entertainment

Letterman Extortionist
Conjures 'Tiger Defense'

'IF RACHEL UCHITEL GOT PAID...'

Dec 30, 2009 7:07 AM CST

Letterman Extortionist Conjures 'Tiger Defense'

Why can't Halderman clean up the way Woods' galpals did?

(Newser) - David Letterman’s accused extortionist came up with a novel way to use the Tiger Woods scandal to his advantage. In court documents filed yesterday, Robert Halderman’s attorney used the “If Tiger Woods’ mistresses can be paid off without going to jail, why can’t I?” defense. After...

Dumbest
TV Biz
Mistakes

decade in review

Dec 29, 2009 6:00 PM CST

Dumbest TV Biz Mistakes

From election-night snafus to the WGA strike

(Newser) - It’s been an embarrassing decade for TV networks, as the Hollywood Reporter proves with its list of the aughties’ biggest industry mistakes:

Hollywood writers’ strike: It was unnecessary and “mutually destructive”—and for viewers, “has there ever been a longer 14 weeks?”
ABC’s rejection of

...

Holiday
Violence:
Not Just
for Celebs

Dec 29, 2009 11:50 AM CST

Holiday Violence: Not Just for Celebs

As Tiger Woods and Charlie Sheen prove, this season can be stressful

(Newser) - Elin Nordegren kicked off this year's holiday season on the wrong foot, reportedly chasing Tiger Woods with a golf club in the wee hours after Thanksgiving. Charlie Sheen piled on, allegedly assaulting his wife on Christmas, writes Mary Elizabeth Williams in Salon , and it's worth noting that the holidays can...

2009's Worst Sex Scenes

SEX WITH A GHOST? NOT OK

Dec 29, 2009 11:38 AM CST

2009's Worst Sex Scenes

Congratulations, Katherine Heigl, for making the list twice

(Newser) - Sometimes on-screen sex scenes are just sex…not sexy. The Frisky points to a list on YourTango detailing the 10 worst sex scenes of 2009:

The Watchmen: Two superheroes have sex on a spaceship…with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” playing in the background. Enough said.
The Ugly Truth: Katherine

...

The Decade's Top Mistresses

BEST OF THE AUGHTS

Dec 29, 2009 10:36 AM CST

The Decade's Top Mistresses

Tiger Woods' women take up a lot of spots

(Newser) - Tiger Woods and Silvio Berlusconi had a whole stable of them; The political careers of Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards were wrecked by theirs; David Letterman actually benefited, ratings-wise, from his. With all these juicy stories to choose from, Vanity Fair offers up this list of the top 10 mistresses...

Why Avatar
Still Won't
Win Best Picture

NOT KING OF THE WORLD

Dec 29, 2009 9:33 AM CST

Why Avatar Still Won't Win Best Picture

Sorry, James Cameron: Sci-fi, computerized actors will scare Academy

(Newser) - OK, so Avatar scored soaring reviews and scads of money, blah, blah, blah: That still doesn’t mean James Cameron is going to win another Oscar for best picture. Lane Brown details five reasons why not in New York :

Special effects: As in, the special effects are the only rave-worthy

...

Monkey Pees on
Kim Kardashian

CELEBRITY JUSTICE

Dec 29, 2009 8:27 AM CST

Monkey Pees on Kim Kardashian

But it pooped on Ashton Kutcher, so everything's 'haha'

(Newser) - In a scene that many would probably love seeing on one of her reality shows, Kim Kardashian got peed on by a monkey. She wrote about the experience—it happened while visiting Ashton Kutcher’s production company—on her blog . She thought the monkey was cute (see picture No. 1),...

Charlie Sheen's Wife: He
Threatened to Kill Me

LISTEN TO 911 CALL

Dec 29, 2009 7:20 AM CST

Charlie Sheen's Wife: He Threatened to Kill Me

Brooke Mueller tells cops he held a knife to her throat

(Newser) - Police released the audio of Brooke Mueller’s 911 call yesterday, in which she says, “I’m scared for my life” after being “threatened” by husband Charlie Sheen. Mueller told the operator “we have people separating us,” but Sheen was “trying to sneak out the...

Tom Waits Wows
Film Critics,
Ticks Off
His Mom

Dec 28, 2009 6:07 PM CST

Tom Waits Wows Film Critics, Ticks Off His Mom

Singer's turn as Satan causes trouble at home

(Newser) - Tom Waits is 60 years old, but his mom can still get to him. The gravelly-voiced singer plays Satan in Terry Gilliam's latest trippy film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and that isn't going over well with his mother. She's religious, you see. "She's really upset," he says....

Biggest Divorces of the Decade

Dec 28, 2009 10:55 AM CST

Biggest Divorces of the Decade

From Brad and Jen to Madonna and Guy, these made headlines

(Newser) - For better or for worse, this decade will always be remembered as the one in which that homewrecker Angelina Jolie broke up Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s marriage. The Daily Beast comments on that, and nine other high-profile divorces of the '00s.

Tyra Banks Kisses
Talk Show Goodbye

WILL FOCUS ON FILM

Dec 28, 2009 10:01 AM CST

Tyra Banks Kisses Talk Show Goodbye

The Tyra Show to end after fifth season in spring 2010

(Newser) - Tyra Banks is pulling an Oprah: The Tyra Show host will end her daytime talk show—which brought everything from televised colonics to Tyra in her bathing suit to America's living rooms—at the end of this season to focus on a film studio she’s starting. “I’ve...

Susan Boyle
'Has Not Seen
a Penny': Bro

STILL LIVES ON $285/WEEK

Dec 28, 2009 8:44 AM CST

Susan Boyle 'Has Not Seen a Penny': Bro

But she's planning to buy a $1M home when royalties roll in

(Newser) - Despite her 4 weeks at the top of the charts and her massive popularity, Susan Boyle is still living on a $285 weekly allowance, her brother says. “At present she has not seen a penny of her fortune,” Gerry Boyle tells Irish Central . No word on when she'll...

Sheen Had Knife,
Choked Me: Wife

PLUS: DIVORCE IN THE CARDS

Dec 28, 2009 3:48 AM CST

Sheen Had Knife, Choked Me: Wife

Details of the Charlie Sheen-Brooke Mueller fight emerge

(Newser) - Ugly details of the fight between Charlie Sheen and wife Brooke Mueller came out over the weekend—but whether any of them are true is the real question. Mueller told cops Sheen threatened her with a knife, police sources told TMZ yesterday, but—as the gossip site reported Saturday—Mueller...

Judge People By Fave Author

Misfits like JD Salinger, smart geeks like JK Rowling ...

(Newser) - If you don’t want to waste the time really getting to know someone, just ask about his or her favorite author. That tells you all you need to know, Lauren Leto suggests, before running down the stereotypes:

JD Salinger: Kids who don’t fit in (duh).
Stephenie Meyer: People

...

Top 10 Workout Songs

BEST OF THE DECADE

Dec 27, 2009 5:09 AM CST

Top 10 Workout Songs

Eminem, Kanye West top list of decade's gym anthems

(Newser) - With your annual weight-loss resolution on the horizon, Men’s Fitness aims to get you pumped up with its list of the decade’s top workout songs:

Lose Yourself , Eminem: “This song won the Academy Award for Best Song solely for its ability to motivate even 75-year-old voters to

...

Charlie Sheen Arrested After Spat With Wife

UPDATED

Dec 25, 2009 10:16 PM CST

Charlie Sheen Arrested After Spat With Wife

Actor shoved mother of his young twins at Colo. vacation home

(Newser) - Charlie Sheen was arrested today on domestic-violence charges after a fight with his wife at their Colorado vacation rental. Sheen shoved Brooke Mueller after an argument; the two, who became parents to twin boys earlier this year, have been having “significant marital problems” recently, a source tells RadarOnline . Sheen,...

Like Home Alone?
Follow Twitter Recreation

Dec 25, 2009 9:16 PM CST

Like Home Alone? Follow Twitter Recreation

Project has accounts for all 22 characters, linked via list

(Newser) - A British studio is using Twitter’s new(ish) list feature to re-create the Christmas classic Home Alone online, with each of the film’s 22 characters having a Twitter feed. So if you can’t be near a TV, or maybe just want to experience Macaulay Culkin’s star turn...

Singer-Songwriter
Vic Chesnutt Dies at 45

OBITUARY

Dec 25, 2009 6:36 PM CST

Singer-Songwriter Vic Chesnutt Dies at 45

Quadriplegic had been in coma after overdose

(Newser) - Vic Chesnutt, who blossomed as a singer-songwriter after a car wreck at 18 left him confined to a wheelchair, died today at 45 after several days in a coma following a drug overdose. His record label announced his death, but not the cause, and some reports say the overdose of...

Nine Is Nowhere Near a 10

MOVIE REVIEW

Dec 25, 2009 2:13 PM CST

Nine Is Nowhere Near a 10

But if you like the style and the stars, then just eat the ice cream

(Newser) - Critics agree: Nine is no 8½. Some enjoy a star-studded song-and-dance, but most don't like the song part, and they find the stars misused at best. Some opinions:

"Step right up, pay $10, and you can see eight superstars, six of whom have won Oscars, singing songs in sparkly

...