Paris talks Obama; Julia Hudson’s MySpace; ‘View’ ratings; Palin bypasses Oprah November 10, 2008
Paris Hilton was dragged unwittingly into the presidential election when John McCain’s camp featured her image in a campaign ad mocking Barack Obama’s perceived “celebrity” status. Although Hilton struck back with her own clip calling McCain a “wrinkly white-haired guy,” she never revealed which candidate had her support. After Tuesday, she told People magazine: “The best man won. I’m so thrilled. I love Barack and I think he’s amazing. The world is definitely a better place now. There’s a lot of change and a lot of hope coming. That’s a very good thing.”
*TMZ.com is reporting that Jennifer Hudson’s sister Julia has made some changes to her MySpace page. She removed photos of William Balfour, her estranged husband and lone “person of interest” in the murders of her brother Jason Hudson, mother Darnell Donerson and son Julian King. But, she’s causing a few raised eyebrows with a caption that she added under one photo, which reads: “Now that Jason’s gone I’m the prettiest one.” Other photos show her partying with friends.
*It should be no surprise that “The View” benefitted tremendously in the ratings during the long campaign season. Last week, the ABC talk show reached No. 1 in key female daytime demos for the first time in the show’s 12-year history, averaging 963,000 viewers in women 18-49. “The View” averaged 4.3 million total viewers for the week of Oct. 27, making it the show’s second-highest frame ever, with Wednesday (4.5 million) as the peak day. In addition to appearances in the past months by Michelle Obama, John McCain and his wife Cindy McCain, there were also heated exchanges between the show’s pro-Obama hosts and its lone Republican, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
*Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren has beaten out Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Larry King and others to land the first post-election interview with Sarah Palin. Van Susteren will be traveling to Alaska for an extensive interview with the state’s governor, which is scheduled to air tonight at 10 ET on the Fox News Channel.
VENUS WINS SONY ERICSSON TOURNAMENT November 10, 2008
Venus Williams won the WTA Tour’s year-end event for the first time by beating Vera Zvonareva 6-7 (5/7), 6-0, 6-2 during Sunday’s final of the Sony Ericsson championships.
Near the end of the match in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, she collapsed on the ground and began crying, apparently because of the exhaustion that was affecting her ground strokes, reports AFP.
“It was a hard fought match right down to the end,” said Williams, who went into the match still drained from beating world number one Jelena Jankovic the previous day. “I am so excited. I wanted it so bad.”
Meanwhile, Serena Williams withdrew from Sony Ericsson with a stomach muscle injury that may have occurred during her round robin loss to Venus 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday.
“I had zero pain last night,” Serena said of her post-match experience. “But I didn’t serve well and I think that’s why I was doing that. I might have been over-compensating.
“When I got home I didn’t feel pain. But when I woke up I was in pain. I have had this before and so when I felt this it was like a red flag. I went to see how I felt in practice yesterday, and it was hard when I was hitting ground strokes. I didn’t want to risk it.”
Serena was challenged by a British journalist who suggested that sometimes in a major tournament such as this she should play through the pain for the sake of the event and for the sponsors.
“I think what I should do is make you work out, have a severe stomach strain and play for the sponsors,” she chided. When the journalist suggested he would have, Serena responded with satirical laughter, adding: “You really should. You should go for it and live the dream!”
Later she explained: “I had this once in LA and played through it and I was out for six to eight weeks. So when I had these symptoms I thought I must start the New Year well. I can’t afford to be out for so long.”
MCCARTNEY WANTS TO SERENADE MICHELLE OBAMA November 10, 2008
Paul McCartney says he’s so pleased with the America’s Election Day voting results that he hopes to someday get a chance to serenade incoming First Lady Michelle Obama.
“I hope to get the opportunity to sing … to his wife. I have a little song ready for her,” the former Beatle told Britain’s Sky News backstage at the MTV Europe Music Awards Thursday night.
Asked what tune he has in mind, McCartney sang the beginning of the Beatles ’60s hit “Michelle,” which was famously borrowed by Slick Rick in his 80s rap anthem “La-Di-Da-Di.”
As for President-Elect Barack Obama, McCartney said, “I think sincerely he is the man for the job. I think it is a legendary occasion and I wish him the very best.”
VING RHAMES SELLING BRENTWOOD HOME November 10, 2008
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Actor Ving Rhames is putting his two-story Tuscany-style home in Brentwood, Calif. on the market with an asking price of $2,699,000, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The house has five bedrooms and 6 1/2 bathrooms in 4,700 square feet. There is a chef’s eat-in kitchen with Viking Professional appliances, granite counters and a direct entrance from the garage. One bedroom is on the ground floor. There are walnut floors, a formal dining room and a fireplace in the master bedroom suite.
In August 2007, a 40-year-old caretaker on the property died of a heart attack in a mauling incident involving the film star’s dogs.
Rhames, 49, played the merciless drug dealer Marsellus Wallace in “Pulp Fiction” (1994). He received a Golden Globe award for his performance in HBO’s “Don King: Only in America,” then famously gave it to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon in 1998, saying: “I feel that being an artist is about giving, and I’d like to give this to you.”
RIHANNA SUFFERS DIZZY SPELL DOWN UNDER November 10, 2008
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Rihanna scared fans at a Thursday night concert in Sydney, Australia after running off stage in apparent physical pain in the middle of her finale. [Scroll down to view footage.]
Her rep, Amanda Silverman, says the singer is doing fine now and was to resume her tour schedule on the continent.
According to reports, paramedics were rushed to Acer Arena to treat the pop star, who had just been lowered down to the stage by a harness and joined by her boyfriend Chris Brown for their remix of “Umbrella.”
Rihanna periodically held her stomach during the song before suddenly doubling over and bolting off-stage, still clutching her abdomen. Brown was forced to complete the show’s finale alone.
“It was very hot at the venue, so after Rihanna’s set was over, she went off stage and needed to sit down, catch her breath and have some water,” Silverman explained. “She is perfectly healthy and will be at her show tomorrow.”
Rihanna Has Stomach Issue During Concert in Sydney (Angle 1)
(Angle 2 – includes harness arrival)
NO NEW TRIAL FOR O.J. SIMPSON November 10, 2008
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O.J. Simpson lost his bid for a new trial during a hearing Friday before the same judge who oversaw his recent conviction in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.
Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass said the issues raised by lawyers for Simpson and co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart did not rise to the level of granting another trial, reports the Associated Press.
Glass acknowledged during Friday’s hearing that her ruling paves the way for Simpson and Stewart to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Simpson and Stewart are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 5. They face up to life in state prison. The jury found them guilty on Oct. 3 of all 12 charges, including kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, in the Sept. 13, 2007, hotel room confrontation.
Stewart’s lawyer, Brent Bryson, alleged misconduct by the jury foreman, whom he quoted as saying he thought Simpson should have been given a life sentence in the Los Angeles case involving the 1994 slayings of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson was acquitted in that case.
BEYONCE WANTS TO PLAY ‘WONDER WOMAN’ November 10, 2008
If the nation has evolved enough to elect its first black president, surely it would accept an African American woman in the role of white superhero Wonder Woman. At least, that’s what Beyonce is banking on.
“What would be better than Wonder Woman?” she tells the Los Angeles Times of her dream role. “It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?”
The 27-year-old said she has already met with representatives at DC Comics and Warner Bros. to discuss donning the red, white and blue bathing suit on screen.
“After doing these roles that were so emotional I was thinking to myself, ‘OK, I need to be a superhero,’” Beyoncé tells the Times. “Although, when you think about the psychology of the heroes in the films these days, they are still a lot of work, of course, and emotional. But there’s also an action element that I would enjoy.”
Her interest in the role got a boost earlier this year when she saw Lynda Carter’s iconic costume on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“I would definitely have to keep it right for that costume,” she says. “But I love Wonder Woman and it’d be a dream come true to be that character. It sure would be handy to have that lasso.”
DJIMON HOUSOU TO VOICE BET’S ‘BLACK PANTHER’ November 10, 2008
BET Networks and Marvel Comics have recruited Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou to voice the lead character in their upcoming animated series “The Black Panther,” reports Variety.
“‘The Black Panther’ is Marvel’s entrée into prime-time animation, and Djimon raises the bar for all involved as we bring the best in the animation business together to execute that vision,” said Marvel Animation president Eric Rollman.
The series will be adapted from six issues of the Marvel comic of the same name. Former BET president Reginald Hudlin wrote the scripts in 2005.
Considered to be the first modern black superhero, Black Panther was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and made its first appearance in July 1966 in Fantastic Four comic book #52. The character began headlining his own volumes in 1973.
“It’s a blessing for African Americans and minorities to have a superhero they can identify with,” said Hounsou of the character.
MAYA ANGELOU TO PEN POEM ABOUT OBAMA November 10, 2008
Avid Hillary Clinton supporter Maya Angelou says she has been inspired to write a poem in honor of president-elect Barack Obama, who will be the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office when he is sworn in on Jan. 20.
But Angelou doesn’t expect to be commissioned to recite her piece on Inauguration Day, as she did for the incoming president 16 years ago.
“I’m sure Mr. Obama, president-elect, will have them bring his own poet,” the 80-year-old writer told the Associated Press Friday from her home in Winston-Salem, where she holds a professorship at Wake Forest University. “I was somebody else’s poet.”
Angelou was famously commissioned by Bill Clinton to compose a poem and read it at his inauguration in 1992. Sixteen years after delivering “On the Pulse of Morning” on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, Angelou continued to support the Clintons by endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton’s run against Obama during the primary season.
But when Sen. Clinton withdrew, the writer immediately began “thumping the drum” for Obama and even introduced his wife, Michelle, at an event in Greensboro in September.
The poet and author of such books as “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” said she had a visceral, physical reaction when Obama was declared the winner late Tuesday.
“First I laughed,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Before I could finish laughing, I wept. Then I shook. I mean, I trembled. You know, the old meaning of the word ‘thrill’ has a physical aspect. It’s like, `Brrrrr!’ My body started shaking.”
“I thought of my people, African-Americans,” she continued. “I thought of white Americans. I thought of Asians and Spanish people. And I thought, ‘My God! What a country. What a country.’ I believe that in the secret heart of every American there’s a desire to live in a great country. And look at us now.”
“On the Pulse of Morning,” the poem she composed for Clinton, talked of war and divisiveness, but also of hope for a new beginning of peace. Angelou said Obama is “a clear and clean wind, a breeze. … There is some poetry in him, yes.”
She has not been approached by Obama about the inauguration, nor does she expect to be. She plans to write a poem about the election of the nation’s true first black president in the coming months, but she cannot yet say what form it will take. She only knows that, like this milestone, it will not come easy.
“I will approach it as the work it is,” she said. “Try to put all my energies and my talents and my prayers and hopes and all that, my nervousness — all of those things will go into it.”
