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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

George Just Might Give Them A Pig And A Poke

Compiled By Staff Writer Rick Bo

“ER” heartthrob George Clooney hasn’t yet joined the growing list of paparazzi-punching celebrities, but he’s certainly considered it.

“The problem is that some of these guys aren’t professional videographers; they’re a bunch of kids with videocams who try and force you into a confrontation,” he told Time.

“They’ll push and yell volatile things like, ‘Hey, George, who’s the fat chick?’ Or I’m walking with a guy, they ask, ‘Is that your gay lover?’ And as soon as you say, ‘Why, you (S.O.B.)!’ they sell it to ‘Hard Copy.”’

One would-be shutterbug was chased off by Clooney’s Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, dropping his camera in the process. “He wanted to sue me,” Clooney says. “But I ended up with a nice broken camera that’s hanging on my mantel right now.”

Loose talk

Mary Tyler Moore, on her continuing legacy (in Details magazine): “This transvestite hooker recognized me and started yelling, ‘Mary! Mary!’ When she got her face up to the (car) window, she just melted. It was like she became a 9-year-old boy again.”

Get him a special gift? The sky’s the limit

Carl Sagan turns 61 today.

There are some who can’t defend themselves

The latest issue of the Globe supermarket tabloid, featuring color photos of slain singer Selena’s autopsy, has been pulled from hundreds of stores in her native southern Texas. “I’m definitely going to see what legal rights we have,” said her outraged father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr. “This has gone far enough.”

Fortunately, Michael had a meal ticket to ride

Michael Jackson, whose personal wealth has suffered along with his record sales, has sold the music publishing rights to a catalog including some 250 Beatles songs to Sony Corp. for about $95 million. Also involved in the deal are rights to tunes by such other legendary artists as Elvis Presley and Little Richard.

Hey, how do you think Tom Hanks got his start?

After working more than a decade in films, Lea Thompson (“Caroline in the City”) was hesitant about jumping into a sitcom. As she tells Entertainment Weekly: “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can tell a joke, so I’d better wear a short skirt.”’

Like that would get to the root of the problem?

“Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, named “Best Tressed Woman” in a survey of Supercuts stylists, can’t comprehend the public obsession with her layered hairstyle. “What an I doing wrong that people are focusing on my hair?” she said on Wednesday’s “Extra” TV show. “I’m going to grow out the hair and cut it all off and throw everybody for a loop.”

With O.J. loose, Marcia should change her locks

Also in the Supercuts survey, Val Kilmer edged Hugh Grant and Brad Pitt in the guy division, with Drew Barrymore and “Friends” co-star Courtney Cox the female runners-up. The worst-coiffed: Neil Young and Courtney Love (with Marcia Clark a close second).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino