Sandra Bullock hushes Oscar talk
LOS ANGELES: For Sandra Bullock, sweeping up Hollywood awards is something new, but the actress said after winning a SAG trophy that she didn’t want to be just a “money maker” in any kind of movie.
On Saturday, Bullock, 45, won a Screen Actors Guild Award for best actress in a movie drama, for playing a wealthy family woman who adopts a downtrodden high school football player.
That role in “The Blind Side” has performed at the box office like many of Bullock’s movies, staying strong week after week, racking up a total of $231 million in the US and Canada since its November release.
But it has also done something else for Bullock, earning her critical acclaim and a string of awards, including a Golden Globe last week and now a SAG Award.
The SAG awards are usually seen as a key indicator of success at the Oscars, the movie industry’s highest honors.
So when a reporter suggested Bullock stands a good chance at winning her first Oscar, the actress “shushed” him mid-sentence and would not allow him to finish his question.
All-star Haiti telethon raises $57 million
NEW YORK: Organizers for the all-star “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon say the event raised $57 million — and counting. The two-hour telethon aired Friday night on the major networks and dozens of other channels, including MTV, Bravo, and PBS, and was also streamed live online. Stars like Brad Pitt, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and more used their presence to encourage donations for Haiti, following a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people.
The total released Saturday includes money raised by phone, text and the Web. It does not include donations by corporations or via iTunes, where people are able to buy performances of the event for 99 cents each, or the entire album for $7.99. Those funds also go to Haiti relief.
The “Hope for Haiti Now” CD is the biggest one-day pre-order in the site’s history and the new song “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)” by Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and the Edge, debuted during the telethon, is the No. 1 single on iTunes.
German rock band Scorpions to end career
BERLIN: The German rock band Scorpions is bringing down the curtain on a career spanning more than four decades.
The band, known for its early 1990s hit “Wind of Change” among others, said on its website Sunday that “we agree we have reached the end of the road.” It said it would end its career with a final album — “Sting In The Tail,” to be released in March — and a tour that will start in Germany in May and take it across the world “over the next few years.” Guitarist Rudolf Schenker founded the band in Hannover in 1965. Singer Klaus Meine joined a few years later. Both are 61.
Michael Jackson’s estate has new claimants
New York: Late pop legend Michael Jackson’s estate has been hit by a new claim from an entertainment company allegedly hired to develop the singer’s various ventures.
Bosses at MAChine Management allege they Jackson owes them $285,000 after they helped the late King of Pop create his own film company, reports tmz.com. They also claim to have worked on setting up an environmental campaign — the Michael Jackson Global Warning Awareness Initiative, as well as a film festival in Oman for the star.
Other claims against the hitmaker’s estate have reportedly exceeded $20 million. They include various legal challenges from Jackson’s spiritual adviser June Juliet Gatlin, his former skin doctor Arnold Klein, choreographer LaVelle Smith Jr and the pop superstar’s one-time manager and adviser Tohme Tohme.
Black Eyed Peas in awards mix-up
CANNES, France: US hip-hop band the Black Eyed Peas were mistakenly declared best international group at France’s top music awards before the prize was given to the real winners, the German band Tokio Hotel. Choreographer Kamel Ouali, who was presenting the prizes late Saturday at the NRJ Awards in Cannes, told the audience the US band had won but a few minutes later returned to the stage to say he had made a mistake. Last year Katy Perry was mistakenly given the trophy for best international song when it should have gone to Rihanna.
Mel Gibson fears his life is becoming boring
LONDON: Hollywood star Mel Gibson fears his life is getting boring because he is trying to get healthy and has given up some of his favourite pastimes like smoking.
“I try and eat right but I don’t work out much. I quit smoking, so that’s something in the right direction. I just don’t do anything fun anymore. But that’s dying, isn’t it?,” contactmusic.com quoted Gibson as saying.
“I think I am a lot better because maturity brings things out. I just wish I had that youthful spring again. But it’s a trade-off, right?” he added.
Gibson has seven children with his estranged wife Robyn Moore and daughter Lucia with girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
“I don’t think I will ever be able to get over the fact that there is a little life in front of me. So I will see if I can do it better this time,” he said.
— Compiled from agencies
