LOS ANGELES ? US President Barack Obama took his economic strategy to Jay Leno?s comic couch on Thursday in the first appearance by a sitting US president on a late-night TV talk show. Obama sat down before a live audience on ?The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.?
He was alternately somber and light-hearted, moving deftly from the economic crisis to the April arrival of a ?First Dog? in the White House.
Wake for Natasha
NEW YORK ? The family of British actress Natasha Richardson, who died this week after a ski accident, gathered for a wake in New York on Friday. Her husband, Irish actor Liam Neeson, and the couple?s two sons, aged 12 and 13, were joined by Richardson?s mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and sister, Joely Richardson, both actresses, at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan.
Undisclosed illness
LOS ANGELES ? Actor Stacy Keach, in Los Angeles with a touring production of the play ?Frost/Nixon,? was hospitalized last week for an undisclosed health problem, his representative said. Keach, 67, plays late former US President Richard Nixon in the stage production.
Winehouse denial
LONDON ? British singer Amy Winehouse has denied assaulting a woman after a charity ball in London last year, a case that has already prevented her from performing in the United States. The 25-year-old beehive-haired soul singer pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault at Westminster Magistrates? Court.
Warhol?s world
PARIS ? Andy Warhol has come to Paris in a major exhibition of his trademark society portraits but a famous image of Yves Saint Laurent was missing after a dispute over whether the late couturier was an artist or a mere designer. ?Warhol?s Wide World,? which opened last week, presented some 140 of the 1,000 or so portraits of actors, stars and assorted jet set personalities turned out by the ?Pope of Pop? from the 1960s until his death in 1987.
No infringement
NEW YORK ? Creators of the television show ?Family Guy? did not infringe copyright when they transformed the song ?When You Wish Upon a Star? for comical use in an episode, a US judge ruled on Monday. Music Publisher Bourne Co., the US copyright owner of the song made famous in Walt Disney?s ?Pinocchio,? sued Fox Broadcasting Co., creator Seth MacFarlane and producers in October 2007 for copyright breach.
Rudd?s star rises
LOS ANGELES ? Comic actor Paul Rudd has worked at many dead-end jobs including one glazing hams, but after years of toiling away in Hollywood?s background, several recent leading film roles have sent his star rising. For his new comedy ?I Love You, Man,? which debuted in US theaters over the weekend, Rudd sees his name and likeness plastered across billboards and other ads promoting the film that is expected to sell theater tickets.
Novel voyage
SYDNEY ? The cast of a new ?Star Trek? movie, eagerly awaited by fans of the science fiction saga, is to go where no USS Enterprise crew has been before: Australia.
Paramount Pictures Australia on Friday said the action adventure movie by JJ Abrams, director of ?Mission: Impossible III? and co-creator of the series ?Lost,? would make its world premiere at the Sydney Opera House on April 7.
What recession?
AUSTIN, Texas ? The US economy is in the grip of recession, but you wouldn?t know it from attending the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, a 10-day music, film, and interactive industry networking marathon fueled by massive quantities of beer and barbecue. By nearly all measures, the festival, now in its 23rd year, is bigger than ever. Big musical acts include the Decemberists, Metallica and rapper Kanye West. At the related film festival, attendees got a sneak preview of Sacha Baron Cohen?s upcoming film ?Bruno.?
Reuters
