Entertainment News, Celebrity News Online

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has bankrupted PhD student Joel Tenenbaum after a Jury found him guilty of copyright infringement for downloading and sharing 30 songs over the KaZaA peer-to-peer network. The Judge then ordered Tenenbaum to pay $675,000 in damages to the RIAA, or $22,500 per song.

From Ars Technica, who have been covering the Tenenbaum vs. RIAA case for months:

When asked about the size verdict, Tenenbaum’s attorney and Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson told Ars that “it’s a bankrupting award.” He also felt things might have been different had they been allowed to argue Fair Use. “We were not allowed to speak to fairness,” he told Ars. “I thought we had pretty damn good arguments on Fair Use.”

“I’m disappointed, but not surprised, but I’m thankful that it wasn’t much bigger, that it wasn’t millions,” Tenenbaum told Ars after the verdict was announced. We asked him if he regrets not settling earlier on in the process. “Ask me in a couple of months,” Tenenbaum replied. He also told Ars that he doesn’t have the ability to pay the judgment and said that he’d be filing for bankruptcy if the award stands. Although the jury found that he willfully infringed on the copyrights in question, Tenenbaum said he was “not displeased with the jury considering how the trial went.”

There were a lot of damning circumstances in Tenenbaum’s trial, not the leas of which was the fact that he admitted to deliberately downloading and distributing the music. He also admitted to lying in court documents - not something you want to be doing when dealing with a jury who can ruin your life - as Tenenbaum found out late Friday afternoon when the verdict came down after just 3 hours of deliberation.

At any rate, the RIAA has ruined Tenenbaum’s life in their bid to replace lost revenue with litigation as the music industry crumbles around them, and they just added another feather to their hat.

Let me ask you, Inquisitr readers: Do you have music on your computers or devices right now, or are you sharing songs via P2P?

If so, delete it. Now. And don’t replace it by buying the songs from an industry or artists who can and will cut your throat for being a fan.

Carrie Prejean’s book is coming out soon, but her name has been fading out of the media spotlight. No publicity - no book sales - so what is a dethroned beauty queen to do? Why, threaten to sue someone big so everyone will talk about you, of course!

Carrie Prejean has had her lawyers draw up a lawsuit against the Miss California organization, as well as Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler with a number of complaints she has about how she was fired as Miss California and things that were done and said about her during and after the firing. The lawsuit is ready to be filed and available to anyone who wants to view the paperwork but it won’t be submitted to the courts until Prejean has signed it.

This isn’t the first time Carrie Prejean has threatened to sue someone connected to her short-lived stint as a beauty queen. Back in June, she threatened to sue Miss California USA executive director, Keith Lewis, for defamation.

In an interview with Billy Bush this morning, he asked her if, or when, she intended to go ahead with the lawsuit. Prejean said:

“No, I mean, hopefully this will all just get taken care of. There’s definitely some things that are false that they’ve said about me and I think definitely the book will - it’s sort of like therapy for me. It’s a way for me to just get out the truth, really. I mean they did slander me, they defamed me. They made me look like I don’t show up to work, like I don’t do my job and that’s not true, Billy. I mean they haven’t proven one appearance that I missed and no one’s challenged them. Not one media outlet has challenged them and said, ‘Prove to me. What appearances has she missed?’”

Based on the quality of Prejean’s statement above, let’s hope she hired a ghost-writer to sort out the thoughts in her new book.

Larry David, co-producer of the hit TV comedy series, Seinfeld, has spent years dismissing the rumor that the cast would reunite, but now he’s saying that the sitcom’s original members will team up again.

Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry), Jason Alexander (George), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine) and Michael Richards (Kramer) will be back together on the seventh season finale of Larry David’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, which David created and stars in. The reunion of the Seinfeld cast is the first time they have appeared together on-screen since the series ended back in 1998. The Seinfeld cast members will appear in 5 shows separately during the season and will then all appear together in the finale.

It should be an interesting series of shows for Curb Your Enthusiasm. The setting will depict David making a Seinfeld reunion show and working with the cast while filming and producing. It will be a ’show-within-a-show’ so to speak. David says that it’ll also give viewers an idea of what the cast members have been doing ovet the past 11 years and how they feel about doing a reunion.

If you read the tabloids, it’s common knowledge that John and Kate plus 8 super-dad, John Gosselin has been hanging in the Hamptons with Lindsay Lohan’s dad, Michael Lohan. They seem to be best buds, but they have also been working on an idea for their own reality TV show that will center around the trials and tribulations of being divorced dads.

Page Six reports:

“JON & Kate Plus 8? womanizer Jon Gosselin is shopping a new show based on being a single dad, sources said. The Gosselins have earned as much as $75,000 per episode with “Jon & Kate,” but insiders said most of the money goes toward the kids, and that Jon is hard up for cash. “He’s looking for endorsement deals to get that extra money,” one source said. Hollywood broker Mike Heller is trying to help Gosselin. Fame-mad Michael Lohan introduced Heller to Gosselin (Heller used to broker deals for Lindsay Lohan), and told us he helped brainstorm a new show, “Divorced Dads Club.” But our insider insists, “Michael will not be involved,” adding, “Jon has been approached to do various reality shows, but due to his contract with TLC, he can’t begin to think about doing anything right now.” Reps for both TLC and Gosselin declined to comment.”

So Jon Gosselin, the same dude who pays about $5,000 a month rent on a swanky New York apartment, jets around the world for expensive vacations with hot young skanks and was recently seen in NY buying a pair of $1,000 shoes… is hurting for cash?

We hope he does get some work soon, because helping to support 8 kids and keep up his current lifestyle ain’t gonna be cheap.

This was not sourced from The Onion.

The sense of loss and deep, resonating sadness many Americans feel following the unexpected death of Michael Jackson last month has been mitigated slightly as Kanye West stepped forward to claim the throne as King of Pop. At least, Kanye thinks so.

West, known worldwide for his modesty and sense of perspective when it comes to evaluation of his work, importance, and relevance to music and the world as a whole, previously worked under another self-bestowed title- the International Asshole. However, Kanyeezy has graciously and judiciously claimed the vacant crown, allowing Americans to breathe easy and allaying fears that marauding pop-stars from places like Europe or Sweden could take control of our destabilized pop-monarchy, bringing all shades of socialized medicine here and stealing our jerbs.

Kanye gave a short speech on the matter to something called “Scrape TV”:

“You know everyone loves and respects Michael but times change. It’s so sad to see Michael gone but it makes a path for a new King of Pop and I’m willing to take that on. There’s nobody who can match me in sales and in respect so it only makes sense for me to take over Michael’s crown and become the new King.

“First there was Elvis, then there was Michael, now in the 21st century it’s Kanye’s time to rule. I am the new King of Pop.”

Roseanne Barr is back in the news this week after a controversial photo shoot with Jewish hipster mag Heeb.

Barr did a layout with the publication which depicts the former prime-time queen as a Hitler-esque (complete with tiny mustache) housewife removing a tray of burnt gingerbread “Jew Cookies” from an oven. In the piece, Barr characteristically bares all as she prepares to embrace another controversy.

As the “Domestic Goddess” dons the famous moustache, transforming into “Domestic Goddess Hitler,” I notice that she’s beginning to have fun. She nails the Fuehrer’s facial expressions with twisted glee, and as she takes the burnt gingerbread “Jew Cookies” out of the oven it occurs to me that Barr may be the last celebrity utterly incapable of giving a f*ck—a quality theoretically easy to embody until it’s time to face the practical repercussions. “Franklin Ajae, Paul Mooney, Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory’s passings will tear my kishkas out,” Barr laments. “They gave everything they had to just tell the truth, and they couldn’t make a decent living because of the choice they made—not selling out to Hollywood.”

While Barr’s recent party trick is certainly offensive and controversial, the Jewish grandma did end up with at least one fan. Says the article’s author:

When the photographer suggests that we pose together for a quick snapshot, I put my arm around this slightly eccentric drinker and pot smoker who gets off on dressing like a Nazi, and it dawns on me: I adore her.

The ‘Run It’ singer has decided to mimic his ex-girlfriend - who he pleaded guilty to assaulting earlier this year - by inking a design on celebrity tattoo artist Bang Bang.

‘Umbrella’ hitmaker Rihanna recently left a lasting impression on the artist - real name Keith McCurdy - by drawing an umbrella with an ‘R’ underneath it on his leg.

However, Chris, 20, has outdone his former girlfriend by creating his own design - a cartoon face with the word ‘Bang’ above it.

Bang Bang revealed: “He drew it. It’s pretty funny. I told him, ‘Do whatever you want’, and he drew something and I liked it.

“He did a great job too. He’s a natural, which is funny because I said the same thing about Rihanna. She was really good the first time, but he was better.

“He wasn’t nervous at all. I asked him if he was, and he said, ‘Nope - not at all.’”

Keith is thought to be the only person in the world who has been tattooed by different celebrities.

He now plans to continue the challenge and ask each of famous clients to return the favour.

He explained: “I’m so lucky. They’re all really cool and I’ve got a couple of other famous people who are going to tattoo me soon. I’d like to have all the celebrities I tattoo do a small tattoo on me. I think that would be really cool.”

German supermodel Heidi Klum - who is expecting her first daughter with musician husband Seal, with who she already raises three children - says her hormones are playing havoc with her memory and she keeps forgetting where she has put things.

Referring to cheese-flavoured puff snack Cheetos, she said:

“You forget things and you always drop food. I’m always like, What happened before? Did I drop it in my lap and not notice?

Now I have Cheeto dust all over me all the time. And then you have to lick the orange fingers.”

Seal is currently on tour and has been away from Heidi for five weeks, and she admits her appearance has changed dramatically in that time.

She added on US TV series ‘The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’:

“Especially at the end of your pregnancy, you get bigger. I was just thinking he hasn’t seen me in five weeks. He’s probably going to come home and be like, ‘Oh, hi! Nice to meet you! Where is my wife?’”

Heidi Klum is expected to give birth in October.

The comic actor - who, along with director Judd Apatow, was upset when Katherine claimed ‘Knocked Up’ “painted women as shrews” while making the men look “loveable” - has questioned the portrayal of the sexes in her new movie ‘The Ugly Truth’.

Speaking on a US radio station, Seth said: “That film looks like it really puts women on a pedestal in a beautiful way!”

Judd added: “I hear there’s a scene where she’s wearing underwear with a vibrator in it, so I’d have to see if that was uplifting for women.”

Revealing he still feels hurt by Katherine’s comments, Judd said: “You think at some point I’ll get a call saying, ‘Sorry, I was tired,’ and then the call never comes.”

Seth takes comfort in the fact Katherine has made other rash comments since blasting ‘Knocked Up’.

He said: “I’ve got to say it’s not like we’re the only people she said some bad s**t crazy things about. That’s kind of her bag now.”

Judd also said he didn’t understand Katherine’s actions because she was very involved with making the film with him at the time, even improvising her own lines.

He said: “Seth always says, it doesn’t make any sense because she improvised half her s**t. At the time, on set, she could not have been cooler.”

The 24-year-old blonde beauty is reportedly at the top of a list of actresses being considered by director Simon Curtis and producer David Parfitt for new film ‘My Week With Marilyn’.

Kate Hudson, Amy Adams and Michelle Williams have also been mentioned as possible stars of the film, according to newspaper columnist Baz Bamigboye.

The movie will be based on the diary of Colin Clark, an employee of Laurence Olivier, who looked after the blonde bombshell when she came to London to film Olivier’s ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’ in 1957.

In the diary, Clark talks about showing Marilyn around Queen Elizabeth’s private apartments at Windsor Castle and other “behind-the-scenes” trips.

Clark published excerpts of his diary in 1958, but left the details of one week out. These chapters weren’t released until he died in 2002, and will form the basis of the movie.

Parfitt explained: “Once everyone else was dead, Clark had arranged for the missing week to be issued.”

British film writer Adrian Hodges has adapted the papers into a script.