Fun and games at Battle of Seattle panel

Celebrities love a political cause, so the press conference for Battle in Seattle, a film that explores that riots that broke out at the World Trade Organization ministerial conferences in 1999, promised much grandstanding and dire condemnations on the evils of big corporations. Instead, the presser devolved into cracks about Charlize Theron‘s lack of comedy chops, and a running joke about Regina and a part of the female anatomy.

Moderator (and former NY Times film critic) Elvis Mitchell called it “the most eclectic cast at this year’s festival.” Present were actor Martin Henderson, actor/rapper Andre Benjamin (who looked sharp in a farmer-slash-hipster number that combined pinstripe overalls, a khaki blazer, bright red socks and a blue baseball cap); actress Michelle Rodriguez; actor Woody Harrelson, who often starred-bug eyed at the press; actress Charlize Theron, and her boyfriend, director/actor Stuart Townsend. Battle in Seattle is the first feature he’s directed.

One reporter wanted to know why Theron doesn’t star in “lighter” fare (as apparently her turn on Arrested Development doesn’t count.) Theron said she thought she’d be “great” at comedy.

“You have to be funny, though,” Harrelson told her.

Afterwards a reported asked if she wanted to immediately join the cast after reading the script. “No, I was looking for a comedy,” Theron answered, without missing a beat. National Post

'Top Model' Curry Against Black History Month

Peter Brady’s wife tells blacks to ‘move the f*ck on’ from slavery past.

The day after she appeared with her husband Christopher Knight on “Dr. Phil” to discuss their drastic age difference (she’s 25, he’s 49), “America’s Next Top Model” winner Adrianne Curry is making headlines for a blog entry that calls for the eradication of Black History Month.

In fact, she is against any entity that singles out a particular race, including Black Entertainment Television. She believes such avenues do more to separate the races than bring them together.

She wrote on her her MySpace blog that she’s boycotting both Black History Month and BET. She says that yes, this country’s enslavement of African-Americans “does suck some major balls,” but suggests that blacks just get over it and “move the f**k on.”

Here is her rant in its unedited entirety: EURweb

Knicks trial ends with big jury award

NEW YORK – In an end to a salacious three-week trial, a jury ordered the owners of the New York Knicks to pay $11.6 million to a former team executive who endured crude insults and unwanted advances from coach Isiah Thomas.

The jury of four women and three men found Thomas and Madison Square Garden sexually harassed Anucha Browne Sanders, but it decided only MSG and chairman James Dolan should pay for harassing and firing Browne Sanders from her $260,000-a-year job out of spite.

The result: The Garden owes $6 million for condoning a hostile work environment and $2.6 million for retaliation. Dolan owes $3 million. Though Thomas is off the hook for any damages, he leaves the case with a tarnished image.

Outside court, a beaming Browne Sanders insisted her victory was more about sending a message than the money.

“What I did here, I did for every working woman in America,” she said. “And that includes everyone who gets up and goes to work in the morning, everyone working in a corporate environment.”

Earlier, Thomas emerged from the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan with his trademark smile but flashed anger as he reasserted his innocence amid a crush of reporters and cameras.

“I’m extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case,” he said. “I will appeal this, and I remain confident in the man that I am and what I stand for and the family that I have.” Yahoo News

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