Monday, January 25, 2010

Angelina Jolie was so jealous of Jennifer Aniston: So will Brad Pitt go back to his ex?

Jolie says he's 'boring and toxic'. Brad says she needs to see a shrink. Now, as the world's most famous couple divide up six children and nine houses, the REAL question is: Will he go back to his ex?

Gone 10pm in the award-winning Alto restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, and the world's most famous showbusiness couple have already been there for four hours.

They've sunk five bottles of wine (two red, two white and an Italian dessert wine) and eaten a four-course dinner, while the friends they were discussing charity work with have long gone.

Now, as fellow diners including actor Alec Baldwin look on, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are struggling to keep their emotions in check. He looks close to tears as he tells the mother of their children that she needs to get psychiatric help or he will leave her.


She hisses back to Brad that she's bored with him, she considers him 'toxic' and wants him out of her life.

It is said to be this dinner, earlier this month, that finally sealed the fate of the Brangelina story which has fascinated the world ever since Brad left Jennifer Aniston six years ago to be with Angelina, his co-star in Mr And Mrs Smith, the film he was working on.

When the pair left the restaurant an hour later, Angelina looked grim and determined. Brad wore an expression of deep concern as they stepped into their large people-carrier.
Were their strained looks an indication of what was going through their minds? For it was reported yesterday that a few days later the pair walked into a Beverly Hills lawyer's office to finalise the terms of their split. Although they never married, they have six children, a £205 million fortune, and several homes between them.

Compared to their years of rows with differing opinions on everything from how to bring up their children to art and world poverty, their meeting at the lawyer appears to have gone smoothly. They will have joint custody of the children, who will live with Angelina.
Jennifer Aniston

They will split their fortune evenly and have agreed how they will share their extensive property portfolio. The couple own five houses on the Loz Feliz estate in Los Angeles and the 35-bedroom, £20million palace Chateau Miravel in the South of France.

They also own an island in Dubai in the shape of Ethiopia, a wildlife reserve and several villages in Cambodia, as well as a £1.2 million house in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

And they recently leased a £30 million home in Long Island, where Angelina filmed Salt.

Brad also has a £9 million house in Malibu where he lived with Jennifer Aniston. He put it on the market a year ago, but has decided to keep it.

The actor was noticeably absent at the Screen Actors' Guild awards on Saturday night, despite his film Inglourious Basterds winning a prize for outstanding cast of a motion picture.

But perhaps the most telling sign of things to come took place the night before when Brad, 46, attended the internationally publicised celebrity telethon to raise funds for Haiti - with his former wife Aniston.

Angelina, 34, is notoriously prickly about Jennifer, and Brad has only ever been seen publicly at the same event as his ex-wife on one previous occasion - last year's Oscars - and then he had Angelina at his side.

Although, until now, Angelina has always seemed to have had the upper hand in the famous love triangle which has so fascinated the public, she has never got over the fact that Brad's family, and the public at large, has always preferred Jennifer to her.

Her jealousy about Jennifer, 40, has always been hard for Brad to fathom - particularly as Angelina is still close to both her ex-husbands.

As for Jennifer, she has struggled to find lasting romance since her marriage broke up, and has often admitted she still loves Brad. Only a year ago she spoke of her hurt when Angelina confirmed what had long been suspected - that the pair's affair started before Jennifer had split from Brad.

A few weeks before their Alto dinner, Brad and Angelina had a furious row over her jealousy - and according to one magazine Angelina physically attacked him when he admitted he had been in contact with his ex-wife.

He has furiously denied allegations that he has actually spent time with Jennifer, but numerous sources say she has, very ironically, been a shoulder for him to cry on as his relationship with Angelina has crumbled.

But Brad being seen with Jennifer is far from the only clue to an imminent split. You have only to look at Brad and Angelina to see how this is affecting them both.

Once half of the sexiest couple in Hollywood, Brad, who used to be so fastidious about his appearance, now looks little better than a tramp, with his ridiculous greying beard and growing paunch. He has also made no secret that he has been taking consolation in drink - frequently boasting to journalists on a recent junket about how he was still drunk from the night before.
Angelina, meanwhile, is frighteningly skinny. Her weight is said to have fallen to less than 71/2st.

Although sources close to the family deny the separation is happening, there is every indication that, in reality, the pair have been living separate lives for a long time. Brad recently bought a house in the same development of their Los Angeles base so they do not have to sleep under the same roof on the rare occasions when they are both in town.

When they stay in hotels - and much of their lives is spent in them, as they both continue to work on movie sets - they sleep in separate bedrooms, with her in the main suite and him in a bedroom next to their children.

Hotel worker Anna Kowalski, who liaised with the couple at their recent stays at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, said: 'I didn't see any kind of connection between Pitt and Jolie.
pugh.jpg

'I've seen no family dinners, no movie nights, no dinners for the two of them alone. At night Angelina drinks white or red wine in the suite; Brad is always in the lounge drinking beer. He just sits by himself texting on his phone for hours.'

She added that, when they did go out, it was usually a stage-managed event to counteract rumours of problems in their relationship. 'It's always a big production,' she said. 'It's all orchestrated down to which door they will take.'

Sources say there is little doubt about what Angelina is going to do now. First, she will move the family to Chateau Miravel, the couple's lavish home in Provence, which she will use as a base while she films her next movie, The Tourist, in Prague and Venice.

Because of strict privacy laws in France, she will be able to mourn her relationship in peace, but no one will be surprised if some shots of her looking tragic somehow make it into the newspapers.

Once free of Brad, she also plans to fulfil her dream of adopting yet another child; it is her determination to continue to adopt children that has been one of the couple's biggest sources of aggravation.

Angelina had already adopted one child, Maddox, who is now seven and from Cambodia, when she and Brad first got together.

In the five years since, they have acquired five more children.

Three are natural born; three-year-old Shiloh and one-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. And there are two more adopted children; Zahara, four, and five-year-old Pax.

The pair are permanently exhausted from looking after their brood and Brad describes their home life as 'chaos'. But almost as soon as she had given birth to her twins, Angelina started to talk about adopting another child.




Angelina has always been happy to parade her humanitarian credentials, and it was when she was filming Tomb Raider in 2001 in Cambodia that she first became aware of humanitarian crises overseas. She started to visit refugee camps all over the world and later that year became a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

She is said to feel immensely guilty about having her own children when there are so many unwanted orphans in the world.

She feels the couple's genetic children have each other, while Maddox and Pax, who are both boys from the Far East, are best friends. But Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia, needs a sibling who looks like her.

Angelina started her hunt for another child from Africa seven months ago. She has been looking in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa for an easy way to adopt. Brad doesn't agree with the plans.

He never felt any guilt about the couple's genetic children - he just adores them. He also felt the whole family needed some time without the upheaval of introducing yet another sibling and, as the relationship crumbled, he became even more concerned about bringing a vulnerable new child into it.
Brad Pitt


He was also worried that Angelina's almost desperate need to keep adopting, keep working, and keep doing her charity work was to cover up the depression she has been unable to shake off since the death of her actress mother Marcheline Bertrand from ovarian cancer three years ago.

There are rumours that Angelina even attempted suicide at the end of last year and it seems clear that the actress is working so hard at keeping herself busy that something is eventually going to give.

She has suffered from depression in the past: as a teenager she grappled with an eating disorder and self-mutilation. And in 2000, shortly after winning an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted, she checked herself into a mental home, insisting to horrified staff - and wholly without foundation - that she had murdered someone and also that she had tried to hire a hitman to kill her.

Knowing her history, Brad is said to have begged Angelina to seek psychiatric help this time around - but she has refused. Worries about the impact of her constant jetting off to the world's trouble spots with a child or two have also led to constant rows.

Unlike Angelina, whose father is the actor Jon Voight, Brad had a traditional middle-class Southern Baptist family. He always hoped for a family; but he never expected it to be like this.

Even though they have a constant rota of six nannies, having six children is exhausting. Anxious to ensure the children do not get too attached to their nannies, the women are changed every few months. The children fight for their parents' attention.

The pair take turns at living without them. Angelina rents a suite at the Raffles L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills to escape. Brad enjoys weeklong jaunts with friends to Europe, where he drinks and buys art.

When they spend so much time apart, in different parts of the world, it's no wonder that there have been numerous allegations of infidelity. Earlier this month it was claimed that Angelina had been sleeping with a vocal coach on her latest movie, Salt.

And last month Angelina added fuel to the fire of allegations when she told a German magazine: 'Neither Brad nor I have ever claimed that living together means to be chained together. We make sure that we never restrict each other.

'I doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship. It's worse to leave your partner and talk badly about him afterwards.'

Another huge source of contention is Angelina's brother James Haven. He first became a subject of public fascination when his sister picked up her first and only Oscar, saying she was 'so in love with my brother right now' before giving him a long kiss on the lips.

A friend says: 'Angie adores him so much that Shiloh was named after him - it was his family nickname.'

All Brad and Angelina's rows have served to show the pair just how ill-matched they are. While the couple may initially have been bewitched by an extraordinary sexual magnetism which saw them spending whole days in bed together, those differences have since come to the fore.

Both are tired of the rows and the unhappiness. One question arises from the collapse of the Pitt-Jolie household. Does it mean Brad doing a lot more charity work with a certain Jennifer Aniston - as he was on Friday night?

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Have bunions got the better of Victoria Beckham? Posh swaps high heels for ballet flats


She once said of ballerina flats: 'Unless they're on a ballet dancer doing ballet, I just don't get it.'

But it seems Victoria Beckham has finally given in, as the years spent wearing her trademark skyscraper heels take their painful toll.

Ignoring her own fashion rule, Beckham stepped out today in a pair of classy-yet-comfortable black ballet flats.

It comes after she was spotted wearing trainers last week, perhaps in a sign that her bunions have got the better of her.

Whether she's shopping, attending a school fete or about to board a plane, up until now there was no event that the mother-of three didn't deem worthy of a pair of towering heels.

She wore Louboutin heels when she visited Universal Studios theme park with her sons and a pair of heel-less, Antonio Berardi PVC boots at the designer's show in Paris.

But today was a stark contrast.

Beckham donned the ballerina flats for her flight into London's Heathrow airport today.

She teamed the practical shoes with an understated navy blue shift dress and one of her many Hermes Birkin bags.

Her bunions have become so bad that she is said to be facing surgery to remove them.

Friends said recently she was in such agony that she was having to put ice on her feet and do daily exercises in a desperate bid to avoid having the bunionectomy operations advised by her doctors.

Beckham is believed to wear corrective insoles in some shoes.
The pin-thin star, whose high-end fashion range counts supermodel Elle Macpherson among its fans, loves shoes by designers such as Christian Louboutin, which cost from £500.


She swore she would never wear ballet flats as she 'beyond hated them.'

To combat her agony Beckham, 35, has been doing exercises, such as standing on a step and lowering her weight onto one leg, and lying on her back to stretch her legs.

If she has the surgery, she could face at least two months out of high heels.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hot Jennifer Aniston rekindles her relationship with British actor Gerard Butler

It had seemed she would never find lasting happiness.

And even this month, 40-year-old Jennifer Aniston suffered the humiliation of seeing former love Vince Vaughn marry an estate agent he met after leaving her.

But now it appears the star has rekindled her relationship with tough guy British actor Gerard Butler.
Aniston and the actor most famou for planing Spartan king Leonidas in the CGI movie 300 presented the Best Screenplay award together at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
And, according to witnesses, afterwards Miss Aniston and Mr Butler, also 40, happily continued to team up together.

At first, they drank champagne in the kitchens of The Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the awards had taken place, before then ‘making out.’

And according to U.S. reports, they were being so overt with their canoodling that event organisers were laughing about the couple’s smooching on their walkie-talkies.

A source revealed: ‘After they presented, they were drinking Moet backstage. At one point, they were making out in the kitchen. They were attached at the hip all night.’
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler Golden Globes

The source continued: ‘They definitely seem very couple-y. Produces for the show were actually laughing about it over their walkie-talkies.’

Later, at the aftershow party, they were enjoying each other’s company again as they drank champagne at the hotel with Miss Aniston’s best friend Courteney Cox and her husband David Arquette.

According to another guest, Miss Aniston kept ‘whispering’ in Mr Butler’s ear.

Miss Aniston, who ensured a lot of attention by wearing a black dress with a long split up the side, and Mr Butler, from Paisley, Scotland, first became close when filming forthcoming movie The Bounty Hunter together last summer.

According to film buffs, the sexual chemistry between the pair is obvious in the film. And the pair do share some intimate on-screen moments. In one scene, Miss Aniston even straddles her co-star while handcuffed to a bed.

The pair were rumoured to have been involved in an off-screen tryst while filming the flick, with a source claiming they enjoyed kisses between scenes and spent free time in Miss Aniston’s trailer. But, at the time, Mr Butler insisted they were just friends.

Miss Aniston was married to Brad Pitt for almost five years before splitting in 2005 and he took up with Angelina Jolie.

She then dated Vaughn. Since then she has enjoyed romances with British model Paul Sculfor and musician John Mayer, who she split with in March last year.

Vaughn, who dated Miss Aniston for more than a year, married his Canadian estate agent girlfriend Kyla Weber in a small ceremony near Chicago earlier this month.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Precious star Mo'Nique surprises Golden Globe guests by showing off her hairy legs

She may have won a Golden Globe to Best Supporting Actress this week, but larger-than-life actress Mo'Nique won't be winning any awards for her personal grooming.

The actress, who picked up the award for her role as an abusive mother in Precious, was pictured hitching up her dress to show off her less than smooth legs on the red carpet at the star-studded event.

Strangely the 42-year-old had well pedicured, smooth feet complete with newly-applied nail varnish, but had neglected to tend to the hair on her legs.

But, far from hiding them away, the actress decided to let the world know her legs were unshaven - lifting her silk dress to give them an airing.
It is not the first time the actress and comedian, real name Monique Imes, has revealed her lack of grooming.

During a 2006 appearance on U.S. talk show The View, she told host Barbara Walters:

'I must show America what a real leg looks like … because it's too much in the morning, every morning, to shave, to cut, you got Band-aids baby.'
Thankfully though she did admit to shaving her armpit hair to avoid what she called "stink".

In Precious, which also stars singer Mariah Carey as a dowdy social worker, Mo'Nique takes on a harrowing role as the abusive mother of a obese teenager who has twice been impregnated by her own father.

She recently praised Carey on her acting skills in an interview with website Moviefone.

The comedian-turned-actress said: 'She was amazing. It said it all on her face. It said it, you read it, you felt it, you understood it. She was just, hands down, brilliant.'
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Thursday, January 14, 2010

First pictures of Beyoncé's most shameful ever gig... for playboy son of Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi

She's just been named one-half of the richest couple in showbiz... and perhaps here's why.

Beyoncé appears unable to say no to any gig - even when the host is the leering son of a Middle-Eastern despot - if a reputed $2m is on the table.

And so the stunning chart-topper found herself performing hits in a leotard on a tiny stage in tacky surroundings on New Year's Eve in the Caribbean island of St Barts.

In pictures which emerged on the day she and super-producer husband Jay-Z were named the highest-earning entertainers in the world by Forbes magazine, she can be seen strutting and kneeling before Muatsim Gaddafi.

The sparkly leotard slashed to reveal sections of her tummy and cleavage is so very Beyoncé, but it's hard to envisage Hollywood's highest-earner plying her trade in a tawdry setting resembling a cheap lapdancing club.

Certainly Muatsim Gaddafi, the third son of the Libyan leader Muammar-al Gaddafi, couldn't take his eyes off the Crazy In Love star as she gyrated and sang in front of him, his friends and other partygoers, including her businessman rapper husband Jay-Z.

Gaddafi smokes cigarettes, knocks back drinks and laughs with guests including Jon Bon Jovi, Usher and pretty, young female guests.

Beyoncé, 28, is believed to have been paid $2m fee for her performance at his private party at Nikki Beach on the Caribbean island - although that amount was not even required to help them top the Forbes magazine list.

Jay-Z, 40, and BeyoncĂ© picked up an astonishing $110m (£68m) between June 2008 and June 2009.

Beyoncé's huge earnings stem from her I Am...Sasha Fierce world tour from March to June 2009 which raked in $14m, an extra $4m in sponsorship and $21million from album sales alone.

Jay-Z, dubbed the King of Rap, contributed his millions to the partnership through his record label, clothing line and movie production company as well as his music - he headlined Glastonbury - and also signed a $150million ten-year, three-album deal with live events company Live Nation.
A-listers Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart were way back in second spot with £42m and Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie only third with £33m. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith were fourth with £29m and David and Victoria Beckham fifth with £28.2m.

Victoria and David Beckham also made the top five having earned $46 million between June 2008 and June 2009. The vast majority of that comes from David Beckham, who plays for the Major Soccer League's Los Angeles Galaxy.

While many fans will find the sight of the star performing at such a sleazy gig offensive, they will be doubly so for relatives of Lockerbie bomb victims.

In 2003, Colonel Gaddafi finally admitted Libya was responsible for bringing down the Pan Am Flight 103 en route to New York in 1988, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members plus 11 people on the ground.
Gaddafi gave a hero's welcome to the only man convicted in connection with the incident, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, when he was released from a Scottish jail last August on compassionate grounds when a Libyan doctor provided evidence that he was dying.

Gaddafi has ruled Libya since 1969 when, as a 27-year-old military officer, he staged a bloodless coup d'etat against King Idris I.

Muatsim is seen as a possible successor to his father as Libya's next leader.

He was once a Lieutenant Colonel in the Libyan Army but fled to Egypt after allegedly masterminding an Egyptian backed coup attempt against his father.
Gaddafi forgave him and he returned to Libya where he now holds the post of national security adviser and heads his own unit within the army.

Another of his sons, nicknamed Hannibal, was involved in an incident at Claridge's Hotel in London on Christmas Day when police were called to his £4,000-a-night suite.

Three of security guards were arrested and his wife, Aline Skaf, was taken to hospital with a broken nose. She later claimed that her injuries were the result of an accidental fall.

However, Hannibal has previous for violence against women. In 2005, he was arrested in a Paris hotel for punching a woman and was given a four-month suspended sentence and a £350 fine for assault and in 2008, he was held in police custody in Switzerland for two days for allegedly beating up his servants.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z have also been among U.S. President Barack Obama's biggest celebrity supporters and their willingness to be linked to the Gaddafi clan after the Libyan leaders long hostility to the U.S. will come as a surprise in America.

A spokesman for Beyoncé has so far refused to comment on either the New Year's Eve bash or the couple's relationship with Mr Gaddafi.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Avatar effect: Movie-goers feel depressed and even suicidal at not being able to visit utopian alien planet

A utopian planet inhabited by blue aliens is the ideal setting for a bit of cinematic escapism.

But the world of the sci-fi epic Avatar is so perfect the line between fact and fiction has become somewhat blurred.

Movie-goers have admitted being plagued by depression and suicidal thoughts at not being able to visit the planet Pandora.

Set in the future when Earth's resources have been depleted, director James Cameron's film tells the story of a corporation trying to mine a rare mineral.

The humans clash with the natives - a peace-loving race of 7ft tall, blue-skinned creatures called the Na'vi, who exist in perfect harmony with nature.

Fans have flooded the internet with their confused feelings. On the site Avatar Forums, the topic 'Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible' has more than 1,000 posts.

In a similar forum, one user wrote: 'When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It just seems so meaningless.

'I still don't really see any reason to keep doing things at all. I live in a dying world.'

On another site, one fan was even more affected, admitting: 'I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.'

On the Avatar site Naviblue, a fan calling himself Jorba has even asked others to join him in starting a real Na'vi tribe.

The blockbuster movie - which has already taken more than $1billion at the box office - tells the story of a disabled marine sent on a mission to a planet called Pandora, home to a race of giant blue aliens.

Humans are intent on exploiting the planet for its resources but clash with the native Na'vi, who inhabit their world in perfect harmony with nature.

This fantasy world, with its weird and wonderful plant and animal life, is brought to life using stunning special effects.

The Consumer Electronics Show, which ended in Las Vegas on Sunday, saw the advent of 3D televisions making most of the news.

Many commentators believe that 2010 is the breakthrough year for the technology helped by 3D movies such as Avatar.

DEALING WITH THE AVATAR BLUES

On the official Avatar website, David Scott Jaggers (from Texas) posted

'I can totally relate [to people feeling depressed about having to leave the world of Pandora]. I think most us can here.

'For me, getting to talk to you guys online allows me to feel closer to the movie, or maybe closer to you guys because we can share our feeling and thoughts and friendships.

So many things from the movie, like for example the idea of brotherhood we can bring to this very real world of ours.'

But on the www.halflife2.net forum others begged to differ

XCELLERATE wrote: 'People just want whatever they don't have. If we had three moons people might see a movie with just one moon and go, 'wow I like that a lot more, it so much simpler'.

TARKUS added: 'These people think they're 'cool' by thinking 'differently' from others.

'They choose an intangible objective (such as living in the avatar's world) so that they can live with the comfort of knowing that they will never get it, because it's actually scary to live without things like internet, and packed meat, and toilets.

'They're all losers and posers if you ask me'

The stunning beauty of the film as well as the view of corporations seems to have hit a nerve with audiences.



The incredible visual realism of the film could mean viewers become particularly attached.

Dr. Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Centre for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York told CNN: 'Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far.

'It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect.'

But not everyone viewing the film has been hit by the 'Avatar Blues', as a small but vocal group have alleged it contains racist themes - the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.

Since the film opened three weeks ago, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have said things such as the film is 'a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people' and that it reinforces 'the white Messiah fable'."

The film's writer and director, James Cameron, says the real theme is about respecting others' differences.

AND THE FAN WHO WANTS TO TAKE HIS ENTHUSIASM A STEP FURTHER ...

Hello all. Would anyone of you be interested in forming an actual Na'vi Tribe?

I would like for it to actually be a physical organisation with live people, and a Tribal Council. For it to start, you have to be physically located in the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

You will need to be in Pensacola, Florida to become a citizen of the tribe. Here is the detail: You must remember that we are trying to set up an actual tribe. This is not an Avatar Fan Club (even though you can start one after our tribe is established)!

The goal of the tribe is to form a new ethnicity that anyone can be a part of, irrespective of politics, corruption and other issues. It is not a role playing group.
After all, the many Native American tribes and even countries such as Kosovo had to start somewhere.


Adding to the racial dynamic is that the main Na'vi characters are played by actors of colour, led by a Dominican, Zoe Saldana, as the princess.

The film also is an obvious metaphor for how European settlers in America wiped out the Indians.

David Brooks, a columnist writing in the New York Times said: 'Avatar is a racial fantasy par excellence ... It rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic.

'It rests on the assumption that non-white need the White Messiah to lead their crusades.

'It rests on the assumption that illiteracy is a path to grace.'

Robinne Lee, an actress in such recent films as 'Seven Pounds' said that 'Avatar' was 'beautiful' and that she understood the economic logic of casting a white lead if most of the audience is white.

But she said the film, which so far has the second-highest worldwide box-office gross ever, still reminded her of Hollywood's Pocahontas story - 'the Indian woman leads the white man into the wilderness, and he learns the way of the people and becomes the saviour'.

'It's really upsetting in many ways,' said Ms Lee, who is black with Jamaican and Chinese ancestry. 'It would be nice if we could save ourselves.'

Although the "Avatar" debate springs from Hollywood's historical difficulties with race, Will Smith recently saved the planet in I Am Legend," and Denzel Washington appears ready to do the same in the forthcoming Book of Eli.

'Can't people just enjoy movies any more?' a person named Michelle posted on the website for Essence, the magazine for black women.

Black film professor and author Donald Bogle said he can understand why people would be troubled by 'Avatar', but stopped short of calling the movie racist.

'It's a film with still a certain kind of distortion,' he said.

'It's a movie that hasn't yet freed itself of old Hollywood traditions, old formulas.'

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Michael Jackson WAS murdered: Death certificate amended by coroner after police investigation

Michael Jackson’s death has been officially ruled as murder, it was revealed today.

The cause of death on the 50-year-old’s death certificate has been amended to 'homicide' after months of speculation.

According to the document the King of Pop died from ‘acute Propofol intoxication’ due to an ‘intravenous injection from another’.


On the original certificate issued on July 7 deputy coroner Cheryl MacWillie refused to give a cause of death.

However after further investigations, the certificate was amended and re-released in August by medical examiner Christopher Thomas. It now states the cause of death on 25th June 2009 as 'homicide'.


A source said that the Jackson family are 'keeping faith with the police', adding: 'We still feel that there is more than one person responsible for Michael's tragic death.

'Joe won't give up on getting justice for his son and a lawuit is his focus.'

The news comes after it emerged that the singer’s doctor Conrad Murray is expected to be charged with manslaughter.


Dr Murray could be prosecuted for 'gross negligence' for his treatment of the pop star during his last hours, police sources said.

Murray, a cardiologist, was with the star at his rented Los Angeles mansion in June and tried to revive him when he was found unconscious.

Murray already has a Houston law firm building his defence. Police affidavits say he admitted loading up Jackson with Propofol and other drugs in the hours before his death.

Miranda Sevcik, a spokeswoman in Houston for Murray and his lawyer, Edward Chernoff, said Friday the doctor had no comment and reiterated that Murray neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed Michael Jackson.

Jackson died while under Murray's care as the singer prepared for an ambitious concert schedule.

The district attorney's office is waiting for Los Angeles police to turn over the case before presenting it to a grand jury, the law enforcement source said.


A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, however, denied that any decisions have been made.

'We have been working closely with the Los Angeles police during the pendency of this investigation,' spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

'There is no case before us at present and no final decision has been made.'

To prove a charge of involuntary manslaughter, authorities must show there was a reckless action that created a risk of death or great bodily injury.

If a doctor is aware of the risk, there might also be an issue of whether the patient knows that risk and decided to take it.

A large number of witnesses have been interviewed by police, including those who were present during Jackson's last days and those who worked with him in preparation for his comeback concert, 'This Is It'.

Authorities have also lined up medical expert witnesses who will testify about the normal standard of care in a situation such as Jackson's and will give opinions on why Murray's actions constituted gross negligence, the source said.

The police investigation was substantially completed by the end of December, the source said.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Katie Price faces tough custody battle with Peter Andre after exposing her children to drunk and rowdy guests at her New Year's Eve party

Katie Price really is her own worst enemy sometimes.

If her current and ex-boyfriend brawling at her New Year's Eve party wasn't bad enough, she now faces a even more fraught custody battle over her children.

Her ex-husband Peter Andre, with whom she has daughter Princess Tiaamii, two, and four-year-old son Junior, is reportedly furious that they were present at the drunken and violent bash.
The singer has allegedly threatened to consult his lawyers after pictures emerged of the young siblings looking tired and confused at the party at 31-year-old Katie's Surrey mansion.

The snaps showing the children have not been published by any news outlet in order to protect them.

The photographs were posted by some of her guests on their Facebook pages even though Katie made everyone sign a confidentiality agreement not to, as her TV show had the exclusive.
Andre, 36, was already livid over the reports that Reid, 34, and former pop star Dane Bowers got into a fight, which, it has now been reported, was allegedly fuelled over Bowers objecting to the way the children were treated.

Bowers, 30, apparently launched a verbal attack on Katie and Reid, shouting: 'Why are you letting the kids be up well past midnight?'

And as the fight broke out, Tiaamii and Junior were reportedly sleeping nearby.

Andre is also angry after Katie refused to let him take their two children to Australia to see in 2010 with his family.

He has now reportedly launched a legal battle against her in an attempt to stop the children being exposed to Kate’s partying lifestyle, and may seek new advice on custody arrangements.

A source said: 'The children are Pete’s top priority. He’s not happy about what’s happened and will do everything he can to protect them.
'Peter is absolutely furious. He can’t believe anybody would go off like that with kids in the house. Little children should not be exposed to this and they shouldn’t even have been there.

'They should have been enjoying themselves in Australia with their dad. Peter's heartbroken they aren't with him in Australia. It is hard enough for him missing them without having to hear about the violence.

'What sort of a mum stops her children from going on holiday with their dad and then keeps them at a party? It’s not the sort of place little ones should be.'

But a source close to Kati insisted last night that both children were tucked up in bed by the time the fight took place.

They said: 'It was a family party and there were lots of children there with nannies to look after them.

'Princess and Junior enjoyed themselves and were in bed long before the fight so knew nothing about it.'

Paris Hilton models her latest present from boyfriend Doug Reinhardt... the tackiest snow suit on the slopes

She's a notorious shopaholic, but if there's one thing Paris Hilton likes more than hitting the stores, it's getting presents.

The socialite received a suitably chavvy white snow suit as a gift from boyfriend Doug Reinhardt, and it seems she couldn't bear to take it off.

As the couple welcomed in the new year on a skiing break in Aspen, Paris was pictured repeatedly wearing the bling suit complete with furry collar.

She posted pictures of herself in it on her Twitter page, posed for photographers and even found time to hit the slopes.

She wrote: 'Getting ready to go skiing. D bought me the cutest white ski suit. Snow Bunny Time! :)'

But it wasn't her only Christmas present. Lucky Paris told her fans that she had received diamond jewellery from her TV star boyfriend.

At home opening Christmas presents from my man,' she Tweeted on Christmas Eve. 'SO happy! He really spoiled me this year and gave me so many incredible presents!

'It's true diamonds are a girl's best friend.'

Paris even found time to take a break from her holiday with Doug and his family to reply to fans concerns that her white fur hood was real fur.
No, don't worry, it is not real fur. Fake fur can look still look cute and real, but it's just synthetic.'

And it wasn't all hard work in the snow.

Paris found the time to relax, Tweeting: 'Finally got back to the hotel. Sitting by the fire drinking a hot chocolate with marshmallows with my favourite person in the world. Loves it.'
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Saturday, January 02, 2010

Pamela Anderson slips out of her low-cut dress as she toasts New Year

Pamela Anderson looked as if she having a fine old time at a New Year's Eve party and really letting her hair down.

Unfortunately she also let the top of her dress down and revealed a little too much of her cleavage as she gave the countdown to midnight.

The 42-year-old actress, who recently starred in panto in Wimbledon, London, was hosting the Gridlock event at Paramount Studios in Hollywood when the wardrobe malfunction occurred.
She had come on stage for the final minutes of 2009 to count down to midnight.

But as she took to the stage with a man dressed as a dalmatian and another as a demon as well as American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert, she was thinking more about toasting 2010 than her dress.

The controversial singer, who affronted his audience when he kissed his keyboard player and performed sexy moves with men at the American Music Awards, had to step in to help her.

Earlier on in the evening she had been pulling up her white dress to ensure it retained some element of modesty.
The 27-year-old attempted to pull up her top, but Pamela seemed to think he was trying to get a feel, and at first held his hand away.

Despite the faux pas, the actress, who is due to appear in Celebrity Big Brother on Sunday, looked pretty in her white dress even though she wore a sparkling sequin glove on one hand.

She also covered herself in gold body glitter, while Adam Lambert went for glitter around his eyes and told the crowd he had gone for a 'firework' look.




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'Worst dressed WAG' Yulia Voronin reclaims the limelight in yet another revealing bikini

She is determined to do anything to get the attention of the camera lens.

And if that means flaunting her curves in yet another bikini on Miami Beach, then WAG Yulia Voronin will do just that.

Yulia, and her Liverpool player husband Andriy, have been relaxing in Florida over the last week, with Yulia showing off a number of somewhat garish swimsuits.
And yesterday was no exception, as she started the New Year seeking out the paparazzi in a bright green two-piece.

On New Year's Eve, she had some stiff swimwear competition from fellow WAG, Christian Vieri's girlfriend Melissa Satta.

While Yulia opted for a more traditional string bikini, Italian model Melissa gave fellow beachgoers an eyeful with her magenta thong bikini.


While Yulia was in the company of her Liverpool player husband Andriy Voronin, Melissa was soaking up the sun with a large group of Italians, including long-term love Christian.

Despite Miami experiencing 27C temperatures on the last day of the year, many sunworshippers stayed out of the unusually chilly water.

But Yulia, 25, decided to brave the cold sea and ventured in for a quick dip, before deciding it was too freezing and ran into the waiting arms of husband Andriy, 30, who had been practising his ball skills on the beach.



However, 23-year-old Melissa decided to stay out of the water and was spotted strolling up and down the beach talking to a female friend.

Over the past few days in Miami, Yulia has been enjoying the attention of the paparazzi in a skimpy red bikini and bright pink velour shorts and t-shirt.


But she found herself upstaged yesterday by Melissa's bottom-baring two-piece, which showed off her many tattoos.
Meanwhile, her boyfriend Vieri, 36, was showing off a slight paunch as he relaxed on the beach in a pair of black swimming trunks.

Vieri retired from football last October after leaving his contract with Italian club Atalanta.



Yulia and her husband have become renowned for their outrageous fashion sense since they moved to the UK in 2007.

The mother-of-two was dubbed 'worst dressed WAG' in 2008 when she stepped out wearing a leopard-print velour tracksuit with PVC stiletto heels, while her husband wore a shiny shellsuit.

She angrily hit back at her critics, pointing out the tracksuit in question was from Dolce & Gabbana and cost £1,000.

She said: 'The British press criticised me for a bad taste in clothes. It's just laughable.
'The Brits are horrendously conservative. Of all the colours, they like only black and grey.

'And I was wearing bright and tight clothes, walking in high heels - and evidently looked more colourful than them.

'We would never be so rude in Ukraine. Leopard-print is not old-fashioned there, it's a classic look.'

Meanwhile, Melissa is more famous in her native Italy for wearing very little clothes.

The US-born brunette is popular pin-up and played a dancing showgirl on satirical Italian TV show Striscia La Notizia (The News Slithers).

She has previously dated AC Milan striker Marco Borriello and Italian model/actor Daniele Interrante before meeting Vieri in 2006.