Entertainment News

DiCaprio, Eastwood are Palm Springs film winners
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - The world economy is in dire straits, but you sure wouldn't know it from the red carpet at the 20th-annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala. The actresses were dripping with jewels, actors donned high fashion, and logos of jeweler Cartier and automaker Mercedes-Benz loomed large behind all as they posed for photographers. "I'm just doing what I know how to do, and that's make movies and hopefully get people to go see them so I can continue to make more movies," said actor Leonardo DiCaprio, when asked if he felt uncomfortable in this setting, given widespread financial woes.
      

Heavily researched book links JFK murder to killing of RFK and MLK
"Legacy of Secrecy/The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination" (Counterpoint) By Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann
      

Hong Kong government to restore former home of Bruce Lee
HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government has agreed to preserve a former home of late martial arts legend Bruce Lee and turn it into a tourist attraction, an official said Wednesday. The house where Lee lived from 1972 to 1973 is currently used as a "love motel," where rooms are rented by the hour and people often carry on affairs. The owner has lobbied to covert it into a museum.
      

Larry Flynt sues nephews over use of his name in adult movies
LOS ANGELES - Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt has sued two of his nephews for selling their own line of adult movies under the same family name. Flynt accuses the nephews of producing pornographic films that are "inferior products" and "knockoff goods." Flynt said he filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court to protect his family name in the industry.
      

T.I. cuts $8,000 cheque for overdue lawyer fees; says debt was oversight
ATLANTA - Rapper T.I. has paid an $8,000 overdue lawyer bill for the mother of two of his sons, telling a judge the debt was an oversight. Lawyers for LaShon Dixon asked a Fulton County judge to intervene after the 28-year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, failed to pay in November. He had agreed to the payment as part of an ongoing child support case.
      

Death of John Travolta's son raises medical questions
Millions of children and adults have seizures in the United States, but dying from one is rare. That only adds to the confusion and mystery surrounding the life and death of Jett Travolta, the 16-year-old son of actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston. The death certificate lists a seizure as the cause of death, according to an undertaker in the Bahamas, where the boy died Friday. Family representatives and lawyers declined requests Tuesday for more information, fuelling speculation that has swirled for years about the boy's health.
      

Lisa Marie Presley defends Scientology
LOS ANGELES - Lisa Marie Presley is expressing condolences for Jett Travolta's death and defending Scientology, the religion that Presley, John Travolta and Kelly Preston follow. Presley's MySpace blog on Tuesday read: "I am writing this because I have noticed that for the most part, people and the media have been very sympathetic and respectful but there are those certain ones that want to use this horrible tragedy as an opportunity to once again, blame and-or attack Scientology."
      

Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck welcome 2nd daughter
LOS ANGELES - It's another girl for Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. Affleck's spokesman, Shawn Sachs, and Garner's spokeswoman, Leslie Sloane-Zelnik, said Tuesday that Garner gave birth to their second daughter but would not provide any additional details. Garner and Affleck, both 36, were married in June 2005.
      

Actress Alyssa Milano to wed Hollywood agent, publicists say
LOS ANGELES - Who's the fiance? Alyssa Milano is engaged to marry a Hollywood agent. Publicists for Milano said Tuesday that the actress accepted a marriage proposal on Dec. 18 from David Bugliari, an agent at Creative Artists Agency. The two have been dating for over a year. No wedding date has been set.
      

New 'American Idol' judge Kara DioGuardi says male contestants hold edge
LOS ANGELES - Kara DioGuardi was fretting about being the new face of "American Idol," and she put the blame on hungry mosquitoes. "Here I am in Hawaii and I wake up yesterday and I'm covered in mosquito bites, 15 to 20, and it looks like I have the chicken pox," the songwriter-producer said on Tuesday.
      

'24's' Jack Bauer relocates to Washington for show's seventh season
WASHINGTON - Early one cold November morning, actress Annie Wersching leads Kiefer Sutherland to an "armoured" SUV with dark windows parked outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture building. After director Brad Turner yells "Cut," onlookers snap photos of the star. Sutherland spots a participant in a charity run for Lupus on the Washington Mall and comments, "Why is that guy wearing shorts? It's cold."
      
CP Books, Entertainment, Politics BOOKS-Charles-Taylor-Prize

Books on sugar, First World War and 19th century Russia make prize short list
./090106/e010677.jpg "./090106/e010677.jpg" alt="Author Elizabeth Abbott is shown in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO"150 Author Elizabeth Abbott is shown in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO TORONTO - After sorting through potential nominees for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction, juror Jeffrey Simpson found that one title had an odd side effect. Elizabeth Abbott's "Sugar: A Bittersweet History" may have forever altered his morning routine.

Guy Maddin's surreal, dreamy 'My Winnipeg' wins $10,000 prize
TORONTO - Guy Maddin's bizarre, fantastical tribute to his hometown, "My Winnipeg," has won a new $10,000 film prize. The avant-garde director was given the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, presented by the Toronto Film Critics Association. A gala dinner was held Tuesday to recognize the association's favourite releases of 2008.
      

Attorney says charge against actor Josh Brolin to be dropped
LOS ANGELES - It's not exactly a presidential pardon, but prosecutors have agreed to drop charges filed against "W." actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright after an incident in a Louisiana bar last year. Brolin, Wright and five crew members of the Oliver Stone film "W." were arrested on misdemeanour charges at the Stray Cat Club on July 12. Brolin and Wright were charged with interfering with police officers after a disturbance involving a crew member.
      

British historian Christopher Hibbert dead at 84
LONDON - Christopher Hibbert, a British historian whose popular books covered subjects from the medieval Battle of Agincourt to the American Revolutionary War, has died. He was 84. Hibbert died Dec. 21 in Henley-on-Thames, west of London, after a short illness, his agent, Bruce Hunter, said Tuesday.
      

Patrick Swayze faces cancer (and a new TV series) bravely
NEW YORK - Patrick Swayze says his yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer put him "through hell" while he pushed ahead on his new TV series. "I've never been one to run from a challenge," Swayze tells ABC's Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview. But the 56-year-old actor owns up to his fear: "Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm (asking), 'Why me?"'
      

Eddie Izzard performs stand-up for Mumbai attack victim
NEW YORK - When the father of a victim of the Mumbai terror attacks wrote Eddie Izzard asking the comedian to send a note to his injured, bedridden son, Izzard came up with a better idea. The comedian did a 90-minute stand-up routine over the holidays at the London hospital where 28-year-old Will Pike was recovering after the November attacks.
      

Best-selling 'God' author faces plagiarism claim
NEW YORK - Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said Tuesday he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post. As a result, Walsch's blog on the spirituality website Beliefnet.com has been shut down. The website said in a statement Walsch failed to properly credit and attribute material from another author.
      

Anna Nicole Smith judged cleared of wrongdoing
MIAMI - Authorities in Florida say a former judge who presided in the dispute over Anna Nicole Smith's remains has been cleared of any wrongdoing. The Miami-Dade state attorney's office announced the results of its investigation Tuesday.
      

'Late Late Show' host Craig Ferguson reveals his holiday wedding
LOS ANGELES - You couldn't miss the wedding band on Craig Ferguson's ring finger when he returned to CBS' "The Late Late Show" from his holiday break. Ferguson held his left hand up to the camera and announced that he'd gotten married. The 46-year-old talk-show host said he'd tied the knot with art dealer Megan Wallace Cunningham.