Cabinconfidential

CAN the CUBS BePeRFeCt?PAGE 14

Vote for the CTA bus route you hate mostPAGE 4

Chicago video game maker plays by own rulesPAGE 30

Satisfy your hunger withcan’t-miss Taste musicPAGE 21

Lying passengers, shocking suitcases—even snakes! Up high and on the ground, things can get pretty wild for flight attendants 6-7

An edition of the

redeyechicago.com

TuesdayJune 24, 2008

H F R E E H

Comedian Bill Murray and his wife of nearly 11 years are divorced.

A South Carolina judge in Charles-ton County signed off on the divorce agreement June 13, barely a month after Jennifer Butler Murray asked for the separation and alleged that her husband abused her and was addicted to marijuana and alcohol.

The couple’s four children will live with their mother, while the 57-year-old actor will have visitation rights and pay child support, according to court papers. The court papers were first obtained by tmz.com.

From news services Why dance with the stars when you

can sing with the receptionist?Joey Fatone has traded in his light

saber for a microphone and an office access card. He co-hosts TLC’s summer reality competition show “The Sing-ing Office,” which kicks off Sunday. In each episode, he and Spice Girls singer Melanie Brown (another former “Danc-ing With the Stars” contestant”) surprise employees at two separate workplaces with impromptu auditions, including JetBlue, the Los Angeles Zoo and Roll-ing Stone.

“It’s not like ‘American Idol’ or ‘Danc-

ing with the Stars,’ ” Brown told The Associated Press. “It gives people a break from their everyday lives to have some fun with their co-workers.”

All the while, Fatone and Brown will be engaging in a bit of friendly rivalry them-selves. Both are responsible for assem-bling a team of polished singers from the office they raid.

“There’s no real beef between me and Melanie,” Fatone told the AP. “We’re buddies. It’s all just friendly competition played up for the cameras. That said, I hope my groups kick her groups’ butts every time. And I know they will.” [ AP,

Redeye contRibuted. ]

Even for Amy Winehouse, it was a dramat-ic chain of events: After fainting and being rushed to a hospital, Winehouse’s father said her crack and cigarette smoking had so dam-aged her lungs, she was risking emphysema and death if she didn’t clean up.

Yet Winehouse—famous for her rebel-lious anthem “Rehab”—was photographed with a cigarette dangling from her lips as she left the hospital, The Associated Press reports. It was a potent symbol of how Winehouse’s troubles have multiplied since February, when she won five Grammys for her album, “Back to Black.”

Since being released from the hospital this week, police have investigated her for an alleged assault and for drug use, and a

videotape showing her singing a song full of racial slurs highlighted how troubled she remains.

“It’s definitely been a rough time for her,” said Rick Krim, an executive vice presi-dent at VH1. The channel will broadcast taped highlights of a Friday birthday con-cert for Nelson Mandela; Winehouse was due to perform at the London show, but it is unclear if she will show.

Celine Dion’s camp is hitting back at a report in Flor-ida’s Palm Beach Post that her Jupiter Island, Fla., estate is one of the biggest water hogs in her community.

Prompted by one of Dion’s lawyers, the Post reported that in fact a water main broke under the $12.5 million prop-erty, contributing to the extremely high monthly bill the newspaper called out Dion for in the first place. It took Dion’s employees weeks to discover the surge in water usage at the home, in which the singer wasn’t living at the time.

winehouse

Beat-boxing “American Idol” contestant Blake Lewis (below) said his record label told him to scat—but that he’s “totally fine” with the decision.

Lewis wrote on his MySpace blog that he’d been dropped by his record

label, Arista Records, people.com reported. “I guess the right time was now,” he wrote. “No big-gie.”

“I’m still with 19 Recordings and I got a tour and new

record on the way,” he said.

With a bruised forehead, Stephen Col-bert has found a new cause celebre: fighting the glamorization of “face violence.”

As he did after breaking his wrist last year, Colbert has transformed a real-life injury into a mock crusade. Colbert was injured Saturday, and while he won’t say what happened, he’s made no attempt to hide the scarring between his eyebrows this week on “The Colbert Report,” according to The Associated Press.

In an extreme close-up Monday, he detailed the wreckage: “What ... did I do to myself on Saturday? I’ve got stitches up there and it looks like I’m growing a little map of Norway down the side of my face.”

Colbert has claimed it could have hap-pened by smashing watermelons with his head or by “practicing for a walk-on role in Cirque du Soleil and overestimating the number of French Canadians my forehead would support.”

All bruised up

Joey to the worldin addition to co-hosting tLc’s “the Singing office,” Joey Fatone hosts nbc’s “celebrity circus” and “the Singing bee.” but, because every show needs a little drama, here are the top contenders to his claim as the hardest-working man on reality tV.>> Ryan Seacrest: Hosting America’s no. 1 show three nights a week is tV’s toughest job.>> Tyra Banks: the “America’s next top Model” host’s “tyra banks Show” is a reality show too—kind of.>> Tim Gunn: Hosts “Project Runway” and “tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.”>> Jeff Probst: How many “Survivors” has this guy churned out? >> Janice Dickinson: the former model has been on as many reality shows as she has catwalks.

Joey Fatone, host of the new tlC series “the singing office,” reacts as supermarket manager eric sustin auditions for the show in l.A. in March. [ TLC PhoTo ]

Water fight

Amy’s fall from grace

dion

P-P-P-Parting ways?

Divorce finalized

MurrAy

Singingwith starsthe

WHOVILLE

’66 ’67 ’68 ’69 ’70 ’71 ’72 ’73 ’74 ’75 ’76 ’77 ’78 ’79 ’80 ’81 ’82 ’83 ’84 ’85 ’86 ’87 ’88 ’89 ’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01

POPCULTURE

The Boston GlobeEver since their breakup, she’s suffocat-

ing, and he feels lost at sea. Both wonder how they’re supposed to breathe without each other.

That’s the musical question posed by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown in their current smash duet, “No Air.” Hearing the intertwined voices—the anguish! the drama!—of these two teen soul-pop sen-sations is a reminder of previous hit duets throughout the years, when singers would come together to create a fusion either playful or romantic.

From Diana Ross and Lionel Rich-ie rhapsodizing about “Endless Love” to Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder using the keys on the piano as a meta-phor for racial harmony on “Ebony and Ivory,” duets have represented some of the most popular R&B, pop and country

With smash hit ‘No Air,’ Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown signal comeback of singers trading vocals

Just

double your pleasure

JacksonJohnny Cash and June Carter Cash

the Man in Black and his spicy bride at their most playful.

GuiltyBarry giBB and BarBra streisand

oK, this is the most aptly titled entry on the list. it oughta be illegal.

Endless Lovelionel riChie and diana ross

the Brooke shields movie may have faded from memory, but not this tender ode to first love.

State of ShockMiCK Jagger and the JaCKsons

seriously odd but totally funky, and how can you beat Jacko and Jagger trading lines like “you got me deep-fried”?

Leather and Lacedon henley and stevie niCKs

the one-time first couple of ’70s rock join in raspy-voiced bliss to compare closets.

You’re the One That I WantJohn travolta and olivia newton-John

travolta takes his turn with the hottest pop diva of the era and churns out an instant classic that still sends girls shrieking.

Proud MaryiKe turner and tina turner

ike and tina’s take on John Fogerty’s song about a steamboat is the reason any-one cares about them today.

Kingdom of Rainsinead o’Connor and the the

Feel the chills of the lyrics from this one: “our bed is empty/the fire is out.”

Candyiggy pop and Kate pierson

the stooge and the B-52 make a surprisingly pretty pair on this touching tale of yearning.

Henry LeeniCK Cave and pJ harvey

dark, sexy and a little scary. we’d expect nothing less from these two tackling a murder ballad.

The Boy is MineBrandy and MoniCa

oh, no she didn’t! oh, yes she did.

Asgeorge MiChael and Mary J. Blige

wham, a hip and fresh read on a stevie wonder treasure.

Duets used to dominate the charts. Here are some of the most notable and notorious duets from years past. [ the Boston gloBe, redeye ]

songs of the past 50 years.But if it takes two to make a thing go

right, then something hasn’t been quite right for a while. Of the 24 entries on the current Billboard Hot 100 chart that have two names attached to them, only two technically are classified as duets. “No Air” continues to cling to the Top 20, and “This Is Me,” the new single from Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas, from the duo’s Dis-ney Channel film “Camp Rock,” made a splashy debut at No. 11 this week.

For the sake of satisfying our defini-tion of duet—two people trading sung vocals—we’d also include “4 Minutes” by Madonna featuring Justin Timber-lake and “If I Never See Your Face Again” by Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna in our accounting.

So what happened to the hit duet? Fol-lowing a peak in the 1980s—when more

than 30 twosomes claimed spots on the year-end Hot 100 chart—the form began to fade as musicians started to team up in new ways as mainstream tastes shifted from conventional pop to hip-hop.

From 2000 until the present, a mea-ger seven traditional partnerships have it’s been said this song was the one that “killed” all duets.

after 1997, duets were few and far between—“featuring” artists became more popular than duets.

made the year-end grade, including “Pic-ture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow and “Beer for My Horses” by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson.

“I think what happened in the ’90s was the definition of a duet changed,” says Chuck Tay-lor, senior correspondent for Billboard. >>

IT TAKES TWOthere have been some memorable and utterly forgettable duets in music, but here are a few we

think would stand the test of time. For a little while, at least.

[ redeye ]

>> Kanye West and Amy Wine-house. they need to make up.>> Lil Wayne and Carrie Under-

wood. talk about an uncomfort-able pairing.>> Paris Hilton and Benji Mad-den. Could they make good music together—or just look good together?>> Britney Spears and T-Pain. the battle of the

computer-assisted voices.>> Chris Daughtry and David Cook. would you be able to tell which “idol” is singing

which lines?

>> “The way that we personified what a duet was became something different. Since hip-hop was so pervasive as the pop music of the ’90s, I think in large part you lost a lot of the melodic music that once would’ve commanded the top spots on the charts and radio.”

That evolution fed into our increasing-ly accelerated culture. So what we have now are duets for the shuffle generation where pop songs are lent a dash of edgy cool by hip-hop cameos, like “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z. Gruff-voiced raps are broken up by hooky, soft-er choruses, like “Over and Over” by Nel-

SInGInG WITH JACKOMichael Jackson was one of the more prolific duet singers during the 1980s and 1990s. which one of these artists did he not duet with? text “duet” and the number of your answer to 47383. you’ll get a message in return telling

you if you got the answer right or wrong.(1) Madonna (2) stevie wonder (3) Mick Jagger (4) paul McCartney

txt

ly featuring Tim McGraw, and, presum-ably, no one gets bored.

“The audience nowadays is different, and their attention span is very short, so rap songs are usually much more aggres-sive. So the duet thing probably doesn’t work,” says Michael Mitchell, an execu-tive at Time-Life. “That’s how society is now: Everything’s compartmentalized.”

Although the “featuring” phenom-enon had already begun to make its presence known—notably in 1991 with “Good Vibrations” by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch featuring Loleatta Holloway—Taylor points to the 1997 hit

“I’ll Be Missing You,” a rap-sung collab-oration between Puff Daddy (as hip-hop mogul Sean Combs called himself then) and singer Faith Evans as the critical juncture.

“I think if you’re pinpointing a song that made everyone’s eyebrows raise, that would be one,” Taylor says of the tribute to rapper Notorious B.I.G.

Another reason these potential part-nerships have been on the wane is record-company red tape.

“In the ’80s it was funny. I guess there was more reciprocity you’d call it between the labels,” says Harvey Mason Jr., co-writer and co-producer of “No Air” and a huge fan of duets. “People would cooper-ate and say, ‘You can use my artist, and I’ll use your artist.’ Now if they’re not on the

duetBROWn AndSPARKS[ geTTy iMAgeS fiLe PHoTo ] same label, it’s really hard.”

Taylor sees the success of “No Air” paving the way for future traditional two-somes on the charts. The fact that there are four near the top of the Hot 100 at the moment, the most in several years, suggests audiences are warming up to the idea of two peas in their iPod.

“When a song like [that] hits No. 1 on iTunes, radio is now getting with the program and realizing they need to put that on the air,” Taylor says. “So I think we are seeing a turn toward more vari-ety, and thus we are getting some of those traditional-style duets again. And ‘No Air’ is a perfect example. It’s con-temporary with enough of an R&B edge to appeal to youth, but it’s also entirely melodic.”

I’ll Be Missing You puFF daddy and Faith evans, 1997

LIL WAYnE[ geTTy iMAgeS fiLe PHoTo ]

dAuGHTRY[ MCT fiLe PHoTo ]

undERWOOd[ geTTy iMAgeS fiLe PHoTo ]

COOK[ AP fiLe PHoTo ]

An edition of the

redeyechicago.com

MondayJuly 14, 2008

H F R E E H

In today’s tough job market, a good suit and handshake aren’t always enough—why some are giving cosmetic procedures a shot PAGES 6-7

careerBotox

BIG BEER DEAL ON TAP?PAGE 12

Hundreds denouncegun violence in ChicagoPAGE 8

Bradgelina twins’ picscould netmillionsPAGE 42

CHICAGOFri.

8465

Chance of storms

Sat.

8366

Beautiful!

Sun.

8062Another good day

Mon.

7963Three in a row!

Chicago TribuneTheir love affair had gone on since ele-

mentary school. They had children togeth-er and eventually got married.

Michael Guyton had visited the area of Cicero Avenue and Hubbard Street in Chi-cago on Wednesday night with his wife, Staria Campbell, to meet a close friend of hers for whom she had co-signed a car loan.

While in South Austin on the West Side, Guyton, 27, who had four children with his wife of three years, was fatally shot. Police responded to the shooting, which occurred about 11 p.m. in the 4900 block of West Hubbard, and found Guyton with multiple gunshot wounds.

“This doesn’t make any sense. This was about a car that I put in my name. And now Michael is dead,” Campbell, 27, said Thursday.

Campbell said her husband went with her to meet the person with whom she had co-signed for loan payments on a 1999 Lincoln Town Car. She said the person defaulted on the loan agreement, and the company that authorized the loan threat-ened to garnish Campbell’s check.

She said she and her husband went to talk about the situation with Campbell’s friend, who didn’t have money to give them.

Guyton and Campbell also learned that the car had been shot up. At that point, Campbell said, Guyton told her to go to his grandmother’s house, located nearby.

When Campbell returned to the scene to meet her husband about 15 to 20 min-utes later, she found him shot and lying on the ground. He was pronounced dead at 11:25 p.m. Wednesday in Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Campbell said the two met when they were students at Nash Elementary School on the West Side and had been togeth-er since. Their four children range in age from 2 to 10, she said.

Her husband was out of work; she worked at an auto parts store, Campbell said. The couple’s West Side neighbors described Guyton as a good father, saying he would always be on the porch barbecu-ing with his children and watching them play outside.

Campbell said Guyton “was a loving man and a good father.”

“Life is going to be harder now,” she said. “I have to explain to my kids what happened. How do you do that?”

O’Hare still 2nd busiestBoth O’Hare and Midway showed sharp drops in the number of flights during the first six months of 2008, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday. Record fuel prices have forced airlines to cut back on service, particularly many regional flights like those operating out of Midway, air-line analysts have reported. As it has for more than three years, O’Hare remained the nation’s second-busiest airport, behind Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, according to the data.

FoiledAn operator of a Cicero gas station called police Tuesday after finding that two men had climbed the roof of the business to cover up a credit card transmission antenna with foil, apparently to block the signal, a police report said. Police have not made any arrests or identified the offenders.

Mobster diesFrank “the German” Schweihs, a reputed Chicago Outfit enforcer once described as one of the most feared men in the city, died Wednesday in a North Side hos-pital after being transferred from jail, where he was awaiting trial. Schweihs, 78, was cancer-stricken and too ill to face charges in last year’s landmark Family Secrets case.

Cops suedA paralyzed man sued the city of Chi-cago and seven policemen Thursday, claiming they dragged him from a car and beat him unconscious when he was too slow to obey an order to get out. Daniel Casares charged that the seven officers engaged in excessive use of force and battery. CTA worker injuredA CTA worker was seriously injured Thursday when she apparently touched the electrified third rail while working near the Belmont station on Chicago’s North Side, authorities said. The wom-an was flagging Red and Brown Line trains moving through a construction area about 11 a.m. when the accident occurred, said CTA spokeswoman Katelyn Thrall. The woman was taken in serious to critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Fire Department officials said. [ TRIBuNe ]

‘This was about a car’

MOre viOlenCe On WesT side Michael Guyton was one of three peo-

ple fatally shot in South Austin overnight Wednesday. There were no indications that any of the shoot-ings were related.

About an hour after Guyton was shot and less than a mile north, gunfire broke out in the 800 block of North Lorel Avenue, leaving three men in a vehicle wounded.

One of the men, Gregory Jones, 23, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officer John Henry, a police spokesman, said the other two men, both 19, were hit in their backs and were being treated at hospitals Thursday.

“No one is in custody, and the circum-stances surrounding the incident are under investigation,” Henry said.

A short time later and several blocks to the east of the Lorel shooting, a Bellwood man was found slain in a car in the 700 block of North Central Avenue, authorities said. Authorities were not releasing the 23-year-old’s name while police try to notify family members of his death. [ TRIBuNe ]

Man killed after discussing loan in South Austin, wife says

staria Campbell talks Thursday outside her apartment about her husband Michael Guyton’s murder Wednesday night. [ CHuCK BeRMAN/TRIBuNe FILe PHOTO ]

JOnes

sCHWeiHs

CHICAGO FROM NEWS SERVICES

Four people were hospitalized in good condition Sunday after a car crashed into the glass wall of a Starbucks in North Park and struck patrons inside, police said.

Witnesses told police the driver of a blue Lexus traveling north on North Lincoln Avenue around noon tried to make a right turn into the Lincoln Village shopping center but veered off the road and into the coffee shop.

The Lexus jumped a curb, leveled a stop sign and damaged a tree before shattering a glass wall facing North Lincoln, police said. Inside, two men were sitting at tables near the window when the car struck them, police said.

The driver, a 56-year-old Chicago woman, was cited for making an improper right turn, negligent driving and lack of insurance, police said.

She and her passenger, a 24-year-old woman, were taken by ambulance to Swedish Covenant Hospital. One victim inside the store, a 55-year-old man, also was taken to Swed-ish Covenant.

The other victim in the store, a 29-year-old man, was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.

There was no indication the driver was intoxicated, Police Officer John Mirabelli said.

Authorities are investigating a possible arson in connection with a house fire that killed one man and left his brother in criti-cal condition Sunday in Little Village.

Ramon Rolon, 42, was pronounced dead at 6:04 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Rolon’s older brother, Anibal, remained in criti-cal condition Sunday evening, authorities said. His mother’s boyfriend, Pedro Cruz-Escalera, was treated and released.

Firefighters were called to the scene at 5:11 a.m. Sunday, less the 48 hours after the brothers’ mother, Maria Rolon, had been scheduled to testify against local gang mem-bers in a criminal case, family members said. Maria Rolon has lived on the 2400 block of South Hamlin Avenue for about eight years and recently had accused neighborhood

gang members of breaking her windows. Rolon filed a complaint against the men

because she could not afford to replace the windows and wanted restitution, her daughter Jacqueline Ferrer said. Shortly after talking with police, Rolon noticed that part of her garage appeared as if it had been singed by fire, but she did not report the incident to authorities, Ferrer said.

At her family’s urging, Rolon did not appear in court Friday to testify against the men, relatives said.

“We told her not to go,” Ferrer said. “We told her she was only going to make things worse.”

The Chicago Police Department’s bomb and arson unit was called to the scene Sunday morning, but authorities say they have not found any evidence

connecting the fire to Rolon’s run-in with local gang members.

“At this time, we’re still investigating the cause,” Deputy District Chief Matthew Thomas said.

Possible arson in Little Village kills man

Car barrels into Starbucks

A tow truck worker on Sunday clears the path for pulling a car from a Starbucks in the 6000 block of North Lincoln Ave-nue on Sunday, after the car crashed into the store. [ KuNI TaKahaShI/TRIbuNE PhOTO ]

Maria Rolon weeps Sunday in front of her Little Village home. [ STaCEy WESCOTT/

TRIbuNE PhOTO ]

GuNS tuRNed iN

Chicago’s gun turn-in pro-gram is in its fourth year, but the campaign came with

a plea from the mayor and police chief after a rash of summer violence and a recent u.S. Supreme Court ruling that has challenged the city’s anti-handgun laws. Some numbers:

Number of weapons turned in Saturday.

Number of weapons turned in in 2007.

Police Supt. Jody Weis said this year’s goal was to collect twice

as many firearms as they did last year.

amount participants received for turning in real

weapons.

amount participants received for turning in bb guns, air

guns and replica guns.

6,800

6,700

2x

$100

$10

4 shot, 1 killed outside barFour men were shot, one fatally, outside a Chicago heights bar early Sunday morn-ing, police said. Police in the south suburb said Johnathan Williams, 20, of the 7300 block of South Kedzie avenue in Chicago was killed, and Darius bell, 19, of the 3600 block of Roberts Court in hazel Crest was shot in the chest in the shooting at Eso-teric Nightclub. Two other men suffered minor injuries, police said.

Man dies after car hits lampposta hazel Crest man died early Saturday when the car he was driving hit a lamppost on the 7100 block of South Drexel avenue in Chicago. Demetrius harris, 21, suffered a seizure shortly before the collision, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. No one else was injured in the acci-dent, which happened shortly after 1 a.m. authorities said they do not suspect drugs or alcohol to be a factor.

Alcohol poisoning suspectedin deaths of 2 menTwo men in their early 20s died of sus-pected alcohol poisoning in unrelated incidents over the weekend, the Cook County medical examiner’s office report-ed Sunday. Modesto Meraz, 20, was found unresponsive around 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the 2600 block of North Neva avenue in Chicago. a few hours later, Gabriel Chiu, 22, of hampshire was found unresponsive in the 6600 block of apple Tree Street in hanover Park.

POP FOOD

Cox News ServiceWhile the back-to-school-sale season

is almost upon us, don’t let go of savor-ing the fresh tastes of summer berries that can help boost your health all year.

Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are all concentrated sources of plant compounds called poly-phenols.

Other polyphenol-rich foods such as dark chocolate, tea and red wine have been shown to benefit heart health. And now the news is in about berries.

A study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that eating a moderate amount of berries can benefit heart health three ways.

Nutrition researchers in Finland add-ed berries twice a day to the diet of mid-dle-aged men and women.

After eight weeks, tests showed lower blood pressure, higher HDL “good” cho-lesterol and less platelet aggregation, potentially preventing blood clots.

So, adding beautiful blueberries to pancakes or sweet and colorful straw-berries to smoothies not only adds eye appeal to the menu, it’s a heart-healthy move too.

Among the lowest in calories per ounce of any foods, ber-

ries are chock-full of nutrients, most notably vitamin C and the blood pres-sure-lowering mineral potassium. One cup of strawberries (53 calories) contains more than 100 milligrams of vitamin C, almost as much as a cup of orange juice.

Strawberries also are rich in a potent plant compound called elagic acid, which is being studied for its anti-oxi-dant and anti-cancer properties.

One cup of blueberries (80 calories) offers similar amounts of vitamin C, potassium, folate and fiber.

Recently, researchers at Tufts Univer-sity analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capability. Blueber-ries came out on top, rating highest in their capacity to destroy cell-damaging free radicals.

Anthocyanin, the blue-red pigment in blueberries and strawberries, is another powerful plant anti-oxidant that works with vitamin C to protect and repair skin cells. So, a bowlful of berries is good for health and beauty.

Berries are showing up in restau-rants from breakfast time to cocktail hour and that’s part of a national trend toward more fresh fruit on all parts of the menu.

According to Mintel International Group, fresh fruit is becoming the star in soups, salads, desserts and beverages. From strawberry spinach salads to blue-berry crumbles, it’s easy to find antioxi-dants on the menu.

Tiny fruits have health, beauty benefits

Berry good

They’ve seen the real thing—now young vets sound off on whether Iraq-based shows hit the mark 6-7

Reality

TV?

6 new sushi spots 21 THAT’S GOLD!

TrAmpOLIne AnD OTHer

ODD OLympIc SpOrTS

14-15

Tornado sirens wail throughoutchicago 10

It’s a breakfast battle—pick your side 3

An edition of the

redeyechicago.com

H F R E E H

TuesdayAugust 5, 2008

HBO’s “Generation Kill” is a miniseries about a group of Marines in the early days of the Iraq war. [ HBO PHOTO ]

poppop

By Miki TurnerFor redeye

Robert Downey Jr. has had some tough assignments as an actor, but few roles com-pare to the risk he’s taking in the comedy “Tropic Thunder.”

The white American star plays Oscar-winning Australian actor Kirk Lazarus, who surgically dyes his skin to portray an African-American soldier named Lincoln Osiris in a Vietnam War epic called “Tropic Thunder.”

Downey, who had just finished filming his huge hit from earlier this year, “Iron Man,” had reservations about the role when co-writer-director-producer Ben Stiller offered it to him.

“I thought, ‘[Bleep] Ben Stiller.’ He’s going to call me up and say I want to do a great big movie with you, but I want you to have the highest risk factor and maybe put you up to ridicule and have people hate you for doing something you should have known was [bleeping] wrong to do,” Downey recently told a group of reporters in L.A.

Eventually, however, Downey took the bait—and went for it.

“There would be times I’d be in make-up for a couple of hours and ... I’d look at myself in the mirror and talk to myself as the character,” he said. “I swear to God it was one of the most therapeutic [things]. I would actually have this strange transcen-dent experience.”

In other words, Downey felt comfort-able in his new skin, but not to the extent that he wanted to take Lincoln out for a test run on the streets of his Malibu neighborhood.

“No! I’m not an idiot,” he said when the

idea was suggested.Joining Downey in the film are Stiller, Jack

Black, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride and Brandon T. Jackson. They play the prima donna actors and director (Coogan) of the film within the film. This motley crew, with the help of an explosion gone awry, contribute to the film’s budget woes—making it the most expensive war movie ever made. When investors pull the plug, the director convinces the stars to finish the film at a different location in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

What they don’t know is that the bad guy “extras” they encounter are part of an actual heroin manufacturing operation led by a grade school-aged drug lord.

Downey’s role stirred up some con-troversy when the first photos showing Downey in character were released. But since then, he hasn’t faced much backlash for his portrayal.

Downey recently told reporters his role and the movie are a satirical send-up of the self-importance of actors.

“The whole idea of actors taking them-selves seriously is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” Downey said. “The whole film is based on the idea that what we do on

some level is offensive and who we are on some level is despicable and pathetic. Which is the truth and not the truth. But the part that is the truth is entertaining.”

Downey relied on Jackson, who plays the film’s real black actor, Alpa Chino, to tell him if he was going too far in the role. After all, getting audiences to accept such a stereotypical portrayal of a black man—even in a comedy—is a risky venture.

“He helped us a lot,” Downey said. “He’d say, ‘I can call you that but you can’t call me that.’ And I’d say, ‘I know.’ If I had called him that—you know there are so many ways in a blink of an eye that it could have gone wrong.”

According to Jackson, Downey was just as dedicated to the part as the actor he’s satirizing.

“Robert Downey, that dude, he never left character the whole time. He was black the whole time,” Jackson said. “My mom came up to the set, she thought he was Don Cheadle.”

Stiller encouraged Downey to just go for it.

“I just wanted him to make the char-acter as two-dimensional as possible,” Stiller said. “I wanted him to go where his instincts told him to go.”

Next up for Downey, who is having a great year, is the sequel to “Iron Man,” reprising his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

“I’m stoked,” Downey said. “I’m excit-ed to do another ‘Iron Man.’ ” l.a. daily news, detroit news contributed.

I was just thinking: ‘You’re black. You’re an Army sergeant. You’re a [bleeping] badass.’

I was just looking around, thinking, ‘I have to take care of these people.’ And, no offense,

I’m looking around thinking, ‘These [bleeping] dumb white boys.’ So I actually got the ultimate

experience of probably what some people are thinking when they’re looking at me.”

—robert downey Jr. on his role in “Tropic Thunder,” speaking to the L.A. daily News

Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” examines what happens when a group of self-absorbed Hollywood A-listers go deep into the jungles of Southeast Asia to heighten the realism of the war movie they’re making—and end up getting more reality than they bargained for. It’s a big-budget war movie about a big-budget war movie. Here are the actors and the actors they portray. l.a. daily news

Associated Press“Tropic Thunder” is pushing the boundaries of good taste too far for groups representing the mentally disabled.

Dozens of people from organizations such as the Special Olympics and the American Association of People with Disabilities protested the movie-industry spoof across the street from the film’s L.A. premiere at Mann’s Bruin Theatre on Monday.

The groups are outraged over scenes featur-ing the liberal usage of a disparaging term used to describe the mentally disabled. In the movie, director and co-star Ben Stiller plays a fame-hun-gry actor cast in a war movie who previously had a role as a mentally disabled character named Simple Jack.

“I think it’s open to interpretation and that’s the great thing,” Robert Downey Jr., who stars in the film, told AP Television at the Monday night premiere. “You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that’s my right as an American, and it’s also any artist’s right to say and do whatever they wanna do.”

Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, said he and other advocacy groups met with DreamWorks co-chair Stacey Snider and watched a private screening of the film Monday morning. Imparato called the movie “tasteless” and said it was “offensive start to finish.”

Following the original complaints from the advocacy groups, DreamWorks pulled some promotional materials, including a Web site that promoted the film-within-a-film starring Stiller’s character which contained the tag line “Once there was a retard.” DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan previously said in a statement that “no changes or cuts to the film will be made.”

Mental disability groups protest ‘tropic thunder’

Tom Cruise does a cameo in “Tropic Thunder” as a bald, profane and very angry studio executive. It is said to have been inspired by his dealings with Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, Paramount’s par-ent company, among others. Here’s what some of the cast and crew had to say about Cruise:

ben stiller: “He wanted really big hands. ‘OK, Tom. You can have really big hands.’ I thought he should be bald. Then we took the hair from his head and grafted it onto his chest.”

nick nolte: “Tom has had his fair share of trouble with studio executives. I’m sure he’s very pleased with being able to state—how should I put it?—a certain lacking in sensitivity on their parts.”

Jay baruchel: “I remember being at the table reading and being taken aback. I mean, he was doing it with such relish. I think he has been wait-ing his whole career to say (bleep) with that level of anger.”

screenwriter Justin theroux: “We wanted the guy to be as terrible and horrifying as possible, and Tom just

threw himself into it. Was it an act of revenge? Maybe.” l.a. daily news

welcome to the jungle

ben stillerwho he plays: Washed-up action superstar Tugg Speedman

robert downey Jr. who he plays: Aussie Method actor Kirk Lazarus

nick nolte who he plays: Grizzled Vietnam vet John “Four Leaf” Tayback, whose

autobiography inspired the film-within-a-film

Jack black who he plays: Jeff Portnoy, star of lowbrow comedy franchise “The

Fatties”

brandon t. Jacksonwho he plays: rapper-actor Alpa Chino

Jay baruchel who he plays: rookie actor Kevin Sandusky

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days of ‘thunder’

blackcomedy?

‘Tropic Thunder’ star’s portrayal of a black manis risky business

txtable

OSCAR TALKrobert downey Jr.’s character in “Tropic Thunder” is an oscar-winning actor, but downey hasn’t won one himself, although he’s been nominated. For which movie did he earn an Academy Award nomination for best actor? Text “oscar” and the number of your answer to 47383. you’ll get a message telling you if you got the answer right.

1. Good Night, and Good Luck2. Natural Born Killers3. Chaplin4. Less Than Zero5. Wonder Boys

Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”DreAMworks

Protestors stand outside Monday’s premiere of “Tropic Thunder” in L.A. ap FAsT PAIseD

“robert downey Jr.’s performance perfectly depicts

an actor who’s gone too far and so believes in his transformation he’s unable to return to his real self.”

—Matt Pais, metromix movie producer (go to metromix.com)

whoville BY JIM

WALSHwhoville

Cruisegetty images file

Madonnagetty images file

Two celebs. Two tell-all books. One big question.Who has more buzz: Tom Cruise or Madonna?

If book sales are any indication, neither is so hot with the reading public right now. According to Fox News, the celeb books “Life with My Sister Madonna” (by Madge’s

bro, Christopher Ciccone) and the unauthorized biography of Cruise (by biogra-pher Andrew Morton) have under-performed. Sounds like a perfect opportunity

to break out another edition of RedEye’s FaceOff!

FACeoFF

Tom Cruise vs. Madonna

OVeRall WiNNeR: Madonna. Hey, we love Tom as much as the next guy, but you gotta give credit where it’s due. Whether it’s a hot scandal or a hit song, the Material Girl keeps us interested

with her antics.

the love bugCRUise

He’s married to former “Dawson’s Creek” heartthrob Katie Holmes, who recently has

been photographed wearing pegged jeans a la 1997.

maDONNa She’s hitched to hip Brit director Guy

Ritchie, who is working on an update of “Sherlock Holmes.”

scandalmongers

CRUise Tom’s Scientologist beliefs are often the

source of rumor and speculation, especially whenever a new Web video of him talking

about the faith surfaces.

maDONNa The Material Girl found herself in a

tabloid frenzy when rumors surfaced that she was romantically linked to New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, who is now undergoing a separation from his wife.

CRUise He’s never met a pair of jeans he didn’t

like. Classic cool.

maDONNa Over the years, Madge has made a few

fashion faux pas. Can you say cone bra?

Nice pipesCRUise

He’s an actor, not a singer—but who could forget his rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’

Feelin’ ” in “Top Gun”?

maDONNa There’s a reason she’s been a chart-

topper for decades.

transformersCRUise

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: Cruise has delivered a steady stream of blockbuster hits

and big-screen dramas.

maDONNa Coming up on her 50th birthday this

month, she’s still the queen of changing up her image and staying relevant—even if she has to kiss Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera to do it.

that style

whoville BY JIM

WALSH

Associated Press

Stargazing at L.A. courthouses is common, but most of the A-list celebrity justice action took place away from Hollywood in 2008.

Jurors in Florida, Chicago and Las Vegas decided the fates of top celebs in criminal cases, while New York played host to the year’s messiest divorce. L.A. wasn’t completely left out, thanks in large part to Britney Spears.

Here’s a recap of stars who kept attorneys flush in billable hours:

’08 was big year for celeb justice

Full court press

O.J. SimpsonThirteen years after his acquittal for his wife’s murder, O.J. Simson received judgment from Las Vegas jurors. Guilty. The conviction came after authorities charged Simpson with spearheading the robbery of a sports memorabilia dealer in a Sin City hotel room.

Christie BrinkleyFormer model Christie Brinkley’s 10-year marriage to fourth husband Peter Cook (above) may have ostensibly ended in 2006, but the couple’s weeklong divorce trial burned hotter than a heat wave. A week’s worth of testimony provided embarrassing details of Cook’s affair with an 18-year-old woman, his porn predilections and a psychiatrist’s assessment that he was “narcissistic.”

Britney SpearsNot all comebacks involve courtrooms and a cadre of lawyers, but Britney Spears’ sure did. The singer started out the year in meltdown but seemed better within months of a court awarding her father control of her personal and financial affairs. Along the way, Spears landed in just about every court possible: criminal, probate, family law, federal, appeals. All that to establish a conservatorship, settle a custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline and avoid a conviction on a misdemeanor driver’s license charge.

R. Kelly The man who belted out to audiences that he believed he could fly finally showed he would walk—on criminal charges. Jurors in Chicago acquitted R. Kelly of charges he videotaped himself having sex with a girl as young as 13.

Wesley Snipes

“Passenger 57” got a new identifier in ’08 —a federal prisoner

ID number. A federal jury acquitted Wesley

Snipes of tax fraud and conspiracy charges in

February, but found him guilty of three counts of failing to file income tax returns. Snipes stopped

paying taxes in 1999, and was convicted of failing

to file returns for that year and 2000 and 2001.

Cook

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