Live Wire

Jennifer Lopez,singer and American Idol judge,has in the recent months become the most sensible and helpful judge Idol has ever had. No one in the last decade or so has been as skilled in the art of star making as she is,a woman of modest talents who has triumphed. Shes a famous musician,though never a very good one,and a famous actress,though never a great one,all because she deeply understands the extrinsic factors and strategies that go into creating a star. The proof lies in her new album,Love? It is premised on compensating for Lopezs weaknesses. Its a light,likable record that,though it has far less personality than Lopez herself,is carefully,almost flawlessly of the moment.

Fast Five,the fifth movie in The Fast and the Furious franchise,rocked Hollywood by selling almost 84 million in tickets,by far the biggest opening of the year and signalling the beginning of a box-office turnaround. Fast Five had a new antagonist,played by Dwayne Johnson a k a the Rock,and an international backdropRio de Janeiro. Universal also changed the genre of the movie entirely,making it a film along the lines of Oceans 11. The movies opening tally in North America was the biggest of any installment in the series. Fast Five is as good a marker as any of what the movie capital is counting on in the months ahead: sequels. There are 10 this time around,including Fast Five and others like Kung Fu Panda 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Sarah Burton was an understudy in the chorus line of designers,a largely anonymous talent. As the creative director at Alexander McQueena role she reluctantly inherited after Alexander McQueens suicide in February 2010she not only worked in his immense shadow,but preferred the background to the spotlight. But shes a star now,courtesy the regal drift of snow she created for the commoner Kate Middleton. The dress transformed both women: Middleton into the image of a future queen;Burton into the quiet,modernising voice of a brand that gradually,and by necessity,will rely less on its founders singular vision.