Buzz Briefs: Amy Winehouse, Alec Baldwin
Man Acquitted In Winehouse Husband's Barroom Brawl Case
A British court on Wednesday acquitted a former pub manager of taking a bribe to drop assault charges against Amy Winehouse's husband.
A jury deliberated for three hours before finding James King not guilty of trying to pervert the course of justice (the equivalent of obstruction of justice in the U.S.).
The singer-songwriter's husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, has admitted beating up King in a barroom fight in 2006 and then offering him $400,000 to keep quiet about it.
King, who suffered a broken cheekbone, said he was intimidated into withdrawing the assault claim.
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Three other men also pleaded guilty to involvement in the plot. They and Fielder-Civil all face jail terms when they are sentenced later.
Winehouse, 24, and Fielder-Civil, 26, were married in Miami in May 2007. He was arrested in November and has been in jail ever since.
She has become an international star since releasing the Grammy-winning album "Back to Black" in 2006. But her music has been overshadowed by reports of drug use, her run-ins with the law and tempestuous relationship with Fielder-Civil.
Alec Baldwin Is Spokesman For NYC Homeless
Alec Baldwin is lending his voice to critics of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's homelessness policies.
The "30 Rock" actor narrates a public service announcement released Tuesday by the Coalition for the Homeless, a charity blasting Bloomberg's follow-through on a 2004 pledge to slash the number of homeless New Yorkers.
Over footage of people on city streets, Baldwin recites such statistics as "over 40,000 New Yorkers will go to sleep homeless tonight." A coalition spokeswoman says the spot will be televised on various networks.
The city Department of Homeless Services says the number of homeless people on streets and in shelters is shrinking, which the coalition disputes.
Baldwin's representatives haven't immediately returned telephone calls Wednesday. The 50-year-old actor is an enthusiastic Democrat who often speaks out on political matters. -
"Batman" Christian Bale Says Ledger Was His "Kindred Spirit"
Christian Bale who plays "Batman" in "The Dark Knight" still has a hard time accepting Heath Ledger's death.
For Bale, Ledger wasn't just his co-star in the movie; he was his "kindred spirit."
"I want to talk about Heath," Bale told PARADE of Ledger. "When you miss somebody, you want to speak about him. He was a unique character, a very infectious character. He was a good man, and I was glad to have spent time with him. He was somebody who I'd been seeing on a daily basis for months. It takes a long time to accept that someone's gone, when all body and mind are telling you that this is somebody you will know for a great deal of time. He was something of a kindred spirit to myself."
Bale, a father himself, had strong feelings against the invasion of Heath's privacy after his passing.
"Much of it has to do with my respect for his daughter, whom he loved so dearly and whom he would talk about so often," Bale told PARADE. "For me, that is of incredible importance. I hope in a small way that The Dark Knight can be a celebration of his work. Not like the hideous circus after he died, which I felt was an invasion of a private life. This movie is not a personal home video. This is what he did. I hope people will embrace that in the correct fashion."
Rodman Pleads No Contest To Spousal Battery
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman pleaded no contest to misdemeanor spousal battery Tuesday and was ordered to undergo counseling and to perform highway or other physical labor.
Two other counts were dismissed under a plea deal, the Los Angeles city attorney's office said.
Rodman was sentenced to a year of domestic violence counseling, three years of probation and 45 days of graffiti removal or road cleanup work for the California Department of Transportation or a similar program in Florida where he lives, said city attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan.
Rodman also was warned not to intimidate or use force against his girlfriend, Gina Peterson.
Defense attorney Paul Meyer said Rodman's sentence does not require him to specifically do road cleanup and he can instead do equivalent physical labor approved by a community service agency in Florida.
Meyer said Rodman is receiving counseling.
The 47-year-old Rodman was arrested at a Los Angeles hotel in April after Peterson reported that he struck her during an altercation.
Cher Harassed By Drunk In Nashville Club
A Nashville man was charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication after he repeatedly harassed entertainer Cher at the famed honkytonk Tootsies Orchid Lounge.
Police say 36-year-old Calvin Hutton Houghland tried to make contact with Cher at the club early Wednesday morning and was asked to leave.
The report says Houghland complied but returned a short time later and grabbed Cher by the waist as she sat in a roped-off area.
Houghland was escorted from the bar, but he returned again and approached Cher in an aggressive manner. When security blocked his advances, he called police to say he had been assaulted.
Police said Cher declined to prosecute the man for assault for grabbing her, but police said he asked to be arrested.
Houghland said he had been drinking and failed a self-requested field sobriety test. His bond was set at $3,000.
Steven Spielberg To Team Up With DreamWorks
A multimedia-multi-author narrative being planned by the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter books has picked up a famous patron: Steven Spielberg.
DreamWorks Studios has acquired the film rights to "The 39 Clues," a mystery series-online game that Scholastic will debut in September. Spielberg, director of "Jaws," "Schindler's List" and the "Indiana Jones" films, says he's hoping to direct.
"`The 39 Clues' takes creative leaps to expand the story experience from the pages of the books to multiple stages of discovery and imagination," Spielberg said Wednesday in a joint statement issued by DreamWorks and Scholastic Media. "Together with Scholastic, we have the opportunity to develop this property that says `film,' `family,' `fun' and `franchise."'
"The 39 Clues," which also features a set of 355 collectible cards, is a planned 10-book series about a powerful, mysterious family that lives in upstate New York. The first installment, "The Maze of Bones," was written by Rick Riordan, author of the best-selling "The Lightning Thief." Jude Watson and Gordon Korman are among those who will write future volumes.
Brendan Fraser Isn't A Wimp On Action Movie Set
"Journey to the Center of the Earth" star Brendan Fraser says the little pains of action-movie making don't bother him. At least he won't admit it ... saying "I'm a tough guy."
The 39-year-old actor was asked during a benefit screening Tuesday of the 3-D movie opening July 11 if the rock climbing and other physical feats required for "Journey" took a toll.
Fraser told The Knoxville News Sentinel during a red carpet interview it was a normal day at the office to "get lit on fire, hung upside down, nearly drowned, eaten by a T. rex."
Nearly 1,000 people attended the fourth annual benefit screening organized by Knoxville-based movie theater conglomerate Regal Entertainment to support Variety - The Children's Charity of Eastern Tennessee. The event raised about $340,000.
Joining Fraser were "Journey" co-star Josh Hutcherson and director Eric Brevig.
Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" Tops Billboard 200 Album Chart
Coldplay's new album is already living the life.
"Viva La Vida" will debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week, the second-best opening week of 2008, according to the trade magazine's Web site. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was the top album debut of the year after it sold a spectacular 1 million copies earlier this month.
Two back-to-back blockbuster sales are a boost to the sluggish music industry, which has had little to celebrate with declining sales.
"Viva La Vida" follows 2005's "X&Y," which also debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, with 737,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It album sold 3.2 million copies in the United States.
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"Idol" Winner Ruben Studdard To Wed
He won the affection of millions of people on "American Idol," but this weekend, Ruben Studdard is giving his heart to one woman.
A representative for the former "Idol" confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Studdard, 29, plans a Saturday wedding. He and Surata Zuri McCants, 30, took out a marriage license on Monday, according to court records.
The Birmingham native, nicknamed the "Velvet Teddy Bear" on the show for his big frame and sonorous voice, has released three albums since his 2003 win, including the platinum CD "Soulful." He is working on a new album.
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India.Arie To Take On Broadway
India.Arie on Broadway - produced by Whoopi Goldberg.
The Grammy-winning singer will make her Broadway debut in a revival of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf."
She will open in the play Sept. 8 at Circle in the Square.
Preview performances begin Aug. 19 in what will be a revised and updated version of the play, which was an off-Broadway hit for the Public Theater in 1976 before transferring to Broadway for a run of more than 700 performances.
The new production will be directed by Shirley Jo Finney and choreographed by Hinton Battle, a three-time Tony winner.
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"For Colored Girls...," a prose-poem portrait of black women in America, originally featured Shange and Trazana Beverley, who won a Tony for her performance.
Goldberg has been involved in productions of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," her own "Whoopi ... The 20th Anniversary" and a revival of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."
"Marley & Me" Author To Release Funny, Heartfelt Book
"Marley & Me" author John Grogan is working on a prequel to the million-selling memoir about his dog.
"The Longest Trip Home" will be released in October by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, the publisher said in a statement Tuesday.
"It is the powerful, often hilarious story of a son in the making, and of growing up in a loving, but comically old-school Catholic family," said the statement issued by Morrow. "From his troublemaking childhood to his courtship of a fiery blonde named Jenny, Grogan writes about how he came to terms with who he is and what he believes."
"Even before `Marley & Me' was published, I knew this was the story I wanted to tell next," Grogan, 51, said in a statement. "`The Longest Trip Home' is a story very close to my heart."
A film version of "Marley & Me," starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, is slated for release in December.
Man Guilty In Death Of "Curious George" Co-Author
A jury convicted a man Tuesday of killing Alan Shalleck, who collaborated to bring the mischievous monkey "Curious George" to TV and a series of book sequels.
The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before convicting Vincent Puglisi of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon. He is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
Puglisi's co-defendant, Rex Ditto, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and robbery with a weapon in 2007. He was sentenced to life in prison.
A message left for Assistant State Attorney Andy Slater was not immediately returned Tuesday evening. The phone at Assistant Public Defender Shari Vrod's office rang unanswered.
Shalleck had 83 blunt force injuries and more than three dozen stab wounds, including to the abdomen, neck and groin, an autopsy revealed.
Ditto and Puglisi went to Shalleck's Boynton Beach home on Super Bowl Sunday in February 2006 intending to rob him. After the killing, Ditto and Puglisi stole jewelry from Shalleck and pilfered funds from his checking account, authorities said.
Shalleck was the writer and director of more than 100 short episodes of "Curious George," which aired on the Disney Channel, and co-wrote a series of books with Margret Rey, who created the mischievous monkey with her husband more than 60 years ago. Houghton Mifflin publishes "Curious George" books.