Teen wins 'Twilight' car on 'Tyra Banks Show'

Sometimes it pays to have your heart broken.

An 18-year-old who was among some 3,000 teens turned away from an autograph session with "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson when the crowd at a San Francisco mall grew unruly was surprised during a Thursday taping of "The Tyra Banks Show" _ by Pattinson himself.

Oh yeah, and she won the young vampire's Volvo, too.

"This is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life," Tiffany Kuhne said after the taping of the show, which airs Nov. 28.

Police canceled a Nov. 10 autograph session at the Stonestown Galleria when 3,000 people _ mostly teenage girls, and hundreds more than expected _ arrived early and began pushing their way inside. At least one girl was injured.

"The Tyra Banks Show" flew Kuhne and two other teenagers involved in the crush to New York for a "Twilight"-themed show _ though they had no idea that Pattinson and co-star Taylor Lautner would be there.

The film stars then encouraged the girls as they participated in a pie-eating contest, with the prize being "Twilight memorabilia."

"I still can't believe they are making you guys do this," Pattinson said as the pie-eating wore on. "Oh, geez!"

Two of the girls tied. Kuhne won a tiebreaker by precisely guessing the combined weight of the co-stars: 320 pounds.

Kuhne was blindfolded and led outside to discover that the "memorabilia" she'd won was the Volvo that Pattinson's character drives in the movie, which opened Friday.

"I feel absolutely amazing, ecstatic," said Kuhne, who works at a coffee shop and did not previously own a car. "I can't believe everything that just happened did."

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Bruce Willis wants cash back from Malaysia company

A Malaysian technology conglomerate pledged Friday to repay $900,000 to Hollywood star Bruce Willis, but denied any wrongdoing after he took legal action to demand a refund of his investment.

The Kuala Lumpur-based Petra Group environmental technology company said Willis invested $2 million in its subsidiary, Green Rubber, a developer of technology that can recycle rubber in old tires, in 2007.

Petra returned $1.1 million to Willis earlier this year when he decided to pull out his investment. U.S. news reports said the star of the "Die Hard" action films filed a court complaint in Los Angeles this week to recoup the remaining $900,000.

The company said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press that it intends to pay Willis the balance "within the next few weeks" and that the actor need not have filed the court complaint.

Petra Group is "very surprised by Mr. Willis' actions and refute in the strongest possible terms any allegations of impropriety," it said.

Green Rubber had been seeking an initial public offering in London when Willis made the investment last year, but the Petra Group's chief executive agreed to buy back the star's shares at any point "as a gesture of goodwill," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, the market then took an unforeseeable severe downturn, caused by the global credit crunch, and flotation plans had to be put on hold," the statement added. "Mr. Willis asked to sell his shares back ... despite the company's exceptional underlying operating performance."

Surprise! Violinist Shaham gets Avery Fisher Prize

The last time they shared a Lincoln Center stage, violinist Gil Shaham wielded the big smiles as Gustavo Dudamel made his conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic.

Thursday night, it was Dudamel's turn.

At the end of Shaham's nationally televised performance on PBS's "Live From Lincoln Center," Dudamel suddenly appeared in the audience and greeted Shaham as the violinist walked toward an exit.

"Stop!" Dudamel called out. "My friend. Nice to see you. I have the honor to tell you that you have won the Avery Fisher Prize for 2008."

The 37-year-old Shaham took two steps back to catch his breath.

The prize, named for the man who invented the transistorized amplifier and helped fund the landmark West Side arts complex, is worth $75,000. It was established in 1974 and has been awarded to 19 other musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Emanuel Ax and most recently Joshua Bell.

"The prize is for people who have really reached the pinnacle of their career," Nathan Leventhal, chairman of the Avery Fisher Artist Program, told the 150-member audience after the TV cameras went off the air.

"Oh my God," Shaham said.

The violinist had just finished performing works by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate, who died 100 years ago this fall, when the 27-year-old Dudamel made the surprise announcement at Lincoln Center's Kaplan Penthouse.

During the Venezuelan conductor's debut last November with the New York Philharmonic, Shaham maintained a huge grin while playing the Dvorak Violin Concerto as his friend led the musicians through a triumphant performance.

Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., to Israeli parents. When he was 7, he and his family moved to Israel, where he studied violin. Three years later, he began studying at The Juilliard School and at the Aspen Music School in Colorado.

His career got a big boost in 1989, when as a late substitute soloist for an indisposed Itzhak Perlman, the then-high school junior turned in highly praised performances with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

The following year, Shaham won an Avery Fisher Career Grant, an award to help young musicians start their careers.

"My father loved surprises," Nancy Fisher said. "He loved calling musicians to tell them they had won."

"Twenty years ago he called me," Shaham said. "I'm just dumbfounded."

Madonna, Ritchie get preliminary divorce decree

Madonna and Guy Ritchie have been granted a preliminary decree of divorce.

After six weeks and a day, the divorce can become final.

Neither appeared at Friday's brief court session in which a judge granted decrees to 17 couples.

Ritchie and Madonna married eight years ago.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) _ Madonna and Guy Ritchie are scheduled to get a preliminary decree of divorce at the High Court in London on Friday.

The court lists "Ciccone M L v Ritchie G S" as one of 17 cases for pronouncement of a preliminary decree. After six weeks and a day, the divorce can become final.

British news media reported, without identifying the sources of their information, that the celebrity couple had reached a settlement that would see the pop superstar keep the majority of her estimated 300 million pound ($445 million) fortune with her film-director husband.

Reports in the Evening Standard and the Times of London said the couple had also reached a deal regarding their two children: Rocco, 8, and David Banda, 3, who was adopted from Malawi in 2006.

The newspapers said the two boys will split their time between Britain and the United States, while Lourdes _ Madonna's 12-year-old daughter from a previous relationship with personal trainer Carlos Leon _ will live with her mother in America.

Requests for comment from representatives for the couple were not returned.

Ritchie and Madonna married eight years ago.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson plans return to acting

Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson is going back to the small screen after his foray into Republican presidential politics over the last year.

Thompson, best known on TV for his role as a gruff district attorney on NBC's "Law & Order," dropped out of the crowded GOP primaries in January after his much-anticipated presidential campaign failed to gain strong support among conservatives.

He campaigned heavily for eventual nominee John McCain, and had recently tried to gain support to be in charge of the Republican National Committee.

But his former finance chairman, B.C. "Scooter" Clippard, said Thompson told him Wednesday that he was returning to acting and dropping his RNC bid.

"He seriously considered it, but he called and said that it was not in the cards," Clippard said.

Clippard said he did not know which television programs might be interested in Thompson.

"He has some wonderful opportunities back in the television market that probably financially far outweigh being chair of the RNC," Clippard said.

Thompson, 66, was a lawyer and character actor before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1993, only to turn his back on politics after his first full term in favor of a full-time acting career in 2002.

Thompson began his acting career playing himself in the film "Marie" in 1985, about a high-profile legal case he handled in Tennessee.

And while his presidential ambitions didn't pan out, at least Thompson got to play the commander in chief as Ulysses S. Grant in the 2007 TV movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Dr Pepper to deliver on its free-soda promise

Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

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Pensions frozen at Random House Inc.

The country's largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its current employees and eliminated them for future hires, the latest cuts in an industry hit by declining sales and anticipating, at best, a difficult 2009.

"Effective Dec. 31, benefits in the Random House, Inc. Pension Plan will no longer grow _ but they will not be reduced," spokesman Stuart Applebaum said in a statement released Thursday in response to a query from The Associated Press.

Applebaum added that, effective Jan. 1, no new employees "will be enrolled in the Random House, Inc. Pension Plan." The company will continue to offer matching funds, up to 6 percent, for 401k plans.

"Random House has always been a cost-conscious company, and particularly so in these financially troubled times," he said when asked if future cuts were possible.

Applebaum said talk of cutting pension had been going on for years, although changes at Random House have been expected since Markus Dohle replaced Peter Olson in May as chairman of the publisher's worldwide operations. "Mr. Dohle's planning and discussions about the company's future has been and continue to be very interactive at all levels of the company worldwide," Applebaum said.

Random House is owned by Germany media company Bertelsmann AG.

A Random House division, the Doubleday Publishing Group, announced last month that it had laid off 16 people. "South Beach Diet" publisher Rodale Inc. recently laid off 14 from its book division.

Earlier Thursday, Barnes & Noble Inc. reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss. The superstore chain reduced its full-year sales and earnings forecasts, sending its shares down sharply, and said it would cut the number of new stores opening in 2009.

Sales for B&N stores 15 months or older, a key indicator of a retailer's health, fell 7.4 percent from last year.

"A significant drop-off in customer traffic and consumer spending impacted our business in the third quarter," Chief Executive Steve Riggio said in a statement.

Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy says the "marketplace is really, really soft" and adds that the publisher is trying to reduce prices on some paperbacks or accelerate the release of paperbacks, hoping to attract customers looking for bargains.

Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins have had recent success with such best sellers as David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and Bob Woodward's "The War Within." But both publishers worry about a weak market for older, "backlist" books.

"What I think is happening is that you would have somebody who would go into a store and buy a front list title, and then ... buy a second book. And now they aren't buying that second book," Reidy says.

Carrie Kania, who heads the Harper Perennial paperback imprint at HarperCollins, says that while classics such as "To Kill a Mockingbird" remain popular, she has seen a drop for what she calls "the middle backlist, a book that came out 10 years ago that isn't in the news, that's a little off the radar.

"You might have an author with 10-12 books and it's harder now to get people to go for that fourth or fifth book," Kania said. "People are being more careful now. They aren't going as deep into an author's work."

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AP Retail Writer Sarah Skidmore in Portland, Ore., contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS to remove erroneous earnings data. UPDATES with additional quotes, background.)

Sean Stewart settles case over fight

A case against Rod Stewart's son over a brawl at a Hollywood nightclub has been resolved.

Seal Bral, an attorney for the man who sued Sean Stewart in 2007, says the parties reached a settlement after undergoing private mediation. A Los Angeles court dismissed the case on Tuesday.

Daniel Refoua sued Stewart over a fight at a nightclub in 2006 he says left him with a broken nose and other injuries.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial in January, although Stewart's attorneys had been seeking a dismissal. An attorney for Stewart did not return a phone message Thursday.

Stewart appeared in the A&E show "Sons of Hollywood" and is also one of the patients featured on this season's "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" on VH1.

The 10 movies you shouldn't watch online

Movies are increasingly creeping online, as video sites like YouTube and Hulu are adding feature films to their extensive libraries.

At the Google-owned YouTube, there is the YouTube Screening Room, which every two weeks, adds four new films _ mostly independent works _ to the site. Hulu, the joint creation of NBC Universal and News Corp., has hundreds of films available for stream, from "Basic Instinct" to "Wuthering Heights."

Of course, many people download films illegally on BitTorrent sites, but movies are nevertheless becoming more populated _ legally _ online.

Hulu recently added 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia," which begs the question: Should anyone watch a nearly four-hour-long epic of sweeping grandeur on their laptop? Or, heaven forbid, their cell phone?

Here are the top ten films that should never be brought down to size:

1. "Lawrence of Arabia": David Lean's film, which won seven Oscars including best picture, was made for the big screen _ particularly as projected in all of its 70 millimeter glory. Though Hulu (like YouTube) streams films in high quality, the enormity of the Arabian desert loses something when dwarfed to a 4-inch by 6-inch screen.

2. "Last of the Mohicans": Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel pulses with the raw nature of early America so much that film critic David Thomson has written that he expects William Wordsworth to pop up at any moment. You won't get that rugged feeling on a computer.

3. "Jaws": Really, how scary can that shark be if he's two inches tall?

4. "North By Northwest": Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic is just too big for your computer. It's almost too big for a movie screen. The film, after all, includes a chase seen with an airplane, Bernard Herrmann's robust score, Mount Rushmore and, well, Cary Grant in sunglasses.

5. "Star Wars": It's true, a hologram of Princess Leia on your computer is just about as fitting as one of Will.i.am on CNN. But do you really want to see (spoiler alert!) the Death Star explode next to your e-mail?

6. "WarGames": There isn't anything so cinematic about this 1983 thriller starring Matthew Broderick. But watching a movie about Cold War-era paranoia in which a computer threatens to bomb the world might cause you to panic out of distrust for all things computerized and throw your laptop out the window.

7. "Barry Lyndon": The same computer rebellion of "WarGames" might also apply to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," but the Kubrick film that deserves the absolute best presentation is his 1975 period piece. The cinematography by John Alcott _ including a candlelit scene shot with NASA-developed camera lenses _ is best seen projected in the dark.

8. "Raiders of the Lost Ark": You have to worry that a story about an adverture-seeking archaeologist with a whip fetish who gets chased by boulders might seem a tad unrealistic when shrunk down from the big screen. (But feel free to be disappointed by the latest "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on whatever platform you like.)

9. "The Third Man": Carol Reed's 1949 film is one of the most exquisitely shot films ever and meant for the movie theater. Also, a Web junky might take the wrong lesson from "The Third Man." The Internet has a way of depersonalizing people, much in the way Orson Welles famously looks down at far below humans from atop a Ferris wheel in "The Third Man," caring nothing if the "little dots" stopped moving.

10. "You've Got Mail": It's just a little too cutesy to watch this romantic comedy on your computer, don't you think?

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EDITOR'S NOTE _ What's your favorite way to watch movies online? E-mail AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle at jcoyle(at)ap.org

`DWTS' pro Julianne Hough won't return next season

Julianne Hough says she's not returning to "Dancing With the Stars" next season.

In an interview on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, the 20-year-old professional dancer said she needed time to concentrate on her country music career.

Hough, who's nabbed two titles in four seasons on ABC's popular dance competition, said Thursday: "I really, really want to focus on the music and, you know, kind of be taken seriously a little bit."

The Utah native and her celebrity partner, Cody Linley, were eliminated from the show Tuesday night.

This year, she released a self-titled country album and a holiday album.

Asked if she plans to try out for Fox's "American Idol," Hough joked that she didn't think ABC "would be too excited about that."