Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee
For Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee, tonight is their last chance to sing their hearts out before one of them is crowned the winner of American Idol.Betting pools give Hicks a slight advantage, and Simon Cowell – who last season accurately predicted Carrie Underwood's victory – told Jay Leno last week that he expects the salt-and-pepper-haired 29-year-old from Birmingham, Ala., to win.
However, Cowell also told Leno that McPhee, a 22-year-old from Los Angeles, has "a fighting chance," and Paula Abdul recently said in Teen People, "Katharine is so primed to be the next Kelly Clarkson."
One thing is for certain: The two finalists think highly of each other. Of his competitor, Hicks told reporters on Friday, "She has amazing vocal runs. She's had some great moments on the show.
It's so cool to see somebody that talented and with that amazing vocal talent, just to be able to watch them. I'm a fan."
In a separate interview, McPhee said, "I think Taylor's main advantage is that he's really free on stage. I get nervous and clench up. That's something Taylor is really, really great at. We're both so different."
The two certainly come from different backgrounds. Before Idol, Southern boy Hicks, whose fans call themselves the Soul Patrol, fronted an eponymous blues band in Alabama.
On his May 12 trip home to Birmingham, he received a hero's welcome, complete with a parade, a meeting with Gov. Bob Riley and some down-home Southern cooking. "You take grits for granted," he said.
California girl McPhee performed in musicals as a student at L.A.'s Notre Dame High School. When she paid a visit to her alma mater, McPhever-afflicted teenage boys screamed out marriage proposals, cheerleaders chanted "Go, Katharine, go!" and L.A.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa showed up at the campus' packed gym. "You make me feel like a winner, regardless of what happens," she told the crowd as she spent an hour singing, dancing and hugging former teachers.
In one respect, however, Hicks is already the winner – of Monday's coin toss to determine who would sing first on Tuesday's show. (He decided to let McPhee go first.) "This finale is going to be awesome," he promised on Friday.
"There are so many things that are going to happen with me that I really can't share with you. I wish I could. There are so many moments for me and Katharine both that are just very special. It's going to be a unique finale." As for McPhee, she's looking forward to seeing her former competitors when they return for the finale.
"I'm just really happy to have everybody back, the top 12 back, and just spend time with them," she said. "I'm sure I'll be excited and nervous, but usually when I'm excited just being excited helps me stay calm."
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Sandra Seeks to Halt Alleged Stalker
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock is seeking to extend a three-year-old stay-away order against a man she accuses of stalking her across three states, according to court documents obtained by the Associated Press.
On June 6, 2003, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon issued a default judgment against Thomas James Weldon, 37, after Weldon failed to appear to refute Bullock's allegations.
Weldon was ordered to remain 200 yards from the actress and not to contact her for three years. The order will expire on June 5.
On May 31, Judge Marion Johnson will consider Bullock's request for an extension. "I do not know defendant, I have never met him and I have never communicated with him nor voluntarily accepted any communication from him," Bullock, 41, said in a court declaration.
She has alleged that Weldon trailed her from Michigan to Texas and California, sending her e-mails and faxes and leaving voice mail messages with her and her family "indicating he wants to have a relationship with her."
Weldon voluntarily entered the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute in Nashville just before the 2003 order, and has "admitted a serious psychological disorder (paranoid schizophrenia) for which he has often refused to take medication," Bullock's attorney, Edwin F. McPherson, said in a statement included in court papers.
McPherson said the hospital is planning to allow Weldon a 90-day furlough in September, and that he believes Weldon remains fixated on Bullock.
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With Baby 'Imminent,' Brad Skips Cannes
Angelina and Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt sent his regrets for failing to make it to the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday – though he had a good reason: "imminent" fatherhood.
The star was due to join costars Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal for Tuesday morning's screening of their movie Babel, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Instead, Pitt sent an e-mail that was read aloud at a press conference after the screening: "With the imminent arrival of the newest addition to our family, I am unable to join Alejandro, Cate, Gael and the rest of the cast and crew introducing the film." He went on to say, "I am tremendously proud of Babel and want to congratulate everyone involved for this great achievement."
The ensemble drama tells several interweaving stories set in Mexico, Japan and Morocco – where Pitt shot scenes with Blanchett last year as speculation about his romance with Angelina Jolie reached a fever pitch.
Babel's gala world premiere is scheduled to take place at the Cannes Palais du Festival on Tuesday night.
Pitt has been vacationing in Namibia with the pregnant Jolie and their kids Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 1.
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Jen, Vince Keep Their Distance at Premiere
Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn
Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn kept a healthy distance between them at Monday's Los Angeles premiere of their new romantic comedy, The Break-Up.Aniston walked the red carpet a good five minutes before Vaughn, and the pair never got within 25 feet of each other.
Still, both signed autographs for some of the hundreds of screaming fans and, once inside the theater, posed for group pictures with costars Jon Favreau and Joey Lauren Adams and director Peyton Reed. Aniston, looking tan and relaxed, told reporters of Vaughn, "He's a professional. He's unbelievably good at his job. I didn't feel compromised as an actor because my costar was going off and doing his thing."
Of herself, she said, "I'm just happy. There's no reason to be anything else, is there? There's enough of that in the world." Vaughn, who is also a producer and writer of The Break-Up, was in equally high spirits. "I feel great," he said. "The response has been so good, the movie's very funny, and it also has some real moments in it. I'm excited to be out tonight."
The couple, who got to know each other while making the film, have never confirmed anything more than an off-screen friendship, although Vaughn told Oprah Winfrey this month that Aniston is "just really smart and funny and easy to be with." Musing on their future, he said, "No, I have not talked about having kids with Jennifer," he said, and then joked, "First we have to have the $8 million wedding."
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More Jail Time for Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez has said that she doesn't like being in one place for too long. Hopefully she can handle 60 days.
The Lost actress whose tough-as-nails ex-cop character Ana Lucia bit the dust a few weeks ago was sentenced to 60 days in county jail Monday after admitting that she violated the terms of the probation she was sentenced to in 2004 on DUI-related misdemeanor charges, the Los Angeles city attorney's office confirmed.
Rodriguez is expected to turn herself in by May 31. Judge Rex Heeseman also sentenced her to 30 days of community service for the L.A. Sheriff's Department and she must abstain from alcohol while undergoing court-ordered educational alcohol monitoring. To further fill her schedule post-Lost, Rodriguez was ordered to attend a MADD victim impact session and a hospital-morgue program (where the tragic effects of driving under the influence are displayed before you in full force). Her probation has been extended to 2009.
The 27-year-old actress opted to spend five days behind Hawaiian bars and pay a $500 fine in lieu of community service last month after pleading guilty to one DUI count.She was pulled over Dec. 2 and recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.17, more than twice the legal limit.
(Cast mate Cynthia Watros was pulled over that night, too, and later pleaded guilty to a DUI and was sentenced to counseling. Her character, Libby, joined Ana Lucia on the Lost casualty list May 3.)
Despite the guilty plea, the infraction on Oahu--where Lost is filmed--led L.A. city prosecutors to file a motion to have Rodriguez's current probation revoked.
(She was given three years in '04 after pleading no contest to a hit-and-run, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.)
While Ana Lucia's exit from Lost certainly coincided with Rodriguez's escalating legal woes, producers swore that her character's fate had nothing to do with her off-screen behavior, which also included three speeding violations in Hawaii since joining the cast in 2005.
Upon completing her short stint in jail Apr. 28 after four days (getting a day's credit for time served), during which she drew pictures, wrote poetry and sang show tunes with her fellow female inmates ("Blue Hawaii," anyone?) Rodriguez told TVGuide.com that she had signed up to do Lost under the condition that she only be required to put in a year.
"The biggest fear for me is being in one place for too long," she said. "I'm a gypsy. If I stay somewhere too long, it's trouble, as you can see from what happened."
Well, someone sure seems to be maintaining her sense of humor.
As for Ana Lucia's demise at the hands of Michael (is he brainwashed, going nuts or acting out of sheer desperation?!): "Well the boys [executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse] kept their promise--they made sure I went out with a bang."
And what about driving too fast and too furiously?
"It was stupid to drive [drunk]," she said. "But it's something I did because--I honestly believe--I was agitated from the steroids [which she was taking for allergies she had suffered from since arriving in Hawaii]. And I did a lot of stupid stuff that didn't involve just drinking. I was very 'energetic.' Put it that way."
Now that she's no longer Lost, Rodriguez has said that she would like to start her own clothing line."
"I thought it'd be a good idea because I can't rely on a paycheck from Hollywood," she said. "I don't want to have to do some sci-fi movie that I think is really awful. I'm tired of that. So I'm gonna go make my own money and then decide whether I want to do something in Hollywood, instead of doing it because I need to."
Perhaps time spent designing her fall line will keep her from starting any Girlfights in the L.A. County Jail.
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Prince Voted Sexiest Vegetarian
Prince
NEW YORK - Prince has been voted the "world's sexiest vegetarian" in PETA's annual online poll, the animal rights group announced Monday.
Prince, 47, shares the honor with Kristen Bell, the 25-year-old star of "Veronica Mars," which is being carried over from UPN to the new CW Network this fall.
A strict vegan, Prince recently wrote in the liner notes of his latest album, "3121," about the ills behind wool production.He closed the disc with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: "2 my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being."
Bell, in a statement, said of her vegetarianism: "I had a hard time disassociating the animals I cuddled with — dogs and cats, for example — from the animals on my plate, and I never really cared for the taste of meat. I always loved my brussels sprouts!"
Runners-up in the poll, which PETA said received over 40,000 votes, include
Natalie Portman, Nicollette Sheridan and Joaquin Phoenix.
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