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PATRICK SWAYZE is in good spirits, training for the second season of his TV show THE BEAST and "kicking butt", according to close pal WHOOPI GOLDBERG.
Less than a week after a U.S. tabloid printed pictures of the cancer-suffering star looking frail and gaunt, Swayze reached out to his Ghost co-star in a personal call, asking her to dispel rumours he’s on death’s door.
Speaking on her morning talk show The View on Tuesday (17Mar09), Goldberg revealed, "He’s actually quite good. He’s in very very good spirits. He’s in the middle of writing a book with (his wife) Lisa." Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year (08), but has vowed to fight the disease and defied doctors’ expectations by landing a role in A&E network drama The Beast.
The first season premiered earlier this year (09) - and Swayze is now preparing to shoot season two.
Goldberg adds, "He’s working his tail off. He’s sick, there’s no getting around it, but, like all of us, we all know we’re going to die. We don’t know when and what’s going to take us.
"As it turns out, there’s no expiration date on his a**, so he’s going forward. He’s going back into training for The Beast, because he’s running and jumping in it." Swayze has also denied claims chemotherapy has cost him his hair, prompted by photos appearing to show him wearing a wig; he insists he cut his own locks off for his role in The Beast.
Goldberg adds,"He says he shaved his head. Whatever you’re reading, just know he’s kicking butt. He’s doing one day at a time."

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CHRISTINA RICCI and her actor boyfriend OWEN BENJAMIN have announced their engagement.
The 29-year-old actress has been dating Benjamin, her co-star in upcoming movie All’s Faire in Love, since November (08).
Former child star Ricci previously dated Adam Goldberg and her Speed Racer co-star Kick Gurry.

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Alabama National Guard officials were left red faced when prankster SACHA BARON COHEN was allowed to sign up - as his Austrian fashion forward character Bruno.
Last month (Feb09), the funnyman tricked the top brass into allowing him onto a post, giving him a military uniform and briefly letting him train with soldiers, telling them he was shooting a German TV documentary.
But when one cadet recognised the Brit from his Borat movie, he alerted officers, who quickly realised Cohen was not for real.
Guard spokeswoman Katrina Simmons says, "It’s an embarrassment to the Alabama National Guard. We have put in protocols to make sure this doesn’t happen again." It is unclear whether the footage taken of Cohen’s Bruno training with the National Guard will be used in his upcoming comedy Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt.

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PETE DOHERTY is begging his former THE LIBERTINES bandmate CARL BARAT to reunite the British rock band.
The Libertines split in 2004, after Doherty was booted from the band following a series of bust-ups with Barat over the troubled star’s drug use. Doherty was also jailed for breaking into his pal’s London home.
Doherty went on to perform and record with Babyshambles, while Barat formed Dirty Pretty Things; but neither have emulated the hype or success they enjoyed with The Libertines - and they have been dogged by reunion rumours ever since.
And, after claiming to have kicked his long-term addictions to heroin and crack cocaine, Doherty insists he is now ready to reform the band - and he’s calling on Barat to forgive and forget their troubled past.
He tells BBC radio, "He doesn’t want to go down the same path and pick up the pieces again. He still thinks I’m surrounded by this dark energy so (reunion won’t happen) until I can prove I’m worth the risk.
"There’s obviously suggestions put forward and offers made so it’s not about the money for him otherwise we would have reformed already. He just wants to make sure it’s right."

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Baseball star ALEX RODRIGUEZ has come clean about his relationship with MADONNA, confessing he often calls on her for advice.
The pair was romantically linked throughout 2008 - and both stars were blamed for each other’s broken marriages, but they refused to confirm reports they were dating.
Now, in a new interview with Details magazine, the New York Yankees power hitter offers up his true feelings about the pop star.
He says, "We’re friends. She’s an amazing entertainer. And it’s been amazing how she’s been able to stay on top for three decades. I have a lot of respect for her.
"If there ever was any situation, she’s a great ear to have." And he reveals he first met Madonna while he was trying to buy her house in Miami, Florida.
He recalls, "I couldn’t afford it."

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Rockers COUNTING CROWS have split from their record company after 18 years.
In a post on the band’s website on Tuesday (17Mar09), frontman Adam Duritz reveals bosses at Geffen Records were unable to allow the Mr. Jones hitmakers to do what they wanted to do.
He writes, "The directions we want to go and the opportunities we want to pursue are often things that our label is simply not allowed to do.
"We’ve worked together for a long time, so they understand the direction we need to go in and we understand why they can’t always go there with us. We all want whatâ��s best for everyone which is why we’ve decided to part ways." The singer/songwriter admits the group plans to use Internet technology as it continues to grow.
He adds, "A lot of people think it’s a tough time to be a band, but we don’t feel that way. The internet opens a world of limitless possibility, where the only boundaries are the boundaries of your own imagination. We want a chance to push those boundaries back as far as we can." As a parting gift to fans, the band is offering them a free download of live tune Borderline via its website.
At the group’s height, Counting Crows were among the biggest bands in America and Duritz basked in the success, dating a string of A-list ladies, including Courteney Cox and Winona Ryder.

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GNARLS BARKLEY star CEE-LO GREEN, FALL OUT BOY’s PATRICK STUMP and TRAVIS MCCOY from GYM CLASS HEROES have teamed up to record a new Coca-Cola anthem.
Open Happiness debuted on website MySpace.com on Monday (16Mar09).
Top producer Polow Da Don�s has already remixed the tune for iTunes.com and a video will be recorded.
A percentage of sales from the download will be donated to various charities.
Green, who co-wrote the track with Butch Walker, says, "I guess what was interesting about the idea at first was Coca-Cola�s interest in me - that was appealing. Music�s marketplace can be very fickle and unforgiving and, if you want longevity and you want legend, who better to ask advice from than Coca-Cola?"

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THE ILLUSIONIST star AARON JOHNSON has landed the lead in a new movie about JOHN LENNON’s childhood.
The actor, who played Edward Norton’s character as a youngster in The Illusionist, is currently filming Nowhere Boy with an all-star supporting cast in England.
2009 Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas will portray the Beatleâ��s favourite aunt, Mimi, who battled Lennonâ��s mother, Julia Baird, for custody. The film is based on Baird’s memoirs.
The movie will examine the effects each woman and their custody fight had on the young musician, and Lennon’s early relationship with Paul McCartney.
Nowhere Boy, directed by Sam Taylor Wood, will conclude as the Beatles set sail for Germany, where the band’s career took off. The film also features Thomas Sangster, David Morrissey and Anne-Marie Duff.
The Weinstein Company has picked up the project.

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O.J. SIMPSON’s supporters are asking the public to donate money to fund an appeal to pay for legal aid as the incarcerated star fights his robbery and kidnapping convictions.
The American football hero-turned-actor was jailed in December (08) for his part in a raid on a Las Vegas hotel room in 2007.
He faces a maximum of 33 years behind bars.
Simpson, who argued in court he was attempting to reclaim stolen memorabilia during the raid, claims he was unfairly convicted.
And a group of supporters, calling itself the Society Against Legal Injustice, has set up a website to seek donations, in a bid to fund a new legal charge on Simpson’s behalf.
The site claims Simpson was unfairly targetted because of his acquittal for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

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Aussie hunk SIMON BAKER has ended PATRICK DEMPSEY’s two-year reign as the sexiest man on U.S. TV.
Baker’s show The Mentalist became an instant hit when it debuted in America last year (08) and now The Devil Wears Prada star has toppled Grey’s Anatomy doctor Dempsey as TV Guide magazine’s most desired actor.
Dempsey was the publication’s sexiest man on TV two years in row.
Baker’s wife isn’t convinced she’s married to the sexiest guy on TV.
He explains, "My wife said to me this morning, ‘I could take a photo of you right now and they might take that title away from you.’" Also making the new top 10 are David Boreanaz, new dad Matthew Settle and reality TV star Brody Jenner.

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Singer ENRIQUE IGLESIAS has sworn off British alcohol, after a traditional Christmas drink left him with an embarrassing stomach complaint.
The Hero hitmaker sipped mulled wine, a heated and spiced red liquor, for the first time when he was in the U.K. in December (08) - but was left regretting the decision after his stomach disagreed with the drink.
He tells British chat show host Paul O’Grady, "When I go out I get in trouble. I can’t handle alcohol that well.
"You know what I tried last time I was here (in Britain)? Mulled wine, the hot wine. It’s like medicine. It really made me feel sick. It gave me diarrhoea, it was bad. It left me drunk and with diarrhoea!"

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LADY GAGA credits AMY WINEHOUSE with helping her become a star - because the troubled Brit made "strange" fashionable.
GaGa has quickly become an international pop sensation thanks to chart-topping hit singles Just Dance and Pokerface.
But she insists Winehouse paved the way for performers like her, by changing what is considered to be mainstream.
Gaga tells PopEater.com, �I will always have a very deep love for Amy Winehouse. Because of Amy, very strange girls like me go to prom with very good-looking guys.
�She�s a different kind of woman �I don�t believe that what I do is very digestible, and somehow Amy was the flu for pop music. And everybody got a little bit of the flu and got over it, and fell in love with Amy Winehouse. And now, when more flu comes along, it�s not so unbearable.�

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Actress JULIA ROBERTS accuses the paparazzi of ruining the glamour of Hollywood, by delving too deep into celebrities’ lives.
Roberts claims fans have too much access to the stars they worship, which "dilutes" the magic of movies.
She tells Moviefone.com, "It’s so insidious and pointless. I think that takes away from getting to have this special moment where you go and see someone in a movie. That magic gets diluted because you see these people every hour, every day in something that’s bound together and called a publication." Roberts admits in the past she has read tabloid gossip, but found it a depressing habit.
She adds, "I’m not a consumer. I used to be. It got kind of so sickening. Like eating a giant cheeseburger, and halfway through you’re like: ‘What the f**k am I doing?! This is gonna make me sick.’"

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NICOLAS CAGE is planning a break from acting to pursue a more extreme pastime - as a licensed hang gliding pilot.
The Leaving Las Vegas star is entranced by the idea of soaring through the air with a pair of his own wings.
And he’s looking for a break between films so he can travel to the Swiss Alps, where the actor has learned he can become certified to fly in just two weeks.
He says, "It’s probably one of the most beautiful things a man can do. You’re just soaring in the sky like an eagle… It’s less dangerous now. They say it’s not as bad as racing cars and it’s probably no more dangerous than riding a bicycle, so I’m ready to get my pilots license." But Cage insists he won’t be taking up any other extreme sports any time soon.
He adds, "Skydiving doesn’t interest me at all. There’s no muscle in my body that tells me to jump out of an airplane. I just don’t get it."

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JULIA ROBERTS has banned her kids from becoming child stars.
The Pretty Woman star’s niece Emma Roberts forged a successful career as a child actress, including a role alongside her aunt in 2001 movie America’s Sweethearts.
But the Oscar winner wants her own kids with husband Danny Moder, twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, four, and Henry 21 months, to wait until they are older.
She tells Moviefone.com, "My first instinct is that I would prefer if my children wanted to be artists that they wait, you know, that they just wait - as long as they can."

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JASON MRAZ is obsessed with Scrabble and met his last girlfriend playing the word game online.
The acoustic rocker plays the game almost daily; keeps logs of his performances; and even wears a leather necklace adorned with his initials J and M in Scrabble tiles.
But Mraz admits he occasionally cheats, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I like to invent my own words. My girlfriend and I recently came up with dillions. It’s the one after gazillions."

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OZZY OSBOURNE is returning to the studio in April (09) to finish his next solo album, due for release in 2010.
The former Black Sabbath star is reuniting with longtime guitarist Zakk Wylde to add to tracks they have already recorded for the as-yet-untitled disc.
Wylde tells MetalHammer.co.uk, �We started working on it already. We�re going to go in the studio with Ozz (in April) and knock out a couple more songs and the album should be done. Then Ozz has to sing on it.� Osbourne cancelled his annual Ozzfest tour this year (09) so he could concentrate on the album, but he and Wylde plan to head out on the road to promote it later in 2010.
Wylde adds, �That�s what we�re talking about. We�ll see if it happens.�

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IAN BROWN has denied reports he has agreed to rejoin former group THE STONE ROSES for a series of U.K. shows this summer.
The singer was rumoured to have signed a lucrative deal to rejoin former bandmates Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, John Squire and Alan ‘Reni’ Renn for at least 21 forthcoming U.K. gigs (09).
But Brown has ruled himself out of a possible reunion - insisting he is only planning to work on solo material.
A spokesman for the star says, "We know nothing about a reunion. Ian is working on his new studio album which is due out later this year." The Fools Gold hitmakers split in 1996. Brown has since gone on to carve out a successful solo career, while bassist Mounfield has found success with Scottish rockers Primal Scream.

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