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HOWARD THE DUCK creator STEVE GERBER has died of complications arising from pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60.
Gerber passed away in a Las Vegas hospital on Sunday (10Feb08).
He is best known for Howard The Duck, the bad-tempered, cigar-smoking Marvel Comics character he created in the 1970s.
The 1986 film version of the comic strip is notorious as one of Hollywood’s biggest flops.
Gerber also wrote for animated TV shows including G.I. Joe and Dungeons & Dragons.

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Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl MARISA MILLER is a closet fighter - she has a passion for boxing.
Despite the threat of ruining her looks, the sassy American stunner loves to get in the ring and scrap.
She says, "Sometimes it’s fun to just hit something." But Miller stopped one fight after she took a punch to the face - to remind her boxing buddy of what she did for a living.
The sexy model adds, "I did get popped a little bit and I kinda got, like, a little bigger lip… I told them, like, I can’t show up without a tooth, or anything."

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Tough guys MICHAEL MADSEN fought to play the lead in new fight film STRENGTH & HONOR because he didn’t like the idea of ORLANDO BLOOM or CHRISTIAN BALE knocking him out.
The Reservoir Dogs star was originally cast as the bare-knuckle fighter who receives a beating at the end of the film, but couldn’t stomach getting flattened by the suggested leading men.
He explains, "There are two fighters in the movie… In the beginning they offered me the role of the knuckle fighter. I said, ‘I don’t want to play that guy,’ and they said, ‘We’re gonna get Orlando Bloom to play Sean.’ "I said, ‘I’m gonna be knocked out by Orlando Bloom? If I do that then it’ll be over for me. I won’t be able to play any bad guys after that! You guys must be crazy.’ "Then they were gonna get Christian Bale. I kept saying, ‘Please let me play Sean, the other guy,’ but the money guys wouldn’t let me do it.’ "I finally got the call from the director, Mark Mahon, and they were gonna let me play Sean." Madsen stopped smoking and worked out with top kick boxers and Irish middleweight Norman Kelly.
The actor adds, "They basically beat the crap out of me every day for four weeks of endlessly training."

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Actress/singer HEIDI MONTAG had a very scary St. Valentine’s Day (14Feb08) the boat she took out for a romantic "sailing safari" crashed.
The Hills star and her boyfriend Spencer Pratt chose to start the day with a boating trip off the California coast, but they picked the wrong captain.
Montag reveals, "The driver of our boat crashed into three other boats… I was so scared… I was, like, ‘What kind of boat are we on?’ "I thought we were about to sink… I think that he (captain) hadn’t sailed in a little bit." But the most romantic day of the year ended in style - Pratt treated Montag to a meal at top Los Angeles restaurant La Scala.

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Oscar-nominated French actress MARION COTILLARD feared she’d taken on too much when she started to study photographs of a "destroyed" EDITH PIAF while researching her role as the singer.
Cotillard was initially thrilled to land the role of the tragic performer in La Vie En Rose, but quickly realised the transformation to Piaf would not be an easy one.
She explains, "When I started to discover her life, and saw that she was only 47 at her death, I couldn’t believe it based on all the photographs I had seen - she looked 70 years old.
"When I first prepared for the role, I was not sure I could play someone who, through the tragedy of her life, looked so shocking and destroyed."

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LATEST: JANE FONDA has apologised for turning the air blue when she uttered the explicit ‘c’ word on U.S. breakfast show TODAY.
The Oscar winner joined Eve Ensler on the show’s sofa on Thursday (14Feb08) to discuss the 10th anniversary of the playwright’s Vagina Monologues-inspired V-Day when she stunned viewers by saying ‘c**t’.
But the 70-year-old insists she didn’t mean to swear and accidental cursing is no big deal.
She explains, "The first time that I knew about The Vagina Monologues, I was asked to perform that particular monologue in Atlanta, and so I just happened to say the name of it.
"I didn’t even think. I’m sorry if I offended anybody. I think it’s pretty silly." On Thursday’s show, Fonda said, "I live in Georgia; I was asked to do a monologue called C**t and I said, ‘I don’t think so, I’ve got enough problems.’"

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Rock supergroup EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER have ruled out a reunion because the trio can’t imagine a good enough reason to come together.
As Carl Palmer prepares to tour with a reformed Asia, he admits he has considered teaming up with his other classic rock act.
But he cannot imagine a scenario where the trio would agree to hit the studio or the concert stage together - even with the April (08) release of Come And See The Show: The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Palmer says, "We’ve had some talks, but I don’t really see the reason to do anything unless it was absolutely something one couldn’t turn down on a financial basis.
"But I don’t think it would be just money driven; people would have to want to do it. If it happens naturally, without too much confusion or too much bother, then, yes, I think it would be a great idea. But it’s not something which I try to provoke."

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LATEST: R. KELLY has laughed off claims his former publicist REGINA DANIELS severed ties with him because of a sexual relationship he had with her 21-year-old daughter.
Daniels’ music industry veteran husband George Daniels has revealed his wife quit her longtime post in November (07) amid rumours Kelly, who is facing 14 counts of having sex with a minor, had embarked on an intimate romance with her daughter Maxine.
But the R&B superstar insists Daniels had encouraged the love affair with Maxine, and he and his former publicist actually parted company after he accused her of incompetence.
Kelly’s statement reads: "It’s hard to take seriously the moral outrage expressed by George and Regina Daniels over R. Kelly’s relationship with Mr.
Daniels’ adult daughter, Maxine.
"The fact is that they had no problem with the relationship - indeed, they encouraged it - while Ms. Daniels was on Mr. Kelly’s payroll.
"It was Regina Daniels, then working as a publicist for Mr. Kelly, who persuaded him to attend her stepdaughter’s 21st birthday party. And it was Regina Daniels who shortly thereafter gave her stepdaughter Mr. Kelly’s private phone number, with the admonition: `Don’t tell your father.’ "It was only after Ms. Daniels resigned her position to avoid being fired for incompetence that her stepdaughter’s relationship suddenly became an issue for her and her husband."

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EDDIE VEDDER is to leave PEARL JAM behind for his first solo tour in April (08).
The rocker will perform tracks from the Into The Wild and Body Of War soundtracks as well as rarities on a seven-date North American tour, which will begin in Vancouver, Canada on 2 April (08).
Pearl Jam will regroup after the tour to work on a new album. The group has also confirmed it will be headlining the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee in June (08).

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Rapper PITBULL was forced to cut short a show in Texas last week (08Feb08) after he was hit by a flying bottle hurled from the audience.
The Latino star was performing at Planeta Mexico in San Antonio when the incident happened.
Pitbull, real name Armando Christian Perez, immediately dashed off the stage for treatment to his head wound.
Covered in blood, and holding a towel to his head, the tough guy rapper returned to perform another song before paramedics took him to hospital.
According to website TMZ.com, he received eight staples in his skull.

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SEAN ‘DIDDY’ COMBS has defended himself against accusations he assaulted a man at a post-Oscars party last year (07) - by insisting the alleged victim ran into his "stationary open hand".
The rap mogul stands accused of punching Gerard Rechnitzer in the jaw after the 27-year-old objected to Combs’ attempts to woo his fiancee at a Roosevelt Hotel party in Hollywood in February 2007.
Last month (Jan08), four people came forward with eyewitness accounts backing Rechnitzer’s claims.
But in legal papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Combs argues that all he did was try to protect himself from Rechnitzer, who is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit filed in March 2007.
Combs’ documents, obtained by website TMZ.com, read: "(Rechnitzer) continued moving toward me and, without warning, lunged at me.
"Instinctively, I outstretched one of my hands, which hand was not closed-fisted (sic), to shield myself…
"Any contact between Mr. Rechnitzer and myself was caused by his forward motion against my stationary open hand."

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Veteran rockers AEROSMITH have landed their own video game.
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which will be released this summer (08), covers the Walk This Way band’s entire 35-year history and features 30 Aerosmith songs.
All five band members completed motion-capture sessions so that their pixilated counterparts are as realistic as possible, when fans play at being rock stars.
Guitarist Joe Perry was inspired to create the Aerosmith game when he returned home two years ago to find his son Roman, now 16, playing Guitar Hero with friends.
Perry recalls, "I played it a little bit and said, `This is fantastic. Does it have any Aerosmith songs on it?’ The first game didn’t, and I was hugely upset." Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the first one-band version of the hit game, but will feature opening acts and some surprise guests.

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