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Angel Amor

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Posts posted by Angel Amor

  1. Jay-Z Won't Jam On

    by Marcus Errico

    The Jigga's up...and out the door.

    Jay-Z will be having lots more time to spend with Beyoncé this New Year's after it was announced Monday that he would be stepping down as president of Def Jam effective Jan. 1.

    He took over the reins at the famed hip-hop factory in 2005 shortly after he announced his brief retirement from recording.

    In announcing his departure, the 38-year-old multihyphenate said in a statement that it was time for him to "take on new challenges."

    During his two-year tenure, Jay-Z has signed the likes of Rihanna and Ne-Yo and overseen blockbuster releases by himself and Kanye West, eventually realizing that he didn't want to be out of the rapping game for good.

    Vivendi-owned Universal Music, the parent of Def Jam, says the rapper will continue to record for the company's Roc-A-Fella label, which he cofounded in 1996, long before becoming top dog.

    The hip-hop mogul also founded several Roc-A-Fella spinoff companies, including a film production shingle and the Rocawear fashion label, which he sold in March for $204 million.

    He also owns the upscale 40/40 Club sports bars (named after the elite group of baseball players who have hit 40 homeruns and stolen 40 bases) in New York and Atlantic City. A Las Vegas location is opening Sunday in the newly built extension of the Venetian hotel, the Palazzo. A new spot in Macau is on track to open in late 2008 or early 2009.

    Last month, Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, saw his latest album, American Gangster, open on top of the pop charts. That gave him 10 number one albums in 10 years and tied him with Elvis Presley for the most chart toppers by a solo artist. Hova and Presley trail only the Beatles, who have 19 number one albums.

    He is also up for five Grammy Awards, while he helped steer Def Jam to a total of 26 nods.

    In August, Jay-Z was tapped as the top Hip-Hop Cash King by Forbes magazine, pocketing $34 million the previous year.

    And although he's hanging up his key to the executive washroom for now, Jay-Z said recently that he feels good about where the industry is headed.

    "As a person who is optimistic about hip-hop, I look at albums like American Gangster and Kanye West's Graduation as albums that people can emulate because they were made with nothing but the highest of integrity and passion about putting your all into the music," he told billboard.com last week. "People tend to emulate success, so hopefully they'll emulate the blueprint of those albums and we'll have some great music."

    Copyright 2007 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Will Smith's Legendary Ban?

    by Gina Serpe

    Will Smith's charm may have gotten him out of a fair share of scrapes in West Philly and Bel-Air, but it hasn't quite passed muster in China—yet.

    The Oscar nominee's latest film, the sci-fi remake I Am Legend, has so far failed to secure a release date in the country, despite personal pleas from the actor himself. And while Smith said he is nonetheless eager to continue making his case for the film's Chinese release, his efforts may be in vain: News of the film's Far East rebuffing comes amid reports that China has issued a three-month ban on American films from opening on its screens.

    "We struggled very, very hard to try to get it to work out, but there are only a certain amount of foreign films that are allowed in," Smith said from a press conference in Hong Kong Friday.

    As part of his effort to secure a Chinese release for the flick, in which Smith stars as the lone survivor of an apocalyptic global epidemic, the actor said he even went so far as to personally meet with Han Sanping, the chairman of the censor-happy China Film Group, the state-run board responsible for allowing foreign films into the country.

    Not even Smith's secret weapon—revealing to Sanping, and subsequently to the world's press, that he was pondering a remake of the Karate Kid, to be set in either Hong Kong or Beijing—served to sway the industry honcho.

    While no specific reason has been given as to why the film was not granted a release date in the country, Variety reported Monday that the China Film Group has placed a temporary ban, expected to last at least three months, on American or otherwise foreign-made films into the nation. The move is a bid to boost the economy of China's domestic film industry and may be extended through May, the trade reports.

    But the China Film Group has denied that any such ban has been enacted and claims that the panel is still in the process of reviewing U.S. films for potential release. So far, not so good.

    Smith's other recent cinematic effort, The Pursuit of Happyness, made it past the country's notorious censors but was still shut out of a release. Likewise, recent Stateside blockbusters Enchanted, Beowulf and the seemingly utterly uncontroversial Bee Movie.

    In recent years, China has barred a litany of America-made films from its theaters, particularly when the nation or its people are shown in anything less than a glowing light.

    The Departed was whacked from screens earlier this year for featuring a reference to the Chinese military. In 2006, The Da Vinci Code made it past the country's infamous censors only to be abruptly pulled from theaters shortly after its release. This past summer, the country denied the release of Rush Hour 3, starring would-be Chinese national treasure Jackie Chan, amid reports that the racial humor and depiction of a Chinese mafia family was not met kindly by the country's censors. And Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End was radically edited because of perceived stereotyping of Chow Yun-Fat's pirate king.

    Typically, only 20 foreign films per year are allowed on China's movie screens.

    Not all Asian countries are as stingy with their silver screens. I Am Legend has already been cleared for release in Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and India.

    The Warner Bros. film will be released in the U.S. on Dec. 14.

    Copyright 2007 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Paris Goes Directly Back to Jail

    by Sarah Hall

    Easy come, easy go for Paris Hilton.

    A day after she was "reassigned" from jail to house arrest due to an undisclosed medical condition, the hotel heiress was sent back to the slammer by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer, the same judge who originally sentenced her to 45 days for violating her probation on an alcohol-related driving charge.

    The judge ordered that Hilton return to Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, to serve out at least 23 days. [see video of the announcement.]

    After hearing the verdict, a weeping Hilton was escorted from the courtroom by a female deputy, shrieking, "It's not right! Mom!"

    Her lawyer was said to be readying an appeal.

    The 26-year-old socialite had not intended to be present in court Friday, but upon learning that she was planning on phoning in her testimony rather than putting in a personal appearance, Sauer ordered the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to send a squad car to pick her up at her Hollywood Hills home and escort her to the courthouse.

    An O.J. Simpson-in-the-white-Bronco-esque scene ensued, with swarms of news helicopters trailing the police convoy as it transported Hilton to the hearing.

    Hilton dressed for the occasion in a oversize gray sweatshirt and sloppy slacks, with her hair tied back in a ponytail and her face free of makeup.

    She cried and shook visibly throughout the hearing, and turned several times to mouth, "I love you," to her parents, who were seated behind her.

    Her attorney, Richard Hutton, asked the judge to order a hearing in his chambers to hear testimony about Hilton's medical condition, but Sauer did not comply with the request.

    Another defense attorney argued that the court's role "is to let the Sheriff's Department run the jail."

    Sauer said he had never approved Sheriff Lee Baca's decision to send Hilton home.

    "I at no time condoned the actions of the sheriff and at no time told him I approved the actions," Sauer said. "At no time did I approve the defendant being released from custody to her home."

    The judge also said that he had received a call from an undersheriff on Wednesday advising him that Hilton had a medical condition and that he would be given paperwork to consider in the case.

    "I never received medical documents. The sheriff's office still has done nothing," he said.

    Shortly thereafter, he announced: "The defendant is remanded to county jail to serve the remainder of her 45-day sentence. This order is forthwith."

    Hilton screamed, while her mother, Cathy, collapsed into her husband Rick's arms, groaning, "Oh my God!"

    The Simple Life star's reversal of fortune took place after the Los Angeles city attorney filed court documents Thursday afternoon, demanding that she be returned to the Century Regional Detention Facility to complete her sentence.

    City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo praised Sauer's decision Friday.

    "This decision sends the message that no individual—no matter how wealthy or powerful—is above the law. Today, justice was served," he said in a statement.

    City prosecutors had also asked that the Sheriff's Department be held in contempt of court for violating the judge's original order by allowing the heiress to leave jail and be fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet. The judge did not address the issue during Friday's hearing.

    Baca defended his decision to reassign Hilton to house arrest, stating it was based solely on her "medical issue," and said that the county legal team had records to support Hilton's diagnosis that it could have turned over to the judge.

    "I can't speak to what's in the judge's mind, but it appears to me at this point there is not a lot of communication," Baca told the Los Angeles Times.

    There has been no word on what exactly ails Hilton. Observers in the courtroom said she looked physically ill and repeatedly wiped her nose, and a doctor was seen going to her home Thursday night.

    Others have suggested it could be a psychological issue. Hilton was visited by her psychiatrist twice during her initial three-day incarceration amid reports of her being unable to eat and or stop crying; another source tells E! Online that Hilton suffers from claustrophobia and that may have contributed to her condition.

    After she was reassigned to house arrest Thursday, the heiress issued a statement expressing gratitude to the Sheriff's Department and her jailers.

    "I want to thank the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and staff of the Century Regional Detention Center for treating me fairly and professionally," she said. "I am going to serve the remaining 40 days of my sentence.

    "I have learned a great deal from this ordeal and hope that others have learned from my mistakes."

    Now she has the opportunity to learn even more.

    Breaking news. More to come.

    Copyright 2007 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved.

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