Who's in

Kings deny royal wrangling

The singers known collectively as the Four Heavenly Kings gave a rare joint performance in Hong Kong, four years after going their separate ways.

Singers Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok put aside their differences to appear as a team for a grand variety show marking the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The concert took place on Saturday night at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.

"King of Kings" Jacky Cheung denied rumors of a long-standing veiled struggle between the stars.

"We get along very well, though it is difficult to perform together," Cheung said in Shanghai on Monday. He said their busy schedules and conflicting business interests prevented them from cooperating more often.

Each of the Four Heavenly Kings is active as both a singer and actor, and together they have led Hong Kong's entertainment scene since the early 1990s.

Magician's marriage disappearing act

Criss Angel's wife says the magic has gone from their marriage and she now wants to make him vanish from her life. Angel, known for his Mindfreak show on the A&E network, subdued his sometimes flashy look for a court hearing on Friday. But he flashed a bit of humor during a break, gesturing toward his estranged wife's lawyer and saying, "I can make him disappear."

Angel, whose real name is Christopher Sarantakos, and his wife, Joanne, 37, married five years ago, after a decade of dating, according to her lawyer, Dominic Barbara. But the magician kept his marriage quiet and then deserted his wife as he became famous and hasn't given her "a cent" of his millions, Barbara said.

The 39-year-old punky illusionist dedicated his latest stunt a seeming escape from a box encased in concrete and suspended 40 feet above the ground near Manhattan's Time Square on June 5 to Shrek the Third star Cameron Diaz. But he demurred when asked whether they were dating, telling AP Radio News they were "good friends."

Barbara told a judge he would aim to subpoena the 34-year-old actress in the divorce case.

Diaz' publicist, Brad Cafarelli, said in a statement on Monday that Angel was already separated from his wife when Diaz met him in May.

Hilton auction sees eBay go to the dogs

An empty can of gourmet dog food taken from Paris Hilton's trash fetched $305 in an eBay auction. The sellers were from the Web site HollywoodStarTrash.com, which also listed several other Hilton items for sale on eBay.

A used toothbrush sold for $305; two envelopes sent to her while she was in jail sold for $510; and a Coke can pulled from her trash went for $51.

The organic gourmet dog food was produced by Party Animal Inc, and can be found in about 150 stores in Southern California and about 40 in New York. It can also be bought through the company's website.

Woody's seeing Manhattan in Spain

Woody Allen says he hopes to create a portrait of the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona on a par with his 1979 film, Manhattan. Allen told a news conference in the Catalan capital on Monday that he would begin filming on July 9. The movie, starring Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, is not yet titled.

The 71-year-old director-actor said he wanted to picture Barcelona "the same way I presented Manhattan to the world through my eyes."

Allen said he looked forward to working in Barcelona "with great, great enthusiasm."

He won best-director and screenwriting Oscars for the 1977 romantic comedy, Annie Hall, which starred Allen and Diane Keaton.

Johansson, 22, starred in Allen's recent London-based movies, Matchpoint and Scoop.

Agencies-China Daily

(China Daily 07/04/2007 page18)