Julia's smile costs dentist
Twenty-six years before Julia Roberts won an Oscar, her hometown dentist in made a pledge to his young patients: If any of them won such a grand prize, he would give every child in Smyrna, Ga., a tube of toothpaste.
Now, it's payoff time for Dr. Ted Aspes. "I had two families waiting for me in the parking lot when I got here this morning," Aspes said Monday, the day after Roberts won the best actress award for "Erin Brockovich."
The dentist, whose long-ago pledge also covered honors such as the Grammy, Heisman trophy and Rhodes scholarship, was not caught by surprise. He expected Roberts to win. "I ordered 10,000 tubes last week," he said. "I usually order a few hundred. My distributor called and said, 'Hey, doc, are you sure there isn't a comma in the wrong place?"'
Billy Crystal: Oscar fan
Billy Crystal was like a lot of Americans on Oscar night. He watched the Academy Awards at home with a friend and ordered in dinner.
Crystal turned down the chance to play host for the show for the eighth time. Comedian Steve Martin took over. "Steve is a good friend of mine and I was really happy he did well," Crystal said Monday.
Last week, he finished directing the comedy "America's Sweethearts" with best actress Oscar winner Julia Roberts and John Cusack, due in theaters later this year. "I'm so tired and beat up," he said. "It felt nice not to have that (Oscar) pressure on my head the last few weeks."
'Soprano' star's second childhood
Playing the wife of mob boss Tony Soprano on television each week is easy. Playing Nayomi, a teen-age hip-hop star in pigtails, was nerve-racking for Edie Falco.
Falco, who co-stars as Carmela Soprano on the HBO drama "The Sopranos," was one of several actors who took part in a student play writing workshop on Sunday in Greenwich Village. The nonprofit 52nd Street Project matches children ages 10 to 12 with actors by having them write and perform plays.
"You think it's all about award shows and the clothes you wear," Falco told The New York Times. "But it forces you to realize why you got into the profession."
Bob Marley redux
You don't need a spliff to enjoy Bob Marley, that's for sure. More and more American teens are latching on to reggae and the Marley legend that have smoked the world for some 30 years. So it's not surprising that the first in a series of original recordings by Marley was released Tuesday in the United States and Europe as a way to introduce young people to his early music.
"Catch A Fire: The Deluxe Edition" is being released by Island-Def Jam Records.
Other compilations of Marley's music have been released over the years, but this is the first time the company is taking the original albums of the 1970s and putting them out as CDs.
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