Tron’ Opens Atop Box Office With $43.6 Million in Receipts

Dec. 19 (Star Twitter) -- “Tron: Legacy,” a sequel to the 1982 Walt Disney Co. release about a man trapped in a video game, opened as the top-grossing weekend movie, with $43.6 million in ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters.

“Yogi Bear,” based on the TV cartoon character, opened second with $16.7 million for Warner Bros., researcher Hollywood.com Box-Office said today in an e-mailed statement. “The Fighter,” expanding to 2,200 theaters from four, took in $12.2 million.

“Tron: Legacy” continues the story of programmer Kevin Flynn, who has been trapped in a video game for 20 years. In the new film, Flynn’s son Sam is transported into the digital world while investigating his father’s disappearance. Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Flynn. Michael Sheen and Bruce Boxleitner co-star.

In “Yogi Bear,” a greedy politician decides to close Jellystone Park and sell the land. Yogi and his friend, Boo Boo, join forces with a park ranger to save their home. Dan Aykroyd provides the voice of Yogi. Justin Timberlake plays Boo Boo.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” the third film based on the C.S. Lewis books, fell to third place from first with $12.4 million.

“The Fighter,” distributed by Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, finished fourth. It stars Mark Wahlberg as Irish- American boxer Micky Ward, with Christian Bale as Ward’s half- brother and trainer, Dicky Eklund. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including best film drama and best actor in a drama for Wahlberg.

(source:businessweek.com)

Plastic perfection beautiful

1. Plastic surgery has become increasingly common in Pakistan. Scores of ‘image clinics’ have popped up all over Lahore, offering nose jobs and hair transplants and other procedures to make you look younger and more attractive.
2. “Cosmetic surgery, especially hair transplants, liposuction and Botox injections, have become incredibly popular over the past few years,” said plastic surgeon Dr Shahzad Rauf.
3. “Many Pakistani doctors who have trained in the US are now returning home.The clientele for cosmetic surgery has risen dramatically over the past five years.”
4. Another doctor said that few cosmetic procedures were done 20 years ago. “Back when we started it wasn’t really popular and we essentially dealt with burn victims and repair work,” said Dr Jamal Fareed, one of 60 members of the Pakistan Association of Plastic Surgeons (PAPS), which was established in 1993. “But now that the beauty industry itself has expanded people are much more conscious about their appearance and the industry is booming.”
5. In the west, the rise of cosmetic surgery was accompanied by a debate on the status and importance of beauty and image in society. As cosmetic surgery has taken off in Pakistan, so has this debate.
6. On one side is the argument that cosmetic surgery is shallow and a waste of money. “I don’t think it’s such a good thing for us to adopt the western woman’s obsession with her appearance,” said Naila Ather, a human rights worker.
7. “There is already enough of a divide between the average Pakistani woman and the elite socialite. Adding surgery to the mix will only mean a waste of millions of rupees that could be spent helping others.”
8. But others argue that cosmetic surgery is just another method that men and women use to make themselves appear more attractive. “I think that people who oppose plastic surgery are extremely narrow minded and sanctimonious,” said Nabeela, a designer.
9. “The same people don’t mind paying for a diamond but somehow only surgery is considered shallow. If someone has a complex about their appearance and wants to look good and can afford to make that happen, I say go for it.”
10. Plastic surgeons reject the charge that cosmetic surgery encourages appearance complexes and plays upon people’s insecurities. “People who are dissatisfied with their appearance can suffer severe psychological complexes and find it hard to adjust socially. All we offer is a solution,” said Dr Rauf.
11. But psychologist Rehana Salman said that the beauty industry encouraged people to have unrealistic ideas about what they should look like.
12. “The obsession started with the media and the beauty industry, which told us that growing old is a crime,” said Salman. “People are expected to always look like they are 30 and in the prime of their life. We are all working to attain the unnatural body type we see on screen. The cosmetic industry is just an offshoot that feeds on our obsession with our appearance,” she said.
13. She also questioned “bizarre” new procedures, such as injecting silicon and bee venom into one’s lips to make them plumper.
14. One of the most common cosmetic procedures is hair transplants, usually on male clients.
15. “It’s all about feeling good and whether or not people admit it, that often involves looking good. I spent thousands of rupees a month on gym memberships but what I was actually troubled by was my baldness. Eventually I decided to opt for a hair transplant and frankly, it was the best decision I ever made,” said banker Usman Khan.
16. Schoolteacher Irum Niaz felt that it was up to each individual to decide if cosmetic surgery was right for them. It is no one’s right to really judge who should or should not get plastic surgery and why.
17. If one’s weight or some particular feature is a cause for perpetual insecurity and is interfering with their lifestyle then they should opt to correct it if they can afford to do so,” she said.
18. “But the constant obsession with wrinkles and stabbing ones face with Botox injections until no one can even decipher a person’s facial expressions is taking it a bit too far. I think people need to work to strike a balance.”
19. Sarah, a trainee nurse at a plastic surgery clinic on MM Alam Road, said people often labeled people who underwent plastic surgery as shallow. “This is not the case at all. This is merely a choice and regardless of which one we make it is always good to know we have one,” she said.

Source:http://tribune.com.pk)

Week in Review: More Jesse James Bombshells, Kim and Reggie's Breakup Replay, Dancing Disses

What do they say, that it's darkest just before the dawn or something like that?

If that's the case, maybe dawn's coming soon for Jesse James, whose reputation only took more slams this week as not one, or two, but three more women decided it was the right thing to do to claim past affairs with James rather than remain private figures.

Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock has largely remained off the grid, though she's been spotted more times than Carmen Sandiego. We like to think she was somewhere comfortable, surrounded by friends, cradling her prenup, and maybe watching that revelatory episode of Lost or voting for Pamela Anderson on Dancing With the Stars...

MONSTER BARRAGE: With Sandy out of the picture, paparazzi and their zoom lenses decended upon James' Long Beach bike shop, West Coast Choppers, and the house he used to share with his wife, necessitating a handful of calls to the cops to keep the horde under control. It didn't save James from avoiding an uneventful citizen's arrest, but no custom motorcycles were hurt in the making of this media frenzy. Which now includes reports of three women besides Michelle "Bombshell" McGee who are saying they slept with Bullock's husband. One of them has remained nameless so far, letting legal eagle Gloria Allred do the initial intros.

BALLS OF FÜHRERY: McGee has maintained that all those Nazi-themed photos were a stupid idea perpetrated by some "douche bag" photographer and not representative of her own viewpoint at all. And she's pretty pissed at having been dropped as the spokesmodel for Angry White Girl fashions due to all the controversy. Her ex, who wants custody of their 5-year-old, claims she's got a swastika tattooed on her tummy, which admittedly would limit her bikini-modeling options. (Another douchebag photo idea? Inviting James to pose for a Coney Island freak show-themed Playgirl spread.)

LYING LOW: Having already skipped The Blind Side's Berlin premiere, Bullock's also gonna pass on the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, where she's nominated for Favorite Movie Actress. She hasn't stopped by her friendly neighborhood divorce attorney's office, either.

TIMEOUT: Kim Kardashian has broken up with Reggie Bush again, once again determining that she doesn't want to slow her career down to accommodate the NFL star's off-season. It's only been a few days and talk of reconciliation is never off the table, but Kim's busy making the scene in Miami and already being paired with British soccer stars she's never heard of.

BALLROOM BLITZ: Could the judges (and the smattering of booers in the audience) have had any less love for Kate Gosselin as she made her Dancing With the Stars debut? She actually wasn't too horrible, although whoever dressed the attractive mother of eight apparently had a major vendetta against her. And her castmates really seem to like her. Not that it matters—this season is a hurtin' Nicole Scherzinger's to lose and Pam Anderson's to sexify.

FALLEN IDOL: Paige Miles is feeling especially slighted after being unceremoniously—unless you count Simon Cowell's brusque shrug as ceremony—booted from American Idol. She definitely deserved to go home, not being able to hit a right note to save her life the night before, but she leaves 10 only sporadically talented finalists in her wake. No wonder elimination night was all about analyzing the chemistry between duet performers (and more) Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato.

INFdaily.com

CROSSROADS: Did mentoring American Idol's worst batch to date make Miley Cyrus want to head for the hills as far as music is concerned? She tells E!'s own Marc Malkin that the album she's got coming out in June will be her last. "I just want to work in movies," she said. (OMG, it really is her Last Song!) And why wouldn't she? She already has a very red-carpet worthy date.

MY IMMORTAL: Good lord, Lost. Heavy stuff from scoop-spilling Nestor Carbonell as the untouched-by-time Richard Alpert. What's more, the island is the cork in the wine bottle! Tuesdays can't come around fast enough!

NOT LOST YET: E! Online's annual Save One Show competition doesn't officially start until Monday, but apparently you already have a few ideas...Are you the same ones who chose these two as your Top TV Couple?

ZERO HOUR: 24 will pack it in after the current season. Did they finally realize that CTU is the least secure national security agency ever?...In TV news that's not at all as important, The Hills peeps has also decided season six, premiering April 27, will be its last.

BECK 'ATCHA: Glenn Beck didn't think calling James Cameron the "Antichrist" merited the filmmaker calling him "an a--hole." Indeed not, Cameron really held back on that one.

YOU BASTARDS!: South Park killed the Kardashians Wednesday, but at least their demise was properly mourned, unlike poor Sarah Jessica Parker's.

FOREPLAY: Tiger Woods gave interviews to ESPN and the Golf Channel over the weekend, and plans to have his first Q&A session (emphasis on the Q) with the press when the Masters tees off next month. He should really just be happy that wife Elin never took Sandra Bullock's advice.

Courtesy of Interscope / Lauren Dukoff

BAD INFLUENCE: Donny Osmond thinks Lady Gaga and not-pregnant Beyoncé's murder-is-sexy "Telephone" video is bad for kids and the music industry should think twice about the sort of content they market so virally. So... It wasn't wrong of them to make it, it was just wrong of them to tell people they made it?

NICE!: Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher made it official, tying the knot in Paris.

LAST HURRAH? A frail Dennis Hopper received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, surrounded by pals such as Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen and David Lynch. The 72-year-old actor is battling prostate cancer and is said to be too ill to undergo more chemotherapy.

FAREWELL: Robert Culp, who played Bill Cosby's tennis-playing partner in I Spy died at 79 after falling down outside his Hollywood home.

LEGALESE: David "Puck" Rainey of The Real World: San Francisco busted for DUI after seriously injuring himself in a single-car crash. He's still hospitalized, but at least his 8-year-old son, who was in the car with him, is already back home...T.I. completed the locked-up portion of his sentence on a weapons charge...Oprah Winfrey settled...Prince ordered to pay $3 million to a concert promoter after bailing on a huge show in Ireland...Sanjaya sings badly and drives quickly...Former member of K.C. and the Sunshine Band busted on suspicion of sexual conduct with a teenage boy...Whitney Port sued by a designer who claims The City star's new line is based on her creations...Justin Bieber's manager pleaded not guilty to contributing to a stampede at a Long Island mall...No trial just yet for Audrina Patridge's alleged stalker...Pete Doherty arrested for possibly supplying drugs to a woman who later died of an overdose. Sigh.

SPOTTED: Gerard Butler flirting at Nobu...Bearded Conan O'Brien pumping gas...Shia LaBeouf and others finishing the L.A. Marathon...Carrie Underwood dedicating a concert performance to a Kansas man who died in a truck crash while delivering equipment for Underwood's show...Taylor Swift and Cory Monteith bowling...Reese Witherspoon and her new man friend...Paris Hilton chatting with Nicole Richie and ex Benji Madden...at Trousdale...Bar Refaeli in her undies...Christina Aguilera catching a performance of Puppetry of the Penis in West Hllywood...Lindsay Lohan hitting the agave...Jennifer Love Hewitt with a new 'do...This sign on Octomom's lawn...The Twilight Saga: Eclipse poster.

Source:ca.eonline.com/

Simon Cowell organising Haiti charity song featuring Leona Lewis; they'll sing Everybody Hurts by REM

The Haiti charity song being organized by X Factor star Simon Cowell will be a cover of REM's Everybody Hurts.

The Haiti charity song being organized by X Factor star Simon Cowell will be a cover of REM's "Everybody Hurts," sources told Sky News Thursday.

Simon Cowell also revealed Leona Lewis is the latest star name who has agreed to take part in his charity single to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

X Factor judge Cheryl Cole has already confirmed she will lend her vocals to the song.

Cowell said he received a call from Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him to put a Band Aid-style single together.

Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Robbie Wiliams and Wyclef Jean have been rumored to be among the host of showbiz stars expected to contribute.


The Cowell stable of talent, featuring the likes of Britain's Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle, could also be featured.

Gordon Brown said he believes the single will make a "huge" amount of money for the rescue efforts.

"I have already talked to Simon Cowell and I said there would be an exemption from VAT for a charity single," he said.

"The agony and anguish for the people that we are seeing on our television screens is something that British people want to respond to," Brown said

"Simon Cowell can make a huge amount of money to help the people of Haiti."

Madonna and Beyonce will also be performing special concerts to raise money for relief efforts.

Actor George Clooney is organizing a Hope For Haiti Now global benefit on Friday that will feature former US President Bill Clinton, actors Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Julia Roberts.

Meanwhile, alternative rock band Radiohead will be playing a concert in Los Angeles to raise money for Haiti with tickets for 1,300 people being auctioned off, Spinner.com reported.

The concert will be held on Sunday, January 24 at the Music Box Theatre with all proceeds to benefit Oxfam Haiti.

An auction for tickets started on Thursday, 8 p.m. (PST) and will conclude at 11 a.m (PST) on Saturday, January 23.

However, not to be outdone, fellow musician Coldplay frontman Chris Martin will auction off his jacket on eBay as part of an auction in aid of Haiti relief, AFP reported.

The auction, which goes live on website eBay at 9 a.m. (GMT) Friday and runs for 10 days, also features a guitar used by Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys, VIP tickets to the Glastonbury music festival, a specially written piece of music by Blur singer Damon Albarn and a painting donated by Scottish singer Annie Lennox.

The band the Magic Numbers will also come and play an acoustic set in the house or garden of the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio has become the latest star to back the Haiti earthquake relief effort, donating US$1 million.

His ex-girlfriend Gisele Bundchen has donated $1.5 million to the relief effort while Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated $1 million to Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders for the organization's operations in Haiti.

Actress Sandra Bullock also gave a $1 million donation, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Canada has also announced a telethon on Friday night which will feature some of the country's biggest stars including singer Celine Dion, director James Cameron and actor Michael J. Fox.

The Canadian government pledged this week to donate up to $129 million (CA$135 million) to the relief efforts, on top of the $4.7 million the government has already donated.

So far, Canadians have privately contributed more than $37 million and the government has said it will match those funds.

Immediately following the multi-network broadcast of Canada for Haiti, the U.S. benefit Hope for Haiti Now will air on the same networks in Canada.

A telethon in Holland on Thursday collected nearly $58.2 million in donations.

The Netherlands government would contribute double the amount pledged during the telethon, said Development and Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders, who took part in the day-long event on Dutch radio and television stations.

The U.S. Government also passed a Bill on Thursday that allows donations for Haitian earthquake victims to be deducted from taxpayers 2009 returns, instead of 2010.

Last week's magnitude 7 quake in Haiti killed at least 75,000 people according to Haitian government officials, and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Source:heraldsun.com.au/

IPL:League of the stars

This was a crossover waiting to happen. And we can safely say ‘It happens only in India.’ After all, films and cricket are the two biggest passions Shilpa Shetty

of our countrymen, and women (this should keep the feminists happy), and so when they decide to join hands, would we complain?

Where else would you hear about actors buying cricket teams, or any team for that matter? Imagine if Julia Roberts were to invest in AC Milan (like Preity Zinta is all set to form a basketball team) and call it the Pretty Boys team ... football wouldn’t be quite the same ballgame, would it?

But it’s happened – most of the buzz surrounding the IPL matches has been around which star has how much stake in what team, who’s going to buy a team, who’s going to perform for one, ad infinitum. Actually, it all started during the first IPL season. That’s when every time you said Kolkata, apart from Sourav Dada’s grim face, SRK’s grumpy one also came to one’s mind. This time, however, the fine actor that he is, SRK managed to smile and give quotes like, “The team should not feel that they have to perform for the sake of the owners.” But then, he left South Africa bang in the middle of the tournament.

All said and done, the stars really jazzed up the event – all of the 59 matches played out in 44 days – and made it the buzziest show of the year, on and off screen. The IPL was nothing short of a big budget film. The location was scouted for, the cast and crew selected carefully, the star players went (auctioned off!) for a princely sum, and finally, the three-hour game, replete with dance sequences and item numbers, was watched by almost 82 million people worldwide. This became such a sure shot success formula that every actor worth his histrionics wanted a share in the IPL pie pronto. Soon, every star was making a beeline to meet Lalit Modi.

Salman Khan is rumoured to have met with IPL boss Lalit Modi with plans to owning a team in the 2010 season. Aamir too has supposedly expressed similar wishes. When asked, Salman had said, “Let’s see. I don’t plan anything. Bid toh zaroor karenge. Agar bid mein mil gaya, toh le lenge.” Lalit Modi too was happy to share, “Yes, Salman came to see me with the possibility of buying an IPL team. I think he is a serious buyer.” Ajay Devgn too will probably jump onto the bandwagon, because his reply to a question about whether he will or won’t, was, “Right now, I don’t want to say anything because it’s too early. But yes, we are in talks. When it materialises, we will talk about it.” Sanjay Dutt thought he would go and meet Modi chupke chupke about this, but was surprised to see a posse of lensmen and journos waiting to click the two.

And those who were not talking of buying a team, made sure they were seen in the stadium while the matches were on. They waved, cheered, promoted their upcoming films – the IPL became a bahana for promotion of all sorts for the stars, last season being one for Deepika Padukone. The others weren’t quite sure about whether the IPL was the Ascots of India, where being seen would become a talking point of having arrived. This time, though, the whole galaxy of stars had smartened up. Akshay Kumar even did some stunts to prove that he’s a worthy ambassador of the Delhi Daredevils. Katrina Kaif, Mugdha Godse, Zayed Khan, Bipasha Basu, Raveena Tandon, Arjun Rampal, well, the whole of Bollywood was in South Africa. Bollywood was buzzing with the big bucks, but on the cricket pitch this time.


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Source:timesofindia.indiatimes.com/