Christian Slater ushered in his 40s by obtaining his high school diploma in 2009. The star of the short-lived “My Own Worst Enemy” admits he never took his studies seriously when he was a teenager because he was too busy acting, but decided it was time to graduate - so he could show his kids how important education is.

He explains, “I was working from the time I was nine years old, so school was not very important to me; it was not a great priority and then, when I had kids, I want (more…)

DETROIT – Aretha Franklin did more than sing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. She also came bearing gifts.

Her spokeswoman, Gwendolyn Quinn, says Franklin gave Obama a collection of 17 sermons by her late father, prominent Detroit minister the Rev. C.L. Franklin.

Quinn says the 66-year-old singer also gave Obama a biography of her father and a Bible “engraved with a personal message.”

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Los Angeles (E! Online) – Was there any doubt that fans would remember 2008 as the year of the Caped Crusader and his gnarliest nemesis yet?

The Dark Knight went five for five and was named Favorite Movie at the 35th annual People's Choice Awards, which returned to its usual star-studdedness Wednesday after an '08 broadcast held at the height of the actor-supported Hollywood writers' strike.

The serious

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Dolly Parton, Michael W. Smith, Dr. Bobby Jones, the Dixie Hummingbirds and producer Lari Goss will be inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame next month.

The ceremony will be held Feb. 2 in Nashville.

“This year’s class of GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees have all achieved great professional and personal success in many different areas of the music and entertainment industries,

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Why not share a shot with Paris Hilton or boogie down with Pete Wentz to ring in 2009? This year, any regular Joe with dough (and no reason to sweat the economy) could party like — and with — a rock star, movie star or reality TV star on New Year’s Eve.

Here’s a look at some of the parties that were boasting famous names:

— Paris Hilton was to host the Bongo Virus party at the Trademark nightclub in Sydney, Australia. Tickets

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LOS ANGELES – Don’t get Katy Perry twisted: She absolutely loves being pop’s quirky poster girl, the wild child who doesn’t censor herself and causes raised eyebrows with songs like “Ur So Gay” and “I Kissed a Girl.”

But for all her success over the last year, Perry is hoping that songs like her most recent No. 1, “Hot n Cold,” show she has more to offer than kitsch and controversy.

“It’s my personality, which is

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Was there ever a more appropriate voice for Christmas than Kate Rusby’s? Soft as fresh fallen snow, pretty as a sparkling star and uplifting as a robin’s song, as suited as it is to other seasons, her timbre naturally breathes with the magic of Yuletide.

It’s something she proved back in 2002 when she provided the delicious Little Jack Frost for a BBC Christmas cartoon, so it’s no surprise that half a decade on, Sweet Bells underlines

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NEW YORK – Nearly 70 years after an unrepentant cad named Joey Evans first graced a Broadway stage in “Pal Joey,” he’s back, with his ambition and charm intact.

The musical, featuring a vintage Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart score, has been revived several times on Broadway over the decades, but none of the productions has been as thoroughly a refurbishing as the small yet effective redo that the Roundabout Theatre Company opened

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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Don’t get Katy Perry twisted: She absolutely loves being pop’s quirky poster girl, the wild child who doesn’t censor herself and causes raised eyebrows with songs like “Ur So Gay” and “I Kissed a Girl.”

But for all her success over the last year, Perry is hoping that songs like her most recent No. 1, “Hot n Cold,” show she has more to offer than kitsch and controversy. “It’s my personality, which is up and down and sassy and cheeky,” says Perry, who recently became

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WASHINGTON – Aretha Franklin will sing, the Rev. Rick Warren will pray and more than 11,000 U.S. troops will be watching over inauguration ceremonies in case of an attack during President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in on Jan. 20.

As many as 4 million visitors are expected to be on hand when Obama takes the noontime oath from Chief Justice John Roberts on the steps of the Capitol.

Some 4,000 local police, 4,000

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