dushku described Whedon as "my favorite genius ... favorite friend ... big brother ... and the only person out here I've ever wholeheartedly trusted, because he's never let me down."^[26] Dollhouse was renewed for a second season. The producers cited their confidence in the strength of Joss Whedon's fan base and high DVR numbers as their reasons for keeping the show. FOX cancelled Dollhouse on November 11, 2009. The show officially wrapped filming on the second and final season on December 16, 2009.

Dushku was the voice actor for contract killer "Rubi Malone" in the action video game Wet.^[27] Dushku secured exclusive rights to make "The Perfect Moment", a film based on the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and enlisted the help of Ondi Timoner.^[4]

Dushku provides her voice for Noah's Ark: The New Beginning and will appear in the film Locked In set for release in 2010.^[28]

Dushku guest-starred in CBS' comedy The Big Bang Theory in the fall of 2010^[29] which aired on November 4, 2010.^[30]

In 2011, Dushku featured alongside Jayson Floyd in "One Shot", a short action clip on YouTube directed by and starring Freddie Wong, which was released on May 13, 2011.^[31] Dushku will have a lead role in an online animated "motion comic" series, titled Torchwood: Web of Lies, based on Starz' upcoming Torchwood: Miracle Day.^[32]

In August 2011, Dushku visited Albania to film a documentary on her father's country of origin with a crew from the Travel Channel and Lonely Planet.^[33][34][35]

Personal life[link]

Dushku resides in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.^[36]

Dushku is the CEO of her production company, Boston Diva Productions.^[37]

In 2006, she visited her father's family in Albania after an invitation from the Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha. She visited Kosovo and got an Albanian Eagle tattoo on the back of her neck.^[38][39]

Dushku began dating former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Rick Fox in October 2009, and in August 2010 the couple confirmed that they are living together.^[40][41]

While on her second visit to Albania in 2011, she applied for Albanian citizenship and obtained the Albanian passport and ID Card. She became an honorary citizen of Tirana,^[42] and was given the honorary title of Tirana Ambassador of Culture and Tourism in the World by Tirana mayor Lulzim Basha.^[43][44] Additionally, she was given honorary citizen status in her father's home town of Korce, Albania.

She serves on the board of directors of the THARCE-Gulu organization (The Trauma Healing and Reflection Center in Gulu), an organization dedicated to helping the survivors of war (including former child soldiers) in Northern Uganda.

In December 2011, Dushku announced that she was switching to a vegan diet after watching the documentary Forks Over Knives.^[45]

Awards and nominations[link]

Dushku in 2004

She was twice nominated in 2004: for a Teen Choice Award at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Star – Female for Tru Calling and for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films at the 30th Saturn Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series for Tru Calling.

Maxim magazine ranked Dushku 6th on the "Hot 100 Women of 2009" list.^[46]

Dushku was nominated in 2009 for a Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress for her role of Echo.^[47]

The municipality of Tirana honored Eliza Dushku as an Honorary Citizen of Tirana, capital of Albania.^[48]

In October 2011, Dushku was named Ambassador for the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show Entertainment Matters program.^[49]

Filmography[link]

References[link]