December 13th, 2011
07:05 PM ET
A different kind of red carpetThe stars attending CNN Heroes on Sunday night were hit with question after question from the media as they walked the red carpet. But no matter how many queries were fired their way, none of the celebrities seemed to lose their enthusiasm for the affair. In fact, among those I chatted with outside the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, the longer they talked about why they were there, the more excited they became. "Friday Night Lights" alums Scott Porter and LaMarcus Tinker both spoke passionately and at length about CNN Hero Eddie Canales, whose nonprofit Gridiron Heroes supports high school football players who have sustained spinal cord injuries. 
August 24th, 2011
12:45 PM ET
Reality stars need not apply hereForget Paris... and the Kardashians, Omarosa, Boston Rob, Jon and Kate, Snooki and The Situation. You won't see reality stars receiving recognition on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The question was posed and answered this week on the Walk of Fame's Facebook page: "Someone asked if we give reality show characters stars? Hell to the No!" At last check, 60 people had "liked" the post, and most of the 35 comments agreed with the sentiment. Could, say - just for instance - Kim Kardashian buy herself a star? Critics like to point out that honorees must pony up $30,000 for the privilege, the funds to create and install the star, and to help maintain the Walk. 
May 4th, 2011
05:25 PM ET
David Spade donates $200,000 for tornado reliefDavid Spade's on-screen image is indelible: the self-centered, smart-alec brat. He's played that role with great success on the big and small screens, including in his current gig as Russell on TV's "Rules of Engagement." But off-screen, it's a different story. Spade is known for contributing both time and money to good causes, especially when disaster strikes. The 46-year-old comic actor has made large, quiet donations to Southern California fire department benefit funds, which help firefighters and their families in times of need, and to the American Red Cross last year when disastrous flooding hit Tennessee and other Southern states. Now, following the massive destruction caused by last month's record tornado outbreak across the South, Spade has made a $200,000 donation to the American Red Cross to help with disaster relief. Other stars are pitching in as well: Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire are hosting a tornado relief concert in Oklahoma, and celebrities from Michael W. Smith to Charlie Sheen have also helped. 
April 12th, 2011
07:08 PM ET
Stephen Colbert's 'not factual' hashtaggingIt was a remark seemingly made for late-night TV comics: Sen. Jon Kyl's claim that abortion is "well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does." When the actual figure turned out to be 3%, his office released a statement clarifying that Kyl's figure was "not intended to be a factual statement." Watch Sen. Jon Kyl's statement about Planned Parenthood Enter Stephen Colbert. The Comedy Central host lampooned the line on last night's show... but it turns out he was just getting started. 
March 3rd, 2011
11:17 AM ET
DreamWorks starting its own WikiLeaks fileCould DreamWorks have the next "Social Network" on its hands? The critically acclaimed film, after all, was based on the history-as-it-happens book by Ben Mezrich, "The Accidental Billionaires." Reps for DreamWorks confirmed that the studio has purchased the film rights to two books: “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website,” by former WikiLeaks exec Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy,” by David Leigh and Luke Harding of the UK's Guardian newspaper. But this doesn't mean you'll see a WikiLeaks movie any time soon, from DreamWorks or anyone else. Spokesperson Chip Sullivan says the studio is “nurturing” the WikiLeaks material and will decide what to do with it. Sullivan added, “There are still chapters to be written in this story, and while it continues to evolve, so will our development of the film.” So no director, writers or producers are on board yet, let alone any actors cast... which gives us plenty of time to speculate who should play the controversial site's mastermind, the gray-eyed, white-haired Assange? Bill Hader's done a nice job on "Saturday Night Live" – who else might you cast? 
December 11th, 2010
12:00 PM ET
Gwyneth Paltrow's Walk of Fame star gets spell checkedYou can’t say Tinseltown doesn’t learn from its mistakes – well, some of them, at least. The folks at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce are determined to avoid a repeat of the “Julia Luis Dreyfus” episode from May, when her Walk of Fame star with that botched spelling of “Julia Louis-Dreyfus” was installed on Hollywood Boulevard. (Luckily, some eagle-eyed journalist spotted the goof, hours before the unveiling ceremony.) Louis-Dreyfus laughed off the blunder with marvelous grace and good humor, and she and the Walk of Fame wound up receiving a week or more of publicity out of it, instead of the usual day’s worth. |
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