An upstate NY rape and murder case that has been open since 1985 will get nationwide attention soon when the case is profiled on “America’s Most Wanted.” The case of 16-year-old Kimberly Simon, whose bruised and partially nude body was found in Whitesboro in September 1985, was thought to be closed when Marcy resident Steven Barnes was convicted of her murder in 1989. But Barnes was released from prison last year after DNA tests exonerated him, prompting investigators to reopen the case. According to the OD, “A crew from the show will visit the Utica area to interview those involved with the case, and re-enactments may be filmed on location here or in a studio, depending on the show’s needs.”

Stephen Colbert took his show on the road this weekend and went on a ride with U.S. bobsled driver Steven Holcomb in Lake Placid.

“Having won today’s competition, you are today the fastest in the world at this,” Colbert said to Holcomb and his team. “I had to pick the fastest team. Thank you. It felt like I was being hit in the head with ice hammers. It was like losing the worst snowball fight of your life.”

On Ugly Betty Friday night, during episode 4.6, entitled ‘Backseat Betty’, Syracuse got a bit of a shout out.

Hilda set Betty up with Larry (Archie’s nerdy bookkeeper) but Betty left dinner halfway through to hang out with the much more dangerous and intriguing Bobby. But, before she leaves, Hilda mentions that Larry had visited his family in Syracuse!

You can read more about the episode here.

A new movie is being shot in Niagara Falls this month and its has some big name stars.

The cast and crew for the dramedy “A Beginner’s Guide to Endings” will be filming around the region for the next four weeks. The film stars Dennis Hopper, Tricia Helfer (”Battlestar Galactica”), JK Simmons (”Spiderman”) and Jason Jones (”The Daily Show”).

The movie has already shot a big boxing scene that used several local actors. The film’s stars have also been spotted out on both sides of the falls (U.S. and Canadian sides).

If you’re in Western NY and have an encounter with any of these stars, let us know in a comment below!

Here’s a fun fact, or at least a fact, about Utica’s history in pop culture. In the very first episode of Matlock, the victim, a news anchor, is buried in her hometown of Utica, NY.

This is just one in a long line of mentions of Utica on television. Another notable mention was on Jenny McCarthy’s short-lived sitcom, Jenny. Her character had just moved to L.A. from Utica.

There isn’t much information yet about the Con yet but they have announced the dates and they did get a decent turn out of guests at last year’s event so it may be something to keep an eye on. Below is a link to their website where they should be announcing an official line-up soon:

Syracuse Heroes Expo

This morning on The Today Show, while Al Roker was mingling with the crowd, he came across a girl celebrating her Sweet 16. When he asked her name and where she was from, she responded, “Marina from Utica, NY”, and then proceeded to shriek and scream in a pitch that only teen girls are capable of. In response to her screaming, Al said, “A little Genny Cream Ale for breakfast.” Was Al trying to reference Saranac but got his Ales wrong?

Keanu Reeves was spotted in Buffalo a couple of weeks ago scouting locations for his next project, Henry’s Crime, in which he is starring and acting as the executive producer. The movie is set to start filming in Buffalo next month.

But Henry’s Crime isn’t the only movie filming in Buffalo this fall. A Bollywood movie called After Life has been filming in the Buffalo and Niagara Falls areas. It’s a romantic musical that will be released internationally. “We had the bike scene where I’m riding the bike and actually this scene is my introduction scene,” Anita Galler, the star of “After Life” said. “It’s a love story, like a Romeo and Juliet with a little twist, so it’s a passionate love story.”

The Woodstock Film Festival wrapped up last week but but not without a parade of stars passing through town first.

According to the Albany Times Union:

Uma Thurman, Woody Harrelson, Lucy Liu, Steve Buscemi, Vera Farmiga, Ben Foster and even Ethan Hawke [were all in attendance]. Thurman’s ex-husband wasn’t at [the screening of] “Up in the Air”; instead, late Saturday night he presented the Maverick Award to director Richard Linklater, with whom he had worked on such films as “Before Sunset” and “Before Sunrise.”

Other famous directors at the festival were Jonathan Demme, who screened his new movie “Neil Young Trunk Show” and participated in a panel discussion on music and film; Mira Nair, who was on a panel on amazing women in film (her upcoming film “Amelia” wasn’t screened at the fest); and Barbara Kopple, who has won two Academy Awards for her documentaries “Harlan County, USA” and “American Dream,” who spoke on a panel about documentary films.

One of the more entertaining panels was the actors’ dialogue with Vera Farmiga, Lucy Liu and John Ventimiglia. During that far-ranging discussion, the audience learned that Farmiga, who is perhaps best known for her role in “The Departed” and who co-stars with Clooney in “Up in the Air,” enjoys spending time with her family and raising goats and, in fact, had recently shopped for goat sperm; that Liu (”Kill Bill,” “Charlie’s Angels”) still isn’t sure if her parents really understand what she does for a living; and that Ventimiglia (Artie Buco in “The Sopranos”) has recently come to love playing the ukulele.

Perhaps the actor Steve Buscemi put it best. He was at the festival touting two new films he is in, “The Messenger” and “Youth in Revolt.”

“There are a lot of film festivals but I think that the Woodstock Film Festival really champions independent film and that’s why I like it,” he said. “For some films, festivals like this are the only way an audience will actually see it.”

You can read more about the festival and what films won on the Woodstock Film Festival’s official site.

Today, Drew Barryomore’s directorial debut, Whip It, opens in theaters nationwide. The movie is about a young women (Ellen Page) who finds her passion in a roller derby club.

Whip It was filmed entirely on location at various locations around Michigan including Ken’s Diner in Birch Run. The now vacant restaurant fills in as the “Oink Joint”, a Texas BBQ where Ellen Page’s character works in the movie. Here’s where Yorkville’s strange connection to Whip It comes into play. According to MLive.com, the diner first opened in Yorkville  in 1955 and was moved to Birch Run in 1992, where it became Ken’s Diner!

Who knew a small diner in Yorkville would someday serve as the backdrop for a major movie? Goes to show, anything’s possible!