Duncan dies; Murphy, Cosby, Rihanna, 50 Cent live - The Virginian-Pilot

THE GOOD NEWS ... AND THE BAD NEWS: Despite the Internet's efforts to off them, Eddie Murphy, Rihanna, Bill Cosby and 50 Cent are alive! All the hoaxes in the world can't change the facts. Sadly, Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in "The Green Mile" and such other box office hits as "Armageddon," "Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu Panda," died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancee, reality TV personality Omarosa Manigault (yes, the mean one from "The Apprentice"). Read more via The AP on HamptonRoads.com.

STARSHIP GUITARIST DIES: And ... also ... sadly ... Mark Abrahamian, the lead guitarist for the rock bank Starship, has died of a heart attack after a concert in Nebraska. Road manager Scott Harrison says Abrahamian died Sunday night after performing at the DeVent Center. He was 46. Harrison says an autopsy was done Monday. Starship was the opening band for a concert that also featured Survivor and Boston. Harrison says that after Starship performed, Abrahamian went to the dressing room and complained about not feeling well. He collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Read more via The AP at HamptonRoads.com. 

RUSSELL CROWE GETS LOST: Hey! Wonder if Russell Crowe will make this adventure his next big Oscar-winning movie.... Crowe lost his way kayaking in the waters off New York's Long Island and was picked up by a Coast Guard boat and ferried to a harbor, officials said Sunday. The 48-year-old actor was kayaking with a friend off Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday afternoon on the Long Island Sound, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Swieciki. As it got dark, the two got lost and headed for shore, beaching their kayaks in Huntington Bay, nearly 10 miles east of where they had set out. The Coast Guard was patrolling the area, and heard Crowe call out to them from the shore around 10 p.m., Swieciki said. The "Gladiator" actor and his friend, who Swieciki didn't recognize, paddled over to the boat. The Coast Guard officers pulled them up and gave them a ride to Huntington Harbor. "He just needed a little bit of help, he just got a little lost," Swieciki said. "It wasn't really a rescue, really, more of just giving someone a lift." Read more via The AP on HamptonRoads.com. 

R. KELLY WILL GET ALL EXPLICIT AGAIN: We can all rest easy now. R. Kelly says he isn't going to abandon the explicit music that helped make him famous. "Absolutely not, and I tell people all the time, man," Kelly said in a phone interview last week. "Make no mistake about it, R. Kelly is not going anywhere, it's just that R. Kelly has such a unique talent, and I've been blessed to be able to do all type of genres of music ... I'm exploring my gift right now." (REALLY?! Isn't talking about yourself in the third person old-school now? Ew. Shiver.) Read more via The AP on HamptonRoads.com.

ONE DIRECTION GETS TO KEEP NAME: Oh goodie! British boy band One Direction and a U.S. musical group of the same name have reached an agreement that allows the U.K. group to continue use of the name. The two groups issued a news release from London saying the California-based group will change its name to Uncharted Shores. The release says both parties are pleased with the resolution. Read more via The AP on  HamptonRoads.com.

BOX OFFICE TOPS: "The Possession" ruled the box office over the long holiday weekend. Overall, however, movie theaters have seen a dip in attendance summer over summer. Here are the top five box-office money-makers from the weekend:
1. "The Possession," $21.3 million ($3.5 million international).
2. "Lawless," $13 million.
3. "The Expendables 2," $11.2 million ($20 million international).
4. "The Bourne Legacy," $9.4 million ($12.6 million international).
5. "ParaNorman," $8.8 million ($3.1 million international).
Read more via The AP on PilotOnline.com.  

'TRUE DAT' QUOTE: "One thing about being president or running for president: If you're easily offended, you should probably choose another profession." President Barack Obama on Clint Eastwood. Obama is still a fan. Read more via People.com.

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ONE MORE SHOWBIZ MINUTE: Stars play tribute to Michael Clarke Duncan; Jackson's estate in a new court case; Anna Karenina world premiere.

 

 

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