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PARIS - After weeks crossing the high seas, Claude Levi-Strauss breathed in his first lungful of the New World, a perfume tinged with pepper or tobacco. The sensory awakening was the start of a journey that turned a young Parisian scholar into a founder of modern anthropology.

GUANGZHOU, China - President Barack Obama's half brother has broken his media silence to discuss his new novel — the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir.

NEW ORLEANS - Actor Tom Hanks says viewers are in for a realistic "wartime experience" when the new film he produced, "Beyond All Boundaries," opens at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on Friday.

LOS ANGELES - John Lithgow was going to pass on the chance to play serial killer vs. serial killer on "Dexter," with an Italian vacation, cruise and his son's wedding awaiting him.

LONDON (AFP) - Police Tuesday released an Internet video of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared two years ago in Portugal at the age of three, with tanned skin and darker hair which she might have if held captive in a warmer climate.

As Hollywood closed specialty divisions that aimed for quality and personal stories, as studios focus more and more on superhero sagas and action blockbusters, cinema fans have rightly wondered, who's left to make great American movies?

NEW YORK - Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has some new people to yell at. The verbally abusive star of Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" has signed a deal with Fox for a second show. Tentatively called "Masterchef," it will feature Ramsay trying to turn people who have no experience in the food industry into expert cooks. Not surprisingly, producers say Ramsay won't be afraid to tell the would-be cooks the cold, hard truth about their work.

NEW YORK - It's hard to sell a book of short stories. But not if you're John Grisham.

LOS ANGELES - Rihanna says dealing with the media attention after being assaulted in February by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was humiliating. But she now hopes to speak for young women who are afraid to talk openly about domestic violence.

SAN DIEGO - Sheldon Dorf, who founded the world famous Comic-Con International comic book convention, has died. He was 76.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - No longer will American TV audiences be asking doctor who?

NEW YORK - Of the many countries participating at the Vancouver Olympics, add Colbert Nation to the list.

NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey is only the beginning for Sarah Palin's book tour.

LOS ANGELES - Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are taking on the Oscars.

DEAR ABBY: Thank you for your response to "Alarmed in Apple Valley" (Aug. 28), who was concerned because her teenage nephew shows so much affection toward his mother.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Flight of the Conchords" star Jemaine Clement has said his offbeat HBO comedy series may not continue for a third season because it requires so much work, but a final decision will be made within a month.

NEW YORK - It was a weird day in the book price wars.

NEW YORK - Jude Law and his fellow cast mates in Broadway's production of "Hamlet" have no reason to be melancholy: They are an official hit.

LOS ANGELES - When Adam Arkin signed on for "Sons of Anarchy," he didn't have reservations about his role as a slick white separatist or the FX drama's dark heart.

A fun tone is undermined by disjointed storytelling in George Clooney's "The Men Who Stare at Goats," and it all starts with the disclaimer that opens the movie: "More of this is true than what you might imagine."

LOS ANGELES - Kirstie Alley is going to star in a new A&E reality "docu-series" about her life as a single mom and her efforts to lose weight. The network has ordered 10 half-hour episodes of the untitled series from "American Idol" producer FremantleMedia North America. The show will follow the actress at home with her teenage children, at work and as she launches a new weight-loss program.

LOS ANGELES - Technology finally has caught up with Charles Dickens' imagination.

NEW YORK - Before Patrick Swayze was a film actor, a TV actor and People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive," he was a dancer.

LOS ANGELES - The first interview with Rihanna about Chris Brown's assault on her is airing this week on ABC.

LOS ANGELES - Call it the Irony Curtain.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Foodies, get ready for a culinary "American Idol."

LOS ANGELES - Rod Stewart grew up idolizing soul singers like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Otis Redding. On his new album, "Soulbook," he gets a chance to pay tribute to his childhood idols in song — and even gets a chance to sing with one of them on the CD.

TOKYO - Brad Pitt says he is in the market for a new motorcycle.

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood loves money. So does Ebenezer Scrooge. So what better way to launch the holiday season than putting the old money-grubber at the head of the line to separate movie-goers from their cash?

GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's half-brother made a rare appearance on Wednesday in southern China, his home for seven years, to launch a novel he says draws on his painful childhood under an abusive father.