Top Story
A Cab for Three was awarded the Golden Shell for best film at Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival. According to CNN, the film, directed by Orland Lubbert, was not among the favorites to win. French director Claude Chabrol was booed by the press and critics when he announced the award.
In General
At a time when television talk show hosts are showing restraint and respect in dealing with the complexity of the terrorist attacks, the self-proclaimed King of All Media Howard Stern is taking a more tasteless approach. In the aftermath of the attacks, Stern has blamed the U.S.’ lack of military response on the feminization of America. Entertainment Weekly quotes Stern as saying, “What’s all this peace and love crap? [Let’s] offer up someone from the Middle East.”
Singer Tori Amos is addressing the issue of female victimization in her latest album, Strange Little Girls. According to SonicNet.com, Amos covers 12 songs written by men, giving them each a distinctive, female voice. Songs on the album include Eminem’s “97 Bonnie & Clyde,” the Velvet Underground’s “New Age,” Tom Waits’ “Time,” and the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun.”
A coalition of entertainment companies on Monday will try to strike down legislation requiring music labels to offer the same licensing deal at the same price to all online music ventures, Variety reports. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher (R-Va.) this summer over concerns that major record labels would somehow lock up the online music business.
The Directors Guild of America has agreed to early negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, Variety reports. While the DGA’s current three-year contract with the AMPTP does not run out until June 30, 2002, they are hoping to avoid showbiz disruptions like this year’s writers and actor’s sagas.
Producer Quincy Jones has an autobiography coming out Oct. 9, aptly titled Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones. According to The Associated Press, Q will cover his days of working with Count Basie to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. “[Jackson] was so shy he’d sit down and sing behind the couch with his back to me while I sat there with my hands over my eyes with the lights off,” Quincy says.
Country singer Naomi Judd will act as honorary chairwoman for a campaign to build Kentucky’s first freestanding hospice facility for the dying, The Associated Press reports. The group hopes to raise $1.5 million for the 10-bed, 12,000-square-foot Community Hospice.
At a Friday summit in Washington sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, rap leaders were urged to help others understand rap music as a positive force. According to Variety, the panel included the president-CEO of the Recording Industry Assn. of America Hilary Rosen, Def Jam Records’ founder Russell Simmons and NAACP president-CEO Kweisi Mfume.
Spirited Away, a Japanese animated movie, has set a new audience record in Japan, Variety reports. The film, which debuted on July 20, has reached 16.9 viewers and grossed about $184.14 million. Distributor Toho Co. expects the film to surpass Titanic‘s gross in the next few weeks. As of Wednesday, the film was $4.27 million shy of Titanic‘s all-time high.
Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, is starting a two-year course in International Relations at Oxford University. According to Reuters, father and daughter arrived in London on Sunday surrounded by British and U.S. security officials. Clinton, who attended Oxford from 1968-1970, has been quoted as saying he is taken with the idea of returning to his alma mater in a teaching role.
