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Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is pregnant...

2011-06-24T01:51:00.001+06:00

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is expecting a child.

Her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan announced the pregnancy on Tuesday via Twitter: "NEWS NEWS NEWS !! I AM GOING TO BECOME A GRANDFATHER .. AISHWARYA EXPECTING .. SO HAPPY AND THRILLED !!!" The news was later confirmed by her manager, according to Reuters.

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This will be the first child for the former Miss World, 37, and her actor-husband Abhishek Bachchan.

“Twilight”,“The Last Airbender”honored with most razzie nominations

2011-01-24T23:29:00.000+06:00

Vampires, werewolves and airbenders lead the pack at the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that hands out prizes for the year's worst films.

The blockbuster supernatural tale "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and the action fantasy "The Last Airbender" tied for the most nominations Monday with nine each, including worst picture.

Also nominated for worst picture are Jennifer Aniston's action comedy "The Bounty Hunter," Sarah Jessica Parker's romantic romp "Sex and the City 2" and the "Twilight" parody "Vampires Suck."

"Twilight" star Kristen Stewart had a worst-actress nomination for her role as a teen caught in a love triangle involving her vampire boyfriend (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf pal (Taylor Lautner). Pattinson and Lautner both were nominated for worst actor.

Razzies founder John Wilson said that though "Vampires Suck" was a "Twilight" spoof, "Eclipse" actually was funnier to watch.

"I know people who are into `Twilight' who take it totally seriously and they're very vociferous," Wilson said. "Those of us who are not `Twi-hards', we don't get it. I don't actually know any teenage girls who have had to make the choice between a werewolf and a vampire."

"The Last Airbender" was adapted from the animated TV series about a young hero with the power to reunite feuding nations of people who can control air, water, fire and earth. "Last Airbender" filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan received Razzie nominations for worst director and screenplay.

"All of this gobbledygook language about airbenders and fire benders and water benders," Wilson said. "You feel like you're on a bender watching the movie. It's completely illogical."

The Razzies lineup was announced a day before Oscar nominations come out. Razzie winners, chosen by the group's roughly 600 voters, will be announced Feb. 26, the night before the Oscars.

Three Oscar-winning divas are among nominees for worst supporting actress — Cher for the song-and-dance tale "Burlesque," Liza Minnelli for "Sex and the City 2" and Barbra Streisand for the comedy sequel "Little Fockers."

Jackson Rathbone had a supporting-actor nomination for roles in both "The Last Airbender" and "Eclipse." Dev Patel and Nicola Peltz also had supporting nominations for "Last Airbender."

The entire casts of "Eclipse" and "Last Airbender" were among nominees for worst screen couple or ensemble.

"Last Airbender" also was chosen for worst eye-gouging misuse of 3-D, a special category to mark Hollywood's current craze for shooting in three dimensions or converting 2-D movies to 3-D. The other 3-D nominees are "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," "Clash of the Titans," "The Nutcracker in 3-D" and "Saw 3D."

Along with worst-actress contenders Stewart and Aniston, the four "gal pals" in "Sex and the City 2" — Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon — shared a nomination. Also up for worst-actress are Miley Cyrus for the teen drama "The Last Song" and Megan Fox for the action flop "Jonah Hex."

Cyrus' father, Billy Ray Cyrus, had a supporting-actor nomination for ""The Spy Next Door."

Joining Pattinson and Lautner in the worst-actor category are Jack Black for the fantasy comedy "Gulliver's Travels," Gerard Butler for "The Bounty Hunter" and Ashton Kutcher for the action comedy "Killers" and the romance "Valentine's Day."

Katy Perry likes California Dream world tour

2011-01-20T17:54:00.002+06:00

Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'

The hits just keep on coming. In advance of the singer's "Teenage Dream" album release, the star unveiled the artwork for her single, "E.T." The track is the next to be aired from Perry's LP. Other wildly successful songs off the album include "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," and "Firework."
California Dream world tour

Katy Perry is going on tour and she likes it. The Grammy nominee appeared on "Facebook Live," the streaming channel of the site, to announce her upcoming "California Dream 2011" world tour. The performer will kick off the North American leg of the tour in Atlanta in June.

Katy Perry with husband Russell Brand

Katy Perry and Russell Brand celebrate Katy's grandmother's 90th birthday in Las Vegas. The fun-loving couple took in Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis show with family and friends before hitting the tables to play blackjack at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Katy Perry at the 2011 People's Choice Awards

Favorite online sensation and favorite female artist winner Katy Perry speaks after being presented with the awards at the 2011 People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California.

Grammy nominees revealed

Katy shows her sparkly side at the concert for the unveiling of the Grammy nominations at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California. The "Teenage Dream" songstress is up for four awards at this year's fete on February 13, 2011.

Katy Perry at the American Music Awards

Katy Perry performs at the 38th Annual American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California.

Katy Perry at the MuchMusic Video Awards

Katy Perry looking luminous in a side-baring, knotted blue Ashish frock at the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto.

Transforms Herself for 'X-Men "Jennifer Lawrence"

2011-01-20T14:54:00.000+06:00

In just one year's time, 20-year-old actress Jennifer Lawrence has gone from virtual unknown to one of the most respected young stars in Hollywood. For her Golden Globe-nominated role in "Winter's Bone," she transformed herself into a tough-talking, wood-chopping, squirrel-skinning Ozark teen searching for her missing father. But that's nothing compared to the change she underwent to become Mystique, the blue-skinned shape-shifting mutant in this summer's "X-Men: First Class."

20th Century Fox just released the first photo of the cast of the "X-Men" prequel, and it shows Lawrence and costars as the younger versions of the Marvel Comics superheroes from the original movie trilogy. Lawrence plays Raven Darkholme -- better known as Mystique -- the character played by Rebecca Romijn in the earlier films. And in a conversation with Lawrence, the actress told me that becoming the scaly, blue mutant was an arduous and time-consuming process.

Lawrence said that it took eight hours to apply the full-body makeup to turn her into Mystique. For days when she was wearing her X-Men costume as shown in the photo, it took half as long to cover her face, neck and chest. Then, after a full day of filming, Lawrence said it took another three and a half hours to remove the makeup.

I asked her what she did to pass the time during the eight hours while her makeup was being applied. She said, "We watch movies and talk... It's kind of like a bizarre sleepover." She said over the course of six months of shooting, she became very close with the seven makeup artists and hair stylists who created her look. It was a difficult process for everyone involved, but Lawrence said, "if [someone] were just sitting outside the trailer they'd hear the 'Sex and the City' theme song and giggling and laughing."

Lawrence said that she hadn't seen the first three "X-Men" movies when she first auditioned for the role, and her unfamiliarity with the role of Mystique nearly cost her the part. She told me she auditioned a few times before finally sitting down to watch the original trilogy. Once she did, she said, "I realized I was doing it completely wrong, and I was like, 'Why have they been calling me back?'" Seeing the first three films, she saw that Rebecca Romijn played the role "kind of cold and cool and snakelike... I was doing my Raven kind of sweet and teenybopper, because I didn't know what else to do."

"X-Men: First Class" takes place in the 1960s, when Professor X (played here by James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) were still friends and not yet bitter adversaries. Lawrence described the movie as an origin story more than a prequel, and that Mystique is not the villainess that she is in the previous movies. The photo shows that even the costumes are a bit of a throwback; they retain the yellow and blue color scheme of the X-Men uniforms from the original comic books.

One character who still hasn't been revealed is the film's main bad guy, Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon. Lawrence told me she has filmed a few scenes with Bacon, "and that is my favorite thing about coming to work."

Lawrence has several films coming out this year. Besides "X-Men," she also appears in "The Beaver" opposite Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster. But in the meantime she's still being honored for her work in "Winter's Bone." This past weekend, she attended both the Critics Choice and the Golden Globe Awards, and experts are predicting she's a lock for an Oscar nomination. While it might seem odd to go from an acclaimed independent movie to a blockbuster based on a comic book, it's really not. Two of this year's Golden Globe nominees for Best Actress in drama and comedy will both soon be seen in Marvel Comics movies: Natalie Portman in "Thor," and Emma Stone in the new "Spider-Man." And another former X-Woman, Halle Berry, was nominated as well.

Lawrence told me that between her movie work and the multiple award shows she has had to attend, her schedule is packed to the gills. She said, "I don't think I've ever been this busy in my life, but it's nothing you can complain about. I'm really grateful for everything, but at the same time it's exhausting."

James Bond Will Return in About Two Years

2011-01-13T17:18:00.000+06:00

After about three years of legal wrangling -- thanks mostly to a bankrupt studio and a Broccoli family who owns the rights to James Bond and nothing else on earth, apparently -- James Bond will return to the big screen in November 2012. The reasons for the delay have to do with a lot of boring corporate restructuring business, but what really matters is that Daniel Craig will play Bond again. He is the lone reason anyone still cares about the Bond franchise which appeared dead at the beginning of the decade.

The exact date for the film's release will be November 9, 2012, and it's impressive that they have a release date considering they don't have a cast outside of Craig. Sam Mendes, whose directorial star has dimmed since he was initially signed on for this project, will direct, and the script is apparently in place and has in fact been ready for about two years. We hope they update it: We wouldn't want it to include lines like "Yes, Bond, you'll survive my trap only when a black man is elected President. You're doomed!"

The delay between films -- it will have been four years since "Quantum Of Solace" came out -- is the longest since ... well, since Craig took over for Pierce Brosnan in 2006. At that point, the whole franchise was a joke and thought doomed in an irony-drenched age. (There were people who claimed Mike Myers had killed James Bond. Mike Myers!) Then Craig came in and made Bond his own in "Casino Royale" with a raw, muscular, borderline psychotic performance that re-energized the whole franchise. "Quantum Of Solace" was less well-received -- it had the lamest Bond girl since Denise Richards pretended to be a physicist -- but it still had Craig, who is single-handedly keeping the franchise afloat. For now. We'll see what happens in November 2012, which is so long from now that it'll be lucky to beat "The Hobbit" to screens.

Brittany Murphy Final Difficult Days

2011-01-12T16:25:00.001+06:00

When the final curtain came down for Brittany Murphy on Sunday morning, Dec. 20, 2009, the drama played out in the one room in her Hollywood Hills mansion that had become her refuge: her bathroom. This tiled, peach-colored sanctuary was where she went to get away from the mounting pressures of her life: a house she hated, a city where she no longer wanted to live, a career that was imploding and the constant burden of being a caregiver.

Even though she didn’t feel well herself, Brittany was there to care for her mother, Sharon Murphy, a breast cancer survivor suffering debilitating neuropathy, and her ailing husband of three years, 39-year-old Simon Monjack. For nearly a year, the England native had been having seizures and a month earlier suffered an apparent heart attack. When he had a seizure, his arms and legs flailing on the big four-poster bed, Brittany would rush to his side. Although weakened by anemia and gasping for breath from her own ailments, Brittany held his 300-pound body down, using a spoon to keep him from swallowing his tongue.

Simon joked that his wife’s bathroom was “her comfort zone.” He called it the “Brittany-sized room,” reflecting her diminutive 5-foot-2 stature, and recalled how she spent hours sampling the cosmetics and perfumes that crowded every inch of counter space, critically studying her body image, sometimes singing to herself or writing bits of poetry in a journal, listening to music or paging through magazines from which she would tear out pages with clothes she just had to have.

While Brittany dozed on the big bed beside him after midnight, Simon and Sharon talked about the practical aspects of their plan to move to New York. They discussed selling the big house Brittany had purchased in 2003 for $3.9 million, fully furnished, from Britney Spears, who had lived there with Justin Timberlake. Brittany always felt the tri-level Mediterranean at the top of Rising Glen Road was unlucky. She wanted to start fresh in 2010 in New York, where they could start a family, Simon would find work as a screenwriter and director and she’d star in independent films that would revive her career. That Saturday night was chilly and windy. The electric power kept going out, and the backup generator failed. They used flashlights when it went dark, afraid to light candles near the wheezing oxygen machine Simon relied on to ease his sleep apnea, bouts of asthma and frequent respiratory infections.

“She absolutely hated the Rising Glen house,” Simon told me in January 2010. “Every time we would drive up Sunset, Brit would say, ‘Please, can we stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel?’ I’d say: ‘Honey, you’ve got to be realistic. We have our house, a 10,000-square-foot home. We’re going to stay in it.’”

As it turned out, it was where Brittany and Simon were to die, in surprisingly similar ways, only five months apart.

I first met Brittany in 1992 in L.A., when she was 14. She had become close friends with my daughter, who was also an actress and singer. Brittany and her mother became part of our extended family in those years, often sharing dinners, holidays and birthdays. At times, Brittany turned to me as a father figure, and we talked about her life and career. She lacked higher education, but behind the giggles, Brittany was a sponge who soaked up knowledge. She educated herself and had interests ranging from politics to science to the intricacies of show business. We spent many happy times sharing thoughts.

I hadn’t seen a lot of Brittany after she married Simon in 2007, but when the news flashed of her unexpected death, I went with my wife and daughter to her house to try and comfort Sharon and Simon. I helped them deal with the media onslaught in those first days and, at their request, gave the eulogy at Brittany’s funeral on Christmas Eve .

In those first weeks after Brittany died, as Simon lay on the bed, rarely rising or bathing, he encouraged me to write an independent book about Brittany that would tell her true story. He and Sharon gave me a series of on-the-record interviews, which are quoted throughout this article. Only later would I realize that much of what Simon told me — about his family, education, marriage and career — was exaggerated or simply fabricated.

Simon wanted the book because he was convinced — before the autopsy report on Brittany came back — that she had literally died of a broken heart caused by the shoddy way she had been treated in Hollywood. He wanted to expose the studios, producers and talent reps he believed had used rumor and innuendo — about her alleged lateness, inability to remember lines, drug use and partying — to destroy her career. “I honestly think Brittany’s life has to serve a purpose,” Simon told me. “Her true fans, and young people coming off the bus, deserve to know the bubble can burst.”

Simon was especially bitter at Warner Bros. because Brittany had been dropped as a voice actor on "Happy Feet 2" after stories about illegal drug use appeared on tabloid websites. He recalled Brittany crying for hours about her stalled career. She hadn’t starred in a studio movie since 2004’s "Little Black Book," and Simon believed there had been a conspiracy against her among former agents and managers. That was a major motivation to move away from Hollywood.

“It wasn’t about the money,” he told me. “She wasn’t going, ‘Oh, I’m not being offered $10 million to do a movie.’ It was: ‘I’m not getting offered anything where I can really show what I can do. I can sing. I can dance. I can do all these things I was put on Earth to show the world,’ and somehow she was being blocked from doing it.”

The irony, Simon insisted, was that Brittany literally could not do drugs. In her early teens, she had been diagnosed with a heart murmur, so Brittany knew illegal drugs could endanger her life. That fear, Sharon said, that made it impossible for Brittany to use cocaine or stimulants.

The tabloid noise had increased over the years as Brittany got thinner and blonder in a quest for leading roles in movies, which also raised the specter of anorexia, which haunts many Hollywood actresses who feel the need to be thin. Brittany was 115 pounds when she died, a healthy weight for her height, even though she looked fragile and her limbs were reed-thin. “She had curves in all the right places,” Simon said. “She was just miniaturized. She ate whatever she wanted when she wanted.”

Still, Brittany had self-image issues. “The thing she was very conscious of was her height,” said Martha Coolidge, who directed Brittany in the 2009 Lifetime movie "Tribute." “She felt she was short, so one reason she controlled her weight was the thinner you are, the taller you look. She was knowledgeable about her body and what would exaggerate her height.”

In the meantime, Brittany had learned to live with physical pain: Ever since a car accident shortly after Clueless came out in 1995, she had coped with a recurring ache in her jaw. Sick or well, she struggled to keep going and keep working. She was the family breadwinner. But after becoming a name-above-the-title star in such movies as "Just Married" and "Little Black Book," things weren’t going well with her once-promising career. In the months leading up to her death, she had seen the end of her lucrative, long-running voice role as Luanne on "King of the Hill" and, in addition to losing roles in "Happy Feet 2" and 2008’s " Tinker Bell ," had been dropped from "The Expendables."

“The nature of this town is exploitive,” Simon told me. “Brittany would be alive today if she was a housewife in Edison, N.J.” — where she grew up — “or a successful person in another business.” But showbiz had been her dream since she was a small child pointing to a TV screen and telling Sharon she wanted to be on television some day.

It was wonderful that Brittany never lost her childlike innocence and sense of wonder, or that infectious giggle. But what worked for her as an actress made for a troubled life: She never learned to drive or balance her own checkbook. She looked to her mother, business managers and finally Simon to care for her. It was the need for a father — her biological father was rarely part of her life — mentor, teacher and anchor that led her to Simon.

Brittany had an unusually close relationship with her mother. Sharon told me they “grew up” together. I was able to witness firsthand their unique bond. They referred to each other as “soulmates.” Ever since Brittany came to Hollywood at 13, with her mother following shortly thereafter, Sharon had dedicated herself to her daughter. In turn, Brittany had put her career on hold twice when Sharon had bouts of breast cancer shortly after the making of "Clueless" and again in 2003, when Brittany camped out in her mom’s hospital room and I was among the many friends she recruited to donate blood on Sharon’s behalf.

Sharon “worked hard being a single mother,” her sister Deborah “Debba” Murphy told me shortly after Brittany died. “I don’t think she forced Britty into the showbiz stuff. Britty wanted to do it.” JoAnne Colonna, Brittany’s agent or manager for a decade, recalled meeting her when she was 16 and being struck by her energy, talent and how close she was to her mother. “They were adorable together,” she said. “They finished each other’s sentences. Both were bright and bubbly, and that relationship never changed.”

Growing up in Edison, Brittany said her first words at six months, according to Aunt Debba, but didn’t walk until she was nearly 15 months. Sharon described her as an outgoing child who loved to dance and sing. She got her showbiz start in school and local theater, starring in the musical "Really Rosie" at age 9. After that performance, Sharon recalled, Brittany told a local TV station: “I’m going to get an agent and do commercials and work in New York. Then I’m going to move to Los Angeles, be in movies in Hollywood and then come back and do Broadway. Then I’ll probably have a huge musical career. I am going to change the world.”

And she did almost all of it. She starred on TV series; in addition to " King of the Hill ," she did guest roles ranging from "Frasier" to "Nash Bridges." She was in more than two dozen movies, from her breakout role in "Clueless" to the romantic comedy " Love and Other Disasters". She even returned to Broadway in the 1997 revival of Arthur Miller ’s "A View From the Bridge." New York Times critic Vincent Canby called Brittany’s Broadway debut “exceptional.” Even when her movies got mixed notices, Brittany often stood out, as in "8 Mile," the 2002 screen debut of rapper Eminem. “It will be a shame if she becomes a star via this embarrassing siren turn,” critic David Edelstein wrote for "Slate." “That said, she has it. When she turned those huge black-rimmed eyes on Rabbit, she made me think of Morris Day’s line to Apollonia in Purple Rain: ‘Your lips would make a lollipop too happy.’ ” Roger Ebert didn’t like "Just Married" but saw in Brittany “a rare and particular quality.” But Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday just didn’t get her, saying that after "8 Mile" she should understand “her true calling is that of a bad girl, with or without a heart of gold.”

But, in fact, Brittany was more than any one thing. She could disappear into a role, as she did in " Girl , Interrupted" and "Don’t Say a Word;" the latter I believe should have earned her an Oscar nomination. Said Penny Marshall, who directed her in "Riding in Cars With Boys:" “Her timing was impeccable. She could be funny. She could be dramatic. She was a terrific actress.”

Time critic Richard Corliss noted shortly after her passing that Brittany was a “gifted actress” who “didn’t win the acclaim she dreamed of and might have deserved.” He was right that her work has been underappreciated, just as there is no doubt a part of her tragedy is that the potential she showed for greatness was snuffed out so early.

The bug that would play a major role in Brittany’s passing — Staphylococcus aureus — was imported from Puerto Rico, where Brittany had gone six weeks before her death to star in "The Caller," a low-budget thriller that was the latest in a series of ever-lower-budget movies she had done during the previous three years, mostly for the payday.

Brittany had arrived in San Juan with Simon, her mother and her Maltese puppy, Clara. Press reports later said she was fired after the first day and that Simon had been drunk on the set, but the movie’s producers, prodded by Simon’s lawyer, called it a mutual parting. Simon told me that Brittany had been unhappy when she realized the thriller she had signed to star in had morphed into a horror flick. “She said, ‘There’s too much Santeria in it,’ ” Simon recalled. “And it was spooky. She told me, ‘I’ve been offered lots of horror movies, and I’ve never done them. And I’m not going to start now.’”

She parted company after one day of shooting when the producers insisted on banning Simon from the set. Still, they stayed eight more days vacationing in San Juan, so, as Simon said, it wouldn’t “be a wasted trip.” But Simon and Sharon caught colds — Staphylococcus — while there. On the flight home to LAX on Nov. 28, 2009, Simon had what he described as a “mild heart attack.” Simon said Brittany administered CPR on the plane, even though Brittany was quoted as calling it an asthma attack. News reports of Simon’s medical problems and Brittany being replaced on "Caller" became the latest in a barrage of negative press about the couple.

He had entered Brittany’s life at a very vulnerable time. She had risen so quickly and fallen so far in such a short time that even fans had to wonder what was happening. Most of her final films headed straight to video. It was a sad chapter in what had been a career filled with promise. “She was incredibly talented,” Chris Snyder, who worked for Brittany’s first Hollywood agent, Iris Burton, told me. “There were very few people who could do what she could do in comedy. She had a Lucille Ball kind of humor. She was a force of nature in comedy, but she could also do drama, which is very rare.”

Said David Latt, who directed Brittany in one of her last productions, the cable TV movie "MegaFault," “I compared her to a really great old-movie star.”

Gary Fleder, who directed "Don’t Say a Word," said: “What people don’t appreciate is that she was fearless. Whatever eccentricity or vanity existed in her life, in her work as an actor there was none. She was willing to go for it, to be raw, to be ugly and to expose herself emotionally.”

A year later, Brittany’s talent and career achievements have been pushed to the background by the tabloid sensationalism that led up to her death and the many questions she left behind. What’s true is that over the years, her use of prescription drugs steadily increased as she coped with pain from the auto accident, took medication for seizures after an incident during the production of "8 Mile" and coped with other health issues. That all added to her problems shortly after the return from Puerto Rico, when she caught Simon and Sharon’s bug. She took the antibiotic Biaxin, migraine pills, cough medicine and an over-the-counter nasal spray. The day she died, she had also taken an anti-depression drug (fluoxetine, aka Prozac), an anti-seizure drug (Klonopin), an anti-inflammatory (methylprednisolone) and a beta blocker that Simon gave her, as well as Vicoprofen to ease pain from her period. But Brittany kept getting sicker, and her laryngitis during her final 10 days was the worst of her life. She was also weakened by her period — the second in a month — which was causing anemia that cut her red-blood count to a quarter of normal.

On her final night, Brittany was gasping for breath, her lips turning blue from a lack of oxygen as her lungs filled with fluid. Despite her problems, Brittany had not seen a doctor for six weeks, though she consulted by phone a few times and had talked to a pharmacist. Late Friday afternoon of her final weekend, she made a doctor appointment for Monday. She never got there.

Being sick had become something Brittany just accepted. There was no sense of urgency to see a doctor because she and Simon practiced their own form of “holistic” medicine — meaning they picked and chose among medicines and doctors. They were always afraid the paparazzi would find out if they were seen as sick and that it would hurt their job prospects in Hollywood. That was one reason Brittany didn’t go to an emergency room that night, and it was an excuse for Simon not to call for help when he had seizures or another of his heart problems. It was also why Brittany used false names to hide her identity at the pharmacy.

One druggist, Eddie Bubar of Eddie’s Drugs in West Los Angeles, became alarmed by the frequency and amounts of their drug purchases and suspected they were “doctor shopping” — getting drugs from multiple sources. He confronted Simon in August 2009 and told them to take their business elsewhere. Bubar said he feared they were being overmedicated, though he never imagined it would have such dire consequences. Simon and Sharon, he said, got drugs under their own names. But Brittany preferred an alias: Lola Manilow, which Bubar was aware of.

The paranoia Brittany had about the public and industry learning of her medical problems played into Simon’s conspiracy theories about people being out to get her. He stoked that paranoia and used it to gain control over Brittany in a surprisingly short time.

Brittany didn’t date until she was 21, then had several long relationships: She had one with Ashton Kutcher for six months after they met on "Just Married" in 2002, was engaged to Hollywood talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz for four months in 2004 and was engaged to a production assistant she met on "Little Black Book" in 2005.

Then came her whirlwind romance with Simon, ignited when she phoned him from Tokyo in early 2007 while making The Ramen Girl to say how much she liked his script for The White Hotel, based on the D.M. Thomas novel. They agreed to meet when she returned to L.A. for what turned out to be a dinner at Hotel Bel-Air that went into the wee hours. The following week, he followed her to New York, where she was doing publicity for a movie. From then on, Simon never slept a night away from her, except for nine days he was incarcerated by U.S. Immigration Services for an expired visa. Shortly after that incarceration, on May 5, 2007, they were married by a rabbi at Brittany’s home on Rising Glen Road. Nearly all of the handful of guests were Brittany’s employees or vendors. Simon’s best man was her chauffeur.

Brittany saw the stocky Englishman with the sexy accent and deep voice as he portrayed himself: a wealthy, educated, cultured filmmaker. He had been born in the affluent London suburb of Hillingdon and grew up in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. His father, William, had worked in the City, London’s financial district, until he got a brain tumor at 29. He died six years later when Simon was 15, an event his mother, Linda Monjack, says left her son devastated. After that, she says, her son began to exaggerate and at times seemed unable to separate fact from fiction. “His intelligence was off the scale, but he was also a child in many ways,” his mother told me. “His father’s death completely destroyed him.”

Simon went to film school at NYU and found some success as a photographer and music video director but faltered in his debut as a filmmaker, Two Days, Nine Lives, financed by his family. A BBC reviewer described it as “a continuous volley of dead conversations.” It was never released, and his family lost the investment, which he promised his mother he would repay but never did.

While there was some inherited family money, his mother says Simon ran through it long before he met Brittany. He still told her he was heir to a fortune and was able to impress her with his knowledge of art and knack for languages and music. His mother says he had a photographic memory. He also had no problem spinning tales to get his way with women on both sides of the Atlantic, leaving a trail of broken hearts, unpaid bills and angry fiancees. A woman he met in London in 1999 later described Simon as “very manipulative” and said he lied to her about his wealth and properties. He “usually cons good, honest, trustworthy people,” she wrote in a letter to the FBI, meant as a warning to others — which I accessed through the Freedom of Information Act — “simply because they cannot comprehend that a person can be so deceptive to that extent; it’s almost unbelievable. I believe he is sick and lies continuously, defrauding people, hurting people including his own family. He himself has admitted this to me.”

Richard Golub, a New York attorney and best-selling author who got involved with Simon writing a script for what became Factory Girl, says he wasn’t very good as a screenwriter but could spin self-aggrandizing stories. Finally fed up, Golub investigated Simon and confronted him. “I said, ‘I really don’t want to be in business with someone who is flim-flamming people,’ ” Golub told me. “ ‘You’ve left a trail of people behind that are going to sue you because you took their trust funds or inheritance or conned them into investing in projects you never delivered.’ ” Later that night, Simon called Golub. “He said, ‘Look, you really have my number,’ ” Golub said. “ ‘I’ve led this really [expletive]-up life, and I really have conned and cheated a lot of people. But I’m turning over a new leaf.’ ”

Several times, Brittany was confronted with evidence of Simon’s checkered past but refused to believe it or chose to ignore it. She was in love and fiercely loyal. After the late George Hickenlooper, director of Factory Girl, went public with criticism of Simon for claiming he produced that film (he really got his credit in a legal settlement), there was a late-night call from Brittany, with whom he had been friends. Hickenlooper said in an interview days before his death in October that Brittany pleaded with him to remove a scathing overview of Simon’s “frivolous lawsuit” he had posted on IMDb. “ ‘If you ruin my husband, you are going to ruin me,’ ” Hickenlooper recalled Brittany saying. “I just said, ‘Look, you’ve got to clear your head on this, honey.’ I just knew she was so fragile that anyone who lovingly gave her the time of day and could put up with her eccentricities she would be attached to immediately.”

Despite the evidence, Brittany believed Simon would provide financial security, help revive her career and allow her to fulfill her dream of being a mother. In their first year, they did find a creative flowering together. He shot hundreds of photos of Brittany and would play piano at night while she lay beneath the baby grand listening.

Brittany had been completely taken with Simon. What she didn’t know when they met was that Simon was nearly broke and in a legal battle with a producer on White Hotel, Susan Stewart Potter, who hired him to direct, then discovered he was trying to cut her out. He eventually paid Stewart a legal settlement of more than $300,000. When Simon moved into Brittany’s house, he didn’t mention he was leaving his last fiancee with thousands in unpaid rent on an L.A. apartment or that he had written numerous bad checks. Shortly after they married, Brittany paid $10,000 to a casting director who had sued Simon over a bounced check.

I first met Simon shortly after their marriage, when Brittany brought him to our house in Encino for Father’s Day 2007. Simon led the conversation, played piano and went outside to smoke a cigar, which Brittany hurried to light. Simon told us they had to take extreme security precautions because they were under surveillance by helicopters and their phone was bugged. He said he had hired a private eye who gave Simon names of family and friends who cheated, stole from them or sold information to the tabloids.

It turned out to be one of the few times we saw them in the next two years. Simon, as many of Brittany’s family members and friends came to believe, had created a web of paranoia around Brittany and used it to separate her from anyone who might have challenged his dominance. Simon even told terrible tales about his mother, apparently to keep her from telling Brittany and Sharon the truth about him. Linda Monjack says she met her daughter-in-law only once, at dinner in New York in 2007. But Simon communicated with his mother by phone and e-mail nearly every day.

Simon’s health, meanwhile, took a sudden turn for the worse in the second year of their marriage after he fell off a ladder during a photo shoot in Los Angeles. That apparently started his seizures, which he also told me were tied to brain tumors. His mother told me his use of prescription medications after the marriage was a surprise to her because before that, he had been adamant about not using drugs. She also believes her son developed Munchausen’s syndrome, where a person fakes illness to get attention. She was skeptical about the cause of his seizures and believes her son could somehow make it appear that his heart stopped. Simon, though, claimed he had various heart problems and needed open-heart surgery. But his autopsy showed a healthy, slightly enlarged heart, and his doctor in Burbank told authorities that Simon had taken an EKG exam shortly before his death and that his heart was fine.

At about 3 a.m. on Brittany’s final morning, power returned to the Hollywood Hills after a 45-minute blackout. Brittany woke and made her way to the little balcony off the cluttered bedroom. At his wife’s request, Simon phoned upstairs to Sharon and said Brittany needed her. Sharon came down carrying Clara, named after Brittany’s favorite old-time star, Clara Bow, another one-time Hollywood “It” girl. What Sharon saw frightened her. “She was lying on the patio trying to catch her breath,” Sharon recalled. “I said ‘Baby, get up.’ She said: ‘Mommy, I can’t catch my breath. Help me. Help me.’ ”

Simon recalled, “She said to her mom: ‘I’m dying. I’m going to die. Mommy, I love you.’ ”

Sharon and Simon were sympathetic, but Brittany frequently complained about ailments, so they didn’t take it seriously. “She was always so dramatic,” Sharon said. “I’ve replayed that so many times. She asked if she could use the oxygen, but Simon said her heart could stop with oxygen, and anyway he then had another seizure, a long, horrific seizure.” Sharon then made her daughter hot tea with ginger and lemon. “Her lips were parched, like she was dehydrated,” Sharon said. “So I made her drink that.”

Brittany returned to her peach bathroom around 7:30 a.m., followed minutes later by Sharon. “She said, ‘Mommy, I really don’t feel well,’ ” Sharon told me. As Brittany collapsed around 8 a.m., Sharon pulled her daughter to her and screamed for Simon, who said to call 911 while he moved Brittany into a cold shower. Sharon, on instructions from the 911 operator, talked Simon through resuscitation efforts until the paramedics arrived. In a statement, Sharon tells Entertainment Tonight : "As I am dealing daily with the heart-wrenching loss of my entire family, I am shocked by Mr. Block's statements. This is very disturbing that someone that was supposed to be mine and Brittany's friend, and someone who works for The Hollywood Reporter, would make statements that are 100-percent untrue. For anyone to even fathom that I would just sit and watch my only beloved daughter die and not get help instantly is beyond my way of thinking and despicable."

Brittany was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with Sharon and Simon following by car. Simon remembered being directed to a children’s waiting room with little green chairs. Around 10 a.m., a physician said they couldn’t save her. “I said, ‘What about medical science?’ ” Simon recalled. “ ‘Isn’t there anything that can keep her alive? Do anything!’ But then they told us she hadn’t made it.”

Simon at first refused an autopsy because he didn’t want her beautiful body violated, he said, and felt it went against his orthodox Jewish tradition. But the L.A. coroner insisted, eventually finding that she died of pneumonia, anemia and a toxic cocktail of prescription drugs: a perfect storm of ailments and overmedication. “She had been sick at least two weeks,” assistant L.A. Coroner Ed Winter said. “Had they taken her to a doctor or hospital, it would have been treatable.”

On May 23, five months after his wife, Simon died in the same bedroom at age 40, curiously from similar causes: acute pneumonia and severe anemia. He too had been taking a lot of prescription drugs, but the coroner ruled that out as a direct cause of death. Even so, Simon’s drug use and doctor shopping, along with that of Corey Haim and others, is under investigation by a multi-agency task force led by the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. It is looking into celebrity abuse of prescription meds, doctor shopping and the use of aliases.

It is impossible to know if Brittany might still be alive had Simon not come along. However, it seems obvious that he brought out her worst traits and contributed to an atmosphere that was ultimately deadly to her. Rex Beaber, a L.A. clinical psychologist and attorney, didn’t know Simon but says after hearing his story that his behavior was consistent with a sociopathic personality disorder. He called what happened to Brittany “an age-old story you see commonly with people who meet narcissistic personalities and people who are sociopathic. They have a kind of blood instinct for the weakness of people around them.”

In his way, Simon did love her, but that was part of his sickness. He was mentally ill and couldn’t help preying on her at a time when she was highly susceptible to his oily charm, false promises and outright lies.

Still, even knowing the truth about Simon, I can understand from my own hours talking with him how seductive he could be. He would look you in the eye and tell his tall tales with such sincerity, and he always had an excuse for anything bad said about him. And for his myriad faults, Simon was transformed in his final days with Brittany.

“I don’t think I can be damaged any more than I have been,” Simon told me. “When ‘freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,’ as my wife would quote Janis Joplin, I’ve lost the only thing that really mattered to me. I lived and breathed my wife. She was the light of my life.”

Ian McKellen to Return as wizard Gandalf in The Hobbit

2011-01-12T16:17:00.000+06:00

Ian McKellen has signed on to return as wizard Gandalf in "The Hobbit," the two-pic adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien novel being directed by Peter Jackson.

The dealmaking on Hobbit for a slew of Jackson veterans from his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy has been coming fast and furious and comes on the heels of Andy Serkis finally inking his deal to reprise Gollum.

"The Hobbit" book introduced Gandalf and Gollum, with both characters going on to become part of literature's most popular characters. Gandalf sets the adventure going in the story and appears throughout the novel. Gollum appears in a chapter that has gone on to be one of the most memorable in all of fantasy literature.

Elijah Wood signed his deal to return as Frodo last week, and Cate Blanchett will play Galadriel once again. Orlando Bloom has an offer to return as elf archer Legolas, though it's too early to tell if a deal will be made.

McKellen, who was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Gandalf, has spent recent years doing mostly voice work for film and TV, although he did star in the remake of AMC's "The Prisoner." His last major film role was in 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand."

Happy New Year 2011, Countdown to 2011

2010-12-31T22:57:00.001+06:00

We are a couple of hours away from New year and we will be into 2011. You might want to check out this this countdown clock over at the central clock. For those who also wants some New Year Quotes both Funny and Inspiring, we have a couple of them gathered right below. This Happy New Year 2010 Countdown will start this December 31, 2010. See more Funny New years wishes as we have the added below.

These are some celebrity quotes for the New Year, Wishing all of us a great Happy New Year 2011!

John Stewart
“What you do for Jewish New Year is you go down to Times Square… It’s a lot quieter than the regular New Year. It’s just a few Jews walking around going, ‘sup?’”
Jim Gaffigan
“My new years resolution for 2010? I will be less laz”
Laura Kightlinger
“It goes Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day. Is that fair to anyone who’s alone? If you didn’t get around to killing yourself on Christmas or New Year’s, boom, there’s Valentine’s Day for you.”
Zach Galifianakis
“This year my New Year’s resolution was to stop saying ‘Seacrest out!’ after I ejaculate.”
P. J. O’Rourke
“The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.”
John Bowman on Dick Clark
I wish I didn’t watch [Dick Clark] because New Year’s Eve is that one little time when you get to suspend the disbelief that next year is going to be crap. You forget about it! You look at the person next to you and kiss them and say “Happy New year!” and you have a moment of happiness. I don’t wan to be reminded at that exact moment of my own mortality.”
Jay Leno
“Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average, which means you’ve already met your New Year’s resolution.”

Happy new year 2011,Wallpaper

Most fabulously dressed females of 2010

2010-12-22T22:43:00.000+06:00

Emma Watson,

Emma Watson,who accepted the “Best Family Film” trophy for “Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince” at the 2010 National Movie Awards -- was cute as can be in a pair of sky-high Louboutins, a Karl Lagerfeld frock, and Chanel jewels.

Scarlett Johansson,

Scarlett Johansson kicked off the summer movie season in style thanks to the structured, one-shoulder Armani Prive masterpiece and sparkly pumps she wore to "Iron Man 2's" debut.

Rihanna,

Rihanna rocked the South of France upon hitting the red carpet at the 11th Annual NRJ Music Awards in an embroidered Jean Paul Gaultier gown, brilliant baubles, and a super cute coif.

Jennifer Garner,

Jennifer Garner wowed the crowd (and fashion critics alike) at the highly anticipated "Valentine's Day" debut in a sexy, strapless Valentino dress, which featured nude cut-outs, leather wrapping, and a beautifully beaded hemline. Black Brian Atwood “Maniac” pumps completed her luxurious look.

Tyra Banks,

who clearly got herself in tip-top shape for the latest season of "America's Next Top Model" -- flaunted her fab figure on the orange carpet at the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards in a fire-engine-red frock that hugged her signature curves in all the right places.

Venus Williams,

Venus Williams is fashionable both on and off the court. At a Wimbledon party, hosted by Ralph Lauren, the tennis ace looked smashing in a simple yet stylish textured frock, metallic peep-toes, and gold accessories.

Angelina Jolie,

"Salt" star Angelina Jolie took Tokyo by storm at the highly anticipated premiere of her spy flick in a black, leg-baring Versace chiffon stunner. The svelte celeb accessorized with a chic updo, emerald accents, and towering heels.

Jessica Alba,

Jessica Alba claimed a spot in our glam gallery thanks to the bold Balmain mini she wore to the LA premiere of "Machete." The actress perfectly paired the zigzag frock with bangle bracelets, a wavy 'do, and $1,350 Christian Louboutin cutout booties.

Blake Lively,

"Gossip Girl" star Blake Lively was dressed to impress in a sequined Chanel Couture dress, matching lips, and pumps upon arriving at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival premiere of her heist flick, "The Town."

Eva Mendes,

Eva Mendes ruled the red carpet at the re-release of "La Dolce Vita," during the 5th International Rome Film Festival, in a ruby-colored Gucci gown, which featured a tantalizingly twisted bodice. The screen siren topped things off with tasteful jewels and muted makeup.

Halle Berry,

Oscar winner Halle Berry looked better than ever as she popped a pose in a $3,200, sequined Elie Saab stunner, Gucci pumps, and her signature smile at this year's AFI fest.

Lea Michele,

"Glee's" brightest star Lea Michele outshone nearly everyone in attendance at this year's Billboard Women In Music Awards in an ivory-colored Armani masterpiece, which featured a folded bodice and tiered skirt.

Hollywood's Celebrity biggest breakups of 2010, page 1

2010-12-21T22:11:00.001+06:00

Check out some of 2010's biggest breakups.
-----page 1-----page 2-----

Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds

Everyone was shocked when one of Hollywood's sexiest couples, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds, announced they were calling it quits in December after two years of marriage. In a joint statement, the couple -- who is rumored to have split because of the time they spent apart while working -- said, "We entered our relationship with love and it's with love and kindness we leave it."

Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter

On the same day that word got out about the Johansson/Reynolds' breakup, it was announced that Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter -- who play brother and sister on the hit Showtime series "Dexter" -- were throwing in the towel on their union after nearly two years of marriage.

Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens

One of young Hollywood's cutest couples, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, decided to go their separate ways after four years. Zac and Van fell in love -- and rose to fame -- while filming the popular "High School Musical" movie series.

Eva Longoria, Tony Parker

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker had an elaborate fairytale wedding in France in July 2007. Sadly, there was not a happy ending for the couple. The "Desperate Housewives" star filed for divorce from the NBA player in November after discovering hundreds of text messages between Tony and another woman.

Charlie Sheen, Brooke Mueller

"Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller had a messy breakup. After walking down the aisle May 30, 2008, Mrs. Sheen called 911 in the early hours of Christmas Day 2009 when Charlie allegedly held a knife to her. Both of them went to rehab (in true Hollywood style) and they claimed they were working on the union, perhaps for the sake of their infant twin boys. The two officially filed for divorced, however, on November 1.

Blake Lively, Penn Badgley

In probably the least juicy celeb breakup of all time, "Gossip Girl" co-stars Blake Lively and Penn Badgley split after about two years in October. No details about cheating were leaked to the media, and the two were even friendly when they returned to work after the big breakup. It's probably due in part to Blake's "no comment" rule on her personal life. "My anonymity is something I treasure," she told Allure magazine.
Billy Ray Cyrus, Breakups

Billy Ray Cyrus had an "Achy Breaky Heart" after filing for divorce from wife Tish in October after 17 years of wedded bliss. The couple has five children including teen queen Miley.

Colin Farrell, Breakups

Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda fell for one another on the set of "Ondine," but their love was not meant to last. The couple shares a son named Henry Tadeusz. Farrell is also dad to 7-year-old James, with model Kim Bordenave.

Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan

Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan fell in love during the filming of 2010's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." By October, though, they were through. Their co-star Michael Douglas said after their decision to split that he had warned Shia against it because an actor should never mix business and pleasure. "I told him, 'Do not get involved with your leading lady. Trust me. Whatever you do, don't do that.'" Too bad he didn't listen.
Christina Aguilera, Breakups

Christina Aguilera filed for divorce from Jordan Bratman in October, just one month shy of their fifth wedding anniversary. "Things were so unhealthy and unhappy for both Jordan and me, I knew I had to end it," the pop star told People. "It wasn't good for us, and it wasn't good for [our son] Max to witness our arguments."

David Arquette, Courteney Cox

Mismatched marrieds David Arquette and Courteney Cox announced in October that they had agreed to a trial separation. "The reason for this separation is to better understand ourselves and the qualities we need in a partner and for our marriage," they said in a joint statement. "We remain best friends and responsible parents to our daughter and we still love each other deeply."

Laura Dern, Ben Harper

Actress Laura Dern has been quite unlucky in love when it comes to real life. The "Little Fockers" lady has counted Nicolas Cage, Jeff Goldblum, and Billy Bob Thornton (we all know how well that went) among her many men. She appeared to have finally found her prince in singer Ben Harper, who she was with for five years before tying the knot back in 2005. But that was officially over, too, when he filed for divorce in October.

George Lopez, Breakups

Late-night talker George Lopez and his wife Ann Serrano had been married since 1993, and she even gave him a kidney when he needed a transplant in 2005. The sad news of their breakup came in September. "They remain dedicated parents, and committed partners in business and their philanthropic organization, The Lopez Foundation," read a statement from his rep.

Marilyn Manson, Evan Rachel Wood

After breaking up in 2008 and then reuniting in 2009, by August 2010, the engagement was off again for Evan Rachel Wood and goth rocker Marilyn Manson. Ironically, Wood was rumored to be the reason why Manson's ex-wife Dita Von Teese filed for divorce in 2006.

Tiger Woods, Breakups

It doesn't get much worse than this for a wife! Tiger Woods' lady Elin Nordegren got a terrible surprise when she found out that the pro golfer had cheated with dozens of women. On the surface, everything was civilized -- well, most everything ... there was still that SUV crash on the day after Thanksgiving 2009 -- when they finally divorced in August. "We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future," read a statement from her lawyers. Fortunately for Elin, she reportedly moved on from Tiger for good in December 2010 with a 35-year-old man she met while studying at a Florida college.

Amber Rose, Kanye West

Within months of the end of his year and a half engagement to designer Alexis Phifer in 2008, musician Kanye West had model Amber Rose on his arm. They were inseparable for a while, but even good things must come to an end. Kanye and Amber parted ways in the summer of 2010.

Hollywood's Celebrity biggest breakups of 2010, page 2

Luxury Abu Dhabi hotel $11 million Christmas tree decorated

2010-12-21T20:59:00.000+06:00

An Abu Dhabi luxury hotel that boasted an $11 million Christmas tree decorated with gold and gems admitted Sunday it may have taken the holiday spirit a bit too far.

A statement from the Emirates Palace hotel said it regretted "attempts to overload" the Christmas tree tradition by adorning it with premium bling including gold, rubies, diamonds and other precious stones from a hotel jeweler.

The statement was a rare bit of reflection on the Gulf's ethos of excess. The tree was unveiled last week with full fanfare in a hotel that features its own gold bar vending machine and a one-week $1 million package that includes private jet jaunts around the Middle East.

But the hotel management apparently had second thoughts after questions arose about whether the opulent tree was innocent good cheer or unfortunate bad taste.

The hotel regrets "attempts to overload the tradition followed by most hotels in the country with meanings and connotations that do not fall in line with the (hotel's) professional standards," said a statement carried on the state-run news agency WAM.

The hotel even tried to distance itself from the 43-foot (13-meter) faux fir in one of its rotundas, saying a hotel-based jeweler was solely responsible for creating and decorating the tree.

"The hotel is just a venue for exhibiting the tree," the statement said.

The hotel also claimed the tree was not a stunt, but rather an effort to boost the holiday mood for its guests based on the United Arab Emirates' "values of openness and tolerance."

Although officially Muslim, the UAE features many signs of Christmas for its huge foreign population. Lights, carolers and Santas are fixtures in nearly every mall.

Extreme Decorations holiday light displays

December 25 Christmas Day

Hollywood's Celebrity biggest breakups of 2010, page 2

2010-12-21T20:44:00.006+06:00

Check out some of 2010's biggest breakups.
-----page 1-----page 2-----

Patricia Arquette, Thomas Jane

Patricia Arquette and her "Hung" hubby Thomas Jane came this close to divorcing in 2009, when she filed to end things with him in January of that year. The "Medium" star ended up back together with him, though, and within six months she had dropped divorce proceedings. Their split was the real deal, though -- at least we think -- when she filed for divorce (again) in August of this year.

Elisabeth Moss, Fred Armisen

"Mad Men's" Elisabeth Moss and "Saturday Night Live's" Fred Armisen had a short marriage -- even by Hollywood standards! They met when she had a cameo on "SNL" as co-star Jon Hamm hosted in October 2008. A year later, they were married, and by August 2010, he was spotted canoodling with his co-star Abby Elliot. Elisabeth filed for divorce in September, indicating that she and her hubby of eight months had ended things in June.

Kelly Osbourne, Breakups

2009 was Kelly Osbourne's year: the former reality star looked fab thanks to her glam gig on "Dancing With the Stars" and she got engaged to former model Luke Worrall. 2010? Not so much. After rumors of him cheating swirled, the British babe broke it off with her boy toy in July.

Christina Milian, Breakups

"Dip It Low" diva Christina Milian and singer/music producer The-Dream confirmed their engagement in July 2009, but chose to elope to Las Vegas for their wedding two months later. After less than a year of marriage, the couple announced they had split in mid-July 2010 ... just five months after they had welcomed their baby girl, Violet! His rep explained: "Terius 'The-Dream' Nash is saddened to announce that his marriage to Christina Milian was unsuccessful. The couple reached this decision in late 2009, but decided to keep the news private in efforts to protect their baby daughter Violet." In other words, the two decided to separate just after swapping vows for the second time in Rome last December!

Kelsey Grammer, Camille Grammer

Kelsey Grammer and his wife of 13 years, Camille, were all smiles at the Tony Awards on June 13 ... but there was trouble in paradise. A couple of weeks later, the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast member filed for divorce, while the former "Frasier" star quickly found love again. He's already engaged to 29-year-old flight attendant Kayte Walsh!

Demi Lovato, Joe Jonas

Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato confirmed they were a couple in March, but at ages 20 and 17 at the time, respectively, we knew it wouldn't last. When they went kaput in May, Demi made it clear it wasn't her choice as she dished to Teen Vogue, "At this point I'd rather be hanging out with my girlfriends than seeing my ex." The exes still hit the road together for the JoBros "Camp Rock 2" tour, but Demi ended up leaving for rehab to treat "physical and emotional issues" in November. Do you think the split with Joe and his subsequent romance with Ashley Greene had anything to do with it?

Halle Berry, Gabriel Aubry

The coupledom of the beautiful Halle Berry and male model Gabriel Aubry produced tons of tabloid headlines, not to mention 2 1/2-year-old cutie Nahla. In April, news broke that Halle and Gabriel had officially called it quits. She later opened up about their split in Vogue. "We were meant to bring this amazing little person into the world. And I think that's why we came together," she told the mag. "And because of that, we are going to be together, forever, all three of us. We are a family until we are not here anymore."

Breakups, Melissa Etheridge

After almost nine years together, rocker Melissa Etheridge and former "Popular" actress Tammy Lynn Michaels announced their separation in April. The "Come to My Window" crooner filed the paperwork for a formal split in July, and Tammy claimed she was "blindsided" by the decision. So much for an amicable end to their relationship!

Paris Hilton, Doug Reinhardt

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton and her on-again/off-again BF Doug Reinhardt lasted waaay longer than we expected: 14 months! Just to end things on a low note, the pair released completely conflicting statements as to who called things off. "The relationship between Paris and Doug is over. She broke up with him more than two weeks ago," her rep said. And his? "Despite what many of the uninformed tabloid journalists are saying, Paris and I met at her house last night and have decided to split," he said in a statement that came ... the following day.

Mel Gibson, Breakups

Once upon a time, Mel Gibson and his love Oksana Grigorieva were actually happy together! It's hard to remember now in the flurry of recordings of a crazy-sounding Mel, restraining orders, and the mean words that ensued. The couple, which began dating in early 2009, called it off in April 2010, just five months after their daughter Lucia was born.

Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy

Actor/comic extraordinaire Jim Carrey and "Singled Out" hottie-turned-actress Jenny McCarthy made it five years as a couple before breaking up in April. "I'm so grateful for the years Jim and I shared together," Jenny said in a statement. "I will continue to be in his daughter's life and will always keep Jim as a leading man in my heart." Not to be outdone, he wrote on Twitter: "I'm grateful 4 the many blessings we've shared and I wish her the very best! S'okay!" Aww.

Kate Winslet, Breakups

Oscar winners Sam Mendes (for directing 1999's "American Beauty") and Kate Winslet (for her disturbing turn in 2008's "The Reader") were a match made in Academy Awards heaven for almost seven years following their nuptials in 2003. Both Brits, they announced through lawyers just days after this year's ceremony in March that they had mutually agreed to part ways.

Kim Kardashian, Reggie Bush

Reality hottie Kim Kardashian was everywhere in 2010, while her boy toy Reggie Bush ... was not. The New Orleans Saints running back reportedly didn't love the spotlight nearly as much as his girlfriend of three years, which caused a serious rift in their relationship. Since their breakup in March, Kim's been linked to several pro athletes including soccer star Cristiano Rinaldo, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin, and most recently New Jersey Nets player Kris Humphries.

Jesse James, Sandra Bullock

Life was wonderful for Sandra Bullock at the beginning of 2010. She was happily married to reality star Jesse James -- or so she thought -- and was awarded an Oscar for her performance in "The Blind Side" in March. Within days, however, she was rocked by revelations that Jesse had taken a page from the Tiger Woods playbook and had cheated on her with multiple women. He checked into rehab for "personal issues," but it wasn't enough to save the marriage. The two were officially divorced in June.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jamie Kennedy

Jennifer Love Hewitt is known as a serial dater (she's hooked up with John Mayer and Enrique Iglesias, among others), but the "Ghost Whisperer" star seemed to have finally found her match in Jamie Kennedy. He confirmed their love in March 2009, just weeks before his sweetie mentioned him on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." "There are people in your life who are just supportive and who just look at you and they see who you are," J. Love said. "And [Jamie] really saw who I was as a person more than anybody had ever done in my whole life." Alas, it was not meant to last; the pair called it quits a year later.

Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish

Fans were crushed when Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon split in 2006. We were finally getting used to the idea of him and his "Stop-Loss" co-star, Abbie Cornish, together when -- bam! -- they broke up, too, in February. A rep for the actress said "no comment" when asked about whether he had cheated on her, as tabloids had been reporting for months. All she would say is that, "Abbie ended the relationship with Ryan and she moved out of their home" in L.A. Um, should we take that as a yes?

Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend

Of all the couples in Tinseltown, this is one fans wanted to last. Unfortunately, after nine years together, "Monster" star Charlize Theron and her honey Stuart Townsend split in January. The two kept it classy and stayed mum on the breakup, just as they had on their relationship.

Hollywood's Celebrity biggest breakups of 2010, page 1

Extreme Decorations holiday light displays

2010-12-21T20:29:00.000+06:00

Extreme Decorations holiday light displays

December 25 Christmas Day

2010-12-20T23:12:00.001+06:00

Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday observed generally on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.The date is not known to be the actual birthday of Jesus, and may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after some early Christians believed Jesus had been conceived,the date of the winter solstice on the ancient Roman calendar,or one of various ancient winter festivals.Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.

Although nominally a Christian holiday, Christmas is also widely celebrated by many non-Christians,and many of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, several similar mythological figures, known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and Santa Claus among other names, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season.

Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

Celebration

Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, including many whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some non-Christian countries, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong Kong); in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan and Korea, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of the secular aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees. Notable countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include People's Republic of China, (excepting Hong Kong and Macao), Japan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Thailand, Nepal, Iran, Turkey and North Korea. Christmas celebrations around the world can vary markedly in form, reflecting differing cultural and national traditions.

Among countries with a strong Christian tradition, a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed that incorporate regional and local cultures. For Christians, participating in a religious service plays an important part in the recognition of the season. Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance. In Catholic countries, the people hold religious processions or parades in the days preceding Christmas. In other countries, secular processions or parades featuring Santa Claus and other seasonal figures are often held. Family reunions and the exchange of gifts are a widespread feature of the season. Gift giving takes place on Christmas Day in most countries. Others practice gift giving on December 6, Saint Nicholas Day, and January 6, Epiphany.

Date of celebration

For centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the actual date on which Jesus was born.In the early 18th century, scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the winter solstice,[10] which the Romans called bruma and celebrated on December 25.In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church.According to Judeo-Christian tradition, creation as described in the Genesis creation narrative occurred on the date of the spring equinox, i.e. March 25 on the Roman calendar. This date is now celebrated as Annunciation and as the anniversary of Incarnation.In 1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as nine months after Annunciation, the traditional date of the conception of Jesus.

The December 25 date may have been selected by the church in Rome in the early 4th century. At this time, a church calendar was created and other holidays were also placed on solar dates: "It is cosmic symbolism...which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the winter solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the summer solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception. While they were aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas," according to modern scholar S.E. Hijmans.

However, today, whether or not the birth date of Jesus is on December 25 is not considered to be an important issue in mainstream Christian denominations;rather, the belief that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas.

Luxury Abu Dhabi hotel $11 million Christmas tree decorated

Extreme Decorations holiday light displays

Bryan Adams, Canadian rock singer,songwriter

2010-12-16T22:10:00.000+06:00

Bryan Adams, OC, OBC (born Bryan Guy Adams, 5 November 1959) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, and photographer. Adams is the bestselling Canadian male recording artist of all time and has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 18 Juno Awards among 56 nominations, including wins for Best Male Artist in 2000 and Male Vocalist of the Year in 1997 and every year from 1983 to 1987, as well as Junos for Producer, Composer, and Songwriter of the Year. He holds the record for most Juno nominations (seven) in one single night, along with Celine Dion. He has also had 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television for "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" in 1992. He has also won MTV, ASCAP, and American Music awards. In addition, he has won two Ivor Novello Awards and has been nominated for several Golden Globe Awards and three times for Academy Awards for his songwriting for films.

Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia for contributions to popular music and philanthropic work via his own foundation, which helps improve education for people around the world. He is a well known photographer.

Adams was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998, and in April 2006 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at Canada's Juno Awards. In 2008, Bryan was ranked 38 on the list of All-Time top artists by the Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts. On 13 January 2010, he received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his part in numerous charitable concerts and campaigns during his career,and on 1 May 2010 was given the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts.

His sales number has varied from a low 65 to a high 100 million sold records worldwide.
Early years

Adams was born in Kingston, Canada, to English parents. From his grandmother he also inherited a Maltese ancestry. As Adams's father was a diplomat, he grew up traveling around the world with his parents. Subsequently, most of his youth was spent growing up in England, Israel, Portugal, and Austria, part of the time in Birre, Portugal, situated close to Lisbon, where he attended St Julians School. In 1973, Adams's family returned to Canada and settled down in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he attended Argyle Secondary School and Sutherland Secondary School. His musical goals began during his teenage years, and as he explained to Carlo D'Agostino from Rolling Stone magazine, "In high school, I was too far into my music to even pay attention to girls."[citation needed] He washed dishes, sold pet food, and worked in record stores, and at the age of 15, Adams quit school to play in nightclubs with bands like Shock and Sweeney Todd, who released an album called If Wishes Were Horses with the fifteen year old Adams as lead singer.

In 1978, at the age of 18, Adams sent a few demo recordings to A&M Records in Toronto. Not long afterwards he signed with them for the sum of one dollar.[9] Some of the first demos written in 1978 have surfaced over the years, most notably "I'm Ready" (recorded for both the album Cuts Like a Knife and later his release for MTV Unplugged) and "Remember", which was recorded on his first album. Both songs were covered by other artists even before his first album was released. Also recorded during this time was Adams's first single, "Let Me Take You Dancing", which made the Canadian RPM chart in March 1979 (the b-side was entitled "Don't Turn Me Away").

Angelina Jolie defends Bosnian directorial debut

2010-12-03T16:56:00.000+06:00

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has hit back at criticism of her directorial debut, saying most people back her portrayal of a love story between a Serbian man and Bosnian woman on the eve of the 1992-95 Balkans conflict.

Speaking in Paris ahead of next week's premiere of a very different film -- romantic action comedy "The Tourist" in which she stars with Johnny Depp -- Jolie said her intention had never been to stoke controversy with her movie set in wartime Bosnia.

Bosnian victims of sexual violence during the 1990s have written to the United Nations, for which the Oscar-winning actress is a goodwill ambassador, saying she didn't deserve the position and did not know enough about the ethnic conflict.

"There's one person who has a gripe," Jolie said.

"The absolute majority of the people, population, the cast, prime minister, president have been extremely supportive," she said, adding that 95 percent of the film's cast had lived through the war.

Jolie has described her movie, which is still untitled, as a love story between a Serbian man and a Bosnian Muslim woman on the eve of the 1992-95 war in which 100,000 people died.

The production team has cut back on filming plans in Bosnia, however, moving some scenes from Sarajevo to be shot in Budapest, after a Bosnian minister canceled the filming permit in October, citing incomplete paperwork.

The move came after the minister met with female victims of the Bosnian war who said they objected to details of the plot.

Jolie, who also wrote the screenplay, said she had initially set out to just write to express her frustrations over how long the international community took to intervene in conflicts.

"It kept leaning toward Yugoslavia at the time, I wanted to learn more about it and the people, the more I read and learnt I was drawn to that part of the world," she said.

"I met artists from that part of the world and found they were extraordinary for what they'd gone through, so I wanted to give them a platform."

The "Tomb Raider" star has asked women war victims in a letter to hold judgment until they have seen the film in which she said "there are many twists in the plot that address the sensitive nature of the relationship between the main characters."

Taylor Swift selects a South Carolina band for her upcoming world tour........

2010-12-03T16:25:00.000+06:00

Taylor Swift has announced the opening act for the North American leg of her 2011 world tour--and, while we're willing to bet it's not a name you'd come up with off the top of your head, you're sure going to know more about them in a few months.

The lucky band to score the slot is South Carolina-based Needtobreathe, an outfit that actually established itself in the Christian music world before crossing over to pop success. They've won several Dove awards (which are the Christian equivalent of Grammy awards), including one for 2010's group of the year. You may have heard their music on TV or at the movies--their songs have been featured on a variety of shows including the film P.S. I Love You and MTV's hit The Hills.

If you've never heard of Needtobreathe, the band has a warm, guitar-oriented, southern-rock feel to its tunes; and cites U2, Wilco, Tom Petty, and Pearl Jam as influences. Frontman Bear Rinehart's vocal style reminds me a little of Dave Matthews. Sound interesting? Here's their latest video, for single "Hurricane," if you'd like to check them out:

The choice of a pop band is a bit out of left field for Swift--her 2009 Fearless tour featured solidly country openers: Kellie Pickler, emerging-at-the-time quartet Gloriana, and Keith Urban (on a few select dates). Nevertheless, her choice seems to stem from simply being a big fan of the band. As she tweeted on Wednesday, "It'll be a nightly challenge to get ready for my show instead of watching theirs."

"It means a lot to us that Taylor handpicked us for her Speak Now tour," Needtobreathe guitarist Bo Rinehart said in a statement. "Everyone knows she has amazing fans, and we thrive on performing live, especially in front of new audiences."

The North American leg of the Speak Now tour will begin May 27 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Well, leaving it up to the fans again. Do you think this band is a good choice to open for what will undoubtedly be one of the biggest tours of 2011? Do you think they mesh well with Taylor's style? Be sure to let me know what you think.

Angelina Jolie Movie in Letter to United Nations,Bosnian Rape Victims Protest

2010-12-01T13:09:00.000+06:00

Angelina Jolie is the target of more criticism over her feature directorial debut, a love story set during the Bosnian War.

The actress -- who recently cut short the film's shoot after rumors that it portrayed a relationship between a rapist and his victim sparked protests -- was called "ignorant" on Monday by a group of women who were victims of sexual violence during the 1990s war, the AFP reported.

In a letter to the United Nations refugee agency, for which Jolie is a goodwill ambassador, the Women Victims of War said its members are "deeply concerned about the movie."

"Angelina Jolie's ignorant attitude towards victims says enough about the scenario and gives us the right to continue having doubts about it," the letter read.

After rumors of the rapist love story line surfaced in October, a group of Bosnian War rape victims pressured city officials to withdraw Jolie's filming permit.

The rumors proved to be untrue, and after the country's minister of culture read the script -- about a Bosnian woman who falls in love with a Serb man -- the permit was reinstated. However, Jolie earlier this month cut the shooting schedule from 10 days to three and decided to film some of the scenes originally planned for Bosnia in Hungary instead.

At the time, Jolie said she wanted to meet with the groups that complained to clear up any misunderstanding, but no meeting ever transpired.

"We have insisted to meet Angelina Jolie since we don't want to be wrongly presented in the world ... Our voices are worthwhile and we should have got much more respect," the WVW letter read.

"Angelina made a big mistake. We feel that she did not act like a real UNHCR ambassador and we believe that she has no more credibility to remain the ambassador," the letter concluded.

Lady Gaga Weeps At Poland Show,'It's Trendy To Be Free'

2010-11-30T21:57:00.000+06:00

The last time Lady Gaga gave a long address, we stomached a lengthy, bizarre, extended metaphor about meat, the military and human rights that was tangentially related to the slab of sirloin she wore to the VMAs. Over Thanksgiving, the pop star kept the food in the kitchen, tweeting a photo of a Little Monster Casserole that presumably isn't made of actual Little Monsters (Ke$ha's the pop star who actually just released a disc called "Cannibal," after all) -- but she did find a way to make a speech.

At the Friday night stop of her Monster Ball tour in Poland, Gaga had a few new talking points: Her upcoming album, "Born This Way," is great. Actually, scratch that, it's epic ("I promise to give you the greatest album this decade, just for you"). And most interestingly, she's sick of seeing freak-flag-flying as a trend in pop culture.
"The funny thing is that some people reduce freedom to a brand," Gaga said between tears. "They think that it's trendy now to be free. They think it's trendy to be excited about your identity. When in truth, there is nothing trendy about 'Born This Way.' 'Born This Way' is a spirit, and it is this connection that we all share. It is something so much deeper than a wig or a lipstick or an outfit or a [expletive] meat dress. 'Born This Way' is about us, 'Born This Way' is about what keeps us up at night and makes us afraid." Then she played the comparatively upbeat "Telephone," the Beyoncé collaboration about dancing her worries away that helped make "The Fame Monster" a multiplatinum success.

The bulk of Lady Gaga's speech sounds like a direct response to the handful of empowerment songs female pop stars have released in the past few months. Nearly all of them were performed at last week's American Music Awards: Pink's "Raise Your Glass," where she shouts out "underdogs" and "nitty gritty dirty little freaks" who can't help but be inappropriately loud; Katy Perry's "Firework," where she encourages a frustrated listener, "You're original, can't be replaced"; and Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," on which she celebrates letting go of self-consciousness and "dancing like we're dumb."

While Lady Gaga has argued loudly for gay rights -- particularly on behalf of LGBT members of the military -- since her earliest days, when she revealed she identifies as bisexual, Pink, Perry, and Ke$ha have all spoken about genuine inspirations for their songs. Perry dedicated her video to It Gets Better, an initiative to encourage bullied gay youth to hang in and keep their eye on the future (Ke$ha's song was inspired by the project, as well). Pink features a gay wedding in her track's video, like the one she's discussed throwing for her lesbian best friend.
The wig and lipstick comments in particular seem aimed at newcomer Nicki Minaj, who has embraced a gay fan base, donned an assortment of way-out-there hairpieces and launched a lipstick in collaboration with M.A.C., a company Gaga partnered with as part of their Viva Glam campaign to fight AIDS. While Minaj began her career hinting that she might be bisexual, even granting a cover interview to Out magazine in which she refused to confirm her sexual orientation, the rapper has backed away from gay issues in recent months and distanced herself from her earlier comments.

So is Lady Gaga weeping because she doubts the motives of her competitors, or she's bummed they were able to release their empowerment records before she finished recording her new masterpiece? Surely there's room for more than one pop star to be involved with one of the largest civil rights struggles of our time. And there has been -- and will continue to be -- plenty of space for songs about freedom in the rock & roll canon.

Kardashian sisters want out of debit-card deal

2010-11-30T21:37:00.000+06:00

The Kardashian sisters are seeking to cut ties with a venture that sold prepaid debit cards under their name after coming under attack for the card's high fees. The card, which launched three weeks ago, was aimed at young adults, the same group that watches the sisters' hit cable TV show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

An attorney for the sisters sent a letter Monday to parties affiliated with the card asking them to immediately stop using the names and images of the three sisters.

The notice came after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal warned on Friday that he would investigate the program to see if it violated state laws to protect consumers. He called the card's fees "predatory."

The Kardashians -- Kim, Khloe and Kourtney -- launched the card on Nov. 10, with much fanfare. The "Kardashian Kard" includes a picture of the trio on one side, and the sisters said at the time of the launch they were "excited ... to create their very own financial product."

But almost immediately the Kardashians came under attack by consumer advocates for attaching their names to a card with fees that far surpassed other prepaid debit cards on the market.

"The Kardashians have worked extremely long and hard to create a positive public persona that appeals to everyone, particularly young adults," says the letter from Dennis Roach, legal counsel of Dash Dolls LLC, which represents the three sisters. "Unfortunately, the negative spotlight turned on the Kardashians."

Just to buy the card and use it costs $59.95 for six months, or $99.95 for 12 months. That does not include any money on the card. The person buying the card must add money onto it.

The initial feels were just the start. After those six or 12 months are up, it costs $7.95 a month to keep using the card. Users have to pay $1.50 to withdraw cash from an ATM, and $1 to check their balance. Talking to a customer representative on the phone costs $1.50 for each call, and canceling the card costs $6.

Losing the card results in a charge of $9.95. If the loss is reported within two days, then losses are limited to $50. But if the loss or theft is not reported, and the issuer believes the user knew it was lost or stolen, then losses could be as high as $500, according to the terms and conditions on the Kardashian Kard website.

Those fees caught the attention of Blumenthal, who said on Friday that he was investigating the card because of the fees and its appeal to financially unsophisticated young adults.

"Keeping up with the Kardashians is impossible with this card, where consumers lose money before they use money. Even before consumers spend a dime, the Kardashian Kard fees swallow the card's value," Blumenthal said in a statement Monday after news that the Kardashians were cutting ties to the card.

In a statement late Monday, card-issuer University National Bank confirmed that it had ended the sale of the Kardashian cards. Consumers who bought the card will get their money back, including fees that they might have incurred, it said.

MasterCard, which was a partner in the card, said in a statement that "the decision to end the program affirms that consumers did not find value in this particular prepaid offering."

Representatives from Mobe Inc. and Mobile Resources Card, also affiliated with the card, did not return requests for comment.

Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, had come out strongly in recent weeks against the Kardashians for using their celebrity status to hawk a prepaid card loaded with fees.

"Any other celebrity or business that is thinking of associating its name with a prepaid card should take a close look at the fees and protections, and say 'no thanks' unless the fees are low and the missing consumer protections are added," Gail Hillebrand, director of Consumers Union's Defend Your Dollars campaign, said after hearing Monday's news.

Consumer Union is calling on the newly authorized federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make reining in abusive prepaid card practices a top priority.

U2's 'Spider-Man' Musical Spins Tangled Web of Disaster at First Preview,

2010-11-30T21:34:00.000+06:00

After enduring high-profile production delays, major casting changes and the highest bill in Broadway history by a wide margin (most estimates put it in the $65 million range), the U2-penned musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" finally opened for preview performances this past weekend. And, by all accounts, the musical's inaugural show, staged at the Great White Way's Foxwoods Theater, was an even bigger disaster than critically loathed "Spider-Man 3" movie. As the New York Post so eloquently put it in today's review, "Turn Off the Dark" is "an epic flop as the $65 million show's high-tech gadgetry went completely awry amid a dull score and baffling script." Ouch.

Faced with towering critical and box office expectations due to its high cost and marquee talent, the "Turn Off the Dark" musical does have a lot going for it. It was scored by Bono and the Edge, and its jaw-dropping sets, costumes and cavalcade of infamous and original villains were imagined by Julie Taymor (of the $4.2 billion-grossing "Lion King" theatrical production).

But perhaps its biggest draw are the high-flying aerial effects that promise to wow audiences in a way that Broadway has never seen before. Taymor's crew has rigged the theater with all manner of pulleys and acrobatic high-wires in order to tell the story of Marvel Comics' teenage web-slinger. It's those ambitious aerial effects that resulted in five delays during the first preview performance, with technical difficulties often stranding the actors as they hovered above the audience for several minutes at a time.

Audience members, who paid in the vicinity of $140 to see this debut performance, were warned by the show's producer Michael Cohl before the curtain went up that the show might need to hit the brakes throughout, since it was still a work in progress (it doesn't open officially until January 11, 2011). However, no one in the audience could have anticipated just how many times the performance would screech to a halt: There were four stoppages in the first act alone, including one incident where a stunt-gone-wrong left Spider-Man star Reeve Carney hovering over the audience for several minutes while stagehands tried to reel him back in. That mishap resulted in intermission being called prematurely, and the break itself lasted over 40 minutes. (It's worth noting that Act One itself started nearly a half-hour late, but the audience's slow filing to their seats could be to blame.)

In total, the preview performance ran a "Gone With the Wind"-esque three hours and 20 minutes, which is apparently more than a modern day audience can take in one sitting. During a technical stoppage in the second act, one frustrated woman in the audience yelled, "I don't know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today -- I feel like it's a dress rehearsal." The heckler was promptly booed, according to the New York Times, as the audience banded together to take pity on the technical woes facing "Spider-Man" five weeks before its opening. Considering that thankfully no one was injured during the preview performance -- two "Spider-Man" actors suffered broken bones while attempting the aerials during rehearsals last month -- it seems as though the musical is progressing positively on its march toward opening night.

It's not uncommon for previews to have glitches -- actors drop lines, miss cues -- and generally audiences are forgiving of that sort of thing. But when a show promises as much visual dazzle as "Turn Off The Dark," it may have a difficult time avoiding the bad PR stemming from such a trouble-plagued first preview.

What could be most damaging from the standpoint of traditional and word-of-mouth press is the fact that technical issues seemingly overshadowed the musical's other problems, which included a convoluted plot that seemed to confuse hardcore and nascent Spidey fans alike. Even U2's score, led by the first single "Boy Falls From the Sky," didn't receive the rave reviews that greeted the band's most recent album "No Line on the Horizon."

With a price tag of $65 million plus a weekly running cost of $1 million, its estimated that "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" would need to sell out every performance for the better part of forever (or at least "many months," says Variety) in order to finally turn a profit. No small feat by Broadway standards.

Sanjay Dutt is villain in 'Agneepath'

2010-11-30T15:52:00.000+06:00

Sanjay Dutt is to play the role of the villain in the remake of Agneepath, alongside Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra.

Dutt takes on the role of crime baron Karan Cheena, who was played in the original by Danny Denzonga - an actor renowned for playing villains and winner of four Filmfare Best Villain Awards.

Dutt, who has played darker roles before in Bol Radha Bol and Khoj, said that he is not generally comfortable with playing evil characters but found this particular one appealing.

"Those roles didn't work for me," he explained. "But the villain's role in Agneepath is a special challenge because I play Hrithik Roshan's role model in the remake. I am the guy Hrithik's character wants to be like."

The film, directed by Karan Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar, will reportedly begin production in early 2011.

Gwyneth Paltrow 'reveals favourite Xmas tradition'

2010-11-27T01:25:00.002+06:00

Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed that she always includes her own special addition to her family's Christmas dinner.

Speaking to People, Paltrow explained that her twist on traditional cranberry sauce always spices up the holidays in her household.

"Besides the mulled wine, I make a really delicious fresh cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries and orange zest," she said.

The Iron Man 2 star, who is married to Coldplay rocker Chris Martin, also admitted that preparing a large dinner for Christmas can prove to be quite a challenge.

She explained: "It's one of those meals where it all has to come together - the turkey has to be perfectly roasted, you know what I mean, you have a little bit of everything in one bite."

Paltrow recently confessed that her children have "strange" accents.

Katrina Kaif 'performs stunts with Akshay Kumar'

2010-11-26T17:04:00.000+06:00

Katrina Kaif has said that it was no problem for her to do stunt scenes with an experienced actor like Akshay Kumar in Tees Maar Khan.

Although the actress has denied reports that she performed on top of a train, she has still undertaken a number of action sequences, reports Hindustan Times.

Kaif said: "There are key visuals of the train and the climax was shot around it with me hanging out and Akshay supporting my weight."

The star claimed that she was not nervous about filming potentially dangerous scenes.

"No, I wasn't apprehensive because action scenes with Akshay are always safe. He’s experienced and careful and I trust him immensely, " Kaif revealed. "In fact, Akshay and I have had an amazing run at the box office with films such as Namastey London and Singh Is Kingg, and I hope it continues with TMK. It would be a great way to end the year!"

The Farah Khan-directed project will release December 24.

'Fans can relate to me',John Abraham

2010-11-26T16:57:00.000+06:00

John Abraham has said that he thinks his fans can relate to him because of his struggle to make it as an actor.

The Dostana star told DNA India that he thanks his good looks for getting him attention but believes being the underdog in Bollywood earned him his following.

Speaking of his looks the actor said: "It definitely gets me the eyeballs, but I think that’s not all that earns me a fan following.

"I think I’m the underdog that everyone relates to. That’s my connection with my fans and also my strength."

The actor pointed out that his fans have seen him work his way up, hinting that his lack of family connections within the industry meant that he had to strive for a breakthrough.

"I am not a star son, nor did I have any Godfather," he said. "Nothing was offered to me on a platter. I have had my share of the struggle and youngsters feel that if I could do it, so can they."