Entertainment News

VENICE, Italy - Guillermo Arriaga's directorial debut, "The Burning Plain," opens with a wide shot of a trailer ablaze in the New Mexico desert. While the landscape appears barren and exposed, it is concealing secrets that drive the story.

VENICE, Italy - Organizers of the Venice Film Festival waited to announce "Khastegi (Tedium)" by first-time Iranian director Bahman Motamedian until the last minute to avoid alerting authorities to its sensitive subject: transsexuals in modern-day Iran.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Boy wizard Harry Potter won't be whipping up his magic when the fall film season begins next week, but Hollywood is hoping momentum from summer hits like "The Dark Knight" and a wide mix of new movies will keep audiences happy into the holidays.

BOZEMAN, Mont. - Hazel Warp, who was Vivien Leigh's stunt double in "Gone With the Wind," has died. She was 93.

VENICE (Reuters) - A new film on Giacomo Puccini has uncovered letters and documents suggesting the composer may have a second living descendant, in a tangled tale of infidelity and vengeance befitting one of his operas.

LOS ANGELES - Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy.

HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban punk rocker whose songs have ridiculed the Cuban government went to court in handcuffs on Friday charged with "social dangerousness," which could bring a prison sentence of up to four years.

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Kings of Leon may be from Tennessee, but the rock band's music has resonated in a bigger way overseas than it has in its own backyard.

DETROIT (Billboard) - Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is getting ready to hit the road to promote a new album he considers "a little more accessible and familiar" than some of his other solo releases.

NEW YORK - Like the NFL teams beginning their new seasons, Usher is hoping to go all the way to the Super Bowl.

NEW YORK - Barack Obama's audience for his acceptance speech likely topped 40 million people, and the Democratic gathering that nominated him was a more popular television event than any other political convention in history.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Over 38 million Americans tuned in for television coverage of Barack Obama accepting the Democratic nomination for U.S. president on Thursday in what is believed to be the most watched convention speech ever.

NEW YORK - Like the NFL teams beginning their new seasons, Usher is hoping to go all the way to the Super Bowl.

LOS ANGELES - On one side of the "Raising the Bar" soundstage is a sterile office space punctuated with old phones, metal filing cabinets and stacks of papers. On the other side: a far less drab enclave accented with modern office furniture, frosted glass partitions and minimalist Macs.

LAS VEGAS - After a decade at the final frontier, Star Trek: The Experience is going where no Las Vegas Strip attraction wants to go.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Over 38 million Americans tuned in for television coverage of Barack Obama accepting the Democratic nomination for U.S. president on Thursday in what is believed to be the most watched convention speech ever.

-Yesterday's Losers (excluding repeats): Greatest American Dog (CBS) and ongoing coverage of the Democratic Convention

The second season-premiere of ABC Family drama Greek on Tuesday, Aug. 26 rose to a series-high performance in total viewers (1.6 million), persons 12-34 (1.2 million) and females 12-34 (841,000). Comparably, that finished second in the 9 p.m. hour among all basic cable in the three categories, with growth over its debut (on July 9, 2007) of 500,000 viewers and as much as 134 percent among women 18-34. Lead-in The Secret Life of an American Teenager also soared, finishing first for the day on all of cable in adults 18-34 (1.2 million), women 18-34 (815,000) and women 18-49 (1.2 million).

With just 25 days to go until the official start of the 2008-09 season, here is an updated listing of series and season-premiere dates. Keep in mind that the return of Deal or No Deal and debut of America's Toughest Jobs, both on NBC, was this past Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp plans to launch another satellite television channel in Japan by 2011, according to a Nikkei report that cited no sources.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Young Jeezy balances commercial/pop aspirations with core hip-hop sounds on "The Recession," getting a lift from DJ Toomp, Drumma Boy, Midnight Black and longtime collaborator Shawty Redd on this sonically enjoyable follow-up to 2006's "The Inspiration." Previously criticized for strange rhymes and repeating lines, Jeezy delivers some great turns of phrase on songs like "Wordplay," where he answers claims of glorifying drug dealing with the couplet, "They want wordplay and I got bird play." Considering Jeezy's admission that he's a bit uncomfortable making female-skewed songs, the blend manifests itself most clearly on "Taking It There," with Trey Songz crooning a romantic chorus. While fans may gravitate more toward cuts like "Vacation" and "Yeah," "Taking It There" could wind up being the track Jeezy needs to cement himself as a mainstream artist and not just a favorite of rap aficionados.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - One might think that after 20 years of melodic mastery, recently elusive Sarah McLachlan might be out of surprises.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Had it come from practically any other producer, TNT's "Raising the Bar," premiering Monday at 10 p.m., might be worthy of mild praise. It is, after all, a solid legal drama with several appealing characters and above-average dialogue.

VENICE (Hollywood Reporter) - In his third film examining the conflicts that arise from being distinctively creative, Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano uses the mathematical paradox of the title "Achilles and the Tortoise" to chase after the true nature of art, and doesn't quite make it.

VENICE (Hollywood Reporter) - A tough yet fascinating watch once you get into it, "Shirin" marks another interesting twist in the eclectic artistic career of Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk published a new book in Turkey on Friday, his first since obtaining the award.

WOBURN, Mass. - An author who fabricated a best-selling memoir about surviving the Holocaust by living with wolves asked a judge Thursday to affirm a $32.4 million jury award in her favor.

1. "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" by Sean Williams (Del Rey)

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

"Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba" (Viking, 365 pages, $27.95), by Tom Gjelten: Bacardi is the world's top-selling rum with annual sales of 20 million cases in more than 150 countries. But it does not sell a drop in Cuba, where founder Facundo Bacardi first opened a tin-roofed, dirt-floored distillery on Matadero Street in the eastern city of Santiago in 1862.

Producers of Broadway's quick-change, fast-paced comedy The 39 Steps, at the Cort Theatre, announced a series of September events meant to enhance enjoyment of the show, inspired by director Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will present its second Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival Oct. 10-25.

Before it surfaces Off-Broadway this fall, the hip-hop musical, Clay, will make a big noise at Kansas City Repertory Theatre's Copaken Stage Sept. 6-28.

Tad Mosel, who adapted James Agee's novel "A Death in the Family" into the Pultizer Prize-winning stage play All the Way Home, died Aug. 24 in Concord, NH. He was 86. For the last 18 years of his life, he resided at the Havenwood-Heritage Heights Retirement community in Concord.

Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman's Scratch, charting her relationship with her sick mother, will get its world premiere at Toronto's Factory Theatre Mainspace Oct. 4-Nov. 2. The playwright, who began the work when she was 16, will also play the teenage daughter character, Anna.

LOS ANGELES - Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy.

HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban punk rocker whose songs have ridiculed the Cuban government went to court in handcuffs on Friday charged with "social dangerousness," which could bring a prison sentence of up to four years.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A private detective who once worked for Hollywood stars and a prominent attorney were convicted on Friday of federal wiretapping and conspiracy charges in a case stemming from billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's bitter child support dispute.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The private investigator convicted of a Hollywood wiretapping scandal was on Friday found guilty of bugging the phones of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's ex-wife.

DETROIT (Billboard) - Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is getting ready to hit the road to promote a new album he considers "a little more accessible and familiar" than some of his other solo releases.

New York - Editor Nina Garcia, who takes her fashion eye to Marie Claire starting in September, is well-known as one of the judges for "Project Runway," where she dispenses thoughtful, and sometimes scathing, critiques of the designers' projects each week.

MILAN (Reuters Life!) - Julia Roberts has returned to work with Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani to raise money for the fight against AIDS in Africa, designing a T-shirt to be sold under the "Red" label.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Los Angeles prosecutors have dropped 30 of 59 sexual abuse charges against Indian-born celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander, as jury selection got under way for his trial in California.

LOS ANGELES - Without explanation, prosecutors on Wednesday dropped more than half the sexual assault charges against fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander just before jury selection began for his trial.

MILAN (Reuters Life!) - Giorgio Armani will design his first villas for a $1.85 billion gated community development in Egypt that is just two hours' drive from Cairo, the Italian fashion designer said on Wednesday.

DEAR ABBY: "Missing the Old Days in Arizona City" (May 8), the mother of a small child, wondered how parents can feel safe raising kids in a world that is "crazy and scary." I, too, worry about the state of the world today, but find comfort in my children and in the fact that I am trying to raise them to be among the "good guys."

DEAR ABBY: For the past 25 years, my husband, "Don," has had his hair cut by a woman I'll call "Barber-Ella." She's slim, attractive and full of energy. Don has mentioned that she often pats him on the leg and kind of flirts with him.

DEAR ABBY: Would you please tell your readers that not reciting or participating in the Pledge of Allegiance does NOT mean that someone is a "bad American"?

DEAR ABBY: My husband's best friend of 40 years, "Nick," started dating a woman about a month ago. Nick has been down on his luck personally and financially for several years. He called and asked if he could bring "Hattie" to our home for dinner. We agreed, hoping it would be a good relationship for him.

DEAR ABBY: My 31-year-old son calls me only when he's in need of something -- like bailing him out of jail. He never calls just to say hello or ask how I am.

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

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

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

08/21/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I have been with my fiance for almost a year and am deeply in love with him.

08/15/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I found a sexually explicit card and sex coupons from my husband's lover. He insists nothing went on and that it was just a fluke that he received such cards and coupons. If I can't get him to tell me what went on, is it OK to go after the "other woman" and get her to give me some details? I want to work through things to save my marriage, but I need to know what happened in order to do so. --- AT A LOSS FOR WORDS

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

Creators Syndicate - Phelps Warned Not to Lick Medals

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

Creators Syndicate - Diver Hid Details of Intact Family

Creators Syndicate - About eight years ago, I went to the doctor to get a full checkup. I was just entering my forties, had decided to start actually exercising for once, and decided that it might be nice to see whether it was likely that I'd actually see the other end of the decade before I put any effort into fixing up the body I had been issued.

LOS ANGELES - David Duchovny, who plays a sex-obsessed character on Showtime's "Californication," has entered a rehabilitation facility for sex addiction.

Los Angeles (E! Online) - The truth is out there, whether we want it or not.

NEW YORK - Michael Jackson marked a personal milestone Friday: his 50th birthday.

NEW YORK - Barack Obama's audience for his acceptance speech likely topped 40 million people, and the Democratic gathering that nominated him was a more popular television event than any other political convention in history.

CHICAGO - Gold medalists Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin and Kobe Bryant, along with 150 other U.S. Olympic team members, will be on the season premiere of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."