Richard Gere’s Scandalous Smooch

How can the country that gave the world the Kama Sutra be so prudish? It’s a longstanding cliché to note that India has produced both the world’s most famous guide to love and erotic pleasure and some of the most conservative social rules this side of Saudi Arabia on such questions as kissing in public. That paradox was on display once again this week in the firestorm that swept India following a seemingly innocuous — and obviously staged — celebrity kiss on the cheek at an AIDS-awareness event.

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Black actors still face Oscar challenges

On a winter evening in early 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black performer to win an Oscar, a best supporting actress honor for her performance as Mammy, the servant in "Gone With the Wind." She accepted her award at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Coconut Grove, a nightclub in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel, where she was seated in the segregated section at the rear of the room. Though her win was played as a sign of progress for black actors in America — “Not only was she the first of her race to receive an Award, but she was also the first Negro ever to sit at an Academy banquet,” said Daily Variety, according to Mason Wiley and Damien Bona’s indispensable “Inside Oscar” — her role was poorly received by much of the black community.

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Confessions of a Hollywood action king

Hollywood uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer is famous for his almost uncanny ability to recognize a potential hit movie. Once described as “the man with the golden gut,” Bruckheimer’s movies have earned more than $15 billion in box office, fueled by a potent mix of fast-moving action, big bangs and even bigger stars

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California’s Big Race to Succeed Schwarzenegger

Ever since gold miners first scraped their fortunes out of the hills of northern California, America’s most populous state has been a land of titanic dreams. These days, though, it’s a place with even bigger problems. Its $42 billion budget deficit would make an out-of-control Hollywood director blush — and bankrupt a small nation

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Chris Brown says he’s sorry ‘for what transpired’

Singer Chris Brown broke his silence Sunday, a week after allegedly attacking his girlfriend, fellow performer Rihanna, on a street in Los Angeles, California. “Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired,” the 19-year-old said in a statement released by his spokesman.

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Chris Brown case ongoing

The investigation into what happened between singers Chris Brown and Rihanna on a Hollywood street early Sunday remained in the hands of police Wednesday, a day after the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said it needed more information before deciding on formal charges. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor said Brown, 19, was arrested and booked on suspicion of making criminal threats

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Chris Brown case going to the DA

The chief investigator in the domestic violence case against singer Chris Brown will deliver his findings to the Los Angeles district attorney Tuesday afternoon for consideration of further charges, the investigator told CNN. Los Angeles Police Detective Deshon Andrews said he has kept the case file closely guarded and no copies have been made of the original photos and documents in order to keep them from leaking to the media. Police have refused media requests to hear the 911 call that led to their investigation early Sunday, but Andrews said it mostly recorded the sound of “a screaming woman.” Brown, 19, turned himself in Sunday night after police said they were looking for him.

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