the star of Spartacus: Blood and Sand explaining what a merkin is, to New York's Vulture.

Your favorite football series returns, Drew Barrymore's dating Justin Long again, NYC film gets a tax break, plus movies about babysitters and killer crazy girls.

Mariah Carey turns 39 today. Quentin Tarantino is turning 46. Fergie is 34. Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell turns 75. British actor Michael York is 67. Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg is 62. Nancy Peretsman, investment banker to Oprah and Martha, is 55. And Talisa Soto, former model and current wife of actor Benjamin Bratt, turns 42 today. Weekend birthdays follow below.