The Left Lane
You might qualify for free medications
Find out if you qualify for free medications through programs sponsored by drug companies themselves, with help from a new booklet published by the Cost Containment Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
The free or inexpensive medications are not just available to those with very low incomes, but patients with incomes around $50,000, according to the Institute.
The booklet, "Free and Low Cost Prescription Drugs," lists all the drugs available through patient assistance programs sponsored by drug manufacturers. It's estimated they distribute about 3.2 million prescriptions a year. Find out more about the $5 booklet at www.institutedc.org.
— Beverly Creamer, Advertiser staff writer
Go directly to video and end up on TV
The way to the director's chair may be via TV commercial.
So thinks Tommy Hilfiger, the fashion guru, who is giving Americans a potential shot at Hollywood fame in a VH-1 promotion called "Earn Your Stripes and Be a Star," a search for 20-50 second videos about the American flag and what it means to people.
Hilfiger is playing off the fact that directors such as Michael Bay ("Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," "The Rock") and Tony Scott ("Top Gun," "Enemy of the State") launched their careers via ads (Bay did Coca-Cola and Budweiser spots, for example).
Hilfiger will personally select the top entry (the winner gets $25,000) and will launch the spot on VH-1 in December as part of a Hilfiger commercial. Runners-up get $10,000 plus a trip for four anywhere in the United States; Sept. 15 is the submission deadline.
Send VHS or digital entries to Hilfiger Stars and Stripes Contest, P.O. Box 5508, Ellentown FL 34222-5505. Information: www.tommy.com or 1-888-TOMMY4U.
— Wayne Harada, Advertiser entertainment editor
Get ready for 'Sopranos' marathon
"Sopranos," the acclaimed HBO series starring James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, will do what no other television show has ever done: Launch an encore run of every episode of its three-year life, starting Aug. 12 (8 p.m. on Oceanic analog, 5 p.m. Oceanic digital).
It will take 39 Sundays to complete the three-season replays, concluding in mid-2002, not long before Season 4 kicks off.
The shows, created by David Chase, will be televised in the expanding wide-screen format, marking the first time that seasons No. 1 and 2 will be seen in that form.
— Wayne Harada
