Card sharks for a cause

Pro poker pixie Annie Duke and her Brookline-bred boyfriend Joe Reitman were just a few of the Hollywood types who took part in Ante Up for Africa, a celebrity poker tournament in Las Vegas. The event, held during this week's World Series of Poker, raised some much-needed money for the Enough Project and the International Rescue Committee, which aid survivors of the slaughter in Darfur. Looking well-rested after two weeks in Hawaii, our boys Ben Affleck and Matt Damon put on their best poker faces at the tourney, though Damon didn't last too long. In fact, the Cambridge native was knocked out within the first five minutes. "I'm responsible for all these degenerates," the actor told People magazine, a reference to his role as an embattled poker player in the film "Rounders." "It was much more of a subculture when I researched the movie. We had to get buzzed into places and go in these secret doors. It was much less mainstream." The evening's other A-list card sharks included Adam Sandler, Kevin Smith, Donnie Wahlberg, Kevin James, Ray Romano, Brad Garrett, Martin Sheen, and Shannon Elizabeth.

Suddenly, the radiant Rashida Jones (inset) is much in demand among the local magazine crowd. The actress who plays Karen Filipelli on "The Office" was on the cover of "02138," and now her smiling face is featured on the front of the "Boston's Best" edition of the Improper Bostonian. The Harvard grad, whose parents are record producer Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton, has this to say about growing up well-heeled in Hollywood: "As you can imagine, I saw a lot of bad parenting. I also saw a lot of good parenting. But the problem is that when there's bad parenting and there's the added fame, money, public-eye factor, it's a nightmare."

Aretha Franklin may never be called skinny, but the soul legend is getting slimmer. See for yourself when Aretha takes the stage tonight at the South Shore Music Circus. She's doing the Jenny Craig Diet thing to prepare for her wedding to longtime boyfriend Willie Wilkerson Jr. She said she's limiting herself to 1,750 calories per day. "I lost 23 or 24 pounds to begin with, but it's kind of a strain," Franklin told Sister 2 Sister magazine. "It's a strain because you're eating the Jenny Craig-type meals, which are very good, but you can only eat them for so long before you want some barbecue ribs or some pigs feet."

Her heart belongs to Boston

Imagine our surprise when the flacks for the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine called to tell us that Shar Jackson (above right, with daughter Cassie) is actually from Boston. Seems Kevin Federline's former flame, and the mother of two of his children, spent the first three years of her life in Dorchester. Who knew? "I was born there, but I haven't been back in a while ," says Jackson, who was among a slew of celebs at "Snoopy's Nice-N-Icy" summer kick-off in LA the other day. (Foxborough's own Joanna "JoJo" Levesque was also there.) "I'm still a diehard Sox and Celtics fan. I'm dead serious. I always get looks in LA when I wear my Celtics jersey, but I don't care." Grist for the gossip mill ever since K-Fed dumped her for Britney Spears, Shar said she's focused at the moment on her fledging singing career. "My album's supposed to drop this year, and when I start to tour, Boston's going to be the first place I go." We'll be waiting.

Picture the Police at local gallery

The party to celebrate Police guitarist Andy Summers's photography at Newbury Fine Arts promises to be a good time. Word is Sting and Stewart Copeland both may show up at the exclusive shindig, which will take place at the gallery before the first of the band's two Fenway affairs. (At a similar exhibit in LA, the trio all turned out.) Summers's black-and-white pics, published in a book titled "I'll Be Watching You," capture the band playing and partying in its heyday. Also invited to the July 27 soiree is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen, who's making a movie based on Summers's memoir "One Train Later."

Stretch limo for her, minivan for him -- and a romantic Paris wedding for both. Professional basketball star Tony Parker (inset) married "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria at a civil ceremony in Paris yesterday -- a prelude to their expected star-studded weekend wedding bash at a lavish and storied chateau. Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe officiated and gave a speech saying how happy he was that they were married in the City of Light. Longoria, 32, showed up first in a white stretch limo, wearing a way-above-the-knee pink Chanel dress with striped black and white straps. She was accompanied by about eight guests in cream, pink, and purple dresses. Parker, the 25-year-old San Antonio Spurs star who was born in Belgium and grew up playing basketball in France, arrived about 10 minutes later in a gray minivan, wearing a dark suit. French law requires couples who marry to make their vows official at a city hall, even if they have a church wedding as well. (AP)

NBC and producers of "The Apprentice" will bring Donald Trump's reality TV show back from the brink of cancellation for at least one more season, industry sources said yesterday. The sources said NBC plans to announce a renewal at an annual summer presentation to television critics on July 16, about two months after the show had appeared on the verge of prime-time extinction. (REUTERS)

In a new big-screen version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Jim Carrey will play Scrooge, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future. Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future," "Forrest Gump," "Cast Away") wrote the screenplay for Carrey and will direct the film, which will be made for a 3-D stereoscopic release. (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)

A Croatian woman is suing "ER" star Goran Visnjic , claiming he's the father of her 4-month-old daughter and demanding a paternity test. Mirela Rupic, 36, filed the lawsuit after Visnjic refused to recognize the child as his, Rupic's lawyer, Nenad Skare, said yesterday. Visnjic, who plays Dr. Luka Kovac on the long-running NBC series, has been married to Ivana Vrdoljak since 1999 and lives in Los Angeles. The couple told Croatian media last spring they have adopted a boy, born in April, in the United States. (AP)

Live Earth keeps changing. Another venue was added yesterday to the global concert series whose worldwide lineup includes Madonna, Metallica, the Police, and Kanye West. Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will headline a show in Washington on the National Mall, about two blocks from the US Capitol. More than 150 artists are scheduled to perform at eight other venues, including London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, and Hamburg. The New York concert is actually being held in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP)

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