HALLE BERRY IS ESQUIRE'S 'SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE': Photo spread in Nov. issue.
Plus, Gabriel says they're working on baby #2.
*Esquire magazine has crowned Halle Berry "Sexiest Woman Alive" on the cover of its upcoming November issue, which features a photo spread of the actress in various white tank tops.
"I don't know exactly what that title means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it," said the Oscar winner, who gave birth to her daughter Nahla in March with boyfriend Gabriel Aubry.
"Sexiness is a state of mind — a comfortable state of being. It's about loving yourself in your most unlovable moments."
Berry, however, says she can't be selfish with her new "Sexiest Woman Alive" tag.
"I share this title with every woman, because every woman is a nominee for it at any moment," she says.
Meanwhile, Aubry told Us magazine that he and Halle are hoping Nahla will have a little brother or sister in the near future.
"Yeah, we are working on that!" he said at Elle's 15th Annual Women in Hollywood event in Beverly Hills, where Berry was honored on Monday.
Despite wanting to expand their family, Aubry said, "We have no plans for marriage. We are more married than ever, really.”
R. KELLY TRYING TO COLLECT LAWSUIT MONEY: Singer asks judge to help collect $3.4 million judgment from promoters.
*R. Kelly won $3.4 million in a lawsuit against his former tour promoter, but has yet to collect on the judgment.
The singer's camp is now asking a Los Angeles court to assist him in tracking down the payments, reports the Associated Press.
His company, R. Kelly Touring, filed documents on Monday asking a judge to confirm the award that an arbitrator granted last month against Rowe Entertainment. Kelly claimed that Rowe never paid him in full for shows that he performed in late 2007 and early this year. An arbitrator agreed with Kelly's claims.
Documents show Rowe disputed the arbitration, but did not offer any defense during a recent hearing, reports the AP.
Singer Ne-Yo recently won a $700,000 judgment against Rowe after he sued because he was dropped from Kelly's tour after only two shows.
'AMERICAN IDOL'S' PARIS BENNETT IS A MOM: Princess P gave birth to a daughter on Monday.
*Former "American Idol" finalist Paris Bennett, a.k.a. "Princess P," gave birth this week to a 5-pound, 15-ounce baby girl she has named Egypt.
"I'm so excited to finally see my little angel – and man, does she have lungs on her," Bennett, 20, said of her newborn. "I guess she's gearing up to be the next American Idol."
After five hours of labor, her first child arrived at 3:36 p.m. Monday afternoon at a Minneapolis hospital.
"Paris’s mother Jamecia Bennett and her family are filled with excitement and welcome their bundle of joy,” Paris' rep said in a statement.
Paris announced her pregnancy in June, but chose not to reveal the identity of the baby's father. She told the Minneapolis Star Tribune at the time that he "chooses not to be in the public eye."
JANET'S 'VERTIGO' REPORTS DENIED: Publicity firm says Randy Jackson interview 'never happened.'
*Santa Barbara-based firm One Way Publicity is denying recent reports that Janet Jackson's brother Randy said in an exclusive interview with a Michael Jackson fan site that her recent hospitalization was due to vertigo.
Jackson has canceled several shows on her Rock Witchu Tour after falling ill just hours before a show last Monday in Montreal. Her camp has yet to disclose the nature of the illness.
"Rumors started by the owner of a Michael Jackson fan site has stated that they had an exclusive interview with Randy Jackson, and during this interview he said that his sister Janet had canceled shows because she has an illness called 'Vertigo,'" read an e-mail sent to EURweb.
"Randy has not and will not speak publicly about the health of his sister, or her reasons for canceling any of her shows. This 'interview'
never happened."
SHERRI VS. ELISABETH ON OBAMA'S JUDGMENT: Another explosion goes down Tuesday on 'The View.'
*Sherri Shepherd went off on Elisabeth Hasselbeck Tuesday morning during a Hot Topics conversation about – what else – the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain.
For the second day in a row, Hasselbeck suggested that Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has not been open about his past relationship with former 60s radical William Ayers. She also said it was inconceivable that Obama was unaware that his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, "was a hatemonger."
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg immediately checked her on the "hatemonger" label, saying in Wright's defense, "this person did not like America. As a black person, we are very, very lucky. You don’t see where that's relevant?"
After more back-and-forth, Hasselbeck said of Obama in general, "Are you a liar or do you have poor judgment?"
At this, Shepherd whipped around toward her Republican co-host and snapped: "Can we talk about poor judgment? What about the woman that McCain left that didn't even want him to know that she had been in a horrible, horrible accident, and then he came back, met another woman named Cindy McCain and left the woman that waited for him. Can we talk about that?"
Translation: John McCain’s first wife Carol, a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965, was disfigured in a car accident while her husband was in a POW camp in Vietnam. (Icy roads caused her car to skid into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered and she suffered massive internal injuries. To save her legs, surgeons had to cut away huge chunks of shattered bone, taking with it her tall figure. She was confined to a wheelchair, was forced to use a catheter and has walked with a pronounced limp ever since.) She hoped that news reports of her accident would not reach McCain at the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" because she didn't want to weaken his spirit. When McCain returned home in 1973, he began cheating on Carol and eventually divorced her in 1980 to marry Cindy (18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune) one month later.
Watch the Shepherd/Hasselbeck exchange here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pSsxCHtiCQ
DIDDY EVOKES FRANK SINATRA IN CIROC AD: New black-and-white clip incorporates elements of Rat Pack.
*Sean "Diddy" Combs gets his Rat Pack on in a new ad campaign for CIROC Vodka.
Entitled "The Art of Celebration," Diddy is featured in a modern interpretation of the famous clique that included Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Dean Martin, while Sinatra's renowned "Come Fly With Me" plays throughout. [View clip here/below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF3G7vdM2UI]
Shot in black and white at one of Sinatra's former California homes, the 15- and 30-second commercials depict Diddy as a high-spirited host amidst a chic crowd during an impromptu private house party. The mogul is serving CIROC while engaging with his modern-day "Rat Pack" entourage. Combs mingles, dances and jokes during the intimate party, before finally stealing a private moment to gaze into the night as the crowd enjoys a fun-filled evening inside.
"Frank Sinatra is one of my heroes. It was truly an honor to have had the opportunity to use Sinatra's work and home for this campaign," said Diddy. "He defined sophisticated celebration as a lifestyle a generation ago. I couldn't imagine a spirit more appropriate for such occasions today than CIROC, a brand that has become synonymous with celebration."
JAY-Z PULLED OUT OF MIAMI OBAMA GIG: Last minute no-show reportedly leaves fans and organizers upset.
*Jay-Z had to cancel the second of his two free concerts in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign due to a rumored problem with his throat.
According to Allhiphop.com, the mogul pulled out of his scheduled concert at the Bayfront Park Amphitheatre after fans had already arrived to the venue.
“The whole concert has had to be cancelled because it was Jay-Z who pulled out. We haven’t been told why, but I’m sure all the fans want an explanation,” an anonymous Bayfront Park official speculated, according to the Web site.
Event organizers initially tried to stall for time, telling the audience that the main attraction was just running late. But, eventually the bad news was delivered to concert-goers.
The free concert/voter registration drive was set to include supporting performances from Wyclef Jean and Rick Ross. However, the entire event was scrapped due to the backlash from fans after Jay’s cancellation.
'WEIRD AL' PARODIES T.I.'S 'WHATEVER YOU LIKE': Release available exclusively on iTunes for two weeks.
*"Weird Al" Yankovic is back, this time with a parody of the most popular song in the United States this week – T.I.'s current No. 1 single, "Whatever You Like."
A press release from Jive Records says the parody, also titled "Whatever You Like," topically "mashes together the swagger of the T.I. song with the cold, hard realities of our current economic climate."
For the first time in his career, Al is releasing a parody of a song on iTunes while that song is still No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Al said in his recent MySpace blog: "One of the hardest things I've had to deal with in my career is keeping my material topical even though I only release albums every three or four years. Now, with the advent and popularity of digital distribution, I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated -- I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately. It kind of boggles my mind -- I thought of the idea for this new song a week ago, and next week it's getting released."
Weird Al's new single will be available exclusively on iTunes for two weeks (through Oct. 21) and then made available at all major online retailers.
KANYE SETS FIRM RELEASE DATE FOR NEW CD: Artist makes announcement during surprise appearance at T.I. show.
*Kanye West has announced that his upcoming Def Jam album, "808s and Heartbreak," has an official release date of Nov. 25.
The rapper broke the news Friday during a surprise appearance at T.I.'s MySpace-sponsored concert in Los Angeles.
"We just finished the album. I just got back from Hawaii earlier today," he told the audience before breaking into a track titled "Heartless," which he confirmed is the set's second single.
First single "Love Lockdown" has sold 402,000 digital downloads in just two weeks of release, according to Nielsen Soundscan, and debuted at a career-best No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Nov. 25 street date for "Heartbreak" is nearly a month earlier than the original rumored release date of Dec. 16, which would've set up a second sales battle with 50 Cent's new album, "Before I Self Destruct," due one week later.
Last September, both men released new albums on the Sept. 11, with West's "Graduation" outselling 50's "Curtis" 957,000 to 691,000 in its debut week. "Graduation" has since sold 2.18 million copies in the United States, reports Billboard.
In other Kanye news, the artist is making headlines for his comment to Ellen DeGeneres on her rather masculine fashion choices during a visit to her talk show.
"You have really great style," the rapper told DeGeneres on Tuesday's broadcast. He then addressed the audience, advising them: "Seriously, this is one of the people you should look at when ever you're trying to figure out how to put together an outfit – especially for guys."
DeGeneres, sporting jeans and a dark sweater over a button-down shirt, laughed along as he insisted, "I would completely wear [that]."
SUPREME COURT REJECTS NEW ABU-JAMAL TRIAL: Having escaped Death Row, lawyer vows to fight life sentence before new jury.
*The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear arguments for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, the ex-Black Panther accused of killing a police officer.
Abu-Jamal's death sentence was overturned in March by a federal court in Philadelphia, which found that the jury in the case had been incorrectly instructed. The judges voted two-to-one to uphold his conviction, however.
AFP reports that Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Robert Bryan, has already said he will seek to bring a second Supreme Court appeal -- on the grounds of racism -- for the 54-year-old former radio journalist accused of the 1981 murder of Daniel Faulkner.
As part of his defense, Abu-Jamal has argued he was denied a fair trial in 1982 because the prosecution barred 10 qualified African-Americans from sitting on the jury, which in the end consisted of 10 whites and two blacks. The Philadelphia appeals court had rejected his arguments on lack of evidence of any racist intent on the part of the prosecution.
Bryan has said he will not rest until he wins freedom for his client, who has become an icon for anti-capital punishment campaigners.
"Even though the federal court granted a new trial on the question of the death penalty, we want a complete reversal of the conviction," Bryan said in July.
BESLA CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN VIRGIN ISLANDS: Michael Eric Dyson to keynote event for Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association.
*Hundreds of influential entertainment and sports lawyers, executives and celebrities will converge next month at the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association’s (BESLA) Conference in the Virgin Islands.
The 28th Annual BESLA Conference, which will be held October 22 – 26 at the Frenchman’s Reef and Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort in St. Thomas, Virgin will feature Michael Eric Dyson as the keynote speaker at an awards gala scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 25.
BESLA President and conference co-chair Tamela Cash-Curry said: “On the eve of this year’s presidential election, our theme, ‘The Urgency of NOW: Effective Legal Strategies For A Competitive Advantage,’ speaks to the urgency of committed action.
BESLA will also honor Max Siegel, the highest-ranking African American executive in the history of NASCAR. Siegel is President of Global Operations for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. one of the premier franchise names in professional auto racing. Siegel, who is a BESLA board member, will receive the BESLA Excellence Award.
BESLA is a non-profit international organization of lawyers and other entertainment and sports industry executives who actively support a more diversified, expert and informed group of entertainment and sports industry professionals. For more information about the conference or BESLA, visit www.besla.org
OBAMA BITS: Drew Barrymore's tears; first-ever global presidential poll; "Palin is a B*tch" blog posting from alleged 82-year-old lady.
*In the new issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine, actress Drew Barrymore talks about how Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama made her cry. "When I heard him speak about a gay person never having to sit outside the hospital room with their loved one sick inside, I burst into tears because so many people I care about are homosexual and it was profound to have someone be sensitive to that," she says in November's issue. "That's the kind of world I want to live in, where we're not holding our own principles in judgment above someone or against someone."
*Barack Obama is the world's preferred choice for president of the United States by far, according to the results of a first-ever global presidential poll conducted by Reader's Digest magazine and published in the November issue, on newsstands Oct. 21. The poll, part of the cover story "How the World Sees Us," surveyed 17,000 people in 17 countries, including the U.S. Regarding the question of which candidate they would vote for if they could, respondents voted overwhelmingly for Obama in every country polled, with the exception of the United States, where Republican John McCain was preferred over Democrat Obama by a narrow margin.
More Obama-related headlines and interesting reading:
Sarah Palin is a B**ch...There, I Said It By a blogger who claims to be an 82-year-old woman named Helen Philpot • I guess I hit a nerve with my little story about the Governor, but I just got so mad when my friend Margaret told me she was thinking about voting for McCain and thought Sarah was kind of interesting. Well, we’ve survived a lot of differences over the years so I guess we can survive this one.
http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/bitch-there-i-said-it/
Indiana Republicans Making Voting Harder for Blacks By Zachary Roth, TPM Muckraker • Indiana is one of the key red states that Barack Obama has unexpectedly put in play this year. So it's not surprising that the GOP is pulling out all the stops to keep it in their column -- including, predictably, launching an effort to make it much harder for African-Americans to vote.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/indiana_republicans_making
_vot.php
GOP Files FEC Complaint about Obama's Fundraising By Jim Kuhnhenn, The Associated Press The Republican National Committee filed a complaint Monday alleging that Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign has received illegal contributions from foreigners and donations that exceed federal limits.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5juh2eCMByP0YChyOBJMmRVA4fSYAD93LATBG0
ITTY BITTY BITS: Frank Lucas tour; Beyonce covers Essence; Sharpton on trial; Columbus Short in 'Lethal Weapon 5?'; Gordon Parks celebration.
*Frank Lucas, the Harlem drug kingpin played by Denzel Washington in "American Gangster," is taking his rapper son Frank Lucas Jr. on a 20-city tour to speak out against violence, reports the New York Post. "Frank Sr.
will be talking to students about how they should get grades, not guns, and not follow in his footsteps," an insider told Page Six. "There will also be gun drops for illegal handguns that he and his son are setting up."
*Beyonce finally opens up about her wedding to Jay-Z in the new issue of Essence magazine, which features the singer on the cover. “…What Jay and I have is real. It’s not about interviews or getting the right photo op.
It’s real,” she says in the interview. The singer also talks about her new album, the paparazzi, the rumored engagement ring and life in the spotlight.
*A criminal court judge began the non-jury trial Monday for Rev. Al Sharpton and seven others regarding the traffic-stopping protests over the fatal police shooting of unarmed New York City man Sean Bell. Led by Sharpton, hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic at bridge and tunnel entrances on May 7. More than 200 demonstrators were arrested, with most of the cases having been dismissed. Sharpton, who claims his protests were peaceful, rejected an offer to plead guilty in exchange for time served — the 5 1/2 hours he was held after his arrest.
*Actor Columbus Short is reportedly in talks to join the fifth installment of the "Lethal Weapon" franchise. According to IGN, the actor says he may be signing on to play the son of Danny Glover's character Murtaugh. It was reported in August that screenwriter Shane Black and producer Joel Silver were working on "Lethal Weapon 5," which will see Mel Gibson's character Riggs, on the verge of retirement when he pulls Murtaugh back into active duty for one final case.
*The Fort Scott Tribune of Kansas reports of the recent fifth annual Gordon Parks Celebration for Culture and Diversity. Friends and relatives of the late photographer and filmmaker gathered from across the country to discuss his life and legacy. The Fort Scott native became the first black photographer for Life magazine and first black director of a feature film during his lifetime.
GOP BLAMES BLACKS FOR WALL ST. WOES?: Rep. Barney Frank claims conservatives are trying to pin problem on minority lending laws.
*U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is furious at conservatives who are blaming the nation’s economic woes on black people who purchased homes under a federal program designed to help poor people.
“This is an effort I believe to appeal to a kind of anger in people,” Frank, a Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told a Boston foreclosure-prevention forum on Monday.
According to the Boston Herald, Frank believes conservatives are attempting to shift blame for the market meltdown away from Wall Street and toward minority-lending laws like the federal Community Reinvestment Act.
“The bizarre notion that the Community Reinvestment Act . . . somehow is the cause of the whole problem, (conservatives) don’t mind that,” Frank said. “They’re aware that the affordable-housing goals of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and) the Community Reinvestment Act (aim to help) poor people. And let’s be honest, the fact that some poor people are black doesn’t hurt either from their standpoint.”
EUR FILM REVIEW: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Teens on the Rebound Roam Manhattan in Romantic Road Flick Film Review by Kam Williams
*How long will Michael Cera be able to continue playing the vulnerable, overly-sensitive social zero we saw in both Juno and Superbad?
Probably until his wan baby face matures to the point it finally begins to lose its angelic air of innocence.
Meanwhile, he remains the ideal foil to portray the nerdy nice guy opposite a relatively-savvy female lead, a role he reprises to perfection in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Unfolding mostly in New York over the course of one very eventful evening, this tenderhearted teensploit based on Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s novel of the same name asks one simple question: Can love blossom between a couple of club kids from Jersey on the rebound while they’re careening around town in a yellow Yugo which is repeatedly mistaken for a taxicab?
At the point of departure, we meet Nick (Cera), a high school senior planning to attend Berklee School of Music. He is currently the bassist for an otherwise all-gay punk rock group currently called The Jerk Offs.
He’s also been dejected ever since being dumped on his birthday a month ago by his narcissistic girlfriend, Tris (Alexis Dziena), a two-timer who finally left him for macho-type Gary (Zachary Booth).
Seemingly inconsolable, Nick spends most of his free time daydreaming about getting back together, leaving long messages on her cell phone, and making her CD mixes of songs she just tosses into the trash. Hoping to shake him out of the doldrums, his band mates book a gig in a dive in lower Manhattan.
Tris is in the audience that evening and teases her gal pal Norah (Kat Dennings) about being alone. Weary of her “friends with benefits” relationship with a shallow, emotionally-distant social climber (Jay Baruchel), Norah impulsively announces that she already has a new beau. She then marches up to Nick as he comes offstage, and whispers, “Will you be my boyfriend for five minutes?” in his ear before planting a kiss on his lips.
Dumbfounded, he goes along with ruse, a charade which ends up lasting until four in the morning. For they soon discover that they have something in common, an appreciation of “Where’s Fluffy,” an up-and-coming combo rumored to be playing an impromptu set somewhere in the city that very night. They gradually get to know each other during their ensuing search for the elusive Fluffy, an effort intermittently frustrated by an ever compounding comedy of errors, involving a car crash, a lost friend (Ari Graynor) and lots of bodily-function fare designed to trigger one’s gag reflex.
A meandering Manhattan travelogue with a payoff worth the wait, some gross moments notwithstanding.
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for mature themes, teen sexuality, underage alcohol abuse,
profanity and crude behavior.
Running time: 89 minutes
Studi Columbia Pictures
To see a trailer for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-btDYY-uLeY
EUR DVD REVIEW: The Happening
Suspense-less Shyamalan Thriller Released on DVD DVD Review by Kam Williams
*In 1999, The Sixth Sense established M. Night Shyamalan as the heir apparent to Alfred Hitchcock’s as the master of suspense. However, the once-celebrated wunderkind’s stock has fallen over the years since his subsequent offerings have generally been disappointing due to the identical failing.
The trouble is that his adventures rely on rabbit-out-of-the-hat revelations which retroactively render the rest of what you’ve just watched inconsequential.
Consequently, Shyamalan’s critics have deemed him a one-trick pony undeserving of his lofty status as a cinematic genius. Now, perhaps in response to his detractors, he has crafted The Happening with a more-transparent, but equally-unsatisfying twist.
The film opens in New York where we find pedestrians exhibiting bizarre behavior which starts with catatonia and disorientation and culminates with their calmly committing suicide. The setting quickly shifts to the Philadelphia classroom of science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg).
He and the rest of the faculty are soon summoned by the high school’s principal (Alan Ruck) who informs them about the strange goings-on in Manhattan and summarily cancels classes for the rest of the day. It’s not long before the folks in Philly start becoming infected with the same self-destructive urges.
So, Elliot and his pal, Julian (John Leguizamo), decide to make a break by train to a presumably safe haven in the country. En route, they pick up a couple of loved ones: the former’s estranged wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), and daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). Together, the four then embark on a valiant struggle to survive the godforsaken plague.
Besides telegraphing what’s really at the root of the ho-hum havoc, The Happening is beset by a host of flaws, most notably, wooden acting jobs by Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg who barely demonstrate the emotional range of the zombies everybody around them is turning into.
Fair (1 star)
Rated R for violence and disturbing images.
Running time: 90 minutes
Studi Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, gag reel, plus five featurettes.
To see a trailer for The Happening, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fwccFTJIdo
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
"Learn to pause.... or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you." — Doug King
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Oct. 8: Singer Fred Cash of the Impressions is 68. Activist Jesse Jackson is 67. Singer Robert "Kool" Bell of Kool and the Gang is 58. Singer CeCe Winans is 44. Singer Teddy Riley is 42. Actor Nick Cannon ("The Nick Cannon Show," "Drumline") is 28.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Just Us Books - Creators of Black interest books and products for young people. Get more info here: www.justusbooks.com
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
Oct. 8, 1775: Council of general officers decided to bar slaves and free blacks from Continental Army. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)