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WASHINGTON, July 22, 2008 – After matching servicemembers re-entering the civilian work force with military friendly employers, “Hire a Hero” is stepping outside its box and trying some matchmaking of a different kind. The troop-support organization has teamed with Dreamworks Television and Mark Burnett Productions to help two deserving military couples have their dream weddings. The gesture is a thank you for their service and commitment to the country, according to the Hire a Hero Web site. “Providing something like this is just great,” said Rob Barr, a Hire a Hero representative. “It’s showing support for the troops, and...

Andrew Breitbart, CEO of Breitbart.com, had a great op ed in the Washington Times yesterday about how Hollywood oppresses Republicans and conservatives in La La Land. Detailing the travails of Republicans in Hollywood -- including destruction by Hollywood's liberals of personal property owned by identified Republicans -- Breitbart laments the "bullying" the self-proclaimed tolerant lefties mete out to those who walk the Republican side of the street. Breitbart says of this ideological inbreeding: But Los Angeles is a one-company town. And because of bullying (or what Democrats would call blacklisting or “political discrimination” if the shoe were on the other...

Pauline Kael & trash cinema Will Smith's films are the endgame of a critic's take on Bonnie and Clyde Robert Fulford, National Post Published: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Happy as a clam, rich as a minor Rockefeller, Will Smith turned up recently on a 60 Minutes update of an item from last December. He was there to promote his current movie, Hancock, but his main theme was his huge success and the way he's engineered it. He left me thinking sad and rueful thoughts about, of all people, the late Pauline Kael, the most passionate, stimulating and argument-starting critic in...

Don’t tell Hayden Panettiere, but her boyfriend, Milo Ventimiglia, is planning to propose! The actor, 31, recently confided to a friend that even though Hayden is only 18 years old, he wants to get engaged, preferably this year. “Milo was looking at rings in late June,” the pal says. “He really likes Cartier and intends to spend around $200,000.” Hayden and Milo, who met on the set of Heroes, reportedly began dating in January.

LOS ANGELES, July 10 (UPI) -- A group of Hollywood TV and film producers said the Screen Actors Guild declined to accept its final offer for a new contract Thursday. "Today's meeting demonstrated that SAG's Membership First contingent unreasonably expects to obtain more in these negotiations than directors, writers and other actors obtained during their negotiations," the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said in a statement Thursday.AMPTP said its final offer included more than $250 million in additional compensation, important new media rights and protection for pension and health benefits."The refusal of SAG's Hollywood leadership to accept this...

For those familiar with the antics of shock comic Sacha Baron Cohen , it was a case of déjà vu, all over again. On May 28, he outraged a crowd of unsuspecting guests at a Carrollton office park by luring them to what they thought was a new talk show on "family values." [Click image for a larger version] Hello, Arkansas. As an encore early last month, he outraged a crowd of 1,600 by luring them to what was billed as cage fighting. Police say the show was designed instead to capture the reactions of the unsuspecting to the sight...

I'm an Iowan. My feet are dry.. all Praise to God. So, I will say what is on the minds of a lot of Iowans that are busy trying to hold their families together right now. These flood victims are no less worthy of help than New Orleans residents. To totally ignore them is like an elephant in the room. Why are you ignoring us? Are we too humble? Are we too unworthy because we help ourselves and each other? Are we the wrong class? The wrong color? The wrong location? Are we too quiet? Or are we not something...

Los Angeles(Reuters) - Many Hollywood celebrities who had supported Hillary Clinton are rallying behind Barack Obama, pledging money and star power to the Democrat's U.S. presidential bid before a big fundraiser next week. Experts say that since Clinton conceded defeat this month after a grueling Democratic nominating contest, celebrities have quickly united behind Obama. The result, they said, could be a campaign cash windfall for the senator from Illinois, but star support doesn't necessarily translate directly to votes. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior scholar at the University of Southern California, said that once a politician becomes known, voters look for...

A movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s book, Angels and Demons, is now in production; it is the prequel to the film, “The Da Vinci Code.” There are reports today that the Vatican has banned those associated with “Angels and Demons” from shooting in Catholic churches in Rome or in the Vatican itself. This is important because there are scenes in the movie that are supposed to take place in the Vatican and in two churches in Rome. “Angels and Demons” stars Tom Hanks in his role as Robert Langdon, the symbologist. This time he is trying to unravel a plot...

Rupert Everett, a British film actor, stunned fans when he referred to soldiers as “wimps.” “In my book, unless you’ve taken a hard, hot one up your bum, you’re a wimp,” Everett insisted. The flagrantly gay actor conceded that most people wouldn’t see things his way. “Ordinary men don’t appreciate the risks we have to face on a routine basis,” he complained. “What’s getting your head blown off by a jihadi compared to a slow agonizing death from AIDS?” Everett also lamented the fact that “while soldiers get medals, our courage goes unrecognized. There are G.I. Joes to glorify militarism,...

Gay Pride Parade to Bring Out Hundreds of Thousands June 7, 2008, 12:42 PM PDT WEST HOLLYWOOD -- More than 400,000 people are expected to line Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood Sunday for the 38th annual LA Pride Parade, which celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. at Crescent Heights Boulevard and head west to Robertson Boulevard. It will feature more than 125 entries, including floats, bands, marching community advocacy groups and convertibles with honored guests, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Radio talk show host Stephanie Miller will serve as grand marshal....

Embracing Spirituality Q: “After you had a heart attack and a nervous breakdown at age 38, on the set of Apocalypse Now, you went to India and found spirituality. Is that when you embraced Catholicism?” A: “I did, yeah. I was raised Catholic, but it was a religion, not a way of life. [After the heart attack] I came back to a faith more than a church. I came back with joy and with freedom and thanksgiving rather than with fear or trembling or worrying about eternity. I decided that what I really loved the most about the faith was...

Trailer Because it's billed as a more personal project for Mark Pellington after a string of interesting, idiosyncratic thrillers ("Arlington Road," "The Mothman Prophecies"), "Henry Poole Is Here" is all the more disappointing. Pic's tendency to lecture on the power of faith and religion and on the demerits of science seems to assume an almost childlike audience that needs to be spoon-fed Pablum. This tale of a single man whose medical death sentence is reversed in part by a neighborhood of believers won't advance the profile of the always-likable Luke Wilson, and Christian moviegoers will have to show up in...

SUSAN SARANDON, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul. She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada. She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people."

US actor George Takei is to wed his long-term partner after California lifted its ban on same-sex marriage. Takei, 71, best known for playing Mr Sulu in Star Trek, said he and Brad Altman were going through the "delicious dilemma" of where to marry. The actor and 54-year-old Mr Altman have been together for 21 years. "We can have the dignity, as well as all the responsibilities, of marriage. We embrace it all heartily," Takei wrote on his website.

George Takei is going ring shopping. The Star Trek helmsman and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, are engaged to be married. "This is something we've been passionately committed to, so, no, there's no cold feet," Takei told E! News today. ...Altman proposed last Thursday, shortly after the California Supreme Court struck down a state law banning same-sex unions. Takei, who publicly came out in a magazine interview in 2005, announced his plans in a blog post Friday, the same day Ellen DeGeneres took to her talk show to announce her engagement to actress Portia de Rossi. Takei, 71,...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ellen DeGeneres is putting the California Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage into action — she and Portia de Rossi plan to wed, DeGeneres announced during a taping of her talk show. DeGeneres was taping the episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Thursday, the day the state's high court struck down California laws against gay marriage, and it was to air Friday, a person close to the production said. Citing the court's ruling, DeGeneres said she and girlfriend de Rossi ("Ally McBeal," "Nip/Tuck") would be getting married. De Rossi, 35, who was in...

A federal jury has found Los Angeles private detective Anthony Pellicano guilty of racketeering and conspiracy. The verdict, which could mean a penalty of eight to 10 years in federal prison, effectively brings to a close the career of the most infamous private eye in Los Angeles -- a man who insinuated himself into the loftiest legal and entertainment circles in town and even consulted on law enforcement cases, until he became the subject of one. Pellicano sat grinning and looking around room before the verdicts were read. But when he realized the jury had found him guilty, he crossed...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - John Cusack is outraged over the Iraq war, so the U.S. actor channeled his anger into a low-budget political satire -- complete with a chorus line of scantily clad female amputees -- that he hopes will offend. Inspired by anger about the war and questions about the political power held by global corporations, "War, Inc" is set in Turaqistan, a fictional nation occupied by a private U.S. company called Tamerlane and run by a former American vice president. Cusack helped write the screenplay and also stars with Sir Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei and Hilary Duff in...

According to The Hollywood Reporter, film director Paul Verhoeven is soon to release a book that is claimed to be a new "biography" of Jesus Christ. In this new publication, Verhoeven feels that he successfully proves that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was raped by a Roman soldier during the Jewish uprising in Galilee and the boy Jesus was the result of that attack. No virgin birth for Christ, but instead a rape. Verhoeven is best known as the director of the films "Basic Instinct," the Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Total Recall," as well as the spectacular flop "Showgirls." The...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven has written a book that contradicts biblical teaching by suggesting that Jesus might have been fathered by a Roman soldier who raped Mary. An Amsterdam publishing house said Wednesday it will publish the Dutch filmmaker's biography of Jesus, "Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait," in September. Verhoeven is best known as the director of blockbuster films including "Basic Instinct" and "RoboCop," but he is also a member of "Jesus Seminar," a group of scholars and authors that seeks to establish historical facts about Jesus. Marianna Sterk of the publishing house J.M. Meulenhoff...

Lindsay Lohan warned Ashley Olsen to "get away" from her "girlfriend" — celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson — on Friday night, the New York Post's Page Six gossip column reported. "Ashley Olsen said hello to Sam at [the Beatrice Inn in New York City], and Lindsay screamed at her, 'Get your 15-year-old 'Full House' a-- away from my girlfriend,'" said a Page Six spy. Lohan and Ronson have long been rumored to be more than pals. According to Page Six, Lohan has created a Facebook profile under the name "Lindsay Ronson." At New York's Hawaiian Tropic Zone on Saturday, where Ronson...

Heston was a former Democrat who had a wake-up call in the 80s, and his position on gun rights earned him the deep lifetime animosity of the Hollywood left - from the likes of disingenuous “directors” like Michael Moore, and mediocre actors like George Clooney, who infamously spat out the following back in 2003: In receiving a special filmmaking achievement award from the National Board of Reviews, actor George Clooney joked that “Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s.” Clooney still had a chance to apologize for the bad humor day. When questioned about the remark...

ANGELINA Jolie and Brad Pitt could be split on which Democrat to vote for in the US Presidential race - with researchers finding they are each distant relatives of a candidate. Barack Obama is apparently Pitt's distant cousin, while Hillary Clinton is related to Jolie, Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Meanwhile Republican John McCain is said to be a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush. Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society made the connections, the Associated Press reports today. Senator Obama can also call six US presidents, including George W Bush, his cousins, according to the...

Thousands of people march to protest the war in Iraq in Hollywood on March 15, 2008. Opponents of the Iraq war plan to hold marches, sit-ins and other protests on Wednesday in cities across the United States to mark the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion. (AFP/File/Valerie Macon)

Sean Penn unleashes on FOXNEWS: 'We know their end is near'... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CABLE NEWS RACE MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008 VIEWERS FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,040,000 FNC HANNITY/COLMES 2,337,000 FNC GRETA 1,862,000 FNC SHEP 1,583,000 FNC HUME 1,508,000 CNN DOBBS 1,227,000 CNN KING 983,000 CNN COOPER 976,000 MSNBC OLBERMANN 962,000 CNN BLITZER 839,000 CNNHN GRACE 663,000 MSNBC HARDBALL 604,000

"We Are The Ones (Video)

Actress Marion Cotillard sparked a political row yesterday after accusing America of fabricating the 9/11 attacks. The 32-year-old French actress, who received an Oscar last month for her performance as singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, openly questioned the truth behind the terrorist atrocity in an interview broadcast on a French website. "I think we're lied to about a number of things," Cotillard said, singling out the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center as an example of the US making up horror stories for political ends. Referring to the two passenger jets being flown into the Twin...

DiCaprio Bringing Akira To Life Leonardo DiCaprio is teaming up with Warner Brothers to produce a live-action film based on the Japanese manga and anime film Akira, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ruairi Robinson has been hired to direct what would ideally be a two-part epic. The film would mark the first full-length feature for Robinson, whose animated SF comedy short Fifty Percent Grey was nominated for an Oscar. Gary Whitta is writing the adaptation, which DiCaprio will produce through his production company, Appian Way. Akira originated in 1988 as a manga and then as an animated film co-written and...

West Virginia boils at 'inbred' epithet; movie casting director fired By David M. Brown and Mike Wereschagin TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday, February 27, 2008 The producers of the horror thriller "Shelter" have fired the Pittsburgh casting director who outraged West Virginians by publically seeking odd-looking -- even physically deformed -- people to portray residents of a West Virginia "holler." The reaction from West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and others was swift after a story appeared in the Tribune-Review with a comment from Donna Belajac Casting of Pittsburgh indicating the script for a movie being shot here needs actors with an inbred look...

Film's casting call wants that 'inbred' look By David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, February 26, 2008 A movie about to be filmed in Pittsburgh is casting Gothic characters -- including an albino-like girl and deformed people -- to depict West Virginia mountain people. "'Regular-looking" children need not apply.

Right after that, a documentary against the Iraq war and GITMO are announced in a second award category. Is this outrageous, or is it me? Having the military introduce a film on same sex issues given the don't ask don't tell policy, and then have it followed by anti Iraq war, anti WOT films is political and using the troops as pawns IMHO. Quote from the winner: Let's hope we move this country away from the dark side. . .

It's an Oscar Party!Warning: might contain snark and/or discussions about fashion.Best Picture:"Atonement""Juno""Michael Clayton""No Country for Old Men""There Will Be Blood" Best Actor:George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises" Best Actress:Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"Julie Christie, "Away From Her"Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"Laura Linney, "The Savages"Ellen Page, "Juno" Best Supporting Actor:Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"Tom Wilkinson,...

Jeremy Bernard thinks he has been sucked into a time warp. Only five months ago, he was sitting shoulder to shoulder with U.S. Senator Barack Obama in the back of a black SUV, speeding through West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard, talking about the fine points of gay and lesbian federal legislation. An hour later, the Democratic presidential candidate was hitting every detail they had discussed in the car, but this time on network television. For Bernard, it was mind-blowing. The key fund-raiser for the Obama campaign was seeing his issues dramatically migrate from a personal chat to the national...

Finally, after nearly a year we get to the bottom of the story. Last spring, you were held up as a parody of environmental correctness when you proposed restricting the use of toilet paper to one square per bathroom visit. What was that about? I think it’s a fantastic and eye-opening example of how the media is operated by political figures, of how Karl Rove was humiliated in the media and how, within 24 hours, he was able to humiliate me and take any sort of credibility away from me. What are you saying? You think Karl Rove leaked the...

Just broke on Fox - details to come.

Josh Brolin ready for the Oval Office? It’s all in the latest edition of the Access Hollywood Casting Call! Josh Brolin will play the president in the Oliver Stone-directed film “Bush,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Stone, who also helmed films about John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, is hoping to start production as early as the spring, in order to release the film around the fall presidential election. Brolin currently stars in the Coen brothers’ critically acclaimed drama “No Country For Old Men.”

Where in the World is the Internet’s new Most Popular Video — the Tom Cruise Banned Video? FACTNet Found Them!!! In 2004 Cruise made a secret interview video just for Scientology cult members. This secret video was leaked to the Internet on January 15, 2008 on YouTube.com. This was the same day that the considerably less damaging Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton was released in bookstores all over the world.

Exclusive: 'American Gangster' Slapped by Feds' Lawsuit Former DEA Agents Say They Were Defamed By The Blockbuster Film ABC News has learned that a group of former federal drug enforcement agents has filed a class-action lawsuit against NBC Universal today, asserting they were defamed by the blockbuster flick "American Gangster." As the final credits roll on the flick starring Denzel Washington as Harlem drug thug Frank Lucas, a screen appears that states three-quarters of the drug enforcement agents assigned to New York were convicted as a result of Lucas' cooperation with "outcast cop" Richie Roberts, portrayed by Russell Crowe in...

Celebrities slammed for scientific silliness January 04, 2008 01:00am Article from: The Daily Telegraph WHEN your name's Nicole Kidman or Gwyneth Paltrow, everyone wants to hear what you have to say. But before holding forth on their favourite remedy, celebrities should get their facts straight, experts say. The two Hollywood actresses, along with fashion designer Stella McCartney, are singled out by a charity founded to increase the public's understanding of scientific issues. Sense About Science warned: "A small group of people in the public eye promote pseudo-science without embarrassment and cannot be dissuaded from it." Alice Tuff, who helped compile...

SAN RAFAEL Sean Penn may soon be a single man walking. Robin Wright Penn has filed for divorce from her actor, director husband. The divorce papers were filed on Dec. 21 with the Marin County Superior Court. Wright Penn cited irreconcilable differences as a reason for the split. The split was first reported by the Web site CelebTV.com. The couple has two teenage children and seeking joint custody of the children. Penn directed "Into The Wild" and starred as a death row inmate in "Dead Man Walking."

Comedienne Rosie O'Donnell has hit back after she was named the world's most annoying celebrity by insisting all stars are irritating.

Will Smith has disappointed us in ways we could’ve never imagined. In an interview, the 39-year-old family man and former-all around good guy says he sees the good in everyone, including Adolf Hitler. "Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘Let me do the most evil thing I can do today’. I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good’. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming,” Smith told the Daily Record. Um, yeah, except for the whole killing six million Jews thing. Will, you’ve broken our...

And in only its second weekend in release, the bottom fell out of costly domestic flop The Golden Compass from New Line, which forked over $200+ million to make it. I know, I know, the pic is doing OK overseas after earning $50.9 mil from 27 territories December 7th-9th. But the fantasy epic is so lost domestically it earned only an anemic $2.6 million Friday and $3.7 million Saturday from 3,528 nearly empty runs for 3rd place and a new cume of just $40.5 mil. I hear studio topper Bob Shaye once again is blaming everyone but himself -- including...

December 12, 2007 Jodie Foster comes out... finally The notoriously private Oscar-winning actress has acknowledged her lesbian partner in public for the first time Veronica Schmidt After guarding her private life fiercely for 15 years, Hollywood actress Jodie Foster has publicly acknowledged her lesbian partner. The Oscar-winning actress thanked "my beautiful Cydney" after winning an award at the Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast in Los Angeles. She went on to praise Cydney Bernard, saying the film producer "sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss". Despite more than a decade of speculation, questions over the paternity of...

The actress from the "First Family of Superheroes" on film, is about to start a family of her own. According to People magazine, "Fantastic Four" star Jessica Alba is pregnant with her first child. The news about Alba and her boyfriend, Cash Warren, expecting was confirmed for People by the actress' spokesman. "I can confirm that Jessica and Cash are expecting a baby in late spring, early summer," publicist Brad Cafarelli The couple has been dating since 2004. Alba, 26, and Warren, 28, met on the set for the first "Fantastic Four" movie, where Warren was a director's assistant, People...

Jessica Alba is pregnant with boyfriend Cash Warren's child, her representative told People magazine. "I can confirm that Jessica and Cash are expecting a baby in late spring, early summer," her rep, Brad Cafarelli, told People.

It's that special time of year again, when people send one another holiday letters summing up their past year for those lacking the opportunity to keep in touch. We recently received some (made-up) letters from our favorite celebrities and thought it might be nice to share with readers. Everything these folks do seems to be for public consumption anyway. So please enjoy our five favorite 2007 celebrity holiday letters: Alec Baldwin Hello Friends, Oh, what a wonderful time of year. Allow me to extend salutations and best wishes for you and yours. Oh, what a year it was! My show...

LOS ANGELES, Dec 9 (Reuters) - "The Golden Compass," a $180 million family fantasy starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, did not meet expectations at the North American box office, opening at No. 1 but with weekend ticket sales of just $26.1 million, its distributor said on Sunday. New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc, had hoped the film would pull in between $30 million and $40 million. "It's a little bit disappointing," said Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line's worldwide distribution and marketing operations.

It would seem that penning a Christian best-seller can't compete with a flap about how an actress looks in a bikini. Except in Texas. Readers of People magazine in Texas will find a big picture of Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria, on the cover of the Dec. 17 issue that lands at the nearest grocery store checkout line today. The rest of the country gets a photo of Jennifer Love Hewitt creating a stir about whether she looks chubby on the beach. Osteen's photo will have a smaller spot on the national cover. It is clear...