Australians failing to warm to Paul Henry's show

Ratings for the Australian Breakfast programme fronted by former TVNZ broadcaster Paul Henry are continuing to slide.

Channel Ten's Breakfast programme launched in February with 51,000 viewers, compared with the 300,000-plus who tune in to rival shows Today on Channel Nine and Sunrise on Channel Seven, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

By March Breakfast's audience dropped to around 45,000, but has since regularly dropped to below 30,000 - twice falling to a paltry 22,000 viewers.

However, Channel Ten's director of news and current affairs and former TVNZ executive Anthony Flannery, told the Herald the key to the show's success was giving Henry "more time to be himself".

Breakfast is mostly unscripted and has three presenters instead of two.

Henry left TVNZ's Breakfast show in 2010 after a furore erupted over comments he made about former Governor-General Anand Satyanand and Indian politician Sheila Dikshit.

He has continued to stir controversy across the ditch when he made "sick" remarks about asylum seekers including a suggestion they could live in linen cupboards earlier this year.

Source  http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/australians-failing-warm-paul-henry-s-show-4928732

Cummins blow for Australia

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins is expected to be out of action until at least mid-January after his heel injury was more serious than first thought.

The 18-year-old suffered the problem during the second Test against South Africa - but Cummins still managed figures of 6-79 and hit the winning runs.

Cummins was initially expected back in time for the second Test against New Zealand, which starts on Friday.

However, team doctors have now discovered a bone stress problem which will keep Cummins sidelined until the new year and mean he will miss the start of the series against India.

Source http://www1.skysports.com/cricket/news/12175/7356896/Cummins-blow-for-Australia

Leonardo DiCaprio splits from Blake Lively while in Sydney

THE whirlwind, transcontinental romance between Leonardo DiCaprio and Blake Lively has ended.

And Lively is reportedly already on the rebound.

Sources say the sexy blonde is picking up with her Green Lantern costar Ryan Reynolds, after the pair spent the weekend together in Boston where Reynolds is filming his next project, according to the Boston Herald.

Lively, 24, and Reynolds, 34, dined together last Friday and the actress was spotted going grocery shopping Saturday, apparently to stock up the fridge for her new love.

The pair met in 2010, filming the superhero flick, while Reynolds was still married to actress Scarlett Johansson.

Reynolds and Johansson, 26, officially divorced this July.

Representatives for Lively and DiCaprio, who is in Sydney filming The Great Gatsby, told US Weekly the pair would "remain friends" despite their relationship coming apart.

The pair at first tried to keep their affair under wraps but they were spotted getting cosy at the Cannes Film Festival in May, shortly after the Titanic star split from his supermodel girlfriend Bar Refaeli.

After the star-studded movie fest, DiCaprio, 36, and Lively, 24, travelled along the French Riviera before stopping in Italy.

The Gossip Girl star then returned to her home base of New York, where she was photographed bike riding with DiCaprio.

Lively then came for a visit to Australia to celebrate her 24th birthday while DiCaprio worked on his title role of Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of the great American novel.

Source http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/leonardo-dicaprio-splits-from-blake-lively-while-in-sydney/story-e6frf96o-1226159202896

Russians love Raymond. Da?

Just ask Phil Rosenthal. Having struck comic gold with Everybody Loves Raymond in the US, this writer-director assumed his hit sitcom about a dysfunctional US family had global appeal.

"I had to assume that," he says, on the line from New York. "Our show was about families and we all have families. It's a universal subject. But when I got to Russia, that wasn't necessarily true."

Exporting Raymond - a laugh-out-loud highlight at the 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival - is about Rosenthal's attempt to make a Russian version of Raymond.

Cameras follow him to Moscow's decidedly insalubrious TV studios and from his first meeting there is a gaping cultural divide.

A scriptwriter wonders why Ray (renamed Kostya) is bossed around by women. A costume designer imagines a wardrobe big on bling. And when Rosenthal asks for a live studio audience, he is told there are no chairs.

"I was very shocked at how hard it was going to be," Rosenthal admits.

Even when he visits the famous Moscow Art Theatre in the hope of "borrowing" one of its best actors, he is stonewalled by the company's tsar-like chief.

"Nothing was manipulated," he insists.

But Rosenthal can take comfort knowing new versions of Raymond are taking root in India, Egypt, Israel and Poland.

Source http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/russians-love-raymond-da/story-fn7euh6j-1226099671206

Jolie tops list of Hollywood's richest women

Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker have topped the list of Hollywood's highest paid actresses, with each earning an estimated $US30 million ($28 million) this year, according to Forbes magazine.

Forbes's blogger Dorothy Pomerantz, said Jolie's success stemmed from her ability to handle action, drama and directing, and her fortunes were boosted by earnings from In the Land of Blood and Honey, Salt and The Tourist.

Parker's fortune, on the other hand, was almost exclusively tied to the success of Sex and the City, said Pomerantz.

Trailing behind Jolie and Parker were Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, who each earned $US28 million. Julia Roberts came fifth on the list with $US20 million in annual earnings.

"Aniston has had more than her share of flops, like 2009's Management, which earned less than $US1 million at the US box office. But lately, even films that looked like they were going to flop [The Bounty Hunter and Just Go With It] have turned out to be hits," said Pomerantz.

Less fortunate was Witherspoon with How Do You Know earning only $US50 million on a budget of $US120 million.

The annual list is made up of earnings estimates suppled by agents, lawyers, producers and other industry insiders.

Overall, the top 10 female earners made a total $US218 million between May 2010 and May 2011, said Forbes.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/luxury/jolie-tops-list-of-hollywoods-richest-women-20110706-1h21h.html?from=smh_sb

Mad Bastards actor jailed for stabbing death

An Aboriginal woman who starred in the newly released Mad Bastards film has been jailed for three years for stabbing to death her drunk and abusive partner in a case of life imitating art.

Roxanne Maree Williams was pregnant with her second child when she took a large butcher's knife and thrust it once into the chest of her partner Joseph Anthony Johnston in their Wyndham home on May 15 last year.

Williams tried resuscitating Mr Johnston and immediately called police and paramedics, who rushed him to the local hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The pair already had a seven-year-old daughter together and in November last year she gave birth to their second child while being held in custody at Bandyup Prison over his death.

Williams pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter and yesterday Supreme Court Justice Michael Murray sentenced her to three years jail to be backdated to when she was first incarcerated in May.

He has granted her the opportunity to apply for parole which means she could be released as early as her child's first birthday, which is when the baby would be expected to be taken from her to be raised outside the prison.

In sentencing Justice Murray acknowledged the rave review Mad Bastards director Brendan Fletcher gave Williams, saying: "He speaks highly of Ms Williams and her qualities in a way which gives the court some confidence for her future, that she may be able to complete successfully the process of rehabilitation upon which she has embarked."

In an act of life imitating art Mr Johnston was stabbed during one of his rages, which was fuelled at the time by nine beers and 10 tequila shots. The film depicts the violent and alcohol-fuelled dysfunction in Kimberley communities.

Justice Murray said in considering the seriousness of the case he could not put a value on the life that was taken but did acknowledge Williams had been subjected to years of abuse by her partner, who "under the influence of alcohol and other illicit substances, he was a man whose frustrations with life and the raw deal that he had received bubbled to the surface, and it expressed itself in quite savage violence at times".

"If he commenced the violence, it was often without reason, and he would persist in it, and she was afraid. I think her fear was fear with some real cause," Justice Murray said.

He said whatever the cause of the argument that night, her fear for further reprisals that may also jeopardise her unborn child made her fearful that she could not escape.

"She did not threaten him defensively with the knife, she went to him and she stabbed him. The stab wound was a single stab wound," he said.

"The deceased was immediately disabled and dropped to the ground.

"I think on all the evidence it is clear that Ms Williams' remorse was instant. She endeavoured to resuscitate him.

"She knew that she would have to deal with the police in relation to the matter and she did not run but she sought to have the police engaged. That is all very much to her credit."

Source http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/imad-bastardsi-actor-jailed-for-stabbing-death-20110506-1ebqx.html?from=watoday_sb

Kate Middleton and Princess Diana - worlds apart

From the moment Prince William put his mother's sapphire and diamond ring on Kate Middleton's finger, comparisons between his wife-to-be and the late princess Diana became inevitable.

More than a decade after Diana's death, the "People's Princess" remains adored and the new royal bride will be measured against the young, shy blonde who captivated the world at her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981.

The royals are understandably wary of comparisons between the two women, and William himself insisted soon after the engagement that "no one is trying to fill my mother's shoes".

Diana's marriage was a famously unhappy union which broke down amid infidelity on both sides, ending in a bitter divorce and then tragedy, when the princess died in a Paris car crash in 1997.

It is not a tale to comfort a nervous bride, but fortunately, commentators see more differences than similarities between the two women.

Despite her lack of aristocratic blood, Kate will be far better prepared than Diana ever was for royal life when she walks down the aisle of Westminster Abbey on April 29.

"Kate's been very carefully groomed, it's been a long process over a period of time and she's got people around her who understand the modern media.

"She knows exactly what she's getting," said Max Clifford, a top British PR man who has represented many celebrities.

Kate and William have been together for eight years, whereas Diana was courted for just six months. In fact, Kate has been waiting so long for her boyfriend to pop the question that the press dubbed her "Waity Katy".

But Clifford says the length of time puts their relationship on a strong footing, saying "William seems to be totally in love with her and vice versa".

The young couple have had a very modern courtship.

They lived together while at St Andrews University in Scotland, where they met, and in recent months Kate has stayed with William on the island of Anglesey in Wales, where he works as a helicopter search and rescue pilot.

At the age of 29, Kate also has considerable life experience compared to Diana, who was only 20 on her wedding day, 12 years younger than Charles. Just five months separate Kate and William, who is 28.

Diana had left school before finishing her studies and her work experience was limited to a stint at a nursery.

By contrast, Kate graduated with a degree in art history from a top university, although her jobs as an accessories buyer for a clothing brand and then for her family's party goods firm have been criticised as lightweight.

Kate also had a happier and more stable childhood than Diana, whose parents divorced when she was young. Kate is close to her mother Carole and sister Pippa, her maid of honour, and says her family is a major source of support.

Up to now, William's bride has also had a better relationship with the press, which hounded the late princess right up to the moment of her death.

Despite a rocky start following Kate's move to London after graduation, when photographers mobbed her every time she left the house, warning letters from lawyers and the palace have caused the media to back off.

Kate "is an intelligent girl. She has a good head on her shoulders and is so much older than Diana was and she knows William," said royal historian Hugo Vickers.

The royal family "must be delighted. She's cautious. She's very measured -- confidence is not quite the right word, but she is assured," he added.

Diana was beautiful, charismatic and almost universally loved, but she was also unstable and the explosive fallout of her split with Charles cast a pall over the royal family that is only now starting to lift.

She also overshadowed the other royals, staying firmly in the limelight even after the divorce through her charitable causes.

"Diana became far more popular worldwide than the royal family, and in this country -- she was the one everyone wanted to see, wanted to hear, wanted to be around," said Clifford.

The royals "would have learned from that", he said.

Kate has shown no sign of Diana's love of publicity, although only time will tell how far her careful plans survive the pressure of being a fully paid-up member of the royal family.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iqEXHrt9ra9O_CkIsoPIBEVlkJXA?docId=CNG.77e54f793e67c67ebcf11ff9cd03e517.1d1