Sideshow: Save our land, tribe asks Cameron
A tribe in eastern India called the Dongria Kondh has asked James Cameron to save its land. In a Variety ad, the tribe of 8,000 compares its plight to that of the Na'vi, the people in Cameron's Avatar who fight to defend their sacred tree.
A tribe in eastern India called the Dongria Kondh has asked
James Cameron
to save its land. In a Variety ad, the tribe of 8,000 compares its plight to that of the Na'vi, the people in Cameron's
Avatar
who fight to defend their sacred tree.
The tribe is "struggling to defend their land against a mining company hell-bent on destroying their sacred mountain," the ad reads. The Huffington Post says Vedanta Resources plans to begin a 25-year mining project on the Niyamgiri mountain.
The company has been accused of releasing dangerous pollutants in other parts of the region.
Cameron has yet to respond.
There can be only one Lindsay!
Does
Lindsay Lohan
suffer from "paranoid narcissism," as Gawker puts it? LiLo is suing E-Trade for $100 mil over a TV ad that stars a "milkaholic" baby named Lindsay.
Filed in Nassau County Supreme Court, the suit claims the baby - who is accused of being a boyfriend-stealing "milkaholic" - is clearly modeled on LiLo. The E-Trade ad is part of a series that stars babies.
LiLo's lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, says the Mean Girls star is so darn famous, she has the same one-moniker recognition as Cher and Oprah.
E-Trade has declined to comment.
Rush: Costa Rica, here I come
On his radio show yesterday,
Rush Limbaugh
threatened to leave the United States if
President Obama
's health-care package passes, according to the Kansas City Star. "I'll just tell you this," Limbaugh told a caller, "if this passes and it's five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented - I am leaving the country. I'll go to Costa Rica."
First lady donates dress
Michelle Obama
yesterday followed her predecessors by donating her inaugural ball gown, a one-shouldered, white chiffon design by
Jason Wu
, to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
"I'll never forget the moment that I slipped on this beautiful gown," the first lady said. "I remember how just luscious I felt as the president and I were announced onto the stage."
Ludacris, gender studies prof
Ludacris
, 32, tells USA Today he used his album
Battle of the Sexes
to capture the hitherto marginalized female voice in hip-hop. On the CD, the rapper, who has been accused of sexist lyrics, engages in a lyrical dialectic about gender with several female rappers, including
Shawnna
.
"Hip-hop is such a male-dominated industry," he says. "There's a female voice that's sometimes . . . missing."
Odds 'n' ends
Starz yesterday said its swords, sandals and sex drama,
Spartacus: Blood and Sand
, has been put on a brief hiatus while star
Andy Whitfield
undergoes chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Whitfield, 35, said he was "feeling strong, positive, and determined."
TLC may have dumped Miss America, but NBC has no plans to let go of its two girlie pageants: Variety says the network has signed on to broadcast the Donald Trump-branded Miss USA and Miss Universe through 2013.
Bob Barker, 86, will open the Bob Barker Building today in Lalaland, a new center for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He helped build it with a $2.5 mil donation.
Oscar-nominated Precious star Gabourey Sidibe, 26, who lost out to Sandra Bullock, has been cast as a recurring guest star on the forthcoming The Big C. Showtime's cancer sitcom will costar Oliver Platt and Laura Linney.
Photog Annie Leibovitz, 60, who has been on the verge of bankruptcy, yesterday said she had signed a deal to have investment firm Colony Capital manage her debt and market her iconic photos, which include the nude, pregnant Demi Moore and the nude John Lennon cuddling with Yoko Ono hours before his death.
Taxi Driver's Robert De Niro will play legendary football coach Vince Lombardi in the biopic Lombardi from ESPN Films. Forrest Gump scribe Eric Roth is slated to write the pic, which will be out for the 2012 Super Bowl.
TV colonoscopy vet Katie Couric will guide CBS Early Show coanchor Harry Smith through his own live colonoscopy, planned for today's show.
Let there be 3-D! Deadline.com says Hollywood will time-warp its newfangled 3-D tech through the spatio-temporal vortex to capture Creation itself in a big-screen adaptation of the Book of Genesis.
Now he's a star . . .
Add
Hurt Locker
star
Jeremy Renner
, 39, to the list of the gossip-worthy.
London's Daily Mail says JR and Carey Mulligan (An Education) were "very tactile with each other as they openly flirted" at an Oscar party.
Days earlier, the Mail cited an anon source who claimed JR was being tactile with Charlize Theron. Said the insider, "We suspect something is going on between them."
Finally, Us Weekly yesterday said JR is "quashing a report that he recently made the moves on singer Jessica Simpson" at some other bash.
Renner tells Us mag he's single.
But he adds, "I'm not a ladies' man!" Please, be gentle with him.