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The HOT Report - by Craig Hill

Lorne Michaels' Stalker

March 10th 2009 04:58
The case against the man accused of stalking Saturday Night Live mastermind, Lorne Michaels, was placed on hold at a hearing, and will be thrown out entirely if 32-year-old Evans Pidhajecky keeps out of trouble, and Michaels' eyeline, for the next six months.

"There was no crime," Pidhajecky's attorney, Jack Litman said. "He never stalked Lorne Michaels…He wrote him a letter or two…He never followed him ever, ever, ever."

The aspiring comic was expected to go on trial this morning on charges of stalking and resisting arrest after sending the SNL honcho letters, phone messages and paying multiple unsolicited visits to both his home and NBC 30 Rockefeller studios throughout 2007.

Lorne Michaels




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Britney Spears Clown Care Donation

March 9th 2009 12:08
Britney Spears knows everybody loves a circus.

The 27-year-old popstar, who's currently on her Circus world tour, is donating $100,000 to the Miami Children's Hospital's Big Apple Circus Clown Care program.

Britney Spears


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Monkees Peter Tork Battles Cancer

March 7th 2009 11:17
Peter Tork isn't monkeying around with his health.

The erstwhile Monkee has been diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of head and neck cancer, and underwent surgery to remove the growth on his tongue on Wednesday.

"It's a bad news, good news situation," the "I'm a Believer" artist said. "It's so rare a combination that there isn't a lot of experience among the medical community about this particular combination.

Peter Tork


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Robin Williams Heart Surgery

March 6th 2009 10:59
Robin Williams is taking a time-out for "a little tune-up."

The madcap Oscar winner announced today that he is postponing the remaining dates of his one-man show, Weapons of Self-Destruction, to undergo heart surgery.

The 57-year-old Williams announced Tuesday he was scuttling two shows in Florida this week after experiencing shortness of breath. Following a check-up, Williams discovered he needed a procedure to replace an aortic valve.

Robin Williams


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It's the news fans have been waiting for. Michael Jackson is looking to mount a thriller of a comeback, nearly four years since he was acquitted of child-molestation charges.

The erstwhile King of Pop is aiming to reclaim his throne, announcing today at a press conference he plans to play 10 concerts in London's O2 Arena, his first string of shows in more than a decade.

"I love you very much," a fit-looking Jackson told thousands of screaming devotees. "This is it.

Michael Jackson


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Bruce Willis To Countersue

March 2nd 2009 13:36
To put it in Bruce Willis terms, the last boy scout thinks a lawsuit filed against him for "walking off the set" of a movie he was supposed to direct is just a bunch of pulp fiction and he wants it to die hard.

The A-lister is looking to get medieval on film company Foresight Unlimited for alleging he breached his contract when he left the production of Three Stories About Joan on September 29 just as shooting was getting underway. Instead, Willis claims it was Foresight that violated the terms of the agreement and he now plans to file his own lawsuit.



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Ed McMahon Intensive Care

February 28th 2009 10:21
Ed McMahon is in intensive care at a Los Angeles hospital.

The 85-year-old former Johnny Carson sidekick has been hospitalized for several weeks with pneumonia, as well as other unspecified ailments, rep Howard Bragman said. The TV icon's family is said to be at his side.

Ed McMahon


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Jerry Seinfeld Returning To TV

February 27th 2009 07:39
Jerry Seinfeld is teaming up with NBC once again to produce a reality series called The Marriage Ref. The show will feature "celebrities, comedians and athletes who will judge couples in the midst of marital disputes while recommending various strategies to resolve their problems."

The show is inspired by the star's own experiences with married life, not unlike Seinfeld, which drew from its lead's bachelorhood.

"This is not a therapy show, it's a comedy show," the actor said. "After nine years of marriage, I have discovered that the comedic potential of this subject is quite rich."

Jerry Seinfeld

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Octopussy?

February 26th 2009 05:05
Octomom needs money, the world needs alternative movies. It's a match made in heaven.

Or so think the opportunistic peddlers at adult powerhouse Vivid Entertainment, who have made Nadya Suleman a halfway decent indecent proposal, offering the cash-strapped mother of 14 $1 million plus a year of health insurance in exchange for shaking her babymaker in a film.

"Nadya obviously needs income to assure that her children are secure so we are offering her up to $1 million to 'act' in one movie," says Vivid cochair Steven Hirsch.

"We've had many single mothers work with us over the years and their income from Vivid has been very important to them. We would schedule production so that the movie could be shot in less than one week."

And they say chivalry is dead.

Nadya Suleman Octomom
Nadya Suleman Octomom



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Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to make a cameo as his state-ruling self in Sylvester Stallone's latest testosterone fest, The Expendables. The flick is set to begin shooting March 28 in Brazil and then will then move to New Orleans for an additional two months of photography.

Stallone, who wrote the script and will also star in and direct, will shoot his good pal and former Planet Hollywood partner's cameo in Los Angeles.

Arnold schwarzenegger Sylvester Stallone
Arnold schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone
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Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the hyped stage musical directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) with music and lyrics courtesy of U2's Bono and The Edge, will kick off what its producers hope will be an amazing run along the Great White Way beginning with previews on January 16, 2010, and a February 18, 2010, opening night.

The $40 million effort, reportedly the most expensive Broadway production ever, will make its debut in the Hilton Theatre, the only venue big enough to allow the superhero room to spin his way around the sprawling skyscraper sets while duking it out with various bad guys.

Spider-man U2 Bono The Edge




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This time the apology from the New York Post's controversial chimp cartoon is coming straight from the monkey's uncle: Rupert Murdoch.

The News Corp. chairman offered up a personal mea culpa this morning for last week's editorial panel that sparked allegations of racism by linking the killing of a chimpanzee in Connecticut to D.C.'s recently passed stimulus bill.

"Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted," Murdoch said in a statement. "I can assure you—without a doubt—that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation.

"It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such. We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard, and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community."

Now it remains to be seen if his critics will accept his remarks. Last week, R&B star John Legend called for a boycot of the newspaper after the Post's editors made a half-hearted apology he said lacked any genuine contrition.

Chimp Cartoon And Rupert Murdoch


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Charles Barkley Jail For DUI

February 24th 2009 07:09
Charles Barkley's run-in with the law has landed him in foul territory.

The outspoken NBA analyst was sentenced to 10 days in jail Monday after pleading guilty to driving under the influence for his Dec 31 arrest in Scottsdale, Arizona

He'll only have to spend five days behind bars, however, if he completes an alcohol-education program. A $2,000 fine was also levied at him for the incident. He's due to start serving his sentence by March 21.

Charles Barkley Jail For DUI



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2009 Oscar Winners Complete List

February 23rd 2009 05:37
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn, Milk

Actress in a Leading Role: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan)

Original Song: "Jai Ho," A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; Slumdog Millionaire

Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire Best Picture 2009 Oscars


Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire

Sound Editing: The Dark Knight

Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Documentary Short Subject: Smile Pinki

Documentary Feature: Man on Wire

Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Costume Design: The Duchess

Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Animated Short Film: La Maison en Petits Cubes

Animated Feature Film: WALL-E

Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Actress in a Supporting Role: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

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Oscars Red Carpet Quotes

February 23rd 2009 05:27
"He doesn't speak English. He isn't saying anything." They were the words of one of the little kids from Slumdog Millionaire, translating on behalf of another little kid from Slumdog Millionaire.

Unfortunately, many better known people feel obliged to say as much as they can, so here are some more of the quotes from the red carpet at the 2009 Oscars:

"I said to myself, 'I would rather have Loki for another two years than have an Oscar,' and I told her that, you know. But she stayed as long as she could."
—Mickey Rourke, still mourning the death six days ago of his beloved dog

Mickey Rourke Oscars 2009
Mickey Rourke At The Oscars 2009


"I said to my daughter, 'If I did win the big prize, what do you think I should say?' And she said, 'I just think you should be really crazy and emotional'. I thought, 'You're no good.' "
—Kate Winslet, nominated for her performance in The Reader

"I did a rehearsal and messed it up. I am probably going to be the letdown of the entire show."
—Robert Pattinson, not really getting it

"I've been sitting on one butt cheek the whole ride over here, which is difficult. People don't have a clue what goes into it."
—Heidi Klum, on high fashion

"I thought it was a joke. First of all, how can I play his mother? I'm black. He's white."
—Taraji P. Henson, on being cast as Brad Pitt's mom in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

"She just said, 'Don't let anything affect you; enjoy this is, your moment.' "
—Freida Pinto, relaying advice she received from Angelina Jolie at the SAG Awards

"I just wanted to go 15 rounds with her and still be on my feet. I didn't want to stink."
—Viola Davis, on acting alongside Meryl Streep, the "500-pound gorilla of acting"

"It came together very very quickly, so it's not too demanding, but it is very exciting."
—Zac Efron, doing his best to sell the hell out of...whatever it is he's doing there

"Angelina Jolie—she can adopt me if she wants to."
—Miley Cyrus, when asked by Ryan Seacrest what star she was excited to see tonight

"Someone put a black bag over my head and took me somewhere and hypnotized me. It might have been a rehearsal, but I can't say for sure."
—Kevin Kline, reacting to the cloak-and-dagger secrecy of this year's awards

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Sunday night's Oscars host, Hugh Jackman, is sure to shake things up. For one thing, he's not a professional comedian like most previous hosts. For another, he tells CNN that he plans to do the entire show naked and inebriated.

It turns out the Sexiest Man Alive may also be one of the sassiest:

"One of my favorite moments at the Oscars was when the streaker came across [past] David Niven. And we're upping it a level and we're just going to do most of the show naked. Um, well, there hopefully will be YouTube moments….Drunk and nude, yes. So that's our new fresh approach. It's the Australian way."

Hugh Jackman Oscars

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Columbo can take care of himself. That's the word from the lawyer appointed by an LA judge to evaluate whether Peter Falk needed to be placed under a conservatorship controlled by his daughter, who has claimed the 81-year-old TV legend suffers from Alzheimer's disease and is unable to manage his personal and financial affairs.

In documents filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, attorney Clark R. Byam stated that he had met with Falk and described the four-time Emmy winner as having been "well dressed, clean and composed" during the visit. Byam said he didn't see any justification for Falk's daughter, Catherine, to assume custodial care over him.

Peter Falk Columbo



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George Clooney's freedom of speech may have cost him his safety.

The United Nations announced that it was looking into allegations that the world body pulled the actor's security detail while he was, and still is, traveling through a lawless region of Chad. The move was alleged to be a preemptive measure to prevent Clooney from voicing critical, and potentialy inflammatory, opinions of the region's leadership.

George Clooney Chad

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Luckily for Michael Jackson, there's never been a better economic climate in which to unload a gently used portrait of the artist surrounded by various cultural and historical figures each donning the Thriller maestro's trademark shades and Swarovski-encrusted white glove.

The painting, which is expected to fetch somewhere in the vicinity of $600, is one of 2,000 items from the financially strapped singer's personal collection set to be auctioned off this spring.

Michael Jackson Pals Sunglasses




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Gary Coleman's latest taped appearance is not ready for prime time.

A Utah judge ruled Tuesday that a videotaped deposition Coleman gave after being sued by a guy he roughed up at a bowling alley will not be released until the personal-injury lawsuit is settled.

"I do not want to come in here and have the whole jury challenged off," said Fourth District Judge Samuel McVey, who agreed with the defense that a fair trial might not be possible if people were privy to Coleman's Q&A session.

Gary Coleman Court


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Stevie Wonder Library Of Congress Award

February 15th 2009 05:59
Stevie Wonder's music helped sign, seal and deliver Barack Obama all the way to the White House, and now the president and first lady are sending him a big shout-out.

The 58-year-old Motown legend will receive a Library of Congress award from the commander-in-chief and Michelle Obama on February 25. The concert will air on PBS the following day.

Stevie Wonder


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Leonardo DiCaprio's rallying cry seems to have been heard.

The actor's off-again, on-again main squeeze, Bar Refaeli, is next month's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl, according to a big old billboard in Manhattan.

The 23-year-old Israeli model broke out of the pack after languishing on the inside of the magazine's most buzzed-about installment for the past two years.

Read more...

Sports Illustrated Bar Rafaeli


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2009 Grammys Complete Winners List

February 9th 2009 03:22
Album of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

Best Rap Album: Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: John Mayer, "Say"

Record of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Please Read This Letter"

Best New Artist: Adele

Best Rock Album: Coldplay, Viva la Vida

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Rich Woman"

Song of the Year: Coldplay, "Viva la Vida"

Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group: Sugarland, "Stay"

Best R&B Album: Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Hudson

Industry Icon Award: Clive Davis

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Rick Rubin (Death Magnetic, Home Before Dark, Mercy, Seeing Things, Weezer)

Best Rock Song: Bruce Springsteen, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"

Best Rock Instrumental Performance: "Peaches En Regalia," Zappa Plays Zappa, Featuring Steve Vai & Napoleon Murphy Brock

Best Metal Performance: Metallica, "My Apocalypse"

Best Hard Rock Performance: The Mars Volta, "Wax Simulacra"

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Kings of Leon, "Sex on Fire"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: John Mayer, "Gravity"

Best Alternative Music Album: Radiohead, In Rainbows

Best Pop Vocal Album: Duffy, Rockferry

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Coldplay, "Viva la Vida"

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, "Chasing Pavements"

Best Pop Instrumental Album: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Jingle All The Way

Best Pop Instrumental Performance: Eagles, "I Dreamed There Was No War"

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books): Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth (Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood)

Best Contemporary R&B Album: Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains

Best R&B Song: Ne-Yo, "Miss Independent" (Mikkel S. Eriksen, T.E. Hermansen and S. Smith, songwriters)

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Chrisette Michele Featuring will.i.am, "Be OK"

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: Al Green Featuring Anthony Hamilton, "You've Got the Love I Need"

Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Al Green Featuring John Legend, "Stay With Me (by the Sea)"

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: Alicia Keys; " Superwoman"

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: Ne-Yo, "Miss Independent"

Frank Micelotta/Getty Images for MTV

Best Rap Song: Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major, "Lollipop" (D. Carter, S. Garrett, D. Harrison, J. Scheffer and R. Zamor, songwriters)

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Estelle Featuring Kanye West, "American Boy"

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: Jay-Z and T.I. Featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne, "Swagga Like Us"

Best Rap Solo Performance: Lil Wayne, "A Milli"

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Natalie Cole, Still Unforgettable

Best Country Album: George Strait, Troubadour

Best Country Song: Sugarland, "Stay" (Jennifer Nettles, songwriter)

Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947

Best Country Instrumental Performance: Brad Paisley, James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner, "Cluster Pluck"

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, "Killing the Blues"

Best Male Country Vocal Performance: Brad Paisley, "Letter to Me"

John Shearer/Getty Images

Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Carrie Underwood, "Last Name"

Best Reggae Album: Burning Spear, Jah Is Real

Best Hawaiian Music Album: Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho, Ikena

Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

Best Traditional Folk Album: Pete Seeger, At 89

Best Traditional Blues Album: B.B. King, One Kind Favor

Best Contemporary Blues Album: Dr. John and the Lower 911, City That Care Forgot

Best Long Form Music Video: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Runnin' Down a Dream"

Best Short Form Music Video: Weezer, "Pork and Beans"

Best Classical Album: Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Producer of the Year, Classical: David Frost

Best Classical Crossover Album: The King's Singers, Simple Gifts

Best Classical Contemporary Composition: John Corigliano, composer, Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (JoAnn Falletta, conductor)

Best Classical Vocal Performance: John Corigliano, Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan

Best Small Ensemble Performance: Spotless Rose, Hymns to the Virgin Mary

Best Chamber Music Performance: Elliott Carter, Pacifica Quartet, String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5

Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra): Gloria Cheng, Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutoslawski

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (With Orchestra): Hilary Hahn, Schoenberg, Sibelius: Violin Concertos (Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor)

Best Choral Performance: Sir Simon Rattle, "Symphony of Psalms"

Best Opera Recording: Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Best Orchestral Performance: Shostakovich, "Symphony No. 4," Bernard Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Best Engineered Album, Classical: Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago

Best Electronic/Dance Album: Daft Punk, Alive 2007

Best Dance Recording: Daft Punk, "Harder Better Faster Stronger"

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: Kirk Franklin, The Fight of My Life

Best Traditional Gospel Album: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Down in New Orleans

Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Gaither Vocal Band, Lovin' Life

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: CeCe Winans, Thy Kingdom Come

Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album: TobyMac, Alive and Transported

Best Gospel Song: Kirk Franklin, "Help Me Believe"

Best Gospel Performance: Mary Mary, "Get Up"

Best Latin Jazz Album: Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Song for Chico

Paul Schiraldi

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard

Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group: Chick Corea and Gary Burton, The New Crystal Silence

Best Jazz Instrumental Solo: Terence Blanchard, soloist, "Be-Bop"

Best Jazz Vocal Album: Cassandra Wilson, Loverly

Best Contemporary Jazz Album: Randy Brecker, Randy in Brasil

Best New Age Album: Jack DeJohnette, Peace Time

Best Comedy Album: George Carlin, It's Bad For Ya

Best Polka Album: Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra, Let the Whole World Sing

Best Contemporary World Music Album: Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo, Global Drum Project

Best Traditional World Music Album: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu

Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Best Native American Music Album: Come to Me Great Mystery—Native American Healing Songs

Best Norteńo Album: Los Tigres del Norte, Raíces

Best Banda Album: Joan Sebástian, No Es de Madera

Best Tejano Album: Ruben Ramos and the Mexican Revolution, Viva la Revolucion

Best Regional Mexican Album: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Amor, Dolor Y Lágrimas: Música Ranchera

Best Tropical Latin Album: José Feliciano, Seńor Bachata

Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album: 45, Jaguares

Best Latin Pop Album: Juanes, La Vida...Es un Ratico

Best Musical Show Album: In the Heights

Best Musical Album for Children: They Might Be Giants, Here Come The 123s

Best Spoken Word Album for Children: Bill Harley, Yes to Running!

Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): Natalie Cole, "Here's That Rainy Day" (Nan Schwartz, arranger)

Best Instrumental Arrangement: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, "Define Dancing" (From Wall-E) (Thomas Newman, arranger)

Best Instrumental Composition: "The Adventures of Mutt" (From Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

Best Surround Sound Album: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain; Prelude to Khovanshchina

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: MGMT, "Electric Feel," Justice Remix (Justice, remixers)

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: The Raconteurs (Joe Chiccarelli, Vance Powell and Jack White III), Consolers of the Lonely

Best Historical Album: Art of Field Recording, Volume I: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music (Documented by Art Rosenbaum)

Best Album Notes: Miles Davis, Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition (Francis Davis, album notes writer)

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: In Rainbows

Best Recording Package: Metallica, Death Magnetic (Bruce Duckworth, Sarah Moffat and David Turner, art directors)

Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, "Down to Earth" (From Wall-E)

Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: Juno

John Mayer Grammy
John Mayer at the Grammys


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Grammy day was supposed to be a glittery affair for R&B's reigning It couple, Chris Brown and Rihanna. But things went horribly amiss.

About the time Brown was scheduled to be singing "Forever" onstage at Los Angeles' Staples Center, he was instead detained by police, being questioned for allegedly roughing up Rihanna.

Brown, 19, turned himself in at the Wilshire station around 6:30 p.m. and was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. The case will now be sent to the district attorney's office and further charges could be filed. He was released from jail after posting $50,000 bail.

Sources tell said that the alleged victim was Rihanna, 20, and that she suffered visible bruises on her face during an altercation that took place hours earlier. Both in turn balked on scheduled Grammy performances.

Read more...

Chris Brown and Rihanna
Chris Brown and Rihanna



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Who Wants To Be A Slumdog Millionaire?

February 5th 2009 00:27
Slumdog Millionaire could be looking to share the wealth.

The producers of the recent U.K.-U.S. transplant Secret Millionaire are looking to capitalize on the Oscar hopeful's international success with Secret Slumdog Millionaire, a spinoff reality series, according to British media reports.

In the American version of the show, which premiered on Fox in December, quantifiably rich people go undercover in economically deprived neighborhoods, get acquainted with members of the community and and ultimately hand out $100,000 at the end of each episode.

The Indian version would transfer the action to Mumbai, the impoverished, bustling city that provides the setting for Slumdog Millionaire, which has already received criticism that it's portrayal of Mumbai and its people is too one-dimensional.

Read more...

Slumdog Millionaire



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Elton John Closes Las Vegas Show

February 4th 2009 12:33
The erstwhile Rocket Man has announced plans to close his long-running Las Vegas revue, taking his final curtain call on the Strip on April 22.

Tickets for the final run of shows will go on sale tomorrow.

John kicked off his Sin City residency back on Feb. 14, 2004 and while he initially only signed on for 75 performances, popular demand led to an extension of his original 18-month run. His April 22 bow out will mark his 241st time taking to the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Read more...

Elton John Las Vegas
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Michael Phelps has gone and gotten himself involved in a different type of doping scandal. The good news: He's human after all.

The eight gold medal-winning swimming phenom issued a quick apology over the weekend for behavior unbecoming a Wheaties Frosties box coverboy after a photo of him inhaling from what appears to be a marijuana pipe was published in a British tabloid.

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," the Olympian said. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me.

Read more...

Michael Phelps

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A butt-kicking panda cleaned up at the annual Annie Awards this year.

Kung Fu Panda took home 10 trophies, including best animated feature, at the awards show that honors the year's best in animation.

The Dreamworks flick, which features the voices of Angelina Jolie and Jack Black, beat out Disney's Bolt and Pixar's critically-acclaimed WALL-E for the top title.

Read more...

Kung Fu Panda
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Mickey Rourke And Auditions

January 29th 2009 11:02
Most of the time, A-list gods and goddesses don't have to read for anything.

In fact, even B-plus talent often joins a project before a casting director is even hired. That's what happened with the movie Soul Men. Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac were both attached before casting director LaTanya Potts came on board to flesh out the rest of the cast.

As for Mickey Rourke and his gritty leotard picture The Wrestler, that's an interesting story. It highlights a muddy netherworld between auditioning for a part and getting it sight-unseen...

According to several interviews, Rourke did not have to read for his role in The Wrestler. That's because he wasn't really as down and out as his comeback story might have you believe.

Read more...

Mickey Rourke
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Weeks after Disney decided not to bankroll another sequel in The Chronicles of Narnia series due to spiraling costs, 20th Century Fox has swooped in and rescued the big-screen franchise from almost certain doom by agreeing to team up with Walden Media to cofinance, market and distribute the next installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

According to Variety, Fox had first dibs on Dawn Treader because it already markets and distributes Walden movies under its Fox Walden label.

Walden, which owns the rights to the seminal C.S. Lewis fantasy novels, needed a new partner after the Mouse House pulled out, citing "budgetary and logistical reasons."

Read more...

Narnia Prince Caspian

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Michelle Obama, the first lady, is going to be honoured with a wax likeness at the Washington DC branch of Madame Tussauds. Honoured, that is, if you like the idea of a wax doppleganger of yourself sitting in a museum alongside representations of the Jonas Brothers, J. Lo and J. Edgar Hoover.

Read more...

Michelle Obama Madame Tussauds
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Another Writer Claims Hannah Montana

January 28th 2009 09:34
Another writer has filed a lawsuit claiming he pitched the original script for what ultimately became the hit Disney Channel series starring Miley Cyrus about a so-called average teen who moonlights as a pop star.

After the complaint filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by TMZ.com, Richard Fronduto maintains he penned a script in 1990 titled The Secret Life of Sindi (never mind that that sounds like porn), which later was retitled Family Business.

Read more...

Hannah Montana Writer Sues
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The Boss is taking his Dream show on the road.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have announced a slew of dates in support of their latest album, Working on a Dream, hitting stores today.

The 48-date worldwide jaunt will launch April 1 in San Jose, Calif., and criss-cross North America before heading to Europe on May 30.

Read more...

Bruce Springsteen Dream

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John Updike Dies Aged 76

January 27th 2009 08:41
Prolific, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Updike has died of lung cancer at the age of 76.

According to publisher Alfred A. Knopf Inc., Updike died at a hospice not far from his home in Beverly Farms, Mass.

Several of his works wound up in Hollywood hands, most notably the James Caan-starring adaptation of one his most famous books, Rabbit, Run (which earned him his first Pulitzer), and The Witches of Eastwick, which, thanks to Jack Nicholson, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon became a star-studded, twice Oscar-nominated affair.

Read more...

John Updike Dies
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Michael Jackson Comeback Begins

January 27th 2009 08:35
The Michael Jackson comeback may have begun on Broadway.

Finally making good on years of promises about his showbiz return, the erstwhile King of Pop today announced that he is working on a stage musical based on his 1982 masterpiece, Thriller, with the theatrical overlords in the Nederlander Organization.

"The Nederlanders and Michael Jackson represent live theater and musical excellence, so let the music begin," said Jackson's rep, Dr. Tohme Tohme.

Read more...

Michael Jackson Thriller


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Oprah Winfrey has already availed her troop-rallying services to President Barack Obama. Now comes word that she would "absolutely not" do the same for shamed Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevic, so it's probably just as well he never asked.

Blagojevich, who opted to make the media rounds today in lieu of appearing at his own impeachment trial, dropped the bombshell on Good Morning America that he was seriously considering asking the talk show queen to replace Obama as the Land of Lincoln's junior senator.

"She seemed to be someone who would help Barack Obama in a significant way become president," Blagojevich said on the first of many televised appearances scheduled for today.

Read more...

Oprah Winfrey Senator


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Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Report

January 26th 2009 10:33
At points it seemed as if the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was following the same script as the Golden Globes Awards that took place two weeks ago, but the ceremony did feature a few variations, despite the fact that Slumdog Millionaire, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, Mad Men and 30 Rock still won a whole new slew of shiny trophies.

As Slumdog Millionaire continued to bust out of its little-film-that-could shell by winning the evening's final award, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Ledger and Winslet racked up more supporting-actor ammo heading into next month's Academy Awards.

Winslet was honored again for her role as a former concentration camp guard who has a lusty affair with a teenager in The Reader (a role for which she's competing in the Best Actress Oscar race), while Ledger seemingly cemented his Oscar-frontrunner status for his still-resonating performance in The Dark Knight.
Meryl Streep Kevin Winter/Getty Images

"It is a great honor to be asked to accept this on behalf of Heath," said costar Gary Oldman. "He was an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary talent. And it is wonderful that you have acknowledged that and honored that talent tonight. On behalf of Heath, his family, and his family on The Dark Knight, I thank you."

30 Rock Cast SAG Awards
30 Rock Cast At The SAG Awards


But Winslet couldn't make it a double Sunday because it was the grande dame of nights such as these, Meryl Streep, who won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her turn as a strict and relentless nun in Doubt.

"I didn't even buy a dress!" a breathless Streep exclaimed. "I'm really, really, really shocked! And even though awards mean nothing to me anymore, I'm really happy."

"Can I just say, there is no such thing as the best actress," she continued. "There is no such thing as the greatest living actress. I am in a position where I have secret information, that I know this to be true. I am so in awe of the work of the women this year—nominated, not nominated. So proud of us girls!"
Sean Penn Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Taking some of the wind out of Mickey Rourke's sprint to Oscar, meanwhile, was Milk star Sean Penn, who took home Lead Actor prize for playing pioneering gay politico Harvey Milk.

"Thank you, and good evening, comrades," Penn began. "That was for O'Reilly." (Bill, we presume.)

As for the rest… lots of déjŕ vu all over again.

Tina Fey and her merry band of 30 Rockers continued to feel the love this awards season. The NBC sitcom snagged its first win for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a TV Comedy, as well as Fey's second straight win for Lead Female Actor in a Comedy and Alec Baldwin's third consecutive victory in the Lead Male category.

"I don't know who I want to make out with more tonight, [Anthony] Hopkins or Diane Lane—Tony looks so good!" joked Baldwin before going on to thank his fellow castmembers.
30 Rock, Screen Actors' Guild Awards AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Fey, meanwhile, dedicated her win to her young daughter, Alice, and Jane Krakowski did the honors when 30 Rock won SAG's equivalent of a best comedy series award.

"A great ensemble should be better than the sum of its parts, and that is definitely the case here because some of these people are just weirdos we picked up off the street," Krakowski said, pointedly adding, "Jack McBrayer," under her facetious breath.

John Adams' first couple, Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, also relived their Golden Globes glory, sweeping the performance categories for acting in a TV movie or miniseries.

Not that the members of SAG agreed with the Hollywood Foreign Press about everything. The cast of Mad Men was singled out for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, while House cornerstone Hugh Laurie notched his second consecutive SAG win for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.

"I fancied I knew instantly that this was an extraordinary character that could go the distance," Laurie said. "That was a complete lie. I had no idea, and this is absolutely amazing to me now to look back."

And while the good doc is known to thank those members of the crew who are often overlooked come awards season, Laurie gave a shout-out this time to the couple who run the set's craft services table, the purveyors of the "finest cheesy eggs this side of the Rio Grande."

Seven-time nominee Sally Field then won her first ever SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama for playing Brothers & Sisters matriarch Nora Walker.

"I've been an actor for 45 years," said the reliably long-winded Field. "I am so proud to be an actor and so proud that my fellow actors would give me this. We inspire, we provoke, we entertain, and never before has that been so needed in the country than it is right now."

Also quite proud of his profession was James Earl Jones, the recipient of this year's Life Achievement Award.

"I don't mean to embarrass anybody by comparing the actor to God," the sonorous thesp began, "but once we've taken a role, we have a similar responsibility, to breathe life into that character, and only the actor can do that."

And to his fellow actors: "I love the work you do, sometimes it simply knocks me out. In this gathering of gifted artists, I'd like to raise a salute. Paul Newman, somebody down here likes you."

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The following is the complete list of winners from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, 2009

FILM

Cast in a Motion Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Male Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn, Milk

Female Actor in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep, Doubt

Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture: The Dark Knight

Sean Penn
Sean Penn


TELEVISION

Ensemble in a Drama Series: Mad Men

Ensemble in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock

Male Actor in a Drama Series: Hugh Laurie, House

Female Actor in a Drama Series: Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters

Male Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Paul Giamatti, John Adams

Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Laura Linney, John Adams

Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series: Heroes


Life Achievement Award: James Earl Jones

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In a fresh twist on reality TV, an actor from TV's C.S.I. recently brought down a real life crook. With his fists!

According to New York Daily News gossip hounds Rush & Molloy, Gerald McCullouch (that's investigator Bobby Dawson to C.S.I. fans) was riding the subway in from New York's JFK Airport at 2 a.m. when a big goon tried to grab his laptop and jet.

But McCullouch, who works out three or four times a week boxing, slugged the would-be robber. "Well, that's when he pulled a kitchen knife out of a black plastic bag," said the actor. "This thing must have had a blade 10 inches long. The other passengers started running out the door and into the next car."

The robber reportedly tried to stab McCullouch, but the blade glanced off his leather jacket.

Gerald McCullouch CSI
Gerald McCullouch CSI


"We were in each other's face," the actor told the Daily News. "I think I punched him again as the doors closed and the train started leaving the station. I'm watching MTA workers on the platform looking in. I thought, ‘Great, now I'm alone in this car with him.'

Luckily for McCullouch, the train stopped halfway out of the station and cops rushed in to subdue the dude. So happily, Gil Grissom's gruesome crime scene expertise was not needed.
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Michelle Obama has issued a statement about Ty's newest dolls for their TyGirlz Collection, Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. The plush pair are named after her and President Barack Obama's daughters, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10.

"We believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes," said Michelle's spokeswoman in a statement.

Guess that's one purchase the trendsetting first family won't be making.

Obama Dolls
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Molly Ringwald's Twins

January 24th 2009 06:05
The Breakfast Club princess, Molly Ringwald, is expecting twins, a boy and a girl, in August, with hubby Panio Gianopoulos, People reports.

The new additions will give the couple their first son and a second daughter. They're also parents to 5-year-old Mathilda Ereni.

According to a rep for ABC Family, Ringwald's pregnancy will be written into the plot of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, in which the former Brat Packer plays the put-upon mom of an expectant teen.

Molly Ringwald
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Drew Barrymore has said she's ready to make a third installment of her supersuccessful Charlie's Angels movie franchise.

"I'm so into it," Barrymore said while promoting her new star-filled romantic comedy, He's Just Not That Into You. "I’m so into Charlie's Angels III!"

Barrymore kicked off an updated retelling of the 1970s television series nine years ago with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu. Three years later, they returned with Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

"It's percolating up," said Nancy Juvonen, Barrymore's Flower Films producing partner. "It's rising to the surface."

Barrymore added, "They're hard movies to make, but they're fun." And lucrative! The franchise grossed $544 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com.

Charlie's Angels


Ideas are being kicked around, including the possible introduction of a fourth Angel. It happened in the original Aaron Spelling series when Cheryl Ladd joined the cast in 1977 as Kris Munroe, sister of Farrah Fawcett's iconic Jill.

Let's not forget about a villain. Sam Rockwell and Crispin Glover were among the baddies the first time around. Demi Moore appeared in Full Throttle as Madison Lee, a former Angel turned vamped-up villainess. For the next flick, they say they'll probably go with another guy.
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Tom Hanks Apologises To Mormons

January 24th 2009 05:51
Oscar winner Tom Hanks is softening his critique of Mormons, after coming under attack by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, for calling supporters of California's anti-gay marriage ballot initiative "un-American."

"The truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop 8 happen," Hanks said at last week's LA premiere of Big Love, the HBO series he executive-produces about polygamist Mormons. "There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them."

A rep for the church fired back to Fox News, "Expressing an opinion in a free democratic society is as American as it gets."

Hanks issued a statement earlier today expressing regret over his choice of words. "I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination," the statement reads in part. "But everyone has a right to vote their conscience. Nothing could be more America."

Tom Hanks Apology To Mormons


Hanks also said in the statement that using the term "un-American" creates even more unncessary division: "No one," he said "should use 'un-American' lightly or in haste."

A rep for Hanks could not be immediately reached, nor could a representative for the church.
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Miley Cyrus And Justin Gaston

January 24th 2009 05:28
Just back from performing at the inauguration, Miley Cyrus wasted no time hitting a Hollywood hot spot with Justin Gaston.

Last night, the two lovebirds dined on sushi at Koi, wearing matching black leather jackets.

“They seemed like they were having a great time over dinner and were polite and friendly to everyone around them,” says a source.

And why wouldn't they be? Miley told paps afterwards that she and Justin didn't pay a dime for the pricey dinner.

"We're cheap!" she told photogs as she explained why they didn't valet. When one pointed out that Koi wasn't cheap, Miley explained that it was a free dinner.

Miley Cyrus Justin Gaston
Miley Cyrus and Justin Gaston


"We didn't pay," she added. "We have friends! That's the best, isn't it? When the check comes and you pretend like you didn't know they got it."
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On the first anniversary of his death, the now two-time Oscar nominee's three sisters spoke out in Australia about their brother, his legacy and how deeply they still feel the loss. It's been a year since Heath Ledger so suddenly, shockingly and tragically passed away, and his nomination was exactly on the anniversary.

"Today is the anniversary of Heath's passing," sister Kate Ledger told Australian media Thursday, reading from a prepared statement obtained by E! News. "To us (his family) it seems like merely yesterday and we are still all nursing broken hearts. Like anyone who loses a family member, it has opened our eyes to the intense suffering and painful journey that is death.

"We feel truly blessed to have Heath's beautiful daughter, Matilda, and her lovely mom, Michelle, in our lives. And although we are physically challenged at times by the tyranny of distance, we are always in constant contact and take every opportunity possible to catch up. Michelle is doing an amazing job with 'our girl' and together we will cherish every moment of her steps through life."

Heath Ledger The Joker


Added Heath's half-sister, Ashleigh Bell: "Today is also a day for us to celebrate, with the news of Heath's Oscar nomination. Although we would love to have him here with us, we are so proud and so excited on his behalf. In Heath's words, he had 'the time of his life' portraying the Joker and said that it was the most fun he'd ever had making a film. On Heath's behalf we thank the Motion Picture Academy for recognizing his work.

"What an unbelievable legacy he has left for Matilda and our family. We will take this opportunity today to honor his wonderful life and take comfort in knowing Heath will continue to touch future generations through this amazing art form."

Ledger received an Academy Award nomination today for Best Supporting Actor for his chilling turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight. He is also up for a Screen Actors Guild Award this weekend, and director Christopher Nolan accepted the Golden Globe on his behalf Jan. 18.

A year ago, the 28-year-old star was found dead of an accidental prescription overdose in his New York loft.
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Patrick Swayze's Memoirs

January 23rd 2009 04:54
Patrick Swayze's increasingly dramatic story is headed for yet another medium. The actor and his wife of 23 years, Lisa, "will be collaborating on his memoirs," Swayze's rep, Annett Wolf, said. "There is no further information at this time."

But what a tale the 56-year-old actor could tell, going from unknown dancer to up-and-comer to full-fledged heartthrob after starring in Dirty Dancing to cult-favorite character in Road House to established leading man in Ghost to reborn character actor in Donnie Darko and so on...

And along the way, there were struggles with substance abuse and now, sadly, a battle with pancreatic cancer that has thrown Swayze back into the public eye with a vengeance.

The ever-upbeat star of A&E's new series The Beast returned home last week after a short stint in the hospital to treat pneumonia, telling People, "I am alive and plan on continuing to stay that way."

Patrick Swayze Lisa
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Anna Nicole Smith Saga Continues

January 23rd 2009 04:46
Larry Birkhead and Howard K Stern remain joined at the hip when it comes to defending their Anna Nicole Smith-related honor.

As the two-year anniversary of the model and reality-TV star's death approaches, the once-feuding duo filed declarations Tuesday in Stern's ongoing defamation lawsuit against two of the sources for the 2007 "tell-all" Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death.

The book, written by former MSNBC journalist Rita Cosby, contends that Stern and Birkhead had a homosexual relationship and were in cahoots to ensure Birkhead got custody of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn, while Stern, who Cosby also alleges played a role in the drug-related death of Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel. made off with as much of Smith's money as possible.

According to Wednesday's filing, however, defendant Mark Speer (who once provided security for Birkhead at the behest of his then-attorney, Debra Opri) "started exhibiting extremely odd behavior" when he was first hired and ultimately went on to tell Cosby "numerous lies" about what happened in the wake of Smith's death.

Howard K Stern
Howard K Stern


Debra Opri, whom Birkhead later sued over legal fees, "blamed Howard K. Stern for the breakdown in our relationship," and Speer sided with Opri, Birkhead contends.

Per his declaration, among Speer's untruths that ended up in Cosby's book: that Birkhead told Bahamian police Stern had funneled millions of dollars of Smith's money into various offshore bank accounts; that it was Birkhead's "mission" to make sure police investigated Stern; that Speer was privy to a conversation between Birkhead and Stern on the way home from Smith's burial service; that he and Stern "embraced" when Birkhead first arrived in the Bahamas to meet his daughter; and that he told Speer that Stern had "offered to give [him] Dannielynn."

"Many other lies about me in Blonde Ambition that are attributed to Mark Speer are not included in Howard K. Stern's lawsuit or addressed in this declaration," Birkhead added.

Stern's declaration also asserts that Speer was never around for any "substantive communication" he may have had with Birkhead.

Speer's allegations that Stern stole money from Smith are "absolutely false," as are claims that Stern was "criminally involved" in Daniel Smith's death, that Stern drugged Smith and that he "ransomed Danielynn to Larry Birkhead in order to become the executor of Anna's estate."

"I never said, 'Here's your baby,' or anything like that," Stern states. "In fact, our only discussions were about Dannielynn's care, and for most of the visit, I stayed in other parts of the house while Larry...played with Dannielynn in the nursery."

A hearing on the case, which also named Elizabeth "Jackie" Hatton, the sister of one of Smith's ex-boyfriends, as a defendant, is scheduled for Feb 3.
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Hilary Duff On Ghost Whisperer

January 23rd 2009 04:22
While Hilary Duff passes the time until her new NBC comedy, Barely Legal, kicks off, she seems to have decided to spend some time with friends..

More specifically, she a little time with Jennifer Love Hewitt, whom she'll join on the set of Ghost Whisperer, making a special appearance on the CBS drama, the network confirmed.

Her character is described as mysterious, so maybe she'll be responsible for killing someone before she becomes the youngest lawyer ever in the state of California on her own show.

Either way, with movies like War, Inc, a muffed attempt at a new single with "Reach Out" last fall and a little dirty dancing, returning to the land that made her famous in the first place, television, may help Duff rediscover the right stuff.

Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff


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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the most nominated movie at this year's Academy Awards, with 13 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Slumdog Millionaire is next with ten, and third is The Dark Knight and Milk, with eight nominations each.

Meryl Streep has received her fifteenth nomination, Best Actress for Doubt, making her the most nominated performer in Oscars history.

Academy Awards Complete List 2009


The awards will be handed out Feb 22 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Here's the complete list of nominees:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Frost/Nixon
* Milk
* The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Directing

* David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
* Gus Van Sant, Milk
* Stephen Daldry, The Reader
* Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

* Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
* Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
* Sean Penn, Milk
* Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

* Josh Brolin, Milk
* Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
* Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
* Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

* Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
* Angelina Jolie, Changeling
* Melissa Leo, Frozen River
* Kate Winslet. The Reader
* Meryl Streep, Doubt

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

* Amy Adams, Doubt
* Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
* Viola Davis, Doubt
* Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

* Bolt
* Kung Fu Panda
* Wall-E

Original Screenplay

* Dustin Lance Black, Milk
* Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
* Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
* Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
* Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, WALL-E

Adapted Screenplay

* Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
* Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
* David Hare, The Reader
* Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

* The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
* The Class (France)
* Departures (Japan)
* Revanche (Austria)
* Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Original Score

* Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* James Newton Howard, Defiance
* Danny Elfman, Milk
* A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
* Thomas Newman, WALL-E

Original Song

* "Down to Earth," Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; WALL-E
* "Jai Ho," A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; Slumdog Millionaire
* "O Saya," A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam; Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Art Direction

* Changeling
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* The Duchess
* Revolutionary Road

Achievement in Cinematography

* Changeling
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Costume Design

* Australia
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Duchess
* Milk
* Revolutionary Road

Best Documentary Feature

* The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
* Encounters at the End of the World
* The Garden
* Man on Wire
* Trouble the Water

Best Documentary Short Subject

* The Conscience of Nhem En
* The Final Inch
* Smile Pinki
* The Witness—From the Balcony of Room 306

Achievement in Film Editing

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* Frost/Nixon
* Milk
* Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Makeup

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* Frost/Nixon
* Milk
* Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Short Film

* La Maison en Petits Cubes
* Lavatory—Lovestory
* Oktapodi
* Presto
* This Way Up

Best Live Action Short Film

* Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
* Manon on the Asphalt
* New Boy
* The Pig
* Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Achievement in Sound Editing

* The Dark Knight
* Iron Man
* Slumdog Millionaire
* WALL-E
* Wanted

Achievement in Sound Mixing

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* Slumdog Millionaire
* WALL-E
* Wanted

Achievement in Visual Effects

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* Iron Man

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Dakota Fanning Ready For New Moon

January 22nd 2009 04:15
Fourteen year old Dakota Fanning is in talks to play Jane opposite Robert Pattinson & Co in New Moon, the upcoming sequel to box office megahit Twilight. “There were no auditions,” a source reveals. “They just offered it to her outright, and now they’re in negotiations. They’ve been going back and forth.”

Jane is a member of Italy’s Volturi, the most deadly group of bloodsucking killers in author Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series.

In the casting notice we got our hands on earlier this month, Jane is described as a petite blonde with a “Botticelli angel-like face…[and] crimson irises.” While fellow Volturi guards Demetri & Felix “are three times the size of her, they are terrified of her,” the casting notice reads.

Coincidentally (or maybe not), an online petition started by a Twilight fan already asks the studio, Summit Entertainment, to cast Fanning because she would be “perfect” for the role.

Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning


Early last month, Entertainment Weekly suggested Pushing Daisies star and Broadway diva Kristin Chenoweth. “Her voice is certainly high enough, and at 4'11'', she's also short enough,” writer Amy Wilkinson proposed.

Director Chris Weitz is expected to start shooting New Moon in March in the U.S. and Italy. If all goes as planned, the movie will hit theaters on Nov 20.
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George Clooney Maybe Back For End Of ER

January 22nd 2009 04:07
Sources say that George Clooney will be shooting scenes this week for an upcoming episode of the hit medical series ER, which is in its 15th and final season on NBC.

The network recently ordered up another three episodes of its stalwart Thursday-night drama, raising hopes that nabbing Clooney for a guest spot was one of the reasons for the extension.

Aw, George. Is there any humanitarian cause he won't support?

The Oscar winner last appeared on ER for an uncredited minute in 2000, a year after taking off to make movies full-time, to help tie up the storyline for Julianna Margulies' departing character, Nurse Carol Hathaway, who had twin daughters with Clooney's Dr Doug Ross.

George Clooney


Life & Style quotes a source saying that Clooney and Margulies will reunite as "part of an effort to wrap up all of the original characters' story lines" and that their episode will air toward the end of February, during sweeps.

Whether or not Clooney would pop up one last time has been up in the air for months, despite Noah Wyle's past assurance that his former costar would return, "schedule permitting."

The Michael Clayton star's publicist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. And an ER rep would not confirm other reports that Clooney would be shooting his scenes Thursday and Friday.

ER's series finale airs April 2 on NBC.
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History may be the judge of Barack Obama's presidency, but we won't have to wait that long to cast either praise or aspersions on his inauguration speech.

While expectations were phenomenally high for the roughly 18-minute speech, the 44th commander in chief, did his best to once again bring hope to the country while taking care to underscore his own personal journey that brought him to the Oval Office. That is, after a slight stumble through his oath, thanks in part to Chief Justice John Roberts' notesless administration of the pledge,

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed; why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath," Obama said.

Barack Obama Oath Of Office


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Miley Cyrus Rocks DC

January 21st 2009 06:45
She can't actually vote for two years, but that didn't stop 16-year-old Miley Cyrus from showing off her political side by way of the Kids Inaugural: We Are the Future concert in Washington DC, Monday night.

The teen sensation took to the stage at the Verizon Center to sing for the 14,000-plus in attendance, which included future first lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia.

But it wasn't just Miley who wowed the crowd, which included families of men and women of the American Armed Services. Michelle Obama, herself, had her fair share of screaming fans as well when she stepped up to address the audience.

Miley Cyrus Inaugural Cocert 2009
Miley Cyrus


"You kids are the future of this great nation," Obama said to the young folks listening from their seats and watching at home on the Disney Channel. "And at this extraordinary moment in our nation's history, we wanted you to be able to join in on this celebration and share this incredible journey with us."

In addition to Miley, the concert also featured performances by the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, Bow Wow, High School Musical star Corbin Bleu plus papa Cyrus, Billy Ray, who closed the concert with a Miley duet, and was attended by such celebs as Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah and Lucy Liu.
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Lost In Space Robot Actor Bob May Dies

January 20th 2009 11:35
Bob May died Sunday, aged 69. For three years on the classic 1960s sci-fi series Lost in Space, Bob May, in the words of costar Bill Mumy, "managed to create a classic TV personality out of a claustrophoic fiberglass prop."

The robot costume gave May, a showbiz lifer who also worked as a stuntman, his most famous role, even if it left his face unseen—and his voice unheard.

"He memorized 40-50 pages of dialogue each week for 84 episodes, and delivered it with passion and rhythm while all the time knowing that it would eventually be rerecorded by Dick Tufeld," Mumy wrote on his Website this past weekend.

Yes, it was Tufeld, not May, who could be heard warning Mumy's young Will Robinson of "Danger!" But, ultimately, it was May who made the robot. And vice versa.

As May himself said at a 2007 fan convention: "It was my home away from home."

Lost In Space Robot Bob May
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Amy Poehler New Sitcom

January 18th 2009 11:22
The pressure may be on for Amy Poehler to deliver big on her highly buzzed-about upcoming NBC sitcom, but she’s keeping pretty calm about it all.

“You just try to do your best and work with talented people,” Poehler told me at last night’s Sundance party at Village at the Yard’s T-Mobile Diner for Spring Breakdown, her new comedy with her former Saturday Night Live co-star Rachel Dratch and Parker Posey. “Doing stuff that is a little scary, I think is good. You have to keep moving.”

The series, which is set to premiere in April, stars Poehler as Leslie Knope, who heads up a small town parks department in Indiana.

With small town government, there is a possibility of seeing Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin stopping by, maybe.

Amy Poehler


“No, no, no,” Poehler insisted. “[Leslie] is the head of the parks department, so it’s very bureaucratic. It’s the place where you go get permits and licenses. It’s very small time.”

Sounds like the perfect place for the former vice presidential candidate.

Real-life politics aside, Poehler & Co. officially unveiled the show on Friday at the annual Television Critics Association powwow in L.A., even if it still doesn’t have a title. “It’s coming soon,” Poehler said. “We’ve been mulling it over. It will find its way.”

If they run out of ideas, they should talk to my always-in-the-know TV gossiping cohort Kristin Dos Santos. Her faithful readers have come up with plenty of suggestions.
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Mariah Carey And Nick Cannon Baby Plans

January 17th 2009 11:04
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon may not be poppin’ out babies right now, but it’s gonna happen. “We’re definitely into planning a family and stuff but when everything calms down and we get the time,” Cannon said after finishing up a workout at Gatorade’s G Gym at Village at the Yard at Sundance. “We’re just running and gunning now and enjoying being newlyweds.”

Also on the couple’s agenda? Working together! But not on a musical collaboration. So what gives?

“It’ll be something more out of fun than serious,” Cannon said. “We’re going to do some comedy stuff together. You’ll see us this year doing some really funny stuff.”

Cannon is not only deejaying tonight’s House of Hype party for Carey’s new movie, Push, but he also has his own flick at Sundance to promote, the indie psycho-thriller The Killing Room.

Mariah Carey Nick Cannon Baby Plans


He plays a young homeless guy opposite Chloë Sevigny and Timothy Hutton. “It was my first real chance to be a serious method actor,” Cannon said. “I lost like 20 pounds for the role. I didn’t eat. I slept outside. I didn’t comb my hair for a month. I went into seclusion.”

He’s not expecting his wife to dig Killing too much because “she likes fun, lighthearted comedies.”

And after the film festival, it’s off to Washington, D.C., for the Inaugural and some big dreams. Cannon laughed, “I want to be the official White House deejay.”
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Lindsay Lohan might not have technically split with Samantha Ronson, but the lovers' tiff almost led to Lohan technically violating probation in her DUI case.

While the legging-favoring actress was diverting attention yesterday by shopping with her sister in Malibu, attorney Blair Berk was in Beverly Hills Court attending a progress hearing on Lohan's behalf.

During the hearing it was revealed that the reformed 22-year-old failed to reenroll in her alcohol-education course within the required time frame; a necessity, salivating gossip hounds will be pleased to know, because the actress recently changed her official place of residence from Ronson's to a new address.

"It was just a technicality," Los Angeles Superior Court spokeswoman Vania Stuelp said. "They have fixed the addresses and paperwork, and there is no violation of probation."

Lindsay Lohan


Lohan will not face any fallout from the clerical error, and another hearing has been set for Feb 5, at which time the actress will be required to show proof of reenrolment.

As for her probation, Lohan has until Jul 14 to complete her alcohol-education courses.
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Whitney Houston may come through and actually perform at Clive Davis’ legendary Grammys preparty. The long-embattled songbird is scheduled to be on the bill when Davis cohosts the annual bash for the first time with NARAS on Feb. 7 at the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel.

Ms Houston was supposed to perform last year along with fellow superstars like Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Wyclef Jean, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli, but she cancelled because of a death in her family. She did, however, attend the soiree as Davis’ date. And Houston won’t be the only welcome-back songstress on the Davis stage.

Jennifer Hudson is another scheduled headliner. This will be the Oscar winner’s second performance since her mother, brother and nephew were killed in the fall. Hudson’s return to the stage takes places Feb 1 when she sings the national anthem at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida.

Whitney Houston Jennifer Hudson
Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson


Will Houston and Hudson perform together? Probably not, a source tells me, because there “will be so many big voices that night it may be weird just to single them out and have them sing together.”

The audience also promises to be star-studded. Among last year’s guests were Janet Jackson, Carrie Underwood with then-beau Chace Crawford, Rihanna, Fergie, Pete and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Lindsay Lohan, Missy Elliott and Rod Stewart.
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CSI Celebrity Appearances

January 17th 2009 10:38
The list of celebrity suspects stopping by the CSI franchise just keeps getting longer. Most recently, we've heard all about Taylor Swift on the set of the Las Vegas-based original, and Sean Combs matching wits with David Caruso on CSI: Miami.

Now, new parents Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Pete Wentz are slated to make an appearance on CSI: New York, CBS confirms to E! News.

The couple will leave baby Bronx Mowgli at home yet again to play Bonnie and Clyde-like villains. The episode airs March 18.

There are unconfirmed rumours that Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt may be next.

Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz
Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Pete Wentz
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Britney Spears Comeback

January 17th 2009 10:29
In case there happens to be someone who still needs proof that the old Britney Spears has returned, look no further than the pop star's exposed midriff, seen here in a shot just posted to her Website.

The pic was taken as the "Womanizer" songstress prepares for her upcoming world tour, The Circus Starring Britney Spears, which kicks off March 3 in New Orleans.

Britney Spears Comeback


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Judgement Against Ed McMahon

January 16th 2009 09:49
Both Ed McMahon and Citibank have seen better decades. But only one of those financially strapped institutions owes the other nearly $180,000.

A Los Angeles judge ruled in Citibank's favor Thursday in its lawsuit against the former Tonight Show sidekick, filed to collect on debt McMahon accrued over the last four years.

The bank sued McMahon in June for $179,687, not long after it became public knowledge that the TV icon was in danger of losing his Beverly Hills home to foreclosure after falling $644,000 behind on his mortgage loan payments.

But while various bill collectors are still out there, the house matter was more or less settled in November when a group of investors took control of McMahon's outstanding loans and agreed to his continued residence in exchange for payments.

Ed McMahon
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Jennifer Aniston New Man

January 16th 2009 09:34
Jennifer Aniston was surely looking as if she was doing something, or someone, naughty last night at Chateau Marmont. An utterly radiant, glowing, just-washed-that-hanger-on-st inky-pop-star-outta-my-fabulo usly-coiffed hair Jen was dashing down to the valet last night giggling. Of course, the garage was closed to the common folk, but eager parking peeps couldn't wait to service the gal Brad got tired of servicing all those years ago.

But it wasn't Jen's preferential treatment that had folks gabbing, but her companion:

J.A. was "absolutely radiant and ravishing" as she held tight to her man-date, exiting the posh bad-girl's hang for babes like Sienna and Lindsay. And he wasn't one of her gay pals or John Mayer, thong-wearer and dubious starlet escort. Nope, the guy in questions was a taller, darker and handsomer babe who held his honey tight, protected and away from peeping eyeballs like yours and mine.

Jennifer Aniston New Man


In fact, we're assured the mystery man is mucho miles ahead of Mayer in the looks department, so maybe there's hope for Ms. A. one-upping that bitch Angie, after all, let's pray, OK?

Oh, but there's one sour note: Even though I'm told this hunk is, again, not one of Jen's myriad gay chums (she is, after all, one of the biggest fag hags in town, let's face it), the stud was wearing some makeup. Jeez. Is that what Jen tells them all to do now, since it's a damn given their pics will be up faster than Angie flirts with the gals these days?

Still no word who the guy is.
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Johnny Knoxville Grenade at LAX

January 16th 2009 09:30
The Los Angeles City Attorney's office says that a criminal complaint will be filed against Johnny Knoxville after airport screeners found a grenade in the reformed daredevil's luggage early this morning.

"As he was being screened, security noticed an image of a hand grenade in his carry-on," says Los Angeles International Airport Police Sgt. Jim Holcomb. "Airport police and the bomb squad were called, and it was determined there were no explosives or firing pin."

While the grenade thankfully wasn't real, Knoxville claimed the entire incident was a big misunderstanding and that he never intended to cause a scare at LAX.

"He told police it was a prop from a photo shoot and he completely forgot it was in his bag," Holcomb says.

Must've been some photo shoot.

Johnny Knoxville


Police said the 38-year-old Knoxville remained cooperative throughout the ordeal and was ultimately released and allowed to board his 7 am flight to Miami.

Knoxville was quick to defend his actions in a blog posted not long after the incident, saying that the grenade was one of "a bunch of silly props" he was unaware was in his luggage.

"The wardrobe girl packed my luggage so I could go home and, unbeknownst to me, she packed a FAKE hand grenade in the front zipper of my luggage. I was bummed when I realized what had happened," he wrote.

Still, Knoxville harbors no hard feelings for the incident.

"The cops did their job and verified that it wasn't real. Also, they were cool as they could be to me, considering the situation, and it is no one's fault but my own. I should have checked my goddamn luggage through and through, but I didn't and now we have this incident.

"It was a mistake."
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Not that it's too difficult a feat to achieve, but Steve Carell just surpassed Michael Scott in the battle of small-business prowess.

The Office star is now the proud owner of a local landmark general store in the historic village of Marshfield Hills, Mass, where Carell and his wife, Nancy Walls, own a summer home.

"This is much more of an emotional investment than a business one," Carell told the Boston Globe. "I saw an opportunity to help preserve a little piece of history."

Expect applications for assistant to the regional general store manager to start pouring in.

The actor purchased the 155-year-old building that houses the Marshfield Hills General Store last year and was officially granted ownership of the business, which is being run by Walls' sister, Tish Vivado, on Jan 1.

Steve Carell The Office


Carell added that the general store gave the people "a sense of community. These spots are growing more and more scarce. I hope to keep this particular one alive and well."

The big- and small-screen star has already taken a hands-on approach to ownership, turning up to the store's building inspection back in November. He's also proving to be something of a master grassroots marketer, doing his best to drum up business for the forthcoming summer season.

"I will be manning the cash register and stocking the shelves as time permits!" he promised. "For the time being, however, I am looking to give the building a bit of TLC."
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Sun Apologises To Sharon Osbourne

January 16th 2009 08:59
The Sun has apologised to Sharon Osbourne. As anyone who watched the Rock of Love Charm School reunion special knows, nobody insults Sharon Osbourne and gets away with it, and The Sun has learned the hard way.

The U.K. tabloid has agreed to pay the rock family for libel damages and legal fees.

The reality-TV maven took the newspaper to Britain's High Court after it accused her of "driving her frail husband Ozzy Osbourne to destruction" and working him "so hard she will kill him" in an October 2007 article titled "Exclusive-Osbournes: The Truth."

The story also alleged, per court documents, that Sharon was putting Ozzy's "life at risk by forcing him to perform a series of live shows when he was not well enough and that her motivation for doing so was to fund her exorbitant spending."

Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne
Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne


Osbourne's lawyer, John Kelly, called the newspaper's words "extremely distressing, hurtful and damaging."

The Sun, per court documents, wishes "to publicly set the record straight, undertake never to republish the allegations and apologise...for the distress and embarrassment it caused."

The amount of damages was not disclosed.
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Ricardo Montalban Dies

January 15th 2009 08:21
Ricardo Montalban, who presided over TV's original Fantasy Island as the all-knowing, white-suited Mr. Roarke, revealed an impressive chest while provoking Captain Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and seduced potential car buyers with "Corinthean leather," died today. He was 88.

Montalban's death was announced by a city council member from Los Angeles, the city where a landmark Hollywood theater bares his name and where the Mexican-born actor had worked in, and starred in, for more than 60 years.

Montalban was as elegant offscreen as he was on.

"I often wear white even when I'm not working," he told the New York Times during his 1978-84 stay on Fantasy Island. "White immediately spells cleanliness. It makes me feel fresh and clean.''

Ricardo Montalban


Born Nov 25, 1920, Montalban was already a movie star in his native country when he was recruited by Hollywood in 1945. Beginning in the late 1950s, television became his main source of screen work.

One show he guested on, among the dozens, was Star Trek. In a 1967 episode titled "Space Seed," Montalban introduced the genetically supercharged warrior Khan Noonien Singh. Fifteen years later, Montalban was called on to revive the role in Star Trek II. The 1982 film became noted for revving up the franchise, eliciting an impressive "Khaaaan!" roar from William Shatner, and giving a grand showcase to Montalban's sixtysomething chest.

In his autobiography, I Am Spock, Trek star Leonard Nimoy wrote of how fans debated whether Montalban stuffed Khan's low-cut costume with a fake breastplate.

"I'm here to tell you: It most defintely wasn't!" Nimoy attested. "Those were Montalban's enviable pecs."

Montalban also endeared himself to sci-fi fans as the kindly circus owner from 1971's Escape From the Planet of the Apes and 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

In the mid-1970s, Montalban was tapped to pitch the Chrysler Cordoba. The commercials, in which Montalban cooed over the sedan interior's "soft Corinthean leather," spawned a thousand parodies, and more than a little confusion: What exactly was Corinthean leather?

In the 1980s, Montalban was pressed on the subject by David Letterman.

"They found a leather that was very durable, very pliable and very durable, so Corinthean!" Montalban said.

"But does it mean anything?" Letterman asked.

"Nothing," Montalban conceded.

After Fantasy Island, Montalban did prime-time soaps (Dynasty, The Colbys), more guest shots (but not on the 1990s Fantasy Island revival in which Malcolm McDowell inherited the Mr. Roarke moniker) and movies (the Spy Kids franchise).

Montalban won one Emmy, for the 1978 miniseries How the West Was Won, and was presented with the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994.
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Lisa Marie Presley And Her Twins

January 15th 2009 07:58
Three months after the birth of their twin girls, Harper and Finley—, Lisa Marie Presley and her husband, Michael Lockwood, are proudly giving the world its first glimpse of Elvis' newest grandkids in the latest issue of People.

"When we brought them home, we were in shock—and blissful," says the 40-year-old Presley, who has two children from her first marriage, 19-year-old Riley and 16-year-old Ben.

And as for what kind of tunes her little ones will be exposed to, Presley adds, "There will definitely be a music lesson on Grandpa."

Lisa Marie Presley And Her Twins
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Patrick McGoohan Dies

January 15th 2009 07:50
Patrick McGoohan, the Emmy-winning actor best known as the mastermind and star of the cult classic 1960s sci-fi show The Prisoner, has died. Son-in-law Cleve Landsberg says McGoohan passed away in Los Angeles after a short illness. No other information was available.

He turned down a chance to play James Bond to launch The Prisoner, about a former secret agent (Number Six) trapped on a mysterious island by an unknown enemy. Although it only lasted 17 episodes, it influenced several future genre shows, including Lost and the revamped Battlestar Galactica, which also has a key character named Number Six.

McGoohan won his two Emmys for his work opposite Peter Falk on the hit '70s detective series Columbo, costarred with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in Silver Streak and played the villainous King Edward Longshanks in Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning epic Braveheart.

Patrick McGoohan Prisoner
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New Stunt For Oscars

January 15th 2009 07:39
The new producers of the 81st Academy Awards have hatched a new stunt ostensibly to lure millions of viewers to their television sets on Hollywood's Biggest Night—keep the A-list presenters a surprise.

A spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has confirmed that newbie producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon have decided not to unveil the names of presenters until they walk onstage during the Feb 22 ceremony at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

The move breaks from past tradition when the Academy issued press release after press release trumpeting the names of presenters in the weeks prior to the show. Organisers are hoping the mystery becomes a parlor game to gin up more excitement with its global audience.

At this point, the Academy is willing to do anything to boost ratings. Last year's Oscarcast, which saw No Country for Old Men take home the Best Picture prize, was watched by 31.7 million people, the lowest-rated ceremony ever. By contrast, 1998's ceremony, which crowned Titanic, drew 57.2 million.

Oscars New Stunt
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Not to mix our past-their-prime boy bands, but there's gonna be a new kid on the block for a Backstreet Boy. Howie Dorough and his wife of more than a year, Leigh, are expecting their first child in June.

"I know she's going to be a great mother," the 35-year-old father-to-be told People. "If she can take care of me, the biggest baby in the entire world, I think she's going to be okay with the little one coming along."

The Doroughs, who tied the knot in December 2007, aren't planning on finding out the baby's sex until the birth. "We're just hoping for a healthy baby," he says.

As for his now ex-bandmates, Dorough said the rest of the Boys were "surprised but very, very enthusiastic" about his impending fatherhood. What remains of the group is currently recording a new album in Los Angeles. The now four-strong band is expected to kick off the South American leg of their tour next month.

 Howie Dorough Backstreet Boys
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Jennifer Hudson Back For Super Bowl

January 14th 2009 07:06
Jennifer Hudson will return to the stage for the first time since her horrific family tragedy at next month's Super Bowl. The Grammy-nominated songbird will sing the national anthem before the big gridiron game on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla.

"She certainly can nail it,'" a source just told me. "She proved it at the Democratic National Convention."

The Chicago native performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Democratic National Convention when Senator Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination in August.

Hudson has not performed or made any public appearances since her mother, Darnell Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and nephew Julian King were shot to death a little over two months ago. William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson's sister Julia, has been charged with their murders.

Jennifer Hudson


There had been rumors that Hudson would perform at the inaugural on Tuesday as well as reports that she's on the bill for the MusiCares tribute to Neil Diamond the night before the Grammys next month. There's no truth to the inaugural rumor, and I'm told the Diamond gig is yet to be decided.

Hudson is up for four Grammys for her self-titled album, including Best R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song for "Spotlight" and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for her duet with Fantasia, "I'm His Only Woman."
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Britney Spears New House

January 14th 2009 06:58
Britney Spears' housewarming party is already in full swing—in her heart. "I took my babies to our new home, and they loved it! I can't wait to move in," the pop star wrote Tuesday on her website.

Her new digs are rumored to be in the exclusive Oaks community in Calabasas, California, where she was spotted with her entourage earlier today unloading some of her sons' toys outside a mansion dubbed "Château Sueńos," or "Dream House."

The house, which was most recently listed for $8.99 million, looks to still be on the market after six months, but realtor Jeff Biebuyck tells E! News that the listing "should have been updated."

Biebuyck would not confirm, however, whether Spears has either bought or is planning to rent the estate. A rep for the Circus singer declined to comment.

Britney Spears


Meanwhile, Spears has yet to unload her six-bedroom, six-bathroom manse at the Summit in Studio City. Saying she wanted more room for 3-year-old Sean Preston and 2-year-old Jayden James to run about and play, the 27-year-old mom got the blessing from her conservators to put her house up for sale in June.

The residence was officially listed at $7.9 million in September, but the asking price was recently bumped down by about $500,000.
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Cherry Jones Recovering From Surgery

January 14th 2009 06:51
Cherry Jones, 24's reigning President Allison Taylor, is recovering from gallbladder surgery. The news was broken by series producer Howard Gordon after the two-time Tony Award-winning actress was MIA at a show panel Tuesday at the Television Critics Association meeting in Los Angeles.

"Cherry wouldve been here but she had her gallbladder removed. She's fine," Gordon said.

Jones, 52, is recuperating in New York. No further details were immediately announced.

According to a show publicist, shooting has already been completed and Jones' absence will not affect production schedules.

The new season of 24 kicked off Sunday.

Aside from her trophy-bagging Broadway work in The Heiress and Doubt, Jones has starred in such films as The Village, Ocean's Twelve, The Perfect Storm and Erin Brockovich.

Cherry Jones Recovering From Surgery
Cherry Jones and Kiefer Sutherland
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One week ago, Jennifer Garner gave birth to her second daughter with Ben Affleck. Now, the A-list couple, both 36, has announced the blooming baby's name.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck to the adorable celebuspawn roster.

No explanation of the name has been offered, but the Baby Name Wizard defines it as "derived from the Hebrew seraphim (burning ones), a name used in the Bible for the heavenly winged angels surrounding the throne of God."

As seen earlier today with her "Big Sister" shirt, Violet, 3, is excited about the addition to her family.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck Announce New Baby Name

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Chris Rock Writing Second Book

January 14th 2009 06:32
The funnyman, Chris Rock, is putting pen to paper for the second time in his career, for a book of "comedic observations" due in fall 2010 from Grand Central Publishing, according the company's spokesman. Rock's first book was 1997's Rock This! for Hyperion.

The 43-year-old recently reprised his voice role as Marty the Zebra in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He's set to make his Sundance debut next week with the documentary Good Hair, an examination of the styling industry for African-American Chris Rock is getting his writing career crack-a-lackin'.

The funnyman is putting pen to paper for the second time in his career for a book of "comedic observations" due in fall 2010 from Grand Central Publishing, according the company's spokesman.

Rock's first book was 1997's Rock This! for Hyperion.

The 43-year-old recently reprised his voice role as Marty the Zebra in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He's set to make his Sundance debut next week with the documentary Good Hair, an examination of the styling industry for African-American.

Chris Rock
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Mickey Rourke Supports PETA

January 14th 2009 06:20
He may not be showing off his backside like Eva Mendes or Khloe Kardashian, but tough guy Mickey Rourke is looking to kick some ass when it comes to fighting animal overpopulation.

In an effort to get the word out about the importance of spaying and neutering, the actor is once again showing his passion for pets, this time by tag-teaming with PETA on a new ad featuring his cuddly canine Jaws.

You may recall, the 52-year-old comeback kid thanked "all [his] dogs" during his acceptance speech Sunday after pinning down a Golden Globe for his art-paralleling-life-type role in The Wrestler. "Because when a man’s alone," he added, "sometimes all you got is your dog, and they meant the world to me.”

When it comes to pet names, "Mickey" may just have shot to the top.

Mickey Rourke Supports PETA
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Another day, another Kate Hudson hookup rumor. The newest dude she's being linked to is hunky Aussie golfer Adam Scott.

The two were snapped frolicking on the beach together in Maui, where Kate has been vacationing with her fam at the Ritz-Carlton.

The two seemed to be flirting with each other as they swam and laid out, according to an eyewitness, but if you check out these vacation pics, there's no PDA to be seen—and not much more time for Scott to make a move. He's due in Honolulu today to play the Sony Open.

And the golfer isn't the only sporty stud Kate's been linked to lately...

The New York Post is claiming Madonna's boy-toy Alex Rodriguez took Hudson on a three-hour dinner date last week at Lure Fishbar. Kate's rep maintains she was actually there with 10 people.

Kate Hudson Adam Scott

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The woman whom Roman Polanksi was convicted of having sex with when she was a mere 13 years old is "absolutely clear" about one thing.

She thinks the 30-year-old statuatory rape charge against the Oscar-winning filmmaker should be dismissed.

"Surprised and disappointed" that the Los Angeles Superior Court system has not heeded Polanski's bid to have the charge of having unlawful intercourse with a minor dismissed, 45-year-old Samantha Geimer feels like a victim all over again, according to a four-page declaration filed Monday.

"I have urged that this matter come to a formal legal end," Geimer stated. "I have urged that the district attorney and the court dismiss these charges."

The prosecution's refusal to dismiss the charge against Polanski, who has been living in self-exile in Europe since 1978, when he fled the U.S. out of fear of being sentenced to jail time for his crime, has "given great publicity to the lurid details of those events, for all to read, again," she continued.

Roman Polanski's Victim Disappointed Charge Not Dismissed


"True as they may be, the continued publication of those details causes harm to me, my beloved husband, my three children and my mother. I have become a victim of the actions of the district attorney. My position is absolutely clear. Let us deal with the harm and continued harm that the pendency of this matter visits upon me and my family, and waive the legal niceties away and cause it to be dismissed.

"My views as a victim, my feelings as a victim, or my desires as a victim were never considered or even inquired into by the district attorney prior to the filing," Geimer said. "It is clear to me that because the district attorney's office has been accused of wrongdoing, it has recited the lurid details of the case to distract attention from the wrongful conduct of the district attorney's office as well as the judge who was then assigned to the case."

Geimer's current position echoes the one she took in an interview for the 2008 documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which alleges that the L.A. District Attorney's Office had inappropriate communication with the judge overseeing Polanski's case back in 1977-78.

A hearing on Polanski's motion to dismiss the decades-old charge is scheduled for Jan. 21.

In a counterfiling last month that graphically recounted the details of the 1977 sex case, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren contended that Polanski has "voluntarily remained a fugitive from justice" and is "not entitled to have the court entertain his motion" unless he returns to L.A. to face a judge.

On Friday, a judge rejected the Pianist director's request to have the case removed from L.A. Superior Court to the California Judicial Council because of this perceived bias among the court's judges.

In her declaration, Geimer called the stipulation that Polanski must appear in person "a joke, a cruel joke being played on me."

"I have survived, indeed prevailed, against whatever harm Mr. Polanski may have caused me as a child."
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Melissa George Leaves Grey's Anatomy

January 13th 2009 05:35
Melissa George, who plays intern Sadie Harris on the ABC prime-time medical soap Grey's Anatomy, is leaving the show, sources confirm. George was guaranteed a minimum of four episodes when she started her gig in the fall, but things went so well she was given another four.

But now, one of the sources reveals, a new contract has not been picked up.

George quickly became a fan favorite and a critics' darling for her work on Grey's. She was also a hit on HBO's In Treatment, and she was up for a Golden Globe yesterday for her stint on the psychotherapy drama series.

Sources say there were talks of George staying on, but her rep insists that she never intended to stay beyond the initial eight. "She was pretty vocal about that," the rep says. An ABC rep did not comment.

Melissa George Grey's Anatomy


Sadie was introduced in November and spiced things up with her bisexuality. She recently started some flirty relations with Callie Torres, played by Sara Ramirez.

But soon thereafter, it was reported that Sadie and Callie's potential hookup would fizzle and that Callie would be getting it on with a new character played by Jessica Capshaw.

To gay or not to gay appears to be an ongoing question over at Grey's. Callie had some same-sex hotness bubbling up with Dr Erica Hahn, played by Brooke Smith. But that ended abruptly in November when Smith was axed from the series.

Questions still remain about the future of the series' openly gay star, T.R. Knight. He reportedly has asked the network to let him out of his contract.
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Jennifer Love Hewitt And Her Stalker

January 13th 2009 05:23
On Monday, 29-year-old actress Jennifer Love Hewitt obtained a temporary restraining order against a 62-year-old man she says has been stalking her since 2007, even going so far as to move from Colorado to Los Angeles to close the geographical gap between them.

According to Hewitt's petition, filed Dec 23 in Los Angeles Superior Court, the object of her complaint, David Nolte, sent the Ghost Whisperer star more than 120 "threatening and harassing" correspondences, "including disturbing and violent letters that reference weapons he owns and fantasies he has wherein [Hewitt] is being impaled." (View the petition.)

Some of the letters detailed "delusional and violent fantasies about having sexual relations with Ms. Hewitt…marring her, impaling her and envisioning her fiancé with his head blown off."

Then in November, Hewitt received another package from Nolte containing two plane tickets to Australia, one of them in her name, and an itinerary for a trip that Nolte had apparently planned for the two of them.

Jennifer Love Hewitt And Her Stalker


Per court documents, the last straw was when Nolte showed up at the home of Hewitt's mother, Patricia, on Dec 21, bearing flowers and three letters for the actress, which he left at the property's gated entrance.

"I was terrified when I saw Mr Nolte, because he has sent me threatening letters describing his sexual and violent fantasies that involve me, and seeing him at my mother's house made me fear for my physical safety," Hewitt stated in a declaration included in the filing.

The order of protection, which is good for three years, also included Hewitt's mom and her then-fiancé, Ross McCall, who was living with the actress at the time.
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Mariska Hargitay On The Mend

January 13th 2009 05:16
Mariska Hargitay is on the mend after suffering a partially collapsed lung, but will not miss out on any episodes of Law & Order: SVU this season, according to the Emmy-winning actress' rep.

It's unclear if some sort of trauma prompted the injury or if Hargitay suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax, which can occur if more air pressure builds up in a person's chest cavity than is present in the lungs.

Hargitay's rep said, however, that the 44-year-old wife and mom was not injured on the job and was in fact on vacation from SVU, the highest-rated installment in the L&O family, when it happened.

"Mariska is feeling better," read a statement issued by series creator Dick Wolf's company, Wolf Films. "We are looking forward to her quick recovery and return to set."

Hargitay was nominated this year for a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama but did not attend last night's ceremony. She won the honor in 2005.

Access Hollywood

Mariska Hargitay On The Mend
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Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé and Denzel Washington are among the very boldfaced headliners expected for the pay-cable network's Jan 18 special We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, one of the nearly 5,000 celebrations taking place across the US leading up to Obama's swearing-in on Jan 20.

Also confirmed for the smorgasbord of musical performances and historical readings are "Yes We Can" maestro Will.i.am, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban, Jamie Foxx, John Mellencamp, Queen Latifah, Herbie Hancock, opera star Renée Fleming and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles.

The Washington, DC, show will be free and open to the public.

"Our intention is to root the event in history, celebrating the moments when our nation has united to face great challenges and prevail," said executive producer George Stevens Jr.

Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama
Bruce Springsteen and the Obamas


"We will have the statue of Abraham Lincoln looking down on our stage and a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people lining the mall—a tableau any director would relish," added director-producer Don Mischer.

Further showing just how down the network is with the people, HBO will televise the concert during a free-preview weekend, so it won't just be regular subscribers who get to watch the festivities.
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Less than 24 hours after their fantasy nuptials, Fergie and Josh Duhamel were at Los Angeles International Airport Sunday with bags in wedding-banded hand. While the casually dressed couple appeared to be headed on a tropical honeymoon, a source close to the newlyweds said that the duo are planning to begin their husband-and-wife life in Dubai, before jetting off to an unknown island destination.

Meanwhile, it's already time to cue the baby rumors. Despite the bride's tight, high-waisted jeans, a paparazzo dared to ask if The Dutchess was expecting. "I'm pregnant with twins," Fergie, 33, joked.

The "Glamorous" star's mother, Terri Ferguson, said her daughter has "never been pregnant," but that with all the rumors, "Josh's mother says, 'Would she hurry up and have that elephant,' it's such a long gestation period."

Truth is oft said in jest.

Fergie And Josh Duhamel
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Golden Globes Complete Winners List

January 12th 2009 12:20
MOVIES

Motion Picture, Drama
Slumdog Millionaire

Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Director, Motion Picture
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Actress, Motion Picture, Drama
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Actor, Motion Picture, Drama
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Actress, Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky

Actor, Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Colin Farrell, In Bruges

Supporting Actor, Motion Picture
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Supporting Actress, Motion Picture
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Screenplay
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign-Language Film
Waltz With Bashir, Israel

Motion Picture, Animated
WALL-E

Original Score
A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Original Song
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler; music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

Dev Patel Freida Pinto Slumdog Millionaire
Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in "Slumdog Millionaire"


TELEVISION

Television Series, Drama
Mad Men

Television Series, Comedy or Musical
30 Rock

Actress, Television Series, Musical or Comedy
Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Actor in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Actress, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Laura Linney, John Adams

Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Paul Giamatti, John Adams

Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
John Adams

Actress in a Television Series, Drama
Anna Paquin, True Blood

Actor in a Television Series, Drama
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment

Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Laura Dern, Recount

Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
Tom Wilkinson, John Adams
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Golden Globe Winners 2009

January 12th 2009 10:15
Nudging her way into the veterans' club was Anna Paquin, a winner for Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama, for HBO's freshman vampire series True Blood.

HBO, as tends to be the case, was the most-winning network of the night, with seven awards, while NBC took three (all for 30 Rock) and AMC brought up the rear, thanks to its repeat Best TV Series, Drama, win for Mad Men.

Also coming out on top was Europe, which, in addition to the one-woman dynamo that was Winslet, fielded a great share of the evening's Globe recipients, including Best Actress, Comedy or Musical, winner Sally Hawkins, whose tirelessly cheerful schoolteacher powered Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky'; Dubliner Colin Farrell, who took the male counterpart of that honor for the caper comedy-thriller In Bruges; and absentee Irishman Gabriel Byrne, who swooped in (figuratively) to snatch the award for Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama, for his role as an overly involved psychiatrist in HBO's In Treatment.

"Thank you, [director Martin McDonagh], for not listening to me when I asked you to cast someone else. I've never been so at peace with being ignored in my life," said Farrell, no longer reeking from the stench of Miami Vice and Alexander. "This is at least half yours," he said to In Bruges costar Brendan Gleeson. "I'll cut if for you when I get offstage and you can have a hemisphere."

The hot 'n' steamy Vicky Christina Barcelona—not really an Oscar contender but a solid effort from Woody Allen—was the Hollywood Foreign Press' choice for the Globe-specific category of Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical.

Jeremy Piven also fell prey to the international onslaught, missing out on his second consecutive win for Supporting Actor in a Series/Miniseries/TV Movie to John Adams' Tom Wilkinson.

Laura Linney Paul Giamatti John Adams
Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti collect their Golden Globes For "John Adams"


The seven-part HBO event about the second U.S. president, which scored 13 Emmys in September, duly won the Globe for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for TV, as well, while Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney followed up their Emmy wins with two more respective trophies for Best Actor and Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie to help make John Adams the most winning program of the night.

"This was hell of a job, this thing, this was a hell of a job," Giamatti said. "This little costume drama we put on—it seems there were thousands of people who saved my ass...every minute of every day."

While Slumdog Millionaire and John Adams tied with the most wins with four, the three leading nominees coming into the evening were completely shut out. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Doubt each went 0-for-5. But at least the drinks were free.
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30 Rock Rocks The Golden Globes

January 12th 2009 10:02
Tracy Morgan stole the show when accepting 30 Rock's Golden Globe for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical.

"Tina Fey and I had an agreement," he began, "that if Barack Obama won, I would speak for the show from now on. Welcome to postracial America—I am the face of postracial America! Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!"

Further non sequiturs ensued, but really, what better example of why 30 Rock deserved to win (and sweep the lead comedy acting awards) could there be?

Alec Baldwin notched his second win for playing network exec Jack Donaghy—and purposely dated himself by reminiscing about how he used to bring Rumer Willis (this year's Miss Golden Globe) juice boxes on film sets, back in the day. Fey's hell-of-a-year continued, as well, as she notched her second consecutive win for playing neurotic TV writer Liz Lemon.

Tina Fey 30 Rock
Tina Fey Accepts Best Actress (Television, Musical or Comedy) For "30 Rock"


"I've always loved the Hollywood Foreign Press. I have all the Hollywood Foreign Press action figures," began Fey, whose critically beloved NBC series saw its viewership inch up this fall due in part to Fey's other alter ego, Sarah Palin. "But I want you to know that I really know how very lucky I am to have the year that I've had...and if you ever start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet.

"You can find a lot of people there who don't like you," she added, before wishing all her detractors the proverbial "suck it."
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Heath Ledger Wins Golden Globe

January 12th 2009 09:45
Awards season continued to be good to Heath Ledger's memory, as the Australian actor, who died almost one year ago, was named Best Supporting Actor for his still-chilling turn in The Dark Knight, solidifying his Oscar chances.

"All of us who worked with Heath on The Dark Knight accept this with an awful mixture of sadness and incredible pride," said director Christopher Nolan, whose speech followed a specially prepared clip from the film. "For any of us lucky enough to have worked with him, and those of us lucky enough to have enjoyed his performances, he will be eternally missed—but he will never be forgotten."

Coincidentally, the Academy Award nominations will be announced on the exact first anniversary of his death, on 22nd January 2009.

Heath Ledger Joker Dark Knight
Heath Ledger as The Joker in "The Dark Knight"
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Mickey Rourke, whose comeback took a turn for the legitimate as he pinned down the win for Best Actor for The Wrestler, gave a Hollywood-outsider-style acceptance speech that, like Winslet's overwhelmed batch of thank-yous, provided both amusing and heartfelt entertainment.

"Several years ago, I was almost out of this business, and a young man kinda got in touch with me, and he kinda put his whole career on the line, saying he wanted to represent me," Rourke said. "So I want to thank David Unger for having the balls. And I want to thank his boss at ICM for not putting him back in the mailroom."

Director Darren Aronofsky "brought the best out of me," Rourke continued. "He hates it when I say he's tough, but he's one tough son of a bitch." (Aronofsky rewarded the sentiment by good-naturedly giving his star the finger.) "If you're not in shape, the man will bring you down, because I always say he's smarter than the rest of us—maybe not Steven," he added, meaning the night's Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient, Steven Spielberg.

Mickey Rourke Wrestler
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"
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Kate Winslet Wins Two Golden Globes

January 12th 2009 09:15
Kate Winslet proved a one-woman victory machine, sweeping the Best Actress, Drama, and Supporting Actress categories for her drastically different turns as a discontented 1950s-era housewife in Revolutionary Road and as a guilt-ridden former concentration camp guard who has an affair with a teenager in The Reader.

"I am so sorry, Anne, Meryl, Kristin; oh God, who's the other one?! Angelina! This is, OK now, forgive me...Is this really happening?" stuttered the flabbergasted actress as she capped off her night with the win for Revolutionary Road.

Leonardo DiCaprio Kate Winslet Revolutionary Road
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in "Revolutionary Road"
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Slumdog Millionaire tops Golden Globes

January 12th 2009 09:00
Slumdog Millionaire took a big bite out of the celluloid competition, and a big step toward Oscar, with four awards, including Best Picture, Drama and Best Director for Danny Boyle at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

While Slumdog Millionaire and John Adams tied with the most wins with four, the three leading nominees coming into the evening were completely shut out. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Doubt each went 0-for-5. But at least the drinks were free.

Dev Patel Freida Pinto Slumdog Millionaire
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Jennifer Garner's nursery is abloom with more than Violet. The Catch and Release star and hubby Ben Affleck have welcomed their second daughter, Affleck's rep confirmed on Tuesday.

Bennifer 2.0's new addition joins 3-year-old sister Violet in the running to be the most-photographed child of the 21st century.

No other details were available, but Garner's rep said in a statement, "Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck gave birth to a healthy baby girl."

Mom and Dad were spotted walking into Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last Wednesday and, considering Garner had looked so prominently pregnant for so long, it seemed as good a time as any for a birth day.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck


It wasn't to be, apparently, so hopefully the former Alias heroine didn't mind brandishing that bump for just a little longer. In the weeks leading up to the delivery, she was spotted having coffee with a pal in Santa Monica and ferrying Violet around the farmers market in Pacific Palisades, not far from her Brentwood home.

"She's wonderful. She's probably the best mother I've ever witnessed," her adoring former Alias costar, Victor Garber, told People in October, adding that the 36-year-old actress had "never been more beautiful."

Garner sort-of-confirmed pregnancy rumors in August, telling Access Hollywood, "We're so excited, obviously."
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CNN reports that the president-elect has approached the network's chief medical correspondent, Dr Sanjay Gupta, about taking on the post of US Surgeon General.

Hence, the Detroit-born neurosurgeon, deemed one of the Sexiest Men Alive by People in 2003, has steered clear of reporting on health care policy or any other Obama-related issues, according to CNN.

Gupta himself has declined to comment, but we're suspecting he's pretty flattered.

The 39-year-old University of Michigan alum makes his home in the Atlanta area now, but in 1997 he served as a White House fellow and as a special advisor to then-first lady Hillary Clinton. He joined CNN in 2001.

Dr Sanjay Gupta
Dr Sanjay Gupta

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Are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes trying to give Donald Trump a run for his New York City real estate money? If a new report is to be believed, Cruise and Holmes have bought not one, not two, but three more lofts in the building where the Valkyrie star has owned an apartment since first hitting it big in the '80s with Risky Business.

Estimated price for the new purchases? A whopping $14.4 million. But don't call in the decorators just yet...

A source tells me that the only thing Cruise and Holmes have been doing in that building is living there—not snatching up all available living space.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes


In fact they’ve called Cruise’s apartment home during Holmes’ three-month run on Broadway in All My Sons. The Arthur Miller play, which costars Patrick Wilson, John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest, closes on Sunday.

And while Cruise told me in an interview last month that he loves living in New York City, chances are the family will soon be back on the West Coast.

Not only that, they'll also be busy jetting around the world as Holmes and Suri are likely to join Cruise for at least part of his upcoming international promotional tour for Valkyrie.
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Josh Brolin Bar Brawl Charge Dropped

January 7th 2009 11:38
Prosecutors in Shreveport, La., have reached a deal with attorneys for Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, agreeing to drop all charges stemming from their highly publicized July bar brawl.

Cindy Kemp, spokeswoman for the Shreveport City Court, tells E! News that as long as the actors and five others accept "district attorney's probation" and stay out of further trouble, all misdemeanor counts against the group will be dismissed at their next court date, scheduled for March 11.

Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright


The W. gang was out celebrating the wrap of the Oliver Stone biopic at the Stray Cats bar when cops were called to break up a disturbance in the early hours of July 12, 2008. Brolin, the celluloid commander in chief, tried to talk cops out of arresting a drunk crew member, but he and Wright, who plays Colin Powell in the movie, wound up getting pepper sprayed and arrested for interfering with an officer.

Brolin and Wright were originally due to enter a plea today, but their arraignment was postponed last month to give the two sides time to work out a resolution.

The actors' L.A.-based legal eagle, Blair Berk, along with local lawyer Ron Michiotto informed the court this morning a deal had been hashed out.

"All charges will be dismissed. It was entered this morning and will be finalized in 60 days so there's no admission [of guilt']," said Berk. "They will be deemed not arrested and not convicted of anything."
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Patrick Swayze Pancreatic Cancer

January 7th 2009 07:25
Patrick Swayze has always been a fighter on the big screen, and is now proving his warrior worth in real life. Speaking out in detail about his battle with pancreatic cancer, the 56-year-old actor told Barbara Walters of his daily struggles, including his insistence not to take pain medication while filming his new A&E crime drama, The Beast, premiering next week.

"I've never been one to run from a challenge," Swayze said during the interview, which airs Wednesday and was excerpted today on ABCNews.com. "You can bet that I'm going through hell. And I've only seen the beginning of it."

While again refuting tabloid rumors that he's on his deathbed, the Ghost star admitted the cancer has generated "a lot of fear," particularly after learning it had spread to his liver.

Patrick Swayze


"There's a lot of stuff going on," he added. "Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm [asking], why me? Yeah, I'm all this stuff."

Swayze, looking lean but still fit, also opened up about the moment he first discovered he had the cancer; it was one year ago on New Year's Eve.

"I tried to have champagne, and it would be like pouring acid, you know, on an open wound," he said. "My indigestion issues got gigantic and constant. And then I started thinking, I'm getting skinny. I dropped about 20 pounds in the blink of an eye. And then when you see it in the mirror, when all of a sudden, you pull your eyes down and the bottom of your eyes go yellow and jaundice sets in—then you know something's wrong."

The former Dirty Dancer also talked about the agony of chemotherapy treatments during The Beast's five-month shoot, which ended up bringing added intensity to his role as an undercover FBI agent.

"When you're shooting, you can't do drugs," Swayze said. "I can't do hydrocodone or Vicodin or these kinds of things that take the edge off of it, 'cause it takes the edge off of your brain."

As it stands now, Swayze has sworn off the chemo in favor of a new treatment.

"What winning is to me is not giving up, is no matter what's thrown at me, I can take it," Swayze said. "And I can keep going."
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Rip Torn DUI Charge

January 6th 2009 11:13
Rip Torn apparently had too much of the Christmas spirit(s), at least according to Connecticut's finest. The 30 Rock costar pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts stemming from a Dec. 14 drunken driving arrest.

The 77-year-old was rung up on charges of illegal operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence and failure to drive in the proper lane after cops caught him cruising the breakdown lane of Route 44 with a Christmas tree tied to the roof of his Subaru. Torn lives in Salisbury, Conn., near the New York border.

Police say the actor botched part of a field sobriety exam and then refused to continue, insisting the ground wasn't level enough. He also refused a breath test.

Rip Torn


Torn, who currently plays Alec Baldwin's back-from-a-coma boss Don Geiss on 30 Rock and is best known for the Men in Black films and his Emmy-winning role on The Larry Sanders Show, is due back in court Jan. 28.

In 2007, Torn pleaded guilty in a New York court to driving while impaired. He was fined and lost his license. In 2004, a Manhattan jury acquitted him of driving drunk and causing a fender-bender.
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Patricia Arquette Seeks Divorce

January 6th 2009 11:00
On the job, Patricia Arquette sees dead people. In real life, she sees divorce lawyers. The Medium star has filed for divorce from her husband of two and a half years, Punisher hero Thomas Jane. (View the petition.)

She cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split, according to documents filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The duo, who swapped vows May 15, 2006, have a 5-year-old daughter, Harlow Olivia Calliope. Per her petition, Arquette is requesting sole legal and physical custody of the child, with visitation privileges for Jane.

Patricia Arquette and Thomas Jane
Patricia Arquette and Thomas Jane


This was the second marriage for both actors. Arquette and hubby No. 1, Nicolas Cage, kept their rings on for six years before parting ways in May 2001. She also has a 19-year-old son from a previous relationship.

Jane, who also starred in The Mist and played Mickey Mantle in the HBO movie 61*, is pretty fresh from pleading no contest to a single count of driving under the influence in order to avoid more serious punishment for getting busted in March near Bakersfield, Calif. He was sentenced in September to a year's probation and ordered to pay a fine and attend alcohol-education classes.
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Ghost Whisperer Jennifer Love Hewitt's engagement to Ross McCall is over.

"They broke up over the holidays and have ended their engagement," a source close to the couple told People. "They're both really sad about this. Even their friends are surprised; they seemed really happy. Everyone just wants the best for both of them."

The actress, 29, got engaged to the Band of Brothers star in November 2007 after two years of dating. The pair never set a wedding date—or, if they did, they only spoke of it in hushed tones.

A rep for the starlet declined to comment.

With her immortalized (in song, at least) wonderland bod back in shape, surely there will be plenty of men who can't hardly wait to spend time with Love.

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ross McCall
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ross McCall
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Despite looking fab in photo ops, it seems like maybe it wasn't such a happy new year for Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, who reportedly ended up trashing a hotel room, engaging in fisticuffs and shouting at each other in a dirty alley (while a bum munched on a sandwich nearby).

According to a report by the New York Post's Page Six column, the crappy new year got started with an argument while the duo was partying with family at Set in Miami. Round two "went nuclear" with another screaming match at Mansion, which spilled out into an alley behind the club, where the aforementioned hobo witnessed Lindsay explaining/shouting at Samantha how this whole pitching-a-fit thing works: "When I storm off, you are supposed to follow me!"

 Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson


Further discussions erupted later at their hotel room where several sources heard crashing and screaming. The fight reportedly spilled into the hallway at about 11 a.m., where a spy said, "They were punching each other—it was bad. And they were doing this in front of all of us. It was scary."

Page Six reports that at one point, Lohan dropped to her knees and cried, "Why are you doing this to me?" And Sam just said, "I don't know you."

Reportedly still feisty hours later, Lohan and Ronson boarded a flight back to L.A. together, but "Lohan was said to be such a mess before takeoff that flight attendants asked her if she'd like to disembark. She refused."

Lohan's rep reportedly told the paper, "There was an argument—I don't know the details—but they left for L.A. together and it's fine."
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Sam Shepherd DUI

January 4th 2009 10:29
Talk about the wrong stuff. Sam Shepherd was busted Saturday in Illinois for drunken driving and speeding.

The Right Stuff star told officers in the town of Normal that he had made a pit stop at a local watering hole before heading to a hotel around 2 a.m. He was pulled over for doing 46 in a 30 mph zone, and his blood-alcohol level registered twice the legal limit, police said.

Shepard posted $300 and was released from the McLean County jail a few hours later, and he presumably resumed his road trip back to the Kentucky home he shares with Jessica Lange. No court date has been scheduled.

As an actor, Shepherd is best known for his Oscar-nominated turn as astronaut Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff; other credits include Black Hawk Down, The Notebook and opposite Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. As a playwright, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Buried Child. He has also been nominated for Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

Sam Shepherd
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