Afternoon Briefing:
No "Sex" on the big screen: The word on why the much-talked-about "Sex and the City" movie won't be made? Kim (Samantha) Cattrall reportedly held out for script approval and a salary as high as Sarah Jessica Parker's. HBO refused to meet her demands and so the project was shelved. Cattrall instead will appear in a Disney flick called "Ice Princess." (TV Guide)
Missing Missy: Missy Elliott has canceled her show Wednesday in Jakarta after warnings of terrorist threats in Indonesia. The U.S. Embassy noted a great deal of "anti-American sentiment stirred up by media portrayals of U.S. actions in Iraq." (AFP)
The Dogg to divorce: Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus has filed for divorce from his wife, Shante, in California. The couple has three children. (SOHH)
Superman has his say: Christopher Reeve, paralyzed from the neck down from a horseback riding injury in 1995, blasted President Bush's stand against embryonic stem-cell research at a graduation ceremony at Middlebury College this week. Reeve told the students, "As president, [Bush] has a responsibility to the greatest good for the greatest number of people." (IMDB)
-- Karen Croft
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Turn On:
Tuesday night is the final, live performance for both Fantasia and Diana on this season's dramatic, confusing "American Idol" (8 p.m. ET; FOX), followed by the season finale of "24" (9 p.m. ET; Fox) -- watch for Heather Havrilesky's review tomorrow morning. Plus: The last installment of "Colonial House" (PBS; check local listings), eerily titled "The Reckoning/Judgment Day," has the colonists celebrating Michelmas, and then being judged by a panel for their ability to re-create colonial life.
-- Scott Lamb
Morning Briefing:
Still looking to make a buck: Those of you who predicted that the world had not heard the last of "Apprentice" loser Sam Solovey will be pleased to hear that Solovey -- he of the finale-stunt cash gift to Donald Trump (did we ever find out what happened to that suitcase of cash?) -- is peddling a book. According to Gawker.com, which says Solovey's proposal is "actually kinda good," the book promises "a chapter devoted to the virtues of kissing ass (seriously)" and the revelation of Sam's OCD and Trump-like germphobia. (Gawker.com)
Call to action: Carl Bernstein, who with Bob Woodward exposed President Nixon's crimes 30 years ago, says we're again in a position to ask, as Republican Sen. Howard Baker did then, "What did the president know and when did he know it?" "Today, confronted by the graphic horrors of Abu Ghraib prison, by ginned-up intelligence to justify war, by 652 American deaths since presidential operatives declared 'Mission Accomplished,' Republican leaders have yet to suggest that George W. Bush be held responsible for the disaster in Iraq and that perhaps he, not just Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is ill-suited for his job," Bernstein writes. "Having read the report of Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, I expect Baker's question will resound again in another congressional investigation. The equally relevant question is whether Republicans will, Pavlov-like, continue to defend their president with ideological and partisan reflex, or remember the example of principled predecessors who pursued truth at another dark moment. Today, the issue may not be high crimes and misdemeanors, but rather Bush's failure, or inability, to lead competently and honestly." (USA Today)
Meanwhile, Bush is worried about his girls ... Now that first twins Jenna and Barbara, 22, are entering the spotlight, the White House is calling on the media to respect their privacy, "allow them to go about their lives ... and recognize that they are the president's daughters," spokesman Scott McClellan said. (Reuters)
No threats: Madonna insists that neither she nor her children have been told that they're being targeted by terrorists -- and that she backed out of concerts in Israel because she'd "never committed to any dates" and was concerned about security in general given the recent violence there. "She never received threats," though, said her rep. (Rush and Molloy)
Under Naomi's spell? Adrien Brody insists that he and girlfriend Michelle Dupont are still together, even after reports of Naomi Campbell's Moroccan-themed 34th birthday party in St. Tropez had him "hugging and dancing" with the birthday girl, sharing champagne out of the same bottle -- and at one point disappearing with her into a tent. (Rush and Molloy and Page Six)
Troubled home? Lindsay Lohan was at, like, every party in New York this weekend, it seems, but the real action sounds like it was at her parents' Merrick, L.I., home, where police were called to respond to a domestic disturbance around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. Police say one person was taken to the hospital for treatment and then released. Lohan's rep denies rumors of a stabbing, but says that none of Lohan's siblings were around at the time of the incident. (Rush and Molloy)
Sounds like an urban myth: But apparently it's true: When Cyndi Lauper opened her mouth to hit a high note during a concert in Mansfield, Mass., on Saturday, a bird crapped in it. What'd she do? She "wiped her tongue on her sleeve and kept on rockin'." (Rush and Molloy)
W stands for ...? Lawyers for the W Hotel chain are none too pleased that the Bush campaign has begun to peddle hats and stuff with just the letter W on it. "It is causing confusion in the marketplace," they say. "We are looking into the matter." (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
A "mind slut"? Ashleigh Banfield told the audience at Monday's "Censorship or Common Decency?" luncheon sponsored by the Week magazine, "Michael Savage called me a 'mind slut.' I complained to the president of NBC News and it went nowhere. But thankfully, a few weeks later he was fired anyway." (Page Six)
Money Quote:
Hunter S. Thompson on the images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, in a line reportedly cut from his ESPN column for going "too far": "Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these photographs did." (Drudge)
-- Amy Reiter
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