Anna Nicole Smith: Another busy celeb in the news this week deserves all the extra attention now that she has dropped most of her mind-numbing meds and about a ton of weight. The new and improved Smith has been chosen to present the Come Back of the Year Award at the 38th Annual Victor Sports Awards on Saturday, July 10. She fits that title perfectly. The ceremonies will be taped for broadcast on Fox Sports Net during the week of July 12th. Proceeds from the esteemed show will benefit the City of Hope Cancer Center. The highlight of the night will occur when the late football star Pat Tillman, who left a lucrative sports career at home when he headed off to war in the Middle East, is inducted into the Victor Awards Hall of Fame posthumously. Tobey Maguire: If the actor's agent scored a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment that pays him a percentage of the money made by Spider-Man 2, Maguire will never have to work again in his lifetime or the  next.

 

The sequel established a new industry record for opening day box office receipts yesterday when it scored an estimated $40.5 million in ticket sales. This is a holiday weekend period. Don't be surprised if the movie generates over $200 million by Tuesday. People will flock to cinemas because it has been getting rave reviews from movie critics who are not often kind to special effects-heavy films. When Jeff Blake, Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, told reporters, "Sam Raimi and the producers and cast have delivered a great film," he wasn't kidding. Andy Dick: MTV failed in its last effort to have a series winner with the comedian. His 2001 entry, The Andy Dick Show, tasted death early, but that didn't stop the music network from trying again with the star of ABC's Less Than Perfect. Dick headlines MTV's reality parody The Assistant when it debuts on the cable channel Monday, July 12. The show centers around a competition to find workers for a Hollywood production company. Elizabeth Taylor: Vincent van Gogh used to love to paint by the sea or with the sea in mind, as he did on the English coast at Ramsgate, at Scheveningen in Holland and Saint-Rémy in the south of France. Taylor's father knew it when he purchased van Gogh's "View of the Asylum of Saint-Rémy" for his daughter at a London auction over forty years ago. That was then, this is now, and the ship may sail one day from America back to Europe with the valuable painting in the cargo hole.

Margarete Mauthner's heirs claim that "Saint-Rémy' was stolen from the German lady by Hitler's thieves during WWII. They want the work of art back home where they think it belongs. Taylor is asking an American court to rule that she is the rightful owner. Both sides will fight this one out to the finish and nobody can blame them. Some art critics think that the van Gogh masterpiece is worth over $10 million on the open market. Let the wars begin. The stakes are high. Tom Cruise: Forget the high-profile money roles the actor plays in movies these days. He can work for far less for the right cause, and that cause this time will be the 12th Annual ESPY Awards, which will be broadcast on ESPN Sunday, July 18 at 9pm. Cruise will oversee a special tribute to last year's Arthur Ashe Courage Award, Pat Tillman, the NFL star who left his big paychecks on the playing field to help defend this country. He lost his life during combat in Afghanistan. Cruise told reporters, "I am honored to take part in remembering and celebrating the life of Pat Tillman, someone whose courage and integrity I respect and admire." Millions of Americans agree with him. The actual Awards show will take place at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on Wednesday, July 14. James Spader: So what's in a name anyway? When Spader finally shows up in his new Alan Shore series for ABC, it won't be called The Practice: Fleet Street, the title originally assigned to the Practice spinoff. David E. Kelley and the gang have decided to title the legal drama, Boston Legal. Rhona Mitra, Lake Bell and the Captain himself, William Shatner, also star. No reason was given for the name change. It sure will fit a lot better in those little tv grids posted in newspapers though. Boston Legal will debut on Sunday, September 26 at 10pm. Nick Lachey: Jessica Simpson will have to do without her veteran newlywed some this summer. He'll be away from home playing with some very lovely ladies on The WB.

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