BITS AND PIECES 11/14
PUSSS...@aol.com
--The widower of murdered indie-film actress Adrienne Shelly said he is
thankful for "the outpouring of love and support" he's received after
her senseless killing, allegedly by an illegal immigrant. "As many of
you now know, my wife, the beautiful, lovely, talented Adrienne Shelly,
was brutally murdered in NYC on Nov. 1," Andrew Ostroy wrote on "The
Ostroy Report," his blog. "I want to thank you all from the bottom of
my heart for your concern, kindness and especially your memories of
Adrienne and how she and her work in film affected and inspired you." A
19-year-old Ecuadorian native, Diego Pillco, has allegedly admitted
strangling Shelly, 40, in a Greenwich Village apartment she used as an
office, during an argument over noise he was making while doing
construction work in the unit below. Pillco then allegedly tried to
make it appear that the mother-of-one had hanged herself in the
bathroom. Ostroy, a marketing exec, wrote that "the events of the past
10 days have been tragic and devastating to me and my family, and it's
been the outpouring of love and support from friends and family, and my
friends and family in the blogosphere, that's been a tremendous source
of comfort."
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--SHE was kind to Catherine Zeta-Jones at the Glamour Awards, but Queen
Latifah was royally rude to "Law & Order" actor Bill Burns last week.
Burns approached Latifah at Newark Airport and tried to give her his
business card. She responded by prompting a friend with her to "rip it
to pieces and throw it on the ground," our source says, adding that the
companion also spewed racial epithets at Burns (who is white) in front
of a crowd. One onlooker called Latifah's friend "a total thug," though
no one dared to insult the diva. Her reps said the tale of racist
comments is "completely untrue."
--FORMER Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell and his wife, Vicky, have
unwittingly landed too close for comfort to their psychotic stalker.
Last month, Page Six broke the news of a sicko sending the couple death
threats - in which the maniac described how he plans to kill Vicky and
her children, Christopher, 1, and Toni, 3. Cornell, who has spent close
to $1 million securing his L.A. home and hiring security guards for his
family, thought he was safe enough to travel to London this week for
the "Casino Royale" premiere (in which he sings the title song, "You
Know My Name") and to attend the World Music Awards. But the private
investigators he hired to look into who was sending the letters say the
stalker is British and e-mailing him and Vicky from a London location
close to their hotel. According to an insider, the security team was
able to trace the threats to a specific location that now appears
abandoned. "Thank god their kids are not with them," said the spy. The
children are "with family" while Chris and Vicky are still under
24-hour surveillance. A rep for the couple declined comment.
--JUDE Law and Sienna Miller have finally parted ways for good - but
this time it was Law who did the dumping, pals told Page Six. "She was
just too wild for him," dished one insider. "She partied too much. He
is a devoted father of four children and she always wanted to go out
constantly. He was just done with her." Miller, who was recently
spotted lunching with Dustin Hoffman and Sean Penn, was previously the
one doing the dumping. The actress broke off her engagement to Law in
2005 after private diaries of the couple's nanny, Daisy Wright, were
made public in the New York Post. Wright's extremely detailed account
of her three-month affair with Law left his relationship with Miller
rocky, though the twosome eventually reunited. Reps for Miller and Law
declined to comment on the couple's fizzled romance.
--CHRISTIE Brinkley and soon-to-be ex-husband Peter Cook finally found
something to agree on. The warring spouses reached a legal agreement
last week allowing Cook "interim visitation" rights so he can regularly
see the couple's two kids, Jack and Sailor, while their divorce is
being hashed out, reports The Post's Dan Mangan. The supermodel and the
amorous architect, whose trysts with teen temptress Diana Bianchi
busted up their decade-long marriage, showed up in a Suffolk County
court room last week to seal the visitation deal. Cook lawyer Norman
Sheresky would only say, "He's pleased."
--HAS Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown scared off her beau, Eddie Murphy?
The former Spice Girl announced she was pregnant with his child last
month, but Murphy just took another woman out on a date. On Saturday,
he took Tracey Edmonds - Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds' ex-wife - to
dinner at the Lodge restaurant on La Cienega in L.A. The two had steaks
and chatted into the night at the dimly lit eatery while Ananda Lewis
and her beau, Clippers star Sam Cassell, sat nearby. Murphy's rep
declined to comment.
--NAOMI Campbell, incognito in a short wig, in Fred Segal in Hollywood
apologizing to a fellow shopper after she accidentally hit him with her
huge purse.
--ABC news anchor Charlie Gibson being joined by rival NBC evening news
anchor Brian Williams at halftime at the Yale/Princeton football game
at the New Haven stadium.
--ASHLEE Simpson and new best friend Lindsay Lohan partying at Area in
L.A. for the Genetic Jeans party while big sister Jessica Simpson
stayed home due to depression.
--JASON Patric having dinner with CAA mega-agent Bryan Lourd at Tower
Bar in Hollywood.
--BARRY Manilow eating inside at Da Silvano while his two beefy
bodyguards kept watch outside.
--NICK Lachey and gal pal Vanessa Minnillo downing tequila shots and
making out at Pure in Las Vegas.
--Tom Ford specifically asked executives at Estée Lauder to have his
new Black Orchid fragrance smell "like a man's crotch."
--Paris Hilton, in London for the World Music Awards, checked out of
her family-owned Hilton this weekend and checked into the swankier St.
Martins Lane owned by Morgans Hotel Group.
--Editors at top women's magazines aren't jumping at the chance to put
Britney Spears on the cover with her new baby the way Vanity Fair put
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and baby Suri on the cover.
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS...
--HIP-HOP hotshot impresario Irv Gotti, acquitted of money laundering
just last year, is back in the big-time big money. Driving his Maybach,
carrying continually ringing cells and BlackBerrys, he visited me
wearing a big-ticket diamond Jacob the Jeweler pendant on a diamond
chain so heavy he could barely bend his neck to check his
diamond-loaded Jacob the Jeweler Rolex before telling me: This week he
begins shooting his VH-1 reality show. "Listen, no matter what I went
through, I kept Ja Rule, Ashanti, all my acts. I now have a joint
venture with Universal, the same company that kicked me out when those
accusations came down. They even gave me back my masters. I sold 20
million albums. I produced J.Lo's two biggest hits, 'I'm Real,' 13
weeks on the charts, and 'Ain't It Funny,' 11 weeks. Now I own all my
stuff and I split with Universal. Doug Morris gave me the deal. He's
grooming me to be president of Universal. And Tobey Maguire and I
bonded over poker, so next up I'll produce movies. "I'll be taping this
reality thing - there's no name yet - for six months. I told them it's
a one-shot deal. I own a piece of it. I'm executive producer, so I OK
the final cut. They're tracking my success back from the days I mixed
tapes in my house and sold them for 10 bucks apiece to friends. They'll
also include scenes from Crack House, my two-floor SoHo studio." Crack
House?? "Yeah, in hip-hop when the beat is good, we say it's crack.
"Some friends like Jay-Z, Damon Dash, Russell Simmons will probably be
on it. Hey, Russell saw my canary-yellow diamond chain and said, 'With
each link, you could feed a village in Africa or . . . you could get a
lot of [a phrase indicating a kitty cat]." Interesting chat.
Especially, as I recall, since I never got to ask one question.
--BOB Dylan albums top the 100 best ever, but the times they are a-chan
gin'. B'way's production about Dylan's music, which opened last month,
closes this month. Sunday.
--There's Heather Mills McCartney nude shots ready to go for PETA's
"I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign. However, since anti-fur
was Linda McCartney's cause, since PETA wants Stella McCartney's
support, since Heather McCartney's going the way of the polar ice cap,
her bare behind photos are being trashed. Not even Paul wants them now.
--Gabe Kaplan of bygone TV's "Welcome Back, Kotter" has written
"Kotter's Back." Seems, feeling like a washed-up celeb when at 58 he
was asked to do a celebrity boxing match against Screech, he wrote
funny e-mails in response, which led to more e-mails, which led to the
book.
--A Lindsay Lohan lulu: "I feel like I've lived five lives and I'm only
20." It's called partying, lovey.
NY POST/LIZ SMITH...
--DID YOU see that Parade's Walter Scott predicts Will Smith, age 38,
will take over the No. 1 movie box-office spot from Tom Cruise? Will is
in the city filming "I Am Legend." He will be honored by the Museum of
the Moving Image on Dec. 3, at the Waldorf-Astoria, to be aired later
on Bravo. The actor's coming "The Pursuit of Happyness" is said to tap
resources he's never shown on-screen before.
--Rumors flew on Friday that Beyoncé and Jay- Z were about to tie the
knot in Antigua or some other warm, tropic spot. This didn't happen.
But I'm surprised by the cynicism attendant on this long-running
romance. "It's all for publicity," I've been told more than once. Well,
neither performer talks much about love. They are discreet and
respectful of their own privacy. This creates a desperate vacuum for
media used to celebrities who yak and yak about their undying devotion.
Within this vacuum, rumor and suspicion breed. They sure look sincere
whenever photographed! One thing is certain - everybody expects big
box-office results from "Dreamgirls." Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and
Anika Noni Rose are on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. It's one of
those photos that makes you stop and go, "Whoa!" In the EW piece,
director Bill Condon pointedly remarks on Beyoncé's screen character,
Deena Jones: "She is not Diana Ross. This is not a biopic." Nowadays,
Diana and the Supremes connection doesn't resonate as it did when
"Dreamgirls" was a Broadway smash more than 20 years ago. It's all
lacquer and sequins under the bridge now.
--THE QUEEN of England, still struggling to live up to Dame Helen
Mirren's fantastic, all-too-human perspective of her in "The Queen," is
happy about one thing. Queen Elizabeth II has now acquired her first
Caravaggio painting, estimated to be worth about $100 million. I say
"acquired," but she actually had it all along. "The Calling of Saints
Peter and Andrew" has been in the possession of the Royal Family for
almost 400 years. But it was lying neglected in a Hampton Court
storeroom, misattributed as an unworthy copy. "This is the most
important discovery in the royal collection in the last decade," says
the surveyor of the Queen's paintings. The astounding work of art was
first bought by Charles I in 1637, and after he lost his head, his son,
Charles II reclaimed the painting. There are 7,000 other paintings in
the Queen's collection. But there are only about 49 Caravaggios extant.
This beautiful "new" one - that is, it is newly cleaned and restored -
will be shown in Rome at the end of the month to honor the Italian
curator Maurizio Marini, who first suspected it was by Caravaggio. The
Queen cannot sell any of her royal collection, which is held in trust
for the people of the United Kingdom.
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY....
--As rumor would not have it, Gayle King left her husband because of
his behavior, not hers, she says on her XM Satellite Radio show this
morning. The alluring chatster, who just completed a cross-country
driving trip with best friend Oprah Winfrey, opened up to guest Will
Smith after he revealed the secrets of his own marriage to Jada Pinkett
Smith. "I was married to a cheater," King told Smith. "I went to
marital counseling. I have been divorced since 1993, so I'm all healed
and everything. I have worked it out. I'm not bitter. I'm okay. I'm
really okay." King's ex-husband, Connecticut Assistant Attorney General
William Bumpus, did not return phone or E-mail requests for comment.
But King added that, for the sake of the couple's two children, she
keeps the lines of communication with Bumpus open. Their daughter,
Kirby, and son, William, are both college age. "It's so important for
people who have children together to get along," the Oprah confidante
continued. "Regardless of how you feel about the other as a spouse, you
still have these children to raise together." King was expected last
night at the New York Public Library, where Winfrey was to be honored
along with Elie Wiesel and DNA co-discoverer Dr. James Watson. King has
made light of rumors that she and the talk-show titan are more than
friends. Posing with Jessica Seinfeld at a Lucky Shops event last week,
she exclaimed: "We're really not a couple!"
--"I hope the Britney [Spears] sex tape is real," designer Jay
McCarroll told us. "Kevin Federline is so flipping hot, I don't know
what to do with myself." The Project Runway season-one winner mingled
in the VIP lounge with DSquared2 design duo Dean and Dan Caten,
songstress Kelis (on camera for her maybe-coming-soon MTV reality show
"Kelis and Nas") and porn king Michael Lucas, celebrating Out
magazine's 100 most influential people in gay culture. Lucas didn't
sweat the lack of a nomination. "I direct, I produce, I write," he
said. "I am like the Barbra Streisand of porn."
--Victoria Beckham, reportedly pregnant with David Beckham's fourth
child, spent $3,000 on infant clothing at L.A.'s Petit Tresor. Word is
the "posh" boutique will decorate the baby's nursery in a nautical
theme.
--Whoopi Goldberg takes her 'KTU radio show theme, "Wake Up With
Whoopi," seriously. She called us at 4:49 a.m. yesterday - her
birthday, no less - to say we were wrong to call her presidential
double-entendre jokes at a 2004 John Kerry fund-raiser "raunchy."
--Pete Townshend's girlfriend, Rachel Fuller, has seen - and smelled
- it all. The singer-songwriter blogged on her intheattic.tv site
that Lenny Kravitz "does not believe in deodorant."
--People from other cities stood in line for days to meet Paul
McCartney at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square yesterday. The Virgin
staff was ready for the gamier fans - dispensing Axe deodorant
samples left over from a previous event. Sir Paul surely was grateful.
--Swizz Beats bought 10 bottles of Cristal for pals like Bre from
"America's Next Top Model" - but Busta Rhymes chose Hennessy instead
at John (Gungie) Rivera's regular Friday party at Jade Terrace in Times
Square. Also in the house: Power 105 deejay Red Alert.
--If you wanna angle like an Anglophile tonight, Suite New York is the
place to be. Liam Neeson, Tom Stoppard, David Hare, Graydon Carter,
Sonny Mehta, Cameron Macintosh, Lucy Sykes and Dini von Mueffling will
fete Lucy Eyre on her first novel, "If Minds Had Toes," about a young
man sucked into a heaven peopled with the great philosophers.
NY DAILY NEWS/BY OWEN MORITZ
--Marilyn and Mao, together at last. Art lovers can soon bid on Andy
Warhol's iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and Mao Zedong - that is if
they have a spare $27 million or so. A week after modern and
Impressionist paintings went for a staggering $800 million at auction
houses in New York, comes Christie's sale tomorrow of postwar and
contemporary art. One headliner is Warhol's 81-inch-by-61-inch
silkscreen portrait of the late Chinese leader Mao, produced in 1971
when China and the U.S. were renewing relations. It's expected to
command at least $12 million. "This work has the most prestigious
provenance, staggering wall-power and is literally an icon of the 20th
century," said Brett Gorvy, head of Christie's postwar and contemporary
art department. Warhol's "Orange Marilyn," a 1962 synthetic polymer and
silkscreen of Monroe, is expected to fetch up to $15million. Beside Mao
and Monroe, the auction house is offering seven other Warhols from
private collectors, including "Sixteen Jackies" (1964), a depiction of
Jacqueline Kennedy after President Kennedy's assassination. Also up for
bids are Jackson Pollock's "Number 21" and Roy Lichtenstein's "Yellow
and White Brushstrokes," both estimated to go for between $7million and
$9 million each. The auction house is calling the sale of postwar and
contemporary art "the largest and most valuable auction ever organized
in the field" with a total pre-sale estimate of $160 million to
$220million.
NY DAILY NEWS/RICHARD HUFF....
--NBC has picked up the drama "Friday Night Lights" for the full
season.
--ABC has bought "What About Brian" for the full season.
--Starting today, Court TV will provide coverage of the trial of Joseph
T. LePore & Sean Ryan, the men accused of starting a fire in their dorm
at Seton Hall that resulted in three deaths and 58 injuries. Court TV
correspondent Michel Bryant will be at Essex County Superior Courthouse
in Newark, providing live daily reports and analysis of the trial.
BY MICHELLE CARUSO/NY DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
--LOS ANGELES - The mom of the boy who accused Michael Jackson of child
molestation in 2003 pleaded no contest yesterday to welfare fraud,
prosecutors said. The 38-year-old mother of five, who announced in
court that her legal name is now Janet Jackson since her 2004 marriage
to Army Reserves Maj. Jay Jackson, agreed to repay $8,606.98 to the
state. She is slated to turn over $5,000 of the ill-gotten dough today
as a condition of her plea bargain. If she repays the rest of the money
and completes 150 hours of community service by the April 27 sentencing
date, the felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor and she will
not serve prison time, prosecutors said. The woman's cancer-survivor
son was 13 when he accused Michael Jackson of groping him in early
2003. The pop superstar was acquitted of all charges in June last year.
The mom, whose previous name was Janet Arvizo, said her husband will be
transferred to an Army base in Georgia late this month. Judge Barbara
Johnson ordered her to enroll in a community service program there and
show proof to the L.A. court by Jan. 5. The fraud occurred when the mom
claimed to be broke on a November 2001 welfare application, even though
she and two of her sons had just received a $137,500 settlement from an
assault-and-battery claim against J.C. Penney Co. She accepted welfare
payments until early 2003.
USA TODAY...
--The Beatles landed five albums on Time magazine's All-Time 100 album
list, out today. The Fab Four's Abbey Road, White Album, Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver and Rubber Soul were the most by any
group or individual artist. Bob Dylan (Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on
Blonde, Time Out of Mind) topped individual male artists. Aretha
Franklin led women with I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You and Lady
Soul. The top 100 was composed by two critics who are likely to fuel
debate over which acts shaped music since 1950, and who was left off.
For the full list and rationale, check out time.com/100albums.
By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
--Laura Mercier knows her celebrity skin. The French makeup guru has
worked on everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker to Julia Roberts. Now,
Mercier, who has her own makeup line, shares her vision in The New
Beauty Secrets: Your Ultimate Guide to a Flawless Face ($35). Rather
than encouraging readers to emulate celebrities, Mercier preaches
self-love. "I have worked in the fashion industry for so long, and it's
hard because it influences you not so much in the good way," Mercier
says. "You're working with the best-looking people all the time. It can
dictate what you should look like, and that's a lot of pressure. But
women shouldn't be under that pressure. It's not OK to not accept
yourself." Of all the stars she has made up, Mercier has a few
favorites. "Sarah Jessica is a doll to work with; she's just so
normal," Mercier says. "Madonna was great fun to work with. She's very
respectful, fun and smart."
http://janetcharltonshollywood.com/...
--Maybe Dennis Rodman took a hint from the last story we wrote about
him misbehaving in bars, because he was on his best behavior on Latin
night at Rage in West Hollywood recently. He introduced his attractive
girlfriend "of nine months" to strangers at the bar and instructed her
to show off the handbag he'd bought her at Gucci for $7000. The girl, a
tall curvy exotic beauty, proudly showed off her leather trophy, but
confided to the bartender that "Dennis wants me to have his baby, but I
don't think it's a good idea!" (UNDERSTATEMENT!) Dennis downed
Jagermeister shots while they watched the female impersonator jiggling
and singing in Spanish. In fact he got SO carried away that Rodman
bought a hundred singles and gave fistfulls of money to his girlfriend
and other people at the bar to shower on the delighted performer.
--Jacqueline Bisset became the talk of the plastic surgery show
Nip/Tuck because she has had NO work done! When she first joined the
show everyone was impressed with her naturally beautiful looks. She's
had a long career in Hollywood, but despite considerable scrutiny ,
everyone agreed that she hasn't had any nips or tucks. "She has a real
face and it's insanely beautiful" remarked a setsider. Maybe that 's
why she's such a lighting expert. "Jackie KNOWS her lighting" said a
crew member. "She takes charge and sweetly tells the gaffers exactly
how to set up the lights and use filters for the most flattering effect
in all her scenes. "
3 A.M. GIRLS/Eva Simpson & Caroline Hedley
--MEGASTAR Michael Jackson earns millions but his taste in food is
finger-lickin' simple. Other stars call for caviar but Jacko, 48, has
ordered bucketfuls of KFC to be sent to his dressing room for his
comeback at the World Music Awards at Earls Court, London, tomorrow. An
insider told us: "Michael asked his staff to pop to the KFC near his
hotel to bring a meal back within three minutes." KFC staff were all
thrown into a frenzy but hit the target - and landed the big order for
the show.
--ACTRESS Keira Knightley has revealed she won't be starring in any
more Pirates of the Caribbean films. The Oscar-nominated star has just
finished filming her role as Elizabeth Swann in the third movie Pirates
of the Caribbean: At World's End. But she has told producers that a
fourth film is out of the question. Last night, she said: "I've been
playing this girl since I was 17. I'm 21 now and I'm on to very
different things." But co-star Johnny Depp has admitted he would play
pirate Captain Jack Sparrow again. An insider said: "As long as he came
back, I don't think they'd be too worried about Keira."
--LINDSAY and Paris are at it again... When asked if she'd been out
partying with Paris Hilton as she left a Hollywood club on Wednesday,
Lindsay said simply: "She's a c***".
LAS VEGAS JOURNAL/NORM CLARKE...
--The mock wedding of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at Madame Tussauds
on Wednesday has been canceled after Pitt's representatives expressed
"disappointment." The media event was to be part of the unveiling of
Jolie's wax figure, which still will take place at 11 a.m. "Since
Madame Tussauds enjoys excellent relationships with the celebrity
community, we made our own decision not to create the wedding scene,"
said Adrian Jones, general manager of Madame Tussauds.
--Dave Chappelle, one of the biggest marquee names in The Comedy
Festival, has canceled his show in the 4,000-seat Colosseum at Caesars
Palace. Organizers gave no explanation for Chappelle's cancellation,
which raised eyebrows because of his famous bailout a year ago, when he
mysteriously left his Comedy Central series and showed up in Africa.
Chappelle, the event's highest priced ticket at $145, was to have been
part of Thursday night's Colosseum doubleheader, with Bill Maher after
Chappelle.
--Lisa Marie Presley and Ryan Cabrera, chatting Sunday night at
Caramel, in the Bellagio
--At Light, in the Bellagio: country star Neal McCoy and Denver Broncos
stars Javon Walker and Champ Bailey, after playing in Oakland earlier.
--Andre Agassi and wife Stefanie, competing Saturday in the game room
at ESPN Zone in New York-New York.
L.A. DAILY NEWS/By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith....
--Masi Oka says despite the fact that he's on the hottest show of the
new season, NBC's breakout hit, "Heroes," he has no plans to give up
his longtime gig at George Lucas' renowned Industrial Light & Magic
studio. "I love doing work for them," says Oka, a digital-effects
artist who's worked on such Lucas fare as "Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest," "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" and
"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." "It keeps me humble and it keeps
me grounded, but because my schedule is so volatile, I'm more of a
consultant/librarian archivist now." Oka says his ILM cronies have
become some of the show's biggest fans. "It's really funny to see all
my colleagues asking me, What happens next, what happens next?' because
we work in a very confidential environment, too. We couldn't talk about
Star Wars,' yet they want me to leak stuff to them." Oka says the
"Heroes" cast, which includes Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Ali
Larter, Hayden Panettiere, Greg Grunberg and Santiago Cabrera, has
taken to hanging out together off-set because most never get to share
scenes. "Every one of the series regulars are absolutely dolls. The
folks who've been in the business a long time - like Ali, Greg and
Milo were role models for the rest of us. I aspire to be generous like
them ... Adrian is kind of like a big brother. He's always looking out
for us. Greg's kind of like the uncle who's real familiar. It's
definitely a big family."
--The "MADtv" troupe has been taking to the stage at Hollywood
Boulevard's Improv Olympic West club on Tuesday nights for the last
several weeks - and cast member Keegan-Michael Key reports, "We're
getting good results. We hope to keep doing it as long as everyone
wants to. We're out there to goof around. We want to be joyous, to
improvise as well as we can." They're also most definitely there to
develop material for their long-running Fox show. According to Keegan,
"We have two scenes in the pipeline right now and one character" that
were born at the Improv Olympic and are heading on to "MADtv" in coming
weeks. "Working in the writer's room can be problematic - some of us
are good at it, some not," he notes. "For me, it's very difficult to
sit in front of a computer screen and type out ideas. I'd much rather
work in front of an audience."
ASSOCIATED PRESS....
--WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to the
author of the "The Da Vinci Code," refusing to consider a case alleging
copyright infringement. Author Lewis Perdue contends that Dan Brown's
megathriller is substantially similar to his book, written years before
the 2003 publication of "The Da Vinci Code. Some 60.5 million copies of
"The Da Vinci Code" are in print worldwide. Perdue argues that
affidavits detailing similarities between his book, "Daughter of God,"
and Brown's book should have been considered by a federal judge, who
rejected them. The judge ruled that no reasonable juror could find
parts of Perdue's work substantially similar to "The Da Vinci Code." An
appeals court upheld the ruling. In one of the rejected affidavits, a
literary expert found the evidence of infringement overwhelming. In
another affidavit, a foreign linguistics expert found the similarities
to be "striking." Perdue had alleged that Brown copied the basic
premise of "Daughter of God," including notions that history is
controlled by victors, not losers, and the importance of the Roman
Emperor Constantine in requiring a transition from a female to a
male-dominated religion, the judge said. Brown and Random House Inc.
had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking a
declaratory judgment that his work does not infringe on Perdue's. In a
countersuit, Perdue asked the judge to rule that there was infringement
and award $150 million in damages. The case is Perdue v. Brown and
Random House Inc., 06-213.
--LONDON - Ms. Dynamite was recovering from a 100-mph crash that
occurred during filming of "The Race," a car-racing reality show on
Britain's Sky One TV network. Brian Johnson, lead singer of rock band
AC/DC, struck the back of the British rapper's Formula Ford car at
Silverstone racetrack in central England on Sunday. "The Race" pits
teams of male and female celebrities against each other. The drivers
had completed lap four of a 25-lap race when the collision occurred.
Paramedics treated the singer, whose real name is Niomi McLean-Daley,
at the track. Though she didn't suffer any serious injuries, she was
airlifted to a hospital as a precaution and remained overnight. "Brian
Johnson's wheel clipped her back wheel," Sky One television spokesman
Lee Robson said. "That forced her car into the barrier and sent her car
spinning about 50 yards down the track." Robson couldn't confirm the
singer's condition Monday. McLean-Daley's 2002 debut album, "A Little
Deeper," won Britain's Mercury Prize for album of the year. Contestants
trained at the racetrack for a week, progressing to faster cars before
the finale, Robson said. Other contestants included Melissa Joan Hart
of TV's "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and 1980s British pop singer Gary
Numan. Ms. Dynamite: http://www.msdynamite.co.uk/
--NBC said Monday it has ordered a full season's worth of "Friday Night
Lights" episodes, its second endorsement in a week of a freshman series
that so far has attracted more attention from critics than viewers. The
drama, based on the book and film of the same name, focuses on the
coach and football players from the high-school team in rural Dillon,
Texas. "We're proud to reward an authentic, poignant series," said
Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president. The show has averaged 6.1
million viewers this season. It stands at No. 81 in Nielsen Media
Research's season ratings, or just below ABC's Friday-night rerun of
"Grey's Anatomy." NBC said it was encouraged that the show had a bigger
audience in the second half hour than the first in its first five
showings on Tuesdays, an indication that those who were watching liked
what they saw. It also did well among young viewers during a special
tryout on Monday, Reilly said. Last week, NBC also gave a full-season
order to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the Aaron Sorkin series that
has thus far been a ratings disappointment. The decisions mean
producers will make nine more episodes following the first 13, to make
a season's worth of 22. Not receiving this order is usually a death
sentence for a series.
--"Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo and her boyfriend, record producer
Chris Ivery, are engaged, Pompeo's publicist confirmed Monday. Ivery,
38, proposed to the actress on Friday, her 37th birthday, after
breakfast at home, publicist Jennifer Allen told The Associated Press.
The Boston-area natives, who have been dating for three years, have not
yet set a wedding date, Allen said. Pompeo juggles work and a dramatic
love life as Dr. Meredith Grey on the ABC show. Her movie credits
include "Old School," "Daredevil" and "Catch Me If You Can." The
engagement was first reported by Us Weekly on the magazine's Web site.