Of all the items we might have expected would rank high on outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s wish list of things she’d like to do before leaving office, playing Brahms in a private concert for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II wouldn’t have been one of them.
It seems the British have found a way to cope with the global economic crisis. A survey by the Terrence Higgins Trust, a UK AIDS charity, found that sex is the most popular free activity in the empire, beating out window shopping and going to a museum.
The Indian metropolis of Mumbai is well-known for its prolific entertainment industry, a.k.a. “Bollywood.” Following the recent terror seige, India’s entertainment community responded to the attacks, which claimed the life of at least one of its (international) members.
Just after Barack Obama was elected president, The Washington Post published the affecting story of former White House butler Eugene Allen—and Hollywood was definitely paying attention.
Now, this is just getting weird: Nearly five years after the shocking (!) “wardrobe malfunction” that shamed exposed nipple owner Janet Jackson and seared the tender eyeballs of select members of the federal government, the FCC is soldiering on in its quest to slap offending network CBS with a $550,000 fine.
This is the story of how Jackson Browne’s 30-year-old song “Running on Empty” became the unlikely catalyst for the singer’s lawsuit against Sen. John McCain—and what Yoko Ono has to do with McCain’s response.
They’ve taken on Scientologists, celebrities and even Canadians. Now “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are one step closer to their apparent goal of becoming equal-opportunity offenders with their Mormon-themed musical.
President-elect Barack Obama is bringing the fireside chat to the Web, using the technology at his disposal to address Americans online in a new twist on the check-in pioneered by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Nothing like winning a presidential election to send your book sales through the roof, as Barack Obama and his presumably gleeful publishers are discovering.
Author and activist Alice Walker took a moment last week to write a note to Barack Obama, relaying a few requests and offering some advice, such as to find time to relax amid the challenges and changes that await him and his family.
All the magic in the Magic Kingdom couldn’t keep the Walt Disney Co. from taking a hit as a result of the global economic downturn, as evidenced by Disney’s latest quarterly report.
If you don’t know Danny Elfman, you know his music. Better known for his unique film scores and “The Simpsons” theme than his political views, the composer is running an ad in battleground states with a simple message: “President Sarah Palin—think about it.”
The Obama campaign is running a big media blitz on Wednesday night, with CBS, Fox, NBC and Univision all airing the Democratic presidential candidate’s muy mysterioso half-hour advertisement at 8 p.m., but ABC and the CW won’t be joining in the Obamathon.
While sister company Viacom is still suing YouTube for $1 billion, CBS is hoping to get some cash out of the Web video mecca a more polite way. The Tiffany Network has had some success online, and currently has one of the more popular YouTube channels, but the eyeball business isn’t as straightforward as it used to be.
French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was named this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday. Le Clézio, whom the Swedish Academy fancifully described as an “author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilisation,” has written more than 20 novels since the early age of 23.
Seasoned film star and “Changeling” director Clint Eastwood says American politics aren’t what they used to be; in fact, the grizzled sort-of-libertarian thinks they’re even a little “perverted”—but not like that.
The McCain-Palin campaign team might soon borrow a page from the celebrity crisis management handbook (see Chap. 11: Poke Fun at Yourself on a Late-Night Comedy Show), if the rumor that Sarah Palin is considering an appearance alongside her “Saturday Night Live” doppelgänger Tina Fey comes true before the Nov. 4 election.
With Georgia on the U.S. mainstream media’s map after its recent war with Russia, a new interest in Georgian history and politics seems to have come to life, especially concerning the cult of personality that Stalin still leads in his native land.
It’s been a rough couple of years for the anchor of the last-place network newscast, but Katie Couric managed to silence many of her critics this week with an interview series that not only got a lot of attention, but scored points for her tough but fair style.
It may sound like an impossible feat to appear in a popular superhero series without even having to physically show up for the job, but that’s just what Comedy Central pseudo-pundit Stephen Colbert has pulled off by lending his name and likeness to Marvel Comic’s “Amazing Spider-Man” #573.
Paul Newman, the iconic blue-eyed film star of big-screen classics like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Sting” and “Cool Hand Luke,” died on Friday at his Connecticut home after a long battle with cancer. Newman, who also made a name for himself as a philanthropist with his Newman’s Own food product line and Hole in the Wall Gang camps, was 83.
It’s good to know that there are still people, in this time of great strife, who believe in the power of diplomatic negotiation over brute force ... even if the people in this particular case happen to be two Hollywood directors apparently possessed of egos the size of Sarah Palin’s home state.
The Nov. 4 election is more than six weeks away, but Brad Pitt has revealed what his vote will be on at least one ballot initiative by donating $100,000 to fight California’s Proposition 8, which aims to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage legal last May.
John McCain took the opportunity Tuesday to criticize Barack Obama for consorting with celebrities at a Democratic fund drive in Hollywood that night, but McCain had apparently forgotten about his own celeb-attended fundraiser in Beverly Hills last month. McCain supporter Wilford Brimley has yet to comment on this grievous oversight.
Bombastic rap-rocker Kid Rock recently hit out at fellow celebrities for using their star power to endorse political candidates. However, it seems Mr. Rock himself has a storied history of supporting politicians’ campaigns and was once slated to perform at George W. Bush’s 2005 inaugural festivities. Updated
How the Anti-Semites of Hezbollah Have Sent Anne Frank Back Into Hiding
