Inspiring minds want to know: Which film is most uplifting of all? AFI's on the case.

The list-happy American Film Institute is gearing up for another primetime countdown, this time focusing th powers of hierarchy on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies.

"Over the years, the movies have given us something to cheer about," says Jean Picker Firstenberg, the institute's director and CEO. "The past few years have not been easy in America--from September 11 to the devastation of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers will celebrate the films that inspire us, encourage us to make a difference and send us from the theater with a greater sense of possibility and hope for the future."

To aid potential voters in their choice of inspiring films, a master ballot with 300 nominations was distributed Thursday to a jury of more than 1,500 industry types. The panel of actors, directors, critics and historians will whittle down the impressive compilation to just 100 for the prime-time special.

Flicks old and new appear on the ballot, with nominations as varied as 8 Mile and Gandhi, It's a Wonderful Life and The Karate Kid, and The Passion of the Christ and Rocky.

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Bauer PublishingÂ’s fast-growing In Touch Weekly has surged to the top of the celebrity weekly category in terms of average household income, according to the fall 2005 report from Mediamark Research Inc. In Touch readers have an average household income of $66,180, topping rivals like Wenner Media's Us Weekly ($65,169) and Time Inc.'s People ($63,364) for the first time.

It also surpasses household incomes for readers of well-regarded and widely-read titles like Martha Stewart Living ($65,995) and Conde Nast's Vogue ($60,432) and Glamour ($55,260).

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Kimberly Stewart and MTV's Laguna Beach hunk Talan Torriero are getting married, the reality star's publicist has confirmed to People.

"He's engaged," according to Torriero's rep, Jack Ketsoyan, who says the pair have been dating for two months.

Late Wednesday night, Stewart, 26, and Torriero, 19, showed up at an XBox 360 party at a private home in Beverly Hills, where Stewart showed off her 5-carat diamond Neil Lane engagement ring to buddies Paris and Nicky Hilton.

A friend of Torriero's tells People: "He told me he really likes her and they're having a good time." The 6'1" California-born Torriero – who excels at surfing, volleyball and football – was a junior in high school when he first shot Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County for the music cable network last year.

In September, he told MTV News: "I'm doing an album, which is very exciting. ... I can't tell you what label I'm with, but it's a really big label push." He also said he was hoping to expand his career opportunities.

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Click here for the latest installment of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" Cliff's Notes (For chapters 6-12).

I laughed so hard it hurt. They're genius. I especially love the Glossary sections.

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An unlikely friendship: Is Tara Reid the latest thong-flasher to threaten the Clinton political machine?

Rumor has it that Sen. Hillary Clinton has been in crisis mode ever since she learned her daughter, Chelsea, has been spending time with the nip-slipping party girl.

Clubland sources say the ClintonÂ’s Stanford-and-Oxford-educated spawn first met Reid in Europe over the summer while the American Pie actress was filming her short-lived E! show, Taradise. After Chelsea broke up with her longtime boyfriend Ian Klaus, she and Reid became inseparable, weÂ’re told.

“It’s almost like Chelsea dumped Ian for Tara,” laughs one New York scenester. “All of a sudden Tara was staying at Chelsea’s in New York, and they were going out to Bungalow 8 and Nobu every night.”

Sources say the unlikely friendship remained out of the spotlight until the two flew to Las Vegas together in late September to attend the star-studded opening of Tao at the Venetian hotel.

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Britney Spears' husband Kevin Federline has broken his hand - after spinning out of control on the dance floor.

The professional dancer was seen falling from a podium in trendy Los Angeles nightspot The Spider Club after one too many enthusiastic dance moves. The 27-year-old, who was recently slammed for leaving Britney looking after their newborn baby, Sean Preston, while he partied, has been seen wearing a bandage on his left hand.

A fellow reveller is quoted by Britain's Daily Star newspaper as saying: "Britney must have been at home with their baby son and Kevin was messing around dancing with his mates. "He was really going for it, throwing some seriously mad moves, when he suddenly slipped and landed on his butt. His arm got caught and he has fractured his left hand"

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UrbaNicole?

There's a new wrinkle in Nicole Kidman's Urban mystery, People reports in its latest issue. The actress – who's been spotted with country singer Keith Urban since July but hasn't acknowledged a relationship – was wearing a ring on her wedding finger while walking arm-in-arm with Urban in Boston on Nov. 11.

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Happy 27th Birthday, Iceman!

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Pamela Anderson is getting some sugar from former Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath.

After spending a year hooking up with actor Stephen Dorff, her former hubby Tommy Lee, surfer Kelly Slater and a male model, the "Baywatch" babe has shacked up with McGrath, now an anchor on "Extra."

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E! Entertainment Television said Tuesday that it has greenlighted an unscripted series that will follow newly single singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb as she re-enters the dating world.

The eight-episode series, titled "#1 Single," will feature Loeb as she moves back to New York and starts dating again for the first time since college. The half-hour series is set to premiere in January.

--Maybe she can get one to "Stay." Ha. I crack myself up...

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British-born actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, best known for his Oscar-winning role as the evil Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs," will receive a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globe Awards in January.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the awards, said on Wednesday that Hopkins would be presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at its January 16 Golden Globe ceremony in Beverly Hills.

The prolific Hopkins, 67, has been nominated for six Golden Globes including his work in "Nixon," "The Remains of the Day" and "Magic."

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MP&S wouldn't lead you astray. As reported, Matthew McConaughey has been crowned People's Sexiest Man Alive.

Others on People's list: Patrick Dempsey, Terrence Howard, Viggo Mortensen, Vince Vaughn, Nick Lachey, Heath Ledger, Daniel Dae Kim, Keith Urban, Ian McShane (um, WTF?), Matt Damon, Denis Leary, Anderson Cooper, and Clive Owen.

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1 Oh Yeah! Thanks for the morning snack Lawren.

Posted by: Lynne at November 16, 2005 10:32 AM (f9tTR)

2 ...and for a very tasty after dinner treat, as well!

Posted by: Tina at November 16, 2005 08:23 PM (6krEN)

3 UUUUUUffffff!!!!! to much body *drool*

Posted by: Me, Myself and I at November 17, 2005 04:49 AM (EDHPl)

4 Sexiest men alive, indeed.

Posted by: Stacy at November 17, 2005 11:41 AM (8KYh5)

5 Dicaprio and Brad pitt are the sexiest men in the world

Posted by: papy muteb at January 07, 2006 01:38 AM (Ha7Sy)

6 I think JOHNNY DEPP is absolutely (!) the sexiest man alive! (O. Bloom's also OK)

Posted by: Annelien Decroos at July 03, 2006 12:36 PM (dTlgJ)

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Anna Nicole Smith showed up at Hamburger Mary's in West Hollywood to play bingo for charity last week and took home quite a prize — a barmaid.

Tracy, a pretty blonde, allowed herself to be picked up by the former Playmate and was later bragging about the night she spent with Smith, sharing pictures from her digital camera with patrons at the bar. "She wasn't keeping it a secret," a Page Six source relates. "Anna Nicole put her in handcuffs and her neck was covered with hickeys."

The source added, "Anna Nicole was doing that butt-slapping thing — it was just bizarre. And her son was in the house." Calls to Tracy and Smith were not returned.

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Julie Andrews reunited for the first time in years the other night with her "Sound of Music" cast at the 40th anniversary DVD release party at Tavern on the Green.

But the happy film family was not complete. Even though Christopher Plummer's photo was included in the program, he was a no-show because "he's working on set," said one of the event's publicists. And we thought Plummer's latest picture, Spike Lee's "Inside Man," wrapped months ago. There might be another explanation for his absence.

According to Rodgers & Hammerstein Society president Ted Chapin, "Sound of Music" was not one of Plummer's "favorite things." "He used to refer to it as the 'Sound of Mucus,' " Chapin told us. Publicly, he told the crowd at Tavern that Plummer has been "very charitable to the film" of late. In fact, on the two-disc set just released, Plummer provides commentary along with Andrews and is included in many of the disc's featurettes.

Other bonus materials include Mia Farrow's screen test for the role of eldest daughter Liesl, which has her dancing and singing "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."

--Um, who's thrilled that Mia wasn't Liesl?? My God, that would have been horrendous!

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50 Cent will again turn his reality into fiction with a new line of hip-hop novellas and graphic novels featuring his former G-Unit rap crew buddies, a publisher announced.

Pocket/MTV Books promised the venture would showcase "gritty" stories and cover much of the same terrain as 50 Cent's raps. "These tales will tell the truth about The Life; the sex, guns and cash; the brutal highs and short lives of the players on the streets," the publisher said in a release over the weekend.

The G-Unit Books line of street fiction will feature G-Unit members Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck and Olivia as characters, the release said. Nikki Turner, author of "The Glamorous Life" and "A Hustler's Wife," will pen the line's first novella. It is set to be published in 2007.

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Desperate Housewives star Page Kennedy was reportedly fired from the hit drama because he loved to flash his naked body at the other stars.

Kennedy, who played fugitive Caleb in the second series of the ABC show, was dropped on November 4 after the studio conducted an investigation into allegations against him. A source tells the New York Post, "Kennedy may have had a problem with flashing people on the set."

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What a good husband. Nick takes Jess's little yippy dog to the vet.

Pics courtesy of Rosie.

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GQ named Jennifer Aniston the magazine's first woman of the year in its annual Man of the Year issue, which hits newsstand nationally Nov. 22.

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1 Is that cover material? I find it a bit awkward and doesn't say "pose, grace or humor" Don't minde the skin and partial boob or anything but I get the wrong vibe.

Posted by: Lynne at November 16, 2005 10:39 AM (f9tTR)

2 I think the pose is a bit odd. I also think the girl needs to ear something.

Posted by: Eli at November 16, 2005 11:02 AM (jetnq)

3 No complaints from me, but that's because I less-than-three Jennifer Aniston.

Posted by: Kevvy the Unnamed Source at November 16, 2005 11:28 AM (+NyTn)

4 LOVE IT!

Posted by: Iceman at November 16, 2005 11:41 AM (Iomwr)

5 That obviously should have been eat something, not ear something. Poor thing looks like she's wasting away in a lot of her pictures as of late. I'm sure she lost weight bc of Brangelina

Posted by: Eli at November 16, 2005 04:36 PM (jetnq)

6 She doesn't look comfortable in this...it looks posed. Yeah, I know...it's a posed picture, whaddya want, but...she isn't desperate. Why pose her in a way that makes her appear to be "competing" with Angelina Jolie. I saw this and it was like, "See what you're missing, Brad?" Just sad.

Posted by: Cynde at November 16, 2005 08:28 PM (W+hfV)

7 My post should have read poised not posed. and mind not minde

Posted by: at November 17, 2005 09:43 AM (f9tTR)

8 Hey y'all seen that new GQ magazine with 50 Cent! That shit is gay. 50 looks like a fuckin fag in that new GQ magazine.

Posted by: tha king at November 28, 2005 03:40 PM (EnuuR)

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Pierce Brosnan is not handing over James Bond's tux without a few choice words. The actor launched a four-letter tirade against the bosses who dropped him in favor of Layer Cake star Daniel Craig.

In a Playboy magazine interview Pierce told producers "f*** you", and added: "It's bloody frustrating that the f*****s pulled the rug when they did."

The 52-year-old also claimed that his new film Matador proved them wrong, saying: "It's great to say f*** you a**holes. F*** you who thought I was some wuss. F*** you."

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--Louis Vuitton has confirmed that Gisele Bündchen will star in its next campaign. Speculation had been rampant in the supermodel’s native Brazil that she had landed the account—Bündchen’s first role with Vuitton, in fact—which was photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot. “People naturally thought we would have another celebrity for spring, based on past campaigns,” a spokeswoman said. “But Gisele is a natural fit for our spring collection.”

--Halle Berry is the new face of Versace. Berry has agreed a lucrative deal with the fashion giants to be the star of their upcoming print campaign. Halle met with renowned photographer Mario Testino, famous for snapping the late Princess Diana, for a shoot in Los Angeles last weekend and according to sources the session was a huge success. Halle is not the first star to advertise Versace. Madonna and actress Demi Moore both have previously promoted the fashion house after being approached by owner Donatella Versace.

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