People: James Bennet, Tom Cruise, Pearl Jam
After a lengthy search, The Atlantic Monthly has named a new editor, James Bennet, a reporter for The New York Times, who will be following a long line of storied editors from James Russell Lowell, William Dean Howells and Robert Manning to Michael Kelly. Bennet, 39, who has covered political campaigns and served as Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, was offered the job by David Bradley, the magazine's owner. A graduate of Yale, Bennet held an editing post at The Washington Monthly from 1989 to 1991 but otherwise has devoted his career to writing. He is The Atlantic's first official editor in chief since Kelly stepped down in September 2002 to return to writing. Kelly was killed on assignment in Iraq the following year. (NYT)
The director Jason Reitman says a projection error - not Tom Cruise - was responsible when a Katie Holmes sex scene was missing during a screening of her upcoming movie, "Thank You for Smoking," at the Sundance Film Festival. "I was sitting there in the theater, the scene was missing, and my immediate thought was, 'Oh my God, Fox cut the scene out of my movie,'" Reitman said. "And then I realized, 'No, if it's at the end of the reel; the projector probably just accidentally cut it out.'" Some blamed Cruise, Holmes's fiancé, speculating that he had pressured Reitman, son of the "Ghost Busters" director Ivan Reitman, to remove the scene. "That's a fun story," Reitman said. "The problem is that it's not true."Holmes, 27, and Cruise, 43, have been engaged since June. They announced her pregnancy in October.Aaron Eckhart stars with Holmes, Maria Bello, William H. Macy and Sam Elliott in the film, adapted from Christopher Buckley's satiric novel about a tobacco-industry spin doctor. The film - with the sex scene - is slated for limited release in America on March 17. (AP)
The Seattle rock band Pearl Jam has announced that it will release its eighth studio album - and first since 2002 - in early May. The album's first single, "World Wide Suicide," will be made available to radio stations Wednesday and will be available as a free download from the band's Web site, www.pearljam.com. Pearl Jam, formed in 1991, rose to prominence during the early 1990s grunge movement. (AP)
Two concert-hall ushers were shot during a show by the rapper Kanye West near Birmingham in central England, the police said. The police said the men were wounded, but their lives not threatened, at the National Exhibition Center as people were being ejected for trying to get in without tickets.(AP)
Alan Ayckbourn says he is recovering after suffering a stroke. The British playwright, 66, is in a hospital in Scarborough, England, after falling ill a week ago. Ayckbourn is artistic director of the seaside town's Stephen Joseph Theatre. He is the author of more than 60 plays, including "The Norman Conquests," "A Chorus of Disapproval" and "Absurd Person Singular."(AP)
Today in Culture
Joseph Fiennes, who co-starred with Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1998 film "Shakespeare in Love," has helped launch a new Cuban cigar, tossing off a few lines from "Romeo and Juliet" in honor of the cigar's maker. Fiennes was the featured visitor in Havana as Cuba began its annual cigar festival this week. His new film, "Running With Scissors," is set for release this year. (AP)
