Top Stories
Paul McCartney will perform songs from his new album Driving Rain at a concert in Oslo this week to mark the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, Reuters reports. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the United Nations, this year’s Peace Prize recipients, will receive the award at a ceremony in Oslo on Monday. Other performers will include Wyclef Jean, Nathalie Imbruglia and Destiny’s Child.
Sony Screen Gems is asking fans to design the official poster for the upcoming movie Resident Evil–based on the popular video game of the same name–starring Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez. According to Sony, contestants will be allowed to submit up to three poster designs online from Dec. 6 through Dec. 31. Movie stills, title treatments and the billing block will be posted online at the official Resident Evil website, resident-evil-the-movie.com, which will provide links that will enable contestants to build their poster electronically. Five semi-finalists will be chosen in January and their artwork will be displayed online, where the Internet audience will vote for the winner. The winner will be announced mid-January and will receive a cash prize, a free screening in their hometown for 100 guests and a commemorative copy of the winning poster.
In General
Elizabeth Hurley called police after being harassed by a man outside an address in Kensington, West London, Sky News reports. A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said the 32-year-old is currently in custody at Kensington’s police station and is being questioned. The pregnant actress is currently engaged in a public feud with ex-lover Stephen Bing over the paternity of her unborn child.
Tennis star Monica Seles and her mother were treated for minor injuries after a drunk driver made a left turn into their path on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Seles, 28, was driving her sports utility vehicle in Venice, Fla., with Ester Seles, 62, when the accident occurred. The driver, Cynthia Bauman, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and making an improper left turn.
Filmmaker Billy Wilder (The Apartment) was taken to a Los Angeles hospital last week for breathing problems, USA Today reports. Harold Nelson, Wilder‘s publicist, said Friday that the 95-year-old actor was doing much better.
In Courts
A former schoolmate of Eminem‘s, DeAngelo Bailey, has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the rapper, claiming his song “Brain Damage” damaged his reputation, Detroit’s Free Press reports. In the song, a school bully bashes Eminem against a bathroom urinal and breaks his nose. Bailey denies that he harassed the rapper and claims the lyrics were intended to damage Bailey in order to improve Eminem‘s reputation as a rap artist. A lawyer for Eminem told the paper, “From all I can tell, this is a case of ‘I’ll file a lawsuit and see if I can get some money.'”
Napster and the U.S. record industry will go before a federal appeals court in Pasadena, Calif., Monday to argue over how much initiative the song-swapping service can take in order to comply with a court-ordered injunction to stop trade in copyright-protected music, Reuters reports. In order to comply, Napster says it needs file names rather than just the song titles and names of artists provided by the recording industry. The recording industry contends they should not have to supply Napster with specific file names.
Honored
Nevada Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced last week that Dec. 12, which would have been Frank Sinatra‘s 86th birthday, will be celebrated as “Sinatra Day.” As part of the celebration, Las Vegas strip hotel casinos will display “Happy Birthday Frank” on their marquees and a CD featuring the song “It’s Time for You” will be released, AP reports.
Rod Steiger, whose films include On the Waterfront, In the Heat of the Night and The Player, received a lifetime achievement award from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival on Thursday. Steiger was presented with the award while attending the screening of his latest film A Month of Sundays at the Vogue Theatre in Los Angeles, AP reports.
Judi Dench has received an Academy Fellowship award from the British Academy of Film and Television Art for her outstanding contribution to film and television, Sky News reports. The Fellowships is the highest accolade given by BAFTA. Dench, who is a five-time BAFTA winner, joins the likes of Michael Caine and Stanley Kubrick, both recipients of the Fellowship Award.
Cuba began its weekend homage to former Beatle John Lennon on Saturday with President Fidel Castro’s inauguration of a bronze statue of the singer in a Havana park, Reuters reports. Lennon was an underground cult figure for Cuban youth for about 15 years following Castro’s Cuban Revolution in 1959. Authorities organized two days of concerts, art fairs, and book and documentary presentations to commemorate the 21st anniversary of Lennon‘s murder.
Madonna presented conceptual artist Martin Creed with the $28,600 Turner Prize in London on Sunday for his controversial piece entitled The Lights Going On and Off, a bare room with a light that switches on and off. Madonna prompted Channel Four to issue a speedy apology to its viewers for her strong language when she told the crowd: “At a time when political correctness is valued over honesty, I would also like to say, right on, mother—, everyone is a winner,” Reuters reports.
Tom Petty has been nominated for the University of Florida’s Distinguished Achievement Award given to individuals for “exceptional achievements in a chosen profession, for demonstrated leadership, and for other exemplary accomplishments.” Gainesville, Fla. native Petty, the 51-year-old lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, was nominated for his contributions to music and for his hu
