Thursday, February 08, 2007

Anna nicole coverage

all latest news, videos and blogs

search her on mynewsbot.com

Labels:

Anna nicole coverage

all latest news, videos and blogs

search her on mynewsbot.com

Labels:

Anna nicole coverage

all latest news, videos and blogs

search her on mynewsbot.com

Labels:

Fametastic
Larry Birkhead: I did everything I could for Anna Nicole Smith
Wednesday January 31st, 2007 at 1:23 pm by HeatherH
Larry Birkhead has revealed he was amazed when Anna Nicole Smith dumped him and fled to the Bahamas because he thought they were committed to each other and the baby she was expecting.

Larry revealed recently: “One day I’m in a store buying maternity clothes and helping her while she’s sick… The night before she left, I bought her $200 worth of desserts and she ploughed through them in 20 minutes because she was having cravings.”

“I enjoyed it. I liked helping her. I felt like we were actually getting somewhere at that point. We were both happy. We talked about, you know, the baby. You know, every night she’d make me sing songs to her - the baby, in the belly… before she went to sleep.”

“I tried to get her out of her pain and discomfort. And I did everything I could.”

He added that he had to help Anna Nicole keep her lawyer Howard K Stern out of the house because he would frequently harass them: “Most of the time that I was in the home with her, when we lived together, we would have to basically lock doors to the bedroom.”

“[Stern] would try to come in and she’d have to tell him at certain points to call before he came back.”

“One time in particular, while she was pregnant, I had to basically rescue her at a hotel because Howard gave her so much grief about me being the father and saying that he was never going to accept me. He told her to make a choice - him or me.”

Larry has so far spent $300,000 on legal fees to try to force Anna Nicole to DNA test her baby Dannielynn. Larry believes he is the girl’s child while Anna Nicole named Howard as the father on the birth certificate.

Anna Nicole Smith Ordered To Submit Baby For DNA Test
By Staff
Feb 8, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith has been ordered to submit her baby daughter to a DNA test by 21 February (07) in an effort to end the dispute over who the baby's biological father is.

A California judge overseeing the paternity battle between Smith and her ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead demanded the model/actress must comply with the new court deadline during a hearing yesterday (07Feb07).



Another judge temporarily blocked an order forcing Smith's baby daughter Dannielynn to undergo paternity testing last month (Jan07).

Smith's attorney, Ronald A Rale, questioned the legality of the test, claiming authorities in The Bahamas, where his client is now living, needed to grant work permits before an American doctor could conduct the test.

Both Rale and Birkhead's attorney, Debra Opri, say the DNA test will happen.

Smith claims the father of her baby daughter is her longtime personal lawyer Howard K Stern. (c) WENN

Labels:

Anna Nicole Smith Dies in Florida at 39

By SUZETTE LABOY
The Associated Press
Thursday, February 8, 2007; 6:27 PM

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith, the pneumatic blonde whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale _ Playboy centerfold, jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother _ died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.

She was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a hospital. Edwina Johnson, chief investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done on Friday.



This file photo, originally supplied by "Entertainment Tonight," shows Anna Nicole Smith, holding her daughter, Dannielyn Hope, and Howard K. Stern during a interview with "Entertainment Tonight" celebrity television show at couple's home in the Bahamas on Oct. 28, 2006. Smith, the former Playboy playmate whose bizarre life careened from marrying an octogenarian billionaire to the untimely death of her son, died Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, after collapsing at a South Florida hotel, one of her lawyers said.s.(AP Photo/"Entertainment Tonight") (AP)

Photos

Eye on Entertainment
A look at the famous faces making headlines in movies, music and more.

Save & Share Article What's This?

DiggGoogle
del.icio.usYahoo!
RedditFacebook

Just five months ago, Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel, died suddenly in the Bahamas in what was believed to be drug-related.

Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said a private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room at the hotel, which is on an Indian reservation. He said Smith's bodyguard administered CPR, but she was declared dead at a hospital.

Through the '90s and into the new century, Smith was famous for being famous, a pop-culture punchline because of her up-and-down weight, her Marilyn Monroe looks, her exaggerated curves, her little-girl voice, her ditzy-blonde persona, and her over-the-top revealing outfits.

Recently, she lost a reported 69 pounds and became a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a weight-loss supplement. On her reality show and other recent TV appearances, her speech was often slurred and she seemed out of it. Some critics said she seemed drugged-out.

"Undoubtedly it will be found at the end of the day that drugs featured in her death as they did in the death of poor Daniel," said a former attorney for Smith in the Bahamas, Michael Scott.

Another former Smith attorney, Lenard Leeds, told the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ that Smith "always had problems with her weight going up and down, and there's no question she used alcohol." Leeds said it was no secret that "she had a very troubled life" and had "so many, many problems."

"She wanted to be like Marilyn her whole life and ironically died in a similar manner," Leeds said. Monroe died of a drug overdose at age 36 in 1962.

Smith attorney Ron Rale told The Associated Press that he had talked to her on Tuesday or Wednesday, and she had flu symptoms and a fever and was still grieving over her son.

"Poor Anna Nicole," he said. "She's been the underdog. She's been besieged ... and she's been trying her best and nobody should have to endure what she's endured."

The Texas-born Smith was a topless dancer at strip club before she entered her photos in a search contest and made the cover of Playboy magazine in 1992. She became Playboy's playmate of the year in 1993. She was also signed to a contract with Guess jeans, appearing in TV commercials, billboards and magazine ads.

In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, owner of Great Northern Oil Co. In 1992, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $550 million.

In a 2005 interview with ABC, Smith recalled meeting Marshall at what she called a "gentleman's club' in Houston. "He had no will to live and I went over to see him," she said. "He got a little twinkle in his eyes, and he asked me to dance for him. And I did."

Marshall died in 1995 at age 90, setting off a feud with Smith's former stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, over his estate. A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million. That was later overturned. But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that she deserved another day in court.

The stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court fight would continue.

Smith starred in her own reality TV series, "The Anna Nicole Show," in 2002-04. Cameras followed her around as she sparred with her lawyer, hung out with her personal assistant and interior decorator, and cooed at her poodle, Sugar Pie. She also appeared in movies, performing a bit part in "The Hudsucker Proxy" in 1994.

After news came of Smith's death, G. Eric Brunstad Jr., the lawyer who represented Marshall, said in a statement: "We're very shocked by the news and extend the deepest condolences to her family."

In a statement, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said: "I am very saddened to learn about Anna Nicole's passing. She was a dear friend who meant a great deal to the Playboy family and to me personally."

Smith's son died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas, just days after she gave birth to a daughter.

An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he died accidentally of a combination of methadone and two antidepressants. Last month, a Bahamas magistrate scheduled a formal inquiry into the death for March 27.

Meanwhile, the paternity of Smith's now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter of dispute. The birth certificate lists Dannielynn's father as attorney Howard K. Stern, Smith's most recent companion. Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead was waging a legal challenge, saying he was the father.

Debra Opri, the attorney who filed his paternity suit, said Birkhead "is devastated. He is inconsolable, and we are taking steps now to protect the DNA testing of the child. The child is our No. 1 priority."

Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six children. Her parents split up when she was a toddler, and she was raised by her mother, a deputy sheriff.

She dropped out after 11th grade after she was expelled for fighting, and worked as a waitress and then a cook at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken restaurant in Mexia.

She married 16-year-old fry cook Bill Smith in 1985, giving birth to Daniel before divorcing two years later.

___

Associated Press Writers Sarah Larimer in Hollywood, Fla., and Ana Cholo in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

Labels:

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

InfoVista Unveils Cable Strategy at Cable Congress

InfoVista
2/7/2007 9:55:58 AM

WebWire Related Industries
• Advertising/Marketing
• Business Announcements
• Internet Technology
• Telecommunications
• Television
VistaInsight® for Networks 2.2, Service Provider Edition, Provides Foundation for Growth


Paris, France, Herndon, VA (United States), and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 7, 2007 – InfoVista (NASDAQ: IVTA; Euronext IFV - FR0004031649), the leader in service-centric performance management software, today unveiled its strategy for cable service providers that will enable them to grow their businesses, compete effectively with telcos and meet the demands of both residential and commercial customers. InfoVista’s performance management solution, VistaInsight® for Networks 2.2, Service Provider edition, provides key capabilities tailored to cable providers and is being announced at the Cable Congress in Amsterdam.


The challenges and market opportunities posed to cable operators today require a long-term vision for growth and a new way of managing resources. Operators are expanding their digital IP-based networks, enabling them to serve more customers and deliver more value-added services. In addition, they are providing a greater breadth of services, like triple play, which are more bandwidth-intensive and performance-sensitive. Finally, operators are pursuing the commercial market for the first time, and need to provide performance guarantees that business customers expect. These trends require service-centric performance management to raise the visibility of performance, capacity and service levels across the network.


“Market shifts in the cable world, such as growing end-user demand for new services and commercial revenue opportunities have created a call to action for cable providers,” said Jean-Luc Valente, chief marketing officer with InfoVista. “InfoVista’s response has been to lay out an evolutionary path to help cable Multiple System Operators (MSOs) simultaneously manage competitive broadband, Voice over IP (VoIP) and digital video services to a growing number of residential and commercial customers.”


InfoVista’s strategy is to offer an end-to-end performance management solution for the cable MSO going after two key markets: triple play consumer and commercial services.


* Triple play consumer services: InfoVista helps protect cable MSOs from aggressive telcos that are encroaching on their video business by assuring triple play service deployment on a large scale and ensuring flawless quality. With capacity management and troubleshooting capabilities across all IP services and layers of IT infrastructure, MSOs can deliver reliable, always-on services with confidence. A service-centric, cross-silo approach to performance management provides an end-to-end performance view of the complete delivery chain from the access network to the core, extending across content and video servers and applications. Such capabilities contribute to effective problem resolution and assure superior quality of experience for the end user.


* Commercial services: InfoVista empowers cable MSOs to adopt and leverage the same best-of-breed VistaInsight solution used by hundreds of telecommunication service providers to effectively compete for commercial business. The solution features comprehensive support of layer-2 and layer-3 VPN services, featuring widely adopted Carrier Ethernet technology, as well as the management of high-speed data connections and VoIP services to the small and medium-sized business. In addition, personalized web-based customer-facing reporting affords commercial customers proof of high service availability and a controlled real-time view into the services delivered. Likewise, it enables the proactive monitoring and reporting of service level agreements (SLAs) that are today expected by commercial customers of any size.


“As a market leader and innovator we pride ourselves in using the best products the industry has to offer and InfoVista has brought us best-in-class service assurance solutions,” said Martin Kull, CTO for Com Hem, Sweden’s leading Triple Play Operator. “The flexibility of InfoVista allows us to certify the quality of service before we launch new services and to keep up with capacity requirements in the network. We welcome today’s announcement as a new milestone for InfoVista in terms of focus, capabilities and packaging to meet the needs of our industry. We look forward to their cable specific solution as we grow and deliver more services.”


In line with this strategy, the release of VistaInsight for Networks 2.2, Service Provider edition, features preconfigured cable-specific performance management functionality for cable network monitoring, as well as essential VoIP performance management tools all in one solution.


“Multi service operators will need to accelerate investments in service assurance systems over the next year,” said Patrick Kelly, co-founder and senior analyst with OSS Observer. “Two factors will drive growth in the sector – rapid growth in digital voice and under-investments in high-speed data support systems. InfoVista has a leading position in the IP performance monitoring market to help MSOs manage the complexities of MPLS and IP network quality.”


Cable Network Monitoring

Visibility into the performance of the Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS), the link between the cable headend and the home or business, is critical to maintain the triple play advantage of cable.


* VistaInsight for Networks 2.2 provides DOCSIS-compliant discovery, monitoring and reporting on the performance of CMTS routers and the cable modems they support. Dashboard views and detailed real-time reports enable proactive capacity management and predictive troubleshooting by measuring platform metrics; statistics on network core interfaces; and the performance of Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) interfaces by channel.

* To isolate problematic portions of the HFC network, this release features flap-list dashboards that reflect upstream and downstream stability by area.

* With a focus on anticipating service and customer growth, and better managing oversubscription rates without degradation, VistaInsight for Networks also measures interface utilization, traffic and saturation in relation to the number of active cable modems.


End-to-End VoIP Testing and Analysis

VoIP testing and analysis is necessary to provide operators with the visibility and information to ascertain the end-user’s quality of experience.


* VistaInsight for Networks 2.2 leverages its own active probe system, out of the box, for network voice monitoring, producing accurate voice quality scoring while accounting for the differences in the way various vendor gateways and cable modems handle VoIP traffic and impact voice quality. It also exploits natively other vendors’ end-to-end systems including Cisco IP-SLA.

* Additionally, this new release facilitates the association of poor voice quality performance to underlying network degradation and problems including network congestion, routing problems, incorrect class of service policies and unreliable connections for streamlined troubleshooting.


InfoVista will be co-presenting at a panel discussion titled “Building Next Generation Revenue: Business Voice & Unified Communication Services” on Thursday, Feb. 8 from 8:15 a.m.-9:00 a.m. at the Cable Congress. Executives can be found at the Dimension Data Booth 33.


About InfoVista

InfoVista is the Service-Centric Performance Management Software Company that assures the optimal delivery of business-critical IT services. Driven by a uniquely adaptive and real-time technology foundation, InfoVista solutions improve business effectiveness, reduce operating risk, lower cost of operations, increase agility and create competitive advantage. Eighty percent of the world’s largest service providers as ranked by Fortune®, as well as leading Global 2000 enterprises, rely on InfoVista to enhance the business value of their technology assets. Representative customers include ABN AMRO, Allstream, Banques Populaires, AXA, Banque de France, Bell Canada, British Telecom, Broadwing Communications, Cable & Wireless, Com Hem, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Deutsche Telecom, France Telecom, Savvis Corporation, SingTel, Telefonica, US Cellular. A Software Magazine 500 company, InfoVista stock is traded on the NASDAQ (IVTA) and on Eurolist by Euronext (FR0004031649). For more information about the company, please visit www.infovista.com.


Cautionary Statement for Purposes of the "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are "forward looking statements." These statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements; including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties arising from the rapid evolution of our markets, competition, market acceptance of our products, our dependence upon spending by the telecommunications industry and our ability to develop and protect new technologies. For a description of other factors which might affect our actual results, please see the "Risk Factors" section and other disclosures in InfoVista’s public filings with the US Securities & Exchange Commission and French Autorité des Marchés Financiers. Readers of this news release are cautioned not to put undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


InfoVista and VistaInsight are registered trademarks of InfoVista, S.A. in the United States and/or other countries.

Labels:

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Miller Says Sex Scenes Not Real

AP Photo/Michael A. Mariant

Sienna Miller has laughed off claims her sex scenes in "Factory Girl" with co-star Hayden Christensen were real, insisting she's just a good actor.

The rumors started after the pair became close during the shoot and were exacerbated on the film's release, when cinema-goers got to see graphic scenes of the couple cavorting naked.

The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that a source told them, "It's not simulated. They're really doing it."

Director George Hickenlooper also fueled speculation when quizzed if the sex was real, by replying, "I can't comment. You'll have to ask Sienna about it."

But Miller is anxious to quash the claims, her publicist insisting, "When you do a love scene there is a minimum of five people in the room.

"There's no real sex and the scene proves she knows how to give a good performance."

The actress recently revealed she was terrified about watching the sex scenes at a screening of the film which she attended with her parents. She said, "I was sitting next to my dad and I just literally leant over and put my hands over (his eyes). It's quite embarrassing. I can't even watch it!"

Labels:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

American Idol Judge Faces Lawsuit: Paula Abdul Sued
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Susan Hatch
Feb 6, 2007

American idol judge Paula Abdul has taken some slings and arrows of late. The wacky idol judge has fought back against complaints that she appeared a bit loopy in a Seattle television interview and now it appears that she will have to fight a lawsuit. According to AOL Entertainment website TMZ.Com a lawsuit has been filed against Abdul by a production company claiming Paula tried to screw them out of a show based on Paula's life.


American Idol Lawsuit: Paula Abdul Sued

It's a bit complicated but TMZ notes that according to the lawsuit that has been filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Pilgrim Films and Television (PFTV) met with Abdul and David Russo (her producing partner) in 2004 and discussed a talk show featuring Abdul.

***

The 'show' struggled to get started but would be based on Paula's life. The lawsuit alleges that the project fell apart after Abdul demanded final editorial control over the final product, according to the report.

Now the company, PFTV, is claiming that Abdul allegedly came clean and told the company that "she had secretly taken PFTV's 'Hey Paula' project ... to Bravo." The suit claims she never mentioned that Russo was allegedly in on it. On January 12, Bravo announced "Hey Paula" will debut sometime this year on the cable network.

Hence, the aforementioned lawsuit. Cue the reps™: David Russo's lawyer, Bill Abrams, told TMZ, "The allegations are baseless."

***

Paula even spoke up herself and told TMZ, "While I'm not going to respond to this baseless lawsuit, I will say that "Hey Paula" is based upon my life and my ideas. Last I heard, I still own my own life."

Labels: ,

Cartoons Weather Politics Opinion Motoring Rural Oddstuff Your Say News Home
Commentary Box Cricket Rugby Football Basketball Netball Motorsport Racing Photo galleries Videos Sports Diary Sport Home
Gossip Film Oscars TV Music Books Arts Games Photo galleries Videos DVD Rentals Entertainment Home
Stock market Currency International Opinion Features Investments SuperTalk Mortgage News People on the move Biz Diary Book Reviews Business Home
Digital living Gadgets Games Videos Tech Home
Fashion Health Food & Wine Crosswords & Sudoku Horoscopes Competitions Lifestyle Home
NZ destinations Overseas Travel Home
Waikato Times Taranaki Daily News Manawatu Standard The Dominion Post The Nelson Mail The Marlborough Express The Press The Timaru Herald The Southland Times Sunday Star Times Sunday News Other Regions Northland Auckland Central North Island Hawke's Bay West Coast Otago

Mags 4 Gifts Cuisine NZ House & Garden NZ Magazines

Stuff > Entertainment > Story Lohan goes clubbing after rehab
Bang! Showbiz | Wednesday, 7 February 2007

Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your SayRelated Links
• Subscribe to Archivestuff
• Have your say

Advertisement
AdvertisementLindsay Lohan left rehab last week and spent the weekend clubbing in Hollywood.


The Mean Girls star - who checked herself into Los Angeles' Wonderland Center on January 17 to be treated for alcoholism - left the clinic last week and hit the town straight away. On Friday night Lindsay was seen laughing and joking with hotel heiress Paris Hilton as they left the Les Deux nightclub.

The Just My Luck star then spent Saturday night partying with friends at trendy nightspot Teddy's, before heading to Area nightclub.

Lindsay - who admitted herself to rehab following an all-night drinking binge at the Golden Globes - was not seen drinking over the weekend.

The 20-year-old actress - who was allowed out on day release during her rehabilitation programme to film her latest movie I Know Who Killed Me and go shopping - allegedly sent text messages to friends saying she was craving sex and burgers during her time in Wonderland.

Labels: ,

Jeremy Showed Privates to Hilton and Phillips
Porn legend Ron Jeremy has confirmed speculation he once shared an intimate moment with Paris Hilton and Bijou Phillips in a bathroom.

The Hollywood socialites cheekily asked Jeremy if they could see his well-endowed penis during a party at the Chateau Marmont Hotel -- and he suggested a game of "I'll show you mine, and you show me yours."

He tells Page Six, "I agreed only on the condition that they flash their tops. They both said yes and took me to the nearest women's bathroom.

"We squeezed into an empty stall, they pulled up their shirts, I unbuckled my pants, and after seeing mine, Bijou turned to Paris and wondered aloud, 'Could this be considered cheating?'

"Being a true gentleman, I never confirmed or denied the story. Later, at a party in Las Vegas, I overheard Paris loudly exclaiming to Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst that she had seen my penis. So now I feel comfortable telling the story."

Labels:

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Feb. 4, 2007 Sign up for Variety's Award Season newsletter


Home > Award Central > News | Reviews | Screening Schedule | VPage | History | Features | Academy Tracker | Screening Series Video


News: Emmys | Tonys | Oscars | ACE | ASC | Britannia | BAFTA | Critics | Guilds | EFA | Globes | Spirit | NAACP | Gothams






Posted: Sun., Feb. 4, 2007, 6:00am PT

Is Oscar squeeze-play backfiring?
H'w'd strugges with season's new rhythm

By TED JOHNSON

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four years after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences moved the Oscar ceremony from March to February, many in the industry are still wondering: Has it worked?
Campaigning is just as intense, studios still pour money into advertising, and awards shows still flood the marketplace. Some pre-Oscar ceremonies, like the Critics Choice Awards and events at the Santa Barbara and Palm Springs film festivals, have only gained in stature.

Judging by release schedules, Hollywood still hasn't figured out the rhythm of a February Oscars. Conventional wisdom was the earlier date would force studios to release more Oscar contenders earlier. That hasn't been the case.

In fact, the schedule has gotten more crowded and competitive. Some 48 movies were released in December, compared with 41 in 2002, the last awards season before the Oscars were moved.

"I think most people feel like this year was the toughest one we've had so far with the new system, in terms of the numbers of pictures that opened in December," says Academy executive director Bruce Davis. "There's always a few that poke through, but it doesn't seem to make sense in terms of Academy Awards or economics. I just don't know what people are thinking when they make these decisions."

Despite the earlier date, many studio execs still believe that a late December launch is needed to maintain a film's buzz during awards voting. Filmmakers and talent are often more adamant: They feel that a December bow is synonymous with prestige, but anything earlier connotes the studio's lack of interest.

In fact, recent history belies these long-held beliefs. Last year's best pic winner, "Crash," was a May launch. Four of this season's five best pic nominees opened before December: "Little Miss Sunshine" in July; "The Departed," "The Queen" and "Babel" in October.

Of the five, only "Letters From Iwo Jima" launched in December, and that one had the Clint Eastwood-Steven Spielberg names to ensure voter interest in a crowded season. In 2002, all five best pic nominees opened in December.

When Halle Berry won the Oscar for the 2001 "Monster's Ball," the pic opened at the end of the year and built word of mouth before the March kudocast. It's questionable whether such small films would have time to build momentum with the accelerated awards schedule if they still bow in December.

The results would indicate that studios need to launch their candidates before December. On the other hand, studios are weighing the financial factor, and earlier bows make it harder to capitalize at the box office on nominations.

Harvey Weinstein says that the earlier Oscars can "cut the life" out of late year releases. The Weinstein Co.'s "Miss Potter," released on Dec. 29, three days after Oscar ballots went out, got all but lost in the awards season crush. Plans are for the movie, which has earned positive reviews and is performing well overseas, to be moved to March, after the kudos derby is over.

"I think you have to spend more money now just to sustain a movie throughout the season," Weinstein says. For distribs, having a later Oscar date "was cheaper, and I think better for the movies."

PictureHouse's Bob Berney, who found success with "Pan's Labyrinth" this season, says: "With the shorter time period, you can come in at the end as an effective way to consolidate a picture's theatrical release money and its awards campaign money. You have to be pretty confident (you will get awards recognition). "

The question remains: With an earlier Oscar ceremony, does that mean more campaigning in a shorter period of time, or does the campaigning simply begin a month earlier? September's Toronto Film Festival seems to have increased its importance as a strategic launching pad. (Admittedly, as studios spend on advertising, Variety has an interest in the results.)

learly the shorter time frame makes campaigning seem more intense -- and exhausting. On the Feb. 10-11 weekend alone, people will be invited to the BAFTAs, Writers Guild Awards, the Grammys, Academy's Sci-Tech Awards, Visual Effects Society and Animation Awards.

As much as Hollywood scram-bles during award season, one studio marketing rep notes, "People aren't as desperate. When you have the longer period, it gives you more time to stir things up, which isn't always a good thing."

Many Academy members had hoped that when the decision to move the show was made in 2002, the earlier Oscars would cut down on campaigning and even some of the hype. Other kudofests and guild shows scrambled to move their dates, in some cases into the same weekend.

"We weren't happy about campaigning, but (the earlier Oscars) was not in any sense a move to address that issue," Davis says.

There are still just as many kudofests. And the buildup to the ceremony itself has become a week-long affair, with the prolif-eration of gift suites, studio parties and other promotional events.

Media attention has reached a fever pitch, with the Los Angeles Times and New York Times providing daily coverage and even Vanity Fair offering a daily blog called Little Gold Men. And stars fill their dockets with appearances, perhaps on an even more hectic schedule than in the past.

On Jan. 26, Helen Mirren had to make an 11 a.m. (2 a.m. PST) flight from London, where she was shooting "Inkheart," and landed at 3 p.m. in Los Angeles to make a ceremony in her honor at the Santa Barbara Film Festival that evening. That was followed by events the next day and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 28, before flying back to London on Jan. 29. "I must be going on adrenalin!" she told Daily Variety's Army Archerd.

While the Oscars have moved up, the box office battle among the specialty markets and major studio prestige pics has gotten more cutthroat. What has happened, distributors say, is a conundrum: To move a contender out of the holiday frame is to potentially be forgotten when Academy mem-bers are voting, not to mention to miss the lucrative holiday movie-going season. But the risk is that at the end of the year, there will be so many movies flooding the marketplace that voters won't get a chance to see a film.

"This was definitely an over-crowded marketplace, and it did hurt a lot of films," says one studio distribution head. "But releasing in October or November is just death. 'Bobby' opened just before Thanksgiving. Films can't sustain themselves, or you have to re-launch and re-spend."

"Pan's Labyrinth," released on Dec. 29, and "Letters From Iwo Jima," which debuted Dec. 20, went on to earn multiple nominations. But pictures like "The Good Shepherd," "The Painted Veil," "Miss Potter" and "Factory Girl" seemed to get lost in the shuffle. "Shepherd" wasn't even completed until mid-December, just as Golden Globe nominations were announced. Screeners of "Potter" were sent out even before the pic's Dec. 29 release date.

Although the Oscar season is still a scramble, Davis says the move to February was made to make sure the ceremony remained relevant.

""We thought we were maybe being a little more polite than necessary about stepping back and allowing many, many awards shows to get in ahead of us. I think that most of us here would prefer if we could do the show even earlier."

In the early 1980s, the show would air as late as April. But many of the releases, even those that debuted at the end of the year, were out of theaters by then, Davis notes.

"That was getting to be pretty old news," he says. "I think moving it a month forward has fresh-ened (the ceremony), and we like that."

Compared with numbers of eyeballs in those earlier years, the Oscarcast certainly has dipped in the ratings, but Davis says "we've held our own" given the overall erosion of network viewership. "There's still only one television show that would not be delighted to trade ratings with us, and that is the Super Bowl. You have to put it into perspective."

One person even proposed moving the Oscars to the same day as the Super Bowl, pairing it as kind of a national mega-event.

"No, no, no," Davis says, laughing at the thought. "If we were to try to do this in late January, as some have suggested, it would just be impossible. I think we have approached the practical limitation of how early we can do the Oscars."

(Pamela McClintock and Ian Mohr contributed to this report.)



Date in print: Mon., Feb. 5, 2007,, Weekly

* Print this | Email this
* Send feedback
* License / syndicate this

Back to top






Help



Think you can predict this year's Oscar winners?
Show us! This is not a poll of who you want to see making an acceptance speech, but who you predict will take the statuette. Vote today!




Review: Academy Award Nominations

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is Oscar squeeze-play backfiring?
Ted Johnson | 2/4/2007

DGA Awards winners
Variety Staff | 2/3/2007

Scorsese wins at DGA Awards
| 2/3/2007

Duo to co-chair Spirit Awards
Dave McNary | 1/31/2007

NAACP Theater fetes Wolfe
Jeff Sneider | 1/31/2007

A good year for the Brits
Liz Smith | 1/31/2007

Canuck helmers selected for Jutra
Brendan Kelly | 1/31/2007

Ballots sent to Academy members
Variety Staff | 1/31/2007

AMPAS to host foreign pic noms event
Jeff Sneider | 1/30/2007

Police reunite for Grammys
Stuart Levine | 1/30/2007









Copyright 2007, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Use of this Website is subject to Terms of Use. Privacy Policy

Labels:

Red-carpet redux: Show hails Oscars' fashion history
By Sandy Cohen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Barbra Streisand. Cher. Elizabeth Taylor. Sharon Stone.

Each made style history at the Academy Awards. Who can forget Streisand's seemingly see-through sequined pantsuit at the 1969 Oscar show, or the certainly see-through sparkling creation Cher wore in 1988? How about Taylor's 1970 periwinkle chiffon gown that matched her eyes, or the Gap T-shirt Stone built an outfit around in 1996?

These red-carpet contributions - and those of two dozen other stylish female stars - were recognized Tuesday at the film academy headquarters with "A Celebration of Oscar Fashion," a retrospective of iconic Oscar wear. The private runway show, curated by Andre Leon Talley of Vogue magazine, was designed to inspire this year's nominees and presenters to express their personal style and "create their own memorable moment" at the Oscars, said telecast producer Laura Ziskin.

The Academy Awards are about movies, but "Oscar night is also arguably the biggest and most scrutinized fashion event of any year," said Ziskin, who transformed the academy's annual fashion forecast into a trip through style history.

Talley, a veteran fashionista who helped dress Nicole Kidman for the 1997 Academy Awards and consulted with current supporting-actress favorite Jennifer Hudson for this year's show, called the Oscar red carpet "a gridlock of haute couture."

It's been that way since the awards' inception in 1929, he said.

The oldest dress on display Tuesday dated back to 1942. Jamie Lee Curtis wore the ivory beaded confection, which originally belonged to Marlene Dietrich, to the Oscars in 1984.

Legendary Hollywood costumer Edith Head created three of the show's featured gowns: a silver beaded sheath worn by Janet Leigh in 1960, Taylor's 1970 stunner, and the embroidered, cream-colored strapless dress she wore herself to the 1959 Academy Awards, where she celebrated her 15th costume-design nomination.

Other timeless looks included Carol Channing's rhinestone-encrusted number from 1968, which Talley said weighs 50 pounds, and a champagne tulle dress designed by Arnold Scaasi (who created Streisand's news-making pantsuit) worn by Mitzi Gaynor in 1967.

Cher is "one of the most original Oscar red-carpet sweepstakes winners," Talley said, calling her sheer, beaded Bob Mackie dress "bold but brilliant."

"Cher chic does not get any better than this," he said.

Hilary Swank's midnight-blue backless gown from 2005 is "one of the great Oscar dresses," Talley said, and Stone's T-shirt/designer skirt/velvet coat ensemble is "history at its best."

Stone plucked the items from her closet at the last minute after deciding she didn't like the dress she'd chosen, he said.

Another modern style maven is Renee Zellweger, who "perhaps single-handedly reinvented Oscar style with her love of vintage couture," Talley said. Two of Zellweger's dresses were shown: the pastel yellow strapless column she wore in 2001, and the ruby-hued mermaid gown she wore in 2005.

Charlize Theron also had two gowns on the runway: the jeweled nude sheath she wore when she won best actress for "Monster" in 2004 and her ice blue tulle dress from the following year.

Other memorable best-actress styles included Julia Roberts' black-and-white vintage Valentino dress from 2001, when she won for "Erin Brockovich," Gwyneth Paltrow's pink princess dress from 1999, when she won for "Shakespeare in Love," and Halle Berry's embroidered burgundy gown from 2002, when she won for "Monster's Ball."

Labels:

Tara Conner Admits To Drug Use



People

Previous news :: Next news





06:38 AM, February 2nd 2007
by News Staff











Miss USA Tara Conner, who kept her crown by entering rehab after reports of underage drinking, admitted in an interview in New York to using cocaine.

"I have done cocaine," she told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview that will air on "Dateline."

When asked if she used cocaine while Miss USA, Conner said, "Yes."

She said she was tested, but hadn't seen the results, adding, "I'm not sure what will show up."

She admitted she manipulated people into thinking "everything's fine with me" when she needed help.

Conner said she is facing the issues that contributed to her behavior and led Donald Trump, owner of the Miss USA beauty pageant, to agree to give her a second chance if she entered rehab.

"I was in denial," she said.

When asked if she was trying to manipulate the interview, Conner said, "This is the most honest I've been in my life."

She said she wouldn't deny being abused, but wouldn't say anything more because she hadn't discussed the matter with her family.

She said she hoped she could be effective as Miss USA because "I see a need for education on alcohol and drug addition."


© 2007 UPI

Labels:

Van Halen Confirms Roth As Tour Singer



Artists

Previous news





09:35 AM, February 4th 2007
by News Staff











Van Halen's publicist has confirmed recent reports that the U.S. rock group will reunite with former lead singer David Lee Roth for its upcoming summer tour.

A recent statement released by the "You Really Got Me" rockers confirmed that Roth will indeed join the group for the first time since 1984 on the tour, whose dates and locations Billboard.com said have yet to be determined.

"I am very excited to get back to the core of what made Van Halen," guitarist Eddie Van Halen said of the move.

Meanwhile, taking over for original bassist Michael Anthony on the summer tour, which will feature 40 concerts, will be Eddie's 15-year-old son, Wolfgang.

The highly anticipated tour, which will follow other reunion tours from Crowded House and the Police, will mark the first time Van Halen has toured since 2004.

That tour grossed $40 million with vocalist Sammy Hagar serving as the band's lead singer and ended with Hagar vowing to never perform with the Van Halen brothers again, the Web site said.

Labels:

Not Paris, but Perez, Hilton
Catty gossip blogger keeps an eye on the celebrity scene
Mcclatchy-tribune
Originally published February 4, 2007
MIAMI // You're at the Catalina Hotel on Collins Avenue, hanging with Perez Hilton and waiting for him to say something vile. He's the catty Cubanito from Miami who is making a splash with his celebrity gossip Web site, PerezHilton.com.
Perez - real name Mario Lavandeira - grew up in Westchester, Fla., is a Belen Jesuit Prep School grad, studied acting at New York University and likes to call himself "Queen of Mean." But today he's being sort of, well, sweet.





He's telling you about his mom (his dad, who had a wallpapering business, died of an aneurism when Perez was 14) and how he just bought her a Toyota Prius and health insurance and how he wants to buy her a condo when he really makes it.

"She probably wouldn't even like a condo on the Beach," Perez - PerEZ - says. 'As for the health insurance, I couldn't believe she didn't have any. I was like, 'Girl, you need to start taking care of yourself.'"

For all the celebrity slammin' that Perez, 28, does on his site (Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie can't miss one meal without Perez going off on their questionable relationships with food), he can also be quite star-struck, a fame basher obviously obsessed with fame.

Here's a giddy post on his site about getting to breathe the same air as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the Golden Globes:

"Angelina is even more stunning in person. And Brad was so touching, guiding his babymomma along the way. One day. We will exchange words. But this was good enough for now!"

At the same time, he's happy to put out there that he's a poisonous little man with no qualms about cutting celebs to the quick. Except for Paris and Nicky Hilton. Everybody knows he has mad love for them.

It's all so junior high.

And yet the advertisement-driven Web site is hugely successful - Perez claims more than 3 million hits a day - and it has made him something of a pseudo celebrity. He's been featured on 20/20 and Good Morning America, appeared on MTV's New Year's Eve special and scored a small role as himself in an upcoming episode of Dirt, the new F/X series starring Courteney Cox as a tabloid editor.

Perez came up with his name after a night of clubbing on South Beach.

'We went to three or four places, and every time we tried to leave, somebody told us, 'Wait, don't leave yet. Paris Hilton is coming.' They just wanted people to spend more money on drinks. I wanted to meet her. But after a whole night of this, I said, 'Please. Paris Hilton is not showing up. Maybe Perez Hilton will.' And I instantly loved the name. It's what I'm about, satirizing yet celebrating."

Perez is also getting ink these days over being sued for copyright infringement by X17, a Hollywood-celebrity photo agency claiming he posts its images without permission. X17 is seeking $7.5 million.

"I believe at the core of my being that I'm not doing anything illegal or unethical. They have their points, and I have my points, so I guess the only way to decide this is through the legal system," Perez says as he downs his second Monster energy drink.

"I've been sued before. I used to call my site PageSixSixSix and the New York Post sued. ... It was the best thing that happened to me because it forced me to become my own brand."

Perez may come off as someone who spews cut-downs about the cool kids he'd like to befriend, but he's also pretty clear about the celebrity game's being a game.

He calls Paris, who is on his speed dial, a mentor. "She gets it. She'd rather be talked about than not talked about. I mean, she created this successful brand for herself, and there's a bunch of models and whatever trying to be like her, but they can't. ... I look at her as an inspiration."

There are celebrities he doesn't exactly idolize. Like Britney Spears.

"Britney confuses. I loved the old Britney. But I don't think that's the real Britney," Perez says. "I think what we're seeing now is the real Britney." And there are times Perez gets it right. He takes credit for prodding Lance Bass of 'N Sync, Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) and T.R. Knight (Grey's Anatomy) out of the closet.

"I don't think there's anything different in me talking about Lance Bass' secret relationship with some guy or Us Weekly talking about Jessica Simpson's secret relationship with John Mayer."

So does Perez have any secret relationships?

"No dating life. That's why I'm trying to eat healthy and get in shape. The boys are harsh. I'm one of them. I wouldn't want to date a fat person. I wouldn't date me. I guess I'm self-hating," he says, laughing.

He lives in West Hollywood and does most of his blogging from a corner table at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Sunset and Fairfax. He says Nicole Richie went there to confront him once.

"She was like, 'Call me anorexic to my face.' And I was like, 'Girl, Perez is just a character. Let's hug it out.' And we did. I was worried for a second, because she had her posse of gays with her."

Labels:

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Jane Austen to be the latest teenage sensation
By Chris Hastings, Beth Jones and Stephanie Plentl, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:35am GMT 04/02/2007



Step aside Britney Spears. Movie moguls, television producers and publishers believe this year's teen hit will be the 19th-century "lit girl" Jane Austen.


Becoming Jane stars Anne Hathaway, the star of The Princess Diaries


The life and works of the author, who died a spinster at the age of 41 in 1817, form the basis of no fewer than six forthcoming films and television series, along with plans for new editions of her works, tailored to the teenage market.

A host of young stars, including Billie Piper, best known for her role as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who, James McAvoy, who starred in Channel 4's Shameless, and Anne Hathaway, the star of The Princess Diaries will spearhead the new Austen revival which, unlike previous adaptations, will be aimed at younger viewers.

Bookshops and libraries, anticipating a surge of interest in the author as a result of her exposure on both the big and small screens, are planning major displays of her works. A spokesman for Waterstone's, Britain's biggest bookseller, predicted it would sell more copies of Austen's works than at any time since Colin Firth emerged from a lake during the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 1995, while Penguin said it planned new editions of the author's six best-known works with covers designed to appeal to teenagers.

The Austen revival will begin next month with the release of the film Becoming Jane, which examines the author's romance with Thomas Langlois Lefroy, the Irish politician. The lead roles are taken by Hathaway, the actress who rose to prominence playing alongside Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, and McAvoy, who previously played Mr Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

advertisementDouglas Rae, the film's producer, said: "We are on course for the most prolific year of Jane Austen's career in terms of television and film coverage. We went with Anne because we know she will bring a young teen audience with her film. Many of the 11-year-olds who fell in love with her in The Princess Diaries are now just turning 15. They are the right age for Austen."

Julian Jarrold, the film's director, said: "There is a stereotype of Jane as a spinster obsessed with manners. But we are looking at her when she is 21, full of life and hope and kicking against the restrictions around her."

Andrew Davies, who has written adaptations of Sense and Sensibility for the BBC and Northanger Abbey for ITV, predicted a new generation of teenagers would fall in love with Austen and her work.

Davies, who wrote the screenplay for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice said: "The effect of all of these projects will make for a Jane Austen frenzy. The stories are absolutely contemporary. They are about sex and they are about money. One of the good things about Jane Austen is the men. They are real men - classy and rather scary. That makes them terrific for a female audience."

Labels:

Judge Bars Release of Paris Hilton Items


Posted: 13 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against a Web site peddling personal pictures, videos, diaries, and other items that heiress Paris Hilton once kept at a storage facility.

Hilton sued the Web site ParisExposed.com last month, accusing it of exploiting her private personal belongings for commercial gain. The injunction issued Friday temporarily bars the Web site from releasing Hilton's Social Security number, health data and other personal information.

Hilton's spokesman, Elliott Mintz, said Saturday he was pleased by the move.

"I know what this has done personally and emotionally to Paris," Mintz said. "As far as I'm concerned, this is the most disturbing intrusion upon the privacy of a public figure that I've ever witnessed. "

The subscription-based Web site was launched last month and claims to have footage of Hilton in a "sexy bubble bath" video and various shots of the 25-year-old socialite in "racy situations."

Hilton previously said she put her possessions in storage two years ago when she and her sister, Nicky, moved out of a house that had been burglarized.

The lawsuit alleges two defendants paid $2,775 for the contents of the storage unit and later sold the items for $10 million to entrepreneur Bardia Persa, who created the Web site.

A message sent to an e-mail address for Persa on Saturday afternoon was not immediately returned. Persa is due in court on February 16 to address the injunction.

Labels:

Starpulse News Blog
News Categories: Celebrity • Movie • Music • TV • Video Game • Archives • RSS / XML Feeds • News Home
02/02/07
12:55:00, Categories: Celebrity News, Music News
Britney Spears Makes Desert Dash And Takes Paparazzi With Her
Britney Spears became an easy target for paparazzi during a drive from her home in Malibu, California to Las Vegas on Wednesday night when she stopped at almost every garage en route.

The pop star was actually glad to have cameramen on the road with her - they helped fill her car up with fuel and even fetched Spears restroom keys so she could take a toilet break - at three separate service station stops.

Bracing herself against chilly desert winds, Spears, wearing a sheer blouse and jeans seemed grateful for the help.

One snapper let the frozen singer borrow his jacket for one toilet trip and another banged on a restroom door to make sure the pop star wouldn't be interrupting anyone.

Spears drove to Vegas to work on her next album in a recording studio at the Palms Casino Resort.

Visit Britney's Starpulse Page for a gallery of photos, biography, recent and archived news, and much more!

Labels:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Britney Spears Drunk Dials Kevin Federline?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Brenda Jones
Feb 3, 2007

Who knew that Kevin Federline would emerge as the person that appears the most grounded in the whole Britney Spears vs. K-Fed battle? The would be rapper and now wannabe actor has made all the right moves since the divorce and now he may have been so impressive that he might just win Britney back.


Britney Spears Drunk Dials Kevin Federline?

According to reports, Britney Spears has been making late-night phone calls to K-Fed in hope of a reconciliation, so sayeth several of Kevin's close peeps. The chatty members of the K-Fed posse say that Britney's relationship with Isaac Cohen is a ruse to make Kevin jealous, according to a report from TMZ.

***

Can this be true? It is being reported in several sources but TMZ.Com says not likely. Would Britney even ever take Kevin back? The web site has a report that cites other sources that are willing to anonymously say Britney is so over him. They tell us that Brit and the Fed have very little contact, and when they do communicate, it's about their two kids.

The web site reports that according to these sources, Britney will ante up $25 mil to K-Fed to end their marriage are ridiculous. One connected source says the $25 million figure is grossly inflated, "by 25 times." In other words, the bad news is that K-Fed will be a millionaire. The good news -- just barely.

Labels:

Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore in Because I Said So · 02/03/2007 09:36
In romantic comedy something has to dam up or divert the course of true love. The trouble is that by this time, most of easily persuasive bars to happiness. So give a certain credit to screenwriters Karen Leigh Hopkins and Jessie Nelson for coming up with a fresh new distraction: the meddling Mom.

She’s ferociously, therefore funnily played in Because I Said So by Diane Keaton who is unaccountably concerned with one of her three daughters’ lack of romantic prospects, which is, come to think of it, rather odd. Milly is played by Mandy Moore, who is sensible, pretty, gainfully employed as the owner of a catering service and, aside from an annoying laugh, brought on by tension, as delectable as one of the dishes she purveys at weddings and bar mitzvahs, TIME reports.

Benign neglect on the part of her mother strikes one as excellent option. But Keaton’s Daphne is an up-and-doing sort of person and she’s soon trolling the Internet for suitable mates, coming up with an architect called Jason (Tom Everett Scott), who is a little bit too tightly wound. She conducts her interviews with dating prospects in a restaurant under the amused eye of Johnny, the restaurant’s guitar player (Gabriele Macht). His only visible defect is a tattoo on his hand. Otherwise, he is the modern beau ideal — soft-spoken, tolerant, not too ambitious , with (we soon learn) plenty of time for single-parenting his somewhat noxious child. To Daphne he is, of course, a loser, and she’s appalled when he seeks out her daughter. Most of the movie is devoted to her attempts to fend off his excellent intentions.

Labels:

Sienna Miller Mortified By Graphic Sex Scenes
British star Sienna Miller was mortified during the premiere of her film Factory Girl when a graphic sex scene was screened in front of her family.

The 25-year-old stars as troubled Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick in the new film opposite Hayden Christensen.

The movie was screened in New York City this week and Miller's father and stepmother flew over from Britain to support her.

She explains, "I was sitting next to my dad and I just literally leant over and put my hands over (his eyes). It's quite embarrassing. I can't even watch it!"

The Alfie star says she didn't want to hold back during filming, adding, "I think if you're going to do a love scene, you may as well do it. People don't have sex with heir bras on. So if you're going to do it, do it. Plus it was the 1960s and people were liberated. But it's not the most comfortable situation to be in!"

Labels:

Bowl ads get amateurs in act
Campy humor and attempts to drive viewers to the Web are back
By Seth Sutel
of The Associated Press

NEW YORK — There’s one place where you can find both FedEx, the overnight package delivery service, and “Fed-Ex,” or Kevin Federline, the future ex-husband of pop diva Britney Spears. Both will be making appearances in Super Bowl ads, the highest-profile advertising event of the year.

FedEx Corp. is keeping mum about what its ad will look like, keeping up a tradition of ultra-secrecy that many marketers follow in hopes of building up the maximum amount of surprise during the game, which airs at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS. Advertisers want to get the most out of the huge cost of an ad in the big game, which is running as high as $2.6 million this year, up slightly from $2.5 million last year.

Federline will be poking fun at himself in a humorous spot for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. under its “Life Comes At You Fast” campaign. Those spots, which have previously featured the supermodel Fabio and MC Hammer, will show Federline winding up working in a fast-food restaurant.

Humor and attempts to drive viewers to the Web, two themes from past years, are back again with some variations, and this year’s Super Bowl commercials add a new twist — viewer participation.

One of the biggest new themes of this year’s game is getting amateurs into the act. General Motors Corp.’s Chevrolet division ran a contest for college students to propose an ad that would be made by a team of professionals, and PepsiCo Inc.’s Frito-Lay unit will run an ad made entirely by an amateur contestant.

The finalists for the GM contest include a team containing Fort Wayne’s Shlomo Goltz, 22, a visual communications major at Washington University in St. Louis. (See story, Page 1A.)

Meanwhile, Bayer Corp.’s Alka-Seltzer has a spot in the pre-game broadcast featuring the winner of a contest to come up with an updated version of its “plop-plop, fizz-fizz” jingle. The winner was Josh Anderson, a DJ at a radio station in Greensboro, N.C. The NFL also made an ad from an idea generated by a fan contest.

Many of the other spots made available for preview ahead of the big game show a decided shift to lighthearted, sometimes campy humor. That’s in contrast with a number of ads last year that highlighted oddball violence, such as a female player in a touch football game getting clobbered with an illegal tackle.

Garmin International Inc., a first-time Super Bowl advertiser, is planning a campy spot inspired by 1960s Japanese monster movies with a showdown between an evil “Maposaurus” and a hero who uses a Garmin-made electronic navigation device to save the day. This being the Internet age, there is, naturally, an accompanying blog: garmin.blogs.com.

Among returning advertisers, Diamond Foods Inc.’s Emerald Nuts brand came up with new ads after innovative spots last year that turned the company’s name into an acrostic-like word puzzle. Emerald is hoping to generate even more interest in its ad, which features the actor Robert Goulet, by posting video clips on the video-sharing site YouTube.com. They feature humorous “victim testimonials” from people who didn’t have Emerald Nuts handy at that key time late in the day when many people run low on energy.

Other big advertisers are also returning, including Anheuser-Busch Co.’s Budweiser and Bud Light brands, which are once again the game’s biggest advertisers. In Anheuser-Busch’s hitchhiker spot, spooky music cues as a couple drives down a dark road. Fumbling with a map, a woman is alarmed when her boyfriend slows down to pick up a hitchhiker, pointing out that he is carrying an ax.

“But he has Bud Light,” pleads the boyfriend.

“And an ax!” she insists.

In another new spot, racing champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. appears in a wild apocalyptic scene being chased by deranged characters straight out a “Mad Max” movie. Another features rapper Jay-Z and former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula facing off over a chess-like rendering of a high-tech football game using holographic images.

And what would Budweiser Super Bowl ads be without some animated critters? This year, a gang of mischievous red crabs turns up on a beach to carry off a cooler full of beers. As in past years, Bud is keeping the punch lines a secret until game day. Some other ads include:

♦YUM Brands Inc.’s Pizza Hut is coming back with another spot featuring singer Jessica Simpson.

♦Mars Inc. will have a spot for its Snickers bar set in an auto garage.

♦Coca-Cola Co. is back in the game with three spots, having had a spot in the pre-game last year for an energy drink. Two of the spots have already aired, and the company is keeping the third one secret, a pokeswoman said.
See the ads

What: Super Bowl XLI coverage kicks off at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

More Super Bowl stuff

♦Will Fort Wayne resident Shlomo Goltz’s team’s commercial air during the Super Bowl? See Page 1A.

♦To check out team video, memorable game moments, trivia and more, go to www.news-sentinel.com, and click on the Super Bowl XLI icon.

Labels:

True-blue football fans
Cold doesn’t keep Colts, Bears fans from event
By Kathleen Quilligan
kquilligan@news-sentinel.com

Wearing a green sweat shirt and jeans, at first glance Fort Wayne resident Gabriel Parrish didn’t look much like a Colts fan.

Then he turned around.

Three hours before Friday’s Super Bowl rally at the City-County Building started downtown, Parrish called 20 barbershops until he found one that would agree to shave his head, leaving only a Colts symbol horseshoe of hair on the back of his head.

“It’s OK because the Colts are going to the Super Bowl,” Ashley Parrish, his wife, said. “But it’s not something that can happen all the time.”

The Parrishes were two of a few hundred people who turned out for Friday’s rally sponsored by the city and county, braving the wind and cold to support two Midwest teams in pro football’s biggest game.

While Colts fans outnumbered Bears fans at least three to one, fans of both teams shivered under their jerseys, wrapping themselves in blankets with their teams’ logos as they waved signs.

The Colts hat 5-year-old Kade Keele was wearing blew off his head but was saved by his father’s co-worker, Mike Johnson, who was decked out head to toe in Bears apparel.

“I can’t believe I saved a Colts hat,” he muttered, shaking his head.

Kevin Robie, vice president of sales for Excellent Adventure in Fort Wayne, brought two of his company’s charter buses to the rally to give fans a place to thaw and use the restroom. One bus was reserved for Colts fans and the other for Bears fans.

The separation might have been a good idea because out on the plaza of the City-County Building, Colts fans tried to drown out the cheers of Bears fans.

“I’m here to trash-talk. We’re going to stomp the Colts. I’ve got my stomping boots on,” said Bears fan Michael Banks, holding up one foot covered in a rubber boot with the Bears logo on it.

Banks laughed as his half brother Reggie Allen approached. Allen is a Colts fan and both have their own ideas about who will win Sunday.

“40-19, Colts,” Allen said.

“37-14, Bears,” Banks countered.

Mayor Graham Richard proclaimed Friday Colts Day in the city and then proclaimed it Bears Day. Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters announced Fort Wayne as the honorary location of Super Bowl XLI.

The biggest question on fans’ minds, besides who will win Sunday, is whether Fort Wayne will host another rally for next year’s Super Bowl.

“If those two teams make it again next year, we’ll do it again,” said Denise Porter-Ross the Northeast area advocate in the mayor’s office and organizer of the rally.

Kickoff: Colts vs. Bears, 6 p.m. (approximate) Sunday in Miami

Radio: WOWO, 1190-AM; WKJG, 1380-AM

Labels:

Churches recruit fans on Super Sunday
AP Video: NFL nixes churches' plans for big-screen parties

By MATT SEDENSKY
Associated Press

MIAMI - Football's faithful will file into house parties, bars and, of course, Dolphin Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday to observe their holiest of holy days. But they'll also turn out in force at churches across the country, which are tapping the popularity of sports in hopes of saving souls.

Organizers of church-sponsored Super Bowl gatherings see the events as a departure from the formality of organized religion - the type of events that could make someone who doesn't typically attend services feel more at home.

"It's a way of reaching out into our community in a very informal, low-key way where we show people we're regular Joes like they are without the pressure of church," said Pastor Luis Acosta of Pines Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation north of Miami in Pembroke Pines.

Pines Baptist has been holding Super Bowl events for a few years and expects about 300 people, mostly men, at its flag football game and watch party this year. The church drew about 250 people to a block party Jan. 13 which featured NFL-themed games, former Dolphins players signing autographs and giveaways including a plasma television.

Acosta said the church doesn't take a heavy-handed approach to nonbelievers who join in such events. There won't be so much as a prayer at the Super Bowl Sunday event. If a guest enjoys himself, a member might invite him to a church social group meeting, then maybe a Bible study, then perhaps an actual service.

"We just follow God's lead," Acosta said.

Pastor Mike Pierce of the non-denominational Poplar Creek Church in the Chicago suburb of Bartlett, Ill., takes a similar approach. About 100 people will watch the game on the big screen in the sanctuary. Like other church events - including a carnival, a play and a pig roast - it's meant to simply create a friendly, fun environment, but not an overtly religious one.

"We don't turn everything into a spiritual event," Pierce said. "Good, clean fun is still spiritual."

Many pastors agree, simply trying to make their churches welcoming environments for new guests. Carrollwood Baptist Church in Tampa has been holding a Super Bowl gathering for more than 15 years and attendees have become so comfortable at the event that some bring recliners from home.

"I like it because it's very laid back," said Robert Smith, a 32-year-old Rockford, Ill., resident who has attended Super Bowl parties at Dominion Christian Center there. "There's no pressure."

Churches also are aware many people are unwilling to do anything other than watch the game on Super Bowl Sunday.

"We can offer a good event surrounding something the culture uses or we can just hold church and no one's going to come," said Jim Waters, an associate pastor and minister to students at First Baptist Church in Milton in the Florida Panhandle.

Like many other churches holding Super Bowl events, the Milton congregation will screen "Power to Win," a video featuring Christian NFL stars, during halftime.

Some churches are using the Super Bowl as an opportunity to reach the poor.

A number of Nashville churches will host the homeless, feeding them, washing their clothes, letting them watch the game on big-screen TVs and giving them a bed to sleep in on Super Bowl Sunday. And at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Libertyville, Ill., members will gather donations to help fund the parish food pantry, another one for the larger community, and a school under construction for African orphans.

William Baker, a retired University of Maine professor who has written two books about sports and religion, says the interplay between the two dates back to ancient times, and that in modern-day America, evangelical Christians make the most of the relationship. He calls sports part of the new "American trinity" - along with religion and patriotism.

"Any visitor from Mars on Super Sunday, whether he watches television or goes to the stadium in Miami," Baker said, "would say these people believe, maybe in God, but for sure they believe in the American flag and in the flyover military display and in patriotism, but most surely they believe in sports."

Labels:

Marquee matchup: Manning vs. Urlacher
Road to Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowls do, once in a while, follow the story lines that are beaten to death during the days leading up to the game, but they also turn around fairly often and bite the prognosticators in the butt, writes Cam Cole. So will the matchup between Brian Urlacher and Peyton Manning live up to its billing?

"Super Bowls do, once in a while, follow the story lines that are beaten to death during the days leading up to the game, but they also turn around fairly often and bite the prognosticators in the butt," writes Cam Cole. So will the matchup between Brian Urlacher and Peyton Manning live up to its billing?
Photograph by : AP Photos



Article Tools





* Printer friendly

* E-mail


Font:

* *
* *
* *
* *


Cam Cole, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, February 03, 2007

MIAMIBEACH - Welcome to Media 101.

Here is how we wrap up two weeks' worth of lukewarm verbiage in a neat little bow:

Since the Indianapolis Colts' best player is the quarterback, and the Chicago Bears' best player is the middle linebacker, Super Bowl XLI is bound to come down to a clash of titans between Peyton Manning and Brian Urlacher.

We'd give you some shades of gray to go along with that oversimplification, but it makes a better story if it's not too complicated because, as the Bears' much-mocked quarterback Rex Grossman noted Thursday, reporters are really kind of ill-informed, and fans aren't much better.

"It's frustrating when you don't put much thought into it," said Grossman, after the 7,000th question about his comparitive ineptitude, next to Colts' celebrated slinger, Manning. "You're just going off the fans' reaction. You just don't know much about what we're doing on offence. Just realizing how ... you know, you know ... ignorant some of you guys are."

Yikes.

Whatever happened to "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel?"

He probably has a point, though.

Super Bowls do, once in a while, follow the story lines that are beaten to death during the days leading up to the game, but they also turn around fairly often and bite the prognosticators in the butt, which is how you get Hall of Famer Jim Kelly losing Super Bowls to Jeff Hostetler and Mark Rypien, and Doug Williams crushing John Elway, and the 17-point underdog New York Jets beating the invincible Baltimore Colts.

"I wouldn't be shocked at all," said Colts coach Tony Dungy, to the suggestion that the game could actually be decided by the Bears' offence versus the Colts' defence, even though the common wisdom is that it's got to be the other way around.

"You never know how it's going to go, and we're confident we can do well in any type of game - we played an all-field-goals game against Baltimore, and won it, and we had to get 30 points in the second half against New England, and won that one.

"But I think the other four units - both special teams and the Bears' offence and our defence - that's what's going to determine the game."

That may be just Dungy's way of taking pressure off Manning, though.

Let's face it: the eyes are drawn to marquee players - the TV eye, for sure - which makes it hard to look anywhere else. And they do get the credit, and the blame. And the money. So why shouldn't they decide the game?

The difficulty with Urlacher is that he is playing middle linebacker in Chicago, which immediately makes you think of Dick Butkus ripping opponents' heads off, or Mike Singletary's big-as-saucer eyes staring down the quarterback just before the snap, but Urlacher plays as much like a free safety as he does a run-stopper - and he doesn't blitz the quarterback much.

In fact, you have to look closely to see why this 6-foot-4 specimen, who's built like Goliath and runs like a gazelle, is so special. It's often not all that apparent.

"Brian Urlacher as an inside linebacker has it all," said Chicago head coach Lovie Smith. "He's one of the best superstars you'll ever have a chance to be around and you can't find anyone with more talent than him, 6-4, 255 pounds, six per cent body fat. He's a coach on the field. He is a perfect teammate.

Labels:

Associated Press
Jennifer Lopez to Get Human Rights Award
Associated Press 02.03.07, 8:40 AM ET

Popular Videos
Winning Super Bowl Ads
Richest Women Entertainers
Livin' La Vida VIP At Super Bowl XLI
Gaming On Your iPod
Olympic Skater Sasha Cohen

Most Popular Stories
The 20 Richest Women In Entertainment
Richard Branson, The Brand
Top Five Hedge Fund Trends For 2007
Pfizer Cuts 10,000 Jobs
Tips For Healthy Flying



Jennifer Lopez will receive an award for her work as producer and star of a film examining the murders of hundreds of women in a Mexican border town, Amnesty International officials said Friday.

Lopez will receive the Artists for Amnesty award Feb. 14 at the Berlin Film Festival from Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta. The film "Bordertown" will make its debut Feb. 15 at the festival.

In "Bordertown," Lopez plays an investigative journalist reporting on the serial killings of women in the border city of Juarez, Mexico. Directed by Gregory Nava, the film also stars Antonio Banderas and Martin Sheen.

"Since first hearing of these atrocities in 1998, when Gregory Nava came to me with this project, I desperately wanted to tell this story," Lopez said. "I began working to ensure we made this film in order to bring the attention of the world to this tragedy and to pressure the Mexican government to bring to justice those responsible for these horrible crimes."

Lopez, 36, screened the film for some of the mothers of women killed in Juarez and will receive special recognition from Norma Andrade, co-founder of Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa (Bring Our Daughters Home), an organization comprising mothers and families of the murdered women of Juarez.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Labels:

Sun rises on Ming dynasty

From correspondents in Rockville, Maryland
February 01, 2007

SUN Ming Ming, a 2.36m Chinese centre, has signed with the minor-league Maryland Nighthawks to become the tallest player in professional basketball history.

Sun Ming Ming

Tall ... Sun Ming Ming. Pic: AP

The 22-year-old goliath will wear jersey No.79 for the American Basketball Association club while trying to achieve his dream of reaching the elite-level National Basketball Association.

"I want to play in the NBA," Sun said.

Sun, who wears size-19 shoes and weighs about 160kg, is likely to become a drawcard of the 50-team league, which has clubs in smaller venues and tries to serve as a development area for players dreaming of an NBA career.

"Sun's skills are tremendous," Nighthawks co-owner and league president Tom Doyle said.

"There hasn't been a player this big at this young of an age that has the skills that he has at this point. He sees the floor. His skills are tremendous."

Doyle said his club would not stand in the way of Sun if an NBA club showed interest.

"Obviously we'd like to keep him here the entire season, but if someone upstairs in the NBA wants a look at him, we're not standing in the way," he said.

Nighthawks coach Will Rankin praised Sun for his basketball knowledge.

Sun has played for China's world junior squad, but he was bypassed in the 2005 NBA Draft over concerns about a lack of speed and fitness.

"I've seen great players," Rankin said.

"I've coached several big men. His skills and adaptation are second to none. He picks up stuff very rapidly. His IQ to the game is abnormally high."

Sun, who has undergone surgery to remove a tumor from his pituitary gland, is set to debut for the Nighthawks on Sunday (AEDT), when they play Strong Island Sound.

Agence France-Presse

Labels:

Friday, February 02, 2007

Friday, February 2, 2007
Girls Gone Wind Creator Ranks Paris Hilton, Tara Reid and Others In Bed
Paris Hilton has been ranked the best celebrity lover - by a lothario adult website boss who once dated her.

Joe Francis claims to have slept with a host of eligible female celebrities including Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rod Stewart's daughter Kimberly and Tara Reid.

In an interview with US shock jock Howard Stern, Francis insisted Hilton was the best, Stewart was "awesome" but Reid was "worst of all".

Hilton and Francis co-star in an x-rated video recently leaked on the Internet.

Tags: girls gone wild, lindsay lohan, tara reid, paris hilton, howard stern, video

Labels: , , , , ,

The 2007 Marketer's Sneak Preview Guide To SuperBowl Advertising

By: Rohit Bhargava
2007-02-02

As the days count closer and closer to the Super Bowl this weekend, the hype about the ads is reaching the typical fever pitch that it always does each year as every news media outlet turns it's lens to who's running what, and getting consumers ready to share their reactions on the ads for their instant "rave-o-meters" and polls about the best ads.

Lots of sites, including all the traditional news outlets, and (surprisingly) YouTube are just waiting for the ads and letting people vote on their favourites on the Monday after the game. That's been happening for several years now. Others are writing lots about the trend towards consumer generated ads at this Superbowl. That's definitely huge. But for any marketers who either work in, or follow advertising, the whole spectacle is fun to watch and knowing what is going to happen is necessary knowledge before we congregate with all our non-marketing industry friends to watch the big game and the big ads. To help you get ready, here's my first annual guide to everything you need to know about the marketing and advertising around the big game before it happens:

User-Generated SuperBowl Ads (that will air during the game):

NFL SuperAd Competition Winning Ad (pitch only)
Doritos - You Make it We Air It (five finalists)
Alka Seltzer Plop Plop Fizz Fizz Jingle Contest
Chevrolet Super Bowl College Ad Challenge

Sneak Previews of SuperBowl Ads (that will air during the game):

Nationwide - Kevin Federline
Banned Go Daddy Ad - "I own you"
Izod
Garmin "Maposaurus"
Pepsi Smash with Fergie
Budweiser Wassup Parrots
United Nations World Food Program with Reggie Bush
Making of Dale Earnhart Commercial from Anheiser Busch
LG Show Us Your Set (Part I)
Wild Hogs Movie Trailer
Meet the Robinsons Movie Trailer

Consumer Generated SuperBowl Ad Ideas (published online and some MIGHT air):

State of Kentucky -
Hot Super Bowl Date - Sponsored by Axe (via Adrants)
My Super Proposal Blog

Other SuperBowl Ads and Ideas (published online, will not air):

Technorati WTF
YouTube Channel of Dotcom SuperBowl Ads
Get out of Chicago Bears Shirt

You can also check out AdAge's Full List of SuperBowl Ad Buyers to get an idea of who you will see in the big game. There's lots of activity out there - and I may have missed lots of ads. If you know of some others that should be added to the list, let me know and I will add them.

View All Articles by Rohit Bhargava

Labels:

Super Bowl-Related Web Sites Hacked
Super Bowl host sites can infect visitors with malware.
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
Friday, February 02, 2007 12:00 PM PST


The Web sites of Dolphin Stadium and the Miami Dolphins team, host to Sunday's Super Bowl football game, have been hacked, and malicious code on those sites has been attempting to infect PCs for at least a week, security experts said today.

The breach on the stadium site was discovered by automated tools at Internet security firm Websense on January 26, but the engineers at the company were not alerted to the problem until this week, when Websense customers complained that they were unable to visit the site.

Websense published an alert on the hack today, after first notifying the Miami Dolphins, Hubbard said.

The www.dolphinsstadium.com and www.miamidolphins.com sites are affected by the attack, as are mirror copies of those sites, such as www.proplayerstadium.com. Security experts strongly advise Web surfers to avoid these sites until the compromise is contained.

The NFL's Superbowl.com Web site is not affected by the hack, Thompson said.

"If you go to the [Dolphin's] Super Bowl Web site with a Web browser that's not running the latest and greatest patches from Microsoft, you could get exploited," said Dan Hubbard, Websense's senior director of security and technology research.

Miami Dolphins spokesman George Torres said that the matter is being investigated.

The Indianapolis Colts face the Chicago Bears in the National Football League's championship game, one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year in the United States.

Malware Details
The Dolphins' sites serve up malicious JavaScript code that exploits two known Windows vulnerabilities, Hubbard said. It then attempts to connect with a second Web server that installs a Trojan horse downloader and a password stealing program on the victim's computer. The Trojan horse program lets the attackers install malicious software at a later date, he said.

The Web site that loads the malicious software is based in China, and was operating on and off on this morning, according to Roger Thompson, chief technology officer with Exploit Prevention Labs.

The Microsoft flaws that were exploited by hackers on the sites were both patched by October, but the breach is significant, Thompson said.

"It's a pretty big deal," he said via instant message. "A lot of people check out football stuff at work, and I bet lots of companies are not patched, even through October."

Labels:

Alright guys… Mike Tyson has apparently checked into the same facility as Lindsay Lohan for the same kind of problem as Lindsay Lohan again. And if you that it was just a fluke coincidence… well not really the two have pretty much a lot in common which doesn’t surprise that they have chosen the same facility for the same problem – excessive alcohol.

Though Lindsay Lohan hasn’t been and I imagine never would be as successful she I am sure as maligned as the former Boxing Heavy Weight champion. Excessive drinking, DUI charges, drug addiction are credentials that both of them share and are planning to have counseled and treated at the Wonderland facility in LA. But it would be interesting to see if Mike would also be allowed to do the stuff likes in between his counseling sessions – something like punching a few doctors blue, raping a couple of nurses and some bitten ears may be… after all that’s what Tyson likes you see.

No Tags

latest newz !! and gossipDigg this storyAdd to Del.icio.us


Gwyneth Paltrow showers some kinds words on Lindsay Lohan31Januarydavid03:56 amAdd comment
Ok just when I thought that there was none who really liked Lindsay Lohan it appears that in fact that are still some kind souls like Gwyneth Paltrow who show some love and mercy for the troubled star. According to Gwyneth Lindsay would sure someday learn to handle all this and would be much mature than what she is now. And guess what she uttered some unthinkables too.

Gwyneth said that Lindsay is a very talented and she appears to have a very successful career in front of her… wonder what prompted the thirty four year old to say all this. Gwyneth’s benevolence was not to end just there as she signed off by squarely blaming the fact that she is in the public eye at such an young age for all the trouble and confusion she has landed herself into…

Quite honestly that’s a lot of crap to be handled at once… so I’d make my way for a beer… you can choose likewise…

No Tags

latest newz !! and Lindsay Lohan GossipDigg this storyAdd to Del.icio.us


Now Lindsay Lohan’s friends put her on the ‘hate-list’30Januarydavid12:57 amAdd comment


There’s more hatred pouring in for Lindsay Lohan… it appears the list of people blacklisting Lindsay Lohan would be the only thing growing in otherwise shrinking American economy under President George Bush’s reign. Though poor President has nothing do do with this one, or perhaps the growth is indeed because of his non-interference… or whatever guys… look at it which ever way you’d like but its simple that move over K-Fed its Lindsay Lohan who is the most hated American right now.

Lindsay’s pal Sean Lennon is apparently very much cross with the actress for having had accepted a role in the movie Chapter 27, which is about the death of late John Lennon by Mark Chapman. Sean says he hates the idea of the movie itself and more so the fact that Lindsay has agreed to play a part in it… Sean though friends with Lohan has made it clear that he is very much ‘disheartened’ by her decision… well Sean you are not the first guy and most definitely not the last as I said earlier the list of Lindsay-haters is only meant to grow like none in America.

No Tags

latest newz !!Digg this storyAdd to Del.icio.us


Lindsay Lohan is moving downwards on popularity index29Januarydavid03:26 amAdd comment
Lindsay Lohan has taken another dip in terms of popularity ratings and looks like there is no way she can reverse this trend now. The Bobby actress has been black listed by Hollywood veterans Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The two have clearly instructed their agents that they do not want to be involved in any project that features the actress. Now that should be quite bad news for Lindsay cos that comes from people from inside the industry.

Previously, there were reports of unhappiness from her fellow inhabitants at the rehab where she is in to cure her alcohol trouble. With this frequent dip in popularity charts Britney joins the one and only George Bush, who till now was the only guy whose ratings never really looked up. And Lindsay too perfectly fits the bill cos for me… she is a total waste of time and there shouldn’t be a thing called a popularity chart for her as she can never really scale that.

No Tags

Labels:

Paris Hilton's Ass Backwards Upskirt
Man, Paris Hilton can't even get her upskirts right. Watch her expose her ass to the paparazzi to get some extra attention...



As she gets closer to the water it appears she pulls her bikini up to expose her butt. Could the ass goiters and butt flaps have been intended all along? She should leave the ass shots to Jessica Biel. Check out FunDumper's complete set with giant pics!

Paris's cooch looks like "pounded meat"
Tina Fey Calls Paris Hilton a "piece of shit"!
Paris's upskirt brings her downfall
The ass-flash tour of terror
Paris Hilton's weed is crap
Nipple slip gross out

Gratuitous close up below...

Labels:

Skip navigation

Web MSNBC Alerts | Newsletters | RSS | HelpMake MSNBC Your Homepage | MSN Home | Hotmail | Sign In



Entertainment
Gossip: The Scoop
Celebrity News
Reality TV
Television
Movies
2007 Oscars
Slide shows
Music
Access Hollywood
Lifestyle
Test Pattern
Comics, Sudoku
Horoscope
Lottery
Video
U.S. News
Politics
World News
Business
Sports
Entertainment
Health
Tech / Science
Travel
Weather
Blogs Etc.
Local News
Newsweek
Multimedia
Most Popular
NBC NEWS
Today Show
MSNBC TV
Nightly News
Meet the Press
Dateline NBC

Shopping




Jobs
Autos

• Disable Fly-out

AdvertisementMSN Shopping


RESOURCE GUIDE
• Dating with Perfectmatch.com
• Find your dream home today!
• Find a business to start

• Free auto insurance quote
• Shopping

Sponsors:
MSNBC Home » Entertainment » Gossip: The Scoop » Gossip Archive

Get ready for Paris Hilton, serious actress
Plus: Britney Spears wants to fade away those stretch marks

Dima Gavrysh / AP file
Watch out, Meryl Streep: Paris Hilton has caught the acting bug.
View related photos

Slide show

• The week in celebrity sightings
Jennifer Hudson wins again, Penelope Cruz gets cozy, Shakira plays guitar, Coco dances and Bond takes Beijing.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
• The Gossip Times
• Page Six
• Media Gossip
• Popwatch
• Gawker • Gossip Central
• Daily Dish
• TV Guide
• MSN Gossip
• Defamer



Related Articles | What's this?
• Celibate Paris declares ‘sex is sacred’
• Paris Hilton parties till she pukes — on stage
• Mommy dearest: Paris Hilton wants kids, soon
• Is Paris Hilton hot to trot for Lohan's ex?
• Paris Hilton likes monkeying around

Most Popular
• Most Viewed • Top Rated • Most E-mailed

• At least 19 killed as storms rip central Florida
• Finally, Vista Makes Its Debut. Now What?
• Texas governor orders STD vaccine for all girls
• Maytag recalls 2.3 million dishwashers
• Pipe bombs found in Kansas City, Chicago
• Most viewed on MSNBC.com
• High-tech rehab center for injured vets opens
• Phoenix parents fear serial sex predator
• House of Healing
• Many scientists think germs communicate
• Libby jury views parts of White House videos
• Most viewed on MSNBC.com
• Maytag recalls 2.3 million dishwashers
• Texas governor orders STD vaccine for all girls
• At least 19 killed as storms rip central Florida
• Getting buff in the buff
• Demise of GOP just took turn for the worse
• Most viewed on MSNBC.com
By Jeannette Walls
MSNBC
Updated: 2:47 a.m. ET Jan 17, 2007
Look out, Meryl Streep. Paris Hilton is going to start taking this acting thing very seriously.

The “House of Wax” star has landed a new role in a film called “The Hottie and the Nottie” and says she’s been working hard to prepare for the role of a hot girl who refuses to get married until her not-hot friend finds a sweetie.

“I’m serious about acting and I have a bunch of movies lined up,” the partying Heiress told Hello! magazine. She has even been reading the thespian book: ”The Power of the Actor.”

Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I think I can become a good actress,” Hilton explained. “It’s something I want to prove to myself and to other people. I feel I’m getting better and feeling more confident about what I can do as an actress.”

Snapping back into shape
Britney Spears is determined to get rid of more than her estranged husband.

On her way to the night club Hyde recently, The “Oops, I Did It Again” stopped by Petit Tresor and spent more than $400 on Mustela creams, which are used to fade post-natal stretch marks, according to a source.

“I guess it will be part of her new look,” says the insider, “and I say, ‘Good for her.’”


RELATED LINKS
Scoop: Paris Hilton likes to monkey around
Hilton dumped as face of nightclubs
Your thoughts on Paris' latest antics?



Notes from all over
Renée Zellweger says she doesn’t want to own a gun but has considered getting one. “I did buy a house. I have places to live, but I don’t live there because I don’t have time to get there and because I’ve had people show up at these houses, so it’s not a friendly place for a girl who is single without a dog to live,” the “Bridget Jones” star told the Belfast Telegraph. “People usually mean no harm, but it’s scary if there is a car idling outside your house in the middle of the woods at four in the morning. You realize you can’t live there any more. It’s sad, but that’s how it works. It’s no big deal. It’s just a job hazard. I don’t want to own a gun, but sometimes at four in the morning when there is a car outside, you do think about it.” . . . LaToya Jackson says she helped deliver a child and that it’s changed her life. . . .Matthew Fox says his penchant for skinny-dipping is no big deal. “When I was a kid there wasn’t a huge delineation in our family between having clothes on or not having clothes on. And the reason I have so much fun doing it now is people are so shocked by it, and, like, ‘Oh, my God, Fox just took his clothes off!’” the “Lost” star tells Men’s Journal. “But, I mean, just how long ago was it that we were all wandering around in loincloths? I don’t know, dude, but I grew up, all the way until I was 22 years old ... in locker rooms showering with [bleeping] 40 other dudes and you’re not checking each other’s [bleep] sizes out, you’re just walking around like it’s no big deal. And no, I don’t take my clothes off all the time because I think I have a huge unit and want to show it off. I do it because it’s frickin’ funny!”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com

© 2007 MSNBC Interactive
Rate this story Low High
Current rating: 1.5 by 241 users • View Top Rated stories





Get listed here

Labels:

Video Of Paris Hilton Using Racial, Homophobic Slurs Hits Web
LOS ANGELES (February 1, 2007) -- It looks like Paris Hilton is the latest celebrity to find herself at the center of a racial controversy.

A video clip that was posted online this week shows the socialite and her sister, Nicky, at a party making homophobic and racist remarks.

In the video clip, which appears to be several years old, Paris repeatedly calls one person a "f*****t" as she is dancing with her sister.

At one point in the clip, Paris pauses dancing to Notorious BIG's "Hypnotize," walks up to the camera and says she and her sister "are like two n******."

The video clip is marked ParisExposed.com, the Web site which was selling many of Paris' personal items, including photographs, home videos, diaries, love letters, recorded phone conversations and phone numbers of friends and celebrities.

All this stuff had been left behind at a Los-Angeles based storage facility.

Hilton's spokesman says someone who was supposed to have kept up payments for the storage, didn't, so all that stuff was sold by a broker.

Paris has filed a federal lawsuit seeking money damages and an injunction to shut down the site.

Labels: