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AudioSaturday, January 07, 2006
DMX Sprung Early
DMX Sprung Early
01/06/2006 5:32 PM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg
Stop the presses: DMX has been behaving himself.
The trouble-prone rapper was granted early release from New York's Rikers Island jail after serving a month of what was supposed to be a 70-day sentence for a parole violation.
"He got some time off, two-thirds, for good behavior and also accrued some credit for time spent previously in jail," a spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney said Friday.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was sprung on Dec. 30, according to the D.A.
His attorney had earlier expressed hope that DMX would be released in time to perform a scheduled New Year's Eve concert in South Africa. No word on whether he made the gig; calls to the rapper's lawyer and publicist were not immediately returned Friday.
The 34-year-old Yonkers-born hip-hop star was ordered to jail on Nov. 19 by Criminal Court Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt. The sentence was handed down a month after he pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his sentence in a 2004 case that involved him plowing his SUV through a security gate at New York's JFK Airport while high on Valium and then telling bystanders he was an undercover federal agent. DMX was initially sentenced to 60 days, but the judge tacked on an extra 10 after the rapper showed up late to court. He blamed his tardiness on an asthma attack.
The driving-impaired DMX was separately busted for driving with a suspended license in the Bronx last April after he accidentally slammed his SUV into a car that in turn rammed a police cruiser. That collision landed DMX a seven-day jail term and $500 fine, but he caught a break and was allowed to do the time concurrently with his other sentence.
Now the rapper looks to resume his idled career. He has reportedly quit his longtime label, Def Jam Records. DMX nixed an offer to join 50 Cent's label, G-Unit, and instead has bolted to Sony Music with the hope that the conglomerate will do a good job softening his image.
We're not sure how much the Sony move will help, but anything that will get him in the studio and off the roads can't hurt.
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01/06/2006 5:32 PM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg
Stop the presses: DMX has been behaving himself.
The trouble-prone rapper was granted early release from New York's Rikers Island jail after serving a month of what was supposed to be a 70-day sentence for a parole violation.
"He got some time off, two-thirds, for good behavior and also accrued some credit for time spent previously in jail," a spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney said Friday.
DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was sprung on Dec. 30, according to the D.A.
His attorney had earlier expressed hope that DMX would be released in time to perform a scheduled New Year's Eve concert in South Africa. No word on whether he made the gig; calls to the rapper's lawyer and publicist were not immediately returned Friday.
The 34-year-old Yonkers-born hip-hop star was ordered to jail on Nov. 19 by Criminal Court Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt. The sentence was handed down a month after he pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his sentence in a 2004 case that involved him plowing his SUV through a security gate at New York's JFK Airport while high on Valium and then telling bystanders he was an undercover federal agent. DMX was initially sentenced to 60 days, but the judge tacked on an extra 10 after the rapper showed up late to court. He blamed his tardiness on an asthma attack.
The driving-impaired DMX was separately busted for driving with a suspended license in the Bronx last April after he accidentally slammed his SUV into a car that in turn rammed a police cruiser. That collision landed DMX a seven-day jail term and $500 fine, but he caught a break and was allowed to do the time concurrently with his other sentence.
Now the rapper looks to resume his idled career. He has reportedly quit his longtime label, Def Jam Records. DMX nixed an offer to join 50 Cent's label, G-Unit, and instead has bolted to Sony Music with the hope that the conglomerate will do a good job softening his image.
We're not sure how much the Sony move will help, but anything that will get him in the studio and off the roads can't hurt.
Missing Teen Idol Found Dead
Missing Teen Idol Found Dead
01/06/2006 8:22 PM, E! Online
Joal Ryan
Barry Cowsill, as one grieving family member put it, is "safe."
The months-long search for the missing musician, who achieved teen idol status in the late 1960s as a member of the Partridge Family-inspiring pop act the Cowsills, ended Wednesday with a call from morgue officials in New Orleans.
"Barry Steven Cowsill is no longer with us," his brother Richard Cowsill wrote in announcing the news Wednesday night on Cowsill.com. "We truly [know] that he is already in the arms of our mother Barbara. He is safe."
Cowsill's skeletal remains were found in a face down position under a wharf in storm-ravaged New Orleans on Dec. 28, another brother, Bob Cowsill, said Friday.
A total of 1,100 bodies have been recovered in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina swamped the city on Aug. 29, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals announced Wednesday.
It was not known how or when Cowsill died, Bob Cowsill said, adding that the skeletal remains suggest to the family that he perished in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.
Cowsill, who'd moved to New Orleans only months before Katrina, was last definitively heard from in a voice message left on his sister Susan's cell phone, and retrieved shortly after the hurricane hit. In it, he said he'd seen looting, and asked for help.
"I don't know how he reacted to the situation he got himself in," Bob Cowsill said. "Of all of us, he was probably the least mentally equipped to handle [it]."
Cowsill, who would have turned 51 on Sept. 14, was due to fly to Los Angeles on Aug. 29 to check himself into rehab for alcohol abuse. Bob Cowsill said he'd worked hard to convince his younger brother to agree to the flight--and the treatment plan.
"He was so close to getting it together, and, gee whiz, this dumb hurricane just got in the way," Bob Cowsill said. "It's just amazing to me."
Barry and Bob Cowsill weren't just brothers; they were bandmates, too. At the height of their career, the Cowsills consisted of siblings Barry, Bob, Billy, John, Paul, Susan and their mother Barbara. Barry Cowsill was the bassist. The group's harmonizing hits included "Hair" and "The Rain, the Park and Other Things."
The Cowsills served as fodder for the 1970-74 sitcom The Partridge Family, about a six-member family band--three brothers, two sisters, one mom.
Barbara Cowsill died in 1985.
With Barry Cowsill's death confirmed, and the four-month-long mystery surrounding his whereabouts solved, Bob Cowsill said the coping process begins anew.
"It's awful again because you're dealing with fact," Bob Cowsill said. "As long as you didn't hear, you could create other scenarios that were possible also."
(0) comments
01/06/2006 8:22 PM, E! Online
Joal Ryan
Barry Cowsill, as one grieving family member put it, is "safe."
The months-long search for the missing musician, who achieved teen idol status in the late 1960s as a member of the Partridge Family-inspiring pop act the Cowsills, ended Wednesday with a call from morgue officials in New Orleans.
"Barry Steven Cowsill is no longer with us," his brother Richard Cowsill wrote in announcing the news Wednesday night on Cowsill.com. "We truly [know] that he is already in the arms of our mother Barbara. He is safe."
Cowsill's skeletal remains were found in a face down position under a wharf in storm-ravaged New Orleans on Dec. 28, another brother, Bob Cowsill, said Friday.
A total of 1,100 bodies have been recovered in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina swamped the city on Aug. 29, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals announced Wednesday.
It was not known how or when Cowsill died, Bob Cowsill said, adding that the skeletal remains suggest to the family that he perished in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.
Cowsill, who'd moved to New Orleans only months before Katrina, was last definitively heard from in a voice message left on his sister Susan's cell phone, and retrieved shortly after the hurricane hit. In it, he said he'd seen looting, and asked for help.
"I don't know how he reacted to the situation he got himself in," Bob Cowsill said. "Of all of us, he was probably the least mentally equipped to handle [it]."
Cowsill, who would have turned 51 on Sept. 14, was due to fly to Los Angeles on Aug. 29 to check himself into rehab for alcohol abuse. Bob Cowsill said he'd worked hard to convince his younger brother to agree to the flight--and the treatment plan.
"He was so close to getting it together, and, gee whiz, this dumb hurricane just got in the way," Bob Cowsill said. "It's just amazing to me."
Barry and Bob Cowsill weren't just brothers; they were bandmates, too. At the height of their career, the Cowsills consisted of siblings Barry, Bob, Billy, John, Paul, Susan and their mother Barbara. Barry Cowsill was the bassist. The group's harmonizing hits included "Hair" and "The Rain, the Park and Other Things."
The Cowsills served as fodder for the 1970-74 sitcom The Partridge Family, about a six-member family band--three brothers, two sisters, one mom.
Barbara Cowsill died in 1985.
With Barry Cowsill's death confirmed, and the four-month-long mystery surrounding his whereabouts solved, Bob Cowsill said the coping process begins anew.
"It's awful again because you're dealing with fact," Bob Cowsill said. "As long as you didn't hear, you could create other scenarios that were possible also."
Dog saves Taiwanese newborn after mother collapses
"due to financial difficulties, the mother was giving both her baby boy and the life-saving 10-month-old dog away for adoption"
======================================================
Dog saves Taiwanese newborn after mother collapses
Fri Jan 6, 12:26 PM ET
TAIPEI (AFP) - A female husky dog saved the life of a Taiwanese newborn by snatching him from the toilet after his mother gave birth alone at home and collapsed, a social worker said.
The 24-year-old single mother, identified only as Huang, did not feel well Sunday and went to the bathroom, as her dog named Baby followed, without realizing she was in labor as the baby was not due for another five days, the social worker told TVBS.
The woman gave birth to a baby boy into the toilet and managed to cut the umbilical cord with a small pair of scissors before collapsing on the floor, too weak to call for help from her roommate, she said.
But her faithful dog snatched up the infant's leg with her mouth and rescued him from drowning, the social worker said, holding the baby in her arms as the dog paced around at their temporary shelter in a charity home in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.
"The dog approached her owner, who was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and saw the infant... she snatched up the baby's leg with her mouth and rescued him from drowning," she said.
When the boy finally breathed and cried out after the dog licked him on the face, Huang managed to call for help, said the social worker, who withheld her name. The mother declined to speak to the press.
Doctors said both the mother and infant were healthy in stable condition.
However, due to financial difficulties, the mother was giving both her baby boy and the life-saving 10-month-old dog away for adoption, the social worker told TVBS.
[dog's pix--http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060106/photos_od_afp/060106165419_uwhpr11m_photo0;_ylt=AgGSNHpkKo2wBU5s7hZH4gShOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0bXA-]
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Dog saves Taiwanese newborn after mother collapses
Fri Jan 6, 12:26 PM ET
TAIPEI (AFP) - A female husky dog saved the life of a Taiwanese newborn by snatching him from the toilet after his mother gave birth alone at home and collapsed, a social worker said.
The 24-year-old single mother, identified only as Huang, did not feel well Sunday and went to the bathroom, as her dog named Baby followed, without realizing she was in labor as the baby was not due for another five days, the social worker told TVBS.
The woman gave birth to a baby boy into the toilet and managed to cut the umbilical cord with a small pair of scissors before collapsing on the floor, too weak to call for help from her roommate, she said.
But her faithful dog snatched up the infant's leg with her mouth and rescued him from drowning, the social worker said, holding the baby in her arms as the dog paced around at their temporary shelter in a charity home in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.
"The dog approached her owner, who was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and saw the infant... she snatched up the baby's leg with her mouth and rescued him from drowning," she said.
When the boy finally breathed and cried out after the dog licked him on the face, Huang managed to call for help, said the social worker, who withheld her name. The mother declined to speak to the press.
Doctors said both the mother and infant were healthy in stable condition.
However, due to financial difficulties, the mother was giving both her baby boy and the life-saving 10-month-old dog away for adoption, the social worker told TVBS.
[dog's pix--http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060106/photos_od_afp/060106165419_uwhpr11m_photo0;_ylt=AgGSNHpkKo2wBU5s7hZH4gShOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0bXA-]
GLAAD Mad at Shalit's "Brokeback" Breakdown
GLAAD Mad at Shalit's "Brokeback" Breakdown
By Sarah Hall Fri Jan 6, 7:44 PM ET
For the most part, the critics agree that Brokeback Mountain is one of the year's most commendable films.
Then there's Gene Shalit's point of view.
The veteran Today show critic has been taken to task by the
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation over his negative review of the gay cowboy western, in which he referred to Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Jack, as a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts."
The group claimed that Shalit's statements, delivered during his "Critic's Choice" segment on Thursday's Today show, promoted "defamatory anti-gay prejudice to a national audience," and criticized NBC News for providing the eccentric critic with a platform from which to air his views.
"Shalit's bizarre characterization of Jack as a 'predator' and Ennis (
Heath Ledger) as a victim reflects a fundamental lack of understanding about the central relationship in the film and about gay relationships in general," GLAAD said in a statement. "It seems highly doubtful that Shalit would similarly claim that Titanic's Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) was a 'sexual predator' because he was pursuing a romantic relationship with Rose (Kate Winslet)." [Here, Here.--NS]
GLAAD demanded an apology from both Shalit and NBC News and urged supporters to contact the network and complain.
In addition to offering his searing analysis of the romantic relationship between the lead characters, Shalit commended Ledger's performance in Brokeback and allowed that the film had a "few dramatic peaks." He concluded that Ang Lee's much-nominated oeuvre was "wildly overpraised, but not by me."
"Shalit has every right as a film critic to criticize Brokeback Mountain," GLAAD retorted. "But his baseless branding of Jack as a 'sexual predator' merely because he is romantically interested in someone of the same sex is defamatory, ignorant and irresponsible."
The group reported on its Website that GLAAD representatives had spoken with a Today show producer, who promised to bring their concerns to Shalit's attention.
While Shalit may not be a Brokeback fan, his colleagues in critique have clamored to commend the cowboy drama.
To date, the film has been named Best Picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle and deemed one of the year's 10 best films by the American Film Institute and the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
The kudos don't stop there--Brokeback is up for eight Critic's Choice Awards, seven Golden Globes, a Writers Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award, a Directors Guild Award and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, to name a few. And that's before nominations for the Academy Awards are announced on Jan. 31.
(0) comments
By Sarah Hall Fri Jan 6, 7:44 PM ET
For the most part, the critics agree that Brokeback Mountain is one of the year's most commendable films.
Then there's Gene Shalit's point of view.
The veteran Today show critic has been taken to task by the
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation over his negative review of the gay cowboy western, in which he referred to Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Jack, as a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts."
The group claimed that Shalit's statements, delivered during his "Critic's Choice" segment on Thursday's Today show, promoted "defamatory anti-gay prejudice to a national audience," and criticized NBC News for providing the eccentric critic with a platform from which to air his views.
"Shalit's bizarre characterization of Jack as a 'predator' and Ennis (
Heath Ledger) as a victim reflects a fundamental lack of understanding about the central relationship in the film and about gay relationships in general," GLAAD said in a statement. "It seems highly doubtful that Shalit would similarly claim that Titanic's Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) was a 'sexual predator' because he was pursuing a romantic relationship with Rose (Kate Winslet)." [Here, Here.--NS]
GLAAD demanded an apology from both Shalit and NBC News and urged supporters to contact the network and complain.
In addition to offering his searing analysis of the romantic relationship between the lead characters, Shalit commended Ledger's performance in Brokeback and allowed that the film had a "few dramatic peaks." He concluded that Ang Lee's much-nominated oeuvre was "wildly overpraised, but not by me."
"Shalit has every right as a film critic to criticize Brokeback Mountain," GLAAD retorted. "But his baseless branding of Jack as a 'sexual predator' merely because he is romantically interested in someone of the same sex is defamatory, ignorant and irresponsible."
The group reported on its Website that GLAAD representatives had spoken with a Today show producer, who promised to bring their concerns to Shalit's attention.
While Shalit may not be a Brokeback fan, his colleagues in critique have clamored to commend the cowboy drama.
To date, the film has been named Best Picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle and deemed one of the year's 10 best films by the American Film Institute and the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
The kudos don't stop there--Brokeback is up for eight Critic's Choice Awards, seven Golden Globes, a Writers Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award, a Directors Guild Award and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, to name a few. And that's before nominations for the Academy Awards are announced on Jan. 31.
