News: That's entertainment
Hilton to star in second show
Oh, to be vapid, rich and loose. That seems to be the ticket to success. Just ask Paris Hilton. The Herald-Sun has the latest.
Who said porn was a career killer? The suddenly everywhere Paris Hilton is about to become even more omnipresent, reports The New York Post.
Fox is so happy with the runaway success of Hilton's riches-to-rags reality TV show The Simple Life, it's now in talks with her to star in another reality show. Word is Hilton - who became the talk of the town after a sex tape with her ex-boyfriend surfaced - could get up to $US3 million for her next TV foray, but that her comedic costar Nicole Richie is not included.
A family friend said: "The negotiations have just started. Fox always had a first-look option with Paris for another show and they are picking it up."
Meanwhile, The Simple Life is so popular (13 million people tuned in), Fox scrounged up some outtakes and has put together a sixth "bonus" episode to air Dec. 17.
Who deserves the blame? As a former liberal, I'm supposed to bash a crass and greedy media. I do. But, this sure looks like a kind of comparative negligence to me. The media may serve up the superficial silliness of a show like The Simple Life, but millions of people choose to indulge. But for the lack of judgment, and taste, of those viewers, media creations such as Paris Hilton could not exist. Yes, a former liberal can be a current realist.
George Clinton says drug search illegal
Johno told us the captain of the Mother Ship may be headed for the brig earlier. Details of how granddaddy of funk George Clinton came to be busted last weekend are now available. Though he doesn't deny possessing illegal drugs, Clinton says the police should not have searched him.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- An attorney for funk music pioneer George Clinton said Tuesday the musician was illegally searched before he was charged last weekend with drug possession.
Attorney Matt Willard said he would file an innocent plea Wednesday morning at the Leon County Courthouse.
Clinton, 62, was arrested early Saturday outside a convenience store, near his recording studio. Police said he had a bag of crack cocaine and a glass crack pipe. He was released on $2,650 bail.
The former funk impresario and frontman for Parliament and Funkadelic now performs in a melange of the old and some new called the P-Funk All Stars. The last time I saw the group, about three years ago, it seemed to be limping along. However, with the addition of guitar and mandolin maestro Eric McFadden, I thought it might have the potential to reignite Clinton's career. But, will the funkmeister continue to be available for the P-Funk All Stars or anyone else?
Cocaine possession, a felony, carries a maximum five years in prison. Clinton also faces a possession of paraphernalia charge.
Game maker says it will delete slur
Another game maker is facing the music for mocking an African-derived population. Apparently, Haitians don't much care to be targeted in Grand Theft Auto.
New York-based video game company announced yesterday that it would make changes to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, a game that had provoked angry protests from Haitian immigrants and city officials.
The best-selling game features dialogue at one point that exhorts players to "kill all the Haitians."
Bending to pressure from the community and from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who spoke out against the game on Sunday at a Haitian church in Brooklyn, the game company, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., apologized, saying it would delete the dialogue from new copies of the game.
. . ."We are aware of the hurt and anger in the Haitian community and have listened to the community's objections to certain statements made in the game," the company said in a statement. "Accordingly, we will remove the objectionable statements from future copies."
The video game was published by, Rockstar Games Inc., one of Take-Two Interactive Software's labels. The company is the second-largest publisher of video games in the United States, and employs about 1,000 people.
Weeks ago retailers stopped carrying Ghettopoly, a board game designed by a Korean immigrant that mocks African-Americans.
