While difficult to upstage nearly nude supermodels strutting down a catwalk, the Spice Girls stole a share of the spotlight on Thursday as they kicked off a reunion tour with a warm-up at the Victoria's Secret fashion show.
In a sneak peak of their eagerly anticipated world tour that begins Dec. 2 in Vancouver, the members of the UK girl group, whose monikers became household names in the 1990s, gave models like Heidi Klum a run for their money as they belted out their hit Stop and new single Headlines.
Lest anyone forget who they were, the group's five women, dressed in World War II-era khaki and jaunty military caps, emerged onstage at the Hollywood show to perform their first number in front of huge glittering lights spelling out "Spice." The band has sold more than 55 million albums, with 10 No. 1 singles.
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The group's latest CD, Spice Girls: Greatest Hits, is being sold only at the lingerie chain, owned by Limited Brands. The fashion show will be broadcast Dec. 4 on US network CBS.
Besides the spectacle of the reunited Spice Girls, there was plenty to ogle onstage at the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards, even with celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Slash from the 1980s' rocker band Guns N' Roses in the crowd.
The Victoria's Secret models, who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday, sported a series of animal-inspired lingerie looks. Their bras and panties were accessorized with plumage, skins and antlers seen usually only in the Serengeti.
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Also back in the limelight last week was actress Lindsay Lohan, who checked in and out of jail on Thursday, spending just 84 minutes behind bars for a drunken driving and cocaine-possession conviction.
Lohan, 21, had been sentenced in August to one day in jail after admitting guilt to drink and drug charges and was told by the court to serve her time before January.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Web site showed that Lohan checked into jail at 10:30am on Thursday and was released at 11:54am.
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The charges stemmed from a July car chase and an arrest in May after she wrecked her car in Beverly Hills. After her July arrest, the star of the hit movie Freaky Friday checked into a rehabilitation center in Utah and spent more than two months there.
It was Lohan's second stint in rehab this year after admitting she had been attending meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Lohan was also sentenced to 10 days of community service, three years probation and 18 months of an alcohol-education program.
Actor George Clooney decided to do a little community service of his own and has donated US$25,000 to show business charity the Actors Fund to provide emergency relief for workers facing financial hardship due to the strike by Hollywood screenwriters.
Clooney was quoted in Friday's edition of the entertainment trade paper Daily Variety that he planned to make periodic donations to the fund, and urged fellow stars to follow suit.
He said he chose the New York-based nonprofit agency, which assists workers in all walks of the entertainment industry, because relief is provided in the form of grants, not loans, and eligibility does not depend on union membership.
The Writers Guild of America went on strike against the major film and TV studios on Nov. 5 after negotiations on a new contract for its 12,000 members reached an impasse.
The strike immediately threw the television industry into disarray, idling hundreds of non-writing production employees along with striking WGA members as work on numerous shows ground to a halt.
While studios' film release schedule has been unaffected, Hollywood stars have had fewer venues to promote their latest movies with the shutdown of late-night talk shows.
"To people like myself, the strike is a forced vacation, but ... there is the fear that a prolonged strike can destroy people who make a living in this industry," Clooney told Variety. "My hope is that people who can afford it will take responsibility for this and help out."
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