Entertainment News

MIAMI (AP) — The call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor has dropped a lawsuit claiming "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis exploited her image and name on the Internet.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving from celebrity to senator isn't exactly an untraveled path. But that doesn't mean comedian Al Franken, who is vying for a Senate seat in Minnesota, will coast to Capitol Hill on a wide, smooth road.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Charlie Crist won't be sleeping alone in the governor's mansion much longer — he is engaged to a woman he met in New York City last September who quickly captured his heart.

SYDNEY, Australia - "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan challenged Australian tax authorities Friday to track him down in the United States after a newspaper report that he was under investigation for tax evasion.

NEW YORK - When the media capital of the world meets a celebrity divorce, it's a breakup made in tabloid heaven. So the city that has hosted the spectacular splits of Woody Allen, Liza Minnelli and Rudolph Giuliani now is feasting on the salacious details of model Christie Brinkley's fourth marital breakup.

MIAMI (AP) — The call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor has dropped a lawsuit claiming "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis exploited her image and name on the Internet.

Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Michael Turner, a comic book artist who drew covers for major titles such as "Superman/Batman," "The Flash" and "Civil War,'" has died. He was 37.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - So much for "love is blind." A contestant has been expelled from a popular Chilean TV dating show after he was found to have had previous acting experience -- in a pornographic movie.

LOS ANGELES - Larry Harmon wasn't the orginal Bozo the Clown, but he was the real one.

BEIJING (Reuters) - More than just a box-office hit in China, animated Hollywood comedy "Kung Fu Panda" has led Chinese artists to find fault with their own film industry and call for fewer government controls on culture.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Lost scenes from the sci-fi classic "Metropolis," recently discovered in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum, were shown to journalists for the first time in decades on Thursday.

NICE, France - They'll always have Nice.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - All four members of supergroup ABBA appeared together on Friday at the Swedish premiere of the film "Mamma Mia!," delighting fans with their first public showing for years.

NEW YORK (AP) — A-Rod and the Material Girl? That's a lot of hits. Reports that Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez and Madonna have become close just as their marriages are disintegrating have both the celebrity gossip industry and the sporting world — each a chatty bunch — buzzing with questions about the two "friends."

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A vast collection of 78 rpm records — valued at $1 million, weighing 50 tons and representing more than a half-century of American music history — is being donated to Syracuse University by the estate of a prominent New York City record shop owner.

ARGANDA DEL REY, Spain - Soul diva Amy Winehouse sipped from a glass of red wine and looked a bit unsteady on her feet as she appeared in front of a large audience at the Rock in Rio music festival southeast of Madrid on Friday.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - As thousands of singers converge on Nashville for an international convention of barbershop harmony music, the old-fashioned music style is facing discord among its fans.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - All four members of supergroup ABBA appeared together on Friday at the Swedish premiere of the film "Mamma Mia!," delighting fans with their first public showing for years.

PONTIAC, Mich. - A man has sued Eminem, claiming the rapper punched him two years ago while they were in the bathroom of a Detroit strip club.

"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" is a remarkably balanced look at a man whose creativity sprang from his perpetual state of imbalance.

Various Artists, "Go Ride The Music & West Pole" (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

It's a clever approach to a complicated man.

Paris - Half the passages in this week's haute couture show by Jean Paul Gaultier had birds' names; several were simply entitled cage, befitting a collection where many of fashion's most beautiful models hit the runway bound in wire traps or metal frames.

Paris - Givenchy couture took a tour of the Andes this week in Paris, as the house's creative director Riccardo Tisci sent out a phalanx of models in alpaca en route on a motorbike tour of Peru.

Paris - Valentino's creative director Alessandra Facchinetti faced trial by jury Wednesday at 6.30 PM in Paris.

1. "Fearless Fourteen" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press)

1. "Fearless Fourteen" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press)

Los Angeles (E! Online) - DMX is making a point of getting to know the bars everywhere he goes.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co may sell its 20 percent stake in financial news and data provider Bloomberg LP to a blind trust controlled by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The New York Post reported on Friday.

LANSING, Mich. - Arlan Ettinger will never forget the response he got when he took one of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks' hats to a meeting at the Apollo Theater in New York.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For years Hollywood's paparazzi have hounded celebrities, but now -- with help from local politicians, a lawyer in the Monica Lewinsky case, and even Malibu surfers -- they are the ones feeling the heat.

A dawning troupe called Big Sky Theatre Company will present Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, a sensuous tale of the Gothic South, Aug. 20-31 at the Clurman Theatre in Theatre Row in Manhattan. It is the company's inaugural Off-Broadway production.

PCPA Theaterfest's world-premiere production of The Heart's Desire by JosÈ Cruz Gonz·lez begins its second leg July 3, under the stars in the Solvang Theaterfest in Solvang, CA.

Veteran Chicago-based theatre consultant and former Goodman Theatre executive Deborah L. Clapp has been named interim executive director of the League of Chicago Theatres, the advocacy organization of 200 Chicago-area theatre companies, the League announced July 1.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a high school student in the top 2 percent of my class. I'm heavily involved in extracurricular activities. I don't give my mom much to worry about, but she is always "concerned."

DEAR ABBY: "Sad Dad in Arizona" (May 2) wrote that he was concerned because his teenage son didn't want to attend his mother's funeral and preferred to remember her "the way she was."

DEAR ABBY: I have been in a relationship with "Wade" for six years. The situation is this: He has gotten into trouble and can't be around children because he's a registered sex offender. I have an 11-month-old daughter by him. I want to be with Wade and work our relationship out, but if I do, I'll have to give custody of my daughter to my parents and live in my own place with him.

07/04/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I despise going to wakes and funerals.

07/03/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I have been married for 25 years and have two children, one adult and one teenager.

06/27/2008 - DEAR MARGO: I've been dating a guy I'll call "Greg" for a year and a half.

Creators Syndicate - Says Brewery Scions Could Lead Economic Revival

Creators Syndicate - In the news this past week, scientists have discovered the secret of looking young: volume of facial fat.

Creators Syndicate - State-of-the-Art Head Stores 2,000 Recipes

BERLIN - Berlin police say a man has ripped off the head of a wax figure of Adolf Hitler at Madame Tussauds' newly opened branch in the German capital.

WAUKESHA, Wis. - A 52-year-old Milwaukee-area man has been accused of faking heart attacks to avoid paying restaurant bills and cab fares.

NEW YORK - Joey Chestnut achieved frankfurter immortality Friday, outdueling his celebrated Japanese rival in an epic hot-dog eating contest that pushed both of the gluttonous gladiators to the brink.

LONDON - Britain's High Court has ruled that Pringles are not a potato snack, and thus are not subject to value-added tax.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - A combative cat named Lewis who frightened the neighbors and got his owner into legal trouble two years ago has done so well under house arrest that the case has now been scratched.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - All four members of supergroup ABBA appeared together on Friday at the Swedish premiere of the film "Mamma Mia!," delighting fans with their first public showing for years.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - As thousands of singers converge on Nashville for an international convention of barbershop harmony music, the old-fashioned music style is facing discord among its fans.

BERLIN (AFP) - A new branch of Madame Tussauds opens in Berlin on Saturday, including in its display of famous figures in Germany history the most notorious one of all, Adolf Hitler.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Michael Turner, a comic book artist who drew covers for major titles such as "Superman/Batman," "The Flash" and "Civil War,'" has died. He was 37.

LOS ANGELES - Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, but he was the real one. Harmon, who portrayed the wing-haired clown for more than half a century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure, said his publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 83.