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Indicted U.S. Actor Wesley Snipes On Location In Namibia

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Actor Wesley Snipes poses for photographers during the premiere of the film 'Inside Man' in New York in this March 20, 2006 file photo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Actor Wesley Snipes, indicted by U.S. authorities for tax fraud this week, is filming a movie in the African country of Namibia which has no extradition treaty with Washington, officials said on Friday.

"It is confirmed. He is definitely here," Edwin Kanguatjivi, chief executive officer of the Namibia Film Commission, said by telephone. "He has been in Namibia since the end of August."

Snipes, the star of the "Blade" movie series, is the lead actor in a new movie entitled "Gallowwalker" filming in the Namibian desert near the town of Swakopmund -- the same coastal resort where Hollywood superstars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had their first child in May.

Production officials reached at the film set on Friday declined to comment.

U.S. officials in Tampa, Florida, issued a warrant for Snipes' arrest on an indictment that alleges the 44-year-old actor illegally claimed tax refunds of almost $12 million.

Snipes, who has appeared in more than three dozen movies including "Jungle Fever," "White Men Can't Jump," "Rising Sun" and "U.S. Marshals," could face 16 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

The indictment alleges that Snipes failed to file federal income tax returns from 1999 through 2004 and conspired with two accomplices to file two amended returns for Snipes for 1996 and 1997, fraudulently claiming tax refunds of almost $12 million.

Namibia has no extradition treaty with the United States, a situation spotlighted last month when fugitive U.S. software millionaire Jacob "Kobi" Alexander was discovered to be living in the southwest African country.

U.S. officials said despite the lack of a formal treaty they were nevertheless preparing to ask Namibia for the extradition of Alexander, the former chief and founder of Comverse Technology Inc who is wanted in the United States on charges of manipulating stock options.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061020/en_nm/snipes_dc;_ylt=AslKCH9ZRvS1hpVOlnPIo7VxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Oct 20, 2006, 10:08 AM
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Deep NBC Universal Staffing Cuts To Affect All Departments

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NBC Universal TV Head Jeff Zucher, Universal Studios Chief Ron Meyer, NBC News Boss Steve Capus

Peacock aftershock

NBC Universal TV topper Jeff Zucker said the company will make broad and deep job cuts across all areas of the company, from primetime to news, Telemundo and the film studio. Buyouts and unfilled positions will come first, followed by layoffs.

As employees in New York and in Hollywood watched or listened to Zucker speaking in the "Today" studio Thursday, the nagging question was "what next?"

Zucker said the cuts -- 700 employees, or 5% of NBC U's global workforce -- "would be evenly split across the company," but declined to specify how deep they would be and where. Someone in the audience asked if other areas of the company were being punished for the recent struggles in primetime.

But Zucker disputed that notion.

"I think this has little to do with NBC -- the fact is, the only real issue at NBC in the last two years has been the performance of the primetime schedule," he said later. "The rest of the company has performed at tremendous levels."

NBC Universal chairman Bob Wright, who introduced Zucker before dashing out to do an interview on the restructuring with CNBC, was eager to cast the initiative as a companywide restructuring and belt-tightening

Sources at Universal Pictures, however, said they don't expect to see major trims. One reason they cite is the numerous owners the studio's had in recent years. Typically, the first order of business for new ownership -- whether Seagram, Vivendi, Barry Diller or NBC -- was to pore through the operating budget, looking for places to cut. With so many eyes going over the budget over the years, Universal says the studio has already been trimmed lean.

Universal Studios prexy Ron Meyer's plans to combine the marketing staffs for features and homevid was included in the NBC U 2.0 announcement, but the moves were in the works before Zucker's cost-cutting announcements.

News operations, singled out by Wright as an "area of great consolidation opportunities," will be hit hard. About two-thirds of the TV division's headcount is involved in the gathering and dissemination of news, be it at the network, MSNBC, local stations or Telemundo.

Primetime will also see changes. Taking a page from its rivals, NBC is making a big push into reality TV, which it sees as the new staple of the first hour of primetime at 8 p.m.

"It has not been a strength, but we are saying we are going to up our commitment to it," said NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly. "We are going to play with the mix and shift some money away from scripted."

The 8 p.m. hour is dominated by reality-based programming such as Fox's "American Idol," ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and CBS' "Survivor."

Viewer levels at 8 p.m. have been on the decline, and that daypart airs at 7 p.m. local in central and mountain time zones, making it less appealing for advertisers.

The exception will be Thursdays, where NBC has "The Office" and "My Name Is Earl," its two best laffers since the decline of "Friends."

When the network fell from first to fourth two years ago, it left a $800 million hole in the balance sheet due to diminished advertising revenue. Profits have declined for four straight quarters, making NBC U the least-profitable division in GE's portfolio.

More than cost-cutting, Zucker said NBC U 2.0 is about a new way of doing business. He pointed to the net's hit of the fall, "Heroes," which airs on NBC Mondays; goes online with advertisements the following day; is then made available for download via iTunes for $1.99; and finally heads to the Sci Fi Channel, where a rerun airs on Friday.

"All of this would have been unthinkable just a few years ago," Zucker said.

But even as primetime has struggled, NBC News shows like "Nightly News" and "Today" have stayed dominant, leaving news employees wondering why they should shoulder the pain.

"I know some people have suggested this is happening because entertainment took it on the chin and you guys are being punished, but that's not the case at all," said NBC News prexy Steve Capus. "We need and want to change the basic structure of newsgathering and take advantage of each entity that practices news."

Nevertheless, news will be asked to consolidate bureaus and cut staff, including on-air talent.

To consolidate some network and local news operations, NBC U is creating a consolidated news facility in Burbank that will serve the network, MSNBC and CNBC, as well as Telemundo, KNBC, KVEA and KWHY.

Parts of MSNBC will move from Secaucus, N.J., to NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center, while others will move into CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

At the town meeting, Capus singled out "Hardball With Chris Matthews" and "Hardball With Keith Olbermann" -- the net's top-rated shows -- as moving to 30 Rock. He didn't mention "Tucker" or "Scarborough Country," whose destination is unclear.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952243.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Posted on Oct 20, 2006, 10:07 AM
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YouTube Purges 30,000 Japanese Copyrighted Video Clips

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A man views a web page on YouTube.com in this undated file photo

TOKYO - The popular video-sharing site YouTube deleted nearly 30,000 files after a Japanese entertainment group complained of copyright infringement.

The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, found 29,549 video clips such as television shows, music videos and movies posted on YouTube's site without permission, an official from the group, Fumiyuki Asakura, said Friday.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based company quickly complied with the request to remove the copyright materials, made on behalf of 23 Japanese TV stations and entertainment companies, Asakura said.

Most videos posted on YouTube ( http://www.youtube.com ) are homemade, but the site also features scores of copyright material posted by individual users. YouTube's policy is to remove such clips after it receives complaints, though some have suggested the startup eventually could be sued, especially with deep-pocketed Google Inc. about to buy it for $1.65 billion in stock.

Asakura said the entertainment industry group may ask YouTube to introduce a preliminary screening process to prevent copyright clips from being posted.

YouTube has been negotiating with leading copyright holders and reached agreement with several letting the Web site post copyright music videos and other content in exchange for sharing ad revenue.

The company agreed to deploy an audio-signature technology that can spot a low-quality copy of a licensed clip. YouTube would have to substitute an approved version or remove the material automatically.

YouTube has licensing deals with CBS Corp. and three major recording companies — Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which is a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

Since YouTube started in February 2005, the company has blossomed, now showing more than 100 million video clips per day.

YouTube's worldwide audience was 72.1 million by August, up 2.8 million from a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061020/ap_en_ot/japan_youtube_copyrights;_ylt=AksK8np_Yf_HcJQzCHSqvnpxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Oct 20, 2006, 10:06 AM
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NBC Universal To Cut 700 Jobs In Overhaul

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NBC's headquarters in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, shown in a September 1995 file photo -- An NBC Universal sign is seen at the NBC studios in Burbank, California on May 19, 2004

NEW YORK - NBC Universal said Thursday it would cut 700 jobs and streamline its news operations as part an overhaul aimed at exploiting new forms of electronic distribution. NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., said it expects the revamp to save $750 million in operating expenses by 2008. The job cuts would represent about 5 percent of its work force.

As part of the changes, NBC's long-struggling 24-hour cable news channel MSNBC will move its operations to NBC's headquarters in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center and also to another NBC facility in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

The changes don't represent a diminishing commitment to news, but just reflect how the industry is changing, Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal's television group, told The Associated Press.

"The growth in news is in different places — it's online, it's on wireless," he said.

The company's TV station group will also create a consolidated news facility in Burbank, Calif. that will support NBC as well as its Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo.

The revamp will also affect the company's Universal Studios business, where cuts will be made to consolidate support and marketing functions.

The expected savings follow three lackluster years at NBC Universal, where operating profit fell 10 percent in each of the past three quarters. The slumping results cut into GE earnings.

NBC Universal said it plans to reinvest much of its savings into higher-growth areas. It has been aggressive in creating broadband-only channels, for example, and has partnered with Yahoo through Telemundo to establish one of the most popular Internet destination for Hispanics.

The changes will be noticeable on television, where NBC will stop scheduling high-priced dramas and comedies during the first hour of prime-time at 8 p.m. Instead, cheaper-to-produce programming like "Deal or No Deal" or "The Biggest Loser" will fill that hour.

Zucker noted that rival ABC has quietly been doing the same thing in recent years.

"We want to be sure that we continue to provide the best programming possible," Zucker said. "We just want to put the programming where we get the highest rate of return."

NBC's cost-saving plan involves laying off people from the company's 11 news divisions, including on-air talent.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_en_tv/nbc_universal_cuts;_ylt=ApNkGuRvDQPG9J1fp620bIRxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 19, 2006, 10:31 AM
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Las Vegas Casino Magnate Steve Wynn Accidentally Ruins Picasso He Just Sold For $139M

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Picasso's famed "Dream" painting turned into a nightmare for Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn when he accidentally gave the multimillion dollar canvas an elbow.

Wynn had just finalized a $139 million sale to another collector of his painting, called "Le Reve" (The Dream), when he poked a finger-sized hole in the artwork while showing it to friends at his Las Vegas office a couple of weeks ago.

Director and screenwriter Nora Ephron, who witnessed and related the incident in her blog on the Huffington Post Web site (http://www.huffingtonpost.com), said Wynn had raised his hand to show the group something about Picasso's 1932 portrait of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter.

"At that moment, his elbow crashed backward right through the canvas. There was a terrible noise," Ephron wrote, noting that Wynn has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that damages peripheral vision.

"Smack in the middle ... was a black hole the size of a silver dollar. 'Oh s---,' he said. 'Look what I've done. Thank goodness it was me.'"

Wynn's office on Tuesday confirmed the story, an account of which also appeared in this week's The New Yorker. Both accounts said Wynn had decided to release the buyer from the sale agreement and to repair and keep the painting himself.

Wynn, a millionaire casino developer and art collector, developed The Mirage and Bellagio resorts in Las Vegas in the 1990s, which spearheaded a profusion of luxury hotels and casinos on the once-seedy Las Vegas Strip.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061018/od_nm/picasso1_dc

Posted on Oct 19, 2006, 10:29 AM
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Yoko Ono Sues EMI, Subsidiary For $10M

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Yoko Ono, the widow of Beatle John Lennon, blesses the site where a peace column will be erected on Videy island, off the north coast of Reykjav� Iceland October 9, 2006

NEW YORK - Yoko Ono sued music company EMI Group PLC and a subsidiary for $10 million Wednesday, claiming she was cheated out of royalties due from the sale of music recordings by her late husband, John Lennon.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, accuses EMI and Capitol Records Inc. of violating a half-dozen agreements by "willfully and knowingly underreporting royalties" by hiding the "true use and disposition of Lennon's recordings."

Ono's three-page filing, which included a summons and notice but no detailed complaint, also accuses EMI and Capitol of "intentionally and systematically rendering dishonest and grossly deficient accounting statements."

A spokeswoman for EMI/Capitol, Jeanne Meyer, would not discuss Ono's lawsuit specifically, but she said, "Artists from time to time request audits of their royalty accounts. Sometimes there are differences of opinion, which is understandable given the complex nature of recording contracts."

Meyer said the contracts are sometimes subject to interpretation "but 99 times out of 100 these things are resolved in an amicable way."

Ono's lawyer, John LiCalsi, refused to comment on the lawsuit, which asks for at least $10 million plus interest.

In August, state Supreme Court Justice Karla Moskowitz refused to dismiss a similar lawsuit brought by the Beatles and their music company, Apple Corps Ltd. That lawsuit seeks ownership and control of the Beatles' master recordings.

Meyer said her company is appealing the judge's ruling.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_en_bu/people_yoko_ono;_ylt=AjJDM.0_8qRPqz8.6seWpVlxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Oct 19, 2006, 10:27 AM
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Whitney Houston Files For Divorce

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Whitney Houston and her husband, Bobby Brown, perform in this 2003 file photo in Las Vegas

LOS ANGELES - After a tumultuous 14-year marriage marked by drug arrests and stints in rehab, Whitney Houston is divorcing Bobby Brown.

The pop singer filed divorce papers in Orange County Superior Court this week, a month after filing for legal separation from Brown, Houston's publicist Nancy Seltzer said Tuesday.

The documents could not be obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press and Brown's attorney Phaedra Parks declined to comment.

Houston, 43, had asked in her separation papers that she be granted custody of the couple's 13-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina, and that Brown, 37, be allowed visitation rights.

The couple wed in 1992, with Houston at the height of her fame as a Grammy-winning superstar known for such hits as "I Will Always Love You."

Brown won acclaim for his gritty R&B songs as a one-time member of the boy band New Edition.

During their marriage, Brown was arrested for drugs and alcohol and Houston entered drug rehabilitation programs twice.

In an attempt to clean up her public image, Houston stepped out last month for an event in Beverly Hills with cousin Dionne Warwick and mogul Clive Davis, with whom she is working on a new album.

Brown, who also has two teenage children with a Massachusetts woman, recently paid up to $11,000 in delinquent child support after being threatened with arrest two weeks ago if he stepped back into the state.

Brown's attorney has said he was having a "very difficult" time due to the separation initiated by Houston.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_en_mu/whitney_houston_divorce;_ylt=AqeME6lBBHv3u2IxgNkA_vVxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Oct 18, 2006, 10:25 AM
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Wounded Rapper Fabolous Arrested In NYC

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US rapper Fabolous is seen here in February 2006

NEW YORK - A Manhattan parking lot shooting early Tuesday left rapper Fabolous wounded and under arrest after police found two loaded weapons in a car carrying him and his entourage, authorities said.

The 28-year-old rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, had just left Justin's, a restaurant owned by Sean "Diddy" Combs, with three friends when a gunman approached and opened fire, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wysokowski said.

Fabolous was hit in the thigh. He and his entourage jumped into a 2005 Dodge Magnum and fled, attracting the attention of police when they ran a red light. Officers stopped them and discovered two semiautomatic pistols in the vehicle, both of which were apparently unlicensed, Wysokowski said.

Fabolous was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a defaced firearm, police said. Arrested on the same charges were Kevin Bass, 18, Percell German, 23, and Rascharm Davis, 29, all of Brooklyn.

All four deny ownership of the weapons.

The rapper was treated at Bellevue Hospital. Police were searching for the shooter.

Fabolous' attorney, Alberto A. Ebanks, called his client a victim and said he didn't know why police held him.

"He's been shot, Ebanks said. I don't know why he's under arrest. Obviously he didn't shoot anyone."

The Brooklyn native's hits have included "Breathe" and "Can't Deny It." He recently took part in the taping of the VH1 Hip Hop Honors, which were to air Tuesday evening.

An e-mail seeking comment from a representative at Def Jam Recordings was not returned Tuesday. The label is producing the rapper's upcoming solo album, due out in December, according to Fabolous' Web page on MySpace.com.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_en_mu/fabolous_shot;_ylt=AmZ7y.XCpf1p0ACZaNfurNZxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 18, 2006, 10:24 AM
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Vince Vaughn Threatens To Sue Tabloids

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A picture published in The Sun last week of Vince Vaughn and an unidentified blonde

NEW YORK - Paging all tabloids: Be careful about what you write about Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. According to statement released by a London law firm, the 36-year-old actor would be filing a "legal complaint" against a tabloid trio — the New York Post and the Britain-based Daily Mirror and The Sun — that said he was seen kissing a "mystery blonde" at an Oct. 8 charity event in London and had called it quits with Aniston.

"Ms. Aniston and Mr. Vaughn had not ended their relationship either at the material time or since ... The suggestion that he was having a passionate embrace and kiss, or has ever been unfaithful to Ms. Aniston, are false," the statement said.

Aniston has also gone public about their couplehood — albeit, in a kindler, gentler way. On Monday's "Oprah," the 37-year-old actress revealed that she and Vaughn are still together.

When Winfrey asked if she and Vaughn were "broken up," Aniston replied, "No, no."

If no settlement is reached between Vaughn and the tabloids, the case "is expected to go to jury trial in London's High Court" next year, the statement said.

Vaughn's spokesman, John Pisani, did not immediately respond Tuesday to an e-mail by The Associated Press seeking details about the lawsuit.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_en_ce/people_vaughn_aniston;_ylt=AsUBdfJro0V6Jf_X5gpU139xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Oct 18, 2006, 10:22 AM
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Rapper Fabolous Shot, Stable In NYC

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Rapper Fabolous is seen here arriving at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York

NEW YORK - Rapper Fabolous was shot early Tuesday as he stood at a Manhattan parking garage, spurring a sequence of events that left him both hospitalized in stable condition and under arrest, police said.

The 28-year-old rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, was shot once in the thigh when a male with a gun approached him and three others and opened fire, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wysokowski said.

The four jumped into a vehicle and fled, attracting the attention of police when they ran a red light. Officers stopped them and discovered two loaded guns in the vehicle, both of which were apparently unlicensed, Wysokowski said. All four men were arrested, and charges were pending.

The rapper was taken to a hospital. Police were searching for the shooter.

Police did not identify the three men arrested with the rapper, saying only that they are 18, 23 and 29 years old.

The Brooklyn native's hits have included, "Breathe" and "Can't Deny It," and his songs cover topics ranging from romance to street life and violence. He recently took part in the taping of the VH1 Hip Hop Honors, which were to air Tuesday evening.

An e-mail seeking comment from a representative at Def Jam Recordings was not immediately returned early Tuesday. The label is producing the rapper's upcoming solo album, due out in December, according to Fabolous' Web page on MySpace.com.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_en_mu/fabolous_shot;_ylt=AuYyDBDHeWv2PyUlsjS8mmBxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Oct 17, 2006, 10:11 AM
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Actor Wesley Snipes Indicted On Tax Fraud Charges

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Paul Perez, right, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, gestures as he stands with Michael Yasofsky Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, during a news conference, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006, in Tampa, Fla., announcing an indictment against actor Wesley Snipes --Actor Wesley Snipes arrives for a movie premiere in New York, March 20, 2006.

WASHINGTON - Movie actor Wesley Snipes was indicted Tuesday on eight counts of tax fraud accusing him of trying to cheat the government of $12 million in false refund claims.

Snipes, 44, also failed to file tax returns for six years, according to an indictment unsealed in Tampa, Fla.

Federal prosecutors said that Snipes fraudulently claimed refunds totaling nearly $12 million in 1996 and 1997 on income taxes already paid. The indictment also charged him with failure to file returns between 1999 and 2004.

According to the indictment, Snipes had his taxes prepared by accountants with a history of filing false returns to reap payments for their clients. As part of the deal, the indictment alleges, the firm, American Rights Litigators, would receive 20 percent of refunds from clients.

Snipes faces a maximum of 16 years in prison.

Snipes, who had a home in Windermere, Fla., has not been arrested because authorities don't know where he is, the IRS said.

In 2002, the Justice Department sued a Florida tax preparer who it said filed bogus tax refund claims, including a $7.3 million demand for Snipes.

Snipes was not named as a defendant in that case, but the lawsuit said the preparer's largest claim was an amended income tax return filed on behalf of the actor and dated April 14, 2001. The return requested a $7,360,755 refund for taxes paid in 1997. The return said that Snipes' adjusted gross income was zero, according to the lawsuit.

It said the preparer, Douglas P. Rosile Sr., told clients that only income from foreign sources was subject to taxation. The resolution of that lawsuit could not be immediately determined.

Snipes is the star of the star of the "Blade" trilogy and as well as films such as Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever," and the 1992 blockbuster, "White Men Can't Jump."

In 2005, South Africa refused to admit him after officials said he tried to enter the country with a forged passport.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_en_mo/wesley_snipes_indicted;_ylt=AnUgIpBYt.PYAVSDh6WMSWlxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

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Rome Shuts Down Film Festival To Mourn Victims Of Subway Crash

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Actress Monica Bellucci is surrounded by bodyguards as she arrives for the premiere of her new movie 'Me and Napoleon' during the first Rome International Film Festival at the Auditorium in Rome October 14, 2006

Fest rolls up red carpets and cancels parties

ROME - Red carpets and parties at the RomeFilmFest were cancelled on Tuesday (Oct. 17) following a morning rush-hour subway collision in central Rome which caused at least one dead and some 60 injured.

Rome mayor Walter Veltroni himself made the drastic decision, in order to underscore the City of Rome's mourning for the accident at the fest — which he has always described as a "festa," a "party," for the entire Eternal City.

A fest press rep said it was not aware of anyone with a known link to the fest to have been among the dead or injured in the accident which took place at the Piazza Vittorio subway station, near Rome's central station.

Among stars who will not be prancing on the Auditorium's catwalk tonight are Monica Bellucci for Gallic helmer Guillame Nicloux's esoteric thriller "The Stone Council."

Screenings and a party for Italo comic Corrado Guzzanti's political satire "Fascists on Mars" were cancelled because pic's comic subject matter was not considered appropriate on this particular day.

But other screenings, including the international bow of Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige," which is unspooling sans-talent, are being held, preceded by a minute of silence.

The fest's planned closing party, a big bash at Cinecitta Studios on Saturday (Oct. 21), with local pop star Jovanotti spinning discs, has also be cancelled.

"We are seeing how things develop," said fest prexy Goffredo Bettini. "But it is likely that tomorrow as well there will just be film screenings and no glitz."

The red carpet gala Wednesday (Oct. 18) is Giuseppe Tornatore's "The Unknown," which has a mostly Italian cast.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952061.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Posted on Oct 17, 2006, 10:04 AM
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Madonna's People Pick Up Malawian Orphan

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Children from the Kondanani orphanage in Bvumbwe, on the outskirts of Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre, walk to visit with pop star Madonna, Thursday Oct. 5, 2006 -- Pop diva Madonna, seen here performing in September 2006

LILONGWE (Reuters) - A small private jet carrying the one-year-old Malawian boy Madonna hopes to adopt took off from the southern African country on Monday, a Reuters witness said.

The child, David Banda, was whisked out of his native Malawi with one of Madonna's bodyguards and her personal assistant on a flight which is believed to be headed for Johannesburg.

Malawian law prohibits adoptions by non-residents, but officials are granting an exemption or waiver to Madonna, who has confirmed her intention to adopt the child who has lived in a dilapidated orphanage near the Zambian border since shortly after his birth.

A lawyer for human rights groups who had planned to file an application on Monday asking the court to block the adoption said it was technically legal for Madonna to take Banda out of the country.

But rights groups reiterated their anger that the pop diva was being allowed to circumvent Malawian laws.

"The rich shouldn't get preferential treatment. I am fine with the idea of the adoption but I want people to go through the system," said Emmie Chanika, director of the Civil Liberties Committee.

The chairman and lawyer for a group of 59 non-governmental organizations trying to challenge the adoption in court told Reuters the group needed to drum up support among Banda's family before it could lodge a court injunction to block the adoption.

"We are making an application for the court to recognize us as a sufficiently interested party ... so that we can file an injunction later in the week," said Justin Dzonzi of the Human Rights Consultative Committee.

Observation Period

It is believed the boy will be flown to Johannesburg or possibly Nairobi. He may then be transferred to Britain, where Madonna lives with her filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie.

Monday's events came less than a week after Malawi's High Court granted the entertainer and Ritchie an interim order allowing them to take custody of the child.

The couple, who arrived in Malawi on October 4 on what was described as a humanitarian trip, left last Friday without boy, who did not have a passport.

A final court decision on the adoption was expected within two years, after officials have a chance to monitor how the child relates to his new environment in the United States and Great Britain where Madonna and Ritchie have homes, according to a senior government official.

Madonna spent most of her time in Malawi visiting orphanages and meeting charity workers as part of a campaign to publicize the plight of some 900,000 orphans in this nation of 13 million people, where AIDS has destroyed many families.

She has pledged to donate about $3 million to the campaign to help these children, many of whom are infected with HIV. The effort is being spearheaded by her Raising Malawi charity.

Madonna is the mother of two children.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061016/people_nm/malawi_madonna_dc;_ylt=AqAzChqWB5aTLim4_98kzp5xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 16, 2006, 11:14 AM
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'Evan Almighty': The Most Expensive Comedy Story Ever Told?

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Steve Carell is seen here with Morgan Freeman in a publicity still for "Evan Almighty"

Today's LAT details the budgetary problems affecting Bruce Almighty sequel Evan Almighty, which threaten to saddle the movie with the unwanted distinction of becoming the most expensive comedy in history.

According to the Times, even without Bruce star Jim Carrey and his massive salary, the Evan production could reach a $175 million budget, as uncooperative weather during shooting, the logistics involved in scheduling predatory animal actors so that they don't accidentally devour their tasty, lower-billed co-stars during their downtime, and the expense of convincingly staging Biblical disasters have all driven costs heavenward. Still, Universal executives Marc Shmuger and David Linde think they've got everything under control:

Studio executives acknowledged that they underestimated the cost of "Evan," a sequel to the 2003 hit "Bruce Almighty." But they are confident it will be profitable.

"This movie is a great bet," said Universal Chairman Marc Shmuger. "It's a spectacle fantasy and also a comedy. And a sequel to one of the most successful hits in the studio's history." [...]

"It's based on two story sources: 'Bruce Almighty' and the Bible, both of which were incredibly successful," Linde said.

The seemingly prideful Linde should probably be careful about comparing Bruce to the Greatest Story Ever Told, even in jest, lest an angry, offended Creator visit a new, infinitely more expensive plague upon his production: imbuing Carrey with the godlike power of unlimited takes and sending him back for some cameo reshoots, during which he would repeatedly remind everyone that God Himself told him to take as much time as he needs to get his scene exactly right.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/universal/evan-almighty-the-most-expensive-comedy-story-ever-told-206378.php

Posted on Oct 16, 2006, 11:12 AM
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Bill Murray Parties With Scottish Students

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Hollywood actor Bill Murray reacts to a strong gust of wind as he was about to putt on the 17th green at Carnoustie golf course near Dundee, Scotland, during the Dunhill Links Golf Championship Saturday Oct. 7, 2006. -- U.S. actor Bill Murray, right, plays miniature golf with two young girls on the 16th tee at Carnoustie golf course near Dundee, Scotland, during his first round match in the Dunhill Links Golf Championship Saturday Oct. 7, 2006

LONDON - Actor Bill Murray created a small sensation in the Scottish town of St. Andrews, joining Scandinavian students at a late-night party and even helping to wash the dishes, a newspaper reported Sunday.

In the Oscar-winning movie "Lost in Translation," Murray plays a lonely middle-aged actor in Japan who befriends a young American woman and goes partying with her.

And in what the newspaper said was life imitating art, the 56-year-old Murray joined up with 22-year-old Norwegian student Lykke Stavnef, who took him to a house where a party of Scandinavian students was in full swing.

"Nobody could believe it when I arrived at the party with Bill Murray," Stavnef, a social anthropology student, was quoted as saying. "He was just like the character in 'Lost in Translation.'"

She said Murray was happy to drink vodka from a coffee cup, then to help wash dishes in the cramped kitchen. The Sunday Telegraph article is accompanied by a photograph that appears to show Murray, dressed in a checkered shirt and a brown vest, washing a metal pot at the sink.

As news spread around the city that Murray had showed up at the student party, the house became crowded with people wanting to meet the star of "Ghostbusters," the article said.

"He was joking with me about reheating some leftover pasta and how drunk everyone was," said Agnes Huitfeldt, 22, another partygoer.

Tom Wright, 22, another college student, said: "The party was overflowing with stunning Scandinavian blondes. He seemed to be in his element, cracking lots of jokes. It was the talk of the town the next day."

Shortly after doing the dishes, Murray left the party, the students said.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061015/ap_en_ce/people_murray;_ylt=Ar2kqGhK2ql7p50lOT9xcl5xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/15/nmurray15.xml

Posted on Oct 16, 2006, 11:11 AM
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Angelina Jolie's Sideswiping Incident: An Indian Perspective

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By now you've probably read at least one American media outlet's report of Angelina Jolie's sideswiping of a teenager as she supposedly fled the paparazzi in India, where's she's shooting A Mighty Heart. (If not: Angelina Jolie sideswiped an Indian teenager while fleeing the paparazzi. You're all caught up.) But we find it far more interesting to look at a version of the story from the local Indian media, if for no other reason than we feel like having to puzzle through the occasional foreign word somewhat slows the usual neuron attrition associated with reading about celebrity misadventures. The Indian Express relays the firsthand accounts of both the accident victim and an eyewitness:

The student, Mittal Rawat (19), has reported the incident to the Janwadi police chowki. Rawat told The Indian Express that he was on his way to Vaikunth Mehta Chowk at around 5 pm when the incident took place.
"Two vehicles were also proceeding towards the same direction and tried to overtake me. One of the vehicles brushed against my motorcycle and I fell down. Both the vehicles then sped away," he said.

Eyewitness Nikhil George, a student, said the two vehicles had jumped the signal at the chowk. "Soon after jumping the signal, one of the four-wheelers hit the motorcycle. The rider and a girl riding pillion fell, but had a narrow escape," he said.

Also refreshing about this Indian outlet's version of events is their apparent disinterest in milking a simple traffic accident story because of a celebrity's involvement; while young Rawat's statement that "immediately following the incident, Jolie'svehicle pulled up beside me and my damaged motorcycle, rolled down a window, and she asked how old I was. When I told her 19, she said to the driver, 'No, he's way too old to take home to Maddy and Shiloh. Let's get out of here,' and they drove off. I'm not sure what she meant by that," would have set off a week of cover stories in the sensationalist American tabloid media, the Express let it pass without further exploitation.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/angelina-jolie/angelina-jolies-sideswiping-incident-an-indian-perspective-207289.php

I wouldn't say it was "refreshing" that the Indian press left out Angelina Jolie's name, more like "obedient".

Posted on Oct 13, 2006, 9:57 AM
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Great Moments In Shitergy: '30 Rock' And The G.E. Trivection Oven

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We missed 30 Rock last night, but a reader's curiosity about the fine kitchen appliance featured prominently in the show's premiere episode sent us to the DVR to have a look for ourselves:

Am I the only one who watched the 30 Rock premiere and, mere seconds after Alec Baldwin blathered on about the G.E. Trivection Oven, watched a commercial for the real Trivection Oven? And then watched the same commercial again, 30 seconds later? And then watched it AGAIN during the next commercial break?

Sure, the reality-blurring intersection of jokes about product placement and commercials selling the actual products we've just seen ironically shoehorned into the show might be somewhat jarring to viewers initially, but in the end, everyone wins: Showrunners get to feel a little bit better about themselves by lightly tweaking the clueless, interfering network executives bent on turning them out as oven-hawking whores, their corporate, appliance-making overlords get to promote their wares, and a demographically desirable audience gets to both laugh at and become better informed about the space-saving features of the G.E. Profile™ with Trivection Technology.

Bonus: During her liveblogging of the show last night, executive produce Tina Fey shockingly reveals that G.E. was "fine" with her decision to incorporate an oven advertisement into the show.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/30-rock/great-moments-in-shitergy-30-rock-and-the-ge-trivection-oven-207248.php

Posted on Oct 13, 2006, 9:56 AM
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Disney Says "Non" To Mouse Orgy

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A blurry still taken from a video online created by Disneyland Paris employees backstage

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday said it took "appropriate action" against employees at its Paris theme park who were caught simulating sex while dressed as Disney characters in a digital video that has received wide attention on the Internet.

Disney would not say whether it had dismissed any of the costumed employees featured in the grainy video, which appears to have been shot with a hidden camera at a backstage dressing room at Disneyland Resort Paris.

"The behaviour shown on the video is unacceptable and inexcusable," Disney said in a statement.

"The video was taken in the backstage area not accessible to guests. Appropriate action has been taken to deal with the cast members involved."

The video shows Minnie Mouse struggling to free herself as she is grabbed from behind by Goofy and then a giant snowman.

Later, Mickey Mouse simulates sex with the snowman and Goofy does the same with either Chip or Dale, the chipmunks, as laughter is heard on the tape.

The tape is described on the Internet as the "Mouse Orgy."
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061013/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_disney

Posted on Oct 13, 2006, 9:55 AM
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Alec Baldwin Treated Like A Lesser Baldwin By NYPD Cop

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Actor Alec Baldwin tries to pass a police cordon near the site where a small aircraft crashed into a high-rise building in New York, October 11, 2006

We've been straining to find an angle into this whole Cory Lidle plane crash madness, which has provided a smorgasbord of material for our East Coast-ian sister site Gawker and sports-obsessed cousin Deadspin, though offered little by way of the "But how does this affect people making their sitcom-starring debuts tonight?" approach to human tragedy we usually can count on. So while it may take a few days before we get new mom Maggie Gyllenhaal's thoughts on baby safety in a post Lidle-crash America, we'll have to settle for this Reuters photograph of star of stage and screens-of-varying-size Alec Baldwin, plying his twinkly-eyed charms on an NYPD officer in an attempt to maneuver his way past a cordon to get to what we can only assume was the alluring waft of freshly reheated knishes beckoning to him from across the street.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/alec-baldwin/alec-baldwin-treated-like-a-lesser-baldwin-by-nypd-cop-206991.php

Posted on Oct 12, 2006, 10:20 AM
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Michael Jackson Hits The Streets Of St. Tropez In Mom Jeans And Pumps

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It's a relief to everyone involved that Debbie Rowe, the mother of the two of Michael Jackson's children not named after bed linens, has finally settled the protracted legal dispute that threatened to remove the youngsters from his custody. Who knows how many heartwarming moments may have never come to pass, such as these recent photos of father and daughter vacationing in the South of France, and dressed in matching floppy hats and sweater sets? No high heels or handbags for little Paris however--until the young lady is a little bit older, those accessories are just for daddies.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/michael-jackson/michael-jackson-hits-the-streets-of-st-tropez-in-mom-jeans-and-pumps-207000.php

Posted on Oct 12, 2006, 10:19 AM
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Tokyo Court Nixes Paramount Appeal

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Pic went out of copyright before 2004 extension ruling

A Tokyo court has rejected Paramount Pictures' appeal of a lower court decision holding that cheap DVD knockoffs of its 1953 pic "Roman Holiday" were not a violation of copyright.

The judges ruled Tuesday that the case was too similar to another recently decided against the same complainant, explaining there would "little public benefit" in trying the case.

In 2004, Japanese law was revised to extend the copyright another 20 years. The lower court ruled in July that "Roman Holiday" went out of copyright the year before, and the extension could not be retroactively applied. The company releasing the cheap DVDs, Tokyo-based First Trading, was therefore not in violation of Japanese copyright law.

Paramount is reportedly considering a civil suit against the company but has not decided how to proceed.

On Friday the Tokyo District Court ruled against Par in its request for an injunction and payment of damages for DVD sales of another Paramount classic, "Shane."
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951698?categoryid=20&cs=1

Posted on Oct 12, 2006, 10:18 AM
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"Dr. Phil" House Shut Down By Angry L.A. Residents

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"Dr. Phil" has had to shut down production at a location for a popular segment of the show, after angry neighbors waged a revolt. It seems the cocaine addicts and others who were holed up in the house didn't go over too well with residents on the block.

Every Monday, "Dr. Phil" features guests who live together for a week in the "Dr. Phil House," a home located in the mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles. Peteski Productions, Dr. Phil's production company, purchased the residence last June. The inside was gutted and remodeled with the help of Phil's wife, Robin. We're told 45 cameras were installed in the home, and a brain center was built in the pool house, dubbed "video village." Miles of wires were run throughout the inside and outside of the house, much to the dismay of complaining neighbors.

But neighbors say the unsightly wires were nothing compared to the nonstop noise and ear-shattering arguing coming from addicts, racists, misfits and others who populated the house. Tom Griep, who lives next door, told TMZ he was none too happy when "two crack cocaine addicts were yelling at each other for all to hear."

Griep adds "Dr. Phil" violated the city's ground rules by taping past midnight many nights and starting up again before 7AM. Griep says some of the production staff were rude and uncooperative. He also claims the staff cut his hedge down. Griep and other neighbors allege the show constantly violated parking restrictions on the street and created an extreme eyesore with cables and all. Neighbors also claim the low-life clientele in the house caused several disturbances.

Neighborhood residents contacted the LAPD and other agencies on a regular basis, complaining that the show was turning their lives upside down. As Steven and Susan Jamerson put it, "Our once-peaceful neighborhood has now turned into a studio backlot." Griep says a production executive told him the taping would continue for several years.

Seventy-six residents signed a petition protesting the production and after a meeting last month with city officials, production was shut down. FilmL.A., the agency that processes permits for shooting TV shows and movies, has been instructed by city officials not to issue future permits for the house in question.

City officials tell TMZ the show had requested eight additional shoots, each lasting between five and nine days, but the request was rejected. An official for FilmL.A. tells TMZ that "Dr. Phil" was trying to turn the house into a studio, and that violates the city's zoning laws.

In a statement to TMZ, a rep from "Dr. Phil" said, "Our primary objective has always been to be extremely respectful of the neighbors and we have accommodated their requests whenever they have arisen." The spokesman says the show has received a lot of neighborhood support.

The spokesman adds that production vehicles did not park on the street and taping was limited to inside the house.

To read the entire "Dr. Phil" statement, click here.
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source: http://www.tmz.com/2006/10/10/dr-phil-house-shut-down-by-angry-residents/

Posted on Oct 11, 2006, 10:42 AM
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China Cancels Jay-Z's Shanghai Concert

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American rapper Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter, President and CEO of Def Jam Records, addresses a media conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006

SHANGHAI, China - China's Culture Ministry has nixed a concert this month by rap artist Jay-Z at Shanghai's Hongkou Stadium, citing a need to protect local hip-hop fans from nasty lyrics, a report said Wednesday.

"Some of Jay-Z's songs contain too much vulgar language," the state-run Shanghai Daily newspaper quoted Sun Yun, of promoter KS Production Co., as saying to explain the ministry's reason for refusing permission for the Oct. 23 concert.

The concert would have been the Chinese debut for the rap icon, whose real name is Shawn Carter.

The New York rapper's use of profanity and songs about drug dealers, pimps and violence apparently offended the culture czars, who have recently allowed other groups with sexually suggestive songs, such as The Rolling Stones and the Black Eyed Peas, to perform in Shanghai.

The cancellation could not be immediately confirmed, but a notice posted Wednesday on an online ticket booking Web site, Tickets365, said the concert had been postponed.

The notice in red gave no reason, but said concertgoers would be contacted as soon as a new date was set.

A call to a representative for the rapper early Wednesday went unanswered, as did calls to the news office of China's Culture Ministry. The number for KS Production was not available.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061011/ap_en_mu/china_jay_z;_ylt=Avq3eZBGIcK32cV9ERxIiflxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 11, 2006, 10:41 AM
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Mel Gibson's Drinking Buddy's Alleged Pedophilia

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Rod Bernsen (airborne KTTV reporter) is seen here in 2001 talking to students in the APTRA Academy about covering stories from the air

It's good to know Mel Gibson's friends adhere to the same rigid code of conduct he does. Rod Bernsen, the former Los Angeles TV reporter and police officer who was arrested Saturday on charges of molesting young boys aboard a cruise ship, is a close and longstanding friend of the Braveheart star, according to an entertainment industry source. "Mel's going to shit," says the source, noting that Bernsen frequently accompanies Gibson on benders around Malibu—or at least used to, before Gibson entered rehab in August following his drunk-driving and Jew-baiting debacle.

Law enforcement officials have not yet commented on the reason for Bernsen's arrest, but the Los Angeles Times is reporting that he stands accused of molesting two 12-year-old boys in the sauna of a cruise ship. His wife and child were with him on the cruise, according to the paper. Bernsen, who is a cousin of L.A. Law star Corbin Bernsen, has spent much of his life working in and around the law. After retiring from the LAPD in 1992, he enjoyed a second career as a traffic reporter and criminal justice expert for Fox affiliate KTTV, where he was best known for providing color commentary on high-speed chases.

How does Gibson, who practices a notoriously austere version of Catholicism, feel about his buddy's alleged taste for underage boys? Hard to say; his rep didn't reply to a request for comment. But it appears Gibson and Bernsen have known each other since at least 1987, when Bernsen served as a technical advisor on Lethal Weapon. According to public records, both reside in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills, where, says the source, they've often subjected neighbors to their alcohol-fueled hijinks. "They're just wild guys together," she says.
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source: http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2006/10/mel-gibsons-pedophile-police-pal.php

Posted on Oct 11, 2006, 10:40 AM
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Malawian Claims Madonna Adopted His Son

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Pop star Madonna walks between cars to avoid photographers at the end of her visit to the Kondanani orphanage in Bvumbwe, on the outskirt of Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre, Thursday Oct. 5, 2006.

LIPUNGA, Malawi - Madonna has adopted a 1-year-old Malawian boy whose mother died a month after childbirth, the baby's father claimed Tuesday, saying he was happy his son was escaping poverty.

Malawian government officials said last week the pop star planned to adopt a Malawian boy while she is in the impoverished African nation visiting projects she funds for AIDS orphans. However, they declined to comment on Yohame Banda's claim that his son David had been adopted by the singer.

Madonna has made no public comment since her arrival. Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said in a statement last week that the star was on a private visit working on projects for children, and dismissed statements from Malawian government officials that she and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, planned to adopt a boy.

"I am the father of David, who has been adopted," Banda, 32, told The Associated Press Tuesday. "I am very very happy because as you can see there is poverty in this village and I know he will be very well looked after in America."

He said his wife Marita died a month after the baby's birth from childbirth complications and the child had been cared for at the Home of Hope Orphan Care Center in Mchinji, a village near the Zambian border.

Banda said his son left the orphanage on Monday and was taken to the capital, Lilongwe, where Madonna and her entourage were staying in an upscale ranch.

Madonna has visited the orphanage at least once during her visit. Its director, Rev. Thompson John Chipeta, has refused to speak to the media.

Madonna arrived in Malawi Oct. 4 to visit her Raising Malawi project, which is setting up an orphan care center to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 children. It will have projects based on Kabbalah, Judaism's mystical sect, which counts the 48-year-old singer among its devotees.

Madonna and Ritchie have a son, Rocco, 5, and the singer also has a daughter, Lourdes, 9.

Banda, a farm worker who lives in Lipunga, a village about 50 miles from the orphanage, said he had been told that David would make regular visits to Malawi.

"He will know his roots," Banda said.

The child's grandmother, Asinei Mwale, said she learned about the adoption from Chipeta.

"The director of the orphanage came here yesterday and told us that David has been adopted by a famous American singer," Mwale said. "I am very glad for him because having grown up as an orphan myself, I know how tough life can be."

Malawi is among the poorest countries in the world, with rampant disease and hunger, aggravated by periodic droughts and crop failure. Some 14 percent of its 12 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and an estimated 1 million children have been orphaned. In many villages, grandparents or older siblings struggle to feed orphans.

In an open letter to Madonna released Tuesday, the private Malawian child advocacy group Eye of the Child welcomed her concern for Malawian children, but questioned whether foreign adoptions were in the best interests of children.

Jackie Schoeman, executive director Cotlands, a South African organization that cares for children affected by HIV, said the first choice for orphans should be a place in a local family. In Africa, orphans usually are take in by their extended families, but AIDS has affected many of the people who might have traditionally provided support.

"If the only other option is for them to be in a long-term institutional then we would consider international adoption," Schoeman said.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_en_mu/malawi_madonna;_ylt=AsSFPa_FLoLDiAZf.E2mXXlxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

#1 Trying to get as much publicity as Angelina Jolie is not a good reason to adopt a child. #2 Looks like she actually thought of this as like "Save the Children" where she sends 10 cents a day and gets postcards.

Posted on Oct 10, 2006, 6:36 PM
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Barbra Streisand Has Outburst At NYC Concert

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Barbra Streisand performs in New York's Madison Square Garden, Monday, Oct. 9, 2006

NEW YORK - The most riveting moment of Barbra Streisand's Madison Square Garden concert was one of the only unscripted ones. Streisand endured jeers as she interjected a political skit into Monday night's show, exchanging zingers with a celebrity impersonator playing George Bush as a bumbling idiot.

Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it went on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing.

"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.

"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"

With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered — no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_en_ce/people_streisand;_ylt=Ap8jR0K4Ycyahso.Iz91p8ZxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Nice. Go ahead and yell at people who haved paid a miniumum of $750 a seat because they want to hear you sing.

Posted on Oct 10, 2006, 6:35 PM
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Phil Spector Murder Trial Delayed Again

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Phil Spector attends an evidentiary hearing in Alhambra Municipal Court, in 2004 in Alhambra, California.

This is beginning to sound like a broken record.

The trial in Phil Spector's long-playing murder case has been postponed yet again, getting bumped from January to March of next year. It's the fifth such delay in the past year.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler granted a request by attorneys for the legendary music producer who claimed they needed additional time to finish scientific and forensic tests. The start date will move from Jan. 16 to March 5, 2007, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.

Spector, 66, remains free on $1 million bail. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder for the February 2003 shooting death of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson.

Spector was supposed to go to trial back in September 2005, but between legal wrangling on both sides and the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's habit of changing lawyers midstream, resulted in the start being pushed back until last Apr. 24.

That date was subsequently scuttled because the prosecutor had a conflict with another case. Fidler then targeted Sept. 11, but his own scheduling conflict forced yet another postponement to next January.

The March kickoff means another Spector case will likely be backburnered. The lawyers for Clarkson's family are expected to seek a delay in their wrongful death civil suit against the "Be My Baby" hitmaker until after the murder trial concludes so they can use evidence introduced in the criminal case in their own proceedings.

Spector, famed for his Wall of Sound recording technique, has claimed Clarkson committed suicide, saying the 40-year-old star of Barbarian Queen, "kissed the gun" in the early morning hours on Feb. 3.

Investigators, however, say they overheard Spector apologize for accidentally killing Clarkson. Prosecutors have also been given permission to introduce evidence of Spector's past misbehavior involving his firearms collection.

Considered by many a musical genius for his collaborations with the likes of the Ronettes, Righteous Brothers, Ramones and the Beatles, among others, Spector is facing a busy docket in the coming months.

Aside from the criminal and civil cases stemming from Clarkson's death, he was slapped with a $5 million sexual harassment lawsuit in March by a former personal assistant, Michelle Blaine. That complaint was in response to Spector 2005 suit against Blaine, claiming she embezzled thousands of dollars from him over the years.

In a related case in June, a Los Angeles judge threw out part of a suit filed against Blaine by Spector's accountant, David Neste, accusing her of fraud and mishandling funds.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20061011/en_music_eo/20203;_ylt=AjUQEHiOsGO6yRTAXOdcsaJxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 10, 2006, 6:33 PM
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Body Count Rises As Paramount Labels Retool

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Scott Aversano, recently appointed head of MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies -- Gail Berman head of Paramount Pictures

Aversano wields ax at MTV, Nick

Just when it seemed that the corporate halls of Paramount were returning to a state of calm, newly installed MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies topper Scott Aversano has effectively cleared out the entire executive staffs of both Par divisions.

Eight staffers and eight assistants were laid off in total. Several other execs and staffers were moved to other jobs within the MTV Networks cabler; several others had already made that trek.

Wholesale layoffs came just six weeks after Aversano's arrival, which coincided with the upgrading of MTV and Nick from studio-based production companies to full-fledged labels within the Paramount Motion Picture Group (Daily Variety, Aug. 22).

No replacements for the laid-off staffers were announced, but a Paramount spokesman said Aversano is expected to name new hires in the coming weeks.

The two execs running MTV and Nick films -- David Gale and Julia Pistor, respectively -- were stripped of their rule and shunted aside in August. Gale is among those who've landed new gigs at MTV as exec VP of new media, while Pistor has been let go, though she'll continue to work on Nick films as an independent producer.

The firings didn't come totally out of the blue considering that the two staffs had been assembled by Gale and Pistor and that Aversano -- who had been a producer with a first-look pact with Paramount -- was hired with a mandate to radically transform the divisions.

Execs close to the situation say that elevating the shingles was a coup for Paramount Pictures prexy Gail Berman, helping solidify her position. Though some in town had been in the dark about Paramount's slate, it has a hefty lineup of releases from its various divisions for next year. With their shift to full-fledged labels, MTV and Nick are expected to contribute even more to the studio's upcoming slates.

Despite the brand recognition for MTV and Nick, the film operations have often struggled at the box office and been criticized for not always having a clear strategy. Goal of the reorg is to take full advantage of the labels' capacity for reaching their core audiences effectively.

Studio honchos believed there should be more coordination between MTV Films and Nick Movies, as well as a more streamlined reporting chain. To that end, they put Aversano in charge.

Aversano, who reports to Berman, called a meeting late Thursday and told the production, development and marketing staffs of the firings.

At Nick, Pistor was overseeing "Charlotte's Web" and "The Spiderwick Chronicles." The division also has "Case 39" in production. Paramount's 2007 slate includes the Hilary Swank starrer "Freedom Writers," a Paramount-MTV co-production.

Aversano signed a first-look production deal with Paramount late last year. Before that, he spent seven years working for Par-based Scott Rudin Prods., most recently as prexy of production.

While MTV had successes with the "Jackass" movies, "The Longest Yard" and "Napoleon Dynamite" (which it acquired with Fox Searchlight), it also has produced disappointments including "Aeon Flux," "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " and "The Perfect Score."

Nick's bright spots include TV toon adaptations "The Rugrats Movie," "Rugrats in Paris" and "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," as well as this summer's "Nacho Libre" and "Barnyard," but other productions such as "Rugrats Go Wild," "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" and "Yours, Mine and Ours" didn't meet expectations.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951464?categoryid=13&cs=1

Posted on Oct 9, 2006, 10:57 AM
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The Music's Over For Tower Records

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The orginal Tower Records still stands on the Sunset strip in Los Angeles, CA

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Tower Records has played its last tune.

On Friday, after a 29-hour auction, most of the bankrupt music retailer's assets were sold to liquidation firm Great American Group, which bid $134.3 million. The company outbid Albany, N.Y.-based retailer Trans World Entertainment by a mere $500,000.

According to Tower attorney Peter Gurfein, Great American was set to begin liquidation and going-out-of-business sales Saturday.

An internal e-mail to employees from Tower CEO Joseph D'Amico said the company's Web operation, Tower.com, its label 33rd Street Records and its real estate holdings were sold separately.

D'Amico -- a bankruptcy specialist who succeeded outgoing CEO Allen Rodriguez in July -- said in his message, "My heart goes out to each of you who have poured your hearts and souls into this great company."

The sale sounded a bitter final bar for Tower, which operated 89 U.S. stores. Once the dominant music retailer in the country, the 46-year-old company attracted consumers to its spacious stores with flashy merchandising and a focus on deep catalog in a breadth of musical categories. Its store on Hollywood's Sunset Strip was a legendary music-biz hangout. But Tower's fortunes waned in the late '90s as severe price competition from big-box merchants, the growth of Internet sales, piracy and some ill-advised international expansion eroded sales.

The disappearance of Tower's familiar red-and-yellow logo will leave a gaping hole in the landscape of American music retailing. Los Angeles-based Virgin Megastores, which operates 20 Virgin Megastores, now will become the most prominent deep-catalog retailer.

One veteran industry observer noted that Tower might have accounted for 40%-50% of some niche-genre labels' business.

The largest surviving specialty retailers, including Trans World and Amarillo, Texas-based Hastings Books, Music & Video, are predominantly mall-based, hit-driven operations with a highly diversified product mix.

The sell-off of Tower's inventory, valuations of which run as high as $200 million, could have a wide-ranging impact on the music business at large. The company's West Sacramento, Calif., warehouse is filled with product from the vendors of its independent distribution company, Bayside Distribution, and its accessories suppliers. Companies with a high degree of exposure could be dealt a serious blow when their product is returned for full wholesale cost.

The court-supervised auction of Tower climaxed two months of drama, which began in early August when word surfaced that the retailer's major suppliers were refusing to ship product to the chain after it was unable to pay its bills. Estimates of Tower's total debt ran as high as $200 million. The troubled company -- 85% ownership of which shifted to its bondholders following a February 2004 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection -- had been on the sales block, but a sale to a group of unnamed investment firms reportedly fell through during the summer.

On August 21, Tower filed a second petition for Chapter 11 protection. Tower asked the court for a prompt sale of its assets so that a new owner would be in place before the critical fourth-quarter holiday sales season.

Sixteen companies -- ranging from Trans World (which had bought several similarly distressed competitors) to music wholesalers and real estate operators -- subsequently entered bids on Tower's assets; Great American turned in the top early bid of $90 million.

Many had hoped that Chicago-based Radius Equity -- a "white knight" bidder that had pledged to keep the chain's stores up and running on a stand-alone basis -- would win the bidding, but the company withdrew after it failed to assemble financing in time for the auction.

The family of Russ Solomon, who founded Tower in 1960 as a music department in his father's Sacramento pharmacy, remained a 15% shareholder. Solomon did not enter a bid for the company.

In an e-mail circulated Friday to Tower's staff, Solomon said, "The fat lady has sung ... she was way off key. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You."

On Friday, hours before the Great American acquisition was announced, Tower employees held a barbecue at the West Sacramento headquarters. More than one source described it as "a wake."
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061009/en_nm/tower_dc;_ylt=AoBYXiwszg9jS9Uft.Vf5BdxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 9, 2006, 10:56 AM
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Media Do Merger Dance

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Netcos take on congloms

Old and new media are locked in battle to acquire even newer media, and deals made now could set the stage for a wave of even bigger transactions down the road.

Google is said to be in talks to buy year-old video-sharing site YouTube for a whopping $1.6 billion. Yahoo! is mulling a $1 billion bid for social networking site Facebook. Microsoft is shopping, as are Viacom, News Corp. et al. Tech and showbiz titans have never knocked heads quite so directly over the same deals as they are doing today. And all around, they're agonizing over what constitutes a fair price in a fast-changing media landscape.

At the end of the day, tough choices today may decide whether, say, Yahoo! eventually buys Viacom or vice versa; whether Google swallows Disney, or the other way around.

YouTube is bigger and growing faster than Google's own video service, which makes it a great fit for the search giant. But traditional media companies are salivating over the fast-growing Internet advertising space and searching for new ways to reach viewers.

The Google-YouTube talks, first reported late last week on video Web site TechCrunch, ultimately could fall apart. Someone else may step in with a higher offer for the San Mateo, Calif., company launched only last winter (in a garage, of course) by current CEO Chad Hurley and chief technology officer Stephen Chen. The site, which has about 50 million users, delivers more than 100 million videos a day.

A portion of the content violates copyrights, which has led some in the industry (Universal Music chief Doug Morris is most often cited but is far from alone) to complain and even compare YouTube to music file-sharing company Napster in its early days.

YouTube has said the difference is that it immediately removes the offending video from its site when asked. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act doesn't require Netcos to screen the material put on their sites.

"But at some point, a company with a lot of leverage will say, 'I don't care what the law says. You're not going to do it anymore," said one industry insider over the weekend.

The stakes are high. The wide interest in YouTube and the generous pricetag show the heat surrounding cutting-edge Internet companies is still growing despite questions on how to transform their big auds into big money for a parent company, whether through advertising, fees or other revenue.

And it's never a sure bet that today's hot company will still be hot five years from now; ask TiVo. Being first doesn't mean you'll necessarily stay on top if others can do the same thing you can.

"At what point is it still interesting, and at what point does it become prohibitively expensive?" the exec said.

The key seems to be getting in early. News Corp. bought Facebook's larger rival MySpace for $580 million about a year and a half ago. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, who also wanted it, figures, regretfully, that it's worth $1.5 billion today. MySpace has all but paid for itself through a multiyear advertising deal with Google worth $900 million.

Redstone says Facebook's too expensive now, and Viacom's strategy is to buy cutting-edge startups -- before they become the next MySpace, Facebook or YouTube.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951465?categoryid=18&cs=1

Posted on Oct 9, 2006, 10:54 AM
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Breaking Story: Google Buys YouTube For $1.65 bil

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All-stock acquisition is confirmed

Google has snapped up YouTube for $1.65 billion in a deal that catapults the Internet search leader to a leading role in the online video revolution.

The all-stock acquisition unites one of the Internet's marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars.

The price makes YouTube, a still-unprofitable startup, by far the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history.

Although some cynics have questioned YouTube's staying power, Google is betting that the popular Web site will provide it an increasingly lucrative marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers migrate from television to the Internet.

"We are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers," said Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive officer.

YouTube will continue to retain its brand, as well as all 67 employees, including co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951548?categoryid=18&cs=1



Posted on Oct 9, 2006, 2:44 PM
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Health Scare For Fashion Icon Yves Saint Laurent

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In this file picture, French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent walks outside the Sainte Clothilde Church after funeral services for Lugi d'Urso, the late husband of French designer Ines de la Fressange, in Paris March 27, 2006

PARIS (Reuters) - Fashion recluse Yves Saint Laurent fell in a Paris street on Friday and lay motionless in the road for several minutes surrounded by aides until emergency services arrived to help him, video footage showed.

A spokeswoman at the Yves-Saint-Laurent Foundation said the 70-year-old designer was well and had returned home, denying rumours he was seriously ill.

"Monsieur Saint Laurent did not have a heart attack. He just missed the curb, dropping into his car, and he fell," she said, declining to give her name.

"He's fine and he did not go to the hospital."

Footage shot by a passing cameraman showed Saint Laurent lying in the roadside behind a car. After a while emergency services arrived and the video was cut.

A spokesman for the emergency services declined to give any information.

The bespectacled Yves Saint Laurent, whose couture creations have fine art status on four continents, ruled the French fashion world from the age of 21 until his retirement in 2002.

His health is very fragile and he is rarely seen in public.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061006/people_nm/france_saintlaurent_dc;_ylt=Ahj5meH7DW4iSLrSbeMozABxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 6, 2006, 10:48 AM
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Kirsten Dunst On Being Booed At Cannes

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Kirsten Dunst is seen here in the title role of Sofia Coppola's yet to be released Marie Antoinette 2006

Inside The Actors Studio: Advanced Rationalization Theory

Nearly every actor who has found success in Hollywood has endured enough professional humiliation to have developed mental strategies to deal with the psychic distress associated with the near-constant stream of rejection experienced during their "dues paying" phase. For example, when confronted with the upsetting circumstance of being booed during the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Marie Antoinette, star Kirsten Dunst merely deflected the criticism with a culturally based rationalization:

"I didn't take it to heart," Dunst says in an interview in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. "How would we feel about the French doing a movie about George Washington with French actors?"

Thanks to this relatively advanced coping technique, Dunst was spared a potentially self-esteem-damaging moment of reflection in which she may have questioned her choices for the execution of a difficult role.

Instead, she was able to block out the French-inflected shower of boos by calming herself with the quiet, repeated recitation of her ego-shielding mantra, "The Frogs just hate American actors." Eventually, the hisses subsided, and she was once again left to enjoy her time among the overly possessive, xenophoic festival attendees.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/kirsten-dunst/inside-the-actors-studio-advanced-rationalization-theory-205655.php

Posted on Oct 6, 2006, 10:47 AM
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TV Studios Troll For Dollars O'seas

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A pic from Disney's 'Ugly Betty', a succesful telenova remake -- A pic from NBC Universal's new drama series 'Heroes'

The price is right?

The big question at Mipcom next week: Who will be the first U.S. seller to pocket $1.5 million an episode for one of its new shows?

That's the new benchmark the Hollywood majors are eyeing as their freshmen drama series continue to rack up deals with program buyers abroad.

Squeezing as much out of international clients as possible is ever more essential as production costs for U.S. series, especially dramas, keep spiraling. Pilots for some of these shows cost upward of $5 million and with U.S. domestic network license fees hardly budging, the deficits are widening.

Some 11,000 program buyers and sellers hit the Cannes Croisette over the weekend for the 22nd annual sales bazaar, and those selling the creme de la creme of Yank shows are hoping to pry open a lot of pocketbooks.

"The hits are getting record prices, no doubt about it," Tom Toumazis, Disney's top salesman, told Daily Variety.

Mouse House (Disney) mavens are banking on their telenovela-inspired "Ugly Betty" to transform into a swan of a show Stateside and thus entice its way into the hearts of overseas buyers.

And Disney is not alone.

Warner Bros. TV execs hope to move the needle on "The Nine," NBC Universal is touting "Heroes" and Fox is sharpening its pitch on "Shark," just to name a few of the shows Hollywood distributers are banking on.

Since Mipcom, which opens Monday and runs through Oct. 13, is being held a little later than usual, there will be solid U.S. ratings data to wave in front of prospective buyers (and disappointing numbers to hide under the table).

Foreign buyers will be asking themselves whether any of these new American series is the next "CSI," "Lost" or "House" -- a show that can take a station to the next level.

Since most of the key TV stations across Europe -- think Germany's RTL, France's TF1 or Britain's BBC -- are big producers of their own fare, a decision to slot a Yank series in primetime is a coup for the U.S. seller in terms of both prestige and dollars.

(On the other hand, with so much American product on offer and only a few slots abroad available, many U.S. shows simply go begging or end up with only modest foreign license fees.)

"Without question, the content of the current American crop is not as cookie-cutter as it once was. A number of shows are 'out of the box,' as it were, and that's what foreign programmers want," said CBS Paramount Intl. TV prexy Armando Nunez. Nunez's drama "Jericho" came strongly out of the box Stateside last week and is that distrib's most likely top title for foreign buyers.

The year-round global trade in programming rights -- whose annual inflection points are Mipcom, NATPE, Mip and the L.A. Screenings -- is a $10 billion biz worldwide, with Yanks pocketing about $6 billion of that total. Most of that ends up in the coffers of the seven Hollywood majors, as they supply the majority of movies and series available to overseas buyers.

Smaller distributors generally make do by pitching product to newcomer niche services, which are increasingly popping up around the globe and need readymade product.

While so-called new-media opportunities are still just a modest sideline, enormous interest is being devoted to them, and all the players -- not only Americans but also Europeans, Asians and Latinos -- are convinced these platforms represent growth prospects for their content.

Current TV series, movies, reality formats, animation, specials and older library material are increasingly being licensed not only to the traditional broadcast, cable and satellite players but also to broadband providers, cell-phone operators and purveyors of other newfangled technology.

The revenue stream from these deals is not yet a flood, but it's starting to be more than a trickle.

"The theme of our show is about how the major players are reshaping their businesses to provide integrated content delivery anytime, anywhere," said Paul Johnson, head of the TV division for trade show organizer Reed Midem.

In keeping with that grandiose concept, Mipcom organizers have enticed a half-dozen Hollywood heavy hitters to the Croisette to expound on their global corporate strategies.

The speakers are MGM's Harry Sloan, NBC U's Beth Comstock, ESPN's George Bodenheimer, Disney's Anne Sweeney, 2929 Entertainment's Todd Wagner as well as cell-phone provider Orange's Sanjiv Ahuja.

In addition, Time Warner chairman-CEO Richard Parsons has been tapped as the trade show's personality of the year and will be honored with a gala reception midway through the confab.

Business on the floor of the Cannes convention hall is expected to be brisk, as most economies are humming along and ad revenues at most stations around the world are reasonably buoyant.

Meanwhile, this weekend will be devoted to Mipcom Jr., the mini-market for kids programming, and to Latin telenovelas, which have become a worldwide phenom, especially for startup channels.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951364?categoryid=13&cs=1

Posted on Oct 6, 2006, 10:46 AM
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Anna Nicole's $1 Million Boat Ride

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People magazine's exclusive photos of Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K. Stern exchanging vows in the Bahamas on Sept 28, 2006

People has posted their $1 million get: the exclusive photos of Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K. Stern's symbolic-union-at-sea. From the looks of it, that fee further prorates to approximately $125k per zonked-out portrait of Smith and her legally unbinding lawyer/lifemate/rock exchanging "vows and temporary rings before a Baptist minister." (We'll assume any glasses being smashed after the "I do's" were purely accidental and probably methadone-related.) And while varying eyewitness reports have placed everything at the scene from Dom Perignon-powered speedboats to pasty-enhanced breast feeding sessions, the reality was that Smith's fake party-boat marriage was the kind of modest and low-key affair that is not at all out of place for someone who just lost their son to a mysterious drug overdose weeks before:

After the ceremony, the couple literally took the plunge into the balmy waters off the coast of a nearby island. After guests toasted the couple with champagne and apple cider, the pair celebrated in their own special way - with some fresh Kentucky Fried Chicken, ferried to the wedding party by sailboat.

While we somehow feel obligated to share TMZ's depressing scan of Daniel Smith's death certificate, we'd prefer to leave on a more uplifting note: the beatific image of a drenched Anna Nicole in virginal white, her false eyelashes dangling precariously close to the battered drumstick upon which she hungrily gnaws.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/anna-nicole-smith/anna-nicoles-1-million-boat-ride-205516.php

Posted on Oct 5, 2006, 10:49 AM
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Stinky, Unconscious Wino In Calista Flockhart's Car Just Harrison Ford

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Harrison Ford is seen here with Calista Flockhart at the Los Angeles premiere of Firewall on February 2, 2006

Harrison Ford seems to have settled comfortably into his role as an elder Hollywood statesman, his once-handsome, now craggy face marinating nicely under 14 weeks' worth of stubble, and a far away look in his eyes that all but says, "I've paid my dues acting opposite everything from a giant slug puppet to Melanie Griffith. Now step aside as I proceed to get shitfaced in the lobby of this pointless awards ceremony." It's not hard to see, however, how unwitting security guards might mistake the screen legend emitting visible alcohol fumes for an area derelict looking for forty winks in the comfort of a noted television actress' luxury vehicle:

The 64-year-old actor was spotted by security guards having a sneaky nap on the back seat of the vehicle, which was parked on set while Calista was shooting her new TV show Brothers And Sisters.
The two guards telephoned police to have the 'intruder' removed and went and got Calista to tell her what was happening.

A source said: "The guards told Calista some old guy had crawled into her car to go to sleep and that they'd called the cops to have him removed. Just as they were explaining the situation Harrison, looking dishevelled (sic), sat up and asked, 'What's all the commotion?'"

All confusion was quickly cleared up, and the actor was put at ease with a gentle stroke of his disoriented head and a reassuring, "Shhh.... Mommy's here. Go back to sleep, Harry." On the grand scale of his increasingly inconvenient fits of scotch-induced narcolepsy, this mishap was practically a cakewalk for Flockhart, and nowhere nearly as embarrassing as the time Ford passed out mid-sentence during a Firewall press junket, requiring the strength of four production assistants and a cameraman to pry his lifeless, dead weight off a pinned and anxious Mark Steines from Entertainment Tonight.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/harrison-ford/stinky-unconscious-wino-in-calista-flockharts-car-just-harrison-ford-205368.php

Posted on Oct 5, 2006, 10:48 AM
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NBC Sued For Not Spotighting Garbage Disposal Non-Extremity-Mangling Features

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NBC is currently living every legal clearance department's nightmare, as a perfectly innocuous scene from the pilot episode of new drama Heroes, in which the series' indestructible cheerleader character demonstrates her rapid-healing abilities by jamming her hand into an InSinkErator™ brand garbage disposal, has resulted in a lawsuit by the manufacturer seeking to prevent the network from re-airing that show:

The filing comes complete with color printouts that show a re-creation of a woman putting her hand in the disposal and pulling it out mangled and bloody. The suit says the scene suggests that the Emerson In-Sink-Erator "will cause debilitating and severe injuries, including the loss of fingers, in the event consumers were to accidentally insert their hand into one."
The suit also says the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product."

"It's a trademark thing," said Dan Callahan, a spokesman for Emerson, adding that the issue is not the damage that a disposal might do.

Today's NY Post reported that NBC has already altered the disputed scene (just because they felt like it, not because they're admitting any wrongdoing), but it's unclear how they changed the footage. We imagine it would be small matter to tailor any additional edits to appease the complaintant; today's digital editing technology should make it easy for the network to delete the frames in which the cheerleaders' fingers magically restore themselves to their uninjured state and insert a promotional voiceover stating, "When an InSinkErator™ disposal's stainless-steel, triple-blade mechanism mangles your fingers, they stay mangled."
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/nbc/nbc-sued-for-not-spotighting-garbage-disposal-nonextremitymangling-features-205369.php>



    

This message has been edited by crystaltjapan from IP address 216.205.224.10 on Oct 5, 2006 3:53 PM

Posted on Oct 5, 2006, 10:47 AM
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"Game" Over For Another Jim Carrey Movie

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Actor Jim Carrey hits tennis balls to the crowd at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 9, 2006

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The much-ballyhooed movie reunion of Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz has turned out to be short-lived.

Both Carrey and Diaz have exited the comedy-drama "A Little Game Without Consequence," which was set to begin production this month in New York. The movie's director, Gabriele Muccino, also has departed the Focus Features project, due to "substantive creative differences," the studio said.

For Carrey, this is the third movie in a row to hit roadblocks. He recently fired his long-time talent agent.

Sources cited problems with the script as the principal reason for the departures. The script was said to have gone in a different direction than the actors expected when they became involved. Muccino wrote the most recent draft.

The film revolves around a picture-perfect couple who fake a breakup, only to discover that their friends never thought their union was a good idea in the first place. The screenplay based on a French play by Jean Dell and Gerald Sibleyras, which also was turned into the 2004 film "Un petit jeu sans consequence."

The differences came to a head over the weekend, when "conversations were had," according to one source. Focus and the movie's producers, Alain Chabat and Stephanie Danan, wanted to go in one direction, Muccino in another. Diaz and Carrey, who previously worked together in "The Mask," left the project before Muccino's exit.

Several sources said the trio wanted to keep the project's dark tone, while Focus wanted to make a more commercial movie. Focus said Tuesday that it is still planning to make the movie and is looking for a new director.

"Due to amicable but substantive creative differences, Focus Features and producers Alain Chabat and Stephanie Danan are no longer making 'A Little Game' with Gabriele Muccino. We are actively seeking a suitable replacement and plan to move forward with the project when that happens," the Focus statement said.

Several sources contend the producers still hope to make the movie with Carrey, who has director approval. But according to insiders close to the situation, Carrey is unlikely to return to the project.

Carrey has had a difficult year. "Used Guys," a movie he was to have starred in with Ben Stiller for 20th Century Fox, was shut down because of escalating costs. Then Paramount Pictures' "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" was put on hold -- sources attributed that change to either costs or script problems. One insider said Paramount was close to hiring a new writer to revive the project. With "Game," it appears that Carrey is leaving because of creative disagreements.

He recently ditched United Talent Agency, the firm that turned him into a superstar, and signed with Hollywood powerhouse Creative Artists Agency.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061004/film_nm/carrey_dc;_ylt=AnqGTC4kz.vjN04J.ZY4b8FxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 4, 2006, 11:06 AM
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Hollywood Laments Loss Of Page-Pampering Capitol Hill Champion

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U.S. Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) poses before the 'Grammy's on the Hill' dinner in Washington in this September 6, 2006 file photo

Because every story has a Hollywood angle if you dig deep enough, even those involving the e-seduction of teenagers via the instant messages of a horny Congressman, the THR discovers that disgraced Republican page-predator Mark Foley was considered an "effective champion for the industry" and an "ally" by insiders:

While entertainment industry executives were shocked by the disclosure of e-mails and instant messages to a page that led to his resignation, they considered Foley an effective representative for them with the Republican Party -- often considered a hostile environment for the industry. Foley, 52, resigned Friday after the e-mails came to light, and is at an undisclosed alcohol rehabilitation center.
"He was very effective," said John Feehery, a Republican, who is executive vp external affairs at the Motion Picture Assn. of America, the lobbying arm for the major Hollywood studios. "We saw him as an effective champion for the industry. It's tragic for a whole lot of reasons. There's the personal reason that it's tragic, especially for the pages. It's politically tragic for Republicans, and in the entertainment industry, we lost an ally." .

Foley's contacts within the industry are undoubtedly now seeing the rep's off-color telephone sign-off, "Whoops, gotta go! That hottie Billy's back from soccer practice and my Sidekick is blowing up!" in a more sinister light after the revelations of the last few days, and while they would never publicly condone his activities, they almost certainly won't hold anything against him should he once again prove useful to them in some capacity. Hollywood is, of course, a morally flexible town, where even the occasional, ill-advised quaalude-and-champagne-fueld hottub rape party won't necessarily stand in the way of a guy with a little impulse-control problem around teenagers from getting work.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/politics/hollywood-laments-loss-of-pagepampering-capitol-hill-champion-205254.php

Posted on Oct 4, 2006, 11:05 AM
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Jennifer Aniston And Vince Vaughn Selfishly Split Near The DVD Release Of Their Break-Up-T

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Just when we thought we were finally ready to choose between the cutely conflated Vaughniston and Vaughnnifer nicknames that never really seemed to adequately represent the fusing of their public personas, Us Weekly is reporting that Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, the on-screen/off-screen tabloid darlings who found suspicious, conveniently timed love on the set of The Break-Up, have called it quits. Upon hearing the news (which, like their recent engagement rumors, is still subject to a vigorous publicist denial), we were nearly too incapacitated with sadness to look up The Break-Up's DVD release date, but after we were through shattering every reflective surface in our home and the five-minute seizure resulting from the contemplation of this latest blow to the notion of romantic love subsided, we determined that it's due out on October 17th. We sincerely hope that the unwelcome publicity that is sure to surround the dissolution of their union doesn't harm the financial prospects of the movie, which regardless of its sell-through rate, will remain a beautiful cinematic testament to a relationship that burned too brightly.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/jennifer-aniston/selfish-aniston-and-vaughn-split-showing-little-consideration-for-upcoming-dvd-release-of-their-breakupthemed-movie-205239.php

Posted on Oct 4, 2006, 11:03 AM
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Pressure Builds On Republicans In Sex Scandal

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U.S. Rep Mark Foley (R-FL) speaks during a news conference at the Port of Miami in Miami, Florida, in this February 21, 2006 file photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. House leaders faced mounting pressure over a congressional sex scandal on Tuesday, with Speaker Dennis Hastert rejecting calls to step down for his handling of sexual messages sent to teen-age boys by Rep. Mark Foley.

The Washington Times, a leading conservative newspaper and usually a supporter of Republicans, accused Hastert of barely pursuing warnings about Foley's messages and said in an editorial he "must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once."

Hastert has denied any knowledge of Foley's overtly sexual Internet messages to male congressional pages until they were made public on Friday, and his spokesman rejected the calls for his resignation.

"The speaker has and will lead the Republican conference to another majority in the 110th Congress," said spokesman Ron Bonjean. The disclosures were a blow to Republicans as they fight to retain control of Congress in elections on November 7.

"Mark Foley has resigned his seat in dishonor and the criminal investigation of this matter will continue. The speaker is working every day on ensuring the House is a safe productive environment for members, staff and all those who are employed by the institution."

Members of both parties, including some leading conservatives, said any congressional leader who had known the content of the messages and had failed to take action should step down.

Conservative activist Richard Viguerie told CNN Hastert should go. "We are not going to get to the political promised land until we have new leaders, and it's time for pretty much all of the leaders to leave," Viguerie said.

The scandal put Republicans on the defensive in the final month of a tight election campaign, giving Democrats new ammunition in the fight to pick up the 15 House seats and six Senate seats needed to claim majorities in each chamber.

Taking The Fall

House Republicans held a conference call on Monday to discuss the scandal and its fallout, with a top Republican party aide calling the next few days crucial.

"There isn't much time to right the ship," the aide said. "Somebody has to take the fall."

Some House Republicans looked into e-mail traffic between Foley and a 16-year-old boy last spring that was described to them as "over-friendly," but House leaders said they were not made aware of the explicit messages sent to other pages.

Conservative and religious leaders expressed unhappiness about the unfolding scandal and Republican strategists worried some conservative voters would wind up sitting home on November 7 out of disgust.

"The big danger for Republicans is they are going to reach a tipping point with the conservative base and they are going to stay home," said Republican consultant Rich Galen.

"It's a very uncomfortable situation right now, and the most uncomfortable person of all is the speaker."

The FBI, Florida state investigators and House ethics investigators are all looking into Foley's communications with pages, who are teenagers assigned to answer telephones, deliver documents and run other errands for members of Congress.

House Republican Leader John Boehner, in an interview with an Ohio radio station, said Hastert had told him the situation "had been taken care of" and "my position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility."

At least one Republicans rallied to Hastert's defense.

"The speaker has led the Congress through dangerous and important times. His leadership has been steady and consistent, and he has the strong support of the conference," said Rep. Roy Blunt (news, bio, voting record) of Missouri, the third-ranking House Republican.

The scandal created a ripe takeover target in Foley's previously safe district for Democrats, and gave them renewed ammunition for charges Republicans have abused their power. Democrats gleefully questioned traditional Republican claims to be protectors of family values as candidates around the country pointed to the scandal as evidence it was time for a change.

The scandal erupted as Bush's approval ratings, hit by opposition to his policies on Iraq and doubts about his leadership, had started to climb slightly and Republicans felt more hopeful about retaining congressional majorities.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/foley_dc;_ylt=AkxUwFBK4HMyJONMRTRIMVUDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcmljNmVhBHNlYwNtcm5ld3M-

Posted on Oct 3, 2006, 10:35 AM
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Hugh Jackman Takes Fox On A "Tourist" Trip

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Hugh Jackman is seen here with Halle Berry at the X-Men 3 photocall in Cannes at the Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2006

Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams are getting in bed for "The Tourist," a psychological thriller set in clandestine New York sex clubs.

Production begins in New York on Oct. 13, with Marcel Langenegger making his feature directing debut.

Scripted by Mark Bomback, Jason Keller and Patrick Marber, "The Tourist" is produced by Seed Prods. partners Hugh Jackman and John Palermo and Cheyenne Enterprises' Arnold Rifkin.

Put in turnaround by Fox because of its racy storyline, the film was financed independently. The coin was arranged by MRC, the film financing arm of Endeavor, where Hugh Jackman is a client. A domestic distribution deal will be made shortly.

Pic revolves around an accounting consultant who, while passing from one job to another, meets a charismatic, womanizing lawyer who personifies everything the numbers cruncher wishes he could be. The accountant delves into an erotic world of underground sex clubs.

Arnold Rifkin originated the film at Fox, and while that studio doesn't put much into turnaround, Hugh Jackman and John Palermo were able to extricate it through a relationship at the studio that includes an overall deal, plans to produce and star in the "X-Men" spinoff "Wolverine," and a deal to star alongside Nicole Kidman in the Baz Luhrmann-directed period pic Fox puts into production next spring.

David Bushell and Robbie Brenner also are involved in producing capacities.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951147?categoryid=13&cs=1

Posted on Oct 3, 2006, 10:33 AM
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Heavy Price Paid By H'w'd's Lofty Losers

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Cinephiles increasingly look back on the '70s as a golden era of filmmaking, but here's one reason why the studios looked good then: If a movie turned out badly, its distributor simply didn't release it. The turkey would be allowed a quiet demise.

Today's costs are so stratospheric that a disappearing act is no longer an option. Every film gets a big push irrespective of the risk factor.

And the risk is considerable.

Witness "All the King's Men," which represents an investment far north of $100 million if marketing is included. Despite a heroic sell by Sony, it opened to a dismal weekend gross of $3.6 million. The potential loss to Sony could approach the film's production budget.

And its failure will resonate broadly, representing another nail in the coffin of the studio drama. The so-called "serious" film increasingly will be relegated to the indie circuit.

Talk to studio gurus, however, and there are other conclusions to be drawn from "All the Kings Men":


Nothing is more important than casting. Sean Penn was the wrong choice to play a Huey Long-like demagogue -- he radiated rage, not charisma -- and Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Tony Soprano (oops, I mean James Gandolfini), all seemed as though they'd wandered by the wrong film set.

Period dramas are a hard sell (witness "Cinderella Man"), and the problem is compounded when the audience can't quite figure out when the story is really taking place.

If a film doesn't work, a re-edit usually won't save it. "All the Kings Men" was held up for more than a year for further fine-tuning, and none of it helped.

Critics' raves don't save you, especially if it's Time magazine, which called this film "an existential epic." A year ago Time called "Munich" "Spielberg's secret masterpiece."

The fate of most movies is decided by the first day of principal photography. "Pirates of the Caribbean" was destined to be a blockbuster irrespective of its sloppy storytelling. "All the Kings Men" from day one was the wrong idea with the wrong cast.

The final irony: When well-intentioned movies fail, they seem to trigger more despair, and cause more collateral damage, than when cynical ones go down the tube. Such is certainly the case with "All the Kings Men."

So were the studios acting appropriately a generation ago when they simply abandoned films they felt were disappointing? The answer is both yes and no. The most famous near-mistake was when the old-school management at Warner Bros. simply didn't "get" "Bonnie and Clyde" and relegated it to a few theaters in the deep South. The film ultimately found its way into the mainstream.

On the other hand, I attended a test screening of one movie of that era when the entire audience filed out before "the end" mercifully flashed on the screen. There was no need to solicit audience reaction -- they'd already delivered their reaction. Dino Di Laurentiis, the fabled producer of the film, turned to me with a pained smile and said, "Obviously, this audience did not care for the popcorn."

The movie opened in Europe, but never in the U.S.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951001?categoryid=13&cs=1

Posted on Oct 3, 2006, 10:32 AM
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George Michael's Double Whammy

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British singer George Michael performs during the second concert of his world tour '25 Live' in Madrid September 26, 2006

If George Michael wants to keep singing about his "Freedom," he'd better learn to curtail his drug-induced snoozes. Or at least find less noticeable places to doze off.

In a virtual embarrassing detail-for-embarrassing detail repeat of the "Careless Whisper" singer's February arrest, Michael was again found slumped over in his car in London early Sunday and arrested on suspicion of drug possession.

The former Wham! frontman was discovered hunched over the wheel of his BMW at a traffic light in the North London suburb of Cricklewood. Officers were called to the scene by fellow drivers who claimed their attempts at honking and window-banging failed to wake the aging pop star.

"At approximately 3:22 a.m. on Sunday morning officers were informed of a stationary vehicle with a driver inside causing an obstruction at traffic lights," a spokesperson for Scotland Yard said without identifying Michael by name, per department policy. "Officers arrested a 43-year-old man on suspicion of being unfit to drive and possession of a controlled substance believed to be cannabis."

According to the Daily Mirror, Michael was engaging in the mid-lane catnap just a mile away from his estate and was on his way home after a night of clubbing.

The tabloid claimed that officers were able to wake Michael at the scene and administered a Breathalyzer test, which he failed. The cops then called a doctor to examine the singer, who was deemed "completely out of it."

"There was a concern a mix of drugs and alcohol may have had a bad effect on him," a spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police told the paper.

"A doctor was called out to take a blood sample but thought [Michael] seemed ill and decided he needed to go to the hospital in case he was in a more serious condition."

Michael was admitted to the nearby Royal Free Hospital and discharged two hours later, at which point he was taken to the police station.

According to the Mirror, cops had found a small amount of marijuana in Michael's pocket and arrested the singer on both possession of the drug and suspicion of being unfit to drive under the influence. He was given a caution and released on bail.

Michael's partner, Kenny Goss, told reporters Sunday night that the "Faith" singer "has nothing to say" about the arrest.

"He's fine and I've got him a McDonald's."

There's an endorsement.

It's the second time this year Michael has unwittingly pulled the roadside sleeping-beauty routine and the third time he's been involved in a traffic violation.

Last February, Michael received a caution from police after being found slumped in his BMW in London in possession of both cannabis and liquid Ecstasy, with officers also recovering sex toys from his car.

In April, the singer slammed his Range Rover into three vehicles on a street outside his North London mansion and drove off without telling anyone. No charges were filed in the bust-up, though $8,000 worth of damages was reportedly done.

In the meantime, Michael is scheduled to resume his comeback tour tonight in Lyon, France, followed by a string of gigs in Milan. The '80s icon was just four dates into his tour, his first time on the road in nearly 15 years, at the time of his arrest.

He's due in court Nov. 20 to determine whether he will face charges stemming from the incident.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20061002/en_music_eo/20141

Posted on Oct 2, 2006, 9:39 AM
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Avril Lavigne Apologizes For Spitting

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Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne appears during a media call, in this Aug. 13, 2004, file photo taken in Taipei, Taiwan

NEW YORK - Avril Lavigne has agreed that spitting at the paparazzi is probably not a good thing to do.

Lavigne issued a statement apologizing after she and her husband, Deryck Whibley of Sum 41, clashed with paparazzi in Los Angeles.

According to reports, Lavigne spat at photographers in two separate incidents last week. Lavigne apologized for her "behavior with the paparazzi."

However, her apology, posted on her Web site, indicated she 'meant no offense" to her fans, not the paparazzi. She said she will always go out of her way for fans.

She also said her behavior was "a reaction to the persistent attack from the paparazzi" and she said "it's trying at best dealing with their insistent intrusions."

Lavigne and Whibley married in July after having dated since early 2004

Lavigne is among the ensemble in Richard Linklater's upcoming adaptation of the best-seller "Fast Food Nation," about fast-food culture, due to open in November. She was also the voice of Heather the opossum in "Over the Hedge." Her last album release was "Under My Skin" in 2004. She is reportedly working on her third album.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061002/ap_en_mo/people_avril_lavigne;_ylt=Ahc87jydoEIIDL_KXa2J8M1xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted on Oct 2, 2006, 9:38 AM
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Fox Boosts Atomic Mass

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Upcoming sked includes '28 Weeks Later,' 'Hills Have Eyes 2'

Newly launched Fox Atomic is sending two more films before cameras, rounding out the label's forthcoming slate.

Launched late last year, Fox Atomic is targeting genre pics that skew young and can be produced on modest budgets. Its slate so far includes the horror sequels "28 Weeks Later" and "The Hills Have Eyes 2" and comedy projects "Revenge of the Nerds" and "The Comebacks." The latter two begin filming this month.

On Oct. 9, filming begins in Atlanta on "Revenge of the Nerds," a reimagining of the 1984 cult comedy being produced by McG and his Wonderland Sound & Vision partner David Manpearl.

Christopher Marquette ("Fanboys," "The Girl Next Door") and Kristin Cavallari (formerly of the MTV series "Laguna Beach") have been cast in the film. Marquette will play the leader of the nerds, and Cavallari a sorority girl alongside Katie Cassidy (the forthcoming "Dallas"). Also newly cast in the pic are Dan Byrd ("The Hills Have Eyes") and Efren Ramirez ("Napoleon Dynamite").

Kyle Newman directs the pic.

Adam Brody and Bret Harrison co-produce.

On Oct. 11, shooting begins in Los Angeles on "The Comebacks," being directed by Tom Brady.

Carl Weathers has been cast as a rival coach opposite David Koechner ("Anchorman"), who plays the lead football coach.

Pic is about the losingest football coach in history and his attempt to redeem himself by leading his team of misfit players to victory.

Also cast in the pic are Matt Lawrence ("Mrs. Doubtfire") and Brooke Nevin.

Tapestry Films' Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy and Andrew Panay are producing. Adam Goldberg exec produces. Michael Schreiber and Kevin Sabbe co-produce.
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source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951105?categoryid=13&cs=1

Posted on Oct 2, 2006, 9:37 AM
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Disney Spares No Expense In Building Kevin Costner's New Waterworld

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A publicity photo of a scene from "The Guardian"

On the eve of the release of The Guardian, the cinematic event that will finally provide the moviegoing public with the Kevin Costner/Ashton Kutcher grizzled veteran/pretty hotshot pairing they've long clamored for, the LAT details the incredible lengths the production went through to ensure that its doggy-paddling stars seemed like they were battling sufficiently realistic waves. Sensing that the treacherous, water-wing-shredding conditions of the Magic Mountain wave pool might not adequately mimic the churning waters of a hurricane-stirred Bering Sea, Disney decided to build its own, enormously expensive wave-generating apparatus:

CONSTRUCTION on the tank -- measuring 80 by 100 feet and 12 feet deep, with a 50-foot-high blue screen behind it -- began in New Orleans late in the summer of 2005. "We were about 80% done with it at enormous expense," says Ahmad. (Neither he nor anyone else involved would divulge the cost.) Then Hurricane Katrina hit, and the production had to shut down and relocate to Shreveport, La., where the tank had to be rebuilt.
The tank holds 750,000 gallons of water. The water had to be heated to 80 degrees for the actors. But even then the actors and others in the water were often chilled. "Every single time we went to the tank, the temperature dropped in Louisiana," Ahmad recalls. "It dropped down to the 40s."

Moreover, the actors and support staff would often get nauseous in the rolling waters. "They were heroic," Ahmad says. "They were in the water for very long periods of time." [...]
[Director Andrew] Davis admits the tank work got pretty crazy at times. The noise from the motors was so loud that a special public address system had to be built to communicate between scenes. And he had to sit in a soundproof booth with three different headsets so he could talk to the camera operators, the special effects crew and the actors.

Regrettably, no film's seasickness-verisimilitude budget is unlimited; once audience testing revealed that reshoots of some of the action sequences would be required, there was no money left for the prohibitively expensive reassembly of their custom-built water tank. Sharp-eyed audience members may be able to detect the corner-cutting moments from the reshoot, where the raging Bering looks suspiciously like the infinity pool in director Davis' backyard, and in which Costner and Kutcher do their best to act buffeted by the somewhat smaller waves generated by the off-screen splashfight of some kickboard-mounted PAs.

The water bill? Don't ask [LAT]
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/the-guardian/disney-spares-no-expense-in-building-kevin-costners-new-waterworld-204058.php


Phew! Wow Disney really knows how to spend it's money. I'm sure all the employees who just got fired are glad they spent their money wisely. What is the purpose of working in Hollywood if it's not to feed Kevin Costner's ego? Even if no one else wants to see this movie, I'm sure all the former Disney employees will line up for this one. Here's to hoping Disney breaks even! clink

Posted on Sep 29, 2006, 10:11 AM
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Charlie Sheen Paid More Than Any Sitcom Actor To Not Make You Laugh

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When happily divorced Charlie Sheen isn't hotly anticipating being on the receiving end of one of his basket-tossed, pigtailed companions, he's hard at work raising American morale with his weekly antics on Two And A Half Men. Realizing that his role of Charlie Harper is one of TV's great, iconic comic creations--forged in the grand tradition of Ralph Kramden or Archie Bunker, just without any discernible character traits, idiosyncracies, or gifts for physical comedy--the show's producers are finally compensating Sheen for his creative contribution by making him the highest paid sitcom actor on television:

After two months of negotiations, "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen is close to finalizing a new salary pact that would make him the highest-paid comedy star in television today.
Sources said Sheen will earn about $350,000 per episode this season from producer of the CBS powerhouse, Warner Bros. Television. This represents a hefty increase from his previous payday in the low six figures.

The salary doesn't come close to the $1 million per episode the actor was reportedly asking for, but it's still a substantial pay raise that will allow Sheen to indulge in luxury goods and services he may have deprived himself of before; for example, hiring a personal skywriter to circle Denise Richards' home every day for a year, writing, "THIS MESSAGE PAID FOR BY MONEY YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR GRUBBY CLAWS ON, YOU SAMBORA-SUCKING WHORE," in giant, block letters hundreds of feet above her driveway.
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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/cbs/charlie-sheen-paid-more-than-any-sitcom-actor-to-not-make-you-laugh-203968.php

Negotiating is hard work



Awww! How cute!!

Is it just a case of "put your drugs on the table, let's see how much you need this year?"

source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/charlie-sheen/hollywood-catnapwatch-sheen-rests-up-before-earning-that-350k-per-episode-204066.php

Posted on Sep 29, 2006, 10:09 AM
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Segregation Ends On 'Survivor'

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This undated file photo, originally released by CBS, shows the 20 castaways on 'Survivor: Cook Islands' on the beach in Aitutaki Atoll, Cook Islands

The "Survivor" foray into racial segregation didn't last long.

On Thursday night's episode, the 4 tribes were combined into 2 large tribes, with no regard to race or gender.

Nate, who had been a member of the black tribe, says it was like being taken out of the ghetto. Parvati, one of the babes of "Survivor: Cook Islands," also likes the new lineup. She says her new tribe got all the buff guys and she's ready to do what she does best -- flirt.
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source: http://www.wlbz2.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=42384

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060929/ap_en_tv/tv_survivor_6

Uh huh. Whatever. This isn't going to get me to watch either.

Posted on Sep 29, 2006, 10:08 AM
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Pathologist: Drug Combo Killed Anna Nicole Smith's Son

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Anna Nicole Smith, right, leaves the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington with her son Daniel Smith in this Feb. 28, 2006 photo

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son died from the accidental effect of methadone and two antidepressant drugs interacting in his system, according to a prominent American pathologist who conducted a private autopsy.

The low levels of the three drugs detected by toxicology tests indicated Daniel Smith died "a tragic, accidental, drug-related death," Dr. Cyril Wecht told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Smith died Sept. 10 at his mother's hospital bedside in the Bahamas, where the reality TV star and former Playboy playmate was recuperating from giving birth to a daughter three days earlier.

Wecht said Zoloft, Lexapro and methadone had a lethal "cumulative effect on the central nervous system" that ultimately stopped Smith's heart — a "classical" death resulting from a combination of drugs without an overdose of any one.

"Oh my, that's a really lethal combination right there," said Lisa Johnson, a pharmacist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "If that's what he was on, it could very well have caused this."

"The methadone will slow you down, but the other ones make your system speed up, so it's an odd combination," she said in an interview.

Smith had reportedly been suffering depression related to a breakup with a girlfriend when he went to visit his mother and newborn half-sister in Nassau. Zoloft and Lexapro, which a U.S. doctor had prescribed, are antidepressants commonly used to treat anxiety and panic disorders.

Wecht said he did not know why Smith was taking methadone, a pain-reliever that is also used to ease heroin cravings for recovering addicts.

"It is used for people who have been on heroin or morphine," Wecht said from his home in the Pittsburgh area. "I have made those inquiries. I can only say to you no one has suggested anything having to do with drug addiction in this boy."

A lawyer for Anna Nicole Smith said she hired Wecht, a forensic pathologist who gained fame as a consultant on celebrity cases including Elvis Presley's death, to end speculation about her son's death.

He conducted the autopsy Sept. 17 at a downtown Nassau morgue, and signed a death certificate with the official pathologist that listed the cause as pending toxicology reports. He had previously ruled out the possibility of suicide or homicide.

Wecht said he would share his results Thursday with the examiner who conducted the official autopsy, but did not know whether they would issue a joint report on the cause.

In Nassau, Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez said he has not yet received official toxicology results, which will determine whether a jury inquest into the death is necessary. He declined to comment on Wecht's findings.

Smith's body on Wednesday remained at a Bahamas funeral home hired by the family.

Howard K. Stern, a lawyer for Anna Nicole Smith who was in the hospital room when Daniel died, told CNN's "Larry King Live" on Tuesday that he is the father of the 3-week-old baby girl, Dannie Lynn Hope.

But photographer Larry Birkhead, a former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, told Us Weekly magazine that he's the father and is seeking a DNA test to prove it.

Stern said he plans to marry the 38-year-old celebrity "at some point."

"Right now we have to somehow get through what we're going through," said Stern, adding: "And I'll tell you, our baby is the one ray of hope."

Daniel Smith, who appeared several times on the E! reality series "The Anna Nicole Show," was the son of Anna Nicole and Bill Smith, who married in 1985 and divorced two years later.

Anna Nicole married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year and she has since been involved in legal disputes over the estate.
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source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060928/ap_en_tv/anna_nicole_smith_son;_ylt=AmB7APGFbbap31ZbvhA52U9xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted on Sep 28, 2006, 10:02 AM
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Fox Throws A Conspiracy Party For 'Vanished," But No One Shows Up

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Wanting to cultivate the kind of obsessive devotion that drives fans of Lost to scrutinize the possibly anachronistic inclusion of home appliances in The Hatch, Fox's publicity department decided to promote fledgling drama Vanished by embedding "enigmatic clues about a larger sinister conspiracy" in the show's press materials, hoping that members of the media would pick up their breadcrumb trail and lead their readers on a symbolic scavenger hunt to the ultimate prize: Nielsens good enough to avoid a hasty cancellation. Unfortunately, writers seem to have better things to do than hunch over a publicity photo with a magnifying glass and wonder if the plunging neckline of Rebecca Gayheart's blouse is a symbolic representation of a "V" or just a run-of-the-mill Fox attempt to spotlight a star's rack. Reports the LAT:

Earley had the photo department embed symbols in the publicity photos -- a "9" in the wrinkle of a sleeve, a "V" in the cut of a woman's dress. The publicity kit also included a card that if dipped in water would reveal the number nine (which, of course, is actually the upside-down G), and on that card is the phone number (310) 369-7272, where callers hear the recorded voice of the senator's wife leaving a panicked message for her parents. And because once you start embedding clues and secrets, it must be hard to stop, 7272 spells "Sara" on the telephone keypad. ("That's not even necessary since in theory this is a voicemail, but it shows we were going the extra step," said Earley.)
The only problem is that very few members of the media actually picked up on all those secret clues. A letter attached to the press kit noted, "As with the series nothing is as it seems and all the materials in this kit should be closely examined and kept for analysis throughout the season."
But because they are reporters writing about the new television season, not FBI agents trying to find a missing senator's wife, all those sneaky hints went over the press corp's head (or under its nose) and the secret clues remained shrouded in a fog so deep, reporters never even noticed it was there.

And so yesterday afternoon Josh Governale, the publicist working "Vanished," called to explain the entire situation to the L.A. Times, even offering to show us where the embedded symbols are located in the press photos.

Even though the ambivalent press has to date ignored Fox's efforts to enlist their help in spreading (or even noticing) the Vanished Conspiracy, the Fox publicity department is committed to making their ambitious idea viable. After they determined that no amount of hand-holding would convince deadline-distracted reporters to spend time on their photographic scavenger hunt, they decided to release a more readily decipherable batch of press materials. The first offering in the new series of promotional puzzles is below:


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source: http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/vanished/fox-throws-a-conspiracy-party-for-vanished-but-no-one-shows-up-203927.php

Posted on Sep 28, 2006, 10:00 AM
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