Eminem seeks OK to burn house for film

Eminem seeks OKto burn house for film
DETROIT -- Residents and officials of Highland Park, Mich., are fired up about Eminem's plans to burn down a house during the filming of his untitled movie.
The rapper's request comes with a pledge to demolish three vacant homes, a $2,000 donation to a Highland Park charity and a lecture to high school students about the movie business.
But these gestures failed to appease about 50 residents who protested the blaze.
Highland Park's emergency financial manager, Ramona Henderson Pearson, said she supports the fire. She has the final say on whether the house will burn, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press said.
Council members in Highland Park held an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the issue and approved, 4-0, a nonbinding resolution opposing the filming.
Reubens' home raided
LOS ANGELES -- Another sex scandal surrounds Paul Reubens, the artist formerly known as Pee-wee Herman. Los Angeles Police searched his home two weeks ago and carted off what has been described as vintage erotica.
The actor was not arrested or charged with any crime. The raid stemmed from a tip from a friend. A spokesman for Reubens, 49, told the New York Daily News that the actor was a victim of blackmail.
A spokesman told the New York Post that Reubens was not at home at the time. The police "seized material from [his] house, including his vintage kitsch and erotic art and photography collections, which Paul has collected for over 30 years."
A story in next week's National Enquirer will report that police took nearly 2,000 videotapes; dozens of boxes of pornographic pictures, magazines and books; and three computers containing what was said to be "lewd material."
Reubens, famous for his TV show "Pee-wee's Playhouse," vanished from the spotlight after a 1991 arrest for performing lewd acts at a Florida porn-movie theater. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 75 hours of community service.
Queen visits the setof 'EastEnders' soap
LONDON -- After some last-minute research to find out about the characters, Queen Elizabeth II visited the set of one of Britain's most popular soap operas.
The queen, who aides say is not a regular viewer of "EastEnders" -- a turbulent series set in imaginary Albert Square in London's gritty East End -- met Wendy Richard, 54, who plays downtrodden laundry worker Pauline Fowler, and Barbara Windsor, 64, a veteran of the "Carry On" films, who plays the glamorous matriarch Peggy Mitchell.
The two actresses have denied news reports that they had argued over who should escort the queen. News reports said bosses at Elstree Studios north of London had brokered a compromise by introducing Richard first, then allowing Windsor -- who shares a surname with the queen -- to take the monarch on a tour of the Queen Vic pub and other parts of the set, while Richard followed with the queen's husband, Prince Philip.
Today's birthdays
Movie director Gordon Parks is 89. Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is 83. Actress Virginia Mayo is 81. Former New York congresswoman Shirley Chisholm is 77. Actor Richard Crenna is 74. Actor Robert Guillaume is 74. TV personality and producer Dick Clark is 72. Radio talk-show host G. Gordon Liddy is 71. Country singer Teddy Wilburn is 70. Country singer-recording executive Jimmy Bowen is 64. Singer Rob Grill (The Grassroots) is 58.