R.I.P: ALTOVISE DAVIS DIES

Via CNN: Altovise Davis, the widow of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., has died. She was 65.

Davis died Saturday at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, said her publicist, Amy Malone. She had been admitted two days earlier after suffering a stroke.

Davis, a dancer and actress from Brooklyn, New York, met Sammy Davis Jr. on the set of the musical "Golden Boy" in London in 1967. The couple married three years later.

It was Sammy Davis Jr.'s third marriage. The couple remained together until he died of throat cancer in 1990.

The couple had an adopted son.

Funeral services will be held in Burbank, California, with the date and time to be announced later.

Sammy Davis Jr., himself a musician, was famous for being part of the Rat Pack, which included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

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COUNCIL MEETING STOPPED BY BREAKING WIND

Back in the day I covered my fair share of council meetings for the weekly papers. Not sure how I woulda reacted here... An embarrassing moment interrupts a Medina City Council meeting and caused council members to break out laughing and eventually call for a recess.

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REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER: NEW RULES 3/6

Bill Maher's New Rules for March 6... Again, great stuff...

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NEW 'STAR TREK' TRAILER (LOOKS AWESOME)

OK... lemme just say that first off, I'm not a sci-fi guy. I'm not a fantasy guy or a cyberpunk dude... But that said, this new trailer for J.J. Abrams new "Star Trek" film looks friggin' awesome. The actioner is essentially a chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.

I wasn't stoked for it initially but as the trailers were rleased I must say, it looks incredible.

Is there a better vision than a young James T. Kirk looking at the massive USS Enterprise as it's being built?

Enjoy...

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MICHAEL MANN'S 'PUBLIC ENEMIES' TRAILER

This is gonna kick some serious booot-tay... But why use techno music and blues riffs? Shouldn't we be hearing the big bands and orchestras of the day??

Just sayin...

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NEW 'PUBLIC ENEMIES' POSTER/ONE-SHEET

Here's the skinny:

Public Enemies is a 2009 film adaptation of Bryan Burrough's book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34 directed by Michael Mann.

The crime drama is set during the Great Depression with the focus on the FBI agent Melvin Purvis' attempt to stop criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Christian Bale will play FBI agent Purvis, Johnny Depp will play Dillinger, and Marion Cotillard will play Dillinger's girlfriend Billie Frechette. Principal photography began in Columbus, Wisconsin on March 17, 2008 and wrapped in Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and several other places in Wisconsin the end of June 2008, including the famous Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, the actual location of a 1934 gun fight between Dillinger and the FBI. Some parts of the film were shot in Crown Point, Indiana, the town where Dillinger was imprisoned and subsequently escaped from jail.

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REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER: NEW RULES 2/27 (hilarious)

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IS JOURNALISM DEAD? ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS FOLDS

Via AP: DENVER - Questions about the future of the Rocky Mountain News had become so common, the newspaper's staff put up a handwritten paper sign on the news desk that said, "We don't know."

On Thursday, someone wrote over it in heavy black marker: "Now we know."

Colorado's oldest newspaper, which launched in Denver in 1859, printed its last edition Friday, leaving The Denver Post as the only daily newspaper in town.



Read more HERE.

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R.I.P.: RADIO PIONEER PAUL HARVEY

Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation's most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.

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THANK GOD FOR ROURKE! (SPIRIT AWARD SPEECH)

Holy crap! What a speech! Let's just hope he WINS the Oscar tonight!!

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TARANTINO'S 'INGLORIOUS BASTERDS' POSTERS

Courtesy of EMPIRE, here are three teaser posters for Quentin Tarantino's WWII action epic "Inglorious Basterds." This is is gonna be frikkin' HUGE.

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GOT AN iPHONE? COUNT SOME CARDS

Via Inside Gaming: Maybe that iPhone user isn't just taking calls

Users of iPhones beware -- state gaming agents are watching you.

California gaming authorities tipped off their Nevada counterparts to a blackjack card-counting program that can be used on either the Apple iPhone or the Apple iPod Touch portable music player.

"The program calculates the true count and does it significantly more accurately," according to a Gaming Control Board memorandum sent to casino operators last week warning of the electronic device.

Card counting is not illegal in Nevada casinos. However, using a device to aid in the counting of cards is considered a felony under Nevada laws governing cheating, control board member Randy Sayre said.

Gamblers using the iPhone card-counting program can be detained by casino operators and arrested by state gaming agents.

To read the rest of the piece, click HERE.

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IT'S THAT TIME ... 2009 OSCAR ODDS / ACADEMY AWARD ODDS

On Sunday, the Academy Awards will once again commence at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and there are some clear favorites. Slumdog Millionaire, the feel-good Danny Boyle Mumbai opus made for just $14M, is a heavy favorite to win Best Picture. It's a sure thing...

What are the films and performances with longer odds that would be worth a wager on Sunday? Check out the odds below...

BEST PICTURE
Slumdog Millionaire – 1/7
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 6/1
Milk – 20/1
Frost/Nixon – 30/1
The Reader – 50/1

BEST ACTOR
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler – 1/2
Sean Penn, Milk – 3/2
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon – 10/1
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 25/1
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor – 35/1

BEST ACTRESS
Kate Winslet, The Reader – 1/2
Meryl Streep, Doubt – 5/2
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married – 4/1
Angelina Jolie, Changeling – 25/1
Melissa Leo, Frozen River – 35/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heather Ledger, The Dark Knight – 1/100
Josh Brolin, Milk - 20/1
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder – 25/1
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt – 30/1
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road – 50/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona – 1/2
Viola Davis, Doubt – 3/1
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler – 5/1
Amy Adams, Doubt – 12/1
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 15/1

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire – 1/7
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 6/1
Gus Van Sant, Milk – 20/1
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon – 25/1
Stephen Daldry, The Reader – 35/1

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IT'S HERE: TARANTINO'S 'INGLORIOUS BASTERDS' TEASER

All I can say is WOW... After watching that shaky-cam YouTube bootleg for tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds' on Entertainment Tonight, I've been jonesing for more... One thing is certain: We haven’t seen War, until you’ve seen it through the eyes… of Quentin Tarantino.

Enjoy...

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MICKEY ROURKE WINS BAFTA!

Sean Penn better watch out... The freight train known as Mickey Rourke won the British Oscar the other night for his incredible comeback role in "The Wrestler." Congrats, bro... Great, heartfelt speech... Funny stuff.

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CATNIP FOR GEEKS - WB WANTS 7 BATMAN FILMS

On the eve before NYC's comic-con, this bit of news should make everyone happy. While the sequel to "The Dark Knight" is just in the beginning stages of development, Warner Bros is already looking much further down the line. During today’s Time Warner earnings call, it was reported on the web that CEO Jeff Bewkes compared the Batman series to the Harry Potter film franchise, saying that they hope to release a long line of sequels.

“We look at Harry Potter. It’s fantastic to have franchises that last that long. We want to do that with Batman and Superman and perhaps Sherlock Holmes. The sequels are as good, with new characters added, as were the originals. That wasn’t the case in the years ago. Warners has more tentpoles as an on-going strategy that very much lifts its distribution and performance. We think that’s going to hold up our slate in the 2009 - 2010 period. We’ve got four more big tentpoles coming this year.”

All we can say is ... AWESOME!

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R U PROFESSIONAL? - BALE FLIP OUT PARODY

You're Batman. You're also an actor. You have a conniption on the set of your latest film. The internet web-based music gods make a remix of it entitled "R U Professional."

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PIXAR!

Back in 1986 on Feb. 3 -- 23 years ago today -- Pixar was founded. Technically speaking, Pixar began in 1979 as a Graphics Group in the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. But the company did not get named “Pixar” until it was bought by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986.

Happy birthday!

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THE I.R.S. RAIDS THE VENETIAN IN LAS VEGAS

The Internal Revenue Service has expanded its investigation into a former Fry's executive, with agents seizing financial records and interviewing employees from at least one Las Vegas casino last week.

Federal agents on Thursday visited the Venetian, a casino and hotel along the Vegas Strip which Ausaf "Omar" Siddiqui, 43, had frequented, IRS spokeswoman Arlette Lee confirmed Monday.

She declined further comment, saying the search warrants have been sealed.

To read the rest of the story, click HERE.

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MUST LISTEN: BALES GOES NUTS ON DP!

Via TMZ: Seriously... What the F is up with these actors?? The incident was audiotaped, and it's amazing. It happened on the set after a director of photography accidentally ruined a scene by walking onto the set. Bale lost it, screaming, yelling and threatening to quit if the bosses didn't fire the dude.

Film execs sent the tape to the insurance company that insured the film in case Bale bailed.

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