People talk 10/10/03

AOL gets busy in Boise to make amends

BOISE, Idaho -- "You've got an apology." Not to mention concert tickets.

Internet provider America Online has apologized to state and local officials for a newspaper ad that suggested Idaho's capital city wasn't a fit place to launch a new product.

To make up for it, America Online set up a free concert Wednesday featuring the Counting Crows. The company also donated $25,000 to the Boise School District for music programs.

"I've actually been to Boise many times," Richard Taylor, AOL senior vice president, said Tuesday. "I love this city."

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne had fired off a note to AOL after seeing the ad in a New York newspaper touting a new service and declaring, "You didn't think we'd launch something like this in Boise, did you?"

"They have made amends," the governor said Tuesday. "They've done it with class."

'N Sync singer Bass still wants to be 'N Space

HOUSTON -- After a highly publicized failed attempt last year, 'N Sync singer Lance Bass still hopes to go into space one day.

And if a group of Houston middle school students has any say, Bass will do it in "Lance's Lab" while eating chicken strips with salsa, wearing stylish pants and T-shirts and listening to and recording music to fight motion sickness.

On Wednesday, Bass visited Ortiz Middle School as part of World Space Week.

"Just stick with math and science and dream big," Bass told nearly 40 students after hearing their proposal for "Lance's Lab," part of a national competition in conjunction with World Space Week, which takes place annually from Oct. 4-10. Bass was recruited to promote the importance of academics in preparation for space travel.

The 24-year-old also discussed the training he underwent while trying to secure a ride on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the international space station.

He would have been the youngest person ever in space, but had to cancel his plans to fly last October after failing to raise the estimated $20 million fare. A year ago, he trained at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"The training is very difficult, very physical," Bass said. "There is also a lot of psychological training."-- From wire reports

Selling bongs was wrong, says Tommy Chong

PITTSBURGH -- Actor-comedian Tommy Chong reported to a privately run federal prison to serve his nine-month sentence for conspiring to sell bongs and other drug paraphernalia over the Internet even as his attorneys prepared to argue for his release pending appeal.

Chong, 65, was sentenced Sept. 11 by U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab in Pittsburgh. He reported Wednesday to a minimum-security facility run for the Federal Bureau of Prisons near Bakersfield, Calif.

The judge has set an Oct. 16 hearing on a request by Chong's attorney to release the actor, best-known as the drug-addled Chong in the Cheech & Chong movies and comedy routines, while he appeals the sentence to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

At his sentencing, Chong said he got carried away with the fictional persona, but had quit smoking pot and wanted to use his celebrity to help people stay off drugs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton argued that Chong grew wealthy glamorizing drug use and trivializing law enforcement in his films and said Chong used his characters to promote his business.

Chong's attorneys argued that he should be sentenced no more harshly than any of the other defendants thus far in the national drug-paraphernalia investigation. They wanted him to be sentenced to no more than six months' house arrest and six months' probation.

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Barry Manilow has donated $25,000 to help families who were displaced by a fire on the high holy day of Yom Kippur in the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up.

The singer made the donation to a fund that the American Red Cross will administer, his publicist and the Red Cross confirmed Thursday.

Manilow, who was born Barry Alan Pincus, donated the money after "he read the headlines in the newspaper about the fire on a street a block from where he lived," said his publicist, Jerry Sharell. "He wanted to help the victims who were left homeless recover."

No civilians were injured in the Saturday night blaze in Williamsburg, which damaged three buildings and a synagogue. Many of the displaced families are Orthodox Jews.

Leslie Gottlieb, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said the money will be used for immediate emergency needs, such as food, medicine, clothing and shelter. As of Thursday, she said, the agency had registered 103 people who needed help. She said that number likely would go up.

"We are grateful," Rabbi David Niederman, executive director of the United Jewish Organizations, told the New York Post. "It's wonderful that people remember their roots."

The 57-year-old entertainer, know for such ballads as "Looks Like We Made It" and "Mandy," now lives in Palm Springs, Calif. His latest release is "A Christmas Gift of Love." He also produced Bette Midler's album of Rosemary Clooney cover tunes.

Kilmer claims he was misquoted about New Mexico

PECOS, N.M. -- Val Kilmer says he sang New Mexico's praises during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine and was misquoted in the article.

The magazine's Oct. 16 issue features a story on Kilmer headlined "Mr. Difficult." It quotes the star of the new film "Wonderland" as saying he lives in the "homicide capital of the Southwest" and 80 percent "of the people in my county are drunk."

The 43-year-old actor, who owns a ranch in San Miguel County south of Pecos, said he'll ask Rolling Stone to apologize for the article.

"I didn't say I live in the homicide capital of the Southwest," Kilmer said Tuesday.

He said another comment that he carries a gun in his car while driving with his children because there are so many drunk drivers in the area "doesn't make sense."

Rolling Stone spokeswoman Claudia Diromauldo said the magazine hadn't heard from Kilmer. "Our only comment is, Rolling Stone stands by the article," she said Wednesday.

Kilmer said the northern New Mexico community has embraced him and he was saddened by the comments attributed to him.

"You can ask anyone who knows me, I've never said a racist or prejudiced thing in my life," Kilmer said.

State Sen. Phil Griego, a Democrat whose district includes Kilmer's ranch, said Friday that if the actor doesn't like San Miguel County he's welcome to leave.

"Tell Val Kilmer that if he's not happy here, there are other places he can find to live," Griego said.

Kilmer said he plans to call Griego, whose San Jose home isn't far from his ranch, to talk about the article.

Cox, Arquette seeking the patter of little feet

NEW YORK -- Courteney Cox and her husband, David Arquette, are hoping to bring a new friend into their lives: a baby.

But it hasn't been easy. The actress says she gets pregnant easily but has had "many miscarriages." Similarly, her "Friends" character, Monica, has been trying to have a baby.

"I actually have done in vitro" fertilization, Cox tells Barbara Walters in an interview airing on ABC's "20/20" at 9 p.m. Friday.

"It's a wonderful thing that people can do in this day and age," the 39-year-old says of the procedure. "And I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to do it. But I think it's great. And I will do it again."

Cox and Arquette, who married in 1999, say they'd consider adopting a child, but she added, "I do want his genes, and I would try probably a surrogate before that ... but then, absolutely, adoption."

She says Arquette, her co-star in the "Scream" movies, has been totally supportive during their efforts to have a child.

"He's really great. He goes to every appointment with me," she says. "And he gives me all my shots."

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WOODSTOCK, N.Y. -- Is Paul Reiser mad about Woodstock?

Scenes for a movie featuring the former "Mad About You" star are being shot in this famous arts colony and other Catskill locations starting Thursday.

"The Thing About My Folks" is about a father and son getting to know each other during a road trip. The comedy also features "Columbo" star Peter Falk.

Movie crews were scheduled to film scenes at diners, bait shops and other locales in Woodstock, Kingston, Saugerties and Shokan for about 10 days, said Meira Blaustein, director of the Woodstock Film Festival.

The fourth annual festival wrapped up in September. The Woodstock Film Commission, created by festival organizers to promote the industry in the Hudson Valley, worked with producers of "The Thing About My Folks" to bring them to the area.

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On the Net:

http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Is 21-year-old Britney Spears trying to attract a more mature audience with her upcoming album, "In the Zone"?

No, the pop singer says. "The record label wanted me to do certain kinds of songs, and I was like, 'Look, if you want me to be some kind of sex thing, that's not me,"' she tells Esquire magazine in its November issue. "I will never do that. I'm still doing what I love to do."

Spears appears on the cover in a short white sweater and high heels, re-creating a famous pose by actress Angie Dickinson.

But she doesn't see herself as superfamous. "I'm famous, but I'm not famous like freaking Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston. But in my weird little head, I just think we're all here to inspire each other. We're all equal. We just bounce off each other and show the world what we can do."

Spears said if she didn't have a career in music, she "probably would have gone to college and become a schoolteacher.

"That was my dream, because I love kids," she said. "Either that, or an entertainment lawyer."

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On the Net:

http://www.esquire.com/

http://www.britneyspears.com/home/index.php

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On the Net:

http://www.countingcrows.com/

http://www.aol.com/lowbrowser.adp

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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Movies by Ken Loach, Michelangelo Antonioni and Jacques Tati will be shown at the second annual Cinedays filmfest, which starts Friday in two dozen European countries.

The two-week festival will bring 2,000 European films to screens large and small. Nearly 600 theaters in 310 communities will screen classics as well as new releases.

"European films are often of very high quality," European Union cultural commissioner Viviane Reding said Wednesday. "They should be better known by the European public."

The campaign is enlisting dozens of celebrities such as actress Penelope Cruz, and plans to reach children with special shows and an Internet contest.

Europe wants to "demonstrate to the whole world that we are proud of our European cinema and we are prepared to fight for our European cinema," Reding said.

As in 2002, dozens of TV stations will highlight classic filmmakers from Spain's Luis Bunuel to Sweden's Ingmar Bergman.

European films don't travel well, said Reding. "This situation needs to be improved because other European countries' markets represent a substantial part of the total box office in Europe."

Last year, Europeans bought 900 million movie tickets, according to the EU head office.

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On the Net:

http://www.cineuropa.org

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Singer Celine Dion and photographer Anne Geddes are working together on the "Miracle" project, a collection of songs and images honoring "the moving, tender and unbreakable bond of love that exists between a mother and her baby."

"I've always been a huge fan of Anne Geddes. Long before I became a mother, I admired and appreciated the beautiful way she photographs babies," Dion said in a statement Tuesday. "It's wonderful to be able to work with her on this very special project which celebrates children."

The "Miracle" project is scheduled for release in October 2004. It will be available through music sellers and booksellers worldwide.

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On the Net:

http://www.celinedion.com/

http://www.annegeddes.com/