LOS ANGELES -- Battle-weary troops in Afghanistan are getting a morale boost from Hollywood.

USO showman Johnny Grant, Hollywood's honorary mayor, is sending this year's best picture Oscar nominees to Afghanistan for U.S. soldiers to see. The videos were scheduled to leave Wednesday afternoon aboard a military plane.

"I wanted to take them over there but they said it was too dangerous to go there right now," said Grant, who announced in 2001 that he was retiring from his annual overseas missions to entertain the troops.

"But that was before Sept. 11," Grant said of his decision to stay home after 52 years of visits. "I want to get over there now."

Videos of "A Beautiful Mind," "Gosford Park," "In the Bedroom," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Moulin Rouge" will screen as part of Grant's Foxhole Premieres program.

Troops serving in Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo have seen movies through Foxhole Premieres.

British radio station steals driver's image

LONDON -- Judge Sir Hugh Laddie on Wednesday ordered talkSPORT radio to pay damages, the amount of which will be announced on March 25.

Laddie said Irvine's case proved an important principle, but warned that he should not expect substantial damages. "I find it very difficult to believe that the sums involved are significant for what was a small matter," he said.

Irvine, who was not in court, sued talkSPORT over a 1999 leaflet that was distributed to more than 900 companies, urging them to advertise with the station.

Lawyers for Irvine, who is racing in Malaysia, said the station used a photograph of Irvine dressed in his racing gear. A mobile phone he was holding to his ear in the original photo had been replaced with a radio bearing the logo of Talk Radio, talkSPORT's name at the time.

Lindsay Lane, who also represented Irvine's management

Stylist for Oscars readies stars for ceremony

NEW YORK -- Los Angeles-based stylist Phillip Bloch has this motto: Be prepared for anything.

On the morning of the Oscar telecast, when he makes his rounds to the homes of the actresses he dresses, he carries an awards-show kit that includes footless, slimming body stockings; strapless bras and adhesive bras; nude-colored underwear; double-stick tape; safety pins; and a needle and thread.

This year, Bloch will help Halle Berry get ready for the March 24 ceremony, which will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. The show will air live on ABC.

Berry, a best actress nominee for "Monster's Ball," is easy to work with because she has her own fashion sense, Bloch said.

He sees their hunt for the perfect Oscar dress as a collaboration.

"Luckily, we like the same things," he said.

-- From wire reports