Entertainment blog - news about music and movies

Despite growing speculation that he will soon be forced out as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, Ben Silverman told an audience at the New York Television Festival Monday that he is “so committed to the job.” In an on-stage conversation with CNBC host Donny Deutsch, Silverman said that he has the “job I want, I am doing it by choice, which sort of throws people who are on a treadmill for life just trying to get access to these opportunities and doing everything in their power to hold onto them.” Some critics have suggested that NBC’s new fall lineup, for which Silverman is primarily responsible, will tank and that, as a result, Silverman will be held responsible. However, Silverman told his audience, “Everyone is fixated on the fall. .. I am fixated on the fourth quarter.”

16/09/2008

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Looking like Jason Bourne’s debonair uncle, everyone’s favorite bachelor George Clooney threw a mock choke hold on mixed martial arts fighter Dean Lister during a party at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego last week.

Oh, how George loves joking around with the boys.

Jay-Z has confirmed that he has started a new record label with acclaimed production duo StarGate.

As we reported a few weeks ago, the partnership will see the Norwegian pair - who are responsible for making hits for Beyonce, Ne-Yo and Rihanna - teaming up with the rapper to form the StarRoc label.

Now in a statement, Jay-Z and StarGate say: “The focus is to find new talent and develop artists through mutually beneficial global partnerships which include music distribution, publishing, touring and merchandising.”

Hurwitz, Schlossberg to write and direct WB comedy

NEW YORK — The creators of the “Harold & Kumar” franchise have smoked out a new project.

Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who wrote “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” and wrote and directed “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” will write and direct ” ‘Til Beth Do Us Part,” a comedy that has been set up at Warner Bros.

Principato Young is producing the feature, which will focus on two twenty¬something males whose friendship is put to the test when one of them becomes engaged.

The movie will share some elements with the stoner franchise for which the writer-directors are known — most notably, the comedic bond between two young males — but will be more grounded and contain fewer of its zany flourishes.

The project, which is casting its two male leads, is aiming for a first-quarter shoot. Paul Young and Peter Principato are producing via their banner; Greg Silverman and Jesse Ehrman are overseeing for Warners.

“Beth” is the first post-”Harold & Kumar” film for the CAA-repped Hurwitz and Schlossberg. The pair emerged when “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” became a crossover hit for New Line in 2004, and they are now signed on to write the third movie in the franchise with an option to direct.

Principato Young is producing the coming-of-age dramedy “The Way Back” for Mandate and the suburban tale “The Joneses,” which will star David Duchovny and Demi Moore.

Shortly after word came that DJ AM (born Adam Goldstein) and former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker miraculously escaped a deadly plane crash on Friday in Colombia, South Carolina, fans began to react to the news.

As information on the accident trickled in Saturday morning, the MTV News site was quickly flooded with comments from well-wishers who, like the rest of us, were anxious for updates about the musicians’ conditions and the identity of the four people killed in the crash. (Doctors now say they expect Barker and AM to make a full recovery.)

“When I heard this on the news, I started to cry,” xxMExx wrote. “I am glad they are going to recover. Everyone else on that plane that died can rest in peace.”

(We invite you to upload your comments and video reactions, as well as your personal pictures of DJ AM and Travis Barker, at YouRHere.MTV.com.)

A user identified as ih8clowns said that the news “hurts my heart,” adding that Barker and AM “seem like such down-to-earth guys, and I love how enthusiastic they are about their music. My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and their families. I’m sure it will be a tough road ahead but I feel that they will pull through. Hang in there and try to stay strong, guys.”

Several fans, like Chavell, said their first reaction was to pray for those who were killed in the crash, as well as those who’d survived it. “When it’s not your time to go, you’re not going anywhere,” Chavell wrote. “And I pray that DJ AM and Travis make a speedy recovery.”

While some fans were in despair, others offered comforting words. “I live right outside of Augusta, Georgia, and while I am very upset this had to happen, it couldn’t have happened in a better place,” fireaway_sara said. “Our burn center is voted the best burn unit in the Southeast, so they are in the best hands.”

Understandably, many fans were still shocked by the story. “I couldn’t believe it at first,” wrote DJ Stephan, who said he was at a gig when he heard the news. “I thought this girl was joking. Then she convinced me that it was true, and my heart sank. Having been a drummer for a long time, Travis has been one of my influences in music. My heart goes out to all the family members who lost a loved one, to Travis and DJ AM for the loss of their friends and hope for speedy recovery for Travis and DJ AM. I think that they really had someone watching over them, considering how many artists haven’t made it out alive in a plane crash.”

“I didn’t actually believe that this happened when I heard about it, because I heard about it from my mom who doesn’t understand who is in what band or anything,” xverse wrote. “She told me that Blink-182 was in a plane crash, and I was like, ‘That is impossible. Why would Blink be in the same plane at the same time?’ Then I looked it up on here and saw it was Travis and his friends, and it blew my mind. I’m so glad he didn’t die. If he did, it would have been a huge blow to everyone. That’s how much of a badass Travis is — an ‘effin plane is going to crash and he hops out of the thing to survive.”

While several fans commented on Barker and AM’s harrowing escape, others suspected a higher power may have intervened. SnookyandJosh wrote: “This is a tragedy beyond words. Both DJ AM and Travis have an angel protecting them. Both men are truly blessed. I literally stopped in my tracks when I heard it on the news. It is tragic that not everyone was fortunate enough to survive. It just goes to show that life can throw anything at you when it feels like it.”

Others sent messages specifically for the families involved. “I know you’re aware of all of us praying, family, friends and the fans, who don’t even know personally anyone involved,” Elyse wrote. “I hope it helps and makes you proud to see how much your family affected and influenced the people who just heard of them, or watched them on TV.”

On Monday, Barker’s ex-wife, Shanna Moakler, issued a statement thanking everyone for the “outpouring of love and support we have received during this very difficult time.” Several fans left messages for Barker’s assistant Chris Baker, one of the victims in the crash. Baker had appeared on MTV’s reality show “Meet the Barkers” and is survived by his wife and a 2-year-old son.

“I would like to say a personal prayer to Chris Baker’s wife and child,” themomof3 said. “May you have your memories and may [they] remind you of the love you and Chris shared in his short life and within your marriage.”

Tone Fox said he’d met Baker once and thanked him “for being so humble and loving. It was a pleasure to shake your hand. You touched us all. A man of his word and full of life. … We love you and will see you soon.”

(Travis Barker and DJ AM were, of course, the house band for the VMAs earlier this month. Check out these interviews with them, which were conducted by John Norris shortly after the show.)

PEOPLE

Father-and-son act

Ryan O’Neal and his son were being booked on suspicion of narcotics possession Wednesday morning after a probation search at the actor’s Malibu, Calif., home, authorities said. Deputies found Redmond O’Neal, 24, in possession of methamphetamine while a vial of the drug was found in Ryan O’Neal’s bedroom, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. The father and son will be held in lieu of $10,000 bail, he said.

Jersey legends

Actor Jack Nicholson, rocker Jon Bon Jovi and NBA star Shaquille O’Neal are among 30 nominees to the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Members of the public will help select the 10 inductees for the hall’s second class by voting online through Nov. 30. This year’s nominees include political activist Paul Robeson, writers F. Scott Fitzgerald, Walt Whitman and Philip Roth, entertainers Jerry Lewis, Count Basie and Bud Abbott, and athletes Althea Gibson and Carl Lewis. Last year, the hall inducted 15 members into its inaugural class, including Bruce Springsteen, Yogi Berra and Frank Sinatra.

Pitt donates $100,000

Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California’s November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. It’s the first time voters will be asked to ban same-sex marriage in a state where gay couples already have won the right to wed. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and California. “Because … discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,” Pitt said Wednesday.

Honors

City showcased

The French port city of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, won the bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2013, beating its rivals Bordeaux, Toulouse and Lyon. Kosice in Slovakia was also chosen yesterday. Athens in 1985 was the first European capital of culture. Liverpool in the United Kingdom and Stavanger in Norway were chosen for 2008.

Oops!

Up in the air

Bulgaria’s prime minister Sergei Stanishev and other government officials were trapped for about an hour Wednesday when cable cars malfunctioned during the inauguration of a new ski resort, south of the capital Sofia, according to a radio report. No one was hurt, but the officials were stuck in the packed gondolas about 100 feet above the ground before being rescued by emergency services.

Passages

Norman Whitfield, 67, Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer who co-wrote a string of Motown classics, including “War,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He suffered from complications of diabetes.

Today in History

1793: President Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

1850: Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which created a force of federal commissioners charged with returning escaped slaves to their owners.

1851: The first edition of The New York Times was published.

1961: United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia.

1970: Rock star Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27.

1975: Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Today’s Birthdays

Actor Robert Blake, 75. Singer Frankie Avalon, 68. Actress Anna Deavere Smith, 58. Actor James Gandolfini, 47. Actress Holly Robinson Peete, 44. R&B singer Ricky Bell, 41. Actress Aisha Tyler, 38. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith, 37. Actor James Marsden, 35. Rapper Xzibit, 34. Actor C.J. Sanders, 12.

Seattle Times news services

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• ‘Hari Puttar’: ‘Harry Potter’ Imposter?
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A new Kanye West song, ‘Love Lockdown’, has appeared on YouTube after the rapper performed it live at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night (September 7) in Los Angeles.

The rapper closed the ceremony by performing the new song, which is likely to appear on his forthcoming new album, rumoured to be titled ‘Good Ass Job’.

Listen to ‘Love Lockdown’ by clicking on the video below.

Britney Spears was the surprise winner on the night, receiving three MTV Video Music Awards for the clip to her single ‘Piece Of Me’.

More info

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Some vibrant performances, potent songs and a promising ambience are the highlights of “Saint Heaven,” a 2006 show that reaches for the stars but snatches them only fitfully.

The earnest musical, which Village Theatre is introducing to the Seattle area in a production staged by Andrea J. Dymond, does tackle some large and resonant concerns.

Tom Sturge’s scenery and lights give some flavor of bygone times, especially in such interior spaces as an old-time physician’s office with a roll-top desk, anatomy poster and wooden medicine cabinets.

And an eclectic score by Keith Gordon taps various American pop and roots-music idioms — one more successfully than others.

Set in tiny Saint Heaven, Ky., in 1957, the show sincerely tackles matters of race, faith and rural-to-urban migration, via a tentative romance between a cynical white doctor, Thom Rivers (Allan Snyder), and Eshie Willington (Tanesha Ross), a young black woman with a gift for Pentecostal-style religious fervor.

Martin Casella’s book also drums up crosscurrents of strong emotion between Eshie and her domineering mentor — the blind minister Joe Bertram (Kingsley Leggs) — and Thom and his late father’s devoted housekeeper, Millie Walden (Cynthia Jones).

Actually, Thom, who abruptly left Saint Heaven years ago but reluctantly returns to attend his dad’s funeral, seems to be warring with nearly every citizen in his ol’ hometown — his ex-squeeze, Maggie Hartford (Billie Wildrick), whom he dumped hard; his boyhood pal Garrison (Mark Carr), who resents him for moving to the big city; and Pastor Bertram, a platonic rival for Eshie.

This soapy stew of desire, jealousy and blame turns increasingly melodramatic in Act 2. “Saint Heaven” could have done with less plot (and a shorter running time than 2 ½ hours), but more development of the central figures of Eshie and Thom. In Snyder’s brash, overly strident portrayal, this prodigal son is so self-centered, embittered and off-putting, it’s hard to buy Thom’s 11th-hour conversion to decency.

Conversely, Eshie is almost too good to be true — innocent but wise, shy yet outspoken. Nonetheless, Ross shines — she’s a real charmer. She looks so lovely in the big-skirted pastel dresses designed by Cynthia Savage, and her singing is strong and true.

Jones, a reliable powerhouse, endows the also-ran Millie with warmth and backbone, and Wildrick, another local favorite, makes the most of the two best tunes in Gordon’s batch: the lean-on-me ballad “Leave the Rescue to Me” and, with Jones and Carr, the stately, gospel-fired anthem, “Not One Thing Tying Me Down.”

The gospel numbers are, indeed, the best musical elements here. The standard show tunes can be lackluster, with banal lyrics about such matters as eating okra.

Jeff Waxman’s musical direction is rock-solid — primarily with the stirring black choir the Village has assembled, led by the imposing Leggs, another cast standout. (The company might consider funneling all this African-American talent into future revivals of some of Broadway’s best black musicals, such as “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” “Carmen Jones” or “Purlie!”)

The question of whether Eshie’s spiritual gifts are genuine or medically induced is worth more exploration. Her life as an evangelist touring the Baptist church circuit, and what she’d face as a 1950s black woman married to a white man, also merits elaboration.

Kentucky, by the way, was one of numerous states that had a long-standing ban on interracial marriage. It lasted until 1967, when the Supreme Court finally overturned such laws.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com

London (ANI): British immigration officials yesterday detained American rapper Busta Rhymes for 11 hours at London City airport, ahead of his scheduled headline appearance at the first UK Orange RockCorps show. Rhymes was detained because of “unresolved convictions” in the US, and tried to have him deported after he arrived in London for the Orange RockCorps volunteering initiative.

However, a High Court judge ordered the musician’s immediate release last night, but that was after a fierce legal battle over his right to enter Britain. The 36-year-old singer was stopped shortly after he landed at 7.26am at London. Officials had made prior arrangement to deport him back to Amsterdam, from where he had just arrived, on a 9.30am flight.

Picture this

High hopes for cornfield Palin

An Ohio farmer would like to invite you to get lost inside the head of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. A 16-acre corn maze near Whitehouse, southwest of Toledo, has been carved in Palin’s likeness, complete with her familiar updo and glasses. Farmer Duke Wheeler said Palin created a lot of excitement in the campaign, and he was hoping to generate some for this year’s maze. He said it took an artist from Idaho at least eight hours to mow down stalks for the maze.

People

Music for hunger

Musicians Will.I.am and Angelique Kidjo, actress Kristin Davis and model Elle Macpherson helped launch a new campaign Thursday to cut global poverty in half by 2015. Kidjo and Black Eyed Peas members Will.I.am and apl.de.ap performed a new song written for the Global Call to Action against Poverty called “in my name” outside the United Nations, where world leaders are gathered this week. YouTube has teamed up with Will.I.am, and nongovernmental organizations GCAP, Oxfam International, Save the Children and Comic Relief to help spread the message that poverty around the world needs to be eradicated.

No charges

Citing insufficient evidence, Los Angeles prosecutors said Thursday they will not charge actor Shia LaBeouf with drunken driving in connection with a car accident in July in West Hollywood. Two other people involved in the July 26 accident with LaBeouf, 22, will face unspecified charges, said a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Singer injured in new wreck

Grammy-winning Tejano singer Emilio Navaira, still recovering from major injuries suffered in a bus wreck six months ago, was back in the hospital Thursday after another traffic accident. Emilio and wife Maria Navaira were in stable condition at University Hospital in San Antonio after their car and a truck collided Wednesday. Police think Maria Navaira was driving at the time. The truck driver was not hurt.

Upcoming

Subway comfort

Riding the London Underground is getting cooler, literally. Tube trains are to get air conditioning for the first time, and London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled an example of the new train model Thursday. The new air-conditioned trains will serve the Underground’s Metropolitan line beginning in 2010 and additional lines after that. They are all expected to be up and running by 2015. The Underground is nearly 150 years old.

Update

Gas charge dropped

Jose Cruz, 34, a West Virginian accused of passing gas and fanning it toward a police officer, no longer faces a battery charge. The Kanawha County prosecutor’s office requested that the charge be dropped Thursday. He still faces driving-under-the-influence and other charges.

Today in History

1789: Thomas Jefferson was appointed America’s first secretary of state.

1955: After word that President Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack, the New York Stock Exchange saw its worst price decline since 1929.

1957: The musical “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.

Today’s Birthdays

Fitness expert Jack LaLanne, 94. Actress Mary Beth Hurt, 60. Actress Linda Hamilton, 52. TV personality Jillian Barberie, 42. Actor Jim Caviezel, 40. Singer Shawn Stockman, 36. Actor Mark Famiglietti, 29. Singer-actress Christina Milian, 27. Tennis player Serena Williams, 27.

Seattle Times news services