June 17, 2005

Talk show queen, Oprah Winfrey, reigns her crown as she's been ranked the World's Most Powerful Celebrity in the latest roll of who's who and how much they have, published by Forbes magazine. Moves up from number three in 2004, this achievement leads Oprah to override Tiger Woods who is in the runner up, and Mel Gibson at third.

At fourth on the power list is director/producer George Lucas, while others rounding out the top 10, include basketball star Shaquille O'Neal in 5th place, director/producer Steven Spielberg at 6th, followed in a row by actor Johnny Depp, pop music stars Madonna and Elton John and actor Tom Cruise.

Be patient. That's maybe what Kanye West should roar to his fans following the cancellation of his "Late Registration"'s release. The originally slated for July 12 deliverance is pulled out to August 15, while there aren't any reasons given.

Aside, the video for "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," the first single of the record, which reportedly involved such collaborators as Common, John Legend and John Mayer, has been premiered Wednesday night.

Shortly after Live 8 organizers announced rapper 50 Cent's inability to perform at the concert, they then added music group Linkin Park and the nearly dissolved Destiny's Child to its lineup. Thus, both are set to perform on July 2 in Philadelphia show, which is one of five concerts aimed at raising awareness of poverty in developing countries.

Two thumbs up for such singer as Willie Nelson who has already made social contribution besides his musical ones. Taking into account Nelson and wife Annie's help to raise about $250,000 for the stem cell program at a March 4 concert in Grand Prairie, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is planning to establish both of them the Professorship in Stem Cell Research.

Concerning the valuable honor, the first Nelson professor will be Dr. Eric Olson, who chairs the medical center's molecular biology department. "That's a nice thing. I think everybody should do what they can to call more attention to that," commented Nelson.

Amazon.com Inc. is in preparation to celebrate its 10th anniversary next month. One of their projects is running a concert, in which it'll feature Norah Jones and Bob Dylan. The concert is slated to stream live on the Internet retailer's home page the evening of July 16.

Bill Maher is the one booked to host the concert, held at Benaroya Hall. Tickets will not be sold to the general public, whereas employees of Amazon Seattle-area will be invited to attend. To make the event even more interesting, there will also be additional musical performances, readings by authors and behind-the-scenes footage from one of Amazon's hottest-selling DVDs which is "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

Kid Rock is dizzy. He has on Monday pleaded no contest to criminal assault charges for attacking 30-year-old DJ Jerry Campos and was given a suspended sentence of 11 months and 29 days. In addition to those, the musician also must complete eight hours of anger-management classes and pay $180 to replace Campos' eyeglasses, which apparently broke after he smacked him.

However, the case still moves on. On the same day Rock filed his plea, Campos filed a $575,000 civil suit against him, claiming the star's February attack caused "severe, disabling and permanent injuries" to him. Nick Stern, a spokesman for Kid Rock, didn't return a phone call Wednesday night seeking comment.

Despite the fact that "Batman Begins" reaches an amount of $15 million of ticket sales in its Wednesday debut, box office watchers claim it's too early to judge if the film can turn around Hollywood's lackluster summer. Vice versa, it will also too early to predict that the movie will be a huge hit. Nevertheless, Warner Bros., which released "Batman Begins," said through its representative the studio was happy with the Wednesday debut.

The newly acquitted King of Pop is ready to relaunch himself and is slated to perform at Live 8. Promoter Harvey Goldsmith says that they, indeed, consider booking Michael Jackson despite the fact that he also hints the possibility of the singer to not yet recover from the mental and physical damage he suffered during the trial. Further Harvey adds "Whether it's appropriate is another issue, whether he is in a fit state is another issue, whether he can work is another issue and whether he can work live is another issue."