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Spain honors Penelope Cruz

for contribution to cinema

MADRID — Penelope Cruz has won one of Spain’s top film awards for her contribution to Spanish cinema, the country’s ministry of culture said Monday.

The jury of the 2022 National Cinema award was unanimous in its decision to honor the Madrid-born star, describing the 48-year-old Oscar winner in a statement as an “iconic actress whose brilliant legacy enriches Spain’s cultural heritage.”

“Committed to her craft, she seeks excellence in her work, allowing her to create some of the most unforgettable characters in the history of our cinema,” the jury added.

The recognition is the latest addition to Cruz’s long list of accolades, from an Academy Award for best supporting actress in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” to top awards at the Cannes and Venice Film Festival for her performances in “Volver” and “Parallel Mothers.”

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez congratulated Cruz soon after the award was announced.

“She is the embodiment of cinema, both Spanish and international,” Sanchez tweeted, citing her “immense talent and exceptional performances.”

Past winners of the award include actor Antonio Banderas and director Isabel Coixet.

‘Tiger King’ star Doc Antle charged with money laundering

“Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has been charged with laundering more than half a million dollars, money federal prosecutors said Monday that he believed to be the proceeds of an operation to smuggle people across the Mexican border into the United States.

Charges against Antle and Andrew Jon Sawyer, one of Antle’s employees at Myrtle Beach Safari, were revealed during a federal court hearing in Florence, S.C.

According to federal prosecutors, Antle and Sawyer laundered $505,000 over a four-month period by doling out checks from businesses they controlled, receiving a 15 percent fee of the money that passed through their hands.

The checks, prosecutors allege, falsely purported to be payment for construction work at Myrtle Beach Safari but were in reality intended to serve as evidence that the recipients had legitimate income.

According to the complaint unsealed in court Monday, Antle discussed his plan to conceal the cash he received by inflating tourist numbers at his 50-acre wildlife tropical preserve. Prosecutors also said he had previously used bulk cash receipts to purchase animals for which he could not use checks.

Records for the Horry County jail show Antle and Sawyer were both arrested Friday. Attorneys for both men did not immediately comment on the charges when reached via email.

According to authorities, Antle and Sawyer each face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Antle is featured prominently in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” a 2020 Netflix documentary miniseries that focused on tiger breeders and private zoo operators in the U.S. The series focused heavily on Oklahoma zoo operator Joe Exotic, who also was targeted for animal mistreatment and was convicted in a plot to kill a rival, Carole Baskin.

Animal rights advocates have accused Antle of mistreating lions and other wildlife. He was indicted in Virginia in 2020 on animal cruelty and wildlife trafficking charges.

Winfrey picks Leila Mottley’s ‘Nightcrawling’ for book club

NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey has chosen 19-year-old Leila Mottley’s “Nightcrawling,” a debut novel about a young Black woman from East Oakland and her battles with poverty, racism and the police, for next book club pick.

A spokesperson for Winfrey said Mottley is the youngest author ever selected for Oprah’s Book Club, founded in 1996.

“It brings me great joy to introduce readers to new authors, and this young poet Leila Mottley wrote a soul-searching portrait of survival and hope,” Winfrey said in a statement Tuesday.

Mottley, born and raised in Oakland, served as the city’s youth poet laureate in 2018. Her book was published Tuesday and has been praised by James McBride and Tommy Orange among others. Kirkus Reviews called “Nightcrawling” a “lovely and poetic” evocation of an “underclass and the disposable women just trying to survive.”

Mottley said in a statement that she was “absolutely floored when Ms. Winfrey popped up” during what she thought was an ordinary publishing meeting.

Winfrey will speak with Mottley on June 30 for an interactive book club event on OprahDaily.com. Since starting her book club, Winfrey has often alternated between such established authors Toni Morrison and Richard Powers and such first-time authors as Mottley, Imbolo Mbue and Cynthia Bond.

Iconic rockers Blondie to issue first box set this summer

NEW YORK — Blondie has figured out where to put their heart of glass — a big ‘ol box.

The iconic rockers said Wednesday they will release their first authorized collection in their 50-year history, a huge box set that includes 124 tracks, 36 of which were never issued.

“Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982” drops Aug. 26. The remastered music is accompanied by two volumes of liner notes, track-by-track commentary, a 120-page illustrated discography and dozens of previously unpublished photos.

“When I listen to these old tracks, it puts me there like I am a time traveler. As bad as it was sometimes, it was also equally as good. No regrets. More music,” said frontwoman and songwriter Debbie Harry in a statement.

The heart of the box set is the band’s first six studio albums: “Blondie,” “Plastic Letters,” “Parallel Lines,” “Eat to the Beat,” “Autoamerican” and “The Hunter,” with the hits “Heart of Glass,” “Atomic,” “Tide Is High,” “Sunday Girl,” “Rapture” and “Call Me.”

The set also includes four dozen demos — including the group’s first recording session — as well as alternate versions and studio outtakes.

The collection, via UMe and The Numero Group, is available to pre-order now. It is be available in four formats — Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition, Deluxe 4LP, Deluxe 8CD and 3CD editions.

New York woman finds lost dog — in Hilary Swank’s lap

ALBANY, N.Y. — Chelsea Blackwell’s dachshund, Blue, disappeared Monday, and the distraught owner went in search.

But when she came upon a line of squad cars and people with cameras near the Greyhound bus station, she set aside her search to investigate.

“I noticed there were like eight police cars and people with cameras — I thought maybe somebody got shot,” Blackwell told her local paper, the Times Union.

Fortunately, tragedy did not lurk — Blackwell had stumbled upon a movie crew — but ended in a one-in-a-million lucky happenstance.

Long story short: Her dog of 15 years was found — by a movie star with a history of rescuing dogs.

You won’t believe this, the crew told her, but a celebrity had found her pooch.

“I asked them if anyone saw a little brown dog, and they said, ‘Yes, we’ll call her.'”

An hour later, a gray car pulled up, and there was tiny Blue sitting in the lap of two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank.

“I was like, ‘No way,'” Blackwell said. “As soon as she got out of the car, I kissed Blue and said, ‘Thank you so much.'”

Blackwell asked Swank for her autograph, but Swank did better: They took a picture.

And Blackwell, wanting to be sure Swank got proper credit, posted the photo on Facebook.

“I’d stopped and asked if someone seen a little brown dog? A man walked over to my car and said, yes, this woman picked him up,” she wrote in her post.

“I said who? He replied, a celebrity,” Blackwell wrote. “He called the person who had him. And they said she’s on her way back. You’ll never guess who had him?”

The Million Dollar Baby herself.

Swank is no stranger to rescuing dogs.

“Every dog I’ve ever rescued and also shared my life with have all had their unique way of being in the world,” said Swank, who has adopted numerous dogs. Swank established a foundation, Hilaroo — a portmanteau of her name and the name of a dog she adopted, Karoo — that matches abandoned dogs with children whom the foundation says “have been given up on by society.”

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