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Kim Kardashian guest stars on "CSI:

Wednesday, December 16, 2009


Kim Kardashian guest stars alongside Vanessa Manillo in an upcoming episode of "CSI:NY." She plays a character named Debbie Fallon.

Kim Kardashian admitted to E! News that she does want to continue acting and that she feels acting is the "next step" for her.

Kim Kardashian is already busy with a successful career as a model, entrepreneur, designer, and star of "Keeping up with the Kardashians." She is also in a renewed relationship with long-term boyfriend Reggie Bush.

Kim's older sister Kourtney recently gave birth to a son with boyfriend Scott Disick whom they have named Mason Dash Disick. Kim's younger sister Khloe is a newlywed, having recently married Lamar Odom.

For more information about the Kardashians:

Kourtney's Maxim photos

Kim Kardashian's relationships

Khoe and Lamar

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Russell Ferguson Wins ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Season 6


Russell Ferguson Wins ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Season 6. All the dancers from this season came back to kick the show off with a special performance to a song called, “Scared of Me” choreographed by Kelly Abby.

Then, they showed a brief recap of last night’s performances to lead into the first break. After the first break, The judges picked their favorite dance routines that they wanted to see again,and the dancers performed them to leadinto the 2nd break.

After the 2nd break, the judges picked more of their favorite routines they wanted to see again. Then Leona Lewis sung a song called “I See You” from James Cameron’s “Avatar” movie to leadinto the 3rd break.

After the 3rd break, The Groovaloo dancers did a special performance. Then the judges picked more favorite performance from this season. Afterwards, Russell hurt his leg during a routine. He was crying,but they had to quickly reveal that Ryan got 6th place to leadinto the 4th break.

After the 4th break, Adam Lambert performed his song, “What Do You Want From Me.” Then, they took a special look back at the entire season. Next, Cat revealed that Ashleigh got 5th place to leadinto the 5th break. After the 5th break, the judges picked more favorite dance routine to see again. Then, Cat revealed that Ellenore got 4th place to leadinto the 6th break.

After the 6th break, they watched more past routines to lead into the 7th break. After the 7th break, Mary J. Blige performed her new single “I Am.” After that,they watched another past performance from this season. Then Cat revealed Kathryn came in 3rd place to lead into the 8th break.

After the 8th break, Jennifer Lopez did a special performance. Then, Cat revealed that Russell won the show,and Jakob came in 2nd place. Russell gave a very passionate acceptance speech. He was extremely happy and excited to win the show.

So, with that being said , Russell Ferguson is your winner for season 6 of “So You Think You Can Dance.”

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Film friends reunited: James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver on ‘Aliens,’ and ‘Avatar,’


Cameron and Weaver on ‘Aliens,’ and ‘Avatar’

LONDON — What first signaled to a young, eager-to-please James Cameron he’d make movie history with Sigourney Weaver? Her heels.

More than two decades ago, the director was waiting to meet her in a Santa Barbara hotel to pitch his ideas for the film “Aliens” — the sequel to “Alien.”

“I knew she was a tall girl,” Cameron said. “I was thinking about her shoes. If she’s wearing tall heels she’s going to be this domineering personality and I’m going to be in for a rough ride. And if she’s wearing flats, she’s self-conscious about her height.”

“She was actually wearing like a middle heel and I thought, ‘OK this is going to work fine. She’s going to be strong, she’s going to be bold, but she’s not going to be completely out of control,’” he said.

In 1985, Weaver signed the deal that made her the first million-dollar actress and the movie was released the following year.

Her second space mission as Ellen Ripley — an astronaut who confronts her fears by taking on the hostile aliens she’d encountered in the earlier film, “Alien” — earned her an Academy Award nomination.

Cameron went on to have more success with his “Terminator” sequel and won 11 Oscars for doomed love story “Titanic.”

Earlier this month, Cameron and Weaver were discussing their relationship in London, after reuniting for another sci-fi adventure, “Avatar.” The 60-year-old actress plays scientist Grace Augustine, who takes on a 10 foot (three meter) alien form in order to explore the planet Pandora.

The Associated Press: Before Sigourney gets here, what do you think about the work you achieved together in “Aliens” with the strong female action character?

Cameron: It redefined strength. It wasn’t just about physically kicking butt, it was about having the emotional strength. It’s not about being strong and being fearless, it’s what you do in the face of fear. And that’s what that movie was all about.

(Weaver arrives)

AP: We were talking just before you came in about when you first met. He was telling me the story about wondering what shoes you were going to wear and how he was judging you.

Weaver: (Laughs) I had forgotten about that.

Cameron: I knew you were 6-foot-8 or whatever.

Weaver: Almost avatar size.

Cameron: Exactly and so it was with some trepidation that I was meeting you because I wanted the meeting to go well. I really wanted to make the movie, I thought we could do something pretty amazing together. I didn’t know if it would be a combative relationship or one where you felt proprietary control of the character. I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised at how much fun you thought the script was going to be.

Weaver: What astonished me just reading it, before I’d even met you, was that you knew more about Ripley than I did. And I don’t know how you were able to channel all that and come up with this amazing scenario of this woman, moved to another time, so isolated and no one would believe her and no one would give her a break and it was such a fantastic beginning to a story about a character.

Cameron: It’s interesting both Grace and Ripley are characters that are not believed by the male power structure. And I think that women feel that they’re not listened to, that their outlook on a situation or their analysis of a situation is not as credible as a male perspective, whether it’s in business or whether it’s in a relationship.

AP: Why do you think you’re able to understand women and female characters like that?

Cameron: My mother is a good role model, she raised five kids old school. She indulged in and supported my artistic endeavors so that may be part of it. Maybe it’s because I was a nerdy kid and wasn’t the captain of the football team and if I wanted to have a date … I’d better start figuring out how women thought. I wasn’t going to get by on my looks. And then as a filmmaker, I just naturally went toward the thing that people weren’t doing because that was a way to be fresh and different. And I was inspired by your character in “Alien” and other good female characters of which there weren’t that many.

Weaver: What I think is so wonderful about the way you write women is that action movies get a bad rap. Action is about character and it’s so exciting to see people who don’t fall apart under pressure. And you see someone being victimized and you just see them hold it together and come back and because women have this history where we’re perhaps more victimized and have a harder time being powerful.

Cameron: It’s like a chemistry experiment, I’m going to put some of this in, put some of that in, see if it blows up.

Weaver: Oh goody, it did.

“Avatar” opens in the U.S. on Dec. 18.

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Reports Claim Bengals Chris Henry Dead Following Accident


Unconfirmed reports online are suggesting that Bengals receiver Chris Henry is dead following a car crash earlier today.

The car crash is confirmed, with Henry said to have fallen out of the back of a pick up truck following a domestic dispute. Local reports suggest that his injuries are life threatening and that he is in a coma, although we don’t have more recent news confirmed by the hospital.

Henry has been involved in a string of troubles during his professional career, including arrests for driving under the influence, marijuana possession, assault, and criminal damaging, although this would be the first time he’s fallen out of a pick up truck.

To complete matters further, local police have told the media that they have officers stationed near Henry in hospital; even he’s been up to no good, or he needs protecting.

Well update the post if we hear anything more on the Chris Henry dead reports.

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4th UPDATE: National Australia Bank Tops AMP Bid For AXA APH

MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB), the country's third-largest by market capitalization, Thursday unveiled a surprise US$11.9 billion (A$13.3 billion) bid for AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd. (AXA.AU), upstaging a rival offer from Australia's second-largest funds manager, AMP Ltd. (AMP.AU).

After securing the support of AXA APH's independent directors, NAB must now convince AXA SA (AXA), which owns 53.9% of AXA Asia Pacific, to switch its support from AMP's proposal.

The acquisition of AXA APH would propel either AMP or NAB into clear market leading positions in the Australasian life insurance and wealth management sectors, and give them the largest network of financial advisers in Australia.

If NAB's offer is successful, the deal could encourage further consolidation in the industry with AMP likely to become a target along with other asset managers such as Challenger Financial Services Group Ltd. (CGF.AU) and IOOF Holdings Ltd. (IFL.AU), analysts say.

AXA APH Chairman Rick Allert said at a media briefing that other undisclosed parties had also expressed interest in the business since AMP's first proposal nearly six weeks ago, indicating that the battle for AXA APH may not be over.

"I'm not going to enter into discussions about how many, but I am saying there were others," said Allert.

Under both proposals, AXA SA would acquire the Asian operations of AXA APH for A$9.13 billion, helping it build its operations in the region, but only under the NAB proposal would all minority shareholders have the chance to take a full cash payment in return for their shares.

NAB's deal also values AXA APH's Australian and New Zealand wealth management businesses at A$4.61 billion, against the A$4.41 billion AMP is willing to pay under Monday's sweetened bid.

Allert said he is confident the greater value and certainty afforded under NAB's proposal would see it supported by at least the 75% of minority shareholders needed to approve the scheme.

"I've been in touch with...most of our major shareholders this week and that gives me confidence that this will go through," said Allert.

NAB is offering A$6.43 cash or a combination of 0.1745 NAB shares and A$1.59 cash for each share in AXA APH not owned by the French parent.

AMP and AXA SA Monday increased their rejected November offer for AXA APH to A$12.85 billion, offering 0.6896 AMP shares for each AXA APH share alongside an increased A$1.92 per share in cash. Based on Wednesday's closing AMP price, this offer valued AXA Asia Pacific shares at around A$6.13 each.

"The independent board committee has unanimously concluded that the NAB proposal is in the best interests of AXA APH minority shareholders and superior to the rejected AMP, AXA SA revised proposal, in both its value and terms," Allert said in a statement.

NAB Chief Executive Cameron Clyne said the acquisition of AXA APH is in line with the group's strategy of boosting exposure to the Australia and New Zealand wealth management sectors. In September, NAB completed its purchase of Aviva PLC's Australian wealth management operations and it also recently bought Goldman Sachs JBWere's private wealth business.

AXA SA has agreed to work exclusively with AMP on the AXA APH deal until Feb. 6. Only if AMP walks away from the deal would AXA be able to start working with NAB on a separate proposal before then. NAB is yet to hold any talks with AXA SA, Clyne said.

AMP, which said Monday its revised proposal was its "best and final", appears unlikely to easily roll over. In a statement, AMP said its exclusivity agreement with AXA SA gives it "time to carefully consider its position".

NAB says its offer stands until Feb. 16 or six weeks after any decision by AMP to end the exclusivity period.

"We need to carefully consider the announcement and will discuss it with AMP before we make any public statement," said a spokesman for AXA SA.

AXA APH is the only Australian financial-services firm with the majority of its business in Asia and has exposure to eight regional markets, which account for two-thirds of its earnings.

Prior to NAB making public its proposal, a number of investors in AXA APH had said they wanted AXA APH to accept AMP's bid and so are likely to back NAB's bid.

"With a full price on offer and Board support secured, NAB has done its homework and this proposal is highly likely to succeed," said the Royal Bank of Scotland's Sydney-based credit strategist, John Manning.

AMP's disciplined approach to acquisitions in recent years meant it was unlikely to try and raise its bid, he said.

"I would be surprised if AMP were to engage in a bidding war with NAB, whose pockets are exponentially deeper, particularly as NAB appears determined on this one," said Manning.

NAB said it would raise around A$1.5 billion through a rights issue to help fund the deal, once it completes formal due diligence on AXA APH and has the backing of AXA SA.

Daiwa Securities analyst Johan Vanderlugt said the deal makes long-term strategic sense to NAB but falls short in terms of shareholder value creation and synergy benefits.

"The deal would only be earnings per share accretive in year three and bring in full synergies of A$260 million by year five," he said. "Moreover, we see substantial integration risks and revenue attrition."

The pre-tax cost savings forecast by NAB compare with AMP's estimate of annual savings of A$120 million after tax under its proposal.

At 0445 GMT, AXA APH shares were up 13% at A$6.35 while AMP shares rallied 4.6% to A$6.37 amid some speculation it could become a target.

NAB said it doesn't expect the AXA APH deal would worry competition regulators but said the bank would discuss the proposal with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and with the government.

The competition watchdog said in a statement posted on its website Thursday that it is "monitoring" NAB's proposed acquisition of AXA APH. The proposal has not yet progressed to the ACCC's review stage.

A spokesman for Treasurer Wayne Swan wouldn't comment on the deal.

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Joe Lieberman 'out of tune' with Connecticut, but few complain


Sen. Joe Lieberman is refusing to vote for a healthcare public option – even though the Connecticut Legislature passed comprehensive healthcare reform this year. But poll data suggest the Nutmeg State won't abandon Lieberman.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) walks through the US Capitol subway after meetings about the health care reform bill that is currently being debated in the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday.

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Let the Golden Globes (and etc.) bad-mouthing begin!

I love awards season because my e-mail box gets jammed with negative campaigning about all the Academy Awards hopefuls. Such holiday cheer is out here! Over the years, I’ve reported on the studio bad-mouthing of heavyweight Saving Private Ryan to better the Oscar chances of lightweight Shakespeare in Love. And the planting of “He’s an anti-Semite” allegations against the schizo Princeton professor who was the subject of biopic A Beautiful Mind. And more recently, the efforts to scuttle Blood Diamond and Slumdog Millionaire’s chances because of unfounded charges that filmmakers had exploited locals.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this race is already turning nasty, nasty, nasty ...

First, I keep hearing from studio execs what little money The Hurt Locker has made, and how that should prevent it from winning Best Picture. This falls under the bad-mouthing category known as “Oscar voters don’t want to look out of touch with moviegoers” — especially when it involves a small runner looking more and more like this season’s front-runner.

Size does matter when it comes to box office, but that’s something Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences members ignore with ridiculous regularity. Sometimes it seems they purposely vote for the little-known pics just to fuck with Hollywood’s head. For the record, Summit Entertainment’s drama hasn’t made much money since its release June 26: domestic $12,671,105 as of mid-December, foreign $3,436,487, worldwide $16,107,592. But if you’ve seen it, you know it’s very much an Oscar-worthy film.

Meanwhile, there’s some truth and some not in the Hollywood buzz that was e-mailed to me within minutes of the December 15 Golden Globe nominations by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). “Leo threw his good pal Tobey a party last week to which 40 HFPA went. They, among others, received some sort of fab parting gift, like a Blu-ray player. Thus the Tobey nom for a movie otherwise ignored,” the message read.

Yes, it’s true that Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire have known each other since they were just 10. Yes, they’re good pals. So Leo came back into town last week and told the Brothers filmmakers he was blown away by Maguire’s performance and wanted to throw an awards party for him.

Yes, HFPA members were invited (but 15, not 40) along with a slew of Academy members, like Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Gary Ross, Paul Rudd, Jon Favreau and Shirley MacLaine. Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh, who financed the film, underwrote the evening as well as paid for gift bags, which contained a Sony Blu-ray player.

Hollywood knows well that HFPA has a long tradition of voting for whoever gives them the best swag. But that supposedly ended after the uproar caused when Sharon Stone gifted the HFPA with expensive Coach watches before she picked up a nomination for the little-seen The Muse.

Fast-forward to now. I’m told that, the morning after Leo’s party for Tobey, the HFPA phoned Kavanaugh and said the Blu-ray gift-bag goodie violated the group’s rules. So all 15 HFPA members had to return the DVD player. Yes, it’s true that Tobey did indeed receive a nomination afterward. But that was probably more because his acting was on point and because his publicist, Kelly Bush, lobbied relentlessly and would have gifted her kidneys to the HFPA to get it for him.

Which brings me to Harvey Weinstein. In the good old days when he ran Miramax and ruled at Oscar time, he was perhaps the best Academy Awards bad-mouther around. But now that his financially embattled indieprod the Weinstein Company has taken home the most Golden Globe nominations, the worm has turned.

Now Hollywood has started negative campaigning about him. Because there are a lot of pissed-off co-producers who didn’t see their names mentioned among the official HFPA list of nominees for Weinstein Company films. Omitted were Universal for Inglourious Basterds, and Relativity Media, Marc Platt Productions and Lucamar Productions for Nine. Some say this was an oversight. Others say it’s Harvey’s fault because he wanted to hog all the credit for himself.

Here I am, talking about the 2010 Golden Globe nominations held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with the awards to be broadcast live on NBC on January 17. Even though, as I’ve said before and I’ll say again, it’s a completely meaningless show put on by a scandal-riddled organization on a network desperate for any kind of ratings.

Why? Because the Golden Globes have zero integrity. Studios and networks that lavishly lobby the HFPA almost always score nominations. Stars win in direct correlation to their glamour quotient. Everything about the awards is geared toward driving the media’s interest and the telecast’s ratings.

And the small, motley group of freelancers who make up the membership of the HFPA won’t grant membership to real foreign journalists who work at prestige newspapers across the world.

NBC and Dick Clark Productions could clean up the Globes but choose not to. Instead, the entire entertainment industry props up this pathetic show because it’s seen as a nightlong marketing tool. Therefore, it’s ridiculous for anyone to consider the movie categories as a window on the Oscar front-runners. So I refuse to treat these nominations with any seriousness. And if you don’t want that, then for crissakes, stop reading me ...

Clint Eastwood and his films are as much a staple during awards season as hard-to-score DVD screeners, expensive coffee-table books based on the movie contenders, and fancy hors d’oeuvres. This time around, Hollywood didn’t expect his latest, Invictus, to do more than $10M to $15M at the box office from 2,125 plays because its marketing had all the lure of a history lesson.

“I don’t feel any real heat on it, like other Clint Eastwood films,” one rival studio exec tells me. Flat tracking for the Nelson Mandela–inspired story showed zero interest from young females, and moderate interest from older females but at least decent interest and choice with males who generally flock to Eastwood efforts.

Though the story is inspirational — “audiences leave surprised and inspired,” one WB exec gushes — the studio knew that ideological perceptions might deter filmgoers even though Clint’s direction and Morgan Freeman’s/Matt Damon’s acting are, as usual, superb. Nor was selling it as a feel-good sports story an option, at least in the U.S. because it’s about rugby and the 1995 World Cup Championship. But that may help the pic overseas.

All in all, the December 12 soft $9M weekend opening was on the low end of what was expected. (Clint’s Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby both did $10M openings, and each went on to earn around $100M, respectively.)

Hey, no one is saying the movie’s not good. It’s just, how many times can you see Morgan Freeman play God? CinemaScore was an A-, with 47 percent of the audience older than 50 rating the film an A. “I’m not in a panic at all. I wish it were a little stronger out of the gate,” one WB exec tells me. “But it’ll be a slow burn. It’ll have great word of mouth and long legs through the holidays.”

Now it’s my turn to do some bad-mouthing. Why in the world has ex–Los Angeles Times errand boy Leo Wolinsky been named editor of Daily Variety (both the L.A. and N.Y. editions)? It’s bewildering. The guy knows nothing about the entertainment biz.

He was infamous for secretly helping to lure billionaire potential local buyers like Eli Broad, Ron Burkle, Richard Riordan and David Geffen into buying the paper when then-bigwig editors were fighting with Tribune Co. (I wrote several award-winning columns about this for L.A. Weekly.)

Wolinsky briefly was a seat-filler atop the L.A. Times’ entertainment and feature sections until he was let go. Nevertheless, he’ll be responsible for all Variety editorial content for the print edition. MaybeVariety needs a top editor who likes to suck up to the rich and powerful now that Peter Bart has been put out to pasture.

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