8A
ENTERTAINMENT
THE UNIVERSITY HARY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2007
Jackpot
Jae C. Hong/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Travelers crowd an outdoor shopping mall in front of Harrah's hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Harrah's Entertainment Inc. shareholders approved on Thursday a $17.1 billion buyout offer from two private equity groups in the largest deal ever to take a publicly held casino company private.
》 CELEBRITY
Beyonce releases video album
BY ALICIA QUARLES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beyonce performs on the NBC "Today" television program in New York's Rockefeller Center on Monday. Her "B'Day Anthology Video Album," released on Tuesday, features songs from her multitalent Grammy-winning "B'Day" album.
Richard Drew/ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Beyonce may be one of the hardest working women in show business. She cranked out eight videos in two weeks for her new DVD, "B'Day Anthology Video Album."
"I always wanted to do a video album," Beyonce said in a recent interview, noting that her fans "can watch it whenever they want and not have to go to YouTube."
The 25-year-old singer told AP Television News she was able to pull it off because everyone was well-rehearsed and prepared.
"I knew all the choreography before I started filming the videos. I knew what every hairstyle was going to be before I did it. I knew what every look (was going to be); as far as the makeup and the wardrobe, we already had the fittings," she said.
"B'Day Anthology Video Album," released Tuesday, features songs from her Grammy-winning "B'Day" album. The DVD coincides with the release of a deluxe edition of the disc, with seven tracks in Spanish.
Beyonce, who rides a giant black cat in one glammed-up video for the song "Kitty Kat," said she got a
kick out of reinventing her look.
"I didn't want them to look the same," she said. "Some are in black and white. Some are Super8. Some are very bright, vivid colors. Some are, you know, they look a little retro."
"I wore my hair black in some. I wore '80s makeup in one of the videos. Sixties Mod makeup. It was so exciting 'cause I love fashion, I love dressing up, so definitely it was like
playing different characters."
She added: "I can't believe I did it. But I had a lot of help and a lot of support."
Beyonce's world tour, set to open Tuesday in Tokyo, will run through September, Music World-Columbia Records announced Wednesday. North American stops include New Orleans, Dallas, New York City, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
FILM
'A Christmas Story' director killed
BY JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Film director Bob Clark, best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story," was killed with his son Wednesday in a head-on crash with a vehicle that a drunken driver steered into the wrong lane, police and the filmmaker's assistant said.
Clark, 67, and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Pallades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.
The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m. PDT, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman.
The driver of the other vehicle, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24 of Los Angeles and his passenger, described as a 29-year-old woman, were taken to UCLA Medical Center with minor injuries.
Velazquez-Nava was arrested Wednesday afternoon and booked for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter. He was being held on $100,000 bail.
"The initial investigation has concluded that Nava was driving without a license northbound in the southbound lanes while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage." Vernon said.
Clark specialized in horror movies and thrillers early in his career, directing such 1970s flicks as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by
Degree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.
His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."
In 1983, "A Christmas Story" marked a career high for Clark. Darrin McGavin, Melinda Dillon and Peter Billingsley starred in the adaptation of Jean Shepard's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.
The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it.
In recent years, Clark made family comedies that were savaged by critics, including "Karate Dog," "Baby Geniuses" and its sequel, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2."