Kutcher tweets resemblance of Jobs

Kutcher tweets resemblance of Jobs

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, January 31, 2013, 6:30 PM

In advance of the release of upcoming biopic "Jobs," Ashton Kutcher posted a photo of himself dressed up as the late Apple co-founder.

The resemblance between Jobs, shown late in his life with his signature beard and mock turtleneck, and Kutcher, 34, is uncanny.

RELATED: ASHTON KUTCHER HOSPITALIZED FOR STEVE JOBS' DIET

"Thank you Sundance for your support of ‘Jobs,’" Kutcher wrote on Twitter.

“Jobs” has so far earned mixed reviews from critics, who debate how capably Kutcher embodied Jobs’ spirit.

RELATED: KUTCHER PORTRAYS APPLE FOUNDER IN 'JOBS'

No question remains, however, about how well the actor can conjure up Jobs’ image.

Feds after disgraced dean's cash

Feds after disgraced dean's cash

James Monroe Adams IV for New York Daily News

Former St. John’s University dean Cecilia Chang hanged herself in November amid accusations she bribed students with scholarships and then forced them to work as her personal servants at her Jamaica Estates home. 

The Feds have fired their first salvo to grab ill-gotten assets from the late St. John’s University dean Cecilia Chang, who committed suicide while on trial.

Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Sheldon Tang filed an affidavit Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court seeking a warrant to seize up to $ 300,000 from an account with Firstrade Securities that Chang opened in the name of a former student.

Chang, the former dean of the Center for Asian Studies at St. John’s, allegedly embezzled more than $ 1 million from the school and deposited the money in various accounts she controlled, according to court papers.

She hanged herself after testifying disastrously in her own defense against federal charges that she bribed students with scholarships and then forced them to work for her as personal servants at her Jamaica Estates home.

The Firstrade Securities account was opened in the name of a student who was recruited by Chang to receive a St. John’s scholarship, according to the affidavit. The student told investigators that “she believed opening the account was a requirement of the school,” Tang stated in the affidavit.

Federal prosecutors are preparing a formal forfeiture action against whatever assets of Chang’s can be tied to her various schemes.

St. John’s University could file a claim with the U.S. Justice Department to recover the funds she stole, sources said.

The Queens District Attorney’s office dropped its lien against Chang’s home, where she killed herself.

The former dean’s lawyer said he was unaware of the feds’ plans.

The verdict is in on Randy Travis’s drunk driving charges

The verdict is in on Randy Travis’s drunk driving charges

Uncredited/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Randy Travis was arrested on Aug. 7, 2012, for drunk driving when cops found him lying naked after crashing into a construction zone.

Randy Travis may not be singing “I’m Free” anytime soon.

The country singer has been sentenced to 180 days in jail after he pled guilty to an Aug. 7 drunk-driving incident in Texas in which he was found by authorities lying naked in the roadway after crashing his car in a construction zone.

RELATED: 'BUCK NAKED' RANDY TRAVIS ARRESTED FOR DWI

In true celeb fashion, he may not spend a single day locked up, reports TMZ.

The 53-year-old country crooner’s sentence was probated for two years, so if he plays it straight he can avoid ever seeing the inside of a jail cell, according to the Grayson County District Attorney.

RELATED: RANDY TRAVIS PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO SIMPLE ASSAULT CHARGES

But he isn’t getting off that easy. The sentence also includes 100 hours of community service, a mandatory check-in to an in-patient alcohol treatment facility for a minimum of 30 days and the installation of an ignition interlock device on any vehicle Travis intends to operate over the next two years.

“He’s given up drinking alcohol,” his lawyer Larry Friedman told People magazine. “He’s drinking eight glasses of water a day or more. He’s on a strict exercise regimen… He’s in the best shape he’s ever been in his life.”

zrivera@nydailynews.com

Final '30 Rock' leave us rollin' with laughter

Final '30 Rock' leave us rollin' with laughter

Art Streiber/Art Streiber/NBC

Two true 'Rock' stars of comedy: Tina Fey as Liz Lemon and Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy

NBC’s “30 Rock” wraps up a seven-year run Thursday night at 8 with a double episode that’s self-referential, self-deprecating, puzzling, appropriate, funny and wholly untroubled by the fact this show’s life story feels odder than many of its loopy plotlines.

Consider:

1. If you listen to critics and the TV industry, “30 Rock” is one of the best sitcoms ever. It won the Emmy for Best Comedy three years in a row. But if you look at its ratings, it never ranked higher than No. 69 in any of its seven seasons. Its finale last season drew 2.8 million viewers, less than a typical episode of “Ax Men.”

2. “30 Rock” was a glittering beacon of prestige for NBC during years when, as the late Daily News’ Bill Bell used to say, the network “couldn’t get viewers in a prison block if it were waving a fistful of pardons.” “30 Rock” and other modestly rated but critically adored sitcoms kept NBC on the map. Yet now NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt is gently and diplomatically saying NBC needs shows with broader appeal.

3. With an inside-the-industry premise, which narrows any show’s appeal, “30 Rock” succeeded largely because its stars were so entertaining. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won awards as routinely as pizza-delivery trucks double-park. But ask most TV viewers how they remember Fey in recent years and they’ll say, “Sarah Palin.” Ask about Baldwin and they’ll tell you how they love his Capital One commercials. Tracy Morgan? Loose cannon. Jane Krakowski? Love those lite OJ ads.

Thursday’s final episodes take a final round of digs at NBC. Jack McBrayer's Kenneth, now the network president, explains he only wants brainless sitcoms where people joke with their dogs.

Kenneth also sets up the nominal premise for the finale, that the network must make one more episode of “TGS” even though it was canceled.

This sets up the dysfunctional group’s version of goodbyes, whether that involves Lutz (John Lutz) plotting revenge for seven years of humiliation in the writers’ room or Liz (Fey) and Jack (Baldwin) trying to figure out how they really feel about each other.

It’s no spoiler to reveal that things never become mushy, or that only viewers truly obsessed with the show will get all of the inside lines and references.

Brian Williams and a mirror on the bathroom floor? Alec Baldwin’s character joking about the real-life Alec Baldwin?

But hey, the “30 Rock” folks were clearly having a good time. And really, in the end, what else is happiness all about?

Car dealer sues Hyundai to keep dealership

Car dealer sues Hyundai to keep dealership

Hyundai is giving the “death penalty” to a Brooklyn auto dealership that was forced to pay nearly $ 300,000 in restitution to victims scammed by unscrupulous employees.

But Giuffre Hyundai of Bay Ridge has fired back with a lawsuit in Brooklyn Federal Court seeking a stay of the automaker’s lethal order.

RELATED: LATE DECEMBER IS PRIME TIME FOR AUTO BARGAINS, SAY CONSUMER ADVOCATES

Franchise termination is a business "death penalty,” Giuffre’s lawyer, Eric Chase, states in court papers filed Wednesday.

Hyundai’s decision to force franchise owner John Giuffre to sell the business, which has been operating since 1998, is rooted in a suit filed in 2010 by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accusing Giuffre’s Hyundai, Mazda, Kia and Mitsubishi dealerships of ripping off dozens of customers with fraudulent practices.

Giuffre claims in the suit to have cleaned up his act. He seeks unspecified damages against the automaker.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

Beyonce admits to lip synch, silences critics with song

Beyonce admits to lip synch, silences critics with song

Beyoncé faced the music and put her lip-syncing scandal to rest Thursday by belting out a rousing â€" and live â€" version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before an audience of skeptical reporters.

“Any questions?” the grinning superstar said when she was through with the demonstration.

PHOTOS: BEYONCE TOPS PEOPLE'S 2012 MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE LIST

Reporters at the pre-Super Bowl press conference had the answer â€" in the form of thunderous applause that put to rest a fortnight of controversy.

Jaws had dropped from sea to shining sea after Beyoncé belted out a soaring rendition of the National Anthem during President Obama’s inauguration â€" but fans began singing a different tune when a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marine Band suggested Beyoncé might have used a pre-taped version.

RELATED: MISS AMERICA TO SING LIVE

But Beyoncé refused to say whether she had or hadn’t faked it. So the singer, looking ravishing in a white mini dress, began the Thursday presser by asking everybody to stand.

Then, she knocked the patriotic song out of the park.

PHOTOS: INAUGURATION DAY 2013

Not only did Beyoncé leave no doubt about her ability to hit all the right notes, she insisted, “I absolutely will be singing live” at halftime of Super Bowl XLVII Sunday.

“This is what I was born to do,” she said.

RELATED: BEYONCE OPENS ABOUT MISCARRIAGE

She finally admitted she sang along with a “pre-recorded track” at the inauguration â€" but did it because she’s a “perfectionist” and didn’t feel ready to perform at her peak.

“I practice until my feet bleed (but) I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra,” she said.

RELATED: OUTRAGE OVER BEYONCÉ’S 'STAR SPANGLED BANNER' LIP SYNCH

“Due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking a risk. It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud.”

After the controversy erupted, the Beyoncé camp hunkered down and refused to say whether she did or didn’t fake it.

RELATED: MICHELLE OBAMA, DAUGHTERS SET NATIONAL FASHION TRENDS

But supporters defended her, noting that even Pavarotti faked it when was too cold to perform live.

Beyoncé made a point of arriving in New Orleans early enough to make a recording of the songs she plans to sing â€" a set list that remains a closely guarded secret.

With millions of dollars riding on performances like the half time show, singers typically pre-record a song as insurance against a sore throat or some other calamity.

In 1991, Whitney Houston gave a now-famous performance at the Super Bowl that was aided by a prerecorded soundtrack.

Other stars like Jennifer Hudson and Faith Hill have done the same.

Hudson will be performing at this Super Bowl as well â€" along with a choir of 26 children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first graders and six staffers were massacred last month by a monster armed with a Bushmaster assault rife.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Lindsay Lohan sues clothing label partners for $1.1M

Lindsay Lohan sues clothing label partners for $1.1M

Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

indsay Lohan attends the launch of her legging collection '6126' at Henri Bendel in 2008.

Lindsay Lohan was back in court again Thursday - but this time she was doing the dressing down.

The "Mean Girls" star filed a $ 1.1 million lawsuit in federal court accusing her clothing label partners of fraud, trademark infringement and breach of contract.

Lohan claims the southern California-based apparel company that licensed her 6126 Collection as part of a five-year celebrity clothing deal has defaulted on $ 900,000 in guaranteed minimum royalties plus 10% of net sales.

"They owe us a million dollars. We're suing to force them to pay," Lohan's civil lawyer Perry C. Wander told the Daily News.

"The agreement did not have a morals clause, and Lindsay Lohan had no responsibility to promote the line, so there's no defense for their actions," he said. "They're trying to insert those as a defense, but they weren't part of this deal."

Lohan struck the deal back in 2008, shortly before a conga line of Los Angeles County criminal judges slapped her with jail time for offenses related to her DUIs and a shoplifting conviction.

The 26-year-old starlet spent two weeks behind bars in mid 2010 before making a couple trips to rehab and later serving a month of house arrest in 2011.

She's now fighting misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, obstruction and lying to police that stem from a car crash on a Santa Monica highway last June.

The actress got a chilly reception from a judge Wednesday after she almost missed a mandatory pre-trial hearing because of an alleged upper respiratory "condition" that her lawyer referred to as the flu.

Lohan's new criminal lawyer Mark Heller submitted a doctor's note ahead of the hearing saying Lohan was too sick to fly from New York to Los Angeles. Paparazzi photos, meanwhile, showed the "Liz & Dick" star shopping and smoking cigarettes around the time she supposedly was diagnosed.

Judge Stephanie Sautner made it clear she didn't buy the flu excuse after Lohan took a last-minute flight and sheepishly appeared as ordered.

The former child star did not speak to reporters outside the courtroom, but Heller said she deserved "mercy" and another chance, not more jail.

Wander said her future plans include more work in the fashion industry.

"Lindsay is very passionate about her fashion design, and she's looking forward to re-launching the line with another partner," he said. "She wants to enter into negotiations to license a clothing line and accessories."

Lohan registered her 6126 trademark as an ode to her heroine Marilyn Monroe. It represents Monroe's birthday of June 1, 1926.

The "Freaky Friday" actress launched her original 6126 line of leggings and cashmere leg warmers with design partner Kristi Kaylor at high end stores such as Fred Segal.

It's no longer available at premium stores but continues to sell in overseas markets like China and Japan, Wander claimed.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles named D.N.A.M. Apparel Industries as the lead defendant.

Attempts to reach the company were not immediately successful.

ndillon@nydailynews.com