Reunited rock band The Verve have shot straight to the top of the album charts with their first release in more than ten years
August 31, 2008
Reunited rock band The Verve have shot straight to the top of the album charts with their first release in more than ten years.
Their album, Forth, was recorded when the band reformed last year following a split at the height of their success.
It knocked Irish three-piece The Script off the number one spot, The Official Charts Company said.
US singer Katy Perry held on to her number one singles spot for the fourth week with I Kissed A Girl.
Eric Prydz was the highest new entry in the singles chart with Pjanoo, pushing The Script down two places to number four with their song, The Man Who Can Be Moved.
Rihanna moved up one place to number three with Disturbia, while last weeks new entry, Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro, rose five places to number five with their single Mountains.
Despite their success in the album chart, The Verves single, Love Is Noise, fell two places from seven to nine.
As well as The Verve, this weeks album chart saw more new entries into the top 10.
Slipknot went straight in at number two with their album All Hope Is Gone, while Eva Cassidys Somewhere enters at number four.
Michael Jackson marked turning 50 with a new entry at number five for King Of Pop.
Former Neighbours star Jason Donovan is to release his first album in 15 years
August 31, 2008
Former Neighbours star Jason Donovan is to release his first album in 15 years.
His last album, All Around the World, languished at number 27 in the UK charts in 1993.
Donovans new album, called Let It Be Me, is inspired by music from the late 1950s and early 1960s and will be released in November.
The 40-year-old had hits with songs like Too Many Broken Hearts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and has enjoyed a TV comeback in recent years.
He came third in ITV1s jungle show Im A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2006 and went on to appear in soap Echo Beach with Martine McCutcheon.
Let It Be Me features new versions of classic songs like Blue Velvet, Love Hurts and Smoke Gets In My Eyes.
The Australian-born star has also reworked his old hit Sealed With a Kiss, and written new track Dreamboats and Petticoats.
Donovan married his long-time girlfriend Angela Malloch, a stage manager and the mother of his two children, in a ceremony in Bali in June.
Actress Jennifer Aniston is filming a guest appearance on US comedy 30 Rock
August 30, 2008
Actress Jennifer Aniston is filming a guest appearance on US comedy 30 Rock.
The 39-year-old rose to fame playing Rachel Green in Friends, which was also shown on the NBC TV network.
30 Rock, starring Tiny Fey and Alec Baldwin, is a behind-the-scenes spoof of a TV network and the huge corporation that owns it.
The third series of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom starts in October. It has featured a number of guest appearances by big names from showbiz.
Anistons Friends co-star David Schwimmer appeared in an episode of 30 Rock during the last series.
Since the hugely-successful Friends ended in 2004, Aniston has concentrated on films, including Friends with Money and The Break-Up.
In July, Warner Brothers film studio told the BBC there were no plans for a rumoured big-screen version of Friends.
Since the success of the Sex and the City movie, there has been constant speculation that the US sitcoms six stars had agreed to their own film.
The organisers of a French music concert are threatening legal action after headliner Amy Winehouse pulled out on Friday with just hours to go
August 30, 2008
The organisers of a French music concert are threatening legal action after headliner Amy Winehouse pulled out on Friday with just hours to go.
Winehouse failed to travel to the three-day Rock En Seine festival in Paris where the line-up included the Raconteurs, The Streets and Kate Nash.
The 24-year-old singer was said to have been taken ill at her London home.
Rock En Seine said there was "no explanation of the exact reasons for her absence".
Last minute
Organisers said they were given just two hours notice that Winehouse, who was headlining the concert, would not be appearing.
A statement on the Rock En Seine website said Winehouses appearance had to be scrapped at the "last minute".
Winehouse is said to be recovering at home. Her spokesman said: "Amy Winehouse was regrettably unable to perform at the Rock En Seine show in Paris due to illness.
"She was taken ill at her house and wasn able to travel to France for the concert."
A spokesman for London Ambulance Service later confirmed its paramedics had not been called to the singers address.
In June it emerged that Winehouse had developed the chronic lung disease emphysema after she collapsed.
Last month she again collapsed and had to be taken to hospital after reaction to medication.
Winehouse is next due to appear at the Bestival festival on the Isle of Wight next Saturday.
Her spokesman said he had no indication whether she would be well enough to perform.
he European Commission is to expand a pilot scheme to put more European films into Asian and Latin American cinemas
August 30, 2008
The European Commission is to expand a pilot scheme to put more European films into Asian and Latin American cinemas.
One of the schemes co-ordinators said the plan would provide a counterbalance to the large amount of Hollywood product in cinemas around the world.
European film officials are promoting the scheme at the Venice Film Festival.
In return for a subsidy, some 50 companies have already agreed to show a certain number of European titles each year. That network will now expand.
Getting its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this weekend is Inju - the Beast in the Shadows, directed by Barbet Schroeder, a veteran both of Hollywood and of French cinema.
The thriller, which is gruesome at times, stars French actor Benoit Magimel and is set in Japan.
So it is appropriate that the EUs Europa Cinemas scheme has just announced it is to build on a small pilot scheme subsidising the distribution of European film within Asia and Latin America.
US dominance
In Latin America the films tend to be Spanish or Portuguese.
In Asia, the project leaders think audiences in Japan, India and elsewhere have a hunger for European fare generally.
Fatima Djoumer, of the Europa Cinemas project, says Europes films need help to fight a system of distribution dominated by the US.
"These countries are dominated by Hollywood products," she says.
"In a lot of these countries a lot of cinema chains belong to American companies. American companies show American products - thats it. And Hollywood products are dominating the world anyway. "
People sometimes talk loosely of American domination of the movie industry.
But as this years Venice Festival shows once again, there are plenty of European and other films getting made.
What US companies do dominate is international movie distribution.
It is that fact that this scheme is designed to counter - in however limited a way.
op star Edwyn Collins will reveal pictures he drew while recovering from a double brain haemorrhage in 2005, at an art exhibition in London
August 29, 2008
Pop star Edwyn Collins will reveal pictures he drew while recovering from a double brain haemorrhage in 2005, at an art exhibition in London.
The 48-year-old singer, best known for hit track A Girl Like You, was inspired by The History Of British Birds.
Collins, who performed at Glastonbury Festival in June, re-discovered his love of art by keeping a diary of his recovery and drawing a bird every day.
The sketches will be displayed at Londons Smithfield Gallery in October.
Solo career
Collins was a leading figure on the alternative Scottish scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, forming his first band, Nu-Sonics, when he was 17.
They became Orange Juice, who briefly broke into the mainstream with Rip It Up in 1983.
He went on to pursue a solo career, making an impact with A Girl Like You, a Top 10 hit in seven countries in 1995.
The Scottish performer suffered two brain haemorrhages in 2005.
He subsequently spent six months in hospital after a surgical scar became infected with the MRSA bug.
Collins released his sixth solo album in September last year.
A BBC documentary, Edwyn Collins: Home Again, following his recovery from illness, was broadcast earlier this year.
S rapper DMX has pleaded guilty to trying to buy cocaine and cannabis in Miami, his lawyer has said
August 29, 2008
US rapper DMX has pleaded guilty to trying to buy cocaine and cannabis in Miami, his lawyer has said.
The 37-year-old singer, real name Earl Simmons, entered the plea in a Florida court and was sentenced to time served.
Mr Simmons is still in custody awaiting extradition to the state of Arizona on outstanding drug and animal cruelty charges, Bradford Cohen said.
If the rapper had not pleaded guilty, he would have had to remain in a Miami jail until an October trial date.
Mr Simmons was briefly jailed after being arrested in July on a charge of trying to buy illegal drugs from an undercover police officer, Mr Cohen said.
He was initially released on bail, but was arrested two weeks ago at a store in Miami after failing to appear in a court in Phoenix, Arizona, and subsequently denied bail.
"He got shafted on this one," said Mr Cohen, who claimed the evidence in the undercover drug operation was flawed.
Dog cruelty
The rapper had been due in Maricopa County Superior Court earlier this month to face charges relating to a May raid on his home in Arizona.
He was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and animal cruelty when 12 dogs - allegedly neglected - were found at his home.
Authorities also allege that dog carcasses were found there.
Police also seized illegal drugs and several weapons.
The rapper has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, with his first five topping the US chart in their first week of release.
German film studio has offered a settlement to a dozen extras who were injured on the set of Tom Cruises forthcoming film, Valkyrie
August 29, 2008
A German film studio has offered a settlement to a dozen extras who were injured on the set of Tom Cruises forthcoming film, Valkyrie.
Twelve actors were hurt when the door of a moving truck fell open during the film shoot in Berlin last year.
Charles Woebcken, of Studio Babelsberg AG - which co-produced the film with United Artists (UA) - said the group had made no response to the offer.
The injured extras are demanding $11m (£6m) from UA and producer Cruise.
Sensational headlines
United Artists, which did not hire the actors, said it does not comment on "pending or threatened legal matters".
In a statement released, it said: "To date, no lawsuits have been filed against United Artists or Mr Cruise, nor have any allegations been made of any involvement of Mr Cruise in this incident.
"All press reports and comments to the press stating otherwise and designed to generate sensational headlines are false."
The extras were hired by Achte Babelsberg Film GmbH, a sister company of Studio Babelsberg.
Valkyrie has had its release date pushed back until 2009
The actors suffered broken bones, cuts and bruises in the incident, which was the subject of a thorough investigation, Mr Woebcken said.
Lawyers acting on behalf of Achte Babelsberg Film GmbH concluded the accident had occurred because of an operator error of the door locking mechanism.
Publicity stunt
Ariane Bluttner, the lawyer representing the actors, said no offers of compensation had been offered.
She said Tom Cruise and United Artists must be responsible for the actions of its contractors.
"Mr Cruise, Ms Wagner and United Artists Entertainment did not exercise reasonable care to select a reasonably competent, experienced, careful and properly equipped contractor," Bluttner said.
Mr Woebcken criticised the extras and Ms Bluttner for going directly to United Artists, calling it a publicity stunt.
He said his companys legal department would handle any claims.
S actor David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation clinic for sex addiction, his publicist has confirmed
August 29, 2008
US actor David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation clinic for sex addiction, his publicist has confirmed.
In a statement released through his lawyer, the X Files star said he had entered the facility "voluntarily".
He added: "I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family."
The 48-year-actor, who has been married since 1997 to actress Tea Leoni, plays sex-obsessed character Hank Moody on the hit TV series Californication.
The couple have two children together.
Cable network Showtime, which broadcasts Californication, released a statement: "All of us at Showtime wish David and his family the best during this very private time."
Duchovny rose to fame playing FBI agent Fox Mulder in The X Files series, which began in 1993.
The show spawned two big screen spin-offs. The most recent, The X Files: I Want to Believe, was released in UK cinemas in July.
Artist Sam Taylor-Wood will direct a film about the life of former Beatle John Lennon, reports claim
August 29, 2008
Artist Sam Taylor-Wood will direct a film about the life of former Beatle John Lennon, reports claim.
Film industry magazine Screen Daily said the biopic, Nowhere Boy, will focus on Lennons early years and his first steps to stardom.
Taylor-Wood, who recently debuted short film Love You More, said: "I knew as I closed the final page that this was the film I had been looking to direct."
The film will be shot on location in Lennons home city of Liverpool.
Dynamic combination
The story will examine the influence Lennons aunt and mother played on his life.
"The story spoke to me on so many levels - both personal and artistic," said Taylor-Wood.
The film will be shot in Lennons home city of Liverpool
"The women in Johns early life truly shaped who he became, and the strengths and weaknesses of their relationships are central to this film."
Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae of Ecosse Films will produce the movie.
"Im truly excited at the prospect of Sam Taylor-Wood bringing her singular artistic vision to the story," Bernstein said.
"Combined with the genius of John Lennon, I think thats a very arresting and dynamic combination."
Matt Greenhalgh, who wrote the Joy Division movie Control, has agreed to write the screenplay.
Music Festivals
Latest Headlines
- my Winehouse has dropped her appeal against a fine for possession of cannabis in Norway
- ctors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright will not face charges over a fight in a bar in a Louisiana city this summer, a lawyer for the pair has said
- he Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton has been found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- op singer Leona Lewis has signed a book deal to tell the story of her journey from pizza waitress to X Factor winner and international star
- onductor Daniel Barenboim has called off two concerts in Qatar and Egypt
- he elder daughter of Pakistans assassinated former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has written a rap song expressing grief over her death
- S actor Mickey Rourke took to the red carpet in London on Monday night to promote his latest film, The Wrestler
- ne of the two original co-founders of the pioneering German electronic group Kraftwerk has left the band, according to a post on its official fan website
- scar-winning director Martin Scorsese has publicly endorsed an Italian drama about organised crime in Naples
- bronze sculpture by the French master Degas of a young ballet dancer is expected to fetch up to £12 million when it goes up for auction next month