Judge critical of prosecutors in Anna Nicole trial (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The judge in the Anna Nicole Smith drug trial slammed prosecutors on Monday for their aggressive pursuit of convictions against three people accused of plying the actress with prescription drugs before her 2007 death.

Earlier on Monday, both sides rested their cases after a nearly two-month trial that saw prosecutors bring numerous witnesses whose testimony defense attorneys largely sought to discredit. All three defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry characterized the case as a "kitchen-sink prosecution" in which numerous claims and evidence are put forth "against these defendants in the hope that something survives."

The judge's comments came as he considered dismissing or reducing some of the charges against the realty TV star's one-time boyfriend and lawyer, Howard K. Stern, and two of her doctors, Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor.

Closing arguments are set to begin Thursday and jury deliberations may start early next week.

Prosecutors allege Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor conspired to funnel prescription drugs to a known addict, Smith, who died in February 2007 in Florida from an accidental drug overdose at age 39. They are not charged with directly causing her death.

Still, Perry's comments seem to underpin weeks of reports that prosecutors were having a difficult time proving their case. The judge said on Monday that many of the charges should have been misdemeanors, as opposed to the felonies that carry higher penalties.

"The prosecution had a dead celebrity and a lot of low-level misdemeanors" from which they tried to build a case for more serious crimes, Perry said.

But Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney defended prosecutors by saying their two-year investigation convinced them that felonies had been committed.

For much of the afternoon, lawyers discussed the meaning of words like "addict," "addiction" and "pain" that the judge will use when instructing the jury on deliberations.

Prosecutors have argued that the defendants unlawfully prescribed or obtained controlled substances that fueled Smith's addiction over a three-year period when she was known to be a drug addict.

Defense attorneys have countered that Smith was not an addict, but was a sufferer of chronic pain since 2000. She also battled anxiety, depression and lack of sleep.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

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UK actress joins Jim Carrey penguin film (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Rising English actress Ophelia Lovibond has joined the cast of "Mr. Popper's Penguins," a family comedy starring Jim Carrey.

Based on the award-winning book by Richard and Florence Atwater, "Penguins" tells the story of a high-powered businessman (Carrey) who inherits six penguins. As he gets acquainted with, and increasingly attached to, his winged roommates, Popper's life quickly unravels. His swanky New York apartment is turned into a snowy winter wonderland, the deal he's long been working on is derailed, and he almost lands in jail. But thanks to his new charges, Popper comes to understand the importance of family, human and otherwise.

Lovibond is playing Popper's personal assistant. Carla Gugino is already on board as Carrey's wife. The Fox movie shoots next month in New York. Mark Waters ("Mean Girls") is directing.

Lovibond appeared as a love interest to Aaron Johnson's John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy." She will make her American debut early next year in "No Strings," an Ivan Reitman comedy starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher.

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"Sound of Music" cast to reunite on Oprah's show (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The movie cast of "The Sound of Music" are reuniting for the first time in 45 years, with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer joining their seven fictional children in an October appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV talk show, producers said on Monday.

Andrews, Plummer, Charmian Carr (Liesl), and the actors who played the six other von Trapp family children will talk about making the 1965 Oscar-winning movie and their lives since it went on to become one of the most popular movie musicals ever.

The reunion will be broadcast on October 29 on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", Winfrey's Harpo productions said.

Some of the real von Trapp children, who travel the world performing songs made famous by the movie, will also appear and pay tribute to the film on the TV show.

"The Sound of Music" won five Oscars, including best picture, and its soundtrack featuring hits like "My Favorite Things" and "Edelweiss" is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time, having gone Platinum 12 times.

The movie is broadcast regularly on television and has won new fans in sing-along versions shown around the world.

Carr and some of the other, former child actors have come together in the past, but without stars Andrews, 74, who played the mischievous nun turned governess Maria, and Plummer, now 81, the stern Captain von Trapp who leads his family out of Austria just before World War Two.

Plummer, an award-winning Shakespearean stage actor, has sought in the past to distance himself from the movie and declined to attend a cast reunion for 40th anniversary of the DVD release in 2005.

But the actor told Reuters in a February interview he had made peace with his most famous role, despite being type cast as an uptight leading man for years after.

"It is not a film which I detest. The press have always got that wrong. I didn't hate the movie at all. I just didn't think my role was terribly exciting," Plummer said.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Rare Photos of Michael Jackson to Land on a Paris Auction Block (ARTINFO)

PARIS – Never-before-seen portraits of Michael Jackson will be auctioned by Pierre Bergé and Associates on December 13 at Paris’s Salomon de Rothschild Hotel. In the photos, Jackson wears a brightly-studded Yves Saint-Laurent tuxedo jacket, his left eye encircled with sparkly blue make-up. The highlights of the auction are four large images commissioned by Jackson with opening bids of €1,000 ($1,350). Bids will start at €500 ($675) for 55 smaller prints and 31 contact sheets, some of which feature notes that were hand-written by the King of Pop himself.

The story behind the photo shoot begins in 1999, in a palace in London. Jackson was flipping through the Sunday Times and was mesmerized by the cover of the style magazine. It featured an androgynous beauty, model Astrid Munoz, as captured by 23-year-old photographer Arno Bani. Fascinated by the model's iridescent metallic make-up and her statue-like appearance, Jackson was determined to ask the fashion photographer to create a similar portrait for the cover of his forthcoming CD "Invincible."

Although music executives ultimately chose another image for the album, the meeting between Jackson and Bani at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria led to a fruitful two-month collaboration in Paris. Given carte blanche by Jackson, Bani hired fashion and make-up superstars Jérôme Dreyfuss, Topolino, Frédérique Lorca, and Maïda for the shoot. Bani recently told the French news program Le 19:45 that he remembers Jackson as kind, giving, and a good listener, and described their photo sessions as harmonious and close-knit.

Bergé and Associates also produced 2,009 collectible "luxury boxes" (the number of the edition is to honor the year of Jackson’s death) that cost €1,000 and contain prints of the four portraits signed by the photographer as well as a bilingual catalogue. 1,936 luxury boxes currently remain available for purchase. Fans on tighter budgets can acquire a catalogue in French or English for €42.75 ($57.65, large hardcover edition) or €18.91 ($25.50, small softcover edition). All these items go on sale on October 20, but copies can currently be reserved.

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Facebook's Zuckerberg to be subject of a comic book (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – He created Facebook, is worth $7 billion, and this week a movie about his rise to fame and fortune hit theaters. So, it seems natural that Mark Zuckerberg will be the subject of a comic -- one more distinctive mark of celebrity in today's pop culture.

Publisher Bluewater Productions on Monday said it will issue the biographical comic "Mark Zuckerberg; the Creator of Facebook" in December. The author, Jerome Maida, said the 26-year-old's life makes for a particularly compelling story.

"Mark was offered loads of money at a young age and turned all his suitors down because deep down he knew he had higher goals than to work for someone else", said Maida.

"Bill Gates offered Mark a million dollars while Mark was still in high school to work for him, and Mark turned it down. I mean, how many high school kids will ever be made an offer like that? Very few. And how many would have the confidence to turn it down and pursue their own path? Very few, if any. But that's what Mark did," he added.

Other subjects in the series by Bluewater have included teen pop sensation Justin Bieber, English soccer star David Beckham, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.

The announcement comes just days before the October 1 release of a film depiction of the rise of Facebook, "The Social Network."

Earlier this month, Forbes magazine ranked Zuckerberg as the 35th richest person in the United States with a fortune valued at $6.9 billion.

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