A rapper by any other name
Sean Combs says he's not blowing smoke he's getting rid of his much played-upon "Puffy" moniker.
The rap mogul, who was acquitted earlier this month of bribery and weapons charges, told MTV News on Wednesday that he's dumping the nickname when he comes out with a new album.
So what will be his new rap name? Actually, he said he will just take one of his other nicknames P. Diddy. The rapper said he can even envision a name change ceremony, with another beleaguered celebrity helping him out. "So probably, like, the first week in June we are going to have a name change ceremony. Clinton is probably going to change my name. Bill Clinton, I like his style," Combs said. "He is a survivor, they went at him, he is still standing."
Crowe extends digital welcome
Fresh off winning the best actor Oscar for his role in "Gladiator," Russell Crowe stuck out his middle finger at a Princeton University student who was taking his picture as he prepared to film a scene for a new movie on campus Tuesday.
"He's not a bad guy," director Ron Howard told the Trentonian newspaper Wednesday on the set of the film, "A Beautiful Mind."
"It was out of character for him. He was signing a lot more autographs than giving middle fingers."
Crowe made the gesture to Meredith Moroney, who snapped the shot from her friend's dorm room. His only comment: "Well, you know whatever is printed in the newspaper is absolutely true." Some students were turned off by Crowe's gesture. "You'd think he would be more gracious," sophomore Lauren Chu said.
2 more for Sweet Baby James
Singer James Taylor and his new wife will become parents next month when a surrogate mother gives birth to their twins, Boston newspapers reported Wednesday. Taylor, 52, and his wife, Caroline Smedvig, a 47-year-old publicist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, are having the babies carried by a close family friend, the Herald reported, quoting anonymous sources.
The woman underwent in-vitro fertilization last year. The Taylors are the biological parents, the Herald and the Globe said. Taylor has two grown children from a previous marriage to singer Carly Simon.
Liverpool honors Yoko
Yoko Ono is to receive an honorary university degree in Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles and her late husband, John Lennon. In recognition of her artistic work and patronage of a scholarship fund she founded in the memory of Lennon in 1991, Ono will be made a doctor of laws by the University of Liverpool, the school said Wednesday. She is to receive the honor during a July ceremony at the city's Philharmonic Hall.
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