What Were They Thinking?!

We love that budding fashionista Willow Smith has a strong sense of personal style. We just hope the 12-year-old "Whip My Hair" singer decides to eventually experiment with clothing that doesn't resemble the costumes worn by her mother, Jada, in the second and third installments of "The Matrix" movie franchise. (1/22/2013)

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10 finalists named for international Booker prize

10 finalists named for international Booker prize

JAIPUR, India (AP) — American author Marilynne Robinson, Israel's Aharon Appelfeld and China's Yan Lianke are among 10 finalists announced Thursday for the Man Booker International Prize for fiction.

The award, an offshoot of Britain's better-known Man Booker novel-of-the-year prize, is awarded for a lifetime's work. It is open to authors of all nationalities whose work is available in English.

Prize organizers said both China's Yan and Russian finalist Vladimir Sorokin have had books banned in their homelands.

Yan fell foul of the authorities with "Dream of Ding Village," about the AIDS crisis caused by HIV-contaminated blood, and "To Serve the People," which features a character who can be aroused only when his lover smashes images of Chairman Mao.

Sorokin, best known for "The Ice Trilogy," had his early books banned in Soviet times.

Other finalists announced at the Jaipur Literary Festival in India include Lydia Davis of the United States, Pakistan's Intizar Husain, France's Marie NDiaye and Indian writer U.R. Ananthamurthy.

Josip Novakovich — a Croatia-born Canadian writer — and Switzerland's Peter Stamm round out the list.

Academic Christopher Ricks, who chairs the judging panel, said the 10 were "astonishingly different" writers who ranging in age from their 40s to their 80s.

Previous winners of the 60,000-pound ($95,000) award include Canada's Alice Munro, Nigeria's Chinua Achebe and Philip Roth of the United States.

The prize, awarded every two years, causes fierce debate and occasional controversy. In 2011, British spy writer John Le Carre asked for his name to be removed from the shortlist — he said he eschewed awards — and one of the jurors resigned at the choice of Roth as winner.

This year's winner will be announced in London on May 22.

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Ratings: Idol Down; CSI Rises to Season High

Ratings: Idol Down; CSI Rises to Season High

American Idol took a dip in Week 2, but still propelled Fox to a Wednesday win. 

The two-hour episode drew 16 million viewers and a 5.4 in the adults 18-to-49 demographic, down 10 percent from last week's premiere. 

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CBS took second, as CSI (11.5 million, 2.7) hit a season high, jumping 17 percent. Criminal Minds (11.7 million, 3.0) was also up.

ABC's comedies were either up or even, save for Modern Family(10.8 million, 4.1), which fell to a season low. Nashville (5.5 million, 1.8) slipped four-tenths.

On The CW, Arrow (3.1 million, 1.1) and Supernatural (2.1 million, 0.9) were even.

8 p.m.

CBS: Criminal Minds (R) 6.8 million (1.5) 

ABC: The Middle 8.5 million (2.5); The Neighbors 6.3 million (1.9)

NBC: Whitney (R) 2.6 million (0.8); Guys with Kids (R) 2.2 million (0.8)

Fox: American Idol 16 million (5.4) [8-10 p.m.]

CW: Arrow 3.1 million (1.1)

9 p.m.

CBS: Criminal Minds 11.7 million (3.0)

ABC: Modern Family 10.8 million (4.1); Suburgatory 6.3 million (2.3)

NBC: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (R) 2.3 million (0.7)

CW: Supernatural 2.1 million (0.9)

10 p.m.

CBS: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 11.5 million (2.7)

NBC: Chicago Fire (R) 2.5 million (0.8)

ABC: Nashville 5.5 million (1.8)

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Linda Pugach, blinded in infamous NYC crime, dies

Linda Pugach, blinded in infamous NYC crime, dies

NEW YORK (AP) — Linda Pugach, who was blinded in 1959 when her lover hired hit men to throw lye in her face — and became a media sensation after later marrying him — has died, her husband said Thursday. She was 75.

The infamous New York City crime was detailed in the 2007 documentary "Crazy Love."

Pugach, who hid behind dark glasses for the rest of her life, died Tuesday at the Long Island Jewish Hospital in Queens. The cause was heart failure, said her husband, Burton Pugach, who spent 14 years in prison for hiring the thugs to attack his then-girlfriend Linda Riss after she spurned him. He was married at the time, and the heinous attack became an instant tabloid sensation.

After his release, Pugach divorced his first wife and convinced Riss to marry him in 1974. He proposed to her on live television.

"This was a very fairy tale romance," a sobbing Pugach told The Associated Press on Thursday.

After the release of "Crazy Love," Pugach praised filmmaker Dan Klores for revealing a story that for the first time "has colors — it was no longer black and white."

Two decades after his release from prison, Pugach was accused in another case with chilling similarities but acquitted of the charges in 1997. He had been accused of threatening and harassing another lover after she tried to end their five-year affair. That woman testified that he threatened to make it "1959 all over again."

He told the AP in an interview at the time: "Haven't you ever threatened to kill your husband? Did you mean it? Of course not. ... This has been blown out of proportion like I've never seen."

Linda Pugach testified at that trial, describing her husband as a good man. Under cross-examination by Pugach, a disbarred lawyer who defended himself, she said couldn't have sex with him after undergoing heart surgery in 1990.

"He was a naughty little boy and he was caught," she said as she left the courtroom on his arm. She said he was an adulterer, not a criminal.

Pugach said his wife went into the hospital on Dec. 26, 2012, two days before they had scheduled a trip to Florida to buy a property in Boca Raton.

"I don't know how I'm going to go on without her," he said.

On Thursday he again denied that he was ever involved in the attack.

"If I had told anyone to throw lye at her, would she have married me? A monster does that," he said.

Linda Pugach was being laid to rest in a crypt in Paramus, N.J. on Thursday.

"There's a place for me there. We'll be together," he said.

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Netflix stocks soars 37 pct after strong 4Q report

Netflix stocks soars 37 pct after strong 4Q report

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix stock is on its way to its biggest one-day gain since the video subscription service went public more than a decade ago.

The stock had climbed $38.40, or 37 percent, to $141.66 in early afternoon trading Thursday as investors celebrated a fourth-quarter earnings report that Netflix Inc. released late Wednesday. Earlier in the session, the shares hit a new 52-week high of $149.17.

The results were highlighted by an influx of 2 million more U.S. subscribers to Netflix's Internet video service and an unexpected profit during the final three months of the year.

Netflix ended December with 27.1 million U.S. subscribers to its service that streams movies and TV shows over high-speed Internet connections. The company, based in Los Gatos, Calif., is aiming to reach 90 million subscribers.

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Bethenny Frankel's Husband Jason Hoppy Files Aggressive New Divorce Papers: Report

Bethenny Frankel's Husband Jason Hoppy Files Aggressive New Divorce Papers: Report

Things are getting ugly fast between Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy. About three weeks after Skinnygirl mogul Frankel, 42, filed for divorce from Hoppy, 41, the pharmaceutical executive has counter-filed with aggressive papers of his own, TMZreports.

Disputing nearly every major detail from Frankel's filing, Hoppy has a long list of requests: First and foremost, Hoppy wants primary custody of Bryn, the couple's 2-year-old daughter. (Bravo star Frankel also asked for primary custody.) Just like Frankel, Hoppy seeks child support from his ex, whom he wed in spring 2010, and similarly asks for medical and dental expenses for himself and for Bryn.

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Again countering Frankel's own request, Hoppy seeks "exclusive use and occupancy of the marital residence" (their $5 million, four-bedroom apartment in NYC's Tribeca neighborhood). He also asks his future ex-wife to maintain a life insurance policy on herself, making him and Bryn beneficiaries -- another detail likewise requested by Frankel. Finally, TMZ reports, Hoppy requests that the talk show host pays his lawyer and accountant.

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One thing apparently not at stake in this new war? Frankel's estimated $100 million fortune earned through her New York Times bestsellers, her Skinnygirl empire and daytime talk show; the couple signed a prenuptial agreement before tying the knot.

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"I feel like a failure," Frankel admitted to Ellen DeGeneres earlier this month. "I really put it out there. I wanted the fairytale. I thought I had it. And Bryn is my fairy tale . . .This is excruciating, I have to say."

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