Entertainment News

TORONTO - All Seth Rogen really wanted when he came to Hollywood was to make a movie with Kevin Smith.

"Oh, please. They've been speculating whether we've been getting divorced I think almost since we got married. The same can be said as to whether she's pregnant or whether we're adopting another child. I think that's just the nature of gossip. ... Everything seems fine. As far as I'm aware." — Guy Ritchie, on his marriage to Madonna.

VENICE (Reuters) - A late flurry of independent U.S. pictures at the Venice film festival has blown the competition wide open ahead of the awards ceremony on Saturday.

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - First the good news: Guy Ritchie is back. Then the even better news: Guy Ritchie is back with his most accessible and enjoyable film yet in "RocknRolla."

TORONTO - Crime just never stops paying for Guy Ritchie.

NEW YORK - Anna Netrebko has a new tenor in her life.

ROME - The world will mark the first anniversary of the death of Luciano Pavarotti with a series of concerts, an exhibit and other events, organizers and his family announced Friday.

"Oh, please. They've been speculating whether we've been getting divorced I think almost since we got married. The same can be said as to whether she's pregnant or whether we're adopting another child. I think that's just the nature of gossip. ... Everything seems fine. As far as I'm aware." — Guy Ritchie, on his marriage to Madonna.

WASHINGTON - Actress Sally Field had some advice for the mature crowd celebrating AARP's 50th anniversary on a sunny day at the Lincoln Memorial: Don't get burned.

LOS ANGELES - The Jacksons were crowned icons at the BMI Urban Awards, but the King of Pop was an absentee.

NEW YORK - No soup for Microsoft?

NEW YORK - More than two out of three people worldwide tuned in for the Beijing Olympics.

"Oh, please. They've been speculating whether we've been getting divorced I think almost since we got married. The same can be said as to whether she's pregnant or whether we're adopting another child. I think that's just the nature of gossip. ... Everything seems fine. As far as I'm aware." — Guy Ritchie, on his marriage to Madonna.

LOS ANGELES - Dr. Mark Greene is coming back to "ER," but he's not coming back from the dead.

WASHINGTON - Actress Sally Field had some advice for the mature crowd celebrating AARP's 50th anniversary on a sunny day at the Lincoln Memorial: Don't get burned.

ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lost a defamation suit he brought against The Economist magazine over a 2001 cover story that accused him of being "unfit to lead Italy," the British publication said on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Imax-format release of Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight" has blown past "The Polar Express" as the giant-screen exhibitor's top first-run release.

VENICE (Reuters) - A late flurry of independent U.S. pictures at the Venice film festival has blown the competition wide open ahead of the awards ceremony on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, unknown to most Americans a week ago, nearly matched Barack Obama's record TV audience with her feisty speech on Wednesday accepting the Republican nomination for vice president, topping 37 million U.S. viewers.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Initially expected this fall as a fourth-quarter blockbuster, U2's next album has been pushed to early 2009 while the band continues to write and record material.

SANTA MONICA, California (Hollywood Reporter) - Leave it to an enigmatic-after-all-these-years rock legend to play a 50-year-old creaky venue that hasn't been a concert hotspot for quite some time. Back in the 1970s and '80s, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium played host to shows from the Kinks to Queen to the Clash. The sound was never very good.

NEW YORK - It may seem incongruous to make a musical by combining exhilarating Afrobeat music and lively, often sensual dancing with grim stories of a military government's oppression of its citizens. But when the result is the exciting new off-Broadway show "Fela!," the messages and the music meld into near-nonstop exuberance.

NEW YORK - The new TV season's official start date (Sept. 21) is weeks away, but one of the most anticipated shows, "90210," has already arrived.

Deitrick Haddon, "Revealed" (Zomba)

Giant Sand, "proVISIONS" (YepRoc)

NEW YORK - The publisher that took on O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It" after it was dropped in the face of public outrage has signed up another rejected project: Sherry Jones' "The Jewel of Medina," a novel about a wife of the prophet Muhammad that Random House canceled out of concern that it would anger Muslims.

WASHINGTON - Troubled by the Bear Stearns debacle, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is advocating a new way of dealing with government bailouts of companies whose sudden collapse could wreak havoc on the country's economic and financial stability.

1. "Devil Bones" by Kathy Reichs (Scribner)

1. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)

LONDON - Pop star Cliff Richard has written about his relationship with a former Roman Catholic priest in an autobiography excerpted in a British newspaper on Thursday.

A second delay of the first preview of 9 to 5: The Musical has been announced by Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, which will now launch the Dolly Parton-scored show at 8 PM Sept. 9, six days later than originally announced.

Maryland's Round House Theatre's 2008-09 season will launch Sept. 17 with its first commissioned play, the world-premiere adaptation of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Washington, DC-based playwright Karen ZacarÌas.

Meet Allan Larson, the father - and one of the keepers of the flame - of late Rent writer Jonathan Larson.

Six new plays by emerging American playwrights will be presented at Goodman Theatre's 2008 New Stages series of play readings Sept. 12-21 in Chicago.

The 17th annual San Francisco Fringe Festival began Sept. 3, exposing audiences to varied plays, musicals and other live events on several stages in the city by the bay.

NEW YORK - No soup for Microsoft?

NEW YORK - The publisher that took on O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It" after it was dropped in the face of public outrage has signed up another rejected project: Sherry Jones' "The Jewel of Medina," a novel about a wife of the prophet Muhammad that Random House canceled out of concern that it would anger Muslims.

ROME (AFP) - One year after his death, a slew of concerts and programmes commemorating Luciano Pavarotti will be held across Italy and the world, starting Saturday in the tenor's hometown of Modena.

"Oh, please. They've been speculating whether we've been getting divorced I think almost since we got married. The same can be said as to whether she's pregnant or whether we're adopting another child. I think that's just the nature of gossip. ... Everything seems fine. As far as I'm aware." — Guy Ritchie, on his marriage to Madonna.

TORONTO - Crime just never stops paying for Guy Ritchie.

ROME - Mila Schoen, an Italian designer of elegant, impeccably tailored clothes, died early Friday at her villa in northern Italy at the age of 91.

New York - La Perla, the legendary Italian lingerie house, is a brand synonymous with luxury and a type of sensuality that is chic not cheap.

Not since Jacqueline Kennedy first donned her signature pillbox hats have fashionistas paid such close attention to what the women of politics are wearing.

NEW YORK - It's been 70 years since Judy Garland first clicked her ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz," yet even the well-heeled celebrities who inhabit the wonderful land of Hollywood still find the shoes a thing of beauty.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lingerie creator Heather Thomson got a jump-start on the New York Fashion Week, turning to some of the city's best pole dancers to display her new line of Yummie Tummie underwear on Thursday.

DEAR ABBY: My father and I usually get along well, but whenever we get into an argument, he'll say something like, "Well, maybe I should just kill myself. Then you won't have to deal with me!" This has been going on for as long as I can remember. I'm 21 now.

DEAR ABBY: My daughter, who is being married in three months, mentioned to me that her fiance's friends have a tradition of covering the newlyweds' car with condoms. Whatever happened to tin cans and a "Just Married" sign?

DEAR ABBY: "Nobody's Grandma" (June 12) is sad about her children's desire to remain childless. I would encourage her to seek out a family in her neighborhood, church or other shared connections who live far from family or have no grandparents.

DEAR ABBY: When my wife sees lingerie she likes in a store, she asks me to buy it for her birthday or our anniversary. The problem is, she'll wear the item only once and never wear it again. She has a fortune in lingerie in her dresser drawer just taking up space.

DEAR ABBY: My son is the recipient of a four-year college scholarship with full tuition. He selected and applied to this school. The problem is, he now wants to transfer to another college. This means he would finish his sophomore year and give up two years of the scholarship.

09/05/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I'm in an unusual (or perhaps not) situation.

09/04/2008 - This is an unusual column for me to write. Throughout my years as an advice columnist (first as "Dear Prudence," now "Dear Margo"), I have never plugged anything or suggested to my readers that they participate in any event. I do so now to continue a tradition.

08/29/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I have been working for a director for some time now -- from the time I was in school.

08/28/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I think my husband of 20 years had an affair.

08/22/2008 - DEAR MARGO: My friend has been writing, e-mailing and web-camming a man located in China who is from Africa.

Creators Syndicate - This year, my wife and I have yet another son going into ninth grade. It's the start of high school and the beginning of serious academic study, the year when a child starts to think about what they want to be when they finally finish school. Mostly, though, it means it's time for the dreaded bug collection.

Creators Syndicate - Lazy Columnists Pad Out Stories by Quoting Experts, Experts Say

Creators Syndicate - This past week, as we watched the Olympics on TV almost every night, I had to sit by quietly while my wife commented, with disturbing regularity, on all the young male athletes. She wasn't talking about scores, times, or world records, or even their medals, but about how well built they all were.

Creators Syndicate - Phelps Warned Not to Lick Medals

Creators Syndicate - My 14-year-old son spent the first part of the year shoveling snow, then cleaning gutters and cutting grass — doing everything and anything he could do with an eye toward saving up a big wad of cash he could blow on something extravagant.

NEW YORK - David Spade is the father of Playboy playmate Jillian Grace's newborn daughter, Spade's representative said Thursday. The baby girl was born Aug. 26 in Missouri, and Spade plans to visit her on his first break from filming the CBS sitcom "Rules of Engagement," publicist Meredith O'Sullivan said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jeanne Hopkins flew all the way from California to line up to put her name in a lottery for a $20 ticket to see one of the last Broadway performances of the hit musical "Rent," which closes on Sunday after 12 years.

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Ann and Nancy Wilson are hoping the Republicans change their tune—and aren't planning on waiting until November to find out.

Los Angeles (E! Online) - NBC is bringing out the big guns for its 15th and final season of ER. The big, nostalgia-laden, tear-inducing guns.

09/05/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I'm in an unusual (or perhaps not) situation.