SanLuisObispo.com: Entertainment Headlines

Horoscopes for Monday, July 7, 2008

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:47 PDT

Aries

March 21-April 19

The emphasis is now on those influences governing your money and possessions. It's wise to take careful stock of your current financial position before beginning any new business. Expect a phone call from an old acquaintance who owes you money.

Lucky Number

263

Financial Outlook

uncertain

Compatible Sign

Aries

Taurus

April 20-May 20

Early morning aspects reveal the wisdom behind harsh decisions. It's not the day for making agreements or seeking preferment, and shopping is favored during the late afternoon only. Always kiss and make up before bedtime.

Lucky Number

855

Financial Outlook

very strong

Compatible Sign

Libra

Gemini

May 21-June 21

Essence Festival wraps up in New Orleans

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:57 PDT

The Essence Music Festival wrapped up its 14th year Sunday night, which was marked by the return of Grammy Award-winner Mary J. Blige and comedian Chris Rock.

The Louisiana Superdome was even more packed than it was Saturday as Blige appeared once again at the festival, while Rock returned for the first time in 12 years.

"I'm so honored to have been invited four years in a row," Blige told reporters before her set. "It's such a blessing."

Game over: struggling UK basketball museum closes

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:43 PDT

The University of Kentucky Basketball Museum has shut its doors due to falling attendance and financial problems.

The museum, located in the Lexington Center near the entrance to Rupp Arena, has struggled to find an audience since opening in 1999.

Kentucky deputy athletic director Rob Mullens said Wednesday that the museum, which was not affiliated with the university, was averaging less than 25,000 visitors a year. Consultants told museum officials before it opened that 110,000 fans a year could push through the turnstiles.

NBC sees Olympics as research mecca

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:48 PDT

NBC is using the Olympics as a "billion-dollar research lab" to get a sense of how people are using different media platforms to experience the Beijing Games that begin Aug. 8.

Besides giving advertisers a clearer picture of how much consumers are paying attention to the games, NBC hopes its research provides a comprehensive picture of how people are supplementing TV viewership with tools such as video streaming, video on demand and mobile phones, said Alan Wurtzel, the company's research chief.

"The billion-dollar lab is an extraordinary research opportunity," he said.

Koppel series shows changes in China

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:07 PDT

The image of Ted Koppel interviewing world leaders is so ingrained that it feels odd to see him wearing a hardhat for a nervous trip into a Chinese coal mine, or sitting in a Chongqing karaoke bar where teenage girls are hired to "entertain" male customers.

Good thing he did, since the field work is what makes his four-part Discovery Channel series, "The People's Republic of Capitalism," so valuable. It premieres 10 p.m. Wednesday, with three other installments at the same time on successive nights.

The series illustrates how dramatically China has changed in ways obvious and not-so-obvious, from the jumble of new skyscrapers in a city that barely existed two decades ago, to the drag bars that operate despite official disapproval.

Horoscopes for Sunday, July 6, 2008

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:42 PDT

Aries

March 21-April 19

Fortunate aspects this morning can further friendly correspondence and harmonious relationships. It's an excellent day for conferences, money, investment, and buying matters. Quiet home pleasures can do much to keep your good-luck pot boiling.

Lucky Number

767

Financial Outlook

very good

Compatible Sign

Gemini

Taurus

April 20-May 20

You may be surprised at how some of your long-held opinions change under today's aspects. You may begin supporting another candidate for high political office, thus surprising others in your immediate environment. Compromise keeps marriage on the upsurge.

Lucky Number

878

Financial Outlook

weak

Compatible Sign

Gemini

May 21-June 21

Reports: A-Rod's wife to file for divorce

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:04 PDT

Alex Rodriguez's wife will file for divorce Monday, according to media reports. Cynthia Rodriguez, who married the New York Yankees star in 2002, said the marriage is over because of the All-Star third baseman's extramarital affairs, according to reports that appeared Sunday on the Web sites of Houston television station KTRK and The Miami Herald.

The reports come just days after Alex Rodriguez was linked to Madonna in various media outlets and Cynthia Rodriguez's subsequent visit to the Paris home of rocker Lenny Kravitz, who said she came to France to escape the media frenzy in New York and denied that anything improper had happened.

Houston attorney Earle Lilly, who said he was hired by Cynthia Rodriguez last week to launch the divorce case, told KTRK the star's "relationship with Madonna was the final straw for Mrs. Rodriguez."

Audience rolls down tracks during 'Die Soldaten'

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:26 PDT

The opening note of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's "Die Soldaten" has to be the most moving in opera when heard in David Pountney's production: The 974-seat bleacher containing the audience slowly starts to roll down train tracks in the Park Avenue Armory's Drill Hall, passing over a football field-length runway where most of the action takes place.

The innovative staging, first seen at Germany's RuhrTriennale in October 2006, opened Saturday night at the Lincoln Center Festival. It was fascinating.

A complicated 12-tone work, the opera is played by a 110-piece-orchestra, with the main section on the audience's left, a 16-person percussion group on the right and an on-stage jazz band thrown in. To keep the singers coordinated, a dozen video screens showing the conductor were mounted throughout the armory, which resembles a European train station.

NBC Universal to buy The Weather Channel for $3.5B

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:41 PDT

NBC Universal and two partners said Sunday they have reached a deal to buy The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications Inc., ending a drawn-out process that had attracted interest from several major media companies.

Financial terms weren't disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity said the purchase price was $3.5 billion in cash. NBC was joined in the deal by the private equity firms The Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC.

In addition to The Weather Channel, which can be seen by 97 percent of U.S. cable subscribers, the deal also includes several related assets such as weather services for newspapers and radio stations and the widely used Web site Weather.com.

'Hancock' grabs heroic $107.3M over long weekend

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:56 PDT

Will Smith's box-office superpowers remain intact. Smith's "Hancock" - the story of a boozing, foul-mouthed superhero who dresses like a street bum - led the Fourth of July weekend with a $66 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That raised the total for Sony's "Hancock" to $107.3 million since it opened Tuesday night to get a jump on the holiday.

It was a familiar place for Smith, one of Hollywood's most-consistent draws. "Hancock" is his fifth movie to open at No. 1 over the Fourth of July. The others were "Men in Black" and its sequel, "Independence Day" and "Wild Wild West."

How's `Hancock' stack up among movie twists?

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:01 PDT

A Will Smith movie packs in millions of people over Fourth of July weekend. No surprises there.

Yet Smith's "Hancock," the tale of an anti-social boozer who happens to be a superhero, comes with an abrupt plot twist, one that has divided critics and the moviegoing public in the real world (Critics and everyone else can't agree. Now there's a real surprise).

For those who have yet to see "Hancock," we won't give the secret away, but it has something to do with why Charlize Theron's soccer-mom-style character doesn't want Smith's surly superhero anywhere near her family.

White Stripes' White pens poem about Detroit

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:01 PDT

Singer-guitarist Jack White has penned a poem expressing his strong feelings for Detroit to clear up any misconceptions about how the White Stripes frontman feels about his hometown.

White said he was frustrated by a sense that his thoughts about the Motor City were misrepresented since he moved to Nashville two years ago. So, White wrote a poem titled "Courageous Dream's Concern" that was published Sunday by the Detroit Free Press. He says it asserts his "feelings about the city itself, and how strong I believe it to be."

Part of the poem reads: "Detroit, you hold what one's been seeking, Holding off the coward-armies weakling, Always rising from the ashes not returning to the earth."

Supermodel raises awareness for pediatric cancer

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:15 PDT

Supermodel Cindy Crawford has been making appearances this weekend in Madison, Wis., to raise awareness of pediatric cancer.

Crawford's younger brother, Jeff, was a patient at University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital. The boy died of leukemia in 1975 just before his fourth birthday.

Crawford is the honorary chair of Kids with Courage, which had its fourth reunion of childhood cancer survivors Saturday in Madison.

Around the remote: Television picks for the week of July 6-12

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:55 PDT

Don't miss:

"BURN NOTICE" - Can last summer's basic-cable hit stay red-hot in Season 2? Jeffrey Donovan returns in this sleek, smart and funny series as Michael Westen, a CIA agent who has been given a "burn notice" - or termination without explanation. Down but not out, Michael struggles to put his life back together and find out why he's been blacklisted. Meanwhile, he uses his spy training to get work as a Miami-based private eye. Aiding and abetting him in his duties is Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), a beautiful ex-IRA operative who happens to be Westen's ex-girlfriend. And joining the cast this season is Tricia Helfer, best known as "Battlestar Galactica's" sexy Cylon Number Six. 10 p.m. Thursday, USA.

Other bets:

TV's 'The Bachelor' weds in California

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:15 PDT

"The Bachelor" is a bachelor no more. Andrew Firestone, star of the ABC-TV reality show, married Serbian model and actress Ivana Bozilovic Saturday, Firestone's publicist Alisha Mahon told The Associated Press.

"We're so happy right now, we can hardly stand it," the couple said in a statement to Usmagazine.com, which first reported the nuptials.

Firestone and Bozilovic wed at St. Mark's in the Valley Episcopal Church in Los Olivos, the central coast town where Firestone's family winery is based.

Horoscopes for Saturday, July 5, 2008

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:50 PDT

Aries

March 21-April 19

Avoid taking critical stands on important issues, including political situations, this morning. What you say now can lead to disagreements and even be held against you by highly emotional people. Your health holds steady during most of the day.

Lucky Number

488

Financial Outlook

mild

Compatible Sign

Pisces

Taurus

April 20-May 20

Attend to spiritual matters early in the morning, so that the rest of the day can be active. Mercury is increasing your desire to put miles on your speedometer. Your health is excellent, and a sense of unity with people is strongly represented in your horoscope.

Lucky Number

143

Financial Outlook

uncertain

Compatible Sign

Aries

Gemini

May 21-June 21