Christie Brinkley - Brinkleys Eldest Child Defends Open Divorce Decision

LATEST: CHRISTIE BRINKLEY's daughter with rocker BILLY JOEL is proud of her model mother for making her divorce battle with PETER COOK public.

Brinkley, 54, is due to fight estranged husband Cook in a New York court on Wednesday (02Jul08), when their divorce goes to trial.

She filed for a legal separation in 2006, over his alleged affair with a then-18-year-old assistant.

According to reports, among Brinkley's divorce allegations are claims that Cook trawled the internet for women and porn.

The beauty, who has kids Jack, 12, and Sailor, nine with Cook, has been criticised by her ex and their children's guardian Theresa Mari for making their divorce proceedings open to the press - but Alexa Ray Joel, 22, has praised her mum's efforts.

She tells People magazine, "She's standing up for herself. I think that is admirable. There's such overwhelming support for her."

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Fbi - Kellys Defence Hit Hard In Experts Testimonies

LATEST: A video forensics expert has shattered R. KELLY's defence in his child pornography trial after matching a mole on the singer's back to that of the man in the sex tape at the centre of the case.

The troubled R+B star stands accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts of child pornography.

The Bump N' Grind hitmaker's defence team recently told a Chicago, Illinois court that the person in the explicit video could not be their client, because the two men bore key physical differences - most noticeably a dark fingernail-sized mole on the star's back.

But on Thursday (29May08), the prosecution brought out a forensics expert who appeared to have identified the missing mole.

He compared a photo of Kelly's back following his arrest in 2002 to several stills of the man's back in the sex tape.

He told the court: "There is a mark on the man's back in the exact same position (as Kelly's)."

Thursday's court proceedings also saw an FBI forensics expert take to the stand, verifying the legitimacy of the tape and insisting it was not a fake.

The testimony of the FBI's George Skaluae was another blow to Kelly's defence, as his lawyers have continually argued the tape could have been digitally altered to bear the singer's likeness.

The trial continues.

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Raef gets fired on The Apprentice

Raef Bjayou has become the latest contestant to be fired by Alan Sugar on 'The Apprentice'.
The 27-year-old entrepreneur said afterwards that he felt he was sacked because he was not as "in your face" as his rivals.
"I learnt a lot about myself on 'The Apprentice', about how I can improve myself as a businessman," he said.
"I learnt that as a leader if you are put in charge of a group of people, to use the legal jargon, the burden of proof is on you to prove what other people's skills are."
"It's important when leading a team to draw out the skills of other people, even when they might not be so forthcoming with those skills.
"A good leader inspires confidence in him, but a great leader inspires others to have confidence with themselves. That's what I did.
Speaking about why Sugar decided to fire, Raef said: "I just think I didn't come across as gritty enough."
"The others are more in your face, and that's how Sir Alan got to where he is today."
Last night the team that Raef was leading failed their task, which involved designing a new brand of tissues and building an advertising campaign around the brand.

New U2 movie premieres at Sundance

U2's new concert film 'U2 3D' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Saturday night.
Speaking to the Associated Press before the screening, U2 guitarist The Edge said: "I was really hoping we weren't crap after all these years. Luckily we weren't."
He was joined at the screening by singer Bono, drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton.
Commenting on seeing himself in 3D on a cinema screen, Bono said: "It's kind of horrific. It's bad enough on a small screen. Now you get to see the lard arse 40-foot tall."
The film, which is the first digital 3D, multi-camera, real-time production, will be shown at Cineworld, Movies at Dundrum and Movies at Swords - all in Dublin - from 22 February. It will also be screened at SGC Dungarvan in Co Waterford. 

Youtube Says Viacom Threatens The Web

Viacom's $1-billion lawsuit against YouTube threatens the very foundation of
online sharing, Google, YouTube's owners, claimed in a court filing on Friday,
reported by the Associated Press today (Tuesday). In court documents, Google
said that the lawsuit "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people
legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and
artistic expression" over the Internet. Responding to Viacom's claim that the
site has done "little or nothing" to stop copyright infringement, Google said
that it actually "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content
owners to protect their works" by removing clips at the request of content
owners.

27/05/2008

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Idol's David Cook tops iTunes download charts

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Newly crowned "American Idol" David Cook, already topping the iTunes music download charts, said on Friday he hopes to put out a rock album that will "make the hair on your neck stand up."


Cook, 25, a Missouri guitarist who was tending bar before auditioning for the most watched show on U.S. television, also said his best musical advice came from Frank Sinatra.


Cook won the seventh season of the singing competition and a recording contract on Wednesday, beating 17-year-old crooner David Archuleta by a 12 million-vote margin in the record 97.5 million votes cast by viewers by telephone and text message.


Cook's first single "The Time of My Life" and the three songs he sang in this week's "American Idol" finale were the top four downloads on Apple Inc's iTunes music store on Friday.


Cook said he would not be putting out an album of standards even though he won fans on the show, which is broadcast on the Fox network, a unit of News Corp, with alternative versions of pop classics such as "Billie Jean" and Lionel Richie's "Hello."


"I think it's going to be a mixture of my writing and hopefully writing with other people. I just want to come out of the gate with a solid record," he told reporters in a telephone conference call.


"It'll probably be a rock record. I just want to make a record that's going to make the hair on your neck stand up ... Even if it doesn't do well commercially, as long as I can put out a record I am proud of -- that's the goal right now. And hopefully the success will follow."


Cook is not likely to start work on the first album until the Top 10 Idols finish a three-month U.S. tour starting in July. 

Reports: Jay-Z closing $150M business deal with Live Nation

LOS ANGELES - Jay-Z is close to reaching a $150 million deal with Live Nation Inc. that will give the concert promoter a stake in virtually every aspect of the rapper and entrepreneur’s career, according to news reports.

The contract covers Jay-Z’s music and music-related businesses for the next 10 years, the New York Times [NYT] and Wall Street Journal reported on their Web sites late Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the agreement.

An after-hours call to a Live Nation spokesman seeking comment was not immediately returned late Wednesday.

As part of the arrangement, Jay-Z would get a $25 million upfront payment, plus advance payments of $10 million per album for a minimum of three albums and $25 million toward concert tours. The company would also pay $20 million in exchange for publishing, licensing and other rights.

Live Nation was also expected to commit $50 million to finance Jay-Z’s investments and his entertainment venture, to be called Roc Nation, which is expected to include his own record label, music publishing, talent consulting and managing projects.

"I’ve turned into the Rolling Stones of hip-hop," Jay-Z told the Times.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, plans to leave Def Jam for the deal, but he still owes his longtime record label one more studio album.

He was president of Def Jam for three years but stepped down in December because he and the label’s corporate parent, Universal Music Group, could not agree on a new contract.

Live Nation also struck recent deals with Madonna and U2.




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