Here a Love, There a Love, Everywhere a Love....

From Empire Online - February 25, 2004

EMPIRE ONLINE TALKS TO DOUGRAY SCOTT

Empire Online grabbed a couple of minutes alone with the lovely Dougray Scott at the First Look Awards for young filmmakers today in Leicester Square. We managed to get the lowdown on his very full slate of upcoming films.

At the moment he is on a two-week break from shooting Dark Water with Jennifer Connolly in Toronto and New York.

“Jennifer Connelly is lovely and Walter Salles is an amazing director, so I’m loving it.” The film is an American remake of the Japanese frightener about a mother and daughter and a damp apartment building. Dark Water is the latest in a line of remakes of Japan’s scariest movies, along with last year’s The Ring and the forthcoming The Grudge.

“I finish in April, and then I’m doing a British film called It’s About Love with Jennifer Love Hewitt, who’s American, and then I ! go to New Zealand to do another film.”

The busy Scot has also just finished work on Things To Do Before You’re 30. “I haven’t seen it yet. They’ve just finished mixing it. It’s a comedy set in south London about a football team that have been together since they were ten, and they’ve grown up now and it’s about all the difficulties that growing up brings you. It’s very very funny – I loved making it.”

Image & Story: © 2004 Emap Consumer Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.

JOYCE JILLSON: YOUR STARS  

All the love and romance you can handle this year! March and April show you innovative ways to adjust your work life to fit your personal life. Restoring balance helps both areas blossom. Singles are surprised by how many dates come through in the early summer. Travel is a June event and an absolute blast! All kinds of offers for work in August. Lucky numbers are 6, 11, 13, 27 and 51.

Here's one sign:

PISCES (February 19-March 20)

To profit from a new arrangement, you have to jump in with a full commitment. It feels as if you'll have to kiss your freedom goodbye, but this won't be the case. Afternoon features a drama: Any dummy knows to steer clear of angry people and volatile situations, so what's wrong with your friend? This one is a moth drawn to the flame. Be the one to keep danger away, or at least do what you can to avoid it.

Celebrity Profiles

Jennifer Love Hewitt (Feb. 21, 1979) has been a star since she was a mere babe, but such is the lot of Pisces people who happen to be talented beyond their years. She has already successfully made a move from acting into music, something that's difficult to do. This year, she could hook up with a new producer and create an image and music style that puts her on top of the charts.

Story: © 2004 Daily News, L.P. All Rights Reserved.

The Producer of "Heartbreakers", "Garfield" and the soon coming "My Romance" (co-producing with Love Spell Entertainment) is honored.....

From The Hollywood Reporter - February 12, 2004

DAVIS TAPPED FOR SHOWEST

by Greg Kilday

John Davis will receive the Producer of the Year Award at ShoWest 2004, the trade convention that takes place March 22-25 in Las Vegas. "With such boxoffice winners as 'Paycheck' and 'Daddy Day Care' as his most recent releases and the upcoming 'Garfield' and 'I, Robot,' which both look to be blockbusters, John Davis continues to be one of the most accomplished and flourishing producers in Hollywood," ShoWest 2004 co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser said in announcing the honor.

Story: © 2004 VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

GRAVES FAMILY IN NEGOTIATIONS
TO BUY THE LODORE HOTEL

POPULAR four-star hotel, the Lodore near Keswick, is likely to be the latest addition to a local family’s business.

Owned by international chain Hilton, West Cumbria’s Graves family are planning to take over the hotel.

Negotiations are still underway but Carolyn Graves, a director of family-owned company Lake District Hotels Ltd, hoped the deal would be finalised by the end of the month.

The Graves family also owns Armathwaite Hall at Bassenthwaite where its hotels business is based.

The 70-bedroom Lodore is about three miles from Keswick, down the Borrowdale Valley and is famous for the nearby waterfalls.

Set in its own wooded grounds, the hotel is well-known for its spectacular views across Derwentwater.

Facilities at the hotel include tennis and squash courts, a swimming pool and nursery area and has been visited by the great and the good including John Major, who visited while he was Prime Minister ! and Sir Cliff Richard, who played tennis with locals during his stay.

More recently Hollywood starlet Jennifer Love Hewitt and former Eastenders heart-throb Paul Nicholls stayed there while filming scenes for If Only in Borrowdale and Buttermere.

The Lodore was formerly owned by the England family, who built up a well-regarded reputation for first class personal service and fine foods. It was later bought by international chain Stakis, followed by Hilton.

The family also owns the Skiddaw Hotel and the Kings Arms at Keswick, The George Hotel at Penrith and the Inn on the Lake at Ullswater.  

Image & Story: © 2004 Cumbrian Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.

REVEALING

Joan Rivers, clearly not aware of actress and singer Jennifer Love Hewitt's musical career: "I'm surprised to see you here," Rivers told her on the red carpet.

Hewitt let her in on the secret: She's been coming to the Grammys for 15 years.

Photo by Jim Ruymen

Image: © 2004 Reuters Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Click My Love for the big one.....

THE LADY IN RED

Singer-Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt attended the 46th Annual Grammy Awards on February 8, 2004 at the Staples Center, in a stunning Armani.

Va-Va-Vhoom!

Photo by Fred Prouser

Images: © 2004 Reuters Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Click My Love for the big ones.....

$150 TO $15? NOW THAT'S SERVICE

by Paul M. Anderson

Hey, all you City Council watchdogs: The next time you're given a hard time at City Hall when you put in a public records request, try firing off copies of the request to some public officials. It worked for Marc Grossman.

OK, well, yeah, Grossman's an attorney and he threatened to sue the city and had plenty of ammunition to do so, but still...   He got service in minutes recently after mailing a demand for a two-page police report and sending copies to the mayor, a councilwoman, the chairman of the police commission and the president of the California First Amendment Coalition. The police chief was on the phone to Grossman in moments explaining it was all a mistake, that his office wasn't supposed to charge him $150 for a copy of the report. That's right. 1-5-0. Bucks.

Turns out it was $15. For two pages? For that price, does Jennifer Love Hewitt deliver it to you personally? The report comes complete with an audiotape so maybe that explains the higher cost. But at least it wasn't $150, Grossman says. Police Chief Roy Brown could not be reached for comment. Grossman said Brown told him it was a clerical error, but Grossman's not buying it.

"This wasn't a mistake. Give me a break. I don't believe it. I don't buy it," Grossma! n said.

Grossman has had his run-ins with the Claremont Police before regarding public records requests. He recalled how last year he was stonewalled when he asked to see the videotape that showed a Claremont Police officer fatally shooting David Guy Pearson after a car chase. Grossman represented Pearson's family. Grossman, you might recall, also represented the family of Irvin Landrum Jr., the teenage driver gunned down by Claremont Police during a traffic stop. The city didn't want to turn over a copy of the Pearson tape even after showing it to reporters, Grossman said.

"When they finally gave us the tape, they edited it," Grossman said.

So you can imagine how his blood pressure soared when he was told to fork over $150 for a two-page police report. He noted in his angry letter to the city demanding the report that he had just made a similar request from the La Verne Police Department recently and was told it would cost him $1.

"Please also no! te that this letter is the last time I will waste my time with CPD regarding such a blatant and intentional disregard for the law and the public's right to access public records," Grossman said in his letter to the city. "Next time around, I will simply file suit as I will not continue to play this game with CPD, which wastes my time and derogates my client's rights to have access to records within your control."

Whew! Can you blame him? Maybe it was just a goof-up, but it would sure get me riled up if I were in his shoes.

Claremont Police Commission Chairman Richard Fass thinks it was an honest mistake.

"When I got this I immediately sent it over to City Hall with a copy to the police chief and said, 'Throw it in our agenda packet since that's our role to consider complaints,' " Fass said. "Within minutes I got a message back that it was a mistake and it was corrected. Given the quickness of the response I figure it was just a mistake."

Maybe. B! ut what do you think, all you city watchdogs out there? You ever get the $150 runaround?

•  PAUL M. ANDERSON is city editor of the Claremont-Upland Voice. Reach him at 484-7082, or by e-mail at paul.anderson@ latimes.com.

Story: © 2004 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved.

How many remember HEART OF GLASS?

Formed in 1974, Blondie’s mix of Debbie Harry’s sex appeal, guitarist Chris Stein’s intensity and Clem Burke’s hotshot drumming meant that it wasn’t long before they were the kings and queen of the scene — and commercially viable to boot.

While some Chart staffers rank early albums like Eat To The Beat, Parallel Lines and Plastic Letters among our favourites of the new wave era, we wonder why the band insists on performing so-called urban songs like "Shakedown" and No Exit’s "Zoom Zoom In The Boom Boom Room." Sure, "Rapture" was the first rap hit, but, honestly, does anyone really take it seriously as a hip-hop classic?

Regardless of whether or not there’s a song on The Curse Of as good as "Picture This" or "Detroit 442," it’s cool that Blondie are still around. For a band that has fought various ills in the past — including Stein’s battle with pemphigus, a disease that causes your immune system to attack your skin — they are survivors in every sense of the word.

Here’s the track listing for The Curse Of Blondie:

Story: © 2004 Chart Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Image: © 1990 Bertelsmann Music Group. All Rights Reserved.

BIG CROWDS, BIG STARS AND BIG CONTROVERSY
AT THE SARASOTA FILM FESTIVAL

by Jason Guerrasio

As many from the frigid northeast and areas abroad ventured down to Florida's Gulf Coast for 10 days of films, parties, and celebrity sightings, a sense of uncertainty hung over the sixth-annual Sarasota Film Festival. Much of the talk around town early in the festival was not about the quality films and lavish events coming up in the week ahead, but that no one had yet been named to receive the festival's Career Achievement award. Though the black-tie gala where the award is given out was virtually sold out before the festival began, the question of who the honor would go to lingered for most of the festival. That would not be the only snag this year's festival would have to endure.

Here's one....

The festivities began on January 23 with the world premiere of Gil Junger's "If Only" at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Known for his 1999 teen comedy "Ten Things I Hate About You," Junger explores a deeper subject in this film as we follow one couple's bumpy relationship that gets a second chance in the most peculiar way. With the great cast of Jennifer Love Hewitt (who's also a producer on the film), Paul Nicholls, and Tom Wilkinson, the real triumph of the film is its script by Christina Welsh, whose blend of wit and comedy with the dramatic subject works well. Junger, Welsh, and Hewitt (wearing a dress reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe's in "The Seven Year Itch") were all present to unveil the film. Junger and Hewitt were rushed back on stage to kill time after the film started with some projection problems; the two were good sports and entertained the crowd until the problem was solved.

Story: © 2004 IndieWire LLC. All Rights Reserved.

From The Washington Post - February 2, 2004

L. A. ACTION? TRY PASADENA, CA

by Audrey Davidow

Here's One hangout......

Though such retail giants as Banana Republic, Gap and J. Crew maintain a solid presence, style-setters in search of more unusual finds have plenty of other options. Elisa B. (12 Douglas Alley), a closet-size boutique off Colorado Boulevard, carries merchandise made by young local designers -- cashmere T-shirts, flirty chiffon tops and as-low-as-you-can-go jeans -- that you won't find anywhere else in town. Owner Elisa Bruley hunts down labels obscure enough to lure the likes of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Salma Hayek out of Beverly Hills.

Story: © 2004 The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

From The Sarasota Herald-Tribune - February 1, 2004

HOLD THE CAVIAR

by Charles Huisking

After finishing an interview at the Ritz-Carlton hotel last week, Jennifer Love Hewitt was ready for lunch. Now, where does a famous young actress go? The Ritz's restaurant, perhaps? Maybe the Bijou Cafe?

Nope. She asked if Sarasota had a Chick-Fil-A.

A Ritz staff member quickly volunteered to drive to the fast-food restaurant on Fruitville and return with a sandwich.

Story: © 2004 Sarasota Herald-Tribune. All rights reserved.