Jennifer Aniston’s movie “Wanderlust” is about finished and before she wanders on out of here she joined friends for a farewell celebration.

She joined co-star Paul Rudd and several other cast memebers on Wednesday night for a wrap party at Ecco in Midtown – hosted by Alan Alda – who joined the cast of the film. The place was locked down pretty tight, with Jen’s bodyguard sitting nearby enjoying a steak and keeping any potential onlookers away. The movie will be filming some scenes at a truck stop in Lawrenceville Friday as things wind down.

Jen has been spotted several times at the St. Regis hotel during her time here. A source told us she had stayed there several weeks ago, before “Wanderlust” headed north for a few weeks of filming in Clarkesville. Then just yesterday, Dr. Chip Cole told us he saw here there again. In a funny twist Cole, a plastic surgeon, was at the St. Regis giving a seminar on non-surgical and surgical ways to look great at any age, and gave Aniston as …

Continue reading Star sightings: Jennifer Aniston, Luke Wilson »

Oprah Winfrey probably won’t battle Bravo for “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” when her new cable channel launches.

The New York Post reported on a speech Oprah gave at a conference in California. She said her new network would be ”fun and entertaining without tearing people down and calling them bitches.”

By contrast, of course, we have those five ambassadors of Atlanta, the “Housewives.” On the most recent episode Kandi Burruss called Phaedra Parks’ rhinestones-on-eyelashes look “bourghetto,” while Cynthia Bailey wailed, “Someone stab me in the neck and put me out of my misery!”

Read my colleague Rodney Ho’s recap here. He watches so you don’t have to.

Back to Oprah. During her remarks, at a conference organized by California first lady Maria Shriver, Oprah discussed her motivations for launching her own channel, called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).

“Growing up, I could never find my name on any of those license plates or lunchboxes,” she said. “Now, I know what it was for …

Continue reading Oprah bans the B-word from new network »

When local singer-songwriter Caroline Herring took the stage at the Fox Theatre with Garrison Keillor back in May, we figured they were longtime friends, given their rapport and perfect blending of their voices on songs such as “Dixie Darling.”

Nope.

They had not met before his show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” came to town. Herring is back in action (minus Keillor this time) for two shows at Eddie’s Attic.

She’ll perform at 8 p.m. Friday and at 1 p.m. Saturday. The second show, the day before Halloween, is kid- and costume-friendly.

Information: www.carolineherring.com.

By the way the May 22 episode of “A Prairie Home Companion,” which was themed “Georgia On My Mind” and also featured humorist Roy Blount Jr., E.G. Knight and the Steep Canyon Rangers, is online here. It was a great show!

The weekly radio show airs live at 6 p.m. each Saturday on WABE.

Continue reading Versatile artist performs twice this weekend »

Good Monday morning! How about a few film tidbits as you wring out.

First, “The Fast and the Furious V,” starring Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock”Johnson, is wrapping things up. In fact they have one more scene to shoot, out in Conyers, and they’ll zoom on out of here.

Cast and crew members including Tyrese Gibson, Paul Walker, Sung Kang and director Justin Lin got together Saturday night for a private wrap party at Straits on Juniper Street. Restaurateur Ludacris was there, too.

Next, “Wanderlust” wandered east this weekend. Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd and gang took their show on the road for some filming in Monroe. So if you happened to be day tripping this weekend and wondered what the ruckus over in Monroe was all about..mystery solved. They’ll be shooting some in Lawrenceville this week.

We hear the “Footloose” remake, which has done a good bit of filming in Acworth along with scenes at the New Senoia Raceway and the Cowboys nightclub in Kennesaw, had to scotch a day of …

Continue reading Let’s roll! Filming updates »

T.I., taking in the Hawks game. Photo by Curtis Compton/staff

We might have to start calling him T.M.I.

Rapper T.I. is in the news yet again. This time Black America Web reports he has been sued by a concert promoter in Alabama who said he lost his life savings when T.I. failed to show up for a planned performance.

You can read that story here.

In other news T.I. gave the AJC a mention (shout-out is probably too strong a word) in this new single, “Get Back Up” featuring Chris Brown.

You can listen to it here.

The entertainer also known as Clifford Harris was spotted at the Atlanta Hawks game on Thursday night. That’s him, wearing a pair of stylish specs, above right.

After Nov. 1 and for the next 11 months, T.I.’s whereabouts will be pretty predictable and perhaps less newsworthy, given that he is returning to prison after a drug arrest while on probation for a drug charge.

Pretty soon, though, we’ll be looking for news of a “comeback” tour.

Continue reading T.I. sued by concert promoter »

Well how cute is this?

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Betty White, who were here filming “The Lost Valentine” took a break during their time in Atlanta to visit the world’s largest aquarium.

During a private, behind-the-scenes tour the ladies got to spend some up close and personal time with some of the residents of the Georgia Aquarium.

Here’s a photo the Aquarium sent of Hewitt, making friends with one of the beluga whales. Looks like love at first sight!

Continue reading Jennifer Love Hewitt dives in »

This was the scene outside Noon this week. Photo by http://ldysnow.com

If you went by Noon Midtown looking for a nibble on Monday or Tuesday of this week, not only were you out of luck, but you also had to dodge flying glass.

Well, fake flying glass.

The breakfast and lunch spot at 1050 Crescent Ave. shut down for a couple of days so that “The Vampire Diaries” could film some scenes there with Ian Somerhalder, who plays the dastardly Damon Salvatore.

You’ll have to watch the show, which airs at 8 p.m. Thursdays on The CW channel, to find out what was going on, but it sounds like there was plenty of action. The crew removed the shop’s glass window and hurled bits of fake glass, to simulate a shattering window. (No humans or vampires were harmed during the shooting of this show, we are assured).

Now that things are back to normal, Noon is busy with its catering program, where customers can earn Natural Body Spa gift certificates, and will be rolling out some new fall …

Continue reading Vampires take over Midtown »

The YWCA of Northwest Georgia, along with the Cobb County district attorney and solicitor general’s offices team up for a candlelight vigil from 6 to 7:30 p.m. tonight on the Marietta Square, to remember those who have lost their lives to domestic violence.

The event is themed “In Her Shoes.”

In related news, Little Quilts in Marietta has made a heartfelt donation to the YWCA of Northwest Georgia, which operates a shelter and serves domestic violence victims.

The shop has given a $450 donation and two handmade quilts to be auctioned at the 2011 Tribute to Women of Achievement event in March.

“The idea started when one of our customers brought in excess fabric stashes lying around her sewing room, ” said Laura Watson of Little Quilts. “Instead of just throwing out the fabric, we decided to offer the fabric to our customers for $5 per pound, with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to the YWCA’s shelter.”

The two donated quilts, assembled by volunteers, were made with additional …

Continue reading Domestic violence vigil tonight at 6 p.m. in Marietta »

Well it hasn’t been a great month for Clifford Harris, better known as T.I.

He’s heading back to prison for 11 months, following a drug arrest while on probation for a weapons charge.

And the AXE deodorant company parted ways with him.

But, seems the actor and rapper, who was credited with talking a distressed young man off a roof the other day, is determined to make the best of things with the free time he has left.

We hear he and new wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle had dinner at Room Wednesday night. They just sat at the bar and ate steaks. Afterward they headed over to Parrish and helped Rick Ross out with a video shoot for “Pledge Allegiance to the Swag,” wrapping up around 2:30 a.m.

Afterward, Mr. and Mrs. Harris went to Tongue and Groove for a while.

After Nov. 1, of course, his whereabouts will be slightly less exciting.

Oh, by the way, we just checked out T.I.’s new “Get Back Up,” featuring Chris Brown. There’s a mention of the AJC (shout-out is probably too strong a …

Continue reading Tip and Tiny have a date night »

What? The latest Beyonce-is-pregnant rumor might NOT be true? Oh where is the cold compress when we need one?

The lovely entertainer’s mom Tina Knowles, who was just in metro Atlanta promoting her new fashion line, appears on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” today and addresses the latest round of preggo chatter with good humor. It airs locally at 4 p.m. weekdays on WXIA.

Us magazine has a story about the supposedly expectant mom on its cover this week. I guess we’ll know in a few months if she and husband Jay-Z really are about to welcome a new addition.

Here’s a bit of dialogue the “Ellen” show sent out:

Ellen: Let’s clear it up. The rumors are that Beyoncè is pregnant. Are you going to be a grandmother again?

Tina: I heard that but I’m here to clear the rumors up. The truth is that’s it’s not Beyoncè that’s pregnant. It’s me.

Ellen: Really?

Tina: I’m kidding y’all. I’m 56. No, no it’s not true. Not right now.

Ellen: Well, you’ll let us know when she is.

Tina: I’m looking …

Continue reading Beyonce-is-pregnant rumor just a rumor, mom says »