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[Mohamad]

Lily Allen blasts the BRITs

Jun 8, 2010 09:37 EDT

Lily Allen has been quoted in the media as blasting the BRIT awards – the UK’s high-profile equivalent to the Grammys (think BAFTAs to the main prize the Oscars). The singer won best British solo female artist at the prize ceremony in February at which she also performed. Her website was not coy about the triumph, trumpeting the star on her official website and calling the award “coveted”.
Either Allen’s memory is short or her PR team is not on message, because in an interview that has just been aired as part of Sky Arts’ “In Confidence” series, she is quoted by the Mirror tabloid and Telegraph broadsheet as calling the prize a “non-award” that “means nothing”. ”The Brit Awards is a TV show, and a record company executive makes deals with ITV and the producers about who wins what award in exchange for performance time,” she said. “I got one last week and it just meant absolutely nothing to me, to be honest. It just became a non award.”
The BRIT organisers, somewhat baffled by the timing of Allen’s statement given that the awards took place nearly four months ago, have defended the way the winners are decided. A spokesman said in a statement: “We are sure that Lily will be happy to hear that the voting for her BRIT Award for British Female Solo Artist was scrutinised and approved by the electoral reform society, as are all awards voted for by the BRITs Academy.” The Academy is made up of some 1,000 people from the music business, ranging from journalists to managers to record label executives.
It will be interesting to see how Lily gets on should she be nominated again in 2011

[Mohamad]

A kiss — just a kiss? Or a scandal

Jun 7, 2010 16:45 EDT

Back in the 1940s and the “Casablanca” era, a kiss was famously “just a kiss”

Not any more.
It’s been seven years since Britney Spears and Madonna notoriously locked lips in a live MTV Music Video Awards show. But women kissing women (or just pretending to) is still making front page news, whether it’s Miley Cyrus on a “Britain’s Got Talent” performance last week, or Sandra Bullock at the MTV Movie Awards show this weekend.
(And let’s not even revisit the Adam Lambert male-on-male kiss furor last November)
But while Bullock’s apparently rehearsed smooch with Scarlett Johansson was mostly seen as just good fun, Miley Cyrus’ kiss (that she now protests wasn’t really a kiss although it may have looked like it) with a female dancer has not gone down so well, especially with fans of the Disney teen star.
Cyrus, 17, has found herself making plenty of headlines in the past few weeks as she tries to carve a new, more grown-up image since finishing shooting the final series of Disney Channel’s tween hit series “Hannah Montana.”
The controversial kiss on “Britain’s Got Talent” follows Miley’s raunchy dance moves on the music video for her new single “Can’t Be Tamed” and a new look in slinky, body-hugging outfits for her live performances. Problem is, “Hannah Montana” is still showing on the Disney Channel and the final series starts airing there in July.
Miley doesn’t see the connection.
“GET OVER IT! NOTHING HAPPENED. THERE ARE WAYYYYYYY MORE IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE WORLD. Let’s start focusing a little less on making up ignorant rumors and focus a little more on world peace! We gotta a lot of work to do if we wan this earth to be here much longer. Let’s make a change! It wouldn’t hurt the world to show a little more love. X M” she wrote in a posting on her official website .
She also accused the entertainment industry of being “nothing but a disgusting tabloid” and promised her fans that she did not actually kiss the dancer in question. “I really hope my fans are not disappointed in me because the truth is I did nothing wrong,” she added.
Here’s the thing. If Miley thinks (as her comments suggest) that kissing a girl might be wrong, why did she bother to pretend to do so? And if Bullock and Johansson can get away with it, why can’t Miley (or Adam Lambert?)

[Mohamad]

Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. Double standards

Jun 4, 2010 18:35 EDT


Two Hollywood stars. Two different stories.
1) Former child star turns wild child, convicted of drunken driving, goes into rehab a few times, parties ’round the clock, gets dumped from at least one movie, plans role as **** queen — and becomes laughing stock of the celebrity media.
2) Middle-aged actor, three times married, plays raunchy womanizer, couple of stints in rehab, former client of notorious Hollywood Madam, pulls knife on wife during drunken Christmas Day argument – and almost doubles salary to become highest-paid actor on TV.
Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen have both found themselves in a whole lot of trouble this year. But while Lindsay’s star has long since fallen, Charlie has emerged virtually unscathed in the eyes of the public, the media and the industry.
Sheen is expected to be sentenced to 30 days in jail on Monday as a result of his violent and drunken Christmas Day fight in Aspen with third wife Brooke Mueller. But his latest violence-related dust-up with the law has had no effect on audiences for his TV show “Two and a Half Men”, which remains the top-rated comedy on U.S. television.
After negotiating a new contract in May that reportedly almost doubled his pay to about $1.8 million — per episode — for the next two years, Sheen is now, by far, the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.
Lindsay’s crimes, on the other hand, have brought nothing but bad news (and bad hair) for the once promising star of “Mean Girls” and “The Parent Trap.” She’s barely worked for two years, her next project is playing “Deep Throat” **** queen Linda Lovelace in a low-budget movie, and she risks being sent to jail later this year for violating her 2007 probation for reckless and drunken driving.
Lindsay is 23, and clearly has a lot of growing up to do. Charlie is 44.
Double standards somewhere? We’re just asking

[Mohamad]

One minute with Justin Bieber

Jun 3, 2010 17:53 EDT


This portrait session came about because our entertainment reporter, Christine Kearney, noticed that one of the several PR pitches that came across her desk was a small event where Justin Bieber was going to give the winner of a contest a bouquet of flowers. Normally this isn’t a story that we would be interested in because it doesn’t have anything to do with any “larger picture” type of story. However, because it was Bieber, Christine decided she would ask for a few minutes to interview him. One of the hardest things for us to do is gain access because a lot of musicians, actors, or television personalities have very specific images that they want to project so access can be incredibly tight. This restriction to access can make my job difficult because as a photographer I would love the opportunity to document what these public figures lives are like on a day to day basis. The next best thing for me to get is a little one on one time with whoever allows it. Luckily, the PR officer said yes to both the request for a private interview and a quick portrait session, as long as I was low key and quick.
It was a hot day and hauling a large rolling suitcase around with a single set of strobes, along with my backpack full of camera equipment, was enough to make sure that I was panting by the time Christine and I arrived at a small non-descript flower shop in Lower Manhattan. As we walked in I was surprised to see only about a dozen people inside, a couple of television cameras, and one other still photographer. At most events where a celebrity as popular as Justin Bieber is attending there are dozens of photographers and television cameras. I was heartened to see that it would be a much smaller crowd for this. The woman organizing the event told me I could set up my lights in the back while a television station interviewed Justin. Once that was finished Christine could interview him while I moved my lights to the front of the shop where Bieber had to remain seated. I have to admit, I wish all of my portrait shoots could take place in flower shops because it was a welcome break from the usual portrait venue of a hotel room. Not only was the air conditioning on high but it smelled nice and flowery. I think this put everyone at ease as I didn’t have any issues whatsoever setting up my lights, moving them to the front room through a small crowd, or shooting a quick portrait.
As Christine was finishing her interview the organizer of the event came up to me and the other photographer to ask if we could both get our shots in the 3 minutes they had allotted for photos. I asked if we could get more time but Bieber was scheduled to be somewhere immediately following this event and the timing couldn’t be changed. I struck a deal with the other photographer that I could have the first minute and he could have the second and third as he was hired by the organizers of the event and needed multiple people, angles, promoters, etc in his photos. I knew that if other people crowded around Bieber it would be difficult to separate them in time and I just needed single photographs. Christine introduced me to Bieber and after mentioning that I had seen him perform a few months ago with a cast, I went to work.
I had been enjoying using two strip softboxes on my lights and I took several photos both of Bieber as a full-length, him leaning forward, and him standing and close to the lights – with the lights in a number of different configurations. I also took a handful with an 85mm f1.2 camera at ISO400 and 1/250th of a second. The rest were taken at ISO100, 1/200th of a second at either f11 or f9, depending on where he was standing. All in all I had a total of maybe 10 minutes to set up and plan what I was going to do and about 1 minute with the talent. It’s fairly par for the course in this line of work and while it is exhausting and stressful to only have that very limited amount of time, it is also fun when you make some strong photos. There is one horizontal frame in particular where he is leaning forward on his knees that I think turned out well.

In any case, it was fun and I am sure that thousands of teenage girls would have loved to have been there. He was a nice fellow and getting the access was great. Those two things are all I need to get a photo – I just wish those two stars could align more often

[Mohamad]

World Cup concert draws large audience in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG
Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:57pm EDT

Fans attend the opening concert for the 2010 World Cup at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg June 10, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Radu Sigheti




JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The World Cup opening concert in Soweto drew nearly 8.5 million television viewers in South Africa, the highest for an entertainment event in recent history, a survey showed Friday.
Entertainment | Music
Thousands of people rocked Orlando Stadium in South Africa's biggest township Thursday, to sing at the first World Cup concert on the eve of the world's most watched sporting event.
The concert was broadcast live around the world, and stars included Alicia Keys, Angelique Kidjo and Vusi Mahlasela. Colombian pop star Shakira sang the official World Cup anthem "Waka Waka (This time for Africa)" with South African group Freshly Ground.
"Data showed that peak viewing for the concert topped out at just under 8.5 million South African viewers, with an average of just over 6.7 million viewers on (national broadcaster) SABC 1 and (private TV station) SuperSport 3 combined," research company Nielsen said in a statement.
"Few events in recent years have managed to achieve these kinds of local audience figures," Nielsen managing director Chris Eyre said.
The statement said the only special event broadcasts to come close to the viewing of the concert on the eve of the first World Cup match included the 2008 South African Music Awards (SAMA) with almost five million viewers.
The August 2009 screening of a 30th anniversary celebration for Michael Jackson saw 3.88 million television viewers in South Africa tuned in.

[Mohamad]

Hollywood’s most popular Dad? … Will Smith

Fandango | Fandango.com | Jaden Smith | Karate Kid | Will Smith
If he weren’t such a popular figure, there’s little doubt his “Karate Kid” son would go all ninja on him.

Movie ticket selling website Fandango.com has done a poll ahead of Father’s Day (June 20 in the U.S., Canada and U.K.) of movie fans’ favorite father/son and father/daughter actors and actresses, and Will Smith comes out a winner.

He and his son Jaden, who stars in this week’s release of “The Karate Kid” (read about the movie here) were No. 1 on the list of father/son acting teams with 45 percent of the votes (notably most of the voters were between ages 18 and 34). They were followed by Ben Stiller and Jerry Stiller with 16 percent of the vote and Colin Hanks and Tom Hanks with 12 percent.

On the actress side, Miley Cyrus and her dad, performer Billy Ray Cyrus, landed atop the poll with 43 percent of the votes, but just underneath were Will and his daughter Willow Smith, who co-starred alongside her dad in “I Am Legend” and also had a role in “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” at No. 2 with 21 percent of the vote. At No. 3 were Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight with 10 percent — an odd one considering their on-again/off-again relationship

[Mohamad]

Jodie Foster, teenager clash over photos

LOS ANGELES
Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:28pm EDT

Actress Jodie Foster attends the premiere of the film ''Edge of Darkness'' in Los Angeles January 26, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Phil McCarten




LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The family of a 17-year-old teenager has accused Oscar winner Jodie Foster of being rough with the boy after he snapped photographs of the Oscar-winning actress and her sons outside a movie theater.
Entertainment | People
Foster's spokeswoman fired back on Friday that the "young man was most definitely a professional paparazzo."
"She did touch him on the arm to try to take him aside to talk to him and tell him to stop" taking pictures, the actress' spokeswoman, Jennifer Allen, told Reuters.
A report filed with Los Angeles police hours after the May 29 incident said Foster went up to the unidentified teen after he had snapped pictures of her, and that she poked him on the chest and grabbed his left arm.
But Officer Cleon Joseph, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said no charges have been filed.
The police report was obtained by RadarOnline.com on Friday. The teenager's father told the celebrity news website that claims he was a paparazzo were "ridiculous...He's just a kid who happens to have an nice camera."
Foster's spokeswoman Allen said the teenager "tailed Jodie and her young sons" and that he "crowded" them as he took pictures, scaring the actress' children. She also said he had a camera bag and a telephoto lens.
Foster has two boys, ages 11 and 8. She won the best actress Oscar twice, once for her role in 1991 thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" and before that for her part in 1988 drama "The Accused." She played a crime victim on a mission for revenge in 2007 film "The Brave One."

[Mohamad]

Catherine Zeta-Jones tops bill in Queen's honors list

Estelle Shirbon
LONDON
Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:03pm EDT






Honoree Michael Douglas and his wife actress Catherine Zeta-Jones arrive for The Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2010 Chaplin Award Gala in New York City May 24, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi




LONDON (Reuters) - A flying banker and an owl-lover join celebrities including film star Catherine Zeta-Jones and Olympic gold medalist Amy Williams on the Queen's Birthday Honors list, the Cabinet Office said on Saturday.
Entertainment
A total of 975 people are on the annual list, which marks Queen Elizabeth's official birthday. Women represent 47 percent of the total, while 7.3 percent are people from ethnic minorities, making the list one of the most diverse to date.
Zeta-Jones, who won an Oscar in 2003 for her role in the musical "Chicago," can now add a CBE or Commander of the British Empire to her tally of awards. She is being honored for services to the film industry as well as charity work in Wales.
There are five classes of honors in the Order of the British Empire. The most common, in decreasing order of seniority, are CBE, OBE (Officer) and MBE (Member).
Williams, who became the first British woman in 58 years to win a Winter Olympic individual gold medal when she triumphed in the skeleton race at the Vancouver Games, receives an MBE.
Also in the sports category, jockey Tony McCoy gets an OBE while motor racing's David Coulthard receives an MBE.
Listed in the fields of science and technology, but also with an impact on the world of sport, are MBEs for Frank Duckworth and Anthony Lewis.
They are honored for services to statistics and mathematics respectively, but also for formulating the Duckworth-Lewis Method to determine the result of limited-over cricket matches affected by bad weather.
HIGH HEELS AND HEROES
Entrepreneurs honored on the list include Tamara Mellon, the brains behind the Jimmy Choo brand of shoes beloved of fashionistas around the world. She gets an OBE.
Robin Millar, a record producer with 150 gold and platinum discs to his name including 44 number one hits, is honored with a CBE. Millar, who has been blind since 1985 because of illness, has worked with the likes of Sting and Peter Gabriel.
The list honors hundreds of people who have made a difference to the lives of people in their communities. They represent 76 percent of recipients.
Bryn and Emma Parry get OBEs as co-founders of the Help for Heroes charity, described as an initiative that caught the mood of the nation and helped to reconnect it with the armed forces.
Harry Samuel receives an MBE for 24 years of service as a voluntary worker providing advice and support to former miners and their families on coping with chronic bronchitis, emphysema and vibration white finger claims.
Anthony Warburton is rewarded with an MBE for his 40 years of work for the conservation of owls and their habitats.
There is also an MBE for Elma Anne Rendall, customer service officer at Royal Bank of Scotland on Orkney, who provides flying banking services to remote Scottish islands.

[Mohamad]

Russell Brand plays rock star onscreen and on disc

Cortney Harding
Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:59pm EDT











Cast member Russell Brand (L) and singer Katy Perry pose at the premiere of ''Get Him to the Greek'' at the Greek theatre in Los Angeles May 25, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni




NEW YORK (Billboard) - Infant Sorrow seems to have it all: a charismatic, good-looking frontman; several talented and well-known musicians; an extensive, major-label-funded marketing campaign; and a No. 1 debut on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.
Entertainment | Music
There's only one wrinkle: Infant Sorrow isn't a real band.
Infant Sorrow's debut album, "Get Him to the Greek," is in fact the soundtrack to the film of the same name. And star Russell Brand, who plays hard-partying rocker Aldous Snow, sings all the tracks on the record. The songs were written and recorded by a number of high-profile British rockers, including Carl Barat of the Libertines and Jarvis Cocker. Snippets of several songs do appear in the film, but fans who want to hear full versions can pick up the album, which has sold 3,500 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Russell and the film company felt very strongly about doing something like this as opposed to a traditional soundtrack," says Kim Garner, senior vice president of marketing and artist development at Universal Republic. "We wanted to release it like we would an actual rock band's album."
The album's sales were assisted by the box-office success of the film, which opened at No. 2 and grossed $17.5 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. But Universal Republic didn't want to rely solely on the film to drive publicity.
"We curated a piece with the film company about the music and the movie, and that will run on the HD wall in Best Buy stores through June," Garner says. "We also shot a proper music video, which Russell directed, and that premiered on Vevo. Russell and Jonah (Hill, who co-stars in the movie) also made celebrity playlists for iTunes, which helped us get great placement there."
Universal Republic also produced special content for Record Store Day and commissioned a Union Jack Fender guitar like the one Brand's character uses in the film as a prize for a label-run contest in alternative weeklies around the country.
"We took the music for this film very seriously," Brand says. "We got brilliant writers and tried to make it as authentic as possible. We wanted songs that were quality and quirky -- like a rock version of Flight of the Conchords."
"Get Him to the Greek" certainly has plenty of "are they kidding?" moments, including a song called "F.O.H.," written by Cocker, that describes the joys of committing a particular *** act while high on heroin. The single, "Say Yes," encourages rampant drug consumption.
"When I think about my models for the Aldous character, I think about hedonistic late-'60s stars like Iggy Pop, Robert Plant, (David) Bowie and (Mick) Jagger," Brand says. "These were guys who just didn't care."
Despite the album's debut success, Brand says he probably won't quit acting to front Infant Sorrow full-time. The band did play a Los Angeles set recently, with members taking turns at the mic and Brand stepping in for two songs. Garner says special appearances, such as performances at award shows, might be possible in the future. But for now, Brand says he is sticking to acting. Unless ...
"If it becomes a Billboard No. 1 album," he says, "I would throw myself into a musical career with bare-assed ambition."

[Mohamad]

Fourth "Twilight" film will be split in two

LOS ANGELES
Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:31am EDT










Actor Peter Facinelli accepts the award for Best Movie for ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, June 6, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni




LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Why make one "Twilight" film when you can charge moviegoers to see two of them?
Entertainment | Film
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," the fourth movie in the vampire franchise, will be split in two, with the first half scheduled for release on November 18, 2011, distributor Summit Entertainment confirmed on Thursday.
The announcement, coming ahead of the June 30 release of the third film "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," was not a surprise. The closely held studio had signaled that author Stephenie Meyer's 900-page "Breaking Dawn" book was too complex to be adapted into a single movie.
But it had reportedly signed the cast for only four movies, and had to renegotiate costly deals with the newly minted A-list actors before it could officially announce the new plan.
The films will shoot back-to-back in the fall, with Bill Condon directing from a script being written by Melissa Rosenberg. A Summit spokesman said there was no release date scheduled yet for the fifth film.
And yes, all the same lovelorn characters -- including Bella (played by Kristen Stewart), Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) -- will be on hand.
The fourth book centers on Bella's marriage to the vampire Edward, her subsequent pregnancy, and her fulfilled desire to be transformed into a
The first two films in the franchise, beloved worldwide by women of all ages, have grossed over $1.1 billion at the box office, Summit said.