Quick Takes - Aug. 13, 2010

Quick Take: Kanye West is invited back to Video Music Awards

QUICK TAKES

Kanye West invited back

Kanye West’s rude behavior at the Video Music Awards last year did not result in him being banished from this year’s show.

MTV said Thursday that the rapper would perform on the awards telecast Sept. 12 at the Nokia Theatre in downtown L.A.

West provided the most talked-about moment of the event last year when he interrupted an acceptance speech by Taylor Swift and took the microphone to let the world know that he thought “Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.”

An avalanche of negative publicity followed, and he apologized during an appearance on “The Tonight Show.”

—Lee Margulies

Three up for Thurber Prize

Cue the laugh track: A former sex columnist, a TV comedy writer and a best-selling memoirist are nominees for the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Jancee Dunn, who has reported on music for Rolling Stone and written about sex for GQ, is a finalist for her essay collection, “Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?”

The other nominees are Steve Hely, who has written for “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “American Dad,” for a novel about novels: “How I Became a Famous Novelist”; and Rhoda Janzen, for her popular memoir, “Mennonite in a Little Black Dress.”

The winner, to be announced Oct. 4 in New York, will receive $5,000.

—Associated Press

‘Eat Pray Love’ guru has surgery

The 96-year-old Balinese fortuneteller featured in Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir “Eat Pray Love” has been hospitalized because of a heart ailment, just days before a movie adaptation starring Julia Roberts hits U.S. theaters, his doctor said Thursday.

Ketut Liyer has become a celebrity in his village of Ubud since the book came out in 2006. Tourists and locals have flocked to his house on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali so he could read their palms.

Liyer, who also has a prostate problem, was admitted to the Surya Husada hospital over the weekend and underwent prostate surgery on Monday, said his doctor, Wayan Gede Wirawan. Though he has made a strong recovery and says he wants to return home, the fortuneteller is being asked to stay at least one week.

—Associated Press

‘Menagerie’ adds Ben McKenzie

For sightings of hunky young screen stars, forget the Chateau Marmont. The place to gawk and appreciate this season is the Mark Taper Forum.

Following Chris Pine’s starring role in “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” the Center Theatre Group has announced that Ben McKenzie will appear in its production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” also starring Judith Ivey, which runs Sept. 1 to Oct. 17.

McKenzie starred in the hit series “The O.C.” from 2003 to 2007 and is now in the cop series “Southland,” which originated at NBC before jumping to TNT. The actor will play the role of Jim O’Connor, a gentleman caller, opposite Ivey’s Amanda Wingfield.

The other cast members include Keira Keeley and Patch Darragh.

—David Ng

Fantasia Barrino out of hospital

“American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino has been released from a North Carolina hospital after overdosing on aspirin and sleeping pills earlier this week, her manager said.

“She has been lifted up by the outpouring of love and support from her fans,” Brian Dickens said after the singer was released on Wednesday.

The R&B singer, who won the TV singing contest in 2004, took an overdose after being named in divorce papers filed by the wife of her long-time boyfriend.

—Reuters

Zsa Zsa Gabor returns home

Zsa Zsa Gabor was back at her Bel-Air mansion Thursday, recuperating after being hospitalized at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center for more than three weeks.

The 93-year-old celebrity’s condition deteriorated following hip-replacement surgery that was required after she broke her hip while trying to get into her wheelchair.

“She is at home, and she is happy,” her husband, Price Frederic von Anhalt, told reporters after she arrived Wednesday evening.

—Associated Press

Eggers, Baraka win book awards

Dave Eggers and Amiri Baraka were among more than a dozen winners announced Thursday for the 31st annual American Book Awards.

Eggers was cited for “Zeitoun,” a novel set in post-Katrina New Orleans, and Baraka for “Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music.”

The awards were established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation.

—Associated Press