BITS AND PIECES 03/12
PUSSS...@aol.com
--BRUCE Willis at Pink Elephant "looking almost saintly with his hands
crossed" holding a Fiji water bottle as he stood on a banquette.
--THE mood was somber when "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi took the
stage at Joe's Pub during Glamour magazine's benefit for the
International Women's Health Coalition - but backstage, the keynote
speaker was all laughs. When Lakshmi asked her husband, Salman
Rushdie, what year Burmese Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize,
he replied, "I have to phone a friend." Lakshmi just laughed and said,
"That's the first time I've asked my husband something and he didn't
know the answer." Actress Jane Krakowski was also backstage, chatting
about the passage she read for the event, hosted by Cindi Leive. "I
had actually chosen a different woman's story to read," she said, "but
later I was told I was not able to, because the woman was so in fear
for her life that she didn't want her story told. It moved me so much
that I wasn't able to tell this woman's story that clearly needs to be
told." Music legend Suzanne Vega performed at the event, and actress
Julianne Nicholson also read a passage.
--WHEN Chat Noir owner Suzanne Latapie booked her East 66th Street
bistro for a party for photographer Taryn Simon last Thursday, she had
no idea Simon is the girlfriend of Jake Paltrow, brother of Gwyneth.
So it was a New York moment when they all came directly from the
Whitney Museum - where Simon's work just went on view at a Larry
Gagosian- backed exhibition - along with Blythe Danner; Gwynnie's
husband, Chris Martin; Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Michelle
Pfeiffer and Michael Stipe (R.E.M.). The starved crowd went to town on
Parmesan- and truffle-oil french fries, roast poussin and hanger
steak.
--PETRA Nemcova is not the same girl she was when she met her
boyfriend James Blunt - at least when it comes to her ever-changing
hair. Nemcova was overheard chatting about her locks at Guastavino's.
"When he met me, I was platinum blond, and then I changed to dark
hair," Nemcova told fellow partygoers celebrating Ray Ban's Hide Away
campaign. "The first time he saw me with my new hair he said, 'Wow! I
was dating Barbarella, and now I'm dating a Bond girl!' "
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS...
--NOW, about the future marriage and coming parenthood of Salma Hayek
and François-Henri Pin ault. She's a movie star. He's a billionaire.
Perfect casting. His company PPR owns Gucci, Samsonite, Bottega
Veneta, Colorado's Vail Ski Resort, Christie's, Converse sneakers,
wineries, and almost whatever that Buffett guy doesn't. Salma, who
once starred in "Frida," the story of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, can
now buy all the art she wants. They'd been seen together for a while.
Last summer at his father's museum opening in Venice, she was at
François-Henri's right. However, like his fast fling with Nicole
Kidman, pals figured that it wasn't for real. That it was to advertise
one of his products. They also figure that Salma's pregnancy maybe
hustled up their engagement a little. They also figure the Pinaults
are happy because with all their beautiful luxury products, it would
be lousy if the heir apparent son didn't pick an equally luxurious
product for his wife. Anyway, the man, divorced from a really unhappy
marriage, already has two children. He's from Brittany. He does blond
and blue eyes. Salma's Mexican. She does dark hair, dark eyes. The kid
will be gorgeous. Also rich.
--MY seatmate at the Roundabout Theatre Company's wondrous revival of
"Prelude to a Kiss" was a tall, handsome man with perfectly manicured
silver beard. Taylor Hackford. Oscar-winning director. Married to
Helen Mirren. Oscar-winning actress. Alone, hunched forward in his
seat, Taylor Hackford watched intently. "Great set," he murmured.
Then, "I recently saw 'Spring Awakening.' It's excellent. I'm seeing
everything because I've actually been working for a year on a stage
project. I'm doing my first Broadway show. A musical version of 'Leap
of Faith.' " Talk of a "Leap of Faith." The man's first stage vehicle,
and he picks a musical. A takeoff of a 1992 job with Liam Neeson,
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Winger and Steve Martin as tour-bus holy-
roller type Jonas Nightengale. In this movie about miracles in Kansas,
Meat Loaf played the bus driver who sings what, presumably, will find
its way onto the Broadway stage - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."
Meanwhile, back to the Oscars. Hackford said his is in their L.A.
home. Hers is due to reside in their N.Y. home. Since they also live
in England, they either need one less place or one more statuette.
--TO combat leukemia, which took the life of our great friend Wendy
Wasserstein, Cynthia Nixon and supporters will raise support with a
walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. "I've never done that before," she
said .
--Liev Schreiber, onstage throughout all of "Talk Radio," at first
suggested strategic teleprompters so there'd be no missed lines. All
he's missed so far, however, are the teleprompters.
--A kerfuffle on West 26th with Matt Damon shooting "The Bourne
Ultimatum." Despite big packages to deliver, a postal truck couldn't
park. The driver had to idle far away and schlep the goods by hand
because a stunt car was to explode on the scene. Also exploding were
the locals, whose comings and goings were being restricted.
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY....
--Madonna and pregnant pal Naomi Watts led the well-deserved standing
ovation for Watts' boyfriend Liev Schreiber at his opening in "Talk
Radio."
--Tea Leoni faced the frost in Boston at actress Christy Scott
Cashman's screening of "Kettle of Fish" last week to watch Cashman,
Matthew Modine, Gina Gershon, Fisher Stevens, Amy Sacco and Bobby
Zarem in the chick flick, about a bachelor who confronts intimacy
issues once he sublets to a sexy biologist. "The only things I'm
wearing that aren't wool are my sunglasses and brassiere," quipped
Leoni, who tore herself away from hubby David Duchovny and their kids
in Malibu for the screening, a benefit for UNICEF. Leoni's grandmother
was president of UNICEF'S U.S. Committee.
--Gym bunnies at Equinox at 74th & Broadway may get to sweat next to
Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, who stopped in Friday to inquire
about joining.
--Six billionaires called Forbes to complain about their placement on
the mag's new list of the world's richest.
--Jenny McCarthy squeezed into one of those Veuve Clicquot rose-petal
loveseats with a galpal at the W Hotel in L.A. Thursday and was
overheard saying that boyfriend Jim Carrey has agreed that she's
allowed to "fool around with" Justin Timberlake if the opportunity
ever presents itself.
--A brunette Hilary Duff did the "I'm a singer now" thing at a show in
Milan last week to promote her upcoming album, "Dignity."
--A shady Jennifer Aniston stayed well-hydrated in New York last week.
--The "American Idol" men kept their bickering to a minimum at a Top
12 Finalists party in West Hollywood.
--Mark Wahlberg prepares for a Boston street fight - uh, we mean,
plays a friendly round of golf in the new Men's Journal, out tomorrow.
The "Departed" Oscar nominee tells the mag it's almost time for a
different kind of tough-guy role. "Sooner or later, I have to take a
backseat to my family," he says. "I want to be there - and need to be
there. When my daughter is 10 and 11, and especially in the teenage
years, I want to be there with a gun. It's not mess-around time."
USA TODAY/Ann Oldenburg....
--Regis Philbin said this morning on Live with Regis and Kelly that he
had been feeling chest pains and shortness of breath for a couple of
weeks before the show's recent California trip. After medical tests,
he said doctors concluded that: "I should have a bypass." ...I was
looking forward to an angioplasty. I thought I could get away with
that, but anyway, there's some plaque clogging up some arteries, and
I've got to get that cleaned out." He'll have the heart bypass this
week, he said, adding that he called his buddy David Letterman and he
"highly, highly recommends it." Kelly offered to be his sponge bath
nurse.
--Scarlett Johansson goes brunette with bangs: http://snipurl.com/1criv
--Hilary Duff wears fishnets: http://snipurl.com/1criz
--Jaime Pressly is due to give birth to her son on Mother's Day. And
now, look for her growing bump on her NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl.
Rather than hide her belly behind oversized coats and huge lamps, our
own Donna Freydkin reports that creator Greg Garcia wrote Pressly's
pregnancy into the show by having Joy have a baby for her half-sister
Liberty. "She wants to be a professional wrestler, so I become a
surrogate mother and that's genius because that way, we don't have to
deal with having an infant on set next year," says Pressly. As trash-
tastic Joy, who proudly matches her bra straps to her shoes and
sloughs on the blue eye liner, Pressly gets to wear "cheeseball
maternity wear, like shirts that say 'Knocked up' and 'not a virgin,'"
laughs the actress. "It's complete white trash." Pressly, meanwhile,
is dealing with all the travails of first-time pregnancy. "I looked in
the mirror last night and said, 'good god!' My ass is so wide. It's
spread," says Pressly. "Once I have the baby, I have to get back in
the gym and go all GI Jane." She's marveling at "things you cannot
imagine happening to your body." Like cellulite. "Never had in my
entire life. But you get it on your butt and thighs. On the front of
your thighs! Above your knees! It's fat pockets that you accumulate."
Plus, there are "the veins in your boobs, the dark spots on your face.
It's incredible."
--Nip/Tuck TV show fans will be interested to hear that creator Ryan
Murphy told Access Hollywood there are at least "10 guest stars" lined
up for theupcoming season and "fantastic new sets." At the end of last
season, the docs moved to L.A. so it makes sense more stars would
appear. -Is Nicole Kidman one of them (as has been rumored)? "Nicole
Kidman's coming," Murphy told Access. "I don't know when but that's my
scoop. People say, 'Is she coming or is she not? She wants to do it so
we're trying to make it work." Rosie O'Donnell will definitely be
returning. But as for her rumored spin-off show, Murphy said only that
the wheels are in motion. Joely Richardson, who took a break from the
show to care for her ill daughter, will be back for a few episodes.
Update: Murphy told Extra TV that he's also hoping Madonna will be on
the show. "I'm going to write something for Madonna... who is a fan of
the show and I would love for her to do something with Rosie."
--Angelina Jolie is in talks to star in The Changeling about a woman
son is kidnapped and returned, but she thinks it's not her child.
They'll edit it, but USA Network has bought the rights to Borat, to
air in 2009 on the cable channel.
--CBS just sent out a release saying Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan will
guest star as himself on the March 30 episode of Ghost Whisperer.
Story line: Melinda needs him to help a ghost dog cross over.
--Ross "the Intern" Mathews from The Tonight Show has just wrapped
shooting a new edition of Celebrity Fit Club - to air on VH1 in April.
He's on it with Kimberley Locke - American Idoler who was on The View
today chatting about it. Locke looked great. And Ross, judging from
the wrap party photos in his blog, also looks great. He can't reveal
how much weight he lost, but look at his photo on the top of his blog
and then look down at the party photos. Big difference! Other celebs
on the bootcamp show: Maureen McCormick, Da Brat, Warren G, Dustin
Diamond, Cledus T. Judd and Tiffany.
USA TODAY/Cindy Clark.....
--Actor and baseball enthusiast Ben Affleck will narrate Red Sox Baby:
Raising Tomorrow's Boston Red Sox Fan Today, the latest from the
sports-centered children's DVD series from Team Baby Entertainment,
out April 17 ($19.95). The Boston native and father of daughter
Violet, 1, will train infants and preschool-age children to become Red
Sox fans. The DVD features Red Sox footage, graphics and merchandise
to help teach counting, spelling, shape and color recognition, and
places emphasis on teamwork and safety.
--The Rolling Stones, Madonna and Bon Jovi top Billboard's annual 2007
Money Makers list for bringing in the most money in 2006, and the
Stones are pegged (via a formula that combines estimates of revenue
from record and concert sales) as earning $234 million. The rest of
the top 10: Tim McGraw, U2, Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney,
Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil's Delirium.
--Beck, Belle and Sebastian, The Decemberists, The Editors, Lupe
Fiasco, Joanna Newsom, Cat Power, The Raconteurs and Neil Young are on
the "long list" of nominees for the sixth annual Shortlist Music
Prize. Given by the Shortlist Organization, the prize is a peer-
selected award that recognizes the most creative and adventurous
albums of the year. The 61 nominees will be narrowed down to 10
finalists in April, and the winner will be announced later in the
spring.
By Jeannette Walls/MSNBC.....
--Sheryl Crow isn't an "American Idol" fan. "Let's face it, it
undermines art in every way and promotes commercialism," the "All I
Wanna Do" singer told Ladies Home Journal. "I am sad people love it
so."
--Don't expect Willie Nelson to show up in a crew cut anytime soon.
"There have been a couple of times I've run into people who have
requested that I cut my hair, but I'm not going to do it," the braided
singer tells Stuff magazine. "Not for a movie or anything. You know,
I might decide I don't like it one day and cut it all off, but I
wouldn't do it just because that's what somebody wanted me to do."
--Arnold Schwarzenegger is turning green. The governor of California,
who single-handedly popularized the Hummer, is on the cover of Outside
magazine's environmentally-conscience "Green Issue." But he's not
ready to give up on his oversized SUV just yet. "I talked to GM about
creating a hydrogen-fueled Hummer, and two years ago, they delivered
one," Schwarzenegger told the mag. "I changed one of my military
Hummers over from regular diesel to biofuel. When I drive it around,
it smells like French fries."
http://janetcharltonshollywood.com/....
--Nothing kills a buzz like golf clothes. Put a hot guy in a golf
shirt and he immediately turns into Uncle Bert. Would anybody guess
that possibly the most eligible bachelor in Hollywood, Justin
Timberlake, is under those clothes? Yes, that's really him. Why do
golfers have to DRESS like that? Playing golf is bad enough - LOOKING
like you play golf is perhaps the worst fashion crime. PHOTO:
http://snipurl.com/1crlb
--When we heard that Reese Witherspoon changed her mind and dropped
out of doing the movie Bunny Lake is Missing, we weren't surprised.
The film is a remake of a 60's psychological thriller about a mother
whose child disappears from preschool and police try to convince her
she never had a child. Joe Carnahan was set to write and direct. Reese
blamed her depature on "script problems" but we think the real reason
is she finally got around to watching the director Joe Carnahan's LAST
feature "Smokin' Aces!" One look at THAT macho debacle was enough to
change any intelligent girl's mind! Smart move, Reese.
LAS VEGAS JOURNAL/NORM CLARKE...
--ESPN pit reporter Jamie Little, who lives in Las Vegas, told me
daredevil motorcyclist Mike Metzger, who leaped the fountains at
Caesars Palace last year, is planning to jump into NASCAR racing.
--At the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup race on Sunday:
Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey, riding in the pre-race parade lap
with driver Jimmie Johnson, who won the race for the third year in a
row at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Mark Wahlberg; pro wrestling legend
Bill Goldberg, in Greg Biffle's pit area; Magic Johnson, honorary crew
chief for the Best Buy car driven by Jeff Green; Carrot Top, in the
pre-race driver's meeting; and Sierra Boggess of "Phantom: The Las
Vegas Spectacular," singing the national anthem. Boggess, who plays
Christine, is reportedly in line to land the lead role in Disney's
"The Little Mermaid," which will open in Denver soon and move to
Broadway this fall. Also at the race Sunday: Original Mouseketeer Paul
Petersen of "The Donna Reed Show," in the Boyd Gaming box; former NFL
quarterback Troy Aikman, who is part-owner of Tony Raines' race car;
Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and Mayor Oscar Goodman, and Melissa Rivers.
Robin Leach served as the master of ceremonies of the pre-race
festivities.
--NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon and wife Ingrid, who are expecting their
first child, a girl, in July, at the 7 p.m. performance Saturday of
the Beatles tribute "Love" by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage.
--Jimmie Johnson, with a group Saturday night at Il Mulino in Forum
Shops at Caesars Palace that included Lachey and Minnillo.
--At Pure in Caesars on Saturday: Enrique Iglesias, NFL quarterback
Steve McNair, Dave Navarro, Brittany Snow, Jonny Fairplay and actor
Jeffrey Donovan.
--At N9ne Steakhouse in the Palms on Saturday: Pete Rose, Goldberg,
former boxing star Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Vondie Curtis-Hall of the
original "Dreamgirls" cast on Broadway, NFL star Adam Archuleta and
entertainer Frankie Scinta.
--Former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie, hanging out backstage at the
Fremont Street Experience with Artimus Pyle from Lynyrd Skynyrd and
other members of Deep South, Jimmy Hall, Robert Nix, Chris Hicks and
Hal McCormack. Flutie sat in on drums for two songs.
ASSOCIATED PRESS....
--Reese Witherspoon has backed out of a big movie in which she was
slated to produce and star, TMZ.com reports. The movie, "Bunny Lake Is
Missing," was to be a remake of Otto Preminger's 1965 film about a
woman whose daughter disappears from a nursery school. Cops then try
to convince the woman that her daughter was a figment of her
imagination. Reports circulated that Witherspoon did not feel
emotionally invested in the film, that her psyche was fragile after
her divorce from Ryan Phillippe. But a Hollywood source tells TMZ the
problem had nothing to do with emotions. Reese signed onto the project
after being presented with a draft script. Last week, she received
what she thought would be a completed script, but it turned out to be
80 pages that had major sections of the movie outlined but not
written. Witherspoon exercised her option not to approve the script
and withdrew as the star of the project.
--CABLE news host Rita Cosby said over the weekend that she is leaving
MSNBC, confirming a Page Six report in The Post last week. Her
contract expires April 1 and, in a prepared statement, she said she
would "begin to explore new opportunities" then. The former Fox News
Channel personality jumped to MSNBC in 2003 but never found a secure
fit in the cable channel's ever-changing line-up.
--STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Snoop Dogg was held by police overnight on
suspicion of using illegal narcotics but was released after
questioning and drug tests, a police spokesman said Monday. The artist
was heading to a party after a concert in the Swedish capital when
police stopped the car he was riding in around 1:30 a.m., said Matts
Brannlund, of the Stockholm police. He said Snoop Dogg and a female
companion showed signs of drug use and were taken to a police station.
"He was deemed to be under the influence of narcotics," Brannlund
said. A small amount of narcotics also was found in the car, but
Brannlund could not specify which kind of drug and he said it was
unclear whether it belonged to Snoop Dogg. "He underwent some tests
that will now be sent away for analysis," Brannlund said. "In two to
three weeks, we'll know if he was on something." Snoop Dogg was
released shortly after 5 a.m. but could face a fine if his drug test
comes back positive, Brannlund said. In Sweden, which has some of the
strictest narcotics laws in Europe, minor drug offenses are punished
with fines. Snoop Dogg, who performed with P. Diddy in Stockholm's
Globe Arena late Sunday, was the latest international artist to get in
trouble with the law following a gig in Sweden. Babyshambles frontman
Pete Doherty was fined in southern Sweden after traces of cocaine were
found in his blood following a concert at the Hultsfred music festival
in June 2006. Later that month, Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose had to
spend a day in a Stockholm jail cell after a brawl with a hotel
security guard, but he was released after paying a fine.
--ATHENS, Ga. - R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe says he still feels a
strong bond with a community of artists and musicians in the college
town he calls home. R.E.M. almost single-handedly made Athens famous
as a hotbed for independent rock in the 1980s. The group, which has
won three Grammys and sold over 70 million records, will be inducted
into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony Monday night. Stipe,
who splits his time between Athens and New York, said he feels "more
connected to the community of artists that I've gone back to time and
again and been re-energized and re-excited by - (people) who take
ideas in progressively different directions." The town has always had
an independent and creative spirit, Stipe said. "(Athens) is very much
about creating your own thing rather than imitating something coming
out of cultural hot spots like New York or L.A.," Stipe says. "And I'm
happy to report - and I do that a lot, I feel like I'm the champion
campaigner for the community that Athens is - that what was more music-
centric in the '80s has now branched out to things like photography
and painting and filmmaking and different mediums."
--NASHVILLE - Country music queen Loretta Lynn, the coal miner's
daughter, is getting an honorary doctorate from Boston's Berklee
College of Music. Berklee President Roger H. Brown will make the
presentation on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday for Lynn's
contributions to contemporary music and tackling real-life situations
faced by many women. Lynn, 72, was one of the best-known female
vocalists of the 1960s and 1970s, tackling women's issues before
feminism came in vogue. Her 1969 hit the Coal Miner's Daughter told of
growing up in a cabin while her father worked in a Kentucky coal mine.
"You put out a song that isn't life, nobody is going to care for it,
because if nobody is living that life, how are you going to sell a
record if it's just Ring Around the Rosie?" Lynn told ABC's This Week
in an interview that aired Sunday. "You know, you've got to put your
whole heart into a song, and that's what I did with every song that I
wrote." Others who have received honorary doctorates of music from
Berklee include Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Sting
and Bonnie Raitt.
chatnoir
pusss...@aol.com wrote:
> NY POST/PAGE SIX...
> --Six billionaires called Forbes to complain about their placement on
> the mag's new list of the world's richest.
>
03/09/07 Gates/Buffett Make Forbes List Again
http://www.dudehisattva.com/forbe.jpg
New York, NY (APE) - This month's special issue of Forbes Magazine
features the publisher's annual list of the world's poorest
individuals, and again this year Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates
and financier Warren Buffett finished dead last. Forbes reported that
the bottom 100th of a percent of the list had grown to 946, up over
200 from last year.
The magazine made an attempt to track down people living on less than
$1-$2 per day all across the globe in an effort to identify the
world's poorest individuals. After attempting to sort through a list
of over 50 billion eligible people worldwide, the magazine's editorial
staff gave up and just attempted to select one deserving person for an
interview. The magazine eventually named an unidentified five-year-
old male child from Darfur as the world's poorest individual, but he
subsequently died after his picture was taken and was unable to
complete an interview, and no family members were available for
comment.
Forbes also listed countries most responsible for advancing poverty
and Sudan finished first, with China, America, and India finishing in
the top 10. A list was also compiled of global corporations most
responsible for advancing poverty, but it was declared too
controversial and not included.