It is always heartwarming to see a good cause succeed. We all recently heard about the passing away of Hollywood icon Paul Newman. I am sure that if he had any way of knowing what is happening after his passing away, he would be quite happy. An annual fundraiser for a children’s camp for those with life-threatening diseases was held on Monday and the support that it received from the who’s who of Hollywood was overwhelming. More than actually turning up to help raise money for a good cause, the people also turned up to pay their own tribute to Paul Newman. The Associate Press has this report:

The lineup for a dramatic reading of “The World of Nick Adams” on Monday night at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall already was set when the acting legend died of cancer Sept. 26 at the age of 83. The event benefited The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses, that was started by Newman in 1999.

“We expected Paul to be with us and so this kind of turned into kind of a tribute,” said Danny Glover, who joined Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Sean Penn and other big names in the reading. “This is the first time we are doing this without Paul — there is a void there, without a doubt.”

Some 2,500 people attended the star-studded benefit, which began with a video in which Newman discussed his work with the Association of Hole in The Wall Camps, which runs 11 camps around the world including The Painted Turtle.

Just take note of those names mentioned above and you will understand how big the event turned up to be. I am sure that the children involved – and Paul Newman, if he were alive – would deeply appreciate the gesture.

Plan on joining American Idol to get rich? Unless you’re going to be among the top contestants you can forget about it. My recent research to find the answer to the question of how much the idol contestants actually make while on the show lead me to these findings:

1. No one is paid anything until they’re on the top 24.
2. The top 24 contestants get paid about $30 a day for food and an additional $500 a week for clothing. They are not allowed to spend the $500 on anything else.
3. They go home empty handed if they don’t make it to the top 12.
4. The longer the contestant stays the bigger the check they get when they are eliminated (this makes sense of course). The top two contestants get a car on top of the money.
5. Contestants get a cut from the compilation album.
6. Contestants are paid a nice enough amount for going on the AI tour. For each appearance they rack up $5000 (per show) and they also get a cut from the all the merchandise sold during the tour.
7. Of course we all know the AI winner goes home rich.

Lesson learned? If you plan on joining AI just for the money you’d better make sure you make it to the top 12!

I love watching American Idol and I especially love Idol Gives Back but this year I did cringe when they sent home Michael Johns. It wasn’t that I am a big fan of Michaels Johns (although I did love his last performance) but Ryan Seacrest’s callous remark after announcing who was going home really is cringe-worthy. Hearing Ryan say, “Last year on Idol Gives Back week, we didn’t eliminate anyone. Not so this week.”, somehow soured the goody goody feeling Idol Gives Back inspires. That was a cruel thing to do. No one should be left with negative memories of an Idol Gives Back night and Michael Johns sure would. A pat on the back him though since he took it all in stride and even said about his song “Dream On” that, “If there’s a song to go out on, that’s not a bad one.”

On the bright side though the show had some really good moments with the highlight being the amount of money raised, which is more than what they raised last year. They are still accepting donations via the Idol Gives Back website as well as their Idol Gives Back MySpace page.

If you want to see all the stars and the performances head on to itunes to download all the Idol performances (regular shows and Idol Gives Back).

American Idol and iTunes have signed a new contract. Fans can download performances from the hit show. Proceeds will go to the “Idol Gives Back” — a charity television event that aims to help poverty-stricken children in Africa and the United States.

Watch Jay Z. and Beyonce welcome visitors to Hollywood. Very catchy music and video editing — worthy of the entertainment capital of the world.

It’s official. The writer’s strike is over!

“The strike has been extraordinarily difficult for all of us, but the hardest hit of all have been the many thousands of businesses, workers and families that are economically dependent on our industry. We hope now to focus our collective efforts on what this industry does best — writers, directors, actors, production crews, and entertainment companies working together to deliver great content to our worldwide audiences,” said union honchos in a joint statement.

Some experts are predicting the end of the Golden Age of Television, namely how “intelligent” shows have gotten the axe while stations aim for sad trend towards cheap, ad-driven programs.

Do you agree? And do you think that this is mostly just a problem caused by the writer’s strike or a scary trend that Hollywood is dumbing down and selling out?

A star studded and absolutely glamorous affair, the 64th annual Golden Globe Awards had everyone who is anyone in Hollywood seated at the tables. It was the first major award show to be held for the year and honored some fine shows indeed.

The guests arrived wearing mainly black and white, plus a few metallic ones. Some of the best dressed celebrities for the night include Jennifer Love Hewitt, Penelope Cruz, Renee Zellweger, Eva Langoria and Reese Witherspoon. Hilary Swank had a really eye catching jeweled flower hair accessory that did wonders to make up for her simple black dress.

Hugh Laurie’s wish for a Dolce & Gabana acceptance speech brought some laughs as did Clint Eastwood’s repeating part of Jennifer Hudson’s acceptance speech. As expected Jennifer Hudson took home the best supporting actress award for her part in Dreamgirls. Best Supporting Actor went to Eddie Murphy, also for Dreamgirls. This was a first for both of them. Meryl Streep took home the Best Actress award for her role as the boss from hell in The Devil Wears Prada. Best Motion Picture went to Babel.

Looks like Hollywood is indeed off to a good start in 2007.

[tags] Golden Globe Awards,Red carpet,best dressed, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Meryl Streep, Babel, Hugh Laurie [/tags]

So with the influx of various popular celebrities who have been participating in this new hit show “Dancing with the Stars” who is the latest to be in them? The last was Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban but for sure there are a lot of people and fans who want to know who would be next to be seen there. Site are sure to use affordable search engine optimization practices offered by companies such as Los Angeles SEO for one and surely this is one hot news ticker many are taking advantage of.

This would include blogs of course where people post their reviews and all. There will be over millions of sites that would give in their two cents worth but the thing is, being the first and preferred among them will surely be to the credit of the site owner in the end. All they have to do is optimize their site for priority in search queries.

Pop sensation Britney Spears has been at the top of the celebrity headlines and search queries for some months now and has topped it off by doing the unthinkable, shaving her head and doing various weird things to her body. Spears, a known icon in the music industry, started her tumultuous popularity by getting pregnant and being linked to Kevin Federline.

As it looks at the moment, it seems the Britney Spears has been too blinded by her success that she apparently does not know what she is doing with her life. She was recently released from the Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility after successfully completing their program.

But at the rate things are going on in the life of this former pop star idol, the worst is yet to come. Her pending case for divorce with Federline is sure to be the next thing to hit the headlines.

[tags]britney spears, kevin federline, spears bald, rehab[/tags]