As we all know, when James Franco is not on the set of a movie he is probably in a classroom, pursuing knowledge whilst asleep. Previously, Franco got his B.A. at UCLA in 2008, and then he got his MFA at Columbia University in 2010. He also got his Ph.D in English from Yale, and was accepted into the University of Houston’s famed doctoral program (in which he plans to enroll sometime next year). He’s currently taking classes at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in filmmaking, but actually isn’t really doing very well in the eyes of one of his professors. In fact, the professor of his “Directing the Actor II” class, José, Angel Santana, gave Franco a D in the class, reportedly because he missed 12 of the 14 scheduled classes. Professor Santana has since been let go from his position at NYU (he believes because of the unimpressive grade he gave Franco) and is now suing the school for his job back. Professor Santana told the New York Post, “The school has bent over backwards to create a Franco-friendly environment, that’s for sure. The university has done everything in its power to curry favor with James Franco In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy.” Whether or not Professor Santana’s claims are true, we can’t say, but it’s really nice to see how not everyone thinks the old “hey, is it my finger peeking out of my zipper or is it something eeeeelse?” isn’t really tolerable. – NYP
Britney Spears‘ ex-husband, Kevin Federline, seems pretty happy about Britney’s engagement to Jason Trawick. He told an Australian magazine, “She’s happy. She’s doing really well… [The engagement] is a good step in the right direction. I’m totally happy for her… I think [Jason] is a great guy. The kids speak highly of him. Her family loves him.” Let the record show Kevin is now, apparently, a judge of character. – People
Kobe Bryant and his wife of ten years, Vanessa Bryant, are in the midst of getting a divorce and since there was no prenup, it means the marriage is considered to be “long-term” under California law and Vanessa is entitled to alimony — and lots of it. TMZ spoke with Stephen Lane, Vanessa’s ex-stepfather, and he said “In California, it’s considered a long term marriage and then she gets paid for life or until she remarries…just like her mother is doing to me. I have to pay her mom $1,800 every month and clearly they don’t need it… [Vanessa’s] mother taught her well to wait for the ten-year mark [before divorcing Kobe].” – TMZ
