Entertainment News
May 11, 2008PALENQUE, Chiapas - There is a legend that the ancient Maya possessed 13 crystal skulls which, when united, hold the power to save the Earth - a tale so strange and fantastic that it inspired the latest Indiana Jones movie.
Experts dismiss the hundreds of existing crystal skulls as fakes that were probably made by colourful antiquities traders in the 19th century. But Mayan priests continue to worship the skulls and real-life skull hunters still search for them.
LOS ANGELES - "Speed Racer" was lapped at the box office in its opening weekend as "Iron Man" continued to set the pace with $50.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The anime-inspired race movie edged into the No. 2 spot with $20.2 million, slightly ahead of the 20th Century Fox comedy "What Happens in Vegas," which debuted at $20 million.
LONDON - Nobel literature prize winner Doris Lessing says she is unlikely to write a new full-length novel, according to excerpts of an interview released Sunday.
In extracts of a British Broadcasting Corp. interview, Lessing said that winning the prestigious prize had been "a bloody disaster."
Selected home-video releases:
"Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection"
MOUNT VERNON, Mo. - Gospel singer and songwriter Joyce ("Dottie) Rambo has been killed in a traffic accident in Missouri.
Police said the 74-year-old entertainer's tour bus went off the highway early Sunday and struck an embankment.
NEW YORK - The "CBS Evening News" audience has taken a noticeable dip ever since the latest round of speculation over Katie Couric's job.
The broadcast averaged 5.34 million viewers last week, breaking a record low for CBS News' flagship show that had been set the week before, according to Nielsen Media Research. The "CBS Evening News" - No. 3 in a three-way competition - had nearly 2.5 million fewer viewers than No. 2.
LOS ANGELES - A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.
Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn't fit the notorious bloody gloves.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Vanessa Williams has received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Syracuse University, nearly 25 years after she dropped out to become the first black Miss America.
The 45-year-old actress-singer, who stars in ABC's "Ugly Betty," also delivered the convocation address Saturday to graduates of Syracuse's College of Visual and Performing Arts.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Carrie Underwood is the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.
The singer joined the cast of the long-running country music show Saturday. Garth Brooks handled her formal induction and Vince Gill sang a duet with her.
LOS ANGELES - A source says backstage meddling has caught up with the father of "American Idol" favourite David Archuleta.
A person working for the TV talent contest says Archuleta's dad has been banned from rehearsals.
ATLANTA - Former President Jimmy Carter often sent his mother to meet with foreign dignitaries and attend state funerals, but it wasn't until he started researching a new book about her life that he learned just what the woman known as "Miss Lillian" did on those visits.
"Mama had developed a reputation for expressing unorthodox opinions and not being constrained by any outside advice," Carter writes in "A Remarkable Mother," which chronicles Lillian's life from her birth in 1898 to her death from cancer in 1983. "The officials in the State Department were always quite nervous about what she would do or say that might violate protocol and damage relations between our government and that of the country she was visiting."
LOS ANGELES - The dossier spills over into two drawers of files full of hand-scribbled notes, maps marked with sharp black dots - and snapshots of a shadowy figure, scattering bird seed.
This is Laura Dodson's nemesis.
NEW YORK - An actor in "The Little Mermaid" was injured after falling at least six metres through a trap door to the stage minutes before the popular Broadway production was set to begin.
The 51-year-old man was unconscious when taken from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, the Fire Department said. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Centre with injuries to his leg and arm.
ANKARA, Turkey - Soprano Leyla Gencer, who made her career at Italy's famed La Scala opera house, has died in Milan, officials said Saturday. She was 80.
The singer known as La Diva Turca - the Turkish Diva - died Friday of respiratory problems and heart failure at home in Milan, La Scala and the Turkish State Opera and Ballet said.
Everywhere they go, "American Idol" contestants attract a crowd of admirers, well-wishers, gushy handmade signs and screams fit for a vintage Beatle. But when it comes to feting finalists, home is where the "I (heart) you" is.
In what's become an annual "Idol" rite of passage, the remaining three contestants - David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado and David Cook - headed to their respective hometowns Friday for a dose of family and the inevitably intense local rah-rah routine, showing just how stirred up communities get when one of their own shines on TV's biggest stage.
CLEARWATER, Fla. - A judge in Florida says the 17-year-old son of wrestler Hulk Hogan must serve eight months in jail for reckless driving.
Nick Bollea was led off to begin his sentence immediately after Friday's ruling. When he's released, he will be on five years' probation and lose his driving privileges for three years.
LAS VEGAS - Toni Braxton's return to the stage on the Las Vegas strip has been pushed back for at least another month.
A spokeswoman for Harrah's Entertainment says the target date to resume "Toni Braxton: Revealed" at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel is now June 6.
YONKERS, New York - Singer Mary J. Blige is establishing a foundation to help women develop careers and gain self-confidence.
Blige, whose current album is "Growing Pains," and Steve Stoute, who founded a youth-oriented brand consulting firm, say they're setting up the Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now.
