Spending time with Timberlake

Just a few hours before his sold-out show at Avalon, a scruffy Justin Timberlake answered questions from fans on the second floor of the CambridgeSide Galleria Best Buy. About 200 Timberlake followers were let in to the exclusive listening party (most lined up at 8 a.m. to get in), where Justin sat on a couch in a Chevelle T-shirt, Lacoste sneaks, and jeans and casually played a few of his new songs. He told fans his new favorite sport is golf (because he's ``too old" to run the basketball court), that Nelly Furtado did not sell out on her new album (``I like it better than her old stuff," he said ), and that he'd be playing early that night because, as he put it, ``Boston has a crazy curfew." Two lucky fans -- Emily Magee, 15, of Brighton, and Chantha Lim, 23, of Revere -- were called up to sit with Justin during the event. Magee said that when the microphone was off, the pop star offered her some advice. ``He told me to stay away from boys because boys are trouble. He said that's one of the reasons he was home schooled -- because he had trouble with girls."

Reflecting on ‘Black Dahlia’ murder

That people are still fascinated with the murder of Medford native Elizabeth Short six decades after her mutilated body was discovered on a vacant Los Angeles lot doesn't surprise ``The Black Dahlia" author James Ellroy. ``This was the first media-manufactured murder. . . . There were five daily newspapers in Los Angeles, and nothing was going on. . . . Then this isolated, gruesome murder happens . . . and it just filled the city," said Ellroy, whose father was born in Lynn. In town to promote the movie ``The Black Dahlia," based on the novel the Los Angeles native wrote 20 years ago, Ellroy said everything aligned for this still-unsolved murder to spark fear in the city. ``People would tell me they remember where they were when they heard the news," he said. ``It was that much a moment in time." The movie stars Josh Hartnett, Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, and Scarlett Johansson and opens on Sept. 15.

Goodwin’s got quite an arm

Historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin's ceremonial first pitch made it across the plate the other night at the Oldtime Baseball Game, a charity event held at St. Peter's Field in Cambridge. The Pulitzer Prize winner and noted Red Sox fan was asked to help kick things off at the game in which players wear replica uniforms to raise money for C-2 Mission, an organization that assists families affected by cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. . . . Shooting on the low-budget, locally produced film ``Sides" began in earnest yesterday in Medford. But the cast and crew gathered at Studio Soto, a gallery in the Fort Port Channel area, on Friday for a kickoff celebration that included writer-actor Franco Trombino and his costars Sofia Pagano and Katarina Morhacova. The film, which will be shot in the Boston area, including Studio Soto, over the next several weeks, also features Lenny Clarke, Frank Santorelli of ``The Sopranos" and ``Law & Order," boxer Jeff Fraza from this season's ``The Contender," and local fave Jim McIsaac.

McGlone, Flynn set for writers fest

Actor Michael McGlone and author Nick Flynn are among those participating in the Somerville News Writers Festival IV in November. Best known for his work in Ed Burns's ``The Brothers McMullen" and ``She's the One," McGlone also is a singer/songwriter with two novels under his belt. He'll read excerpts from his soon-to-be released ``And All the Roses Dying." Also among the dozen or so writers is Flynn, who'll read from his ``Another [expletive] Night in Suck City." The critically acclaimed memoir is being adapted for the big screen by writer-director Paul Weitz, whose previous credits include ``About a Boy," ``American Pie," and ``In Good Company." . . . Spotted dining at Davio's the other day were former United Way of Massachusetts Bay honcho Marian Heard with One Family's Frances Moseley and Dan Fireman, the agency's board chair and son of One Family's founders Paul and Phyllis Fireman. . . . Former New England Patriot Troy Barnett joined Mayor Tom Menino Saturday in greeting the players at the 6th annual Mayor's Cup Pop Warner Jamboree . The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation donated $5,000 to the youth football event. . . . ``The Paisley Sisters' Christmas Special," a piece co-written by Boston Conservatory faculty member Bret Silverman, was picked for the New York Musical Theatre Festival at the Sage Theatre in Times Square next month. Silverman co-wrote the music, lyrics, and story for the musical.

Meredith Goldstein of the Globe Staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.