Entertaining Posts

Monday, October 31, 2011

Label to release posthumous Amy Winehouse album

LONDON | Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:22am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Island Records, part of Universal Music, will release a posthumous album of Amy Winehouse's songs on December 5.

"Lioness: Hidden Treasures" will feature 12 tracks including previously unreleased recordings, alternative versions of existing classics and new Winehouse compositions, a statement on her website said on Monday.

The record has been put together by producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, who worked with the British singer before she died in July aged 27.

"It was said by all who worked with Amy that she never sang or played a song the same way twice," the statement read.

"It quickly became apparent to Salaam and Mark that they had a collection of songs that deserved to be heard, a collection of songs that were a fitting testament to Amy the artist and, as importantly, Amy their friend."

Lioness: Hidden Treasures will be Winehouse's third studio album following her 2003 debut "Frank" and multiple Grammy award-winning "Back to Black" released three years later.

The new record includes "Between the Cheats," a new Winehouse composition recorded in 2008 for possible inclusion on a third album, and "A Song For You," described as "heartbreaking and emotional."

It is a new version of the Leon Russell classic also sung by Donny Hathaway, Winehouse's favorite artist.

The recording features Winehouse's voice and her guitar and was made in a single take in London in 2009 as she "battled her demons."

Winehouse, famous for her distinctive voice, "beehive" hairstyle and public battles with addiction, was found dead in her north London home on July 23.

An inquest into her death found she had more than five times the legal driving limit of alcohol in her blood when she died.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Eva Amurri, Susan Sarandon's daughter, marries beau

LOS ANGELES | Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:13pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Eva Amurri, the oldest child of Susan Sarandon, married former soccer pro Kyle Martino on Saturday, People magazine reported.

The couple, engaged since December, tied the knot in Charleston, South Carolina. Sarandon and her former partner Tim Robbins, who helped raise Amurri, hosted the weekend's festivities.

Officiating at the ceremony was Sister Helen Prejean, the nun portrayed by Sarandon in Robbins' 1995 film "Dead Man Walking." Amurri, 26, had a small role in the film, playing her mother's character as a child.

Amurri's film work has included roles in "The Banger Sister," "Saved!" and "The Life Before Her Eyes." Her father is Italian director Franco Amurri. She has two half-brothers, Sarandon's sons with Robbins.

Martino, 30, retired from Major League Soccer in 2008 and is now a soccer commentator. He and Amurri chose historic Charleston for their wedding because his parents live there.

(Reporting by Sheri Linden; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Animated "Puss in Boots" wins weekend box office

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Friday, October 28, 2011

Michael Douglas says can't forget being told of cancer

LOS ANGELES | Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:22pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran actor Michael Douglas said in a recent interview with Alec Baldwin that he will never forget when he was first told he had late-stage throat cancer in 2010.

The 66-year-old "Fatal Attraction" actor, who was diagnosed with the disease in August, underwent radiation treatment and chemotherapy and in January 2011, announced the tumor was gone. But five months earlier, the story was different.

"I'll never forget that moment when he (the doctor) looked up at me and looked back down. I knew, and he said 'Well, I guess we're going to have to take a biopsy, see there's a polyp here,' it was on my tongue. Two days later, he called me back and said 'you've got cancer,'" Douglas told Baldwin in a podcast posted earlier this week for New York public radio station WNYC.

Douglas said that just after filming "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" his throat felt "a little sore," but he thought it was from the stress of portraying financier Gordon Gekko, the role that earned him an Oscar in 1987's "Wall Street."

"I thought maybe it was from tension, from the part, where you haven't placed your voice, where you're swallowing your words and you speak from the back of your throat," he said. "I had a little bit of a sore gum and so I saw doctors."

He underwent seven weeks of treatments that cleared the cancer and now he has this advice for others: "the thing with cancer is that you want to get it as early as you can."

Douglas also touched on coming to terms with his eldest son Cameron's history of drug abuse and his jail sentence in 2010 for dealing methamphetamine and cocaine and possessing heroin.

"I think as far as drug addiction, your peer group plays a huge part of that," said Douglas. "In my oldest son's case, there was no end, until he was incarcerated."

After taking time to recover from cancer treatments, Douglas will next be seen in the title role of "Liberace," a film based on the life of the famous American pianist with Matt Damon playing his on-screen lover.

"Liberace was a lovely guy," said the actor. "I haven't played a lot of nice guys."

(Reporting and Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Activists ask Lady Gaga to pose in lettuce dress

MUMBAI | Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:01am EDT

MUMBAI (Reuters) - First, Lady Gaga wore a dress made of meat. Now, how about one made of lettuce?

Indian animal rights activists have asked pop star Lady Gaga to pose in a lettuce dress and embrace vegetarianism during her visit to India this weekend, where she will be part of the star-studded unveiling of the country's first Formula 1 race.

Lady Gaga, who famously wore a meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, will be performing at an invitation-only show in a five-star hotel in New Delhi after the race on Sunday.

In a letter to the singer's publicist, PETA India said it hoped she would honor India's reverence for animals by turning vegetarian for the duration of her visit and posing for photos in a lettuce gown to promote the importance of not eating meat.

"If she agrees, we'll make her a dress entirely of lettuce and held together by pins and threads. It will be a full length gown, and we'll make sure it looks sexy," said Sachin Bangera of PETA India.

The dress would be constructed leaf by leaf on the singer's body, taking some five to six hours.

"Someone will be on hand to spray the lettuce with water so that it doesn't wilt," Bangera added.

Earlier this year, in an interview with Indian chat show host Simi Garewal, Lady Gaga said she would like to soak up the local culture by taking an Indian cooking class.

Excitement has been bubbling all week about the country's first Formula 1 Grand Prix, which is seen as a symbol of India's growing global clout while also highlighting its enormous disparities in wealth.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Elaine Lies)