By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:27pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Scottish DJ Calvin Harris may not be the most recognizable face in the U.S. music scene, but after writing Rihanna's biggest chart hit and with two other top 20 singles, Harris is fast becoming a chart staple. Harris, 28, found success in the UK over the last five ...

TOKYO | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:03pm EST TOKYO (Reuters) - One of Japan's top kabuki actors, who worked hard to modernize the centuries-old theater form and performed around the world, died on Wednesday after a five-month battle with cancer, Japanese media reported. Kanzaburo Nakamura, 57, was born to a family of longstanding performers in the ancient kabuki t...

LONDON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 7:45am EST LONDON (Reuters) - "Skyfall", the 23rd official James Bond movie, has become the most successful film in British box office history, earning 94.3 million pounds ($152 million), its producers said on Wednesday. The tally, earned over 40 days, surpasses the previous record of 94.0 million pounds set by 2009 3D adventure ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Wed Dec 5, 2012 12:08am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The 1982 hit "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was named the greatest hip hop song of all time on Wednesday, in the first such list by Rolling Stone magazine to celebrate the young but influential music genre. "The Message," which tops a list...

By Ronald Grover and Sue Zeidler Tue Dec 4, 2012 6:32pm EST (Reuters) - Netflix will provide TV viewers with live and animated Disney, Pixar, Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm movies starting in 2016, as Walt Disney Co on Tuesday became the first major studio to choose Netflix over cable TV networks. Netflix shares jumped 14 percent on the news, as investors sa...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Dec 4, 2012 5:59pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former "Malcolm in the Middle" child star Frankie Muniz said on Tuesday he had suffered a mini-stroke, at the age of 26. "I was in the hospital last Friday. I suffered a 'Mini Stroke', which was not fun at all. Have to start taking care of my body! Getting old!," Muniz said on Twitter.Muniz...

Tue Dec 4, 2012 4:19pm EST (Reuters) - Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar is set to be feted with a retrospective of his work by the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in London, the Academy said on Tuesday. The December 13 tribute will feature the "Volver" director in conversation with British director Stephen Frears ("The Queen"), Brit...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Dec 4, 2012 2:56pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Lady Gaga purchased 55 items belonging to late singer Michael Jackson in a weekend auction that raised more than $5 million, a portion of which will be donated to charity, Julien's Auctions said. The auction, held in Beverly Hills, showcased 465 lots of items spanning Jackson's car...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Dec 4, 2012 2:54pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. was ordered to pay the British creator of the television game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" $319 million after a Los Angeles court rejected the company's request for a new trial. Britain's Celador International, which created the quiz show, sued Disney in 2004 al...

NEW YORK | Tue Dec 4, 2012 2:42pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eddie Murphy was once among Hollywood's top box office draws, but he now has the dubious honor of being crowned its most overpaid actor, according to Forbes magazine. In its annual list, determined by the misalignment between star salaries and their films' box office take, Murphy, once a one-man ...

By Christine Kearney NEW YORK | Tue Dec 4, 2012 6:37am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ashton Kutcher's turn as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut about a modern day Don Juan are leading a slew of star-studded premieres unveiled Monday for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Kutcher stars in "Jobs," a biographica...

By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES | Mon Dec 3, 2012 9:26pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Do not call it a comeback and don't even think of it as a farewell tour. After more than four decades making music and a 2010 tour, Fleetwood Mac will hit the road again next year. But it won't be its last tour, singer Stevie Nicks vowed, dismissing any notion that th...

By Patrick Rucker and Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 3, 2012 12:46am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Music legend Led Zeppelin was recognized on Sunday alongside entertainers from stage and screen for their contributions to the arts and American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors, lifetime achievement awards for performing artists. The eclecti...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Mon Dec 3, 2012 12:04am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential election became the most-searched item and Kim Kardashian was the most-searched person on Yahoo! in a year when online searches were dominated by big news stories and pop culture obsessions, the search engine company said on Monday. The searc...

MANAMA | Sat Dec 1, 2012 3:42pm EST MANAMA (Reuters) - Television celebrity Kim Kardashian brought out screaming fans, angry Muslim hardliners and police throwing stun grenades on Saturday when she visited Bahrain to launch a milkshake franchise, witnesses said. About 100 Sunni Salafists demonstrated with banners outside The Walk Bahrain, an upmarket mal...

By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:21am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It took more than a decade, two directors and a lawsuit before "The Hobbit" made it to the big screen. Hollywood executives are crossing their fingers that the culmination of that journey will help smash movie box office records this year. The film, which opens on ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:35am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Gangnam Style," the catchy Korean song by rapper Psy, may have danced its way into the American charts but the Korean pop industry isn't horsing around when it comes to capitalizing on the singer's phenomenal U.S. success. With "Gangnam Style" topping the current...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:53pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Halle Berry, her ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry and her current lover Olivier Martinez have called a truce after their angry Thanksgiving Day brawl outside the Oscar-winning actress's Los Angeles home. Attorneys for the trio said after a closed-door court hearing on Thursday that the trio "hav...

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:47pm EST NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan on Thursday faced the possibility of being sent back to jail after a tumultuous 24 hours in which she was arrested in New York for assault, and charged in California with reckless driving and lying to police over a June car crash. Lohan, 26, who has been to ...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:16pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One of the earliest surviving posters of Mickey Mouse sold for more than $100,000 on Thursday, Heritage Auctions said. The 1928 movie poster of the iconic cartoon mouse belonged to the family of a deceased collector in Northern California, the auction house said.Mickey Mouse was created in...

By Christine Kearney NEW YORK | Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:14pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Although Dolly Parton has cemented her place in country and popular music, pop culture, and as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, she still, on occasion, gets nervous. Her new book, "Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You" encourages readers to overcome their fear...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:07pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's Universal Studios has filed a copyright lawsuit against a porn production company, accusing it of lifting language, characters and plot from the best-selling erotic book trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey" for its own adult films and sex toys. Calling one of the adult movie adaptati...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:43pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, has suffered a stroke but is OK and resting in a Las Vegas hospital, a family friend said on Thursday. "He was doing well and says he's feeling OK," close family friend Brian Oxman told Reuters.Oxman, Michael Jackson's one-time attorney, said the 83-y...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:13pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You may be singing "Call Me Maybe" or dancing "Gangnam Style" to this year's music, but it was veteran hip-hop artist Dr. Dre who topped Forbes' list of the 25 highest-paid musicians in 2012, released on Thursday. California native Dre, 47, became one of the leading names in hip-hop and ra...

By Mike Collett-White LONDON | Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:07pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Anyone dusting off their copy of George Frederic Handel's "Messiah" in the run-up to Christmas this year might spare a thought for the unsung hero of the piece. Without Charles Jennens, experts argue that the 18th century oratorio would never have been created, robbing ...

We wish to announce our upcoming exhibition "Boom Goes the Tropics," by Florencia Urbina at the Hidden Garden Art Gallery. The opening will be on Saturday December 1st from 10:00 am to 4:00 p.m. We invite you to attend, and would appreciate your exposure of the event online or in print. Please contact us for any additional information or high-resolution photos. Transforming light and ...

PARIS | Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:23pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - French actor Gerard Depardieu was detained for driving his scooter while drunk on Thursday after he had a minor accident in Paris, prosecutors said. The 63-year-old star of films such as "Jean de Florette" and "Green Card" was held for questioning after he fell from his scooter mid-afternoon, slightly...

By Li-mei Hoang LONDON | Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:38pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - The Oscar dress worn by Julia Roberts and a frock for Audrey Hepburn are just two tantalizing items out of the dozens of sumptuous pieces gathered for a new show in London celebrating Italian designer Valentino Garavani's 50 years in fashion. "Valentino: Master of Couture" a...

NEW YORK | Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:41am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan was arrested outside a New York nightclub on an assault charge early Thursday after she punched another woman in the face, police said, marking another legal dustup for the 26-year-old "Mean Girls" actress. Lohan and the 28-year-old unidentified woman had some sort of dispute insid...

Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:29pm EST (Reuters) - R&B star Mary J. Blige was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging the Grammy winner and her husband defaulted on a $2.2 million bank loan. According to court documents filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Signature Bank is seeking to recoup the original loan plus $58,000 in interest.Blige, 41, who has s...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:02pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Emmy-winning dramas "Homeland", "Mad Men" and British period piece "Downton Abbey" will compete for the annual Producers Guild Awards for the top shows on U.S. television, organizers announced on Wednesday. But last year's winner - HBO's lavish ...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:13pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson plans to take his one-man theater show on the road across the United States early next year. Tyson, 45, made the announcement on ABC's late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Tuesday."Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" is an autobiographical monolog...

By Gyles Beckford WELLINGTON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:21am EST WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people packed New Zealand's capital city, clambering on roofs and hanging onto lamp posts on Wednesday to get a glimpse of the stars at the red carpet world premiere of the film "The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey". Wellington, where director Pet...

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:56am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Melissa Rycroft was crowned champion of the celebrity television competition "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday, propelled by perfect scores from the judges and fan votes which spelled victory for the television host. Rycroft, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who was also a contestant on the...

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:41am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - An American author sued the prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry in a federal court on Tuesday, accusing him of lifting the plot of his 2012 movie, "Good Deeds," from her book. Terri Donald, who also writes under the pseudonym TLO Red'ness, says Perry based the film on her 2007 book, "Bad Apples Can ...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:41pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Rihanna shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Tuesday with her seventh record "Unapologetic," scoring her first No. 1 album despite mixed reviews. "Unapologetic," which topped iTunes charts in 43 countries just hours after its release on November19, so...

By Gyles Beckford WELLINGTON | Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:23pm EST WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's capital city was taken over by pointy-eared, costumed Hobbit fans on Wednesday, many of whom camped overnight to grab the best spots for the red carpet world premiere of the film later in the day. Welli...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:48pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Quirky comedies "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Moonrise Kingdom" led nominations on Tuesday for the 2013 Spirit Awards, one of the largest celebrations of independent films. The two movies notched up five nominations apiece, including best feature film and director, just ahead of the mysti...

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:18pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The six-year-old daughter of dead Playboy model and reality television star Anna Nicole Smith has stepped in front of the camera like her mother to model for U.S. clothing brand Guess, the company said on Monday. Photos of Dannielynn Birkhead, who was five-months-old when her mother died i...

NEW YORK | Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:10pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The piano from the Oscar-winning film "Casablanca" could fetch more than $1 million when it is sold at auction in New York next month on the 70th anniversary of the premiere of the classic movie, Sotheby's said on Tuesday. The 58-key piano, on which actor and singer Dooley Wilson performed "As T...