Winfrey to host series recycling her old show
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Oprah Winfrey is repackaging her now-ended daytime talk show to make it a key part of the lineup for OWN, her struggling cable channel.
Winfrey said Friday she will host the new series that will recycle episodes of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as a “classroom” intended to help viewers improve their lives. The show, titled “Own Your Life,” will air weekdays at 8 p.m. ET starting Oct. 10.
Appearing at a session of the Television Critics Association to announce the revamped series and introduce Rosie O’Donnell and her new OWN show, Winfrey took the opportunity to reinforce her commitment to the channel.
Friends ask, “Are you enjoying your time in the Mediterranean?” Winfrey said. But she’s not on holiday, she said, “I’m here,” and working in the Los Angeles offices of OWN.
It was announced earlier this month that Winfrey was expanding her role at OWN beyond the position of chairman, taking on the additional roles of chief executive officer and chief creative officer.
Winfrey is claiming the title once held by Christina Norman, the former CEO who was dismissed in May in the wake of disappointing ratings for the channel. Norman’s position has been filled in the interim by Peter Liguori, the chief operating officer for Discovery Communications.
OWN, which premiered Jan. 1, is a joint venture of Discovery and Winfrey’s Harpo Inc. Since Winfrey’s syndicated talk show ended in May, she has pledged to devote her full energies to OWN.
Acknowledging OWN’s rocky start, Winfrey said Friday that one of her biggest concerns was “aligning” the channel’s executive teams, “and now we have done that.” She cited the help of two executives who are with her Chicago-based production company, Harpo: Sheri Salata and Erik Logan, who share the title of OWN president.
Putting Winfrey on camera, as well as more prominently at the company’s helm, is an attempt to turn around OWN’s fortunes.
Plans had been in place to pull from the “library” of more than 4,500 “Oprah Winfrey Show” episodes in a show titled “Oprah’s Encore.” But Winfrey said Friday she realized they could be better used if organized as an on-air educational tool about life.
“At Oprah’s core, she is a teacher,” Salata said in a release that announced a companion online course to the talk show reruns. Viewers can sign up “to reserve their spot” in class starting Friday at Oprah.com.
School starts with the show’s premiere, OWN said. “Own Your Life” will be paired with “The Rosie Show,” the new Rosie O’Donnell talk show that will air daily at 7 p.m. ET, right before “Own Your Life,” and will also debut Oct. 10.
Appearing before the critics’ group, O’Donnell said she was proud to join Winfrey, although she labeled the media queen “aspirational” and tagged herself “relatable.”
She joked about viewers saying to themselves, “Oh, if I could only be Rosie O’Donnell: an overweight lesbian who yells too much,” then added, “My job is mostly to entertain and be funny.”
O’Donnell made that happen Friday, drawing laughs when she said her publicist had fretted that the TV group’s members might resurrect O’Donnell’s dust-ups with other celebrities.
“I want to thank you for not asking anything about Donald Trump or Barbara Walters,” O’Donnell said, smiling.
RIP Amy Winehouse
-
- Flowers and tributes left by mourners in Camden Square outside the house of Amy Winehouse following her death, Monday July 25, 2011.
-
- In this Oct. 25, 2007 file photo, British singer Amy Winehouse performs during her concert at the Volkshaus in Zurich, Switzerland. Winehouse was found dead Saturday, July 23, 2011, by ambulance crews who were called to her home in north London’s Camden area.
-
- Janis, the mother of Amy Winehouse, is comforted by a friend as she weeps while looking at flowers left by mourners outside Winehouse’s home in Camden Square in London, Monday July 25, 2011.
-
- Fans view the flowers and tributes left by mourners in Camden Square, outside the house of Amy Winehouse, following her death, in London, Monday July 25, 2011.
Winehouse among music talents gone too soon
NEW YORK (AP) — Amy Winehouse released only two albums in her life, one of which sold more than a million copies, won five Grammys and sparked a retro soul movement that hasn’t yet stopped.
The small output, in inverse relation to her outsized talent, made her death Saturday in London all the more tragic. Fans will only be able to imagine the unrecorded singles, the never-to-be concerts and the comeback album that didn’t come.
It’s a sadly familiar script in pop music, the history of which is checkered with greats and would-be greats snuffed out too early in life.
Almost as soon as news of Winehouse’s death broke and spread across social media, fans were inducting her into the unfortunate pantheon of music talents gone too soon. Many noted that Winehouse, 27, shared the same age at death as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison.
The British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, though, realized that a meaningful commonality was being mistaken for coincidence.
“It’s not age that Hendrix, Jones, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain & Amy have in common,” wrote Bragg on Twitter. “It’s drug abuse, sadly.”
Those names were touted on the Web as the 27 Club, a ghoulish glamourizing of rock star death that makes it sound as though even in death VIPs remain behind a seductive velvet rope.
It’s a term, sometimes called the Forever 27 Club, that has spawned a Wikipedia entry, an independent 2008 movie (“The 27 Club”), numerous websites and at least one book (”The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll”).
The causes of death vary. Jones, the Rolling Stones guitarist, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool in 1969 and was ruled dead “by misadventure.” Hendrix, having mixed sleeping pills and wine, died in 1970 in a London hotel room. Joplin, also in 1970, died in her Porsche in Los Angeles, with heroin suspected as the culprit. Morrison died of heart failure in 1971 in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. Cobain killed himself in 1994.
Some have claimed Cobain was aware of the so-called 27 Club. After his death, his mother, Wendy O’Connor, was understandably fed up with the concept, saying: “I told him not to join that stupid club.”
The cause of Winehouse’s death is not yet known. She long struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Last month, she canceled her European comeback tour after she swayed and slurred her way through barely recognizable songs in her first show in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. She flew home, and her management said she would take time off to recover.
What’s particular about Winehouse’s style of rock ‘n’ roll excess is that it was chronicled thoroughly by the tabloids and news media and was eagerly consumed by readers.
High-quality photographs captured her poor health, the scabs on her face and marks on her arms. Videos of her landed on the Internet, like one that showed her and Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty playing with newborn mice. Another showed her singing a racist ditty to the tune of a children’s song. One, published by a tabloid newspaper, appeared to show her smoking crack cocaine.
Her run-ins with the law — she was cautioned by the police in 2008 for assault and in 2010 pleaded guilty to assaulting a theater manager who asked her to leave a family Christmas show because she’d had too much to drink — found headlines. So did her romances, such as her brief marriage in 2007 to music industry hanger-on Blake Fielder-Civil.
Rarely, though, were Winehouse’s troubles romantic or appealing. Though a thoroughly captivating presence — all beehive and tattoos and candor — Winehouse always cut a desperate figure. Her struggles with substances and bipolar disorder (she said she declined to take medication for it) were painfully evident.
In death, her famous boast of “no, no, no” to rehab only sounds empty. The hard truths of addiction don’t fit neatly into pop tunes — or morbid 27 Clubs — but play out over years of toil.
Early death typically mythologizes pop stars, inflating their reputation. Pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman, in his book “Killing Yourself to Live,” wondered why “the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing.”
The posthumous releases from Winehouse will surely follow, and her legacy will grow. But hopefully mythologizing will be resisted.
Winehouse’s death, an unfortunate but unsurprising end to a long, public decline, might be best remembered not just as another tragic loss but as a modern portrait of how untrue those rock myths really are.
Beavis & Butt-head return to MTV feisty as ever
Mike Judge, creator of the MTV animated series " Beavis and Butthead"
SAN DIEGO (AP) — When the ever-adolescent Beavis and Butt-head return to MTV in the fall — nearly two decades after their heyday — even their own network won’t be safe from the trash-talking duo’s mockery.
Creator Mike Judge came to San Diego’s Comic-Con on Thursday to talk about the reboot of his beloved animated characters and offer a peek at the new season, which is set to premiere in October.
In their new incarnation, the two perennial teens — still wearing their AC/DC and Metallica shirts — riff on music videos, YouTube submissions and MTV shows such as “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Cribs.”
“They’re also watching UFC fights,” Judge says.
The 48-year-old writer, who also voices many of his characters, says that besides Beavis and Butt-head, he hopes to tackle live-action dramas in his creative future.
Comic-Con continues through Sunday.
Emma Watson: I’ll return to Brown next year
Emma Watson
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — “Harry Potter” star Emma Watson says she plans to return to Brown University to complete her degree.
The British actress who plays Hermione (hur-MY’-nee) Granger in the “Harry Potter” series tells The Virginian-Pilot that she remains enrolled at Brown even though she’ll study at England’s Oxford University in the fall.
She says intends to return to Providence in 2012 to complete her studies at the Ivy League school.
The 21-year-old Watson left Brown earlier this year, saying she wanted to devote her time to the final “Harry Potter” film and other acting opportunities.
The final chapter in the series premiered last week, setting box office records. It took in an estimated $168.6 million domestically from Friday to Sunday. That beats the previous best opening weekend of $158.4 million for 2008′s Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight.”
Actor Daniel Baldwin’s wife gets 10 days in jail
Joanne Baldwin
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (AP) — A contrite former model married to actor Daniel Baldwin promised a judge on Wednesday that she would begin Alcoholics Anonymous meetings as soon as she finishes a 10-day sentence for violating probation on a drunken driving conviction.
“Obviously, alcohol has not been your friend,” Judge Bruce Shepley told Joanne Baldwin, who was jailed July 13 after her husband reported that she became violent when she drank and had threatened to kill him.
Baldwin, 41, will get credit for time served in jail.
“I’ve been quite broken of late,” she said at a 20-minute hearing in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego. “I’m going to try to fix myself.”
Baldwin said she has used alcohol to medicate herself from “internal pain.” The judge ordered her to wear an alcohol-monitoring device until he decides she no longer needs it, and said he would jail her again if the device alerted any alcohol use.
Daniel Baldwin did not attend the hearing. He has filed for divorce and was granted a restraining order against her.
In seeking a restraining order, Daniel Baldwin said his wife broke her probation “hundreds of times” after a second drunken driving conviction in June 2010.
Daniel Baldwin, 50, said police told him to take their two children out of the couple’s house on July 10, where he said the children witnessed his wife punching him in the face.
Joanne Baldwin’s aggressiveness and drinking escalated since the first signs of violence, Daniel Baldwin said in the complaint.
In January, she said she had watched a documentary on women who killed their husbands, Baldwin wrote, and quoted her as saying “‘Now I know how to do it, I understand why they did it. You have been warned. Move out of this house or I am going to kill you.“’
Baldwin said that statement was overheard by the couple’s children, the older of whom later asked him: “Is Mommy going to kill us?”
The violence continued, Baldwin said, in incidents in March and May, and culminated with the fight on July 10.
The couple moved to the affluent suburb last year. Daniel Baldwin said at the time that he hoped to turn Portland, Ore., into a hub of film and television production, similar to Vancouver, B.C., in the 1990s.
Judge: Lohan needs to speed up community service
Lindsay Lohan
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge warned Lindsay Lohan Thursday that she needed to spend more time doing community service and enroll in psychological counseling or risk running into problems with her probation.
Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner reminded the actress during a status hearing that she had to complete 480 hours of community service by next April, and that she would not grant any extensions, even if Lohan is working on a film.
“She’s not going to get five minutes more than one year” to complete the service at a shelter for women and the county morgue, Sautner said.
The judge opened the hearing by telling Lohan that probation officials had submitted a report stating she had violated the terms of her release.
“Don’t look shocked Ms. Lohan because it isn’t true,” Sautner said, explaining the probation officer was relying on incorrect information.
The judge did chide the actress for not providing officials with a phone number where she could be reached for monitoring.
It was Lohan’s first appearance in court since completing 35 days of house arrest. Her attorney, Shawn Holley, noted the actress was prohibited from doing community service during that time.
Lohan, 25, has completed one of four anti-shoplifting classes. Sautner said she must complete the rest before returning to court on Oct. 19.
Holley said her client is having trouble enrolling in court-ordered psychological counseling. Sautner agreed that the actress should not have to enroll in group treatment, but said Lohan must find someone to counsel her within three weeks.
Lohan cannot afford to pay a psychiatrist who was previously treating her but would find a new program shortly, Holley said.
The actress remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case and a misdemeanor grand theft case in which she pleaded no contest in May to taking a $2,500 necklace without permission.
Chris Brown to star in romantic comedy
Chris Brown
NEW YORK (AP) — It would have seemed improbable two years ago, but Chris Brown is coming to a theater near you in a romantic comedy.
The singer and actor will star alongside Steve Harvey, Gabrielle Union, Oscar-nominee Taraji P. Henson and Michael Ealy in “Think Like A Man,” an adaptation of Harvey’s best-selling book advice book for women, “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man.”
Details on the casting were confirmed Thursday by a representative for Screen Gems, which is producing the movie.
Brown’s involvement in the movie is another sign of his remarkable comeback since his 2009 attack on girlfriend Rihanna, for which he pleaded guilty to assault. His album “F.A.M.E” has gone gold, and last week a record crowd of 18,000 fans showed up to see him perform on the “Today” show.
Brown has acted in other movies, including “Takers” and “Stomp the Yard.”
Filming has begun in Los Angeles, and the movie is due out April 6
Nicki Minaj tweets to set the record straight about alledged attack
Nicki Minaj tweeted that she was not attacked as was recently reported.
Yesterday afternoon, TMZ reported that before Nicki Minaj took the stage at the American Airlines Center in Dallas two nights ago as part of the Femme Fatale tour, she got into an altercation with an unidentified male at the Palomar Hotel, where she was staying. The report cited law enforcement officials who said that Minaj claimed she was struck in the lower lip by her assailant in the midst of a heated argument. The cops said that an incident report was filed, but that Minaj declined to press charges against the attacker, who she claimed to not be in a relationship with.
The story was picked up by a number of other gossip and news outlets, but now, Minaj is claiming that the whole thing is bogus. Says the disappointed Harajuku Barbie over Twitter: “The fact that u believe a man either slapped or punched me in the face & didn’t leave on a stretcher w/his balls hangin off? #getaF%cknLife.” Shortly afterwards, Nicki followed it up with the cautionary message: “The media could pee on ur leg & tell u its raining. You’d believe it. You’d believe u were an adopted martian if TMZ told u so. #stopit5“.
Since the incident report has yet to come out, and no Dallas police have been directly quoted talking about the whole mess, we’ll choose to believe Minaj’s side of the story for now. And frankly, let’s hope this is the last we hear of all of it—Nicki’s having too good a year for it to come to be defined by whatever this nonsense is.
source: Pop Dust
Justin Timberlake professes his love of beer
Thanks to Pop Dust for sharing this video!
Nicki Minaj Allegedly Attacked In Hotel Fight
Rapper Nicki Minaj told authorities she was “struck” in the lower lip by a man … during a heated argument at a swanky Dallas hotel last night … law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
TMZ has learned … Minaj was hanging out at the pool at the fancy Palomar Hotel when she got into a very intense verbal spat with an unidentified man she was staying with.
Nicki told a hotel employee to call police … while the man went to their hotel room. Nicki followed soon after.
When cops and paramedics arrived, Nicki told authorities their poolside fight continued inside of their room … and the man hit her in her lower lip.
The man had already left the scene when cops arrived … but Nicki insisted she did NOT want to press charges. Nicki also claimed she was NOT in a relationship with the alleged attacker.
Cops tell us an incident report was taken … but no charges will be filed per Nicki’s request.
Calls to Nicki’s rep have not been returned.
Halle Berry Gets Restraining Order Against Alleged Stalker
Halle Berry just got a restraining order against the alleged stalker who invaded her property 3 times in three days … TMZ has learned … and one of the confrontations is downright scary.
An L.A. County Superior Court judge just issued the TRO, ordering Richard Franco to stay clear of Halle, her family and her home.
TMZ broke the story … Franco jumped the wall of Halle’s Hollywood Hills home on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Franco was arrested late Monday night after jumping the back wall of Halle’s property.
According to legal docs obtained by TMZ … on Saturday … Halle says she was in her garage that was converted into a salon on her property, which is detached from her home. At some point she decided to go into the house through the kitchen to get a Diet Coke. According to the Halle’s declaration, “As I opened my glass kitchen door and closed it behind me, all of a sudden I sensed someone behind me and turned to see the intruder standing less than a foot behind me, staring through my glass kitchen door.”
Halle continues, “Panicking and in fear of my life, I turned my body and quickly hit the deadbolt lock on the glass door. I grabbed my phone and ran as fast as I could upstairs, slamming each door behind me as I ran.” She then called 911.
Halle says, “He has terrorized me and my family in three consecutive incidents over the last three days,” adding, “This person has invaded and trampled upon the most fundamental sense of security I have and I am extremely frightened of him and what he might do to me and those I love.”
Halle says when she saw Franco on her property he was carrying a book with “nonsensical ramblings and my name written in his handwriting.”
Franco is still in custody.
A full hearing for a permanent restraining order is set for August 1.
Courtesy of TMZ Staff
Schwarzenegger to return to acting in ‘Last Stand’
Arnold Schwarzenegger
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Arnold Schwarzenegger said he’d be back.
A spokesman for the former governor says Schwarzenegger will return to acting with a role in the Lionsgate film “Last Stand.” The role represents Schwarzenegger’s first major movie role since 2003′s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.” He made a cameo appearance in last summer’s “The Expendables.”
Spokesman Daniel Ketchell confirmed Tuesday that Schwarzenegger will appear in the Western flick but did not elaborate. Lionsgate declined comment Tuesday.
Schwarzenegger said in May that he was putting his acting projects on hold after disclosing that he fathered a child with a family housekeeper and splitting with wife Maria Shriver
‘Phun’ Phish beachball party maybe largest ever
It may be one of the largest beach ball parties ever as the inflatable objects appeared while the band Phish took the stage at Super Ball IX at Watkins Glen International Speedway Saturday July 2, 2011. Close to 60,000 were expected for the three day event that ends Sunday. The last concert to be held at the venue was in 1973 where over 600,000 watched headliners The Grateful Dead perform. (AP Photo/Finger Lakes Times,Spencer Tulis)
Producer talks Adele, new Chili Peppers project
Music producer Rick Rubin
NEW YORK (AP) — So far, Adele’s “21” is the best-selling album of the year, with a little over 2.5 million copies sold. Rick Rubin, who produced several tracks on the album, says while he had no idea the album would connect with so many people, he understands why it has.
“She doesn’t carry any of the baggage of many of today’s pop stars, and it truly is about the music first, and her voice and her lyrics, and baring her soul with what she’s saying. I would say what she makes is her art, and at no time does it feel like product,” he said in a phone interview recently. “So much of pop music feels like product.”
The British singer won Grammys for her debut album “19,” but has catapulted to superstar status with the success of “21” and hits like the No.1 “Rolling in the Deep.” Figures released by Nielsen SoundScan earlier this week showed it was the year’s most popular album at the mid-way point.
Rubin says the raw emotions in songs on the album, inspired mostly by the 23-year-old’s breakup with a boyfriend, are what people are responding to.
“She really bared her soul lyrically, and I think that’s what resonating with people — the truth in her lyrics, and the passion in which she tells that truth,” he said.
Rubin, a Grammy-winning producer who’s worked with artists ranging from Jay-Z to Johnny Cash to Neil Diamond, has several other high-profile projects he’s working on, including albums from Metallica, Linkin Park, the Avett Brothers and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Rubin describes the Chili Peppers’ album “I’m With You,” due out Aug. 30, as unlike anything the band has ever done — but unmistakably Peppers music. He credits that in part to guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, replaced John Frusciante, and personal changes group members have gone through since putting out their last album five years ago.
“Anthony (Kiedis) and Flea had children during that time, so their lives have changed a lot since the last album we made, and because they had taken this time off, they came back with a real hunger and excitement about the music-making process again,” Rubin said.
“I think it’s the first time in their career that they’d ever taken off that big of a chunk of time, and they’ve been a band for 28 years now,” he said. “It really feels like starting all over again, because they have the dynamics of a new band.”
———
Online:
http://www.adele.tv/
http://redhotchilipeppers.com/
Sheryl Crow’s donation to wild-horse group criticized
Sheryl Crow
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Sheryl Crow, hailed as a champion of wild horses that roam the range in the West, has been criticized by a national animal rights group that is calling her a hypocrite for performing at a Wyoming rodeo.
The “All I Wanna Do” singer planned to donate a portion of the proceeds from her July 22 concert at the Cheyenne Frontier Days to a wild-horse protection group that’s suing the government to try to halt a big mustang roundup in Nevada. Crow is the opening act for Kid Rock on a summer tour that includes the Wyoming gig.
But Showing Animals Respect and Kindness claimed that wild horses are abused at that event in a special race just for them.
“How can an organization dedicated to helping wild horses take blood money that was based, in part, on abusing wild horses? We believe what Ms. Crow is doing is nothing but PR spin,” said Stuart Chaifetz, a spokesman for the Illinois-based group.
The group, also known as SHARK, called on the Cloud Foundation to reject the donation.
Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the Colorado-based group, said she and other activists consider Crow a true champion of wild horses. Crow has adopted a wild horse and contributed time and money to the cause of keeping them on public lands, she said.
SHARK’s criticism is unjustified because rodeos are prohibited under the 1971 federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act from using mustangs removed from the range by the government, Kathrens added.
“I think it’s important for people to know the wild horse act prohibits the activity they’re concerned about,” Kathrens told The Associated Press. “They are not using wild horses off our ranges in that race.”
A spokesman for Crow agent John Marx at the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., referred inquiries to Crow’s publicist, who did not respond to an email. In a statement issued on her website last week, Crow said she was aware of “the contrasting and very passionate opinions that people have about this event and rodeos in general.”
She said she was making the donation “in recognition of these differences and out of my love for wild horses.”
Chaifetz said Crow only decided to make the donation after its protests over her involvement at the rodeo.
He said SHARK helped coordinate a June 24 protest at a Crow book-signing in Salt Lake City at which activists showed up with a banner reading, “Sheryl Crow: Betrayer of Horses.”
The Cloud Foundation is trying to win an emergency injunction to block the federal Bureau of Land Management’s roundup of 1,700 mustangs scheduled to begin this weekend along the Nevada-Utah line.
A hearing on the request is scheduled Thursday in U.S. District Court in Reno.
Ex-Fox personality Glenn Beck is moving to Dallas
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Fox News Channel personality Glenn Beck is bound for Texas.
Beck said Monday that he’s relocating his family to Dallas, where his media company is building a new television and radio studio.
Beck is starting a new online network, GBTV, on which he will beam a two-hour program each evening starting in late summer. He’s continuing his syndicated radio show.
The president of Beck’s company, Mercury Radio Arts, says the move doesn’t mean the company will be abandoning its studio and offices in New York.
Beck doubled the ratings at his time slot almost immediately after joining Fox in January 2009. But critics persuaded advertisers to boycott his show last summer after he said President Barack Obama had “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” His last show was in June.
Rihanna cuts Dallas concert short because of fire
Rihanna
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the fire broke out near a lighting truss as Rihanna was finishing the ballad “California King Bed” and descending below the stage for a costume change. The newspaper says the production crew quickly extinguished the fire, but the Friday night show was canceled anyway.
About 12,500 people were in the audience. American Airlines Center spokeswoman Jenny Walker says an evacuation was orderly and no injuries were reported.
The fire cut a short show even shorter. Rihanna was about an hour late taking the stage after her flight from New York to Dallas was delayed.
The singer later tweeted that “We set the stage on FYAH tonight!!!”
———
It’s a boy for Kate Hudson, rocker fiance Bellamy
Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy are parents to a baby boy born Saturday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kate Hudson is a mom again, and the father is another rocker.
Hudson’s rep said Sunday that Hudson and fiance Matt Bellamy, singer with the British band Muse, are new parents.
Publicist Brad Cafarelli tells The Associated Press in an email that “Matthew and Kate welcomed a healthy baby boy” Saturday in Los Angeles.
The birth gives a brother to Hudson’s other son, 7-year-old Ryder, whose father is Black Crowes lead singer Chris Robinson. And it means Hudson’s mother Goldie Hawn is a grandmother again.
Hudson and Robinson divorced in 2007. She and Bellamy got engaged in April.
The 32-year-old actress was nominated for an Oscar for 2000′s “Almost Famous,” and has since appeared in several romantic comedies including “Fools Gold” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
Mila Kunis says yes to Marine YouTube date request
Mila Kunis
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thanks to the power of the Internet, a Marine’s YouTube request to go on a date with Mila Kunis got through to the actress, who said yes.
In a recent Fox News interview, the 27-year-old “Black Swan” star was asked whether she knew about Sgt. Scott Moore’s video asking her to accompany him to the Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, N.C., in November. The annual event marks the founding of the Marines in 1775.
“Hey Mila. It’s Sergeant Moore, but you can call me Scott,” he said from a base in Afghanistan. “I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to invite you to the Marine Corps Ball on November 18th in Greenville, North Carolina, with yours truly. So take a second, think about it and get back to me.”
Kunis reacted with surprise and asked for details about the event during the Fox News interview. After her “Friends With Benefits” co-star, Justin Timberlake, goaded her to fulfill her patriotic duties, Kunis said she would go.
“We’re going to make this happen, sir,” she said, looking into the camera. “I’m with you.”
Further details on whether Kunis has taken additional steps to confirm she would attend the ball remained unclear.
Calls and email messages seeking comments from Kunis’ publicist and Moore were not returned Monday.
The corps’ anniversary ball is one of the most important events on a Marine’s calendar, according to spokeswoman Capt. Kendra Hardesty. Balls are held at bases and less formal celebrations by units in the field to mark the Nov. 10, 1775, founding of the branch.
Balls at garrisons are formal affairs following a ceremony established in 1952. At each ball, the Marine Corps commandant’s birthday message is read, along with a 1921 order issued by Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune summarizing the tradition and mission of the corps. After that, a cake-cutting ceremony is held in which the first piece is presented to the guest of honor, and then to the oldest Marine present, who in turn passes it to the youngest Marine present, Hardesty said.
“Although I don’t know an exact number, I’m confident in saying that if a unit is not deployed, they likely are hosting a birthday ball or are attending the ball of a higher command,” Hardesty said.
Kunis won’t be the first celebrity to attend a Marine birthday ball. Other Hollywood stars who’ve attended over the years include action film actor Chuck Norris and R. Lee Ermey, a retired Marine whose most famous role was an intense drill instructor in the film “Full Metal Jacket.”
NY judge dismisses charges against Foxy Brown
Inga Marchand, also known as Foxy Brown, laughs while talking to reporters after leaving court in New York, Tuesday, July 12, 2011. Charges that rapper Foxy Brown violated a court order by mooning her neighbor have been dropped. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Tuesday dropped charges that rapper Foxy Brown violated a court order by mooning her neighbor after the woman told prosecutors she would not testify at the trial.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Isdith said he had tried to meet with the neighbor, Irene Raymond, in the weeks before the trial and didn’t get anywhere. When he finally got in touch with her, she said she didn’t want to pursue the case, he said.
“While the district attorney’s office has no doubt the defendant committed this crime, we have no other choice but to dismiss this case,” Isdith said.
Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt and her trial was slated to begin Tuesday, following a dressing-down at her last court hearing by State Supreme Court Justice John Walsh when she appeared hours late.
The 31-year-old hip hop star was punctual this time, wearing a short silver silk dress and towering spike heels, and smiled and hugged he attorneys as the courtroom erupted when Walsh dismissed the case.
“I was falsely arrested twice, slandered and defamed,” she said outside court, as she gave a thumbs-up and smiled for cameras. She described Raymond as jealous, and someone with a “borderline obsession,” “someone who wants to be you or have your life … that I worked really hard for,” she said.
The Brooklyn-based rapper was a teenager when she broke onto the rap scene as a protege of Jay-Z, but her career has foundered in recent years.
Prosecutors said Brown violated the order in July 2010 by screaming at Raymond before bending over, baring her buttocks and showing her underwear while shouting an obscenity.
Had the case gone to trial, her attorney Salvatore Strazzullo said her defense would have been not only did she not moon Raymond, but she wasn’t even wearing underwear at the time, so the neighbor was not telling the truth.
Brown was issued the order of protection after pleading guilty in 2008 to menacing Raymond with her cellphone. The two had been in a fight over Brown blasting her car stereo outside their Brooklyn building in the leafy Prospect Heights neighborhood. The restraining order is in effect until 2013, her attorney said.
Strazzullo said they would be filing a civil suit in Brooklyn alleging malicious prosecution.
Brown became one of rap’s more popular stars in the 1990s, but in recent years she has stayed in the headlines mainly for her legal problems and hot temper. She also has said she suffered from hearing problems.
Her debut CD, “Ill Na Na,” was released in 1996. She released her platinum-selling sophomore album, “Chyna Doll,” in 1999. Her third album, “Broken Silence,” — released in 2001 — reached gold status.
She rapped in the hip-hop group The Firm, which also featured Nas.
Brown said outside court that she’s headed directly to the recording studio now that she’s free of the case, and said she’s not planning to return to criminal court any time soon.
Katy Perry postpones concert stops due to food poisoning
Katy Perry
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Katy Perry has postponed concerts in St. Paul, Minn., and the Chicago area because she’s suffering from food poisoning.
A statement released by her publicist says the Friday show at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., has been rescheduled to Aug. 21 and her Saturday show at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center is now set for Aug. 23.
The statement says the food poisoning led to severe dehydration. She performed ill at Summerfest in Milwaukee Thursday.
John Boler, vice president of sales and marketing at Summerfest, says Perry wasn’t feeling well when she arrived. He says a doctor attended to her during the day and the performance.
He says she performed beautifully despite being sick.
Perry apologized but said she plans to give fans the best show ever when she returns.
