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SCRUBS star ZACH BRAFF has urged his fellow American Jews to make a trip to Israel at least once in their lifetime - so they can experience a true sense of "community".
The actor recently flew in to Israel, where he has enjoyed doing "all the touristy things", visiting the towns of Jerusalem, Jaffa and Eilat.
But he’s spent most of his time in Tel Aviv - and he’s reluctant to leave.
He tells Haaretz.com, "I was a teenager (when I first came here) - I couldn’t really appreciate it as much, and now I come back as an adult and I can really get the flavour of the city, and I love it. What I really wanted to do is live in the city and feel like a Tel Avivian." And Braff admits he feels more at ease with locals in Israel than back in his native U.S.
He adds, "As an American Jew it’s an amazing feeling to come to a place where you feel you belong. You know we’re such a minority in the U.S. Even though I grew up in New Jersey, which was very Jewish, and then I went to school in Chicago, which was Jewish, and then I moved to New York, which is very Jewish, and then I went to Hollywood, which is very Jewish. But they say we’re only two per cent of the population and shrinking because of intermarriage.
"You just feel this amazing sense of community (in Israel). We hear so much about Israel and politics with the Palestinians and you feel so separate from it. So I really wanted to see for myself.
"As a Jew I think it’s really important to come to this place. There is such a tremendous sense of community, tremendous bond for obvious reasons. I don’t know if Israelis have a sense of it because they live here, but I love it." And Braff’s experience has inspired him so much, he’s making plans to write a movie "about an American Jew who visits Israel".

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Oscar-winner JOAQUIN PHOENIX will record every step of his transition from movie star to musician in a forthcoming documentary.
The Walk The Line star announced his plans to retire from Hollywood - at the age of 34 - late last month (Oct08).
Phoenix told reporters he wanted to focus on his budding music career, adding, "I’m not doing films anymore. I’m working on my music. I’m done. I’ve been through that." According to a source at People.com, Phoenix has already started filming on a documentary "that will showcase his transition from acting to music".
Last week (beg17Nov08), the star surprised the crowd at California nightspot Carbon, when he took the mic to perform a rap recorded by his brother-in-law, actor Casey Affleck.

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Actor STEVE GUTTENBERG will reunite with TOM SELLECK and TED DANSON for a new sequel to 1987 hit movie THREE MEN AND A BABY.
The acting trio scored huge box office success with their comedic turn as bachelors forced to look after a girlfriend’s kids after they are left holding the baby.
They made a sequel in 1990, titled Three Men and a Little Lady, and now, 18 years later, Guttenberg, Selleck and Danson are set to reprise their roles for a new installment.
Guttenberg, 50, says, "Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and I are looking to make another Three Men And A Baby movie. It’s called Three Men and A Bride. The script is pretty much written and we are really keen to get that made. We’re very hopeful." Guttenberg is also in the process of reviving the Police Academy franchise, which shot him to fame in the early 1980s.

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British band NEW ORDER have been forced to recall collector’s editions of their first five albums after fans complained about poor sound quality.
The rockers re-released hit albums Movement (1981), Power Corruption And Lies (1983), Low-Life (1985), Brotherhood (1986) and Technique (1989) last month (Oct08) - all of which included bonus songs.
But a flurry of complaints have now flooded in about poor audio quality of the accompanying bonus discs - leaving the group with no option but to recall all the albums.
A statement released by the band says, "We are now in the process of correcting the problems, but it should be noted that due to the age and condition of some of the original source tapes, the sound quality may vary."

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Rapper LIL WAYNE has lashed out at critics questioning his professionalism after he postponed a New York concert date for a second time.
The Lollipop hitmaker, real name Dwayne Carter Jr., was originally due to perform in Rochester on 26 October (08).
But the gig was pulled at the last minute because Lil Wayne was unhappy with the standard of the audio equipment.
The date was postponed until 6 December (08), when the star was billed to co-headline with T.I. - but now that show has been cancelled because it clashes with Wayne’s rehearsal time in preparation for his upcoming U.S.-wide tour. The Live Your Life hitmaker had also double-booked himself - he’s due to appear on sketch show Saturday Night Live that night too.
Lil Wayne has subsequently been savaged for the continuous delays - but now his publicist Myiah Hughes has hit back at reports of his tardiness, blaming the concert promoter for the initial cancellation.
The representative tells AllHipHop.com, "Lil Wayne has not cancelled the Rochester, New York Blue Cross Arena performance.
"Failure to provide adequate equipment per a signed agreement, caused the October 26 concert date to be postponed." The spokesperson went on to defend Wayne further, claiming he had made every attempt to reconcile with the promoter.
Hughes adds, "Wayne offered the promoter, Ed Strickland, another date without penalty. Due to mandatory tour rehearsal for his upcoming I Am Music tour, the date had to be postponed again.
"He never wanted to let down his fans and has already made arrangements to reschedule the performance. The Rochester date will take place after his tour." Lil Wayne’s I Am Music tour kicks off in Miami, Florida on 14 December (08).

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LIMP BIZKIT frontman FRED DURST has silenced fans’ fears a planned reunion has been cancelled - insisting there have been no updates about their comeback because he lost the password for the band’s website.
Durst stunned devotees of the rock group back in September (08) by revealing he and the original line-up - minus guitarist Wes Borland - were back in the studio and making new music.
Two months on, he insists the plans are still afoot - and he can share them with fans now he has access to Limp Bizkit’s MySpace page again.
He writes, "I finally remembered my freaking password to this portal. What I want you to know is that s**t is going down! The Limp dogs are bringing it hard. It is time to rally the family and prepare for the most significant year for us all - 2009. We have to become one. A voice louder than them all. We will fill the void together. I have never been more excited. It will be important that you stay tuned and help rally the troops for this explosion. And I promise to not be so cryptic as the days progress." The band, which formed in 1994, split in 1996.

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DEAR SUBSCRIBERS Please note that on Thanksgiving Day this week (Thursday, 27 November) WENN will be providing five main news feeds instead of the usual six. This means there will be no WENN6 at 10pm GMT (5pm EST, 2pm PST) on Thursday, 27 November (08).

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Pop superstar BEYONCE KNOWLES brought New York to a standstill on Wednesday (26Nov08) when she performed a free concert in the city for hundreds of fans who had turned out to see her strut her stuff.
The singer showed off her bootylicious curves when she pulled up riding on the back of a chauffeured convertible wearing a body-hugging black catsuit for U.S. morning chat show Today.
Knowles strutted down a red carpet, greeting fans who gathered outside the show’s Rockefeller Center studio on the way to the stage.
She performed a string of hits including new singles If I Were A Boy and Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).
Knowles told the crowd, "I just want to say thank you. We have the best fans in the world. They’ve been supporting me and Destiny’s Child since we first came out."

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KANYE WEST’s cousin is allegedly at the centre of an investigation in connection with the death of the STRONGER hitmaker’s mother DONDA last year (07).
Dr. Donda West passed away on 10 November 2007, aged 58, after suffering complications following a cosmetic surgery procedure.
She had undergone a tummy tuck and breast augmentation operation just one day before she died.
A Los Angeles coroner cleared her surgeon, Dr. Jan Adams, of any wrongdoing when the expert ruled Donda had died of "multiple post-operative failures".
But now it has emerged her nephew, nurse Stephan Scoggins, who was taking care of his aunt, may have had some involvement in her demise.
According to the autopsy report, Donda took painkiller Vicodin the night before her death - and woke up in the morning feeling much better.
Website People.com claims Scoggins left the home later that day on 11 November (07) to attend a baby shower.
But it was only later on that Donda experienced pain, a sore throat and tightening in her chest. She was unable to contact Scoggins and collapsed in the early evening, the autopsy documents state.
A friend at the house called the emergency services but Donda was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Now California authorities have reportedly launched an investigation into Scoggins’ professional conduct amid the possibility he administered too much Vicodin to Donda in a short period of time.
A source tells the website a representative for the California Department of Consumer Affairs has approached individuals and issued subpoenas "to testify in the matter of the investigation of Stephan Scoggins".
Public information officer Russ Heimerich has refused to address the claims, saying, "We do not comment on ongoing investigations." Last year, Dr. Adams told People magazine he had not fully discussed the plan of care for Donda with Scoggins, admitting, "There’s no set regimen, like you need to do this and this." A representative for rapper West had yet to return comment on the report as WENN went to press.

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Late actor HEATH LEDGER’s tragic death has reportedly inspired a new episode of U.S. TV crime drama LAW & ORDER.
The show is notorious for basing its plots on headlining-grabbing events in New York - where the series is filmed.
And its newest inspiration comes in an upcoming episode that is "supposed to be about Heath Ledger", reports the New York Post.
A show insider explains the plot stars a male model who "has a great career and gets all the ladies (and) leaves a club with a girl".
The source adds, "They have sex and do drugs, and the next morning, his friend finds him dead." Ledger died from a prescription drug overdose in January (08).

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HUGH JACKMAN is set to star as HARRY HOUDINI in a Broadway musical based on the life of the legendary illusionist.
The Australia actor has already been practising magic tricks in anticipation of taking on the role of the world’s most famous escapologist, according to FOX news.
Celebrated composer Danny Elfman has been signed up to write the music for the big budget show, while designer David Rockwell will create the sets and co-produce, alongside Scott Sanders, who brought The Color Purple to the New York stage.
Jackman is now expected to confirm his involvement in the production - which is due to debut on Broadway in 2010.

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BRITNEY SPEARS will parade through New York to celebrate her upcoming birthday in a wild, circus-themed party, according to reports.
The pop star is marking her 27th birthday on 2 December (08) with the release of her highly-anticipated comeback album, Circus.
She’s scheduled to start the day taking over American TV sets with an eye-popping performance on chat show Good Morning America.
And, according to the New York Post, Spears’ antics will continue with an all-out bash at star-studded nightclub Tenjune.
A source tells the newspaper her party will be "a very private, Circus-theme event".

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Actor ZACH BRAFF has confirmed his exit from TV comedy SCRUBS, confessing he feels free now that he’s quit his role as DR. JOHN ‘J.D.’ DORIAN.
The news ends long-running rumours he is leaving the hit show, along with creator Bill Lawrence and co-star Judy Reyes, after the series’ eighth season, which premieres in the U.S. in January (09).
And Braff can’t wait to branch out of TV and try new movie roles, because he always felt restricted while contracted to the programme.
He says, "(I left Scrubs because) there’s so much I want to do with my life.
(It was) the most amazing experience of my life, but when you work on a television series, they own you." Braff has already started to make full use of his newfound freedom - he’s travelled to Tel Aviv, Israel and even gained his pilot’s licence - things he doubts the show’s insurers would have allowed him to do.
He adds, "I don’t think they’d let me come here (to Tel Aviv). They wouldn’t let me take flying lessons."

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Items belonging to the late British comedian SPIKE MILLIGAN have sold for a total of $111,950 (£73,000) at an auction in London.
The sale on Wednesday (26Nov08) included the star’s wartime diaries and original tape recordings of The Goon Show - the British radio comedy programme that shot Milligan to fame in the 1950s.
But it was Milligan’s personal Beatles memorabilia that was most sought after, with a collection of seven Christmas cards sent to him by George Harrison selling for $10,944 (£7,200), a poem and cartoon created by Sir Paul McCartney fetching $9,120 (£6,000) and a copy of Arthur Janov’s The Primal Scream signed by John Lennon selling for $6,385 (£4,200).
The comic’s widow Shelagh decided to put the items up for sale because she is moving house.

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President GEORGE W. BUSH’s mother BARBARA BUSH has been hospitalised in Houston, Texas with a mystery illness.
The former First Lady, 83, was taken to a local medical centre after the condition, which she has been experiencing for the last week, worsened on Tuesday (25Nov08).
Family spokesman Jim McGrath revealed Barbara suffered "a little bit of pain" and doctors are now running tests to determine the cause of the health trouble.
He says, "So far everything is negative. Fortunately, it looks like it’s going to be a small matter." Barbara was accompanied to hospital by her husband, former president George Bush Sr., 84.
She is expected to be discharged in time for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday (27Nov08).
Bush Sr. was the 41st President of the U.S. and served in office from 1989 to 1993.

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GERALD SCHOENFELD has died of a heart attack at the age of 84.
The Broadway legend, who brought dozens of hit shows to New York, including A Chorus Line, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera, passed away on Tuesday (25Nov08) at his home in Manhattan.
He ran the largest theatre-owning enterprise in the United States as head of both the Shubert Organization, which owns and operates 17 Broadway theatres, and the Shubert Foundation, which helps to support nonprofit theatres and dance companies across the country.
Schoenfeld shared the role for 24 years with Bernard B. Jacobs, who died in 1996. The pair is credited with rescuing New York theatre during its downturn through the 1970s.
The two men were known as “the Shuberts”, although they were not related to the three Shubert brothers who founded the theatre empire early in the 20th century, after acquiring Broadway hits Pippin, Equus and A Chorus Line - winner of a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize in 1975.
Among the musicals they were credited with producing or co-producing are Cats, Godspell, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Dreamgirls, Dancin’ and Sunday in the Park With George.
The pair also worked on non-musical plays The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Heidi Chronicles, The Gin Game and Amadeus.
While Schoenfeld is perhaps best known for his work as a producer, he also took a role in Woody Allen’s 1984 film Broadway Danny Rose, after the director cast him for a cameo.
But Schoenfeld - who began working with the theatre legends as the company’s primary lawyer in 1957 - focused on maintaining the Shubert Organization’s theatres, acquiring new properties and acting as the organization’s public spokesman.
He argued that the theatre was an economic engine for the city and deserved greater help from City Hall, and was instrumental in transforming Times Square from into the family-oriented district it is today.
Schoenfeld is survived by his wife of 58 years, Pat; a brother, Irving; a daughter, Carrie Schoenfeld-Guglielmi; and two grandchildren.

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THE SOPRANOS actor LILLO BRANCATO JR. had no idea the man who confronted him while he was robbing a New York house was an off-duty cop, his defence attorney told a murder trial jury on Tuesday (25Nov08).
Brancato, 32, is accused of murdering Officer Daniel Enchautegui, even though his accomplice Steven Armento fired the deadly shots during a botched burglary back in 2005.
Armento was convicted and jailed for life for his role in the murder last month (Oct08).
Brancato is facing a similar sentence, but his defence attorney insists he was not carrying a weapon, and had no idea Armento was armed and that Enchautegui was a police officer.
After hearing shots fired, now-retired Officer Courtney Mapp raced to the scene and found Officer Enchautegui dying, Armento brandishing a gun, and Brancato bleeding, having been shot by the wounded cop.
Under cross-examination from defence attorney Joseph Tacopina, Mapp confirmed that Brancato made no mention of Enchautegui being a police officer, instead complaining, "That b**ch shot me." Earlier in the trial, Tacopina described how Brancato and Armento were attempting to steal prescription drugs from the house they were robbing, after a night of drinking in a strip club.
The actor found fame playing Robert De Niro’s son in A Bronx Tale, and then landed a role as junior mobster Matt Bevilacqua in The Sopranos.

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Former ULTRAVOX star MIDGE URE is to receive an honorary degree from a British university - to pay tribute to his musical and humanitarian achievements.
The singer, who co-founded charity supergroup Band Aid in 1984, will have his good work acknowledged by Glasgow Caledonian University in a ceremony on Wednesday (26Nov08).
The award is Ure’s fourth from a Scottish university.
The star was handed an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005 for his work with good causes and remains a Band Aid trustee, alongside co-founder Bob Geldof.

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